The beauty

Even thought there is so much pain and sorrow in this world it is important to remember that there is also beauty and hope.

A few years back I decided that I would memorialize this day by taking every opportunity to show love and kindness to all I encounter in this world. Allow your heart to soften, even if just for one day be more patient and kind in your daily routine.

Lastly, today my thoughts will be with my brother, his wife, their children and the rest of the family today as they try to make sense of the sudden loss of  her father last night. Beginning to understand loss is always difficult but even harder when there is children involved. My heart breaks for them...

My love to you all

& kindness, today and always

Building a Bean Fort

via pinterest

Have you seen all of the adorable bean tee-pees on pinterest lately? As soon as I saw this I knew I would just have to come up with something for my own little gardeners to play in during the warmer months. This perfect combination of  whimsy and organic gardening, I set to work figuring out just how we could fit our very own bean hut in our small back yard.

Because of our soggy North West climate we decided to use a sturdy oak pallet for the floor of our hut. We also decided to plant the beans in pots rather than directly in the ground. This will be handy at the end of the season since we can just disassemble the entire thing and store the pots until the next growing season. Also, in pots the plants will get warmer, and hopefully have more growth in our very cool climate.

A Bean Hut for the Kiddos

Rather than build a round tee-pee we opted to build a rectangular hut around the shape of the pallet. We are hoping this will make the interior of the fort bigger (so more monkeys can fit inside) without damaging the bean plants or taking up too much of the lawn. 

 With our location chosen we gathered our supplies- a pallet, 6 bamboo poles, twine, (4) 2 gallon pots, and 2 packs of seeds. We decided to plant both sugar snap peas and pole beans since we would have ample growing space for each.

First we leveled the pallet and made sure it was snug. The we leveled the ground under the pots to assure the finished hut would be sturdier and able to handle the kiddos knocking it around a little.

The best part about this project is that the little ones can help with every step. Here is my little helper mixing my soil and planting the seeds with me.

While Masie and I played in the dirt, Jess and Orion added the bamboo poles to the pots and lashed them together with twine. The boys also strung twine between the poles for the vines to climb up. we even got got some instant gratification by planting the little bean plant my son had been growing at school.

Be sure to tie your new little sprouts to the bamboo pole to show them where to climb then sit back and watch them go!

I cannot wait for the boys to enjoy their hard work. I can just see them now playing in their hut and snacking on fresh beans in the summer sun. 

What gardening fun have you been up to?

& peas

Spring Fever?

What a blustery day it is here! Nothing but rain, rain, rain in the forecast (and that's the 10 day forecast!) The kind of day where there's nothing much to do besides bake my favorite bread, snuggle, and think about all homegrown produce we'll enjoy in the warmer months to come.So today, rather than actually working in my yard, I'll  just be daydreaming about it.You know by searching through all those impossibly beautiful gardens on houzz and pinterest!

I'm hoping to at least get my radishes, spinach and lettuce in this week so we can start enjoying fresh salads asap!
Last week when I went out to weed my little raised beds I was surprised with these little 2nd generation goodies. My yummy lettuce mix that I inadvertently let go to seed has come back to feed our family for another year.

Hooray for non GMO seeds that re-seed themselves, yet another reason to buy organic!
I also picked up a bunch of beautiful Hosta bulbs I'm hoping to get in the ground soon. Hostas are just maybe my favorite plant ever. Did you know that I even had hostas in my wedding bouquet?
Anyhoo, I hope you are all enjoying nicer weather than we are. We've been on a medical roller coaster this past few weeks with Masie knocking his front teeth loose (3 is a little soon to lose your front chompers) and me having a new and uncharted health issues. We've been to so many appointments/labs I've scarcely had time to do anything else. I'm hoping that soon that annual spring fever bug will finally get me and I'll get going on the loads of projects we've been scheming!
& Fresh baked bread!

I {heart} Paper

A few weeks ago I gave you a little peek and my newest art obsession, and since then I have begun to create a whole paper world for myself. Honestly I'm not sure how it took me so long to get here. It's really pretty perfect for me, and here's why:
1. I'm working on an unbelievably tiny scale, I love tiny! I think that's the same reason I was drawn to jewelry.2. Unlike jewelry fabrication, this is nearly free! Paper is so cheap and I currently have a ridiculous back stock of pretty papers to play with.3. It's tedious, quiet, takes a lot of planning, and uses mostly recycled elements. check ,check,check and check! I love 'em all!
Besides the hunch back I'm developing from hunkering over my work table for hours on end I couldn't be happier with my new found love, and I got a few really exciting projects in the works. 

Here is the anniversary gift I made for Jess, It's a line from one of my favorite Sublime songs. I just love how bright and colorful it is, and I can't wait to hang it in our room next to our other cheesy lovey art. 

A tiny book page stage awaiting it's cast, which are still in pieces all over my desk

and most recently, two familiar, albeit still faceless little biscuits and one tiny pair of magic toilet paper tube binoculars!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! If you are celebrating  Dr.Seuss' birthday, I hope you get to enjoy your green eggs and ham or roast beast, or who pudding or at least a good book! We'll be reading Mcelligot's Pool!

 & Paper love

Chocolate soup for two

A few months ago I announced to Jess that for our anniversary we would be having chocolate soup. Now  if you think for one second that in this home dessert proclamations are not made months in advance, and then eagerly anticipated you'd be wrong, terribly wrong. There are a lot of great recipes out there that call for all sorts of thickening agents such as flour, corn starch or egg yolks but for ours I wanted a simple cream and chocolate mixture. I decided to use flour since I did not want to bother tempering eggs and I was out of corn starch. Feel free to adjust it to your specific needs, or even omit the thickener all together. The result something more than hot chocolate but less than pudding and entirely decadent to the last spoonful. That being said, I'd like to warn you that it probably has about a gazillion calories in it, but you'll savor every last one of them!

Chocolate soup for two4-5 oz.  of good quality chocolate bars of your choice chopped ( I chose a 70% dark and a milk)1/2 c. heavy cream1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk1 1/2c. milk1/4 vanilla bean splitpinch of salt2 tsp. flour or corn starch(optional for thickening)10-20 hazelnuts cracked and toasted for topping
for the hazelnut whipped cream:3/4 c.  very cold heavy whipping cream1 tbsp. powdered sugar1/2 tsp. pure hazelnut extract
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan combine milk, cream, sweet con milk and vanilla bean split with seeds scraped and added to the milk. Heat over medium flame just until it begins to bubble around the edges (not boiling) Turn off heat, cover and allow to steep for 10-15 min.While the cream mixture is steeping mix up the hazelnut cream by whipping heavy cream and powdered sugar on high. Just as mixture starts to thicken add hazelnut extract and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. (I prefer to over whip my whipped cream for a stiffer texture). Place whipped cream into the fridge until ready to use.Once the cream mixture has steeped return it to medium-high heat, add flour and stir constantly until it is very hot but not boiling and thicker in texture. turn off heat and add chopped chocolate and stir until well combined.Pour into bowls, top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with toasted hazelnut and grated chocolate.Enjoy!

There are so many variations here. you could add any kind of chopped dried fruit, or nuts or coffee or even a little of your favorite liquor. Maybe the best part of this recipe is that you can freeze any leftovers in ice cube trays and blend the chocolatey cubes with a little milk to make the best milk shake ever! The options are dizzying, I'm out of control, I know!

&  velvety chocolate soup

I wish you love

Romantically speaking I could care less about Valentine's Day, but when it comes to the kiddos it's a whole different story. As a child it was one of my favorites with all the hand made paper doodads and candy. I mean really those are still 2 of my favorite things! 

This year my wee men and I made cookie pops to pass out at school. The perfect little treat for kiddos, this valentine is a little more work than just taping prepackaged candy to a card but I think it's a whole lot cuter too!

all you need is some sandwich cookies, white chocolate, lollipop sticks and some red food coloring or sprinkles!

Never, ever, before have I said this, but please buy real Oreos! I bought the Newman's organic cookies, and those delicate little boogers crumbled in my hands as I tried to put the sticks in them.

poke your lolli stick into the creme filling and lay on a parchment covered cookie sheet

here's all my cookie pops ready to be enrobed

what you can't see here is the 3 or 7 cookies I threw at my wall in a cookie shattering rage

Melt your chocolate (we used white, it's Orion's favorite) in a glass bowl in 30 second increments in the microwave until its smooth and ready for dipping.

Carefully coat the cookies in the chocolate and return to the parchment covered cookie sheet to cool. Top with sprinkles while the chocolate is still melty, my little helpers did all the sprinkling. 

I have no pictures of this since my hands were also coated in chocolate the entire time, oh well you get the idea, right?

Allow pops to cool to room temperature before packaging. We used sandwich bags with the zipper cut of and tied them with some cute red baker's twine. Super easy and super cute!

Enjoy!

I'm off to help out with class parties but before I go I'd like to wish you love and peace and big hugs from your loved ones today and everyday!

 remember you are loved!

my paper heart

It's really no secret that I've been pretty down lately. Chronic health issues start to wear on a girl, and the truth be told I should probably talk to a therapist about all of this. (since I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about it) But no amount of talking will make all my problems disappear, so instead I've turned to the only therapy I'm comfortable with, art. I can sit in the quiet of my mind and create beautiful things, perfect things. Here are a few beautiful and perfect things that I am finding very inspiring right now. Thanks to the all encompassing super powers that are Pinterest I have found many incredible artists to set me dreaming.

All the above images are from my 'Paper Skies' board on Pinterest, except the last one which is mine, I'll show you more in a few days :)

have a great day lovies!

& free therapy

Wash and wear

Well hello there! I'm back and beginning the new year by finally finishing up all my half done projects. I'm not much for resolutions but I have decided that it is high time I tie up all my loose ends!Just about every room of our home has some tweak that remains to be done whether it's touching up a paint job, adding knobs to furniture, or just some serious organization. There is one really big project we are hoping to finish/open a whole new can of worms on soon.  You see, I've shown you my renovated kitchen but I've never shown you the shameful other half. 

Yes, yes that is a door with a dryer in front of it, with a hot water heater next to it, with the washer next to that! Glamorous, I know!
Yep, our laundry is in our kitchen, our already ridiculously small kitchen, and it seems that no amount of pathetically dehydrated house plants can make it look any better. I watered those right after I took that picture I swear! Why our laundry is not in our garage, which is conveniently located next to the bedrooms, I could not tell you. My best guess is that the fella that designed this house in the 50's, hated his wife and wanted her to suffer as much as possible with a terrible kitchen and laundry area. But it get's even better (or worse really)...the reason that dryer is in front of a door is because that door used to open up to a rickety 2nd story deck, that was then torn down. Now the door it just opens up to a 12  foot drop to the ground below. With 2 little ones in the house we decided that until we could afford to re-build our deck that it would be a good idea to just block it off all together.So here these have sat since we renovated the kitchen in the hopes of someday moving to their new home in the garage. Not that the garage is a much more glamorous option, but in our tiny little home there is just no room for a real laundry room. 

like this one from here, *sigh*

Currently we are in the middle of relocating the laundry out to the garage which is only a few steps down the hall from the bedrooms, and I will finally have a laundry sink (thanks, Honey!)After the washer and dryer are snug in their new home we will be removing that huge beast of a hot water heater and installing a gently used high end on demand water heater we picked up off craigslist a few months ago. The best part about our new hot water heater is that it is installed on the outside of the house. Thus eliminating the need for venting and freeing up loads of space.Next we plan to rebuild the deck just outside the door, and install a fancy new door with a large window panel in it.Since we currently have no pantry in our kitchen the plan is to remove those upper cabinets and build in a large pantry unit. We are also considering just buying a large hutch like piece of furniture and placing it there as a pantry. Honestly it's pretty hard to imagine what I'd like to do with the space so long as those hulking machines are there, but hopefully they'll be settled in to thier new home by hte end of this week. So that's what we have been up to, and will be up to for a while. What have all of you been up to?

& Perkier plant life

Home again, Home again

We are home from Hawaii and only slightly disgruntled to have to get back to everyday life. Our trip to the big island with my in-laws was wonderful to say the least! I'll spare showing you tons of pictures and only show half a ton. Clearly I really enjoyed the trip, but what makes me the happiest is that the hubs (who never wanted to go to Hawaii) is already ready to go back!
We decided to not take our kids this time and instead had Gramma come and stay with them. Being so far from them was hard but knowing that they were safe and sound with someone who loves them definitely makes it  easier.  Gramma is the real hero of this story, so thanks again mommma!

 While we were there we relaxed on nearly every beach we could find

We took in some sights

This was my favorite sight of all!

We hiked down from here all the way down into the Waipi'o Valley

And played on the black sand beach

we took in a few beautiful waterfalls

My momma-in-law and I searched for shells, beach glass and heart shaped rocks

We played in the beautiful rivers

 We took a day trip over to the volcano

Which we pretty much had to do since this guy's a geologist!

(which also meant that we broke the rules and took a few small examples of the different kinds of lava rocks to show the boys, but it's strictly educational so you won't tell right? )

we checked out all the craters

and literally ran through the wet and drippy Thurston Lava Tube!

and then took a moment to meditate on the sea arch at the end of the park road. which was without a doubt my favorite part of the whole trip.

And ended everyday on the beach with a cold drink watching the sunset!

Now that we are home I am having a really hard time getting back to normal life, although I'm overjoyed to have my babies back. Last night was my first shift back to work and it was rough to say the least!

I'm also pretty bummed that I can no longer go to the farmer's market and buy bag loads of tropical fruit. 

How awesome are those apple bananas?!

&  Big Waves!