My New Spring Hat

I am a hat girl. They keep my head warm in the winter and they are a delightful way to look cute and cover up any unfortunate hair mishaps, which I seem to be getting a lot of lately, grrrr.

I spotted this beauty by Meversible at the One of a Kind Show and instantly felt the love. An adorable style and a silk screened bird on the side? How could I not bring that sweetie pie home? We will laugh in the face of bad hair days from now on, my cute hat and I.

Painted Bottle Centrepieces

I have been amassing an empty wine bottle stash in the corner of my kitchen, mistakenly thinking that I will eventually return them to the liquor store for the deposit. Instead, my already space challenged kitchen is shrinking before my eyes. How timely then that I saw this delightful tutorial for painted wine bottle centerpieces on ruffleblog.com.

Some bright paint, a few colourful flowers, and I will have a cheery centrepiece for my next dinner party. Plus, I will save myself a trip to the liquor store with a heavy clunky bag of empty bottles that would have made me look like a lush.

http://ruffledblog.com/entry-24-diy-wine-bottle-centerpieces/

 

Perfect Pairs

It was a run of the mill kind of day. I came home ready to settle on the couch and watch TV when my friend down the hall called me, breathless, dying to show me the new pair of booties she had just bought. Could she come over?

I'd made a mushroom curry the night before, an old standby from The Moosewood Cookbook, so comforting and delicious over rice and even better the next day. I set out two plates at the table, put on some tunes and told my friend to bring herself and her new boots over for dinner.

The boots were perfection: open toe, studded, a delicious greyish colour and ridiculously reduced. I warned her I might have to be her twin and get a pair as well. Dear friend that she is, she gave me permission, so long as she gets first dibs to wear them if we go anywhere together.

Sometimes random moments make for the perfect pairing. We had our dinner with fresh crisp wine that seemed to complement it perfectly, applauded her bargain booties and had a wonderful night. Spontaneous dinner parties to honour a great shoe make for a great mid-week pick me up.

Homemade Play Doh

My nephew is coming for a visit so I decided that it was time to make homemade Play-Doh. Everyone loves Play-Doh. I remember the exquisite squishiness of it, the colours, and the endless possibilities in my hands. I loved how easily something could be created then just as easily be squished down to nothing. Oh the bliss and non-commitment! The valuable demonstration of how painstakingly something can be built and how quickly it can be squished to smithereens. The Buddhist lesson of the transient nature of life. It's not just playing, it is a life lesson all rolled up into a sticky colourful blob!

I found a recipe for homemade Play Doh and whipped up a batch, adding food colouring to my assorted piles. We will don our aprons and set to work. I will be the best auntie playmate ever.

Play-Doh Recipe

1 c. flour

1 c. boiling water

2 tbsp. cream of tartar

1/2 c. salt

1 tbsp. oil

Food colouring

Mix and knead together.