Around New Year's, I wrote a post about how I was not going to make resolutions this year. Instead, I was going to pick a theme for the year and try to live it out to the fullest. My theme is also my Style Statement, Cultivating Joy.

I also chose this snippet of Kerouac that encapsulated the theme: "to be in a state of beatitude, like st. francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."

So, now that we're well into the year, how am I doing? I made a list of small steps that I thought would go along with the theme for the year.

Read more fiction. I discovered the local used book store and I am having great fun selling old books for store credit and discovering what they have on the shelves that day. Very rarely is there a new book I just "have to have," and I've been a real slacker in the reading department for about 5 years, so there are lots of older books that are still new to me. I have learned by lesson though - if you see a book and you want it, don't assume it will be there when you come back!

Take better care of my veggie garden and our native plant gardens. I'd say I'm doing pretty well at this if I do say so myself. My peas and lettuce, which I'm growing for the first time, are doing great. I need to weed the flower gardens and put new mulch down, but hey, I'm still a work in progress, right?

Spend more time studying the Bible and in prayer. I always have room for improvement in this area, but I have joined a weekly study with some other people by age at church, so that helps keep me on track, at least on a weekly basis. We're getting ready to take a hiatus for the summer though, so I need to find a daily devotional or something to read. I don't do very well just winging it on my own.

Knit more gifts for others; less for myself. I've been doing pretty well with crafting for others at least as much as myself. I even made an embellished tee for my sister to wear this summer after she's no longer "great" with child.

I have a couple more Russian dolls left to cut out of the fabric, so I will reward those of you who managed to read this far into this ridiculously navel-gazing post. If you would like a tank top with a Russian doll on it, leave me a comment saying so, and what shirt size you wear at Old Navy (S, M, L, XL etc.) First three commenters get shirts!

Third Time's a Charm
Originally uploaded by kerner

I noticed that my two most recent projects had something in common!

Okay, give me your honest opinion... are we veering dangerously close to embellished-sweatshirt-land here?  (And no snarky comments about my awkward self-portrait skillz!)

This is my Embellished Tee entry for May's CRAFT:Along. I love the idea, and it literally took about 7 minutes to complete, but I'm not sure if it looks as good in person as it did in my head. I might go buy a couple shirts at Old Navy and give this another try.

I have never eaten beets before. Although most of my food-phobias come from my very picky father, I think I can fairly blame this one on my mom, who suffered through many a canned and/or pickled beet in her childhood. For as long as I can remember, she has said that the only food she doesn't like is beets.

This week and last week we got about 5 beets as part of the weekly farm share. Last week, I tossed them in the bottom drawer of the fridge (aka where odd produce goes to die) and didn't think too much about them. This week, they were a little bigger and slightly more appetizing-looking, so I decided to be brave and give it a try. What's the worst that can happen? Order a pizza, that's what. (Famous last words.)

I consulted a couple of cookbooks and decided to go for roasting the beets. I chopped the beets (2 weeks worth) into 1 in. cubes, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted them at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

I vaguely remembered seeing roasted beets on a salad with white cheese on some food blog, so I washed some salad greens (also from the farm share - I could eat salad 3 meals a day every week and probably not run out!), tossed in some homemade oil & vinegar dressing, and added feta cheese.

The result? Pretty darn tasty! Actually, roasted beets taste almost exactly like roasted sweet potatoes or carrots. Yum!

Big Wheels & little kids - definitely make a boring job a lot more fun.

We spent part of our long holiday weekend visiting my husband's family in the Kansas City area. His grandma is moving in with his mom in about 2 weeks, so both houses are buzzing with activity to get ready for the move. Our mission for the day: clean out a shed that will be demolished to make way for Grandma's new bedroom that's being added onto the house.

That shed has been accumulating cast-off toys and other random junk since my husband was a little kid.

Stilts, Anyone?
Originally uploaded by kerner

Apparently some people's parents made them stilts to play with (this is my SIL & BIL testing them out). No way would my dad have gone for that - TOOOOO dangerous! (I never got a big trampoline, either.)

Pogoball!
Originally uploaded by kerner

Remember the Pogoball?

IMG_3696
Originally uploaded by kerner

The youngest and oldest of our shed-cleanin', 80's-toy-testin' team stayed cool in the garage while we worked. (That's my 5 week old niece! I promise they don't actually drive around with her in the back of the SUV. It was just the only place to lay her that was remotely clean.)

Every family has its ups and downs, but I was glad we were able to make this trip when we did.  A new baby, selling an old house, remodeling a new one... lots of changes going on and we aren't always there to see them since we live about a 3 hour drive away. Everytime I visit family, I always resolve to stay in touch better (which never really seems to happen) so my new resolution is just to make good memories during the time that we do have to spend together. 

I'm supposed to have this done by Sunday...Chances of finishing seem slim. Wish me luck!

I'm taking a quick break from the gift knitting sweatshop to post some pictures - strawberries from my farm share last week, and teeny tiny wild strawberries growing in my yard. (Toes for scale.) I guess they're probably edible, but it hardly seems worth the trouble for a strawberry that's the size of a pea.

Life always seems especially hectic when I don't have time to myself to catch up on chores around the house and relax with crafts, reading, and some brainless TV watching. Last week I spent most of the week in San Francisco for a conference, then the weekend was busy with family activities - a baby shower for my sister and a graduation party for my cousin.

Being gone for 4 days immediately followed by all those activities made for a busy weekend, but a series of unfortunate travel delays (which ended up with me in a different airport than expected at 11pm last Friday night) created a rare opportunity for me to read an entire book in a single day. (I used to be an epic reader, but law school broke me of that habit. Too many casebooks, I guess. I'm slowly but surely getting back into the reading habit.)

Unaccustomed Earth is a book of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of The Namesake. (Thanks to Kelli for the great book recommendations as always!)  I recently watched the movie of The Namesake, and the first few stories I enjoyed comparing and contrasting the different paths that Lahiri's characters' lives took, as compared to those in the movie. The first half of the book contains unrelated stories, but they are all meditations on the themes of relationships, love, duty, and expectations. The second half of the book is several short stories that feature the same characters in various stages of their lives. I am totally a sucker for this kind of story (see Duets, Sliding Doors, etc.) so that really made the book for me.

I am happy to report that I cleared my schedule for the evening, and have made progress on several projects that I've had rattling around in my head for days: clean the craft room, catch up on laundry, take some pictures of my current knitting project, etc.  I'm feeling much more relaxed just knowing that those things are done.

At a going-away party for my friends Carrie and Mick last night (so sad!), I was checking out Carrie's progress on her Cabo Halter and she remarked that everything I make turns out so well. Well... this post is for her.

This is my attempt at the Summer Blouse from Weekend Sewing. The sleeves are short because I didn't have enough fabric (despite buying 1/2 yd. more than the pattern called for -- ??). I did a v-neck because the original split crewneck hit me half-way up my neck in a very odd way. I originally made the medium size, which hung on me like a bag, so I took in the sides substantially.

Even with all those changes, the best thing I can say about this top is that it looks like a scrubs top. I doubt I will ever wear it - I will probably cut it up and sew it into a quilt or toy or something.

I know, it doesn't look terrible in this picture, but the minute I move it starts looking weird - too short, boxy, etc.

I'm going to try something a little easier next time - maybe one of the tops for the May CRAFT:Along?

(By the way, the title of this post in no way means that I think most of my craftyendeavors are perfect - far from it!  But sometimes when you only share your successes, people can get the idea that eveything you make turns out wonderfully.  Not even close!) 

Well, despite the short notice I think this project turned out really well! I used up about a skein and a half of superwash sock yarn that was hanging around as a pair of socks that I didn't really like, and turned it into a cute and (hopefully) comfy baby dress. I even made 5-stitch bobbles and sewed them on for buttons along the shoulder. Hopefully I'll get some action shots once the gift package (with bloomers, too!) arrives at its destination.

Happy Birth Day, Baby Lauren!

Project Details:

Pattern: Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froeth Design (free Ravelry download)

Yarn: Happy Feet by Plymouth Yarn, 1.5 skeins

Needle Size: Size 2 

Pattern Modifications: used bobbles instead of buttons... can't babies choke on buttons?

Time to knit: 2 weeks

Final impressions: A pretty good baby knit, although I still don't really like knitting baby stuff.  It just seems like they grow out of it too quickly.

Yes, a knitter lives and gardens here. I think the strands of red sock yarn on the trellis give it away!

This picture was taken on one of the few sunny days we have had around here lately. It's rain, rain, rain, but the peas seem to be loving it! I have not had to water a single time since I planted those seeds. I put in a bell pepper plant and 3 tomato plants this weekend, so hopefully the sun will show it's face soon.

I am really enjoying trying out some new plants this year in the garden. The lettuce is doing well too, although I've seen some suspicious looking rabbits hanging around the backyard, so hopefully they will let me share.

This was a nice relaxing weekend - I always have errands to run and just normal "life" stuff to do, but I do my best to cram it into Saturday so Sunday can be for rest, rejuvenation, and creativity.

My CSA started up for the summer - wahoo! This time we subscribed to a full share, instead of splitting it with another couple, so we're really going to have to eat our veggies to keep up. It has been really cool and rainy still this spring, so are mostly still eating greens from the greenhouse. I'm not complaining, there was quite a variety: Chard, Spinach, Tat soi, Pac choi Carrots, Baby lettuce, Lettuce Cilantro, Turnips, Spring onions, and Kale.

But my favorite thing of the week was my "egg share." Normally the eggs are the beautiful brown eggs that you expect to see when you buy fresh organic eggs. But this week I got one random blue-green egg, which of course immediately made me think of Martha Stewart and her fancy chickens that lay all different colors of eggs. I'm still trying to come up with a way to use that egg that is Maaaatha-worthy.

SGF Terminal - front
Originally uploaded by kerner

Welcome to the new terminal for the Springfield-Branson National Airport!

SGF Terminal - ticket counters
Originally uploaded by kerner

The terminal is designed around the nature of the Ozarks:  Water, Trees, and Geology.  The water theme is fairly obvious when you walk into the Main Hall, which houses the ticket counters and baggage claim.   I like the wavy stainless steel mesh along the ceiling that is meant to mimic the waves in the Ozarks lakes.

SGF Terminal - Wright Flyer
Originally uploaded by kerner

A local experimental aircraft club built this replica of the Wright Flyer in 2003 and donated it to the airport.  It actually flew!  We had the plane in the old terminal, too, but it looks a lot better with the higher ceilings of the new terminal.

SGF Terminal - Route 66 Store
Originally uploaded by kerner

We have couple of really nice new gift shops - a big upgrade from the old terminal.  Also - do you see the different colored bands of tile on the walls?  That's supposed to represent the geologic layers that you can see where the highway cuts through the rock of the Ozark Mountains.

SGF Terminal - Concourse looking south
Originally uploaded by kerner

Once you get through security, you're in another water zone - I really like how the "stream" in the carpet is mirrored by the wavy walls above.

SGF Terminal - Jetbridge
Originally uploaded by kerner

Last thing on your way out the terminal... down the jet bridge and away you go!

Last weekend I went to Columbia, MO for my first triathlon of the summer (3rd triathlon ever). This race is billed as the largest pool swim tri in the Midwest - that is not a good thing, my friends.

I checked in and set up my stuff up in the transition area by 6:45am, as required by the schedule. Then everyone filtered into the indoor pool area to start the swim. We lined up by time, fastest to slowest, according to signs stuck on the walls. The race volunteers gradual let each section of swimmers out of the bleachers to go stand in line around the pool. I'm not a very fast swimmer, so I'd say I was about 2/3rds of the way back in the crowd. Because it was a pool swim, each person gets in the pool and starts the race about 5 secs. after the person before them. I did not get into the pool until 9:30am - that is a long time to sit around a pool in spandex with 800 of your closest friends!

Trizou Bike in front of Faurot Field
Originally uploaded by kerner

The swim went really well - I didn't break any speed records, but I managed to swim "slow & steady" as planned, and not freak out and screw up my breathing. Swimming is the most foreign to me of the three sports involved in triathlon, so I am happy to report I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable in the pool.

The bike... oh, the bike. I've actually managed to fit in quite a bit of riding this spring between all the rain storms. What I haven't done is practice riding fast. I could never seem to get going and there were some killer hills.

Trizou Transition Area
Originally uploaded by kerner

The transition area was very well organized, even with so many participants in the race. I was able to spot my bike from a good distance, thanks to my signature white plastic bucket that I use to carry my stuff to the race and doubles as a seat for me the change my shoes.

Trizou Run
Originally uploaded by kerner

Finally, the run... it was a fairly flat course, and it weaved in and around the area near my freshman dorm, so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me. That doesn't exactly explain my surprisingly fast time... but my only other explanation is that I always try to catch people in front of me when I'm running, and this race had the added element of everyone's age written on their right calf. I especially liked catching up to and beating out of shape 20-something guys. =)

All in all, it was a great race. I also got to visit some friends from high school that live in Columbia, eat the best pizza in the world (Shakepeare's!), and I got a cool t-shirt - yay!

I will try to do a full run-down of my weekend triathlon extravaganza tomorrow, but in the meantime I'll distract you with some cute baby clothes that I finished a few days ago. The pants are the bloomers out of Weekend Sewing and the top is just a plain white onesie with a heart (cut with pinking shears) sewn on. I didn't realize when I started this project how clown-y the poofy polka-dotted pants would be. I'm hoping they will also be worn with the red knitted dress I'm furiously working on.

A note about Weekend Sewing - absolutely gorgeous book, but am I the only one that has been driven mad with the way the patterns are laid out? All the patterns in the book are printed on two oversized sheets of heavy paper, and the patterns say to use a tracing wheel and tracing paper to copy the patterns onto the fabric. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or I bought the wrong paper or wheel, but they didn't work for me AT ALL. I ended tracing the pattern onto a piece of tissue paper from my gift wrap stash, then using it like a normal paper pattern.

Okay, enough ranting. This is the first pattern I've made from this book, and it was really easy. I'd say you could make these bloomers in less than 2 hours (assuming you skipped the multiple trips to the craft store for tracing paper, etc.)

I've got a rockin' headache tonight (I'm assuming dehydration from my race) so I think I'm going to drink some water and hit the sack. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I might talk about my plants a lot, but it's only because I'm so impressed with how great they look with almost no effort on my part. The yarn, on the other hard, doesn't knit itself.

Since my husband conveniently told his sister that I had already finished a gift for her new baby, I reeeeally need to get knitting. I decided on Little Sister's Dress, along with a coordinating set of bloomers and an embellished onesie in a cute polka-dotted fabric.

Wish me speedy knitting!