And we're back.

My, how things have changed.

I had been losing the will to blog and create throughout the first chunk of this year. There were spurts of creativity here and there, but I couldn't be bothered to document any of it. This was not aided by a some devastating, but not altogether surprising, news about the museum I was working at closing for good. For five and a half months we worked an insane amount to close the place down, which left me with a will to occasionally cook and sleep, but not really document that first one. As a result, the latter part of 2015, and the entirety of 2016 have been a bit lacking on the enthusiasm for blogging anything. It may be an excuse, but there it is.

I've also really lost the enthusiasm to blog of about my cooking in general. I follow a few blogs that do food, and while I love their design aesthetics and I get inspired by them to make the recipes, I can't bring myself to bother with taking photos of the food I'm making for myself. I also can't bring myself to really photograph my food at restaurants, or in public really, like food bloggers; It's still not something I'm comfortable with. That may change going forward, but I won't make any promises for it now.

Despite these things, so many good things have happened during my massive blogging hiatus. I've done some traveling, hit the one year anniversary with G back in the spring and have at least gotten another job while I look for something that is actually in the field. Said new job is in a fabric store, which is good and bad: it's a barely over minimum wage retail gig, cutting fabric, but it's mostly cutting fabric for people trying to DIY stuff, or grandmothers making ridiculously complicated and stunning quilts for ungrateful grandchildren, or retired housewives that are making receiving blankets to give to hospitals (this is a thing, apparently). There is at least a small staff discount, which has been taken advantage of once or a dozen times for things here and there. I have been very good about restraining myself and not buying fabric unless I have a specific project in mind. With two full aisles of clearance fabric, it's tough. I'm still purging stuff in general in my life, so working in a fabric store has been a challenge.

First travel of the year was to Boston for a hockey games, because #priorities. Meeting George Stromboulopoulos in the airport lounge on the was a bonus.

Second one was to Jamaica for a friend's wedding. All inclusive resorts have their advantages, but stellar food across the board was not one of them for this place. It was nice and warm and not Toronto in early January, so I can't complain too much.

This will be the cottage photo and double for the anniversary with G. Neither of us are big selfie people, and the amount of pictures of the two of us together can be counted on one hand.

A friend and I ran away to Reykjavik and Paris for two weeks after the museum closed. Iceland in general is pretty amazing.

I mean really.

Paris is always stunning, and we got to see way more death this time around, which was fun. We hit two major cemeteries and the catacombs. 

Because, that's why.

In an effort to actually do more creative things in my life, and fully take advantage of the (not that great) employee discount, I've decided I'm going to make something every month for the next year. I have a backlog of sewing projects and craft ideas that have been taunting me since we found out the museum was closing, but I never had any mental or physical energy to make them throughout the summer. Now that I have some time, and want to distract myself from the fact I'm working a not entirely great retail job that has nothing to do with my field, I want to start making and creating again. Might as well blog about it to force myself to make more. Maybe. We'll see how that works. Also, like I mentioned earlier, there have been little bits of creativity here and there. I've made a few pieces of clothing (one of which I wore to my interview at the fabric store), a friend's halloween costume and even gave Fluffy a slight makeover for this year's Halloween festivities. None of these have been photographed well enough for the blog, but I feel like I can do some me-made posts in the future to show the backlog.

Doing some sewing.

Getting my 70s string art on for some home decor.

I feel like I have cheated slightly with November; I have made something small already, and I have a second, decent sized sewing project that I want to *actually be my November project. Perhaps this is my early project-timeline enthusiasm, and if so we shall take advantage of it. I'm hoping that in the upcoming week on a day off I can get a jump on said project. I do have a sneak peak of it for the time being though. Some days the clearance section can offer the greatest things that will further your Canadian mid-century modern cottage decor dreams. Or, you know, bear fabric.

The little project will likely make a guest appearance in that post. The process photos look like shit, and I'm waiting to get some better lighting to at least have some nice finished product shots. With any luck, there will be at least one photo of a slightly funky looking sewing kitteh.

I also have a list of projects for December, two of which are achievable and a third that may get changed a bit depending on the enthusiasm. The first will be a new wreath, specifically going off of this tutorial I found from Craft and Tell. I have a giant pile of blue and silver tinsel that I had been stashing for an attempt at making a retro-looking tinsel tree, which I've since decided is never going to happen, so this seems like the perfect project to do instead. I picked up a few extra bits and pieces at a recent Michael's Christmas decor sale (which was a mistake in going too, but I digress), and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I also finally redid my blog header! It's cute and I like it. Let it be the start of something new.

Online Making Inspiration

Avoiding the side-eye from my blog shortcut on my toolbar has been a priority lately. Even now I'm thinking "I could tackle that pile of receipts on my desk" or "I really should go through that pile of recipes." Weeks ago G was watching something on my computer and asked "What's Swimming Chickens?" I omitted some truth and just said "a blog." I was mildly ashamed of how little I'd done on it in ages that I didn't want him to read it just yet. Despite that, the enthusiasm continues to wane.

What has been poking me a bit into doing something, and why I fall into youtube holes at 2am, has been following a buttload of bloggers and vloggers. I've been known to binge on their previous content at times, ruining my sleep schedule for days because YOLO. After some hunting, I did find the other post I had done about other bloggers I follow, way back in 2011 (a banner year of 40 posts), and discovered that I do still follow some of them. One's disappeared while 2 others have lessened their postings (still better than me, so can't complain), but many, many more have been added to the list since then. The following is a super short list of the regulars.

The Youtubes...

HGTV Handmade

Ignoring the current pastel thing they've got going on (don't hate, I just have a natural aversion to pastels), HGTV Handmade is super fun and inspiring. These ladies are constantly doing random challenges, themed weeks and aren't afraid to show their craft fails. They each have different styles between them which makes the videos all the more enjoyable since it's something different every week. I still follow Meg's channel, Meg Allan Cole Crafts (psst, look for a Meg-inspired home decor post soon), and I've also been recently following Karen Kavett's channel, some evidence of which you can see here.

Annika Victoria

I love Annika and I'm annoyed I didn't find her earlier. This science-loving maker does AMAZING sewing and making tutorials that are not of the "you already need several projects worth of knowledge to make this thing" variety. Her instructions are super clear and answer, she's not afraid to show off the screw ups and has a wonderful instagram that makes me want to actually sign up for instagram. Thanks to her, I finally made my own circle skirt, with a ZIPPER AND HIDDEN POCKETS. Yep. I had seen circle skirt tutorials around for ages, but there was something about how she explained it that just made it so much clearer. My hem looks awful, but I can blame me for that one. I still made a skirt with POCKETS that I wore for 6+ hours on Christmas that didn't fall apart. I have made clothing. I am eternally grateful Annika, you've fueled some realistic clothing-making confidence in me :)

If you're interested in more of Annika's stuff or don't know where to start, I would recommend her Make/Thrift/Buy series for laughs and inspiration, or her Get Thready With Me series for many more of her tutorials. She also has a new series called the Style Pyle, which is a totally stealable borrowable idea to tackle the box of randoms next to my desk. Either that or it will force me to realize I should get rid of a fair bunch of the things in that box. Finally.


Ze Blogs....

Aunt Peaches

I've been following Aunt Peaches for a while now, and she's my kinda gal... *just enough snark to make things interesting. I love her writing style too, which can be exemplified in this little bit of her about blurb; "this site was founded in 2010 as a sandbox for practicing my html skills and as an excuse to make unhealthy quantities of paper flowers. So many paper flowers."

She's a fantastically and unapologetically creative woman, painting anything that isn't (or is as the case may be) nailed down. She organizes a worldwide the Valentine's handmade card swap every year, puts flamingos on everything and is currently working on a book! I love wandering through her blog and instagram, which are explosions of colour, flowers and a cat. It's great.

Atomic Redhead

One can safely assume that I'm slightly biased towards redheads anyway, but the vintage aspects and gorgeous photos were the clinchers that caused me to binge her entire backlog in one night several years ago. The blog is filled with several covet-worthy outfit posts and Janey's love of the vintage inspired kitsch travelling. It's been worth a look for the past wee while, and I hope it will be yet.

Chronically Vintage

Jessica is just fun. She has a great rotation of outfit posts, vintage ads, vintage life and resource posts that never fail to catch my attention. Even today she posted about 10 online resources for petticoats (super handy)! I had been following her blog for ages before I realized she was actually based in Canada, which just made my little patriotic heart burst with pride.


A Bit of Both? More?

Tested

Thanks to my love of Mythbusters, I discovered Tested on youtube about 3 ish years ago. I had never really listened to podcasts (or really understood the point since I'm a troglodyte) at that point, but I got hooked on the Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project pretty quickly. The topics range from movie, props, making, philosophy, mythbusting (or not now as the case may be) and a little bit of everything else. Even the horror movie podcast was fascinating, and gave me a list of movies I should avoid! I don't really follow the website that much, since at the time it was mostly techey stuff that I'm not too keen one, but the youtube channel is a lot of fun. Every now and again the podcast can inspire me enough to actually leave youtube alone for a few hours and make something. It's powerful stuff.


I am actually working on a project or two at the moment, and cooking more. In theory there will be posts in the near future here. I'm hoping that I can get some more oomph from the guys above this sentence and actually post them. The new family motto is "we can but try," so we'll see how things go.

Gallivanting to the U. S. of A.

As I've eluded to in the previous posts (slash "completely stated"), I did not "do" Halloween this year. I actually ran away from the city for a long weekend in New York City. We hadn't entirely intended to miss Halloween in the Tdot, but the conference my boyfriend was attending happened to be that weekend, and I'm game for most excuses to go to New York. Also, both of us got most of a week off from work as a result of this trip, so bonus.

The last weekend in October is a lovely weekend to see the fall colours in Central Park.

After a bumpy flight and a rainy walk to the hotel the night before, we were greeted by a 20 degree day in New York City. The boy went off to his conference and I started wandering throughout the city. I had a whole list of things I had some mind to do while there, well more than half of it was thrown to wayside in favour of wandering aimlessly.

Lady Liberty way off in the distance.

A Navel Monument of some kind... I neglected to read the plaque that closely.

Tribeca in the fall, looking fantastic.

I dragged G to the Chelsea Highline one night for an evening wander, which not only worked up the needed appetite for ramen and sashimi but was also a lovely place to see at night. The Highline was a raised train track in New York that stopped being used in 1980. Jump to 2006 and it's revitalization as a vibrant, urban green space. There are some handily place viewing platforms set up directly over some of the streets to get a view a fair ways through the city.

From the Chelsea Highline one evening. 

The one Halloween-y thing we did do while in NY was the one touristy thing that G wanted to do, which was visit the Ghostbusters Fire Hall. Hook & Ladder #8 was open for business and handing out candy to the various trick-or-treaters. They fully celebrate the movie fame and offer tours of the fire hall itself.

Who ya gonna call?

While most of the costumes I saw throughout the day were remarkably disappointing (sorry NY, but y'all need to step it up), Taco Dog here brightened my afternoon significantly. I am not above enjoying cutesy dog costumes. 

Taco Dog!

Our last morning was spent exploring Central Park, and occassionally going around it since we didn't know that the New York City Marathon went through the park. We got blessed with amazing weather throughout the trip, and the idea that it could be a comfortable 18 degrees on November 1rst was pretty sweet.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir... and some joggers.

Cleopatra's Needle.

G photographing Belvedere Castle... and my photo being ruined by an algae bloom advisory.

The gal on the left was less than impressed by ol' Burnsie.

Random Greenery.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. There were a few things I wish I had gotten too while I was there, but life's tough. We ate a lot of great food which made up for most things, and got a lovely sunset above the clouds on the way home. Some of my finds from this trip will be making appearances in the next wee while, since I did get to a thrift shop and a flea market. I've been quietly getting into all things Christmas since I got back but holding off until closer to now to be less annoying about it. I also like fall to be fall, and not CHRISTMAS on November 1rst. It may involve copper reindeer. Just sayin'.

Super late Halloween decor post

While falling down a youtube hole around Halloween last year, I came across this video for this fantastically creepy and classy Halloween decor DIY by Karen Kavett on HGTV Handmade.

I actually went out the next day to get the wreath and as many cheap snakes as I could find.... which turned out to be not much, despite being Halloween season. The craft store only had big expensive ones, and dollarama (the great mecca for plastic, not always 100% anatomically correct animals) only had these weird, jelly snakes that smelled awful. I know buying them online is an option, but the lack of instant gratification of finding more snakes and the usual DIY project procrastination resulted in the parts I had collected being put away for an entire year and ignored.

If a new bid to try and actually do some half done/not done projects to clean up the stashes, I started looking for snakes again this year! I trip to Honest Ed's while killing time one afternoon got a few medium sized ones and the craft store had a multi pack of snakes that nicely rounded out my pile.

All you need is a vine wreath, a 'knot' of snakes and some spray paint.

Step 1) Arrange ALL THE THINGS. I went with Karen's advice and started with the bigger guys and filled out the bare spots with the medium and smaller snakes. With Netflix on in the background, weave all the snakes together and arrange until you're happy with how they're looking. I ended up with a few heads sticking out, which gives it personality.

Hey dude!

Getting there.

No actual snakes were harmed in the making of this wreath. Well maybe, I don't know if the hot glue gun ran one over on the way to the craft store. That would suck if it did, but I can't be held responsible for that.

Hot glue certainly helps, and thankfully didn't melt my jelly snakes (which don't smell nearly as bad a year later!)

Step 2) My wreath didn't have a hanger on the back, but some stiff wire from the stash and a healthy application of hot glue solved that problem.

Step 3) After you prepare a spray painting area so as to not ruin your balcony floor and panels, spray paint the crap out of the entire wreath. Make sure you move it around and get it from all angles, and try to get a second coat to make sure you have good coverage everywhere. Let it dry for a good few hours if you can, but it will smell like paint for a while... and maybe make half of your apartment hallway smell like spray paint. Maybe.

My super sexy spray paint set up. It's outdoors with good ventilation, stop judging.

Before....

During/First pass... 

Almost there...

Step 4) Hang it up and creep people out!

"Why did it have to be snakes?" Because snakes are awesome Dr. Jones. Suck it. Also, the lighting in my hallway sucks balls.

I am super pleased with how this turned out. Having it the one colour makes it kinda subtle, as much as a wreath of snakes can be, and it's creepy enough to be outside the spoopy range for Halloween. Also, this turned out to be the only thing I did for Halloween at home, so an afternoon well spent. I know I used a 50% off coupon on the spray paint, and I might have for the wreath last year, I don't remember, but I think I spent about $35 in total for the whole thing, which ain't bad for something I can creep out guests with for years to come :)

My "why I didn't 'do' Halloween this year" post will be coming up shortly, with a nice little Halloween Easter egg, and here's a bad snake pun to tide you all over.

Let us try this again

Hello from well into 2015.

Many things have changed since the last time I was here, on the blog and IRL. Things are still changing, in IRL and on the blog, so this space will be a bit clunky for a while. Sorry, not sorry.

I'm in a headspace where I'm more inspired to do blog posts. I'm still not good with taking pictures of events, but I've being doing some projects and excursions that at least encourage photos and writing posts. I've also been falling down some late night, binge-the-whole-backlog-in-one-night blogger holes, so I'm re-inspired to write about thrifting, crafts, sewing and adventures. I'll still be writing about cooking and food, but probably not as much. I still love cooking, but trying to document my meal while making it was something I never got used to. That, and I was never happy with how the photos looked. Despite all my training, I'm not the best photographer, and most of my cooking photos further proved the point.

A bit more fiddling is require on the blog side of life, but for now, here's a late Halloween teaser from a craft project I finally got around to doing. I didn't really "do" Halloween this year (to be explained in a further blog post), but I have been meaning to do this project for about a year now, so I'm glad I was able to around to it. Project procrastination at it's best.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Has per usual in these situations, we shall see. We can but try.

2nd post of 2014...

There have been several times in the last few months where I have looked the shortcut to this blog on my dash and thought, "yes, I will write something." That's about as far I get with that.

I've been following a lot of blogs lately, many of which have recently revamped themselves and changed the look of their blogs. Almost every time, I love the change and think "I should go back to mine and do something about it." I then look at my dash shortcut again, and leave it at that.

I've finally started to get back into a groove of cooking and I get a third of the way into a recipe before I think "I should probably get my camera, I can fudge the starter photos..." and then never go back to my desk to get the camera.

It is what it is.

This post took the better part of an entire episode of Project Runway and America's Next Top Model to write. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Life is slowly going into what could actually be described as a normal schedule. I'm now working full time at one job, I got some travel in just as the summer ended and I'm slowly gathering materials for Halloween. I can't complain too much.

I will leave this image from the cottage, and hope to move forward.