"Through"

I love images that are peaceful and calm but somehow brimming with that energy that beauty brings. This one that I saw on Design*Sponge caught my attention immediately. Abbey described it as "magical." And it is.

Photo by Caroline Somp (see her work at Etsy here and her blog here).

Flowers

Yesterday involved quite a bit of flower arranging, which is something I enjoy doing. I can't say that I'm much good at it, but as long as I'm given something decent to work with, it works out fine.

I'd love to take a class on flower arranging someday.

Flowers for a meeting at my dad's store tomorrow night - white and yellow alstroemeria and greenery

Flowers for my grandma, who made us dinner last night - white alstroemeria with yellow roses, some little pink flower I don't know, and greenery including eucalyptus - which I love, but you can't see in this picture

A little bouquet for the house made from the early spring flowers in the yard - Camellias (isn't that bud delicious?), azaleas, and some pinkish/purple fuzzy thing (as you can tell, my floral knowledge is kind of limited). It's in this cool container that my mom picked up at Butchart Gardens on a vacation stop. It's a small glass dish with lots of little holes in it for individual stems - it might have a name, but I don't know it.

And finally, roses for my mom, who just got back from Africa today after 2 weeks there with a missions group

Matryoshka

While I was looking up all sorts of "Nest" goodness, I kept running across nesting dolls, or matryoshka. These have always been fascinating to me; the smaller they get, the better. Turns out they're a pretty popular icon! I tried to find out what the biggest one ever was, and I think it was a 72-piece Matryoshka, seen below:

Isn't that crazy big?

Like I said, there are matryoshka everywhere. Here are some of my favorites:

This necklace with a tiny doll accent:

"MY LITTLE BABUSHKA" Locket Necklace
(these are also sometimes called Babushka, but apparently that's not
correct terminology... but I'm no expert, so whatever)

I love these. Wouldn't they be a great accent to a dressing table? I'd love to have a big closet that could be a dressing room, with a little vanity and big mirrors... But these are a realistic compromise:

LUNE DE MIEL nesting dolls

Matryoshka dolls in fun, modern colors and designs:

nikita // nushka dolls

Cute notecards!

Pear Girl Nesting Doll Note Card Set

And last, but not least, this print:

What's Inside

Twilight

So, I gave in to the whole Twilight thing. I just finished reading the first book. It's not great writing, but it was hard to put down. Engrossing story line, I guess? I have no money, so I check books out from the library... who know how long it will be until I get the next one! Right now I am #107 on the list for the next book. My mom bought this one, though, so maybe she'll buy the others.

I don't know if I want to see the movie or not... I didn't hear anything great about it, and I don't want a bad movie to ruin my reading. Once I've seen a movie adaptation of a book, I have a very hard time reading the book without seeing the actors and movie setting in my mind. I think I'd rather just keep my own mental movie, thank you very much.

Sewing: "Gadget" cases and rice pillow

Today I made a case for my cell phone and my iPod. The outside is brown corduroy, and the inside is a brown and coral patterned fabric. I've tried to make a little fabric case for my phone before, but I made it way too small. I just didn't figure out the measurements and gave up after two tries. Today, I thought I may have done the same thing - close, but a little too small, but it worked out almost perfectly. My phone is now snug as a bug. :) On the other hand, I DID make the holder for my iPod too small, so it's more like an iPod wrap than an iPod case.














The lining is something I've used before. It happens to be the back of my "warm." (Warms care of Blair at Wisecraft.) I found the front fabric at Aubergine (which I was tempted to go into after Heidi talked about it here); I went in to look around and found this little mini-runner thing. It's brown with a tan edging, and sweet coral and white embroidery. I found a 99-cent fat quarter at Joann that matched the coral, and voila - my warm. I highly recommed them for chilly toes on chilly nights.

Domino

I just found out Domino is closing! So sad. My brother bought me the Domino book for Christmas, and I was so happy to discover that the book comes with a year's subscription to the magazine. Today, however, I realized that my subscription to Domino will never get fulfilled.



In honor of Domino's departure, these are a few images from a recent feature they had on the White House:

The Lincoln Bedroom - Apparently, Mary Lincoln bought this bed, but President Lincoln refused to sleep in it due to its extravagant price during wartime. The room was put into a room that has since been called the Lincoln Bedroom, and it has gone through various forms.

1945-1953: Truman 1961-1963: Kennedy 1969-1974: Nixon




1974-1977: Ford 1993-2001: Clinton 2001-2008: George W. Bush

I was going to post a few more pictures of other rooms, but I just got my first CA subbing job! So, I'm off to print a few emergency worksheets (let's hope I don't need them!) and then get to bed.