enJOY it

knitted hats and broken laptops.

December 15, 2014

toddler style: toms boots, old navy floral leggings & hoodie, mama made hadley hat.

(Adding the title of this post to my list of memoir slash country album titles.)

I mentioned last week that my laptop went on the fritz. I didn't mention that this happened while I had about 16 tabs open (including Hulu) and while I was editing photos, writing a blog post and working on make29 webpages. I think this was the universe saying "SINGLE-TASK, BLAHA."

Whenever I have computer issues, I find myself frantically on my phone googling the exact description – "MacBook Pro yellow screen with odd beeping sound" this time around – it's always reassuring/horrifying to see that tons of other people have googled the same. I always land on a Yahoo! answers page first which is never a good thing and then I wind up on the Apple help page. This time, I found out how to safe boot (turn on while holding the shift key) and that allowed me to pull up a really poor graphics version of the screen. From there I could back up key things (via dropbox, email and our external harddrive).

It's interesting what become "key things" while in crisis mode (I titled the folder on our external harddrive ELISE PANIC MODE BACKUP). This time it was my December make29 stuff first. Then my problogger presentation slides second. Then, when I realized the whole computer wasn't going to go up in flames I started backing up blog graphics and photos and podcast files.

(Obviously the lesson is that I need to just be constantly backing up on the cloud or something.)

(But part of the problem is I rely on my programs as much as my files. I still use a student version of Dreamweaver 5 from college – yikes! – and have other downloaded programs: batchPDF merger, Fetch, Screencast, that I use constantly but don't think would transfer? Plus, it's the little things, you know? Like the way my bookmarks toolbar is set up.)

Anyway. I took my laptop in Thursday morning and then was without a computer until today (Sunday as I type this up). The Genius at Apple said it was possible that I'd get everything back the same but that it was also possible they'd have to wipe it clean.

It was oddly refreshing to think about getting back a completely wiped laptop. I'd have to Just Restart and that was exciting. I started planning out a new blog design (because I would have nothing else to do?!). I decided I'd pair this new computer up to the cloud FIRST THING. I'd upgrade to Photoshop immediately. I'd think about being better at archiving my photos. I'd never have more than two tabs open! OH SO MANY PLANS.

And then, of course, on Sunday, when I walked in and the guy told me that the video drive had been replaced but all the data was the same I was thrilled. THRILLED. I fresh start would have been nice. But my familiar, fully-loaded BFF laptop restored? That's even better. (Especially with a MAKE29 launch in just a week.)

So what's the moral? Back up your files. (I'm going to get connected to an automatic system.) Single task! Learn how to safe-boot!

But also, really, the moral is to take a few days off from the computer once in awhile. I so enjoyed my three day break. I got to read a lot. I started cleaning my office (there is still so much more to do, follow twitter and instagram for more de-stashing giveaways). I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I played an absurd amount of Candy Crush. Most important, though, I knitted the sweetest hat for Ellerie (with so many plans for so many more).

I would almost say it was worth the hassle.

ps : and, thanks to this, I am seriously so excited to get started on a new blog design. It's been over three years since the last major overhaul and man, is this space ready for it. Look for that in a few weeks.
weekend links / 47.

December 13, 2014

As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want to celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…

maybe the coolest hats ever.

another movie I'm excited about.

what the Syed family has to say.

Ellerie and I could watch this all day.

how to email a busy person.

beautiful layering of text and photos.

the Harry Potter books get a redesign.

loved seeing President Obama on Colbert.

succulent Christmas trees!

and painted ornaments!

and another holiday cookie recipe!

and from me: I was honored to join the "Creating your own path" podcast this week and please join me for the ProBlogger webinar next Tuesday.

ps…free US shipping and reduced international shipping in the shop this weekend! No code needed. 🙂
bringing back our very favorite cookie recipe.

December 12, 2014
I have shared this recipe before (at least twice) but it's been five years and I think I read somewhere (probably on Reddit) that you get to start recycling blog content every five years (false). These are really worth it though. They're so good. Almost good enough to make you not hate the hassle that is cleaning melted peppermint off your baking sheets.

Candy Cane Cookies – makes at least four dozen small cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- tsp vanilla
- tsp salt
- 4 cups flour
- tsp baking soda
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 12 candy canes, crushed
- buttercream frosting (and optional red food coloring)
First, crush your candy canes. This is more tricky than it sounds. The best method I have found is to double ziplock bag the unwrapped canes and then hit them with a hammer or the bottom of a mug.

Pre-heat the oven to 350*F.

Blend together the butter and sugar. Add in and continue to blend eggs, vanilla and salt. Once that's well mixed, add in the flour and baking soda. Your dough will be fairly crumbly. Add in the oil and about 3/4 of the crushed candy canes.

Roll your dough into small balls and press onto a well greased cookie sheet. These cookies expand pretty well so I like to keep them on the smaller side. Melted candy cane is a real mess, so you may want to line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or be sure to pull the cookies off the sheet quickly after baking.

Bake cookies at 350* for 10-12 minutes.

Let cool completely then frost with buttercream frosting and sprinkle with the remaining bit of crushed candy cane.

Enjoy! And then, maybe consider making this salad if you need something to counter all that sugar.

ps… these are super Ellerie approved. pps. those dishes are old from West Elm.
december : currently.

December 11, 2014

heading to the Apple Store because my MacBook Pro went yellow and then blue and then gray yesterday afternoon. I was able to save the most important stuff while in safe mode (safe boot?), but man am I hoping they have a quick fix for me.

trying out a learning tower in the kitchen that gets Ellerie up to counter-top height. It came highly recommended by some friends and blog readers. So far she seems to like it. (And I like actually having two full hands to prepare food.)

gearing up for a new year. Which this season means: thinking about my winter wardrobe, making a list of goals and coming up with a much more simple plan for documenting 2015 (I'll share them all in the next few weeks).

feeling pretty satisfied with the Sons of Anarchy ending. I can't imagine a different way to go out. I also can't believe we watched seven full seasons (admittedly I watched some from behind a pillow). Thinking about starting The Americans or True Detective (or more likely both) next.

working on final GET TO WORK BOOK layouts. I'm feelling very good about this project and hoping to start sharing more about this project early in the new year.

planning my presentation for a ProBlogger webinar next week. I'm answering questions and talking about 10 things I've learned from blogging for almost a decade. You can learn more here. It's free!

reading Crazy Rich Asians with Big Little Lies on deck. I need to write up another book report soon.

joining my friend Robin for a "holiday knit along" these next few weeks. Her team Nebraska is playing my team USC in the Holiday Bowl and she thought it be fun to both knit the same hat in our school colors. This will be my first hat and I'm excited to try it out. If you're working on any knitting projects the season you can join us on instagram with the hashtag: #holidayknitalong.

yep, still making progress on this sweater and already think I'll try this next.

watching the Still Alice preview and getting excited. Also curious about Jennifer Aniston's new movie, Cake, and for sure Paul and I will be headed to The Hobbit soon.

enjoying the season. December, oddly enough, I always feels calm to me. Or at least it will, once the Genius Bar guys fix my laptop.

What's new with you?
meet our 2014 christmas card.

December 10, 2014

I partnered with Minted.com for our Christmas cards again this year. They offered to help me make them and thanks to those gorgeous gold foil options I said "YES, PLEASE".

I picked my favorite photo from our Goodness photos and a holiday sentiment to match. (There were so many good options though – this was my runner up card option and is perfect if you want to highlight many photos.)

On backside I picked a more "traditional" family portrait to accompany our (short and sweet and maybe for the first time ever?!? typo free) text.

We got them out the door last week and now begins the fun part: getting the mail every day to see everyone else's cards.

*cards were provided by Minted.com in exchange for this post and links used are affiliate. Family photos by The Goodness.
the one with all the rugs.

December 9, 2014

Shortly after we switched out carpet for travertine in the office I turned my attention to the bedroom floor. In a perfect world, we would lay travertine across the whole house (it’s already in the rest of the main spaces) but it was expensive and not everyone prefers hard floors over carpet (which isn’t great for resale).

So instead I decided to cover up the beige carpet with layers of rugs.

My reasoning was like six-fold.

First, I wanted to do something different. The very best part of our military lifestyle is that we get to move and change things up every few years. I’m married to Paul (and therefore the Navy) but I’m not married to any design decisions because “hey! We’ll be on to the next thing in 2017 anyway!”

Second, I thought it would be fun to bring in some color. I’m a neutral fan but pretty rugs are still my weakness.

Third, I got to collect something! It took me about a year to find all of these. The three biggest came from Craigslist. The small red one came from a local thrift shop and the pink and orange striped came from Project Bly which is a rad site that sells some one of a kind found items and even lets you “bid” on some of them.

Fourth, they are so flexible. At our next house I can split them up and use them in different rooms if I want. I can also resell them, probably for almost as much or potentially more as I originally paid, if I decide I’m over them.

Fifth, we’re protecting that beige carpet for the next homeowners.

And sixth…rugs are rad.

Over the past few months as I have been sharing peeks here and there I have got a few questions I thought I would address if you’re wondering the same things.

No, they are not hard to vacuum. We have this robot vacuum and it does a spectacular job, even over the different layers. On occasion it’s wheel will get stuck, but that happens. It’s a million times easier than trying to vacuum myself. And yes, the robot vacuum works great on our travertine and Ellerie’s carpeted room too.

No, I didn’t professionally clean them all. Most I just set out in the sun for a few days and vacuumed really well. One came from a nice guy with a dog and that one smelled so it went straight to the cleaners before it came home with me. I think it was $100 to clean and I paid $85 for the rug, so not cheap, but much less expensive than a new huge rug.

Yes, that red/brown striped one is from Ikea. But I did get it on Craigslist in good condition for cheaper.

Yes, they do sometimes get wrinkled or bunched up. It’s annoying but not deal breaker.

I didn’t do much planning at all, just bought them as I thought about it or as I saw one pop up. Obviously I went with a loose “red” theme which was planned. But I didn’t think too much about sizes. I also didn’t worry about fully filling the space under the bed.

I still have a spot by the door that I haven’t figured out how to cover. The door is really close to the ground so it will have to be something extra thin to slip under there. We’ll see what I can find. Either way, I’m happy to stamp this rug collection project nearly complete. This house is thisclose to being “done.”

links to a few of the other DIYs in the bedroom : hanging mobile, ikea hack nightstand, hanging plants, white curtains, black and white triangle quilt
i love a good gift guide.

December 8, 2014

Last year I shared my first ever gift guide, which was really just a round-up of things we have and love (and therefore would totally be excited to give the special people in our lives). I decided to do something similar this year with a slightly different shopping list. Hope you enjoy!

for the hostess…wooden candle holders.

for the rad sister-in-law…a super fancy candle.

for the cool brother…a gorillapod camera tripod.

for the active kiddo…a giraffe walker.

for the coffee drinker…a cold brew coffee maker (and a link to this post).

for the goal motivated mover…a fitbit flex.

for the best friend…minnetonka kilty mocosins.

for the sweet nanny…a vinyasa scarf.

for the constant traveler…the O.G. bag.

for the busy cook…a cuisinart crockpot.

for the family…Dinner: A Love Story.

for the cocktail lover…a set of copper mugs.

for the penpal…a happy mail subscription.

please note … links may be affiliate but, as always, opinions are 100% my own.
weekend links / 46.

December 6, 2014

As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…

meditations on the joy of craft.

for my fellow ampersand fans.

"We’re still the same underneath it all." – great post on motherhood.

probably my favorite instagram feed.

I love a gift guide for dudes that's actually written by a dude.

made me laugh.

"Being in the right place at the right time and having close-up, intimate access to your family is what home photography is all about." yep.

painting with thread.

we made this tortilla soup the night before we celebrated Thanksgiving and it's a tough call what was the better meal.

on the hunt for a good puffy vest and wish this was in my size.

I put together a short video with five fun ways to use my digital stamps.

and I'm writing at the Interior Collective this month – fun to do something new.
around here (’tis the season edition).

December 5, 2014

Right after Thanksgiving we picked up our tree and I got the decorations out from the garage. We don't have much – just two small bins, mostly of candles. It's always fun to set everything out though and since I tend to buy all my decorations on sale on December 26th then pack them away for the year, I always find something I forgot I had.

Ellerie has been pretty cute with the tree. She's mostly interested in all the balls (which thankfully, are plastic). All day long she'll touch them (or grab them) and all day long I pick up stray ornaments and stick them in a bowl on our shelf. After she's gone to bed I'll rehang everything (otherwise my month would be one long tree-redecorating party).

We're doing a simple version of Elf the Shelf this year. I bought an Elf (Ellerie named her "Cuddles" – which is the name of every stuffed animal in our house) and each morning we "find" her in a new spot in the house and Ellerie proceeds to cuddle her. It's adorable. I'm learning you're either very "pro-elf" or "anti-elf" (I am neither but I just thought it would be a fun way to expand the Christmas season). Next year we'll do an advent calendar too.

Candles are my thing in the winter months. I hate that it gets dark so early, but if I can't have sunlight, I'm going to have candlelight. We are making a point to eat dinner as a family at the table (it's my number one goal in 2015 for us to do nightly) and each night we light candles on the table. Little rituals with little kids are the best. You do it one night it's special. You do it two nights and it's just the way things are done.

Our Christmas cards went out the door yesterday and I am thrilled to check that off my list. I'll be sharing them early next week, hopefully after they've arrived at their destinations.

'Tis the season around here for sure. (Next week we're visiting Santa!) I love it.

Lots of DIYs in this post. Here are the links : string stars, star tree garland, felted garland, JOY wall hanging, Christmas collage.
a tale of two time zones.

December 4, 2014

Thanksgiving Day 2014

I've been thinking a lot lately about the two different times zones that I live in: Elise Standard Time and Ellerie Standard Time.

Every day for sure and sometimes many times throughout each day I shuffle back and forth between the two. Recognizing (and celebrating!) their differences is how I have figured out how to make "this" – being a Mama and business owner – work for me.

Elise time (business time) is all about order and efficency. Give me a list of things and I'll work through them. My objective (which has worked well for me so far) is to crank through what I know so I can experiment with what I don't. I'm really good at managing Elise Standard Time. I've been doing it for years.

Ellerie time (mama time) is all about…I have no word for it. Mostly, it's about coming up with activities. Watercolor or the zoo or all the errands. Or reading books. Or watching Elmo. Or going outside. Or moving the sand around. Or making dough. Or playing music. Or waving at the birds. Or climbing up and down on to the rocking chair/stroller/stool/coffee table/umbrella stand. (All of these things take about two hours total and then we repeat.) It's simultaneously hectic and boring. It's both amazing and exhausting. I'm not nearly as good at managing Ellerie Standard Time. What it demands of me is constantly changing.

I have learned that the key to saving my sanity is differentiating between these two time zones and accepting how they each work. Activities look different depending on what zone I'm in. When I empty the dishwasher on Elise time it's like a military drill. When Ellerie and I empty the dishwasher together on Ellerie time, it's like getting 25 clowns into a matchbox car with our eyes closed. But here's the key part: in both cases, the dishes get put away and everyone is happy about it. Elise time is never going to involve a clown car and Ellerie time might never be drill like (and that's totally okay).

I have learned that I can't keep my business functioning and growing while operating on Ellerie time. And I'm not a great mama on full-speed-ahead Elise time. (And that also is totally okay.)

My goal these days (and they really are the days) is not "balance" or "keeping all the balls in the air." It's so much more simple than that.

My goal these days is to set and reset my watch.