Malinka

You can read my interview with Carina from Malinka on the Colette blog here.

Carina has definitely been one of my favorite people to interview so far, she has been so nice and gave me some great answers. And I don't think I ever posted here the story of how I saw her dresses on a blog, tracked down her email and emailed her about doing the interview. Her response email struck me as a bit strangely informal, and only then did I do more research and realize that she is from Sweden and English is not her native language! Anyway I love Malinka, but it probably helps that as you read this there is a package making its way to me from Sweden. I will share more when it arrives!

A Conversation That Just Took Place In The Kitchen:

K: "No! His White Grandpa!"

Me: "Kathryn, you're so racist."

B: "My friend had an Asian grandpa, he said I was pretty"

K: "well if all else fails you can marry your friends Asian grandpa"

Me:"____ (the RS president from my family ward) said my hair looked sexy today!"

K: "well if all else fails you can marry her."

H: "People said I was cute when I was young..."

(cue laughter)

Today was my first Sunday in the singles ward here. It is not uncommon to have off the wall comments, the kind where everyone just smiles and nods at the person. Well today in RS I thought someone was making one of those comments. We were talking about the Good Samaritan and charity, and this girl commented, "When I am having a hard time with someone I imagine them eating a sandwich."

Which seems like a weird thing to say--but when you think about it it's pretty genius. I mean, think about someone you are frustrated with or something and think of them eating a sandwich. There is just something so humanizing about eating.

So I will leave you with a picture of our fearless leader eating a sandwich--doesn't he seem so approachable with his mouth full?

Springbean

I wish spring would hurry up and get here.

Today was a bad good day (or good bad day). I am back in Portland, at least for a little while since I finished my internship at 826 Seattle and my whole family has tickets to the Decemberists concert tonight.

Today was my first full day back and I was ready to run back to Seattle by mid-morning. I had an appointment to get my haircut, but at the last minute my mom needed me to take my sister to work and so I ran out the door in whatever was closest to me in my room. I was trying out The Ginger Suite, a salon Kassandra runs out of her cute teal house in NE Portland.

Anyway--I had a number dyslexic moment and got lost on the way there, but things were so much better when I finally got there. Kassandra was really great about working with my hair's natural texture, and we talked about economics, family, and she gave me a great tip on where to get high-waisted jeans. It doesn't look too different, but she put in all these short layers that bring out the curl like so:

Also, I am wearing the great find I snatched up on my way home at one of my favorite Portland shops.

Also, I finally finished my Valentine's (S)cowl! I made it WAY too wide, but at least it will be warm.

Also, I would love to have a job. I have a couple things in the works, but I am afraid if I talk about them too much it might jinx it.

The Dahlia Lounge

I know I haven't written about my gastronomic adventures in a while, and that it mostly due to the fact that I have decided to go easy on my wallet, but today I drove back to Portland with my dad and lunch was on him. So we went to a place in Seattle that my dad keeps raving about (he informed me that he likes to rave about lots of other things--but when it comes to food he is pretty right on). So we went to the Dahlia Lounge, which he informed me was in "Sleepless in Seattle", except it was at the old location. It is in the scene where Tom Hanks goes on a date with "that lady that laughs like a hyena".

The decor has definitely updated, but wit still has the fish lamps and everything. And the thing in particular my dad raved about was the grilled bread salad:

It lived up to its praise. Lettuce with a pesto, oil-cured olives, mozzarella, coppacola, lots of other fresh greens, and of course the grilled bread. Basically they take bread, and instead of toasting it like a crouton the bread is grilled like a panini. The result is delicious and I am excited to try some grilled bread in my own salads!

(Okay, and to write about the Dahlia Lounge in my Diary of Dining Out!)

Nuts for You

Even though I am single once again on Valentine's day this year it hasn't been too shabby. First of all my interview with Dace Moore of Dace clothing went up on the Colette Pattern blog on Friday (you can read it here).

And today I saw that it was tweeted by Jen McCabe of Honey Kennedy. I love her blog so that was really exciting.

Also, there is a legend that Earnest Hemingway was once challenged in a bar to write a memoir in six words. His six words read: 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.' So, this Valentine's day we had a challenge at 826 to write a 6 word memoir about something you love. Then I took all the memoirs, typed them up and we made the most adorable book. It is 2x2", and everyone at the office is obsessing over them today.

Look how tiny and cute that is. Plus, you can tell that this is a good picture because I am flashing some major thigh. Here is the cover:

(Sorry it's so small, but that's its actual size.)

I challenge you, my readers to come up with your own six word memoir about love, and leave it as a comment! My memoir that is included in the book is written about my love of people watching and was inspired by someone I saw on the bus that day.

"Kilted man sits with fanny pack."

Hopeless

My latest interview is up on Colette Patterns, you can read it here. It is with Gabrielle from Melbourne Australia who designs and sews Hopeless Lingerie. I love her designs (like I said before I don't need any lingerie currently, but she is the one who has inspired me to make a new swimsuit). I think she is so interesting because so many of her pieces are designed by horror films, which is interesting and the results are beautiful.
One of the hardest parts was picking which pictures to leave out!

Valentines (S)cowl

Until I am reunited with my sewing machine (Feb. 18th, count it down) I need something to tie me over/I have wanted to do this for a while. I am knitting a red seed/moss stitch cowl with stockinette stitch hearts. I am calling it my Valentine's (S)cowl for I find myself single again on this Valentines day (but don't worry, I'm not too torn up about it I mostly just enjoyed the play on words).

My problem is that I have lost all my decision making capabilities (we are talking large and small scale here) and I can't decide how many hearts to put on it! I am no where near done, but here is what I have so far:

So what do you think? Part of me thinks that it would be cool to have just one or two, but like I said-- I just can't decide.

Also, I wrote down in my notebook yesterday "find out how feasible it is to own a gramophone."

Today I can report that it is very feasible indeed...