Solar Cottage Toad Abode from Target.


• Toads are gardeners’ friends, and this darling cottage will make toads feel at home in your garden.
• Light is visible from the outside of the abode only, drawing unsuspecting and vegetation-damaging insects to the toad
• Solar panel absorbs energy from any light source; light-sensitive photocell automatically turns light on at dusk/off at dawn
• Made of durable polyresin with colorful painted finish
• Requires 1 AA NiMH rechargeable battery; 7.5Hx8.67Wx8.67D"

Buy this Solar Cottage Toad Abode with Solar Gnome Checkers today!

Things I did on my vacation (last week):

Played frisbee in Ojai on Easter Sunday with various excellent friends (one of whom did not show up like a complete douchebag even though we never see him and he had 2 weeks notice). Then went and got homemade ice cream before going back home for Easter dinner.

Cleaned out my gradparents storage shed. Ended up with some of my grandma's china and silver, an awesome pendulum clock, and a pencil drawing of my mom when she was 10.

Hung out with various members of the extended family, some of whom I hadn't seen for six or so years.

Hung out a lot with Cj's family, lovely as always.

Went to Disneyland and got silhouette portraits done, pictures will come when I am not insane, whenever that might be. Forgot how "without resolution" end of the Snow White's Adventure ride is.

Went out with both current and future sisters and got bridesmaid dresses. Also bought possibly the shortest skirt I have ever owned. (picstocome)

Worked on the quilt a bit before I remembered everything I had to do.

Hung out on a boat with the parents of the Lovely Miss Allison Whom I Hung Out With Much In High School, and ate a ton of her Mom's scrumptious apple crisp.

Finished my grant application. Oh yeah, I'm doing one of those. Won't know whether or not I get it until July 21st. I'm applying for it in the event that I don't get in to CalArts (see below), as it will allow me to work at a company without them having to pay me out of their own pocket.

Drove back to Ojai to visit with Cj's grandpa.

Drove home, then checked the mail.

Got waitlisted at CalArts.

They'll let me know somewhere around June 1st if a spot opens up. Yyyeeearrrrgh.

SO,

Drove over the hill to drop off my portion of the grant application, then drove back and got a sad, sick little Cj some dinner, nyquil, and orange juice.

By the way, Cj got a tattoo. And it's really cool.



p.s. I've retired my old icon of cate for one much more suitable.

Wugh.

So most of the last couple of days has been spent taking care of sick Cj, working substitute retail shifts, and preparing for the enormous booksigning events happening at the store. Today was no different, but for some reason it felt like it really sucked. I dunno why, I just felt incompetent and grumpy. Couple that with problems at the post office and a worry about getting everything done, and I feel kinda crappy.

Everybody post silly pictures and cheer me up, plz.

I babysat my favorite two year old the other day, and aside from a nasty bout of gas we had a good time. Apparently she's way into Feist and can ask for the videos by name (as well as recognize the way they look on youtube searches), even if the names aren't exactly what you would expect.( Two year old lingo )

Et cetera, et cetera.

I also got a request for a color palette from a friend who's buying me fabric for my birthday, and I liked the results so much I thought I'd post it here. I used a tool I saw in this entry from Kathleen of [LiquidSkyArts]'Blog which analyzes a picture you upload for color swatches. I couldn't find one picture that would have all the colors I wanted, so I tried various stills from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

Well it's coming up again, so this is both to organize my thoughts and to have an online place I can link to for relatives :)



Dressy flats!
These are Ferragamo, but most pink or black slides or flats would be fine too. [Size 6.5]



Monogrammed Cardigan
Okay, so it could just be a normal cardigan, but who could resist that awesome 1950s vibe you can only get with your initials on a sweater? This one's from Bloomingdales. [Size small]



Restore Chanel Bag
I'd really love to get my Chanel handbag restored. I got it secondhand and it already had some leather cracking and pen marks in it, which is why I could afford it. I want it to last me another ten years if possible, cause I'm probably never going to find a deal like that again. Mine's like the one above, only slightly different and in cream.



Sewing Books
I love sewing books, and I've been realizing that more and more I enjoy reading the little stories the author writes and the beautiful pictures just as much as I like the patterns and instructions. Here are some books I'm really interested in:
Last-Minute Fabric Gifts, Simple Sewing with a French Twist, Couture Sewing Techniques, Fleece Dog, and Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match.



Jane Austen Movies
Yes, I know. Gina loves Jane Austen. Let's get it over with and list some movies.
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma



Etsy Fare
I love most things from etsy, so you generally can't go wrong. Some of my favorite sellers are sonatine, anapaulaaoli, nanopod, and storeyshop.

I also have permanent wishlists at:

anthropologie
tiffanys
amazon
sephora

Since we went to visit Cj's mentor SpearIt in Berkeley yesterday, I got a head start on some Christmas presents for his family and brought them up with me.



Puzzle ball (pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) for baby, pillowcases for mom and dad. I gave his 2 year old brother a little plastic egg with sand in it cause he likes to make music, but the noise isn't so obnoxious that his mom would want to kill me after a few days with it ;) She much prefers it to the metal measuring cups he plays with now.



See? The baby's name is Krsna Kalonji, so there's a little K stitched into it.



The pillowcases - I was trying out my new (tiny) sewing machine, the
Euro-pro Dressmaker II, so they're not the best made things in the world, but didn't they turn out pretty?



This vegan cake/pudding thing I made. Posted the recipe here.

It must be this time of year - I just want to sit in a corner with some tea and sew. Or bake. In fact, I have this pumpkin crisp recipe I've been wanting to try...

Oh my god.



I never told ANYONE about this idea, but someone totally stole it.

*edit* Also:



Wooooo!

Mine? No, sadly not. But still an amazing spectacle, the Plaza Hotel in New York celebrating it's 100th birthday.

I stayed up far too late last night working on my statement of purpose for grad school - I have the middle and the end done, which is a typical problem for me. I always start it off with some wacky statement, then come back later and have to delete it and rewrite the opening. The beginning is always the hardest part.

My first graduate school due date is on November 30th - my birthday. Here's to moving forward.

This is from Johanna Ost's website. She's been one of my favorite artists/illustrators since I was about seventeen years old.



I just think it's beautiful.