apple of my eye

We’re currently in the midst of a crazy snowfall… so I painted my nails a bright apple red to cheer me up!

It’s a L’Oreal colour, in case you were wondering, and the pigment is so rich that you can get colour that matches the bottle in just one coat. I usually use two coats anyway, since I type all day at work and my nailpolish chips quickly.

Yesterday my nails were grey, which was nice, but not nearly as cheerful. And to continue the random “apple” theme, I baked applesauce-spice cupcakes this morning for breakfast (from a Martha Stewart recipe in her cupcake book). I left out the frosting since I had no cream cheese in the fridge, but they taste super-yum just as muffins, served warm with some melted butter on. Mmmm.

Even if it keeps snowing, I’m planning to go out a bit this afternoon. I enjoy bundling up in knitwear; as long as I’m warm, I’m happy. Do you have snow where you are? xo

my weekend

Hi! I’ve been really enjoying my time off this weekend… having a cold is horrible & prevented me from getting out as much as I’d have wanted, but I have managed to get up to a lot at home.

(there are my bangs again! They grow fast… wearing glasses sort of emphasizes their length since once they get a certain length they start to bump the top of my frames… eek!)

Yesterday I made some Skor Bar Squares, which are deelish & also super-easy to keep eating… and eating…! My mum makes them really well, and mine turned out good but I think I need to work on the proportion of crackers to chocolate. Not having “skor chipits”, I substituted actual choc bars, crushed up. And I wasn’t sure of the exact amount to use. Oh well! Nothing helps me feel better than yummy baking, heehee.

I also *did* manage to get my christmas cards mailed out (although the cost of stamps was slightly depressing). I can’t wait to start getting them in the mail!

And when I found a bag of red & green yarn, I started thinking of some small holiday knits or crocheted things to make, and ended up making a few of these!

The pattern can be found on ravelry, or here. And they’re super-quick to make, since the entire pattern is done in two rounds! So cute. I may make up some more and hang them as decorations, if we manage to think of a way to put up our tree and not have Inara-kitten destroy it.

Today I’ve been catching up on The Apprentice (I used to be pro-Clint, but he made a critical typo for which I may not be able to forgive him…) and generally lying around. It’s very nice to have nothing to do… and I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow! It’s too tempting to stay snuggled under a pile of woolly blankets in the morning.

inspiration

• e.e. cummings:

“…. the Cambridge ladies do not care, above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless, the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy”
excerpt from his poem “The Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”

• Jill Barber lyrics:

“but I am just a dreamer wearing sensible shoes… and I still dream in colour, even though I sing the blues…” excerpt from her song “Measures & Scales”

• a new cupcake book, bought today:

• Pink & Grey– today I had the urge to find a pink & grey outfit to wear… found a new pink sleeveless top with fabric rosettes, and will pair it with an already-owned silvery-grey sweater… and possibly the sweetest ballet flats. I’m really into light, washed out tones right now… much inspired by the following (from weheartit.com: photo one; photo two; photo three)

• 

• that’s all for now! Oh yes, and I also made cheesy biscuits for dinner. They turned out fabulously, and were made using a random recipe from the 2009 Milk calendar! What do you know?

hooray!

New yarn!!

You’ll have to forgive the lighting, by the time we got home tonight it was past 10 pm, and our flourescents don’t do colours justice. Anyways, it is super-scrumptious Diamond Luxury Collection Baby Alpaca Lace in a lovely neutral tan colour. Two skeins at 400 metres each should make some nice long smooshy armwarmers, right? I’m thinking of maybe a 3×2 rib or something… highly influenced by the ones in the Toast catalogue I posted about the other day. And hopefully I won’t drive myself crazy knitting with lace-weight yarn.

Today was great for shopping; we also stopped at Chapters to spend some Christmas gift cards– I bought this:

I have a bit of a crush on Nigella, as in: I want to be her (accent included), and I’ve been looking at her books with longing for a while. I did mention I was planning to do some more baking this year, the real stuff from scratch (!), so this book should help me with that.

The recipes are really drool-worthy, too. I’m getting hungry just thinking about them (especially looking at the photos of cookies & cupcakes)!

One last thing before I go– one of my other favourite birthday gifts was this awesome makeup bag (from my mum), how cool is this?

Yep, that’s right: it’s got owls! I super-love it. I sort of flaunt it when I take out lipgloss, but so far no one has said anything. What super gifts did anyone else get? I’d love to read, or especially see pictures!

sunday loves

Things I am loving  this Sunday:

• (actually, this one occurred yesterday but I still love it and therefore here it is)… Receiving the Toast catalogue in the mail. If you go to the site and click Catalogue Pages you can see for yourself, but there really is nothing like flipping through the print copy with a mug of tea…
• I seriously have never wanted so much to exist inside of a catalogue. The styling is amazing, look: (click to enlarge & drool over the pics)

• I am going to knit up some armwarmers, nice long ones, to use at work so I can wear shorter sleeves and not die of cold (the other day I wore an insulated hoodie with fleece-lined pockets! In an office!)
• Today I will make the ginger cookies (PC ready-to-make-mix) and take some to my parents’ house to eat with tea
• I love the thought of opening my last birthday gifts!
• The kitten was playing in my pyjama drawer this morning

Have a nice afternoon!