enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

Here1 Herecoffee
Heregreen
Herea Hereminis
Here2 Herebooks
Herebook
Here3 Herestrip
Herestrip2

Decently busy week, but very good week.

I don't want to say biggest achievement, because man, that makes my week sound lame, but something cool : I framed our recent photobooth strip. I love to frame strips in black frames (this one is a 8×10, but I have an 11×14 over the fire place) with a big white mat. Instead of worrying about cutting a mat to size, I just use double stick tape and center the strip on the paper (I buy nice, thick, white paper at an art or craft store and trim it to the frame size). On this one, I wrote in pencil the location & the date. I might go back and do that to my first one too.

I finished The Creative Habit on Wednesday and I was floored. I need to organize my thoughts and get a post together on it. Simultaneously, I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and I can already feel my food habits itching to make some changes. I know this book is going to get under my skin… probably deeper than I would like it too. I am anxious to start Game of Thrones. It's the book Paul and I are going to  both read this summer per our manifesto. We watched season one in May and both really enjoyed it. Excited to see how the book compares.

In other news : my parents are coming into town tonight to spend the weekend and we're looking forward to trying out some new pizzas on them. Can't wait to show them all the changes that have happened to this house since they visited six months ago and helped me get settled in. It's a different place this craft museum house of ours.

Have a wonderful weekend.

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37 responses to “around here.”

  1. Monika Avatar

    Amazing pictures of your life! Love it!

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  2. Isobel_A Avatar
    Isobel_A

    Game of Thrones is a brilliant book. The series is a really good adaptation (they got the feel so right, and the casting is spot on perfection) but the book is (as is almost always the case) even better. Hope you both enjoy it! Are you guys reading aloud? Such a good way to read together, and you don’t miss the little details you might be tempted to skip in a hurry when you’re reading to yourself.

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  3. Hagit Avatar

    Game of Thrones is great, my husband and I watch and enjoy it. So we bought the books, and the first one is EXACTLY by the book, which made me desert it. However, my husband’s still reading, he’s on the third or fourth already, and he says things are different. Just saying this so you don’t get bored of the first book, like I did 🙂

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  4. melissa Avatar

    I’m also reading Game of Thrones! Love book one and watched all three seasons so far, great show!
    Looking forward to seeing your new pizza’s!

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  5. Skye Avatar

    I’m loving that basket of minibooks! I wish I could come over and look through them! (I know you’ve posted pictures of them but there’s nothing like holding a completed scrapbook in your hands and going through each page.) I hope you have an awesome time with your parents. I think you should try making dessert pizzas with them 🙂

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  6. Christie Avatar

    I love, love, love, love, LOVE Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It is definitely in my “top 5 books ever” list. You will love it! I have the Creative Habit on my Kindle, you’ve inspired me to virtually crack it open 🙂

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  7. alinor Avatar

    My summer reading goal is also Game of Thrones!! it’s so big there is no way I could read it some other time of the year. Love your interior, I can’t wait to have my own place and get working on this museum of mine too!
    xxo

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  8. Diana Avatar

    Love the photo strip in a giant frame idea…I’ve been looking for some inspirations on what to do with a couple of photobooth strips that I have laying around. Thanks!
    Diana
    Unusuallylovely.squarespace.com

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  9. Misti Avatar

    Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a great book. I read it in the Fall of 2010 and it really changed a lot of my thinking, which was already headed that direction.
    Happy reading!

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  10. Madeleine Avatar
    Madeleine

    Good luck with Game of Thrones! I read it first about 5 years ago… my husband (boyfriend at the time!) gave it to me I think now as a test to see if we were compatable life partners I think! I have to say I nearly gave up after the first book not because it isn’t brilliant, it is, but because I was so depressed about the misery befalling all my favourite characters. But at his assurance that these books were the best things ever I kept it up and absolutely love these books now. And my husband and I spend hours upon hours discussing them and what we think will happen next and different details about different characters etc etc. So good luck… hope you both love them as much as we do

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  11. J3SS1C4 Avatar

    I loved the Game of Thrones show… Me and my partner have watched through it over the last couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to getting the books some time in the next couple of weeks… It’s a set of books I think even he’d read, and he doesn’t read much. It’s winter here, and such a good time to curl up with a good book!

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  12. Rose Avatar

    I feel like you should have went to my graduate program. Twyla’s book was on the required reading list. That should indicate how cool of a book arts program it was 🙂
    And speaking of books – all the books on your list are great. Do enjoy them 🙂

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  13. Rachel Avatar

    Those are some great books! I LOVE Animal, Veg. Miracle. You have got to try some of her recipes (especially the zucchini cookies). And everything by Bill Bryson is hilarious! Have a great weekend Elise!

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  14. Cassie Avatar

    I still have no idea what Game of Thrones is (oops!), but your post intrigued me to check out The Creative Habit… Amazon.com makes it so easy to buy books with one click! Really excited to read it, so thanks for the recommendation!

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  15. Naomi Avatar

    My dad is a big Game of Thrones fan – and you sound pretty into it so maybe I should try it.

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  16. Naomi Avatar

    Also, my husband and I are planning on making a steak pizza tonight a la your post on Tuesday. Love the idea, I’ve been looking forward to it all day! Thanks 🙂

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  17. Trish Avatar
    Trish

    You’re reading Kingsolver! She makes life better.

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  18. elise blaha Avatar

    that is awesome! I wonder how much I would have been able to appreciate it in school before I had actually developed my own creative process. I fear I would have just considered it a text book. 🙂

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  19. Lindsay Overbey Avatar

    You have inspired me to read The Creative Habit. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf. I can’t remember if I’ve read some of it or not. I’ve also been reading Art & Fear again. I think they were both on my college reading list, but now I can enjoy reading them without it being an assignment haha. ♥

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  20. Donna Avatar

    My husband and our nephew both read the whole series and kept encouraging me to read it. It wasn’t until I watched the first season on DVD that I got interested. I just finished the fifth book and can’t wait for the next book to come out. If you like the show I think you’ll enjoy the books. Also I love your framed photo booth pictures.

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  21. Jane Avatar

    Just echoing the comments that Game of Thrones is FANTASTIC! And it’s a great book to read as a couple – I think men and women enjoy it equally. I am on Book 4 right now and the series just keeps getting better and better. And the Twyla Tharp book is amazing too – I read it so long ago, I need to get it back out and refresh my memory of it…will make that part of MY summer manifesto.

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  22. Maria Avatar
    Maria

    Hi Elise – just ordered The Creative Habit. After reading from your and ALi’s blog I felt I couldn’t wait any longer to read it 🙂 Keep up the good work. Thanks for your honest writing. Greetings, Maria.

    Like

  23. Jojo A. Avatar

    Is that a money tree in the first picture? I just bought one for a friend for a housewarming gift…curious about how to care for it! 🙂

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  24. Shaina Longstreet Avatar

    Okay, I’m gonna read the Creative Habit now. 🙂 And try to find a photobooth sometime soon. Or maybe just make my own photo strip to frame. hmmm…that might just work! 😉

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  25. elise blaha Avatar

    I am not sure what type of succulent it is… I use pour water into pot (the big one, not the dirt one) and let it soak up its own water every month or so. They do pretty well when left alone 🙂

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  26. lindsey Avatar

    sweet lil foam heart in the coffee.

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  27. Sena Avatar

    The coffee cup and tablecloth pic makes me happy, looks like a good way to start the morning 🙂 Also, I love the photos from your studio and the little glimpses of every day life!

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  28. jenn Avatar
    jenn

    It looks like a Jade plant… i have several and LOVE them! you can even “plant” broken branches and they will re-root (true of most succulents & cacti)which is fun to do… break off bits then re-root and give those to friends and family…

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  29. Jordan Avatar

    Is that pot in the first pic from Ross? My husband and I just got one that looks EXACTLY the same for our porch succulent garden, bit our pot is in reds and oranges. 🙂

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  30. elise blaha Avatar

    yes! I went in there determined to find cheap planters and I was SO pleased. 🙂 good eye.

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  31. r8chel Avatar

    Thanks to you, I stopped by the library on my way home from work today and checked out a copy of The Creative Habit. I’ve never heard of it before, but I started reading it this evening at the pool. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  32. Jessica Rodarte Avatar

    Great pictures. I wouldn’t have thought to frame a photo strip. Love that! Fantastic idea.

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  33. amanda*rose Avatar

    I’m pretty taken with your ‘around here’ posts. It’s kind of a ‘beauty in the boring’ approach to taking photos…and I LOOOOOOVE that. I even hopped on the bandwagon with an ‘around here’ post of my own the other day:http://amandaroseblog.typepad.com/my_blog/2012/06/around-here-the-boops.html
    Thanks for the inspiration!

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  34. Kate S Avatar
    Kate S

    Animal, Vegetable, Miracle can be a transformative book. Don’t be overwhelmed by all that she does! Take small steps!

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  35. Lindsay Avatar

    I can’t come on here and not immediately want to go work a million dedicated hours on my blog! It is always so inspiring;) We just recently finished season 1 of Game of Thrones (due to life in s.korea we are FAR behind on American tv shows!!) and LOVED it. I also am a dedicated Tharp fan and that book gets me every time;) Do you enjoy her choreography as well? Amazing stuff!

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  36. Allie Finch Avatar

    A Short History of Nearly Everything just might be my all time favorite audio book. I believe he narrates it himself & does wonderfully. That book is full of so many interesting tidbits & conversation starters.

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