Sunday, February 21, 2010

star girl, raw balls & other stuff

That's our girl Star. We love her a whole lot even though she probably seriously doubts that now that OM are part of the deal. Doggie daycare, dog parks, long runs, sleeping in our bed, that use to be her life. Now she has dog beds, short runs, and hears a lot of stern, 'Star's!' from me...poor thing. I bring this up because a friend of mine (unexpectedly) lost her sweet dog, Chinook, this weekend. She sent an email and this part just makes me weepy:

'it's because of Chinook that I went from being afraid of dogs to being a "dog person," it's because of him that I felt loved, comforted, and not alone, it's because of him that I always had a running partner, and it's because of him that I smiled so much at the sweetness that only Chinook could bring to my life. What a blessing to have him for 12 good long years!'

ah man...so, Star and I went on a walk this weekend, like the old days. She's such a good dog, just wants to love and protect us, we're so lucky to have her. So here she is enjoying the sunshine: 



love ya Starfish...

I made these yesterday...the appropriately, however unusually, named, raw balls!
from this book:

they're like one of the best things you'll ever eat so here's the recipe:

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pitted dates (I used raisins)
scant 1/2 cup raw carob powder (I used less; buy it in the bulk section)
scant 1/2 cup maple syrup (I used agave nectar)
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 cup whole almonds
2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

place walnuts in a food processor and process until coarsely ground. Add the dates (or raisins) and pulse until well combined with the nuts. Add the carob powder, syrup, almond butter, vanilla extract and salt. Process until the mixture is thick & smooth. (My cuisinart starting getting grouchy here so don't overdo it or you could burn out your motor.) Add the almonds, and pulse a few times until well combined; you want them to remain crunchy chunks.
form the mixture into golf-ball-size balls with your hands. roll the balls in coconut. place in a sealed container in the freezer until hardened. 

OM like them, you will too. they're so, so good.

This is the skirt I made for my friend Sally (plus a couple of on-sale tee's) who is in the Peace Corps with her husband Brian, in Fiji of all places. A super simple a-line with elastic waist. The women in Fiji can only wear skirts so I thought my first foray into garment sewing could turn into something useful for someone else.
I didn't want Brian to feel left out so I freezer paper stenciled him a shirt too (Woody was my friendly model).
Along with a couple of recent Sports Illustrated magazines (Woody wasn't quite ready to part with the swimsuit edition though), a Willamette Week, and a box of girl scout cookies our little package is ready to go to Fiji. :)
I'm totally digging this freezer paper stenciling so I made one for Maya too with one of O's old t shirts. About 100 times a day Maya says, 'what the?' so there ya go. I made another one (with a different image) for a grown person but I'll show that one later...


This photo below is an illustration of the sweetness of my husband. Those are tulips and daffodils coming up but I planted them in the worst spot because Star always runs back there and knocks them down. I sort of submitted to the fact that I would lose them this year as I do every year but W isn't fatalistic like me (and he abhors the 'it is what it is' saying) so he did this. ♥♥♥♥ 
maya's painting from today:
 and, owen's:
my dress is still a pile of fabric but it was just too lovely a weekend to spend indoors on the sewing machine. it's coming though...

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