domicile

Martin Needs A PayPal Account

So much of the bits and bobs I would like to see tagged with my name under the tree (though this year we're only doing one gift each) live online. Or at least that's where I come across them. As usual I have a big ol'crush everything at Alexa's LilleHus Store, though am particularly smitten with that apron there (all those images there come from Alexa's shop). I'd happily take most anything off Grace's various gift suggestions over at Design*Sponge. And that really only begins to touch on all the awesome crafty-arty-inspired goodness that gals are producing online. And while I would be a very ungrateful lady indeed to complain about the places that Martin usually sources my gifts (we both work in Gastown, one of Vancouver's best local clothing/art/coolstuff neighbourhoods and my gifts are usually bought on a mad dashed lunch break from 'round these parts), I have to say my consumer lust for this winter has a strong online leaning. I guess it's a hazard that comes from spending most of my days online. Le sigh.

It Was There the Whole Time

Before we left for our trip this Fall, we asked Martin's mom if we could bring her back anything from Denmark. "Bitter Almond," she replied, then giving us the Danish version (Bitter Mandel) and sharing with us the fruitless searches she had undergone looking for it. Bitter Almond is apparently commonly used in German baking as well as Danish (being neighbours of Germany and having been occupied by them in the Second World War the Danes to share a number of German cultural references). Having never cooked with it myself I hesitate to say what it is about Bitter Almond Extract that makes it different from regular Almond Extract, though after all of the seeking out of the stuff I've done in the past few months I will be sure to ask Helga, Martin's mom, this Christmas.

Anyway. We started our search for Bitter Almond in Amsterdam reasoning that maybe our trip across the ocean had brought us a bit closer to it. We looked somewhat half heartedly, feeling certain that Denmark would deliver the goods, and we never found any. In Denmark we checked the grocery stores near where we were staying and when that turned up nothing began asking Martin's relatives for assitance. They would all pause on the question and then respond with memories of their mothers using it, but not having seen it recently. We continued to try every grocery store, bakery and deli we came across and at one point thought we may have lucked out when we found a young stock boy who was quite sure his mom still bought it somewhere, but then no solid leads were revealled.

Martin's mom, who perhaps could lay her experienced hands on the stuff if she were in Coppenhagen was a bit disappointed when we returned empty handed. And, feeling as though we had let her down, and being of the culinary type that has gone on more than one city wide quest for just the right ingredient and in fact is not ashamed to ask travellers from abroad to bring me highly prized kitchen delights, I have carried on my quest however doomed it seemed. I tried the Italian deli's in our neighbourhood and have had chats about it with many an old gal now, chats that always include: "Oh yes, Bitter Almond, the Germans use that don't they? Hmm... no I can't think of who might have it." I also tried the Gourmet Warehouse, where the woman I spoke to concured that indeed it is hard to find, but "very popular in German pastry." I've been known to look in neighbourhood corner stores as I've long held the belief that much of the dry goods stock of any tucked away corner store is likely to have been there since at least 1985 and Martin's mom tells me this extract used to be much easier to procure. But, none of these searches has turned up any extract and seeing as how we're now entering Christmas baking season I was thinking we should just order some online from, where else but the German online deli and hope that it arrived in time.

Until today. And by now you almost certainly know where this store is going. Today, while picking up a few groceries on the way home from work, I happened to be in the baking isle getting baking soda. I was particularly pleased with myself for remembering baking soda as I noticed we were almost out yesterday morning while making "snow day" pancakes for Martin and Miss P, but I forgot to write that on my grocery list. And as I reached for the baking soda at our local Asian Green Grocer a mere 5 blocks from our house, I noticed the extracts on the shelf below. "Why the hell not?" I said to myself as I briefly pondered searching through them for Bitter Almond, and in that moment I saw them. Three packages of Bitter Almond Extract. And I bought them all.

Snow in November

oh the snow
Originally uploaded by emira.

Very rare in Vancouver. Rare. And cold. But pretty.

Me-Owl

  pluto and his me-owler 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

I've had the good fortune of meeting some fabulous folks online in my many years of web life. When Lauren and I ran Soapboxgirls (now defunct in favour of BossLady), we had the chance to make the internet acquaintance of so many incredible women, many of whom I'm still thrilled to call friends and several of whom I've had the great joy of meeting in person. This web site has also brought some truly awesome folks into my life, people who inspire the dickens out of me, while also cheering along the many home-related projects we undertake. One of those people is Renee, who to be fair I really "met" through our combined contributions to The Dirt over at You Grow Girl. Renee is one of those smart, feminist, crafty-as-all hell, gals that the internet is filled with and I'm so pleased to have made her virtual acquaintence.

Recently, in fact just in time for my birthday, I received a package from Renee filled with awesomeness. The package had resulted from a desperate plea I had thrown in her direction for advice and inspiration on winter gardening earlier in the Fall as with the coming icky weather I felt my garden steam grinding to a halt. She responded with the grace and generosity of a true gardening/crafting enthusiast and a few weeks later I was the lucky recipient of a package bursting with vintage fabric bits, treasured seeds for winter and summer planting and the crowning glory: a Meowl.

A Meowl? You ask. What on earth is that? A Meowl is a super awesome (and in our house now well adored by our feline resident) owl shaped cat toy, lovingly constructed out of vintage fabric, stuffed with catnip and finished off with a brass bell. Me-owl indeed. We gave Pluto his Meowl the day it arrived, which also happened to be only a few days after his cone was finally removed and he took to it immediately. Sadly I didn't yet have my camera back so I was unable to take any photos of it before it got covered with blissed out kitty drool, but I like to think that shows just how much lovin' it has received.

If you're among the breed of cat lovers out there that buys a little holiday something for your feline companion I highly recommend a Meowl. The crafter in you will appreciate the awesomeness of the owl itself, your kitty will of course appreciate the catnip and the punster in you will take no end of pleasure in announcing "Me-Owl!" with glee each time you come across it in the middle of the floor.

Oh and Renee: I'm considering myself duly challenged to return the favour. I haven't yet cooked up how, but I'm hoping something will be headed back your way before xmas.

Let the Ikea Hack Begin

Even my Martin, a DIY hardcore enthusiast at heart, can fall victim to the sway of the Ikea offerings. Afterall, when you can buy a bookshelf for less than you can make one (buying new and decent lumber that is) then it can be hard to resist. Especially when you find said object of desire in the even-cheaper "As Is" section. And so it was that last Thursday night after having a lovely dinner and glass of wine with a friend, I ended up helping Martin hoist a 50kg Sultan Arno off the roof of our van. In the torrential rain. At 10pm.

The Sultan Arno is a box spring with drawers built into it.Just the kind of thing you'd expect from those efficient Swedes, and in fact exactly what Martin has been planning to build for our bedroom to maximize storage for our healthy wardrobes. Now at $350 regular price for a Queen size, we would likely have been able to build a new bedframe for roughly the same price as Ikea, but of course that would have also taken a fair bit of time to do. But for the $125 "as-is" price (it has a tear in the undercloth, which can be repaired), it was too good a deal to pass up. Even if it meant a somewhat terrifying drive in on the freeway with it strapped to the roof of the van for Martin.

The challenge now? To remove the padding from the sides, while keeping the top and bottom protected so that we can put a wooden box around it, with the drawers also faced in wood. Oh, and we need legs. This is going to require some attention to carpentry detail a bit outside of Martin's usual self-professed gorilla styling, but I have faith. We've already acquired the plywood and drawings have been made and revised. Of course the final challenge will be getting it up from the basement and into our bedroom, a challenge I hope to observe from the sidelines while perhaps uncapping a few beers for whomever is kind enough to help Martin haul that sucker upstairs.

When we're done, if it is successful, we'll be submitting it to Ikea Hacker along with our "fashion your own" Pax clothing unit we're making out of pieces collected from the As-Is department as well. Stay tuned.

It's SUPERfantastico

My "make-my-own" holiday gifts project is still moving along fairly nicely, though I did take a wee bit off time off for birthday week. But while I'm making good progress on the gifts themselves, I'm already suspecting that I may run out of steam for things like homemade tags and the like, which is why I'll be thrown' down my $3.50 (!$3.50 what a deal!) for tags made by the more than fantastic Ms.SUPERfantastico Gayla Trail herself. Gayla has relaunched the SUPERfantastico site recently with more goondess like her awesome Recyclopedia Stationery and a vertiable bevvy of button-y delights (I love those brown and orange ones). Plus: $3.50 for super cool gift tags? Sold.

Get Our Your Stamps!

  2006 Octopus Christmas card 
  Originally uploaded by lori joy.

If you're a card sending kinda person -- and I am -- then this is a particularly fun time of year. I adore getting out my address book, lining up my stamps and a good pen and sitting down to write my holiday cards. I used to kind of dread this as another chore, but now I enjoy the quiet reflection time it gives. My unofficial start date is typically the day after my birthday, so I've been getting ready with my cards already purchased, my addresses all up to date and new stamps waiting to go.

Last year I made cards, but this year with other things going on, and because I have decided to make a number of my gifts this year, I decided to go the store bought route. I bought mine from a lovely little paper store in Victoria this weekend called the Papery (on Fort at Broad Street). That was kind of a double cop out really, as I would have loved to have purchased some handmade cards from one of the many, many awesome designers out there on the interweb, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by my choices and wanting to get something in hand so I would have a hope of getting things to overseas relatives in time.

That said, for those of you not quite as keen as me, there's still plenty o'time to get some lovely handmade goodness. The top of my list is definitely Lori's set for this year, I adore that octopus. You can buy it here at Lori's store. Renee also sent me a really beautiful card that came in a lovely little parcel last week (more details on that to be posted here soon). I'm totally in love with blue and red these days and in fact slowly trying to convince Martin to do our kitchen in those colours. You can buy the cards at HeatherJeany's Etsy Store. And, if those two picks just aren't enough options for you, prepare to be totally overwhelmed with papery-goodness with Poppy's Holiday Card Guide. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Every one.

Calendar Girl

Something like this happens to me every year, but this year is already getting out of hand. I want/already have/am sure I will acquire far more calendars than I actually need. I already ordered one of these from Diana Fayt a few weeks ago, unable to resist that white enamel pot in what looks like it might be August. I talked myself into that one by deciding I would put it up at the office, so that I could once again have a Camilla Engman in the kitchen at home. I was given a lovely and entirely useful wildflower themed calendar for my birthday this weekend, which should surely come into service. And then I get to my computer this morning to see that Ms. Gayla has put together a stunning You Grow Girl option (see the image below) which I'm just itchin' to acquire. In fact I think I can go so far as to say that I *need* Gayla's calendar because it looks to be both gorgeous and useful. Damn her. And still, every year I promise myself a Nikki McClure calendar (a promise I've yet to fulfil). I'm beginning to think that I may just have to devote one wall to a kind of calendar collage though I fear that will somehow make me feel too conscious of the passing of time. So we'll see. I may get my thrills vicariously through purchasing some of these lovelies as gifts.

In Stitches

I think I have officially talked myself into buying Amy Butler's new book Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects and I couldn't be more pleased. If that lovely cover wasn't enough to make me covet it even prior to its release, then Megan's link to the page on Amy's site that includes an overview of some of the patterns covered in the book sealed the deal. There's a few different items on there that would help round out my Christmas craft/gift list, and as ridiculous as this may seem I found myself wandering around a mall this week (I so rarely go to malls) trying -- and failing miserably -- to find myself some cute new PJs. I'm pretty much 100% sure that I already have enough cute fabric lying around to whip up a pair of these, which will be much cuter than any of the dull or too cutesy things I've seen in the shops.

South By Southwest

This is kind of off-topic on this here blog, but I thought I would share with y'all that if you happen to already be in the Austin, TX area or are planning on headed to South By Southwest that I'll be there wearing one of my many hats (figuratively, I don't think literally) and moderating a panel on women's business. The panel is a part of another side project I'm involved in with my beloved business patner Lauren, called Boss Lady. Boss Lady is currently a blog and a book that is in process (we're working on a publishing deal) all focused on women run businesses. If that's something that turns your crank or if you want to hear my wacky Canadian accent in person. The panel will also include some female-web superstars, which you can keep your eye on Boss Lady to find out more about over time.

While this panel really  has little to do with my domestic life, I must say my professional self is pretty darned stoked about the opportunity. And I'll also likely be including some observations and info about my big trip to Texas (!) come the Spring when we go.

Do consider attending SXSW in March 07. Of course there's also lots of other great stuff, but I'll allow myself to think that you came just to see me.