interiors in austin

I cannot believe how long it has been since I've posted. It's really quite a travesty. Since my sewing machine hasn't been touched (except to push it further against the wall), I figured I would share the only pictures I've taken recently - architecture around Austin. Figuring that most people wouldn't care about all the construction details, I picked some interior shots that I thought were particularly inspiring.


First up is the Livestrong Lance Armstrong Foundation Headquarters by Lake/Flato and Bommarito Group. From the exterior, the building was rather unassuming, but the interior felt extremely spacious. There was a lot of warm wood, with much of the wood used recycled from the previously-existing building.


Then comes a private residence called Undertree House by Loop Design. It has been described as somewhat "whimsical", but has a great Austin vibe and is very environmentally-responsive. Its name derives from the fact that the house's plan was arranged based on the existing trees on the lot.


Lastly is another private residence, Wolfe Den by MJ Neal. This was a very modern house - nice clean lines all over the place. The house's entire side wall was covered in touch-latched closets, so all their stuff was hidden.


There was the most beautiful bathroom ever in that house. Loving the white. And that white counter? It's cast concrete!

So this is the type of thing that I get excited about. I'll probably end up showing more architecture pictures on this blog, because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. Also, I haven't been very productive or crafty. The holiday season is coming up, which I'm really excited about. Unfortunately that just means more hectic-ness for me, but if I'm going to be making any gifts, I should probably get on that. Anyway, I probably won't post again for a while, so: Happy Early Thanksgiving!

hello again (sort of)

Whoops. It's been quite a while since I last posted. Felt like I needed to write though ... for fun, not essay-writing for class (because that's not fun). For anyone reading, I feel like I should warn you that this post is pretty much just going to be me complaining. Because that's what I do when I feel like this.

Work is work. Wow. Revelation. I feel so rundown and exhausted. Kids need to learn that it is NOT OKAY to cough in people's faces. I haven't been feeling too great for the past few days and I am completely blaming the kids. I give them tissues, I tell them to aim for their elbows, but nope. I get paid decently and my job isn't bad at all, so I shouldn't complain, but COME ON!

Usually when I go grocery shopping I go in with a short list of the things I absolutely need and then just buy whatever else sounds good at the moment. Since I haven't been feeling well, I haven't been feeling hungry, and therefore didn't buy much when I went to the store. For dinner I ate a corn dog (yay microwave!) because that's all I could really find. My lunch for tomorrow will be yet another turkey sandwich. I have eaten so many turkey sandwiches since the beginning of the semester, it's disgusting. But if I'm buying a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce, and a container of turkey, I pretty much have to eat turkey sandwiches all week or everything goes bad/stale/icky.

I want to take NyQuil and sleep a good sleep, but then I probably wouldn't be able to make it to my 8 AM class. That's kind of a catch-22. If I want to be alert for class, I need a good sleep (which only NyQuil will give - darn coughing). But if I want to make it to class on time, I cannot take NyQuil (which would knock me out for at least 10 hours). Ugh.

Then there's school. Need I say more? I cannot wait until Thanksgiving. I am going to relish that break so much. Oh, and my wallet currently has $2. It's just past 11 PM and this college student is off to take a long hot shower, crawl into bed, and hope that the world magically turns into cotton candy in the morning.

baked + gifts + space

Whew. First I must mention that I made cookies again. Lots and lots of oatmeal cookies. I used the same recipe that I had used in this previous post, but I made the cookies a bit smaller and multiplied the recipe by 1.5. Ended up with about 70 cookies, stuffed about 25 per bag, and sent them on their way to studio. The rest stayed home and were promptly devoured.


Then I made rolls. Yay! Don't have a loaf pan here, so I haven't been able to make bread again, but I do have a baking sheet so I tried out this recipe and I think they turned out rather yummy. Pretty easy to make too. Next time I'll probably halve the recipe because this made a lot of rolls (not that my roommate minds).


Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2 1/2 cup warm water (divided)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

7 cups flour

Process:

dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water

in a separate bowl cream together the sugar and shortening

add egg, salt, the yeast mixture (after making sure it blossomed), remaining 2 cups of water, and about 4 cups flour

mix until smooth and keep mixing in flour until it turns into a soft dough

turn out and knead for about 6-8 minutes

place dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over (to make sure it's all oiled up), and cover the bowl

place the bowl in the refrigerator to rise overnight or for at least 8 hours

the next morning, punch the dough down and form rolls (about 36)

grease a baking sheet and roll the rolls around on it to cover them in oil (this will allow you to take the rolls apart after they bake together)

cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour (until the dough has doubled - the rolls should start squishing together)

bake in oven at 400F for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned

I love getting mail! My sister mailed me this cute little spiders thing. It's currently hanging from a light switch in our hallway. Festive-y, right?


A while back I won a giveaway from SimplyNu, and I received this delicious piece of handmade Castile soap in the mail. It's called Daisy Castile and I must say ... its scent is heavenly (and the flower shape is too cute). They're pretty new and their etsy shop has a lovely range of candles, soaps, and stationery. So, a big thanks to SimplyNu! I wish them the best with their store.


Last but not least, my current creative space. Lots of black, I know. Halloween is next Saturday, can you guess what I'm up to? There's black tulle, black elastic, black feathers, and some silver and black jewelry. I rather like my costume idea, but since it has yet to be created, I won't say much now.

Linking over to kootyoo for a whole bunch of creative spaces. And over to Southern Hospitality for recipes!Goodness gracious, this was a long post!

weirdo fan pulls

This morning I was lying on my floor (as I am apt to do) and looking up at my ceiling. Then I realized that I am a very weird person. The pulls to my ceiling fan were too short when I moved in, so I attached string for length as a quick fix. Bit by bit I've been adding things to them.


First were three plastic sun-catchers shaped like insects. I had painted them with my friends before going off to college, so I wanted to display them. Okay. Then came Bob, my mini-mannequin. He's been a fixture in every studio I've had, so I put him up there too. The string was too long, which was annoying, but instead of cutting it like a normal person, I let it hang there. Eventually I added a binder clip, which I had just taken it off some papers. I found an uneaten granola bar in my bag one day, so I attached it to that clip. Now I have all of that hanging in the middle of my room. Currently there are three granola bars up there at about eye level, which means that I am bound to walk into them at least once a day. I don't mind.

Weird, right? I LOVE the idea of having food hanging from my ceiling fan. It's so useful since it saves me those five steps to the kitchen when I want a snack. Yeah, I'm a total weirdo. Who would've thought a fan pull would/could evolve into this?

my creative space

My creative space is a mess. My crafting table is generally pretty clear with everything pushed into a corner, but that has been completely empty for a while. Organized chaos is the name of the game for the rest of my room. Everything has its place, but within that place it's an anything goes kind of system. My embroidery floss is all neatly arranged according to number, with remaining spaces crammed with scraps of ribbon and string, other boxes holding magnets, bottle caps, and buttons.


All my fabric lives in a cardboard box ... well, except for the fleece, cheap green stuff, and some pink print because not all of it would fit. Aye. I have all this fabric and every time I go to make something I think to myself that what I have simply will not do. Once upon a time it was organized, with everything neatly folded and arranged by color, but then life happened, and now it's more of stuffing and stacking things so they stay within the general confines of the box.


When I'm having a bad day, I'll just pull out one of the boxes (embroidery floss box, craft things box, or fabric box) and rifle through 'em. Because even though I'm generally not big on colors (a fair percentage of my wardrobe is black), I do like colors in most things. So that's my kind of pick me up.

Oh, and this is linked over to kootoyoo's blog where there's a whole list of people's creative spaces. So much fun to browse.