Non-Profit Update

qui danza, originally uploaded by gian80.

Hi all - just poking my head in to say hello and give you a dancer-ish update. I'm off to meet an accountant this morning to talk about some of the financial and legal details that I need to see to in order to start my non-profit. I took one look at the tax forms and went AHHHHHHHH! Have I mentioned that I hate "legal-ese"?

I found the beautiful photo accompanying this post via Flickr.

Today I'm thankful for taking one more step toward my dream. What are you thankful for today?

Happy Things for You to Think About

Admist all our country's current political and financial upheaval, this happy quote:

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

Have you seen Toraf's latest sweater design for her daughter? I'm obsessed with the little dancing children in the chart. The pattern will be available soon via Ravelry.

Flickr user Sunshineupton's Wardrobe Remix Set makes me smile. I would hug her entire closet if I could.

More Flickr fun, have you seen Syko's road cushions or Mimi Kirchner's tiny world pin cushions? I am completely smitten.

Okay - that's only four linkety's for you, so I say to you blog skimmers out there, SLOW DOWN and take the time to click on them! I promise you, you'll smile!

Today I'm thankful for accomplishing lots of knitting this weekend. What are you thankful for today?

P.S. Bloggers - Have you heard that Martha Stewart is having a little blog contest? Visit Martha's blog and comment on comment on this post for a chance to have YOUR blog featured on Martha Stewart!

Inspiring Affirmations

Yesterday my mum and I went to visit Susan at Artstream Studios to check out their latest show, Affirmations.

I'm going to link to some of my favorites, by artist, because my pictures came out like crap compared to the beautiful scans over at Flickr.

Flossy-P, who I am very proud to call a dear old blog friend at this point, has completely outdone herself with this show. I'm so proud of you lady!!! Her work is stunning, but if I *had* to choose my favorites it would be Flowers Beneath You and All the Blessings - which are displayed next to each other in the gallery. I love, love, LOVE this pair!

I was drawn to the reds in Penelope Dullaghan's work. My favorites were Helicopter and Hanging Moon.

Amy Rice's work completely bowled me over. I enjoyed the opportunity to see her work up close, because she spray paints much of her shading onto the painting, giving the shadows a fuzzy, almost flocked look. Very neat to see in person! One of my many favorites was Listen.

The show was rounded out with playful soft sculptures by Sian Keegan. This little bunny stole my heart away.

If you are local, I urge you to check out the entire show in person. If not, check out the Affirmations Flickr Set for plenty of inspiring beauty.

Today I am thankful for the change of seasons. For sweater weather. For autumn touching down upon the trees. What are you thankful for today?

Mixed Beans in a Maple Glaze

I adapted my recipe from a summer squash recipe in an old maple cook book. I lowered the proportion of syrup to vegetable considerably, 1 cup to 1/4 cup, because I didn't want the beans to get all mushy.

Here's what I did:

Take about two cups of beans, I had green and wax beans on hand, and saute them over medium heat in two tablespoons of butter and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper. When the syrup starts to bubble, cover the pan. Check and stir periodically. You want to allow the beans time to soak up the glaze, but you don't want them completely mushy.

Easy. Super good. Super local. :)

Domestic Dilemmas :: Not Enough Time in the Day

Do any of you ever feel like you have an over-zealous zest for life?



I do.

Sometimes I feel like I have the outlook of a ninety year old person - I'm acutely aware that like all good things, life eventually comes to an end, but in the meantime I feel it's necessary to cram as much as is humanly possible into my remaining days.

Sometimes this outlook is overwhelming.



Case in point; Look at those dishes precariously perched behind me. They're piled a mile high because I went out with friends for four nights in a row and valued extra sleep in the morning instead of clean dishes.

That's what life is all about right? Choices? Well, I think my problem is that I don't like to make choices. I want to do it ALL. And RIGHT NOW.

One would think that with each passing year of my life that I would gain some wisdom and insight about goals and time management. Nope. Instead with each passing year my aspirations get bigger.

Examples:

Instead of, say five years ago when knitting a scarf made me feel like I was a pioneer roughing the Oregon Trail, these days I'd like to (in no particular order):

Build my own eco-friendly house
Have a garden that could sustain my every food want
Can and preserve everything from said garden when necessary
Learn to make cheese
Sew everything I own
Have a clean house for more than 2.5 seconds
Be a fun, social friend
Make lace to...
...Edge hankies
Line dry my clothes (though the season for that is ending)
Found and run non-profit organization
Travel
Make wine
Etc, etc, etc.

At the height of ridiculousness, today I asked someone for a Beet Ginger Porter Ale recipe - because I'm just overwhelmed with the massive void of spare time that I have so I should learn about homebrewing(!?!?!?!?) What is wrong with me!?

I'm in an interesting place right now. My #1 all time dream is happening, I'm taking baby steps to start the dream non-profit. Working for the bakery is mindless enough that it allows me to concentrate on the #1 dream..however trying to do anything else on top of those two things is exhausting!

For the past month, when I get home, I don't want to do *ANYTHING* No cooking, no cleaning, not even blog reading. I usually listlessly look through pictures on Flickr, try to make conversation with my hub if he's home and then go to bed.

I read, (or used to read anyways), so many blogs written by these incredible artistic women who just seemingly do it all. I'm in awe of what many of these ladies accomplish in a day. And many of them have children to juggle besides that! They're either super-human or really great writers *cough* liars.

Well, call me a poor writer if you will. These are real pictures. My house=shambles. I'm tired. I have a million projects that I would show you if I could just work on them for five minutes. I miss my blog.

Today I am grateful to have the time and energy to clean my sink, roast a chicken, invent a recipe (more on that tomorrow), make some stock, and BLOG...finally! What are you grateful for today?

We're Fabulous With a Capital "F"

Had a well deserved girls' night out last night and I'm off to shake my booty to the top 40 for a night of dancing tonight! Two nights out in a row - I feel like I'm 18 again!

Happy Saturday!

Thrifty Treasure

I've wanted to blog about these finds for a long time, but it got pushed aside until now.

:::Yummy Vintage Pillowcases:::



:::Unbelievable Paddington Pillowcase:::

Side A



Side B



I *love* Paddington. The illustration on this pillowcase is unreal - you should really go to Flickr and view those two pictures at the largest size. The detail is awesome! I have a very special place in my heart for him. My obsession started when my brother Thom brought home a wee Paddington Bear for me from Germany when I was a little girl. I still have him! I used to bring him to all of my dance performances for good luck. I'll have to take a picture of him for the blog someday.

:::Lacy Valance - to be repurposed as skirt edging???:::



:::My favorite find of the day - Cross Stitched Table Cloth:::





It's stained and has a few little holes, but I couldn't resist. I love having friends over for tea and this was just too sweet. A little TLC and I'm sure it will look great!

I bought all of that plus two tablecloths not pictured for $9. I think I made out like a bandit!

:::

I've missed posting here, but I've literally been too tired and creatively zapped to post. Every post in the last week would've read like this:

Eat, Dance, Go to Work, Work on Dance Stuff, Sleep
Eat, Dance, Go to Work, Work on Dance Stuff, Sleep
Eat, Dance, Go to Work, Work on Dance Stuff, Sleep

Life is good, but exhausting lately! Sheesh!

Today I'm grateful for supportive, lovely friends and family. I'm grateful for hitting snooze and snuggling with my hub for just five more minutes. What are you grateful for today?

Nothin' but dance going on...

Hey all...sorry I've been quiet for the past couple of days. I've been trying to strike a balance between the new job, working on making this dance stuff happen, and uh, sleeping. Why can't days be 48 hours long? Why, why, why!?!

Today I had my first official dance classes. All mine. I'm my own boss once a week. Today made the whole crappy summer and leaving my job and all of the icky stress that came with that worth it!

Thanks for cheering me on, for your comments, for believing that I could start this when I didn't even know where to begin. Here's a dance just for you guys. I wish I could tell you that it's me dancing, but alas, it is not. Someday soon though...



Today I'm thankful for you, whoever reads this. I'm grateful I quit my old job. What are you thankful for today?

:: Photo Shoot ::

Last night my friends and I went out to the beach for a little dance photo shoot. We were hoping to take a few photos that are website worthy for our upcoming projects and also just for pure fun. These are some of my favorite shots.

Me



Allison





The rest of the photos are in my Dancing Through Life photoset over at Flickr if you would like to see more. I'm still cropping a couple and such, so I'll be adding more photos to the set over the next few days.

It was great fun to get my feet wet (quite literally in this case) dancing again with my friends. In an effort to start getting myself back into dancing shape I've started doing little bits of ballet barre in the mornings at my kitchen counter. I haven't quite gotten to it everyday, but pretty consistently for the past two weeks. My goal is to work myself up into doing a full ballet barre every morning, which consists of about ten exercises and takes forty five minutes to an hour. I'm up to four exercises/20ish minutes. Preparing myself to dance like my buddies pictured above is going to be a long process, so I'm trying not to be overwhelmed by the hugeness of the task by breaking it down into tiny goals for myself.

Today I'm grateful for small triumphs. What are you grateful for today?.

ETA IV - Oh What a Night!

Wow, what an awesome weekend. I'm completely tuckered out!

Friday night Abby and I went to go see the Enormous Tiny Art Show IV at Nahcotta and I visited with so many friends old and new! Let's see, I saw Mark F., the company manager of the dance school I grew up in, Sharon I, a woman who used to dance in my modern class, Susan from Artstream, Jen from Swallowfield and I finally saw Lilly in person for the first time. Along the way I also met Mati Rose McDonough, Amy Ruppel, Lisa DeJohn, Betsy aka "urchinmama" from Flickr, Meg from PixieGenne and Stephanie DosReis from A Little Deer. Whew - that was a big list!

Nahcotta was absolutely hopping all night, it was steamy hot in there, due to the humidity, but so worth the stay! The artwork was so inspiring. I was impressed with the latest work from the wonderful bloggers that I follow, but I also have many new artists to check out now.

Aside from the Nahcotta excitement, I spent lots of time with "real life" friends this weekend. I stayed up late at a party last night, had a lazy day off today, ending in a beach dance photo shoot (more on that tomorrow) and a little dinner party here at my apartment. Every moment was jam packed leaving me super sleepy...so on to the gratitude.

Today I am thankful for internet friendships that transition so easily into the "real world." There is something so lovely and affirming to find out that the wonderful people that I spend many of my spare moments reading about are ten times as wonderful in person. I'm also thankful for dancing on the beach. Splashing in the waves, sand and wind for as long as the weather will let me. What are you grateful for today?

TRIUMPHANT CANNING!

Quick post today...

Triumphant canning!



This photo should be accompanied by brass horns and a ticker tape parade...I feel like canning is going to be a slippery slope towards addiction for me. Oh well, there are much worse things to be addicted to, right?!

I'm off to bake my bum off in a bit, and after work I'm going to try and catch Enormous Tiny Art Show 4 at Nahcotta with Abby.

See you tomorrow!

My First Canning Adventure

Well, you might have noticed from one of my previous posts that I had an overwhelming amount of produce gifted to me for my birthday party. Wasting food is a huge pet peeve of mine. I've frozen tons of food in the past, but I've been wanting to try other preservation methods for quite awhile. I figured that now was a better time than any to foray into the world of canning.

You'd better believe that I called in back up support for this one! My awesome mom came over (after a long day's work - she's a gem), helped out, and lent her canning expertise.

Stirring away



All of the recipes that I used can be found at Pick Your Own. The site has an overwhelming amount of information on food preservation and is also home to a comprehensive data base of PYO farms all over the world. It's a wonderful resource.

And now for a little foodie pr0n (scrambled so icky traffic doesn't come my way)

Naked Tomatoes



Naked Peaches



Don't those peaches look so shiny and delicious without their skins? I got three pint jars out of that bunch, packed in syrup. The tomatoes became four pints of home made spaghetti sauce. The whole experience was way easier than I expected it to be! I can't wait to do more! Next up I think that I'll be trying some refrigerator pickles and corn relish.

I'll leave you today with a few links to things that are rockin' my universe:

More graygoosie love...have you seen her Making Groceries and Home Canning Set? She's a domestic G.O.D.D.E.S.S! I was so inspired by her that I started my own Flickr set today, named after hers. Go graygoosie!

Amy put up the latest Tie On One Apron Gallery today. This month's theme was "gingham." I'm crushing hardcore on this apron. Those pleats are unreal! Go check it out.

Today I'm grateful for a delightful day off, both productive and restful. I'm grateful for blueberries doused in leftover peach syrup, YUM. I'm grateful for my mum, who teaches me so much. What are you grateful for today?

Braaaaaaains

I feel like a zombie right now. Today was a little icky, but I don't want to dwell on that. Instead I'll do my thankfulness practice and send a happy thought out to counteract the pooeyness of the day.

Today I am grateful for a nice chat with my friend Betty. For Matt's big hugs. For Stitch n' Bitch, because oh boy did I need to bitch today! What are you grateful for today?

Sarahpalooza 2008

Well my friends and family certainly took the "local" theme to great heights! Check out all of this gorgeous gifted produce!



Beans, potatoes, peaches, apples, blueberries, tomatoes...



Tomatoes, tomatoes and corn, corn and more corn! I think that some food preservation is in my near future! Note to self: I need a larger freezer.

The party was just awesome. It ambled along for eight hours! Just as I thought that it was all over and every one was about to depart, another wave of friends and family would arrive and the festivities would last a little longer. Just wonderful.

Simple gifts of food, homemade and handmade goodness kept a smile on my face.

Just look at the beautiful gazpacho that Miss Abby brought. Don't you just want to dive into that jar? She also make molasses sponge candy for me. Molasses sponge candy?! On top of being a domestic goddess Abby is the in the midst of preparing for a cross Atlantic move. I'm convinced that she never sleeps!



We had so much fun that I took very few pictures. These are a just few of the wonderful people in attendance.





This gift was a concoction of three of my smallest little buddies there. C., A., and M. who are 3,5 and 7 respectively. It's a multifunctional accessory piece. A ring, or in this case a hat. (They hand pumped the balloons themselves with a bicycle pump - so sweet)!



The look on my face pretty much sums up the day.

Joy.

Today I'm thankful for every one that stopped by my house yesterday, ate some food and shared their time with me. I'm grateful for the yummy muffins that I got to bring home from work. I'm grateful for a very full refrigerator! What are you grateful for today?