bhutan and a new clock, all in a day's work

2 years ago, i led 7 high school students from the school at which i taught on a 15 day excursion of the kingdom of bhutan. where's bhutan, you ask? oh, in the himalayas! i was the only chaperone from the school and we met up with a tour guide in paro, a "major" city. he led us traipsing through the mountains. it was truly beautiful. everything was so clean and pure and the scenery was so out of this world. everything was handmade including handwoven cloth, which were in stunning bold colors with very geometric patterns. i bought a kira, a bhutanese women's skirt (think thick cotton woven into a sarong), which was not cheap, and hoped that one day, my purchase would come to use. below is an example of kiras on wikipedia.org:
also 2 years ago, andrew and i had just begun our fledgling relationship. he went around telling everyone that he had just started dating this girl, who then disappeared to bhutan for 2 weeks, and he wasn't sure where we stood. hahahaha. luckily for andrew, i decided to keep him around because he solved my kira problem unawares! you see, as a typical guy, andrew lacks a cool comforter. cool as in chic, that is. in fact, his comforter was pretty ragged. it needed a cover. fast.

seeing as the kira i chose was of a fairly masculine print, i decided to sew the kira down the middle of a solid-colored duvet for andrew so that the duvet would kind of frame the kira in a way. i chose a gold damask striped duvet (i mean who wouldn't want something framed in gold?) and started to hand-sew the kira to the duvet like a fool. i say fool because it took forever: i sewed down every 5th white skinny stripe with white thread and then around the top and bottom with black thread. now i'm only 5 feet tall, and this duvet was about as long as i am tall, so it was very, very tedious. i removed the side ties and cut them into short strips, which i then sewed to the shams to decorate the edge. i guess he knew where we stood after he got his new duvet and shams... we now keep this in the bright green guest bedroom, home to the long mirror with the reeds.

now to explain why clara and i were in capitol hill last weekend, where we spotted the stunning yellow anthro necklace (btw, a little birdie, named andrew, told me that i am getting that necklace for my bday!!! wheee!!! little birdie stinks at keeping secrets....). this march, when andrew and i were checking out the flea and craft markets at capitol hill, we stumbled upon this really hip and modern home decorating store, called homebody, that had pricy, yet reasonable, items over all of which i drooled. (now you guys think i drool alot! oops.) in the store, i found the most amazing wall clock that i envisioned would look perfect above the future breakfast counter/hole that my dad was planning on cutting into the wall. however, since the hole was not yet cut, i didn't want to get ahead of myself. so i waited. patiently. very patiently. well, now that the hole is cut and the wall painted, i sprang for the chance to purchase the beloved clock. and here it is in its rightful home!!! each ribbon of stainless steel is an hour. isn't it clever? and the red hands match the red utensil jar on the opposite counter!whew, that's quite a bit of posting for one day. all in a day's work, right bunks?

oh the humanity!

so i've been on the hunt for a gf for bunks. no, he can't mate. but, he gets lonely sometimes and likes to chase things or be chased (he's way too fast for me!!). so i think i found the perfect mates for him today on petfinder.com!

bunkins, meet sasha and malia!! hahaha that's right, someone cruelly named them after the president's daughters. oh dear, some people...

duckies, cooking, and baking

don't worry. i didn't cook or bake any duckies. but i did make a ducky shirt for andrew with cloth from knittin' kitten, the thrift crafting store in portland!

i dismantled one of andrew's old, stained shirts (no shocker) and used it as a pattern for tracing on the ducky cloth, but keeping in mind that the old shirt was too long and too narrow at the chest. i underestimated how much cloth was needed to make the shirt (sarah's only took half a yard, so i figured a yard would do for andrew's) and thus had to rely on this navy linen cloth of which i had bundles at home. for the bottom hem, i trimmed with bias tape that i made (after googling how to make my own). bias tape is also used to trim quilts! hmmm... next project? note: i call this a ducky shirt because those little dots are mini wood ducks! see the 4th pic of this postlast night was very productive because after i finished the shirt, i decided to bake these local peaches that andrew picked up while on the way home from fishing in rural virginia. they were tasty but starting to go, so i had to come up with a quick solution! to the joy of cooking i ran! since i had never made a custard, i opted for "open faced peach custard pie." it was so easy to make! before heading into the oven:

i made dinner while i was waiting for the pie to bake (took an hour and a half total!). pita bread with spicy black bean dip, asiago cheese, and fried eggs. i'm not much of a cook, but it was tasty.

and finally, the pie was done! it was so good! the custard was sweet and the peaches were soft and a little tart. hurray for summer fruit!

the most stunning necklace ever

my friend clara and i were having brunch after spending the morning and afternoon at eastern market, a huge flea market/craft fair that is held every weekend in the capitol hill area of dc, and we saw a woman wearing this "stormy sea necklace" from anthro: we drooled. we were so distracted to the point where we kept staring at the poor woman and i think we weirded her out. she wore a white dress and a white cardigan with it so the yellow really popped. the yellow was a little deeper, more goldenrod-ish. it only costs 48 bones. should i splurge or should i attempt to make it? i think the beads, especially the big gemstone ones, will cost quite a bit at craft stores, especially if i want ones that don't look cheap. hmmm. my bday is next monday. maybe andrew will miraculously read this blog and get it for me for my bday. keep your fingers crossed because mine certainly will be!

happy birthday bunks!

yesterday was the 2nd birthday of dr. bunkins. yes, we picked the day arbitrarily, although i was told that bunks was 6 months old when i got him (so that would make his bday in july, but i like aug 10 better). since we didn't celebrate his 1st bday (oops i think i forgot), we had to do his 2nd bday in style!

i started the day off by making carrot cake cupcakes from scratch with cream cheese frosting (only the best for the bunks). naturally, a little carrot garnish was necessary. after a quick jog and some field hockey practice with my friend sonija (i'm coaching field hockey at school this fall season!!), she was put in charge of creating the carrot juice, blood orange italian soda, and gin concoction! we used gin because that's all we had, hehe. it was actually quite tasty! for dinner, the humans had udon noodle soup with peas, beef balls, dumplings, and yu choy (chinese kale) as the entree and baked spaghetti squash stuffed with tomato sauce and cheese as a side dish (andrew's creation). we went for a diverse meal, since my mini rex bunny is of a diverse background. then it was time for the bday bunny's dessert, since he was losing his patience waiting for us to finish dinner. andrew made quite the concoction for him: pellet-stuffed raspberry with 3 blueberries and carrot juice (pure with nothing added!). after the birthday song, bunks dove in. no attention to manners, whatsoever. at the end, bunks licked his bowl clean. sonija and bernardo witnessing the action: finally, we helped ourselves to the carrot cake cupcakes, each with a candle in it to celebrate the bday bunny. note to self: do not hold bunnies near open flame. he was not a fan and scrambled to free himself from my clutches. muhahahappy birthday, bunkies!