before and after

My living room has a bright pink taffeta chair, books on Coco Chanel on the end table, and lots of big silver candlesticks in front of the fireplace. In short, it is cute. Except for these pillows. It occurred to me that these do not fit the space; they are too dark, too drab.


I looked for new ones at various stores but nothing jumped out at me, so I decided to recover my old ones. I found the pink fabric at Fancy Tiger and the yellow at JoAnn's. I made a little pleat in front and voila! New pillows that brighten up the couch and are more my style.

the lush

That is the name I gave this fantastic cupcake that my sister found on Smitten Kitchen. Call it the lush, the drunken cupcake, the Irish Carbomb cupcake or just call it scrumptious. It is Guinness chocolate cake with Jameson ganache filling topped with Bailey's frosting. It may not have been the most appropriate cupcake to bring to a baby shower, but I did and people couldn't get enough. I did warn the parents that the frosting and ganache had alcohol that hadn't been cooked, but they seemed to think that the sugar and booze would even each other out.

art walk

I love taking trips. Driving around discovering new places or returning to familiar places to see friends and family: it's all good. But sometimes mini day trips are the best. Just waking up and thinking: I want to go to that new bakery or farmer's market in the town 30 minutes away, or that hiking trail 40 miles away, or that fantastic shopping center 50 miles away. Last Wednesday my computer was in the shop and it was 75 degrees so it was a day made for exploration. I visited Loveland's sculpture garden. Loveland hosts a large sculpture show every summer and each year they buy a few pieces to put in the park. There are currently 131 sculptures. Here are a few of my favorites.

tea party ready

I have been threatening to make tiered cake plates for months and finally made a few last week. It has been fun going to thrift stores looking for plates and little decorative bobbles. Now I have to have a party so I can fill them up with goodies.

brrr v. grrr

My sister saw a hat like this
at a cool craft store and
thought it was fun. I knew I had
to try and make it for her.
It was a great winter treat.

caramels with a kick

Instead of making chocolates this Valentines, I made salted caramels with a twist: they are topped with espresso sugar, turning them into a great blend of salty/sweet/jolty!

writing about art's presence

I love Heidegger's analysis of Van Gogh's peasant shoes:
"On the leather lie the dampness and richness of the soil. Under the soles stretches the loneliness of the field-path as evening falls. In the shoes vibrates the silent call of the earth, its quiet gift of the ripening grain and its unexplained self-refusal in the fallow desolation of the wintry field."