Pillow pal

You know how your neck and back totally cramp up when you're on a plane for eight hours?
Well, Catherine made a little pillow to help combat that issue. 

It looks a little like a dog bone, but Catherine assures me the shape is perfect for airplane travel.
Just tuck this sucker behind your neck and get your relax on. 

Like the looks of this here pillow? The pattern is free on Sew 4 Home.

new necklace!

I found this crystal necklace at an estate sale. It was a dollar. 

Cute, right?

And totally worth a dollar!

Wooded wonderland

Last time I was home, I wandered the woods while Mom fed the horses. 

Everything was dewey and misted and green. 

Makes me wish for Western Washington. 

Doldrums

I've been kind of in the dumps for a couple weeks...except I don't call it the dumps, I call it the Doldrums. But I was determined to accomplish something on Sunday, and I was determined that accomplishing something would propel me from the Doldrums into whatever the opposite of the Doldrums might be. Some other seafaring reference? Maybe something to do with the Gulf Stream... 


Anyway, I cleaned my vacuum and then vacuumed the hell out of the apartment. I took care of the dishes and cleaned the bathroom. And then I hand-washed exactly 90 vintage handkerchiefs, strung them up to dry in my living room (this had to be done in batches), and ironed them all. It took HOURS. 

But it was a good opportunity to test drive the vintage handkerchief garland I will be making at some point. 

And then I had an egg sandwich and watched The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. 

Disney knows what's up.

Most girls grow up watching Disney and thinking about how cool it would be to live in a castle (at least I did, and I'm sure my sisters did too, and boys probably think about being princes and what not). Hey, I don't even care if I'm the princess, just get me in that castle. Now, I would never want to be a maid in "castle times" because that was the hardest job ever. I just want to castle-sit for a museum or a king/queen and be in a castle for a few days. Today was probably as close as I am ever going to get. Nicholas and I traveled to Hillerod to visit Frederiksborg Slot (castle). Apparently, Frederiksborg is known as the Versailles of Scandinavia. At least this is what Rick Steves told me before we lost his guide to Copenhagen (please note this was our second and final guide to Copenhagen that has been lost in as many days). 

There were only a handful of other visitors at the castle, so it was easy to pretend,
just for a second, that I was alone in a castle hundreds of years old. 

It was neat and lovely.

Here's what it looked like.

sigh.

Yo-Yo, best check it out.

Okay so I was strolling around a craft store last month and found some lovely little wooden yo-yos.

 I was naturally drawn to them on account of the wood and the possibilities.

So I purchased three (for three sisters) and knew right away what I wanted to do.

all natural.

acrylic arsenal.

I wanted to use primary colors, I have really been attracted to them lately,
maybe because of their simplicity.

blood has been shed.

Even though I really probably shouldn't have, I painted a base of egg shell on two
of the three yo-yos. I left the third without to mix it up a bit.

the plan has been drawn out.

The designs I choose were also, like the colors, basic.

I went with a triangle, pentagon and some other quadrilateral.

reviewed and fortified.

 I used a flat angled brush to paint in the shapes, I put on several coats to get the colors extra rich.

victory!

Burgers, burgers, burgers.

I'm going to start this post off by letting everyone know that I am a vegetarian.  I don't enjoy burgers or beef or bacon. Nicholas loves burgers and anything burger related. He may or may not sometimes refer to himself as the Burger Baron. There might even be a "my life in burgers: the first quarter" post on his blog. It's not uncommon to find little meat photo surprises when I load the memory card--evidence below.

While I don't partake in the burger business, I did want to give Nick something near and dear to his heart for our 3 year anniversary. I decided to knit Nicholas a bacon burger. I still need to knit up some cheese.

A piece of yellow American cheese has been ordered.

You can knit this burger using scrap yarn.  Here are the yarns that I used for my burger creation.

If you're asking if I keep some of my knitting
needles in a Queen Elizabeth ceramic cup,
the answer is most certainly yes!

This is the finished product. 

I included 2 pieces of lettuce, a tomato, a slice of bacon, a dollop of mustard and one beef patty.

The great thing about this project is that you can customize it however you want. Nick has already requested additions for upcoming occasions. Maybe some grilled onions for Christmas! 

The pattern I used is available on etsy.

Copenhagen!

Greetings from Copenhagen! It's almost 11:00 in the evening here, and I'm deciding wether or not my night is coming to a close or has just begun. I'm not used to bars being open until 4 in the morning. Copenhagen is a little difficult to get used to. There isn't as much English around as you would think. I mean sure, everyone talks it, but I'm not one to engage a whole lot so I go for signs, and plaques, and other markers to let me know where I am and where I need to be. Like today, we went into this church.

Sure it's really pretty, but I have no idea what it is and what it do

(Tyler reference if you ever read the blog--hey, Tyler).

We also went to Rosenborg Slot (castle), and because I purchased the English guide,

we knew exactly what everything was and exactly what it do!

Christian IV's crown!

The king's toilet. This might have been my favorite part. Those tiles are original!

Bikes:

Everyone, and I mean everyone, rides bikes in Copenhagen.
When you leave any metro station there is a sea of bikes--hundreds and hundreds of bikes.

This (naturally) makes me start thinking about how you can have all these bikes just sitting around and no one ever takes them! They're not locked up to a station or anything. They have a small lock on the back wheel so they can't be wheeled away, but certainly people can cut those locks.
Why aren't people stealing bikes?!?! 

Babies:

Also, I'm intrigued as to why every single baby in Copenhagen (and Iceland when I think about it) gets to ride around in a Pram? I'm talking every baby! I think it might be because every baby seems to be a little bit cuter when it's bouncing around inside a Pram. We even crossed paths with a little baby on the way to Rosenborg that clearly was dealing with Chicken Pox, but inside that Pram, it didn't look soooo bad.
If someone pushed me around inside a giant Pram, it might be worth the Pox (that sounds creepier than I meant it to...sorry).

Also, (and I saw this in Iceland too) mothers would leave their babies outside the stores and cafes asleep inside their Prams and go shop and have lunch! I was shocked when I saw it. That very night I was reading some blogs, when I came across this article about this very thing. I mean anyone could wheel that baby (and that Pram) down the street. I told Nick that people in the US don't do that because people would be stealing those Pram babies right and left. He didn't think people steal babies in the US, but he's wrong on that one. So many baby thefts!

Bathrooms:

(no picture, sorry)

All of the pubic bathrooms are nice little rooms that close up all the way. There's no stall doors, only regular doors on little rooms to do your business in. I can't help but wonder why we don't have little rooms instead of stalls in the US. I think it's because people do drugs and have sex in them.
That's what I keep telling myself at least.

**I realize that it sounds like I think that the US would steal bikes, babies, Prams, and do bad things in bathrooms. 

Tiny Tacoma

I found some tiny items in the garden at Mom's. 

Up next: the woods!