four. ten

fun with drills, part I

2010-01-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

on a good day, my and jacky's apartment is simply 'cozy'. on a bad day, it feels like joe and francis (our cats) are under your every step and our combined over-abundance of craft supplies is coming out of your ears. throw three bikes into the mix and our living room starts to resemble my parents' garage: packed to the brim. i recently got fed up with the bike roulette we'd gotten into the habit of playing, and decided to put up bike hooks. i borrowed a friends' drill and tried my skills putting in a fancy new toilet paper holder, then stepped it up a notch and went stud-hunting in the living room. the hooks have held up so far, we keep the lighter two of the three bikes hanging on them, and the space is so much better to hang out in. check it out!

i've got a couple more tricks up my sleeve before keenan gets his drill back, just wait!

adventures on the internet

2010-01-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

a couple of weeks ago i found myself spending WAY too much time on ebay in an attempt to win a new saddle for my bike. after being narrowly outbid too many times to count, i became so upset with losing that i bid on the next thing that popped into my head. that thing was 'silver and gold buttons' and i easily won a lot of 200.

for about three seconds i was elated to have FINALLY won something, but then reality hit and i forked up the eight bucks paypal was hounding me for and got to work brainstorming just how i was going to put the buttons to use. this is what i came up with:

i've made about a million of these little matchbook notebooks, and now there's an entire series with silver and gold buttons! what more could you ask for!?!? anyhow.

i bought this coat before i went to the east coast two winters ago. i though i was over it, but the button swap has extended its' appeal for a little longer.

stay tuned for a sneak peek at the most EPIC project i'm working on. top secret till then.

field trip: maple rock farm

2009-09-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

or, how i spent my summer vacation.

last month i said 'see ya' to portland and took the train up to bellingham. i spent a strange day/ night there before hopping aboard a little five-seater plane to orcas island to see my nicole. i was in the plane for fourteen minutes, how efficient.

nicole is a 'hippie'. this is her cabin. it's all you need, really.

she is an intern at a wonderful place called maple rock farm. whenever we wanted to eat, we'd just walk out the door and harvest whatever we pleased. it was amazing.

we're so in love.

tim and john came too.

this is brett and dana b. brett is terribly manly, and dana is a crack-up who calls me 'caitlin lomen' exclusively.

we spent some time on a dock drinking pbr.
we made dinner at brett's solar-powered cabin, nicole played bartender.

we ate so well. as a result of this meal, john has given up yellow cheddar for the sharp white stuff. yay.

this is the treasure i took home to portland. i ate like a king with a substantial garden for a whole week.

flog fail

2009-09-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

i made this zucchini-goat cheese pizza thing intending to do a legit flog about it, but to be perfectly honest, i didn't really like it and wouldn't recommend making it. it was pretty though so i'll post a photo.

looks can be deceiving. ick.

the month in review. kind of.

2009-08-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

i've been feeling bad lately about not blogging, but looking back at these pictures makes me realize that it was quite the busy month-ish so hopefully i can be forgiven for ignoring my computer. july/ august was full of record-breaking heat, mini-trips outside of portland, and lots and lots of biking. see for yourself.
john and i had no plans for the fourth of july, but we both had the day off so we decided to take up a friends' offer of camping at rockaway beach. we spent the night prior in mcminnville where the davies' family dogs put on quite the show; tinsley humped the hell out of an ambivalent jackson, but only after jackson painted every knee-level surface in john's childhood home with blood from her too-excited tail. john cleaned up the damage the next morning while i read books in the backyard and picked berries. the beach provided friends, food, bonfires, and a burning pineapple effigy from a daytime parade.
we drove home way too early the next morning, smelling of campfire smoke but content with our holiday spent iconically oregon.
i took the second weekend of july off from work to head home to seattle, conveniently also the starting line for cascade bicycling club's seattle to portland classic. charlotte was super gung-ho about an early morning ride so dad took the obligatory 'sisterly outing' pictures and we rode leisurely along the lake to seward park and back.
friday afternoon i stopped by bluebird homemade ice cream and tea room, a new business venture on capital hill started by my friend josh and summer employer of the one and only mark leporati. their stumptown coffee ice cream is wonderful and the space is a true labor of love. seattleites, stop by and say hi the next time you're at 13th and pike, right next door to the elysian!
that weekend found me in the wonderful company of emily and bill affolter whom i had the pleasure of riding all 202 miles of STP with. we joined 9,997 other cyclists riding en masse from seattle's university of washington all the way to portland's halladay park. there was sun, there was rain, there was lightning right over our heads. i had an incredible time and i love that i got to spend it with one of my best friends and her incomparable father. and thank you whole foods, for paying my entry fee, you're the best.
this is my friend haircut. his band, still time, played their first ever portland show at the candlelight downtown. their set was awesome and i was honored to have them play my favorite song unplugged in the parking lot of the venue at 3am. hopefully they'll be playing my backyard next summer.
in an effort to beat the 103 degree heat, my dear visiting friend kristen and i took the portland city bus out to the sandy river. that evening, as we walked NE alberta and mingled with other last thursday attendees, i felt safe saying "i'm cold" and donning a sweatshirt.
post-heat wave hasan and i took a mini day-trip to salem's enchanted forest, a fairytale-inspired theme park that played a significant role in hasan's childhood. we walked storybook trail, rode bobsleds up ice mountain, and took pictures with the nicest abe lincoln impersonator ever. hasan got to wear a funny hat. we were back in portland in time for lunch.
my carrie visited not once, but TWICE. the second time around she brought her little sister erin and we drank sparks after an amazing breakfast at gravy. pretty par-for-the-course for she and i.
hasan and i participated in portland's bridge pedal, joining nearly 20,000 other cyclists in crossing eight of the city's bridges over the course of 37 miles. i'll never do it again due to the multiple bottlenecks created at various points along the route and the general shit-show-ness of it all, but it was a great one-time thing.

thanks, summer, let's do it again next year!

flog: amazing buckwheat dinner crepes

2009-06-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

this recipe comes to you via restaurant Balthazar's wonderfully accessible french cookbook. Balthazar is an iconic manhattan restaurant that serves traditional french brasserie food, and though i've never been, i have oggled it from the outside and, as this flog evidences, can whip up their recipes with more than satisfactory results.

john approves.

the book's recipe wants you to fill the crepes with eggs and ham and gruyere, but i was in the mood for something more savory and dinner-like so i've altered the following. caramelized onions, mushrooms, and spinach are one of the best easy, yummy combos that has ever existed. enjoy!

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1 stick butter plus
4 Tbls butter, melted
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups button mushroom, de-stemmed and sliced
2 cups spinach, tightly packed
6 ounces gruyere, finely shredded
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

sift the flours and 1/2 tsp of the salt into a medium bowl. whisk in 2 of the eggs, 1 1/2 cups of the milk, and then 2 Tbls of the melted butter. whisk until smooth. cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel and refridgerate for 30 minutes or as long as overnight.

heat a 12-inch pan over a medium-to-high flame. toss in your olive oil and allow to warm. add the diced onion and saute until tranluscent. add the mushrooms and saute until soft. add the spinach at the very end and saute until reduced by about half. set aside this pan.

remove the batter from the refridgerator and whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup of milk.

heat an 8-inch pan over a medium flame. add 1/2 tsp of the melted butter, making sure it is spread evenly over the pan's surface. ladle in a 1/4 cup of batter. quickly tilt the pan to completely cover the surface with a thin and even circle of batter. cook the first side for one minute, until the edges are brown and the center is dotted with air bubbles. use your fingers or a spatula to turn the crepe onto the other side and cook for 15 seconds more. you can either keep the finished crepes warm in a 200 degree over and roll them all at once, or roll them as you go. add a new 1/2 tsp of butter for the pan for each crepe.

spoon as much of the onion, mushroom, and spinach saute as you'd like into each crepe, topping with a healthy sprinkle of gruyere before rolling them up.

i paired these with a mixed greens salad topped with thinly sliced apple, blue cheese, and a plain vinaigrette. the whole meal was suprisingly easy to put together, produced leftovers (bonus), and was good enough that i'd make it again in a heartbeat. eat up!

the month in review

2009-06-19T20:00:00.001-07:00

i'm just over a month into training for the upcoming Seattle to Portland ride. my favorite part of riding nearly a hundred miles a week is exploring the far reaches of the city. one of my favorite shorter rides takes me north on route 30 which runs along the west side of the willamette, and then over the st. john's bridge, pictured here.

john and i took the train up to seattle to rendezvous with ethan and visit assorted friends from western for the weekend. the train ride was relaxing and beautiful and was made more so by the accompaniment of smuggled gin and tonics.

this is the view of the st. johns from the train.

our first night in seattle was supposed to end with a late trip to dick's, but instead we went to the ER where i got ten stitches. it's chill, i was about due in for my half-yearly-terrible-bike-fall.

mark and i went to first thursday in the pearl mostly to drink free beer, but ended up seeing some legit art. i don't know the story behind this hand-written typography exhibit, but it was awesome. our favorite art of the night was pretty much everything at PNCA.

on wednesday nights mt. tabor hosts road races where it's chill to drink beer, barbecue, and gawk at the terribly good-looking men who partake in the riding. i did most of the gawking, john did most of the heckling.
mark had never been to montage so after randomly running into each other on belmont one night last week we made plans for a late dinner. our waiter turned my leftovers into an alien from 'alien'. i was impressed.

we've re-named the fire escape 'the porch' and try to eat all our meals, drink all our beers, and read all our publications on it. summer in portland is nice.

finally, i ordered this sweet typography-nerd t-shirt from my design idol, nubby twiglet. nubby is a local graphic designer and fashion fanatic who runs an awesome blog that i read semi-religiously and i was elated to receive my t-shirt with all the accompanying nubby accoutrement. summer's the best.

the quarter century, part II

2009-06-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

john joined the ranks of those with twenty-five years under their belts on monday and so in typical caitlin-fashion i made him something. that something was a silk-screened tee, covertly designed, screened, and ironed in the very apartment that we share. he had to have known that something was going on as my screen kept winding up in its drying position in the bathroom and there was a bit of a ring around the tub after i did the black layer, but i think i was reasonably stealthy. introducing john's new favorite piece of clothing:

i really wanted the text of the shirt to be in helvetica (ye ole dell doesn't even have a word processing program anymore, yeesh) so i used the macs at the IPRC to print out the words. in the ten minutes i was there i got to chatting with the guy who was at the computer next to me. he was interested in what it was i was doing and when he found out that it involved silk-screening and t-shirts it took him about two seconds to ask if i could make a set of shirts for a sitcom pilot he's making. how casual. i managed to agree through the goofy smile that had taken over my face and that's how i got my first freelance job. it's nothing fancy, but i give this guy mad credit for networking to the fullest and i'm gonna get my name in the credits! just think, you all can say you knew me way back when, before i started styling famous people and costuming entire movies.

the quarter century

2009-06-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

nicole is a year older than me, but our birthdays are exactly a week apart as well as smack-dab in the middle of our friends' birthday season. this was the first year since 2005 that we hadn't celebrated together so we put our faith in the USPS and some magical things happened. nicole was way more on top of her shit and the day before my twenty-fourth i received a wonderful package filled to the brim with wonderful hand-and-farm-made things. it was kind of like opening a miniature (min-ee-a-ture) treasure chest.

when it comes to nicole's birthday presents, she serves as a kind of guinea pig for my newest artistic endeavors and this year was no exception. a couple of months ago i'd stumbled upon a book at powell's that, besides having an awesome cover and adorable hand-drawn instructions, was all about book-making, a medium i had been curious about for some time but hadn't yet dove into. i promptly put esther k. smith's how to make books on hold at the library (my newest portland love) and was rewarded in no time with an e-mail telling me to come pick it up already!

long story short, the book was a letdown. yes, the cover was rad and the drawings cute and whimsical, but between the written instructions and the diagrams i could rarely make heads or tails of how to put together a book. one massive mistake and a couple of smaller fuck-ups later and i winged it in order to get it in the mail before nicole turned 26. it looks cool, and is functional, but i'm sure the frequency with which nicole journals and note-takes and draws this thing will start to get that worn-in look far before its time.

the cover

each signature has a little water-colored hang tag sewn onto it. they were part of a series i did at camp orkila the summer we met and had held onto somehow.

a cute ribbon bookmark sewed in was the finishing touch. we'll see what i come up with next year.

wocketry brewing

2009-06-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

not long ago, mark took the plunge and invested in beer-brewing equipment. his first batch was a wonderful IPA that i think rivaled some of oregon's finest. he invited me over to help him bottle his second batch, here's the play-by-play:

the bottling process is also where the beer gets its carbonation, the beer in the big brown bottle is unfiltered and flat.
mark reuses his bottles from batch to batch, but they've got to be sanitized each time.
siphoning beer is way more fun than siphoning gas.
i was a natural.
beer for weeks!

flog: strawberry rhubarb pie!!!

2009-05-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

yep. pie. soo good and sooo easy. i swear.

i got this recipe from an article in readymade magazine about pie ranch in pescadero, california. pie ranch uses sustainable farming practices to produce nearly all of the ingredients in their pies and partner with area youth to educate the community on food systems and farming. it's a pretty cool organization, follow the link for more info, i'm just gonna tell you how to make pie.

what you need:
3 cups strawberries, cored and sliced
3 cups rhubarb, washed and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks), cut up
1/3 cup very cold water
2 to 3 tsp butter, cut up

make it:
1. preheat over to 425. in a large bowl, combine fruit, sugar, cornstarch, and 1/8 tsp salt. let stand 15 minutes.
2. meanwhile, in a food processor (in a bowl with your hands is fine), add flour, 1 tsp salt, and the 1 cup cold butter. cover and process with quick pulses until mixture resembles cornmeal with a few large pieces remaining. with processor running, quickly add water through feed tube. stop processor as soon as all water is added. divide mixture in half and shape into two discs.
3. on a lightly floured surface, roll 1 disc of dough into a circle 12 inches in diameter. wrap pastry circle around the rolling pin and unroll into 9-inch pie tin, pressing to remove air pockets. fold under extra pastry; pinch edge all the way around to form a crust. pour fruit mixture into crust; dot with remaining butter. brush edge of crust with cold water.
4. on your lightly floured surface roll out remaining pastry. cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips. lay half of strips across top of pie from top to bottom; lay remaining strips from side to side to form a mock lattice top. trim strips even with edge of pie; press ends into bottom crust.
5. cover edge of pie with foil. bake 30 minutes. remove foil and reduce oven to 350. slip a baking sheep under pie to catch drips. bake 30 to 45 minutes more or until thick juices bubble though lattice. cool.

tips:
- whole wheat flour makes for a heartier and better tasting crust, don't skimp and use regular pastry flour
- the less time you spend working the dough, the better. big 'ol chunks of butter are fine.
- wrapping your discs of dough in plastic wrap and aging them in the fridge for up to three days before rolling them out will relax the gluten and make for a more tender crust. also, keep your pastry dough cold throughout the whole process, things get ugly as soon as it starts to heat up as you're working with it.
- resist the urge to buy a fancy rolling pin, an empty wine bottle works just fine.

this recipe can easily accomodate any kind of pie you'd like to make, the original pie ranch version that was printed was actually a mixed-berry version, the only difference from mine being 5 to 7 cups mixed berries in place of the strawberries and rhubarb. green apples with a healthy dose of cinnamon would be another good substitute. the crust that this recipe produces was fine, it was a good first experience making crust from scratch, but i'd like to find a recipe that was a little more interesting tasting.

shopping locally: blackstar bags

2009-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

i went a little bike-wild with my tax return this year and dropped a significant chunk of change on a new bike and messenger bag. i consider both legitimate investments as portland is a city for cycling and it's my preferred method of transport (especially for those drunken weekends when i feel the need to cross the river four times in an evening in order to maximize my fun).

my bike was an amazing craigslist find that i'm increasingly happy with, especially now that i'm considering taking part in 2009's seattle-to-portland ride. more on that later.

my new bag is what i'm really here to write about: this thing is the shit. as loyal readers know, i made myself a messenger bag last summer. it turned out great and served me well for a couple of months, until many of the seams made by my simple little singer began to bust and i found myself leaving a trail of receipts and pens and sunglasses behind me as i rode. 'ol purple was swapped for an unwieldy backpack, which was then abandoned for the little timbuk2 bag i used in high school. wearing that thing with no chest strap became so frustrating, not to mention its measly carrying capacity, that a new bag became a necessary investment.

my first thought was to get a reload bag, but they were so entirely unhelpful via e-mail and almost entirely unwilling to do the simple custom work that i asked them about that i scrapped them. i'm also not going to link to them. what now. i wasn't really hyped to wait a month and a half for a bag anyways. see ya, reload.

i think it was fate that lead me past the small storefront on NE alberta of blackstar bags on the very same day i picked up my new bike. i walked right in, spoke directly to the owner, designer, and main constructor of the bags, dave, and was sold. he was way excited about accommodating my custom requests, talked me through my options, assured me everything was guaranteed for life, and promised a three-week turnaround. booyah. check it:

there are more pockets in this thing than i even know what to do with, the engineering and craftsmanship are mindlbowing, and i'm pretty sure i can fit an eighteen-pack of beer in there. or at least pack for a weekend to seattle. but for serious, if you want/ need a legit mesenger bag (he also does backpacks and panniers) i will house you for the weekend while you go and and place an order with dave.

flog: easy granola

2009-04-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

it's kind of silly that i've waited this long to try making my own granola considering a) the rate that i go through store-bought stuff and b) how truly easy it is. there are tons of recipes out there, but they all boil down to the same basics and are easy to customize for your own tastes. i used a recipe i found on everybody likes sandwiches and tweaked it just a little.

check it:
6 c organic oats (not quick)
1/2 c millet (regular, uncooked millet)
1 c dessicated coconut
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c flax seeds or ground flax
1/2 c wheat germ
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c almonds
1 generous T cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
dash of salt
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c raisins
1/2 - 1 c maple syrup
orange juice

heat oven to 300F. in a large bowl, combine all the ingredients from the oats down to the salt. drizzle in the maple syrup and stir well with a wooden spoon to get everything coated. needs more liquid? add in some more maple syrup or a bit of orange juice.

spread the mix out into a large baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally so that nothing burns. add in the raisins and cranberries and bake until the granola turns golden and crisp, again making sure things don't get too "golden". remove from oven and cool. store in a sealed container. serve with yogurt and fruit, or as a garnish to boring flax flakes or whatever.

almost all of the ingredients can be found in your grocery stores' bulk section and i've found that the commercial breaks during LOST are the perfect time to stir the granola. mad men works too.

best. birthday. ever.

2009-04-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

i think i say that every year, and it's all due to how wonderful my friends are. yesterday my mail box was stuffed full of mail that was a) all for me, b) not bills, and c)from my best friends. the only thing that would have topped their wonderful presents would have been to have them in the same room with me, rather than at opposite ends of the country. here's my loot:

between nicole's nasturtium seeds and carrie's sponsorship of cate the great i know what i'll be doing with my free time for the next month or so.

today's off to a good start; john woke me up with his off-key rendition of 'happy birthday' in german and my sinuses are presently being assaulted by the obscene amount of garlic he put in his signature breakfast scramble. the rest of my day will be lazy and consist of art-related errands, dinner with mark, the blazers versus the lakers, and time with the boy. i'm content in my twenty-fourth year.

the quarterly mixtape project

2009-03-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

i know, i know, i haven't posted in WEEKS. this is due in part to being uninspired, and just a tiny bit to the fact that my camera broke in the eleventh hour of mardi gras. the camera snafu is being taken care of, and i have something to write about, so i'm back!

last week my friend mike asked me, as one of his 'bloggy friends' to do a post for a blog that his brother has started. found at http://mixtapergy.blogspot.com, mixtapergy aims to periodically post mix tapes "because it's better than sending a postcard". i might disagree just a little bit with that statement, but am flattered nonetheless that mike asked me to participate. i don't know when my mix will be posted, but check it out anyways.

mardi gras!!!

2009-02-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

nicole and i leave tomorrow morning at the terribly unreasonable hour of 6 am for new orleans. in preparation for our week of costumed debauchery we took a field trip to the JoAnn craft SUPERSTORE in southeast and made out with nearly 20 yards of tulle, assorted fake flowers, and a bag of colored feathers among other things. this is what we came up with:

our flower-fairy look will no doubt be complementary to matt's bearsuit.

a wocket to the moon

2009-02-09T23:56:00.000-08:00

this is my friend mark:
he likes working with kids, the state of vermont, and pabst blue ribbon. he and i spend a lot of time together drinking coffee, doing crosswords, and using public transportation to explore portland. he is not an anti-semite. mark turned the big two-five in december and i made plans with myself to make him a present. a month and a half later i got down to it and silk-screened a shirt for him, the first i've done in a long time. it felt good.

the picture that i turned into a stencil is one of mark and nicole from this summer. we were mucking around southeast one day this past summer shortly after mark moved to portland and found this sweet turquoise wall; a photo shoot ensued. i love the photo's composition, as well as the fact that it is of two of my favorite people. i added some inside-joke text for the final stencil.

below is the original image, as well as a photo of my exacto-ing process at john and my's new desk:

here is mark's finished shirt:

i'm really happy with how it turned out, and mark is equally enthused. my favorite part is how the screened feet actually look just like their real feet.

flog: quinoa with pesto and roasted tomatoes

2009-01-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

here's a little something new i'm introducing to four ten: the food blog, or flog.

cooking is something i've embraced since nicole and i first moved to bellingham and had our own kitchen. growing up, my mom cooked amazing dinners every night, but i always felt that the kitchen was her territory and was scared away from cooking after the one time i added the cheese powder to my macaroni before draining out the water. gross.

nicole and i made a pretty terrific team in the kitchen, knowing what the other needed without asking and moving from one end of our awkwardly arranged kitchen to the other as if in a choreographed dance. we loved having friends over for food, beers, and a couple episodes of lost.

while living with carrie for a brief, but glorious, six months our schedules were so opposite that we were able to collaborate only occasionally for dinner and would end up at casa more often than not.

now that i'm making my living as a cook i thought i'd get burnt out and find the idea of being in the kitchen on my days off appaling, but quite the opposite is true. making dinner on monday or tuesday nights is some of the rare time i get to spend with john, and what we make is entirely different from what i'm turning out at work. making a recipe that feeds four also allows for leftovers that we're both able to take for lunch.

i have a small cookbook collection that i occasionaly cook from, but being part of the 'blogosphere' has introduced me to so many amazing blogs brimming with recipes and reviews that it's hard to pull myself away from the screen. an added benefit of finding recipes in blogs is that their authors will offer up ingredient substitutions, suggest how they would do it differently next time, and i like to think that anything that makes it into a post is bound to be good, or else why would they bother? also, most of the time i'm drawn to a recipe by a colorful picture, something that many of my cookbooks lack.

my first flog recipe was found via 101 cookbooks and is actually called heather's quinoa. here we go!

for the roasted tomatoes:
1 small container cherry tomatoes big splash olive oil 1 T. brown sugar pinch salt

- pre-heat the oven to 350. mix the olive oil, brown sugar, and salt in a small bowl. cut the cherry tomatoes in half and throw into the bowl, tossing to coat evenly with the olive oil mixture. dump the tomatoes into an oven safe dish, cut side facing up, and put in the oven for 30 minutes or until they're kind of shrunken looking and soft.

2 cups quinoa (or brown rice)

-in a medium saucepan, heat the quinoa and four cups water until boiling. reduce the heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about fifteen minutes. meanwhile:

1 T. olive oil
2 cups extra firm tofu
1.5 cups spinach, kale or green of your choice

-in a large skillet, heat the olive oil. dice the tofu into about 1" cubes and add to the skillet, sauteing until lightly browned. while the tofu is browning, finely chop the greens and set aside. when the tofu has browned, set aside as well.

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

-in the last couple minutes before the timer goes off for the tomatoes, spread the pumpkin seeds on a cookie tray and put in the oven. it will be literally no more than four minutes before they start popping to signal that they're done.

1 tsp. olive oil
1 shallot
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup pesto

-after you've removed the tofu from the skillet, add a smidge more olive oil, mince the shallot, and add it to the heated oil. sautee for a minute or two. your quinoa or rice should be done by now, so add it to the skillet, along with the corn. sautee until hot and sizzling. add in the greens and tofu that you have set aside. remove the skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and toasted pumpkin seeds.

-serve up healthy portions, topping with the roasted cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper.
seriously: so good. and good for you; no meat and the only dairy is the small bit of parmesan found in the pesto. TRY IT. COOKING IS FUN.

paper trail

2009-01-20T17:09:00.001-08:00

this project was born out of necessity more than an artistic urge. we have yet to acquire a desk or dining table and so all writing, dining, and art projects center around our coffee table. i've taken over at least three-quarters of this limited space with my card-making, leaving the remaining quarter for our laptops and the errant waterbottle. when we get bills in the mail i like to keep them in view from day to day so i'm at least thinking about paying them, if not actually doing so, but they were beginning to clutter the already over-papered coffee table so i had to find a solution. this is what i came up with:
i used a fancy push pin to anchor a scrap piece of 2" satin ribbon to the dining room wall and then pinned each bill with it's respective envelope to the ribbon using straight pins from my sewing box.

hanging on this wall they are both entirely out of our way but always in view, i can see them from where i sit on the couch typing this post, as well as every time i enter the kitchen. this project also gave me an excuse to waste some more time and not write out the check for the damn internet bill. be an adult can be boring and expensive sometimes.

artistic accountability: etsy store!!!

2008-12-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

i think i'm going to start an etsy shop. i've been plotting and planning for almost a month now, and thought i'd make it official and hold myself accountable to some sort of timeframe by writing about it here.

i've always loved making mixed-media cards for friends and figure that this will be the perfect creative outlet to fill my free time, with the potential to make a little money (to add to the $27 i have to last me the next week until payday), and learn a thing or two about running a small business (in preparation for the bar/ restaurant/ coffee shop/ boutique i will one day own. i can dream, right?).

i don't want to unveil my first card sets quite yet, so i'll leave you with photos of the thank-you notes i sent for my graduation presents:

i hope to launch my store by the end of january, check back here for updates and a url!

visual culture

2008-12-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

last night, as john and i dined recession-style on happy hour pizza and snacks at basta’s down the street from our apartment, he wondered aloud what this depression was going to look like. to most people who have taken an american history class at one point in their academic careers, the word ‘depression’ inspires black and white images of people waiting solemn-faced in soup lines snaking around city blocks, or men with mustaches and top hats swinging sledgehammers to the tune of some WPA-sponsored project in the middle of nowhere. we may be in the thick of this thing we’re calling a depression, but because we’re living it it’s nearly impossible to tell what images will be brought to mind for future generations when it’s talked about in terms of ‘history’. we left basta’s and headed down burnside towards the matador, our new default for cheap pints. west burnside between about fifteenth and twenty-first is reminiscent of the mall’s food court; mcdonald’s, panda express, and taco bell are all at your fingertips in a matter of blocks. as we passed said taco bell i paused to point out the small army of fixed-gear bikes that were locked up outside. fixes are the norm in Portland, but outside of taco bell? on burnside? strange. john gave the ten-plus shiny, gearless bikes a once-over and said, “so that’s what this depression looks like: hipsters on fixed gears at taco bell.” I can just imagine, years from now, flipping through my kids’ history textbook and stopping at the image described above. history in the making.

playing house: etched jars

2008-11-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

i've wanted to do this project for a long time but have always found jars this size to be too expensive. i stumbled upon these for cheap at fred meyer and they turned out just as i had imagined:

at some point i'm going to put the french words for sugar, rice, and flour on an adjacent side, and then choose three other potential jar-filler-words and their french counterparts for the facing sides. these sit above our kitchen sink. i like them a lot.

note to tim: yes, a pattern for your jacket can be found. we'll get on it when you get back to the states.

i cried: twice

2008-11-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

last night barack obama was elected president of the united states and portland was hyped. john, molly, mark and i celebrated at north 45 on 21st wherein we joined a celebratory crowd for a viewing of obama's speech. shots of whiskey were had, champagne bottles were popped, and i was escorted home and put to bed in my party dress before 11pm. change is here.

the literary look

2008-11-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

john and i just moved into a new apartment and he's surrendered the destiny of the interiors' design to me. acting on a limited budget and fond memories of a favorite green coffee table from the days of 819, i spent an evening mod-podging these:

both the coffee table and the little side table (which resides in the kitchen) were inherited from molly and fill our space really well. i used the pages of volume one of a shakespeare anthology that i picked up at goodwill. look at me being thrifty.

right now we have an entire room, i guess it would be the dining room, that is empty save for my art supplies and a trunk that won't fit anywhere else. we're on the hunt for a desk and a table of sorts to fill the space, though we're mostly content just hanging out in the living room. which is also my bedroom. if i had my way i'd turn an old door from the restore into a table. one of a million reasons why i hope the man of my dreams is also handy with tools.

stuff j'adore

2008-10-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

i love the simple handlettered print on this shirt, as well as the message:

french text: "moi, je veux te dire que je ne te quitterai jamais. et puis, si tu es triste, je pourrais toujours te donner un peu d'alcool pour te rechauffer le couer. xo"

basically this means that I'll be there for you always. and I'll get you drunk when you're sad.

now that's a message i can get behind.

bouncing back

2008-10-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

everyone has a rough patch every now and then. my last week was full of working late, getting my bike stolen, giving the landlord our thirty days, and studying for the GRE. everything came to a sort of crescendo yesterday which left me crying at the kitchen sink and wondering how i was going to do the necessary footwork to find an apartment without my bike.

obviously, it's possible to live life sans-bike, but DAMN does it make my life easier/ better/ more efficient/ spontaneous: planning my life around the bus schedule blows.

luckily, things took a turn for the better this morning when john and i played the "we're dating" game and filled out an application for a one-bedroom apartment in northwest. providing the management doesn't find out that i'm a criminal and that we have more debt between us than a small country, we should be moving at the end of the month.

we'll be a mere eight blocks from my work, about fifteen from john's and practically around the corner from molly. now if i could just retain some basic algebra, get a raise, and find the meth head who stole my bike, everything would be perfect. one can hope, right?

hipster appropriation: patagonia for urban outfitters

2008-10-04T13:01:00.001-07:00

what the fuck. is nothing sacred anymore?

image courtesy of selecticism.com

a pictorial summary

2008-10-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

nicole just left portland after nine days of debauchery, trivia nights, and plaid, here's a recap:

ouch

2008-09-18T17:15:00.001-07:00

last night went from this:

to this:

to this:

how do you know if you have a concussion?

moped army

2008-09-18T01:06:00.001-07:00

i was biking home from work tonight and was about to begin the hill-climb-of-death also known as lincoln street when i heard what sounded like live music coming from the center of ladd's addition.

from my job in the pearl to my house just off hawthorne, after crossing the bridge one can either go straight up hawthorne street which is a pretty mild incline, though longer, or you can cut through the residential neighborhood of ladd's addition and tackle the same hill, but a shorter and slightly steeper version of it. i prefer the latter route, as there are fewer cars to deal with and i love circling the rose garden that marks the center of the addition, and from which all the streets spread out in a sort of sun-ray kind of way. it was from within the rose garden that the music was coming from.

i nearly didn't stop, in part because of the embarressing squeak my brakes make when applied, but i did anyways, turned off my lights, and laid down in the damp grass about thirty feet from where a six-piece band was playing. there was a woman on the violin, a stand-up bass, a couple of guitars, and a banjo, all playing an unfamiliar, but beautiful, folk song. i was caught up in the music and smiling to myself at the fortune i had stumbled upon when i heard the lawnmower-engine buzz of an approaching moped. slightly annoyed, a lifted my head from where it rested on my messenger bag to see an approaching headlight, and then another, and then at least TWENTY FIVE MORE MOPEDS. i went from annoyed to beyond amused as the moped gang circled around the rose garden one, two, three times, came to a stop just behind me, and then sped off up lincoln street. all the while, the band played on. oh portland, how i love you.

black and blue and red and white

2008-08-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

today is my saturday and i am OVERJOYED. despite getting drunk last night and having a reasonably raging hangover today, the fact that i don't have to work has got me buzzing around the house like a happy little bee. i need this weekend SO BADLY; work is literally kicking my ass, as evidenced here:

in addition to the bruises peppering my forearms, my hands are swollen and achy and there are sore spots on my hip bones from leaning too hard on my workspace. the hazards of being an adult, i tell ya.

in the couple of hours of daylight that i get between waking up at a reasonable hour and going to work, i've been working on cafe curtains for our kitchen windows. matt bought a million yards of cute red-and-white-striped fabric at ikea and i've been using kathryn's sewing machine in the absence of mine. this is what i've got so far:

kathryn's machine sews really smoothly, but something's wrong with the tension right now so i'm kind of stalled. i need to finish the bottom of the above-pictured set, and then do another pair for the twin window to the left. i thought this would be a really quick project, but i want them to be really legit so i'm spending quite a bit of time making them look perfect. at least the stripes make it easy to sew straight.

hot hot heat

2008-08-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

this is me right now:

it's 8:30 in the evening and 92 degrees. any moment john is going to tell me to stop whining, as i've been wont to do in this heat. in generalizing portland as a westcoast city i'd forgotten that it's an hour from the ocean; the closest body of water is the willamette river which does nothing for the city except host the redbull flugtag and perpetuate the whiffs of garbage i sometimes encounter while biking around. so, to counter the oppressive heat i've been simultaneously drinking a pint of beer and a pint of water to both stay hydrated in this inhumane heat and to keep myself entertained. four hours into this routine has left me inebriated. anyhow.

thank goodness my work is air-conditioned, and heavily at that. i went in to whole foods for the first time today as an employee, and after half an hour i was warming (as i was cooling) up to the idea of wearing the little chef's jackets that i'm pretty sure are required for my department. it's the required shoes that i'm still unsure of.

yesterday, my last day of freedom (i.e. unemployment) i spent doing nothing but putzing around my neighborhood: john and i walked to a vintage store up the street in the hopes of finding a cool old trunk for either one of our rooms or our foyer. the shop had some legit stuff, but the trunks we were eying were kind of falling apart and we ended up opting out. after sitting around the sauna that is my room for an hour or two after john left to walk tinsley i packed my bag with the intention of doing some GRE studying.

i biked down to 12th and hawthorne to a little coffee shop i'd passed numerous times on my way downtown and set up camp on their back patio. "studying" turned into "2 hours of reading atonement" which i was fine with: that book is amazing, don't know if i'm up to watching the movie yet.

on my way home i stopped into a little junk shop and happened upon this!:

john and i had been talking about getting a typewriter and this little gem was only $20 and cute as can be. to transport it the thirty blocks from the shop to my house i ended up putting it in my bag which worked perfectly. i paused about halfway to take this picture:

if you follow the city-sanctioned bike routes marked by stand-up signs, these little markers guide you by pavement.

i'm generally excited to be a typewriter owner, but more specifically excited to be able to use it for an art contest i've decided to enter. i'd normally employ my sewing machine to create the mixed-media i usually lean toward, but a typewriter will be a great temporary substitute/ addition to my art supplies.

the contest is hosted by an art supply store that is just up the street from me on hawthorne. matt and kathryn had found it when they were looking for gold leaf to apply to this awesome mirror that they bought for the living room. i decided to check the shop out for myself and, while browsing, overheard the owner talking about the contest.

the only rules are that the 2-D piece you create has to be 2.5x3.5". perfect: i LOVE small things. this is what i've created for submission so far:

sorry the pictures are so terrible, small things don't photograph well apparently. anyhow, i'm crafting! which makes me happy!

in other news, kristen and nicole are coming to visit soon which makes me even more happy. also, we're going to have a garden/ housewarming party soon, stay tuned!

enlightenment

2008-08-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

john and i were talking about blogs the other evening over a beer and it was decided that the best blogs have a theme; class acts' is collegiate culture, sea of shoes is, um, shoes, and bikesnobnyc is just that, bike snobbery. i'm not sure that i'd nailed down a theme when i started this blog, at the time it was begun in order to challenge myself to do more art projects and take more pictures, and also to prevent my brain from melting post-college; writing is something i enjoy doing, but sometimes old-fashioned journaling is inefficient and let's face it, my handwriting is entirely illegible. my recent move to portland got me a bit off track, what with trying to furnish the house, dealing with the challenges of living somewhere almost completely foreign, and having my complete arsenal of art supplies three hours away in my parents' basement. now that i feel relatively settled and have finally secured a job i can hopefully give more time to art projects and give this blog some direction.

on that note, here is the one and only project i have managed to even half-complete in the last two weeks:

i bought four 12x12 canvases from an art store on burnside, and after a lengthy search kathryn managed to find strings of 100 christmas lights for only $2 at the restore. using just the tip of a sharp knife i poked 1/2 inch holes through the canvas in a random pattern, and then pushed the tiny bulbs through from the back. maneuvering them about my room is tricky, as all four canvases are attached by the string of lights, but, rather than leaving them on the floor, i hope to eventually hang them above my bed to serve as a sort of faux-headboard.

i believe i got this idea from readymade magazine, probably something like three years ago, but i'd liked it so much at the time that i ripped it out and have hung on to it since. as a matter of fact, i have an entire binder full of things that i've liked enough to rip out of magazines. you see, i'm addicted to them. magazines that is. i've only been in my present room for ten days, and there is already a stack of seven glossy august periodicals next to my bed. when i was stationary in my first house in bellingham for almost three years, i hung onto every single magazine that ever made it into my hands. when i eventually moved across town to a 'cozier' apartment, it made little sense to cart hundreds of pounds of paper with me.

since the 'big recycle of 2007' i deal with magazines entirely differently; i go through them initially, reading and examining the photos and folding down the corners of the pages with things that i think are especially beautiful or inspiring or imitation-worthy. i then go through them again, and rip out the pages and bits that i'm still attracted to. these go into see-through sleeves in my binder. every now and then i clean out the binder, recycling things that seem redundant or no longer strike me as interesting. the project seen here makes me glad that i've held onto things, though in a more space-efficient way. stay posted for more projects pulled from the archives of the magazine binder!

tim werwie everyone

2008-08-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

via g-chat:

Tim: you know what i really want?

me: what

Tim: is a T-shirt with a picture of a cassette on it

i fucking love tapes

Ideally it'd be electric blue, with a good purple tape

but i can't pull that off

but if i could those would be the colors

maybe neon pink

tape

or a blue shirt with a good printed graphic of a cartoon animated tape

but i don't know what color, maybe like those Maxell 90 minute tapes

the solid grey ones, not the transparent blackish tapes

those suck

if you sent those transparent tapes to people when trading those dead shows, they'd be pissed

i'd be pissed

Sent at 12:22 AM on Monday

life is good, but hard

2008-08-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

don't get me wrong, i'm thrilled to be in portland; we couldn't live in a better location, i've already met our neighbor to the north, and i've always wanted to have a bedroom with hardwood floors.

but.

moving into a brand-new house also means having to continuously shell out money for shit like spoons, shower curtains, condiments you'd taken for granted, THE INTERNET (which i've been mooching unabashedly from a neighbor), etc. even though i managed to save a substantial amount of money in the last two months, i'm still feeling the crunch on my bank account.

so then i try to be thrifty. lesson learned: when it comes to mattresses, take a friend, and DO THE SMELL TEST.

yesterday, in my quest to find a bed before the day was done, i googled mattress places near my house and was pleased to find that there was one that offered delivery just a short bus ride down hawthorne. i stopped by the post office on my way down, and then made my way to pj's sleep shop. i was quickly approached by jason, the only employee the sleep shop appeared to have, and whose penchant for man-tank-tops and multiple gold chains should have acted as a warning to naive, mattress-buying-me immediately. warning sign #2: he was wearing white sneakers with black socks in addition to the tank top and chains. never trust a man with that combo goin' for him. terrible.

anyhow, i told him i'd be happiest if i could get away with spending only $150. he showed me to a mattress that, through the matte plastic wrapper, appeared to be in one piece and mold-free. my $150 was even going to to get me a box spring! i had anticipated that this purchase would involve a lot of haggling and me spending more than i wanted to, but as far as i could tell at the time, it was going to be painless. i paid an extra $25 for delivery and jason told me he'd call me first thing in the morning to let me know about when it would arrive. i was in and out in literally four minutes.

i slept in john's bed last night, in his little nook whose clouds have yet to be painted over. something i didn't know about john: he makes smacking noises with his mouth when he sleeps. i think i may have giggled at some point.

flash forward to today: it's almost noon and i've wandered about ten blocks west on hawthorne without a single incoming call on my cellphone. not only did i feel unpopular, but i didn't know where my mattress was. i called pj's and asked for jason; the mattress was on its way but apparently he'd been uninspired to call and tell me this. whatever.

about half an hour later the delivery men arrived and immediately began giving me a hard time about getting the mattress up our staircase. understandably, it's tiny and has a 90 degree turn in it, but if the previous occupants had managed to do it, these guys should be able to as well. they huffed and moaned and rolled their eyes until the beast of a mattress was finally in my room. it's decided that the box spring won't make it, but i shouldn't need it so i'll be okay. i thanked them and scampered up the stairs to make my bed, bringing me one step closer to having the coziest room ever.

i began to rip the plastic wrapping off and notice what could be discolorations: i couldn't decide if it was the lighting or my eyes or what. then, as i'm about midway through removing the plastic, this foul stench hit my face. imagine if, upon this mattress, a bunch of freshly sweaty dudes had had a wrestling match, in the rain, had incorporated febreeze spray bottles, and then let the whole mess dry in the sun. that's what this smelled like. i threw open both john and my windows and got the hell out of there: maybe with an hour's worth of fresh oregon air passing through there it would be just like new. that was actually my thought process.

almost two hours, three garage sales, and a bike ride later, the entire second floor reeked. i was inconsolable, with only my mother, via phone, to try and calm me down. i called jason at pj's and explained that our house was being infiltrated by a smell akin to rotting corpses and he reluctantly agreed to exchange the nightmare, but not until monday. i went to the grocery store in an attempt to get my mind off the situation, and found matt and kathryn home when i returned. they were, coincidentally, on their way to the same mattress store to pick up their own mattress, and offered to haul mine back there to exchange it. i ended up paying $50 more for a brand new mattress, but again, what did we learn? take backup and do the smell test. ugh. i hope this is the only installment of "how terrible negotiating a move can be". stay tuned.

COMMENTING: let me do it

2008-07-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

ideally i'd be commenting on tim's blog, but apparently he's above putting that capability on his precious wassalou. what i was going to say was that i'm pretty sure i saw the chick that he sees at the bus stop outside of the twilight exit this afternoon when mike and went to get drunk at 6pm. she was wearing sweatpants that definitely weren't ragged, but had that slovenly 'sweatpant' look about them, know what i'm sayin'? and she asked us for money, money that i'm sure would've gone towards the habit that contributed to her forearm scar collection. what i'm trying to say is that seattle's hella small. so, see ya never.

p.s. this is the same tim that said to me just moments ago "just so you know i'm terrible at keeping in touch with people". so i told him i'd be calling him incessantly. what now.

leaving

2008-07-29T01:31:00.000-07:00

i'm not sad to leave seattle. the people i know here, the ones that really care about our friendships, will spend the 3 hours it takes to get to portland and visit. and i'll show them my new favorite restaurants, bars, and hangouts, introduce them to my new friends, let them sleep in my bed, and my life will be better and more fun and more challenging. there's nothing keeping me here and i can't wait for thursday. see you in pdx.

xoxo,
caitlin

a day in pictures

2008-07-26T21:53:00.001-07:00

skirt progress, part I

2008-07-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

while open-source patterns may be revolutionary in their own right, they sure do require a shit-ton more work. it's like doing a thousand-piece puzzle and then cutting out a pattern: not as chill as anticipated. so, while i had allotted nearly two hours to begin work on my skirt, this is as far as i got:

hopefully i'll get it all cut out tomorrow, and then as soon as i get a chance to go to tina's and buy some interfacing i can start sewing. i really want to have it done before i move, it would make a good "hire me" skirt.

if it's not raining sunday, i think i'm going to bike the burke-gilman. i figure that as long as kirsten's making me get up and have coffee with her at EIGHT AM i may as well keep going strong. maybe i'll make it all the way to the brewery and reward myself.

the big move: seattle to portland

2008-07-20T21:51:00.001-07:00

i'm moving. IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. john and i finally found a house, in a living situation that i am prepared to love. we're going to be living with a twentysomething couple who are moving from brooklyn into a house they're closing on right now. between john and i we have exactly zero housing refences, about half a job, and no more than $1000 in savings, so finding people who were in need of roommates turned out to be far easier than attempting to rent through a property management company.

the last place that john looked at required that we both have been employed for at least a year, recieve paychecks that are three times our rent, and be heirs to a small oil fortune. the prerequisites were so far from reality for both of us that we had to change direction. seriously? we are pathetic, yet fun loving (and having) college grads who need a house. please take us.

enter matt and kathryn, our new roommates/ landlords who, judging from the e-mails we've traded and the conference call that decided it all, are going to be rad. i believe they both work in the restaurant industry (read: throw awesome dinner parties), and have plans to turn our finished basement into a nautically-themed rec room, complete with pool table. awesome, count me in.

the one and only downside i can find to all this is that i have no extra money to purchase these:

my life is so hard.

getting good at the internet: wordle

2008-07-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

this little internet find i credit to the rad guys at class act, a styleculturefashionart blog written by two west-coast-based college students. they update really consistently, have clever subject headings under which they write that are collegial-themed, and their postings are super entertaining to read.

anyhow, wordle. wordle is a 'word toy' that lets you plug in text of your choice (link to a blog, copy and paste song lyrics, or import your term paper on the politics of breastfeeding) which it then turns into a word cloud, giving prominenece to those words that appear most often. here's one i found with lyrics from a public enemy song:

the initial font, color scheme, and layout are random, but you're able to alter them as you please with the templates provided. wordles are covered under a creative commons license, thus you are able to print them and use them however you like. i realize that this is something that not everyone will find cool, or even remotely interesting, but what kept me around was the aesthetics of the font and color options that are available. i also got a kick out of making wordles from various songs, writing samples from school, even excerpts from this blog. i've been thinking recently of delving back into silk-screening, and i think wordle may provide me with some interesting text inspiration.

getting good at the internet AND new project: burdastyle

2008-07-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

i could lie to you and tell you that i stumbled upon this site during a lengthy internet-exploration session, or i could be honest and admit that i clicked on a link that was on a sidebar on my facebook home page. that's right, people (well, me) actually click on those ads. and it's a good thing i did because i found an amazing site that i've found to be invaluable already.

burdastyle.com is an open source pattern site that allows users to download and print a variety of sewing patterns for FREE! not only can you save money and make one-of-a-kind things by simply making your own clothes, but burdastyle saves you money on patterns, which can sometimes cost up to twenty dollars. in the past i haven't let the cost of patterns deter me from trying to excecute some pretty complicated moves on my sewing machine and have tried to make do without. the last time i attempted a project sans-pattern, the resulting 'dress' looked like a close relative of an old-school coleman sleeping bag and i had resorted to refering to my sewing machine as a 'sonofabitch'.

what i'm saying is, don't declare war on your machine, just to go burdastyle and wow everyone with your creations. don't neglect to check out the how-to section to learn from other users the best way to sew a dart and other super-useful tips.

on a related note, as soon as i get paid (that day never comes soon enough) i'm taking the number two bus up queen anne hill to nancy's sewing basket (site of the most extensive ribbon room in seattle) so i can get supplies to make this skirt:

i have visions of kelly-green twill with gold buttons. progress updates coming soon!

messenger bag progress, part FINISHED!

2008-06-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'M DONE. and pretty impressed with my final product. my only complaint is that the top stitching could've been a little bit more straight, but i suppose that's what's going to happen when my simple little singer is working it's way through four layers of nylon with big 'ol thread. i'm sure whatever my next project will be, with regular fabric, it'll seem super easy. custom requests are to be directed to caitlindale@gmail.com. i'm kidding, go make your own.

messenger bag progress, part II

2008-06-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

i'm starting to wonder how much bigger this bag is going to be than the one i've been using. i can say for certain that my new one has WAY sicker pockets. hopefully i'll be done by friday.

getting good at the internet: muxtape

2008-06-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

oh man. mixtapes. getting a mixtape from a friend in seventh grade meant you were like best friends. laura, my best friend in sixth grade, always made mixtapes that were a delicate balance of boyz II men and show tunes. becca's mixtapes were garaunteed to have only the first three-quarters of each song; she would get bored towards the end. i've dated a number of guys who have made me mix cd's, but one went out of his way to make a mix tape. in 2007.

no one can deny the beauty of a carefully assembled playlist, whether it's for someone else, or just to match a mood or situation, and now for the digital/ internet age, there is muxtape.

muxtape is a site that will host a playlist of up to twelve songs in mp3 format. users can leave their playlists at muxtape, or set up links elsewhere that will connect clickers straight to their mix. there are no fancy bells and whistles on muxtape, nothing so much as a search mechanism, but it's a fun way to discover new music. i find myself drawn to playlists that are blue, and then those that have a song or two that i recognize. i've already begun a seperate 'muxtape' folder in my bookmarks for my favorite playlists. happy mixing!

on the brain: style identity

2008-06-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

i think about clothes/ fashion/ style a lot.

sometimes i would like to credit the time i spend thinking about these things to my education in anthroplogy; i sometimes say, jokingly of course, that my time spent as a student of the discipline has made me incredibly adept at judging people, more specifically what people are wearing.

i've always been a little schizophrenic in my personal style; one day i'm happy in american apparel neons, skinny jeans and dunks, and then next i'm all about flowery sun dresses and sandals. through all of my clothing whims there have been a couple of constants: dresses (also known as the easiest way to look put-together without trying too hard), sneakers (i own more pairs of the exact same nike than most people have shoes, period), and a yearly fall-time obsession with anything that could be categorized as 'preppy'. this last item explains, in part, my love of mens' fashion; everything from j.crew seersuckers shorts to stussy graphic t-shirts. here are a few things that i am in love with that don't easily translate onto a feminine figure:

these shorts, by a rad brand out of new york city, pegleg nyc, just make me want to hop on a yacht and wear a cable-knit sweater around my shoulder, ironically of course. i feel similarly about anything designed by an unruly heir. on the other end of my man-fashion spectrum of love is fly shit like this:

i'm a sucker for a good crewneck sweatshirt. then there's the crewneck sweatshirt that comes complete with irreverent expletives: sign me up.

oh, the nike dunk. the colorway combinations that this shoe is released in often leave me drooling, and at an even more base level, there's something about the shape that i am absolutely obsessed with.

i mean, girls get dresses all to themselves but often the most outrageous graphics are boys-only. the same goes for classics like button-down oxfords: you can find that kind of shit at the gap nearly every season in the men's department, whereas it'll pop up for women in the fall if we're lucky. (p.s. i'm hoping this fall with be a very lucky one at the gap, what with patrick robinson at the helm of design)

despite my love for graphic tees and sneaker culture, i'm feeling a need to head in a more generally feminine direction with my wardrobe. i just may take a pair or two of the aforementioned sneakers down to the buffalo exchange and see how much money i can get to go towards a new pencil skirt. we'll see how long that sentiment lasts.

messenger bag progress, part I

2008-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

if i wasn't falling asleep at my sewing machine i would keep working on this thing all night.

i've been in need of a bigger bag to schlep all the stuff i am convinced that i need with me at all times (gigantor wallet, camera, sunglasses, planner, cell phone, at least two books, and occasionally yoga gear) so i set out to make exactly what i wanted, rather than shell out $100+ dollars for something that all the bike messengers carry.

after extensive internet research i found an awesome pattern that this guy federico created and is letting people use under a creative commons license. not only is the pattern straight forward and exactly the shape i was looking for, he does his best to walk his readers through his whole process, making it easier for us to avoid making the same mistakes. this is what i've got so far:

i haven't fucked anything up yet (knock on wood) and i'm really happy with what i've got so far. i'm about half-way through with all of the pockets, then it's onto the straps and then the final assembly. my machine is straining a little bit, but i think it's going to make it. stay posted for progress updates!

summer (?) goals

2008-06-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

it just hit me that 'summer' as i know it may be over. what used to be a three to four month break from the standard school year is now just a couple of potentially sunnier months within which i am working forty hours a week as well as trying to accomplish a lengthy extra-curricular to-do list. i've developed a sort of post-college anxiety that everything i've learned in the last however many years, as well as the skills to learn, will slowly begin to leak out of my head, and am trying to prevent this knowledge drain by reading seven books at once while simultaneously fixing my bike, putting postage on eleven postcards to various pen pals, and listening to french instructional tapes. oh, and hang out with my friends. is this what being grown up is all about? anyhow, here is a list of my current 'summer' goals. amendments will undoubtedly be made.

1. play more guitar
2. fix bike before it falls apart completely (new gears? new chain? new brakes? heck, maybe i should just abandon this death trap and buy something less likely to kill me)
3. READ. fiction, non-fiction, repeat. including, but not limited to:

4. send lots of snail mail
5. make a legit messenger bag (updates to come)
6. keep my dad's tomato plants alive
7. make a legitimate item of clothing on a regular basis
8. save money
9. keep up on my french
10. keep up with this blog

i do this every summer; make an overly ambitious list of things i want to accomplish, but maybe this summer it's possible, as there's no end date, no fall registration to mark the end of my days of freedom. check back.