vintage finds!

Sorry, I traveled all the way to Portland by train and failed to bring my uploader cable! Above is the exact bowl I found in an antiques store today! What a find. There were a ton of vintage fabrics, too, but the price was too high. I also scored a 1940's skyway train case. I've got a few other vintage clothing finds ... so many vintage stores here, dangerous!

Things are fun here, so much to see and do ... and eat! I love the street cart food. Lots of vegan choices. Also, Powell's books is a store that takes up an entire block! I've been working on a gorgeous variegated shawl with some malabrigo yarn i picked up in chicago and did some of that there yesterday.

I am not a fan of the rain .....

Found a beautiful yoga studio.

There are a few major, major things going on in my life right now. Some are unexpected, but I'm also relieved they happened. I'll talk more about these when I'm home.

Just thought I'd pop in and let you know I'm still here. Busy exploring, resting, and getting some new perspectives on the near future.

love and light,

karen

bit of a blog snoozer ... sorry

meant to update today ... life and the stress of moving just got in the way. plus, it was rainy. all. day. you know how it goes, i'm sure.

i am playing with new names for the blog. i'm sure the blog is still about my simple living journey, but i want it to be very personal. i want it to have more soul. i want to make sure i'm not just blathering about my day-to-day. and it's not just about what i eat ...

...just another piece of this life-in-flux i'm leading right now.

by the way, there are just three days left until i leave for my big trip to chicago/portland. i can't wait!

peace,

karen

busy.

dessert at our anti-derby picnic in the park today. yes, that's REALLY good vegan chocolate cake baked up by my friend Carrie!


local asparagus, roasted simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked pepper. We enjoyed this with a homemade lentil soup!


we found this beauty today .. hydroponic. at the farmer's market. i almost hate to use it up! it's so darned pretty!

**********************************************

Hello, everyone.

The next two weeks (and consequent months!) will be very busy for me, so I'll be here when I can.

We are moving next Sunday! And before then, I have to pull off a kindergartener-hosted dinner party for 9 parents, with baking/chopping/etc. happening during morning and afternoon sessions of school all this week. As my boss said somewhat dubiously, that's ambitious! But I can do it. I know I can.

here is the menu they are working on:


These busy times are times when I try and set simple goals for myself during the craziness. The goals for the coming months are:

simple meals with mostly local ingredients when i'm home (which will be approximately never until late july/early august, oh well)

finish the baby sweater I'm knitting, despite the wonky sleeves (I think I finally figured out where I went just a little wrong)

plant basil in our new garden (pics to come!) - mainly for pesto to put by for the entire winter. last year's store landed me in april before i finished it all! And i'm so happy i'll be back in time to jar/bag up blackberries, blueberries, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, etc.

get the new house settled in enough for a small dinner party

read 9 or so chapters of a required textbook for school this summer (ugh)

adam and i have reached a frugal-minded compromise on going out to eat. i wanted once a month, he wanted once a week. so every other week we will go out (him), every other week takeout (me). and decrease it from there. it's our worst habit. we don't have other bad ones. well, he's a sucker for what i call "frou frou" coffee drinks. and i'm a sucker for yard sales. i bought a lovely warm blanket today for $3. gave it a good wash and dry and it was ready to go! i love having extra blankets around. very practical! he bought a $3.85 espresso drink. not so practical. but at least we don't do either of those every day.

friday night homemade pizza nights are back. we love them. last night's was mushroom, spinach, and onion and the crust was stuffed with veggie bacon. we also have wine and try always to get a bottle under $15. sorry this is sideways ... forgot to edit before adding it here.


i leave for portland OR in just 11 days! Hard to believe that school is over in less than two weeks. i have all my bus/hotel/hostel/train tickets booked and ready to go. just have to pack! hoping to go super light - just my north face pack and green vintage american tourister carry on. I am going to keep track of everything I spend so my school loan money, which I have earmarked for travel, will cover me ... erm, if the darned check ever comes!

we are going to use this last week to enjoy the rest of our time in the house i've lived in seven months. cooking, reading, etc. i sure will miss it but we have a great opportunity awaiting us!

we are also trying to save up for that farmland ... and getting good leads on it all the time!

have a great week and happy mother's day to you moms out there.

love and light,

karen

we are moving! (haha yes AGAIN for me)

Well, we've decided ... (actually the decision was forced on us ... I won't go into the sour-ness of those grapes here, though...let's just say it was a nearly sleepless night) ...

we are MOVING! into a friend's home who is leaving for several years due to a new job opportunity.

we have an established garden! with strawberry, raspberry, blueberry plants, kiwis, even. and i'm going to plant tons and tons upon tons of basil. there's other stuff out there, too ... i can't even remember it all!

we had breakfast for dinner tonight: local eggs mixed with local asparagus and other veggies and a bit of organic (ha) mozzarella cheese (my dairy thing seems to be hit or miss?), herb roasted potatoes from vegan with a vengeance, and cinnamon raisin ezekiel bread with earth balance (adam's had peanut butter). YUMMMM-o. something about breakfast for dinner after a tough day at school and two nights of staying up too late (currently experiencing that lightheaded drunken feeling from being overtired) ... just. so. comforting.

so, yeah ... .we move, in two weeks. we'll probably live out of boxes all summer due to our crazy travel plans, but that's okay. it's going to be a busy time through October-ish, Adam is going back to school and I am writing papers to round out my master's in education. And we'll be nesting into the place (definitely planning some antique store finds and filling the house with plants!) starting in August. Pictures soon. It's a cute house in a good neighborhood. And I think we'll be there for two years. I don't know ... I'm getting good at being a professional mover!

I have a four-day weekend coming up, and I was planning on it being an overall restful one at home despite having to move up parent-teacher email conferences because of moving.

I leave for Portland, Oregon in just two weeks! To take the train cross country and see my best friend for 10 days. Then a weekend with Adam in Chicago on the way back. I'm stoked. Any Portland reccomendations for me? I'm also planning a short trip to Asheville, N.C. before school starts mid-June.

What are your busy summer plans?

sunday at home.

today was a good day, spent out to breakfast at our favorite little place. yesterday we went to a fiber festival (i only spent $25 but I could have bought tons more yarn!) and got inspiration to do needle felting/felted soap. we also went to an art festival, where we bought some regionally-produced vegan soap.

after breakfast today, i came home and cleaned the place for TWO hours straight. came up with two bags full for the goodwill. did laundry, swept floors, re-organized the studio (which sadly has become a catchall/closet). i love the feeling of simplifying, simplifying, simplifying. we simply don't need all the STUFF most of us have. i'm always amazed that there's something else I can give away or eliminate!

now i'm going to make blackberry-banana vegan muffins.

yes - after some unpleasantness with cream cheese (i think), resulting in two days of stomach cramping and other intenstinal problems, i am back to vegan eating.

tonight's dinner will likely be an easy salad making use of local greens and asparagus.

we are facing a big decision soon - whether to stay in the house where we are currently living or move to a friend's house, where there is an already-established garden. we'll know this week what we're going to do. the friend's house is a lot smaller, but this house we're in now is a beast to take care of. and we're just renting. however, we do like having tons of space (but not tons of clutter!) there are pros and cons to both, so we'll just have to weigh them and see what will work best for us. i'm dying to get at least some basil going this summer, so I can put by pesto for the fall. i want to grow something!!

the next few weeks are going to be crazy for me, what with end-of-school parties and activities, and getting ready for my 10-day trip to portland and summer of traveling. i will try to be here when i can.

we are still working on "being good" with our newly-combined money but are eating out too, too much. it's a bad habit. there is a good chunk of money already in the savings though so at least we are getting somewhere slowly.

that's all for now!

love and light,

karen