enJOY it

BACON BLOODY MARY’S.

February 20, 2015
I remember the first time I had a Bloody Mary that didn't gross me out. We were in New Orleans, eating breakfast at the counter at Stanley's. I ordered a mimosa and Paul ordered a Bloody. I had one sip of mine and one sip of his and knew I was NEVER going back to mimosas.

Since then, I am always and forever on a quest to find a great Bloody Mary. Restaurants often rely on a mix which tends to make the drinks too sweet and too watery. They also tend to be either WAY too big – who needs a 32 oz drink at 10am? – or way too small. Not ideal.

So Paul and I have created a recipe that we think is a winner. And just for fun, last weekend, we threw in bacon stirrers. As you can probably imagine, they were amazing.

We like to make the "mix" in a pitcher (or in our house, a giant measuring cup) and then just pour as needed and mix with vodka and ice.

For your mix (serves 4 people one drink or 2 people two drinks)
- 2 cups tomato juice – something without sugar and "real juice" is best
- the juice from two fresh lemons
- the juice from one and a half fresh limes
- 1/4 C Worcester sauce
- a decent bit of pepper
- probably some salt (depends how salty your tomato juice was)
- optional Tabasco sauce (to taste)
Mix that all up well. Pour a little over 1/2 cup of mix and 1 oz of vodka into your glass. Add a few ice cubs. Get extra fancy and throw some green olives on a stirrer. Get even fancier and throw in some celery. Go all in and add some bacon…

To make our bacon stir sticks, Paul wrapped bacon around BBQ skewers and cooked in the oven at 400*F for 25 minutes (you may want to go a bit longer for extra crispiness). The grease dripped right off into the pan below, which was awesome and the bacon came out shaped like a curly-Q. Perfectly fancy to throw in the drink. (And absurdly delicious to eat).

Cheers! It's the weekend!

SIDENOTE! when I was pregnant I drank virgins of this … same exact mix, no vodka and it was crazy delicious. Highly recommend.
29 favorite moments.

February 19, 2015

Each year, around my birthday, I reflect back on some of the things and the moments that made the past year great. This year's "moments" list was harder to create than others. Not because there were less good things but because in some ways it was our most normal yet. No moves. No deployments. No pregnancies. No babies.

We just lived. We worked hard, we played hard, we grew and here are 29 of the moments that stick out for me:

selling out of the magic letterpress prints.

March 21, going out to dinner with Paul and Ellerie and feeling completely like myself for the first time since I had a baby. And then, shortly after, I lost that feeling. But eventually it came back. And then it left around Easter again. But finally, it came back for good.

learning how to crochet with a circle of wonderful women up in Oregon.

the extra hour of sun that daylight savings brings; always one of my favorite times of year.

heading to Palm Springs with Paul.

seeing my first tomatoes appear.

taking Ellerie to the library on her 1st birthday.

walking on stage at WDS.

dancing, later than night at WDS when all the pressure of the last two months was off me.

making it to Austin to see my girlfriends for a few days.

coming up with the idea for Get To Work Book.

laughing our way to the top of the aisle in a beetle.

staying up until 5 in morning chatting about life and work in Eugene.

picking up Ellerie from her first day at daycare and realizing we had both survived.

seeing the head tilt in that roll of film.

seeing Bastille in concert.

playing drinking games in Berkeley before Big Game.

Thursday mornings in the fall, driving Ellerie to daycare and listening to the latest Serial podcast.

when Ellerie learned how to give kisses.

pressing publish on a brand new look for the blog.

Paul's face when he comes home from work and sees Ellerie.

riding the roller coaster at Disneyland and screaming as loud as possible.

the other day when Paul brought Ellerie home from daycare and I walked outside when I heard the car and she lifted her arms up and SQUEALED to see me.

all the evenings when we decide to skip our current plan and walk up to KnB for a beer and appetizers.

any and all slow weekend mornings when we head out as a family for a really great cup of coffee.

any and all mornings where I got to sleep in.

pulling my shorts out of storage last week.

last weekend, running in the grass and feeling like this parenthood gig wasn't hard. In fact, for a moment, it felt easy.

and to borrow one from last year, the moment that will always be my favorite, even if I live 100 lifetimes : all those evenings when it's the three of us in kitchen and work is done and the baby is happy and dinner is cooking. My life is in those evenings. My heart is in those evenings.

ps. 28 moments, 27 moments, 26 moments
E&e in february.

February 18, 2015

I will be documenting Ellerie's second year by photographing some mama and baby favorites each month.

This is what Elise and Ellerie are doing in February 2015.

DRINKING : Dark Horse coffee | from her kitty cup

READING : The Rosie Project| Barnyard Dance

PLAYING : with yarn (always) | with her watering can

WEARING : a new bracelet with my One Little Word | all the size 5 shoes (from Old Navy & Target)

EATING : girl scout cookies | ditto

See all these posts here.

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Today on ELISE GETS CRAFTY I'm chatting with Ann-Marie Espinoza about drawing the line. How can we separate between personal and professional? How do we decide what to share online and keep off? Where are the boundaries?! Subscribe on iTunes or stream here.
new mama care package.

February 17, 2015
I have said this before but my transition into motherhood was bumpy. I was the first of my close friends to have a baby and my knowledge of what was coming was seriously lacking. (Prepare yourself for some brilliant insight…) Having one yourself is NOT the same as liking a filtered photo on Instagram of someone else's newborn. 😉

It's amazing and wonderful and OMG your heart is bursting.

But it's also painful and difficult and OMG every single part of your body is leaking.

I felt like I was living on razor blade. Behind me was the past and in front of me was the future. I couldn't go back. I couldn't even remember the past. But I couldn't go forward either. I couldn't even see the future.

That's what I remember repeating most often. To my mom, to Paul, to anyone who would listen, I would whisper:

"I can't see it."

I couldn't see it. I couldn't see how we'd leave this razor edge where the feelings were so intense and horrifying and beautiful. I couldn't see past one feeding…much less past one week.

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Now, that I'm here, out of the fog and in the future, it is a tremendous relief to say that that all sounds so dramatic. I see it. I see where we are. I see where we're headed. I see that there will come challenges, but I see that we'll be okay.

I can also see behind me now. I see the new mama that I was and I hurt for her.

I have forgotten so many of the hard parts from those early weeks and months. But I haven't forgotten the underlying panic. I haven't forgotten how I felt those first few weeks when Paul was deployed, my baby was new and my body felt foreign. And I think that memory is what makes now – solid ground – feel so sweet.

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And with that long and personal story, please let me share one of my favorite things to do these days…

Send new mama care packages! My friends are having babies! My friends are becoming mothers. They are (please, God) transitioning into their new roles better than I did. They are learning what it's like to live on a razor blade. They are learning what it's like to exist on little sleep and a bursting heart. They are amazing and I love them.

With every new baby, I get a bit better at building a care package for my faraway friends that I hope will be helpful in those early days. I'm excited to share it with you (feel free to let me know what you'd add!)

Larabars (these are amazing any time, but especially when she has just one hand to eat or needs a middle of the night snack)

chapstick, nail files and cuticle cream (she probably has all this, but she doesn't know where it is)

face wipes (she wants to wash her face each night and these will make it easier)

thank you cards (she'll run out of these)

a soft comfy robe (she probably already has one but two?! Having two robes means she'll have a chance that one is sort of clean)

a note on cheap paper (beautiful letterpress cards are great – before the baby is born when she has time to do stuff like "put the card in a special place." Those first few weeks after the baby is born? She feels like she's drowning in stuff and just wants to clear a tiny space in her house because that might help her clear a space in her head.)

Pack everything in a flat rate priority box (the regional box A is a perfect size and not as expensive to ship) and skip the tissue paper, wrapping and extra packaging (she's drowning in stuff, remember?). Send it off with good wishes and a mental promise that you'll listen to whatever she has to say and forget it all when she recovers and is feeling like her old (awesome) self again.

To all the new mamas: I'm thinking about you. I'm cheering you on. To all the mamas: You are amazing. To my beautiful girl, who made me a mama: I love you to the stars. You make me want to do better.

PS. awhile back I shared my 34 gift suggestions for a new mama if you live by your friend and don't need to send a care package via mail. When I went back and checked, all of these items were on it. I'm nothing if not consistent.

Other posts you might enjoy:
29 favorite things.

February 16, 2015

Once a year, around my birthday, I do a round-up of the (corresponding to my age) things that made the year great. I try to think about the new stuff I discovered that I really loved. I try to think about the things that in five, ten, twenty years, I might still love or appreciate.

Without further ado, here's this year's list:

film / I'm no stranger to film photography, but this year was the year that I really got back into it. Film captures in a way digital cannot. I adore the limited images I have been able to get of Ellerie on film.

Trader Joe's taper candles / I've been using these for years, but somehow they never made the list. So cheap, so excellent. We light them every night with dinner.

capsule wardrobe / one of the three game-changers of this past year. You can read tons more about Autumn's wardrobe here and Winter's here.

knitting / I broke even further out of my scarf mold this year! 29 blankets! Three sweaters! A striped cowl! One sock! Learning to read knitting patterns is seriously one of the things I am most proud of this year.

VSCO app / I used to do no editing on my iPhone photos and now I use this to boost the color and add an extra touch of crispness. Maybe someday I'll be annoyed that I filtered my photos, but today is not that day.

licorice twist tea / a super fave from the past few months.

giant white weaving / one of my favorite DIYs from this past year, for sure.

fitbit flex / the second of three game-changers. I have worn my fitbit every day since April 30. I have been working on getting my 10,000 steps every day and while I don't always hit it, I've made a massive improvement. The fitbit is not for everyone, but for me, someone who is absurdly goal-oriented, it's absolutely perfect. As a new year's gift to myself, I bought the Tory Burch rose gold bracelet and I love it. I wear it about 40% of the time (vs the plastic bracelet). I am a huge fan of the look and feel but will caution that the door to get the tracker in and out is really hard to open.

Canon large format printer / yes, I was given this in exchange for some sponsored posts, but I really love it and am obsessed with the projects I can create at home now.

Bumble + Bumble texture undressing cream / I've gone through so many hair products over the past 2 decades (my bathroom is like the Hunger Games for hair stuff) but this is currently at the top.

Lo & Sons OG bag / I've had this for awhile but this was the year I used it the most. I took over ten trips this past year and every time I packed I was grateful for this bag. I'll still be using it in 60 years, no doubt. If I have two daughters they will for sure fight over it after I'm gone.

iPad keyboard / I love this for travel so I don't have to lug around my laptop but can still get some writing done. After having a kiddo, I realized the plane (without said kiddo) is the most productive space in the world.

the sliding door in our bedroom / I've had this project on my list since before we moved in two years ago. Getting to cross it off was no small victory.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova / my favorite fiction book this year. See more book reports from me here.

podcasts / I started my own this year, but that's not why these are on the list. I enjoyed listening to some really great shows this year (Serial, Start-up, This American Life, Invisibilia, After the Jump) The only downside is that now normal broadcast morning radio makes me want to drive my car off the road.

MAKE29 / this was a business game-changer for me. I pushed it this past year and a big part of that was because I had such a massive project hanging over my head. I'm proud of what I did with MAKE29 and I'm thrilled with the path that is coming next.

a new look for the blog / my God was it time.

Portland / I LOVED visiting this city last summer. One of the highlights of the past year for sure. I'm so excited the Get To Work Book is coming out of Portland because maybe that means I'll get to take more trips up there. I'm also so glad Paul was able to take time off work and come up to WDS with me. I could not have done that without him.

grilled pizza / for Father's Day this year we got Paul a gas grill and our summer dinners were the best ever. One of my favorite's was grilled pizza.

"Just you wait." / this is my favorite blog post to write.

tarte foundation / I don't wear make-up often, but every time I put this on I think I should. It looks so natural but amazing. I picked mine up at Ulta and recommend going in and having them color match for you.

The Parker Palm Springs / I am so glad we finally got to go to there.

The Americans / I think this is my favorite TV show watched this year. Maybe. Really tough call.

my denim vest / obviously this made the list. Is it spring yet? Can I put this back on? Also, this lady-bug. Stop it right now.

daycare / the third of three game-changers for me this past year. I know I've written about this in chunks here and there but again…I was hanging on by a thread until we got more help. The difference has been night and day and I am so grateful I got over myself and we were able to make this decision. I'm a better mama, business-owner, wife and human now that I have some extra time.

side-by-side comparison photos / I've always loved them, but you throw a kid into the mix and they're just the best. Watching my baby grow is the highlight of my life.

Take Me To Church by Hozier / loved this song. And am still mad it wasn't in the Sons of Anarchy Finale.

the Graham Glider / when Ellerie was born I hoped I could make our wooden rocker work for late night feedings and rocking. Well, I made it work, but it wasn't the most comfortable and it was not ideal. For months Paul and I thought about getting a more comfortable chair. And then the months turned into a year. And then in the fall, around 15 months, Ellerie started waking up in the middle of the night again. And every night I would bum out that we didn't have more comfortable chair and vow to buy one when daylight came again. This is turning into an essay, but the bottom line is for Christmas we bought each other this chair and our nights are 200% better on nights where we're up. I'm interested to see if a comfy chair will help me nurse baby #2 (#notpregnant) for longer than I was able to nurse Ellerie.

“Good for her! Not for me. That is the motto women should constantly repeat over and over again.” – Amy Poehler / quote of the year/decade right there. I'm entering my 30's with this tattoo-ed on my heart.

You can see past lists here : 26 things, 27 things, 28 things.
weekend links / 53.

February 14, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's what I loved on the Internet this week…

such a fun phonetic alphabet print.

you had me at "one pot wonder."

"At its most fundamental level, the purpose of journalism in a democracy is to build a more informed citizenry." – I was sad to hear Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show

beautiful braided knit cowl pattern.

amazing.

40 years of SNL in photos.

yarn heals. thanks, Kelly!

brownie cookies if you're in a baking mood today.

I was honored to be an everyday icon at Clementine Daily this week.

…and I'm trying to get access to some stats via bloglovin, so if you use bloglovin and don't already, you can follow me there.
FOR THE LOVE OF FEBRUARY

February 13, 2015

clockwise from top left : jcrew downing hobo bag, rivulette handspun yarn, merona striped flats, purl bee monochrome friendship bracelets, Elisa Werbler birthstone notecards, emily mcdowell you can do it! mug, ban.do heart duffle bag, crate & barrel wall clock.

Some Friday window-shopping to send us all into the weekend. This is the stuff I am loving but shouldn't buy because seriously I need another bag like I need another room to decorate (not one bit). That mug is Crazy Good though and I'm hoping those flats are still around mid-March when I'm figuring out my spring wardrobe. If not…there will be something else coming down the assembly line. Of this, I am sure.

February is flying. It's Valentine's Day? Already? Paul is not working this weekend (yay!) and so we have big plans to go to brunch, drink some coffee, barbeque and file our income taxes. Does it get more romantic than that? Surely not.

Have a good one.
when I say no.

February 11, 2015

my office bulletin board. highlights include Emily McDowell's business card, the original ELISEJOY mission statement, an expired polaroid of E, all the photobooth strips, and a "let that shit go" print from Your Joyologist.

I shared last month that one of the ways I keep my work tasks manageable is by saying "No" a lot.

This is my main thought on "No" : it can be really hard to say it, but it's WAY HARDER to not say it and sign on to something you can't or don't want to do. Ultimately, saying "no" is better for you and the person you're saying it to. Who wants to work with an uninterested participant? No one.

I got a few questions about what I say "No" to or how I draw the boundaries. I haven't really thought it through, so it was interesting for me to dive deeper into this. It turns out that for me, there are five big hoops any one request has to get through. There are always exceptions, but for the most part, quickly asking and answering these questions can help me decide yes or no about a project or opportunity.

*Please note, this is all work related. Saying "no" to personal things is less technical.

Is there a decent financial payoff? If yes, a project has cleared hoop one and I'm going to consider it. If no, I might say yes, but it needs to be worth it on the other four aspects. Speaking at WDS is a perfect example of something that didn't pay me but was an absolute swish through the remaining four hoops making it worth the amount of work.

Does it match up with my current mission? Because I've blogged for nine years about a variety of things, I get a variety of requests for "partnerships." Sometimes people want me to blog about or contribute to articles about wedding things or scrapbooking things or military things or baby things. Obviously these are all interesting areas, but they don't make sense for what I'm working on and sharing right now. Opportunities that are DIY project, craft, small-business or goal-setting focused tend to get my attention these days.

Is the timeline reasonable? I hate to scramble. I'm never going to deliberately commit myself to a scramble.

What's the opportunity cost? Every time I sign on to anything I'm signing away my free time, time with Ellerie, time with Paul, time for my own blog, time for my own business. Is this option worth that sacrifice? This is the big one. A lot of smaller projects get passed up because I know that energy needs to be spent elsewhere.

Does it make me excited? I'm looking to connect with a project. This is really a gut feeling but to put it into words: I can tell it's a good fit when I immediately have an idea for where I could take this. The Canon sponsored posts (here's one of those) are a perfect example… when that opportunity came up, my brain was whirling with project ideas and I couldn't get started fast enough. The "this is so exciting!" projects are the ones that keep this interesting.

I wouldn't suggest that these five questions work for everyone or every field. I couldn't have used these questions five (or even two!) years ago because I was still figuring out what I was doing. I had to try a lot of things to learn what actually made sense. I continue to experiment with timelines and work loads to find what's the best. When I was just getting started, every opportunity felt exciting (which is great and normal!) but experience helped me realize the difference between "new-project rush" and "lasting, motivating rush."

I don't doubt that as I get older, my family gets older and my business gets older my "no" threshold will change again. That evolution is all part of this.

My recommendation if you're struggling with saying "No" is to really think about what your priorities are. They are most likely different than mine. Consider past projects that succeeded and past projects that sucked. What were the differences? How can you set boundaries to avoid the bad ones for next time?

Want more on this topic? I recorded a fun podcast episode with Tiffany Han last summer that talks about saying NO. And how when we say NO we are really just giving ourselves the opportunity to say YES to other things.

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And speaking of podcasts…this week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm chatting with the women behind Dear Handmade Life and Craftcation (a conference I'll be speaking at next month!) about the value of building relationships offline. Subscribe on iTunes or stream here.
filling up walls with text.

February 10, 2015

Last weekend I dashed around the house like a crazy person hanging, cleaning and crossing-things off. I want to get this house done by February 27th, the two year anniversary of when I moved in.

Now I realize "done" is an odd term. People don't like to think of houses being "finished" or home decor not "evolving" and I get that. I totally understand that "working on a house" is a hobby (and a fun one, at that!) and therefore something you could constantly be doing.

However. We are military and we move a lot. So I will be "making a house a home" for the next decade (at least) and I love the idea of getting a home "complete" (even if it's just for a short time). My ultimate goal is to be able to look around and not have a room/corner/broken outlet that drives me nuts. (If I actually succeed with this plan, it will be the first time in my adult life.)

Setting a deadline (2/27) is helping me kick things into gear (though please consider that I also set the goal to finish in 2014 and failed).

All of this to say, the house is thisclose to complete and last weekend Ellerie learned the word "hammer" as in "Mama is hammering all the nail holes into all of the walls."

There are a few photo projects I'll be sharing by the end of the month, but this post is all about three canvases. You might remember that I had more MAKE29 rejects than successes. When I cleared out the office, the rejects went into the garage (clear walls, full brain, can't lose) to be saved for a new, to-be-determined idea.

Obviously, that idea involved "black and white" & "love letters." These are some of the only tools in my home decor wheel house (the other ones: family photos, plants and wood-stain).

Recently, I saw this pin again on my pinterest boards and decided anniversary date art would be fun. I filed it away thinking eventually I'd use stencils and other fancy products. In my whirlwind weekend, though, I decided free-handing it was the way to go. Boom! One done!

We have a hall right outside our bathroom that needed something. I considered painting a canvas with color, but after the success of the numbers decided simple was the way to go. "You're my favorite" is something I've been saying to Paul since the dark ages (senior year of college) and so it's a special saying to us (and "fave" fit better). Boom! Two done!

And the last one was written after I saw this article about CEO mantras. Nobody cares about almost is one of my top business mantras. It's my reminder to make it happen or get over it. The "ALMOST plans" are the ones that stifle us and that's no fun. Hop on board or hop off…and do it quick so you can figure out the next thing. Boom! The end!

Technical notes :

These canvases were already painted with color which is why they have that somewhat textured look.

I used white wall paint for the background and black acrylic with a blunt brush for the text.

I "practiced" by writing the words in the air a few times to get a feel for the size and scale. You can also practice writing with pen on paper to get an idea of how your letters will look.

Once you touch your brush to the canvas, keep going. You can go back and fill in with more paint later.

I realize many people don't like their handwriting. But the best part about it? It's yours. This is you. Writing your statements to hang in your house. There is nothing better than your handwriting for that task.
taking creative work seriously, part 2.

February 9, 2015

I wrote a post on this topic in 2012, but it was on my mind again this morning so I recorded a short podcast episode. Subscribe or stream here!