linnea paulina

watermelon heads rule!

It was wonderful waking up to coffee and flowers last week.  It made me feel smiley and special. 

Marc got a bicycle while he was visiting!  Here's a picture of us after our first bike adventure together.  We rode all over, discovered a park we'd never been to before, got good samples from Whole Foods, and shared a slice of pizza on a nice spot of grass.  This picture was taken right after the pizza goodness on Thursday. 

On Friday we went to the cutest French cafe with Claire, Erin, and Chris for appetizers.  We had honey sweet cantaloupe slices wrapped in thin slivers of prosciutto.  The inside of the cafe was just darling.  I loved the milk chocolate and baby blue striped walls (and let me tell you, those lemon squares were very lemony indeed and were completely refreshing with a glass of cold milk).  The cafe floor was painted very sweetly as well.

Saturday was Marc's last day here... but that didn't stop us from squeezing in another bike trip.  We travelled to the gym and I followed along with the chest workout Marc was doing.  It was fun switching off, being a spotter, having a spotter, and having someone there to cheer me on.  It went something like this:

M: You can do more than that, Linnea!

L: Nooooo I can't!  It's too heavy.....see?  Let me try this one... That was easy, I need more weight.

M: I told you!

I guess the moral of the story is... if you want to get big, you gotta lift big :o) just kidding.  But really, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overdoing it, and it's always better to start off light and work your way up when you're comfortable.

We made a quick stop by the farmer's market for a lamb-stuffed pita lunch, and raced on home across the bridge, doing the infamous arachnid!  To do the arachnid, you've got to stick your knees straight out to the sides when you're biking, crouch low, and turn your elbows out.  It's very spidery and fun to do.  I think it would just be awkward doing it alone, although I contemplated it on my way back from the post office the other day.  

Oh, and did you know that I'm a member of a bicycle gang?  Why, yes!  I'm a Watermelon Head!  I know... it doesn't seem like I'd be part of something with such a fierce reputation, but it's true.

And here's the member who I think is the cutest.

Watermelon Heads RULE!  Wooooowooooo! 

tiny hello

How are you doing?  I feel like I've been gone for a while!  I'm back!  I think (and hope) that tomorrow will be the day my new shoes come in the mail.  I can't wait to run in them this weekend.  New shoes always feel so wonderful, and asics can't be beat!  I've been keeping up with my running (every other day), and it feels great.  In September I want to start this running program up again, like I was doing in the winter, because it was amazing without going overboard (only 3 running days a week).  

Oh, and how do you like the new look?  It's very "me"  I think :o)  See you later!

it turned everything golden

Marc's here :o)  Yesterday evening, we went to a walk to the park before the sun set.  Here's a pretty rosy for you.  Doesn't it look like a sunrise?

A neighbor's kitty cat basking on a sun-warmed step.

The light through the trees was just beautiful.  It turned everything a golden color. 

Geranium's are so pretty.  I love their soft furry leaves.  

Golden mossy rocks.  Marc told me "we're never going to get to the park before the sun sets if you take pictures of everything!"  But we made it!

Marc gave me the cutest skirt as a pressie.  It's from Old Navy.  He picks me out the nicest clothes.  It's not too tight, which I really like.  I can move in it comfortably.  We each took turns reading to each other out loud.  I read Anne of Green Gables (the chapter where Anne apologizes to Mrs. Rachel Lynde), it's so so funny.  It was my grandma's book.  She gave me the whole Avolea series.  I love it!  Marc was reading a book on probability.  I didn't really understand it.  Something about natural frequencies...hmmmm.

We watched dogs playing catch, people throwing frisbees, kids playing on the swing set.  We stayed until dark, folded up the blanket, and headed on home.  

blackberry peach crisp & running

On Saturday I picked a whole bunch of wild blackberries, and I've since been contemplating how to use them.  I decided to make a crisp (what is the difference between a crisp and a cobbler anyway?).  I mixed about 5 cups of berries with 3 peaches, and made an oatmeal streusel topping based on this recipe.  It's got a lemony tart flavor because I added in a bit more than a tablespoon of lemon rind to it, plus the berries are a little puckery at times. I taste tested it with some lemon creme pie ice cream, because someone's gotta do it!  The ice cream perfectly accents the natural taste of the berries, and the peaches give a sun-warmed sweet boost. 

  

I've been busy cleaning up the house for Marc's visit (Wednesday!) :o)  Today I did the kitchen and bathroom.  Tomorrow I'll do the living room, and little details (stock the fridge, get flowers).  I can concentrate so much better in a clean house.  It's amazing the difference it makes!  

I went for a run yesterday, and did a little bit more than 4 miles.  I needed it so badly.  I'm going to do it again tomorrow.  I have to start back up again, because I'm doing a little 2 day relay race later in the month, and I don't want it to be a completely painful shock to my body.  I use my nike plus gadget, to track my progress, pace, and distance along the way.  This thing is amazing!  I feel like I should dedicate a whole post to its coolness.  What motivates you to exercise?  Sometimes I feel like I need a kick in the butt, but I notice that when I do it just once, I gain the momentum to continue.  So I'm like a little ball rolling along downhill. 

recycled paper bag notebook tutorial

I made a little notebook today that I want to share with you.  It's a fun little project, and it uses common items you most likely already have around your home.  I love little notebooks, always have.  The excitement of owning a fresh new one is thrilling.  Ready?  Here we go!

1.  Gather your supplies together and put on some fun music.  Here's what you'll need:

- a brown paper bag

- fabric and ribbon scraps

- scissors

- embroidery thread

- needle (with an eye big enough to hold embroidery thread)

- glue stick

2.  Cut the sides and bottom out of the paper bag (we won't use these).  Fold the front and back sides of the bag in half (top meets bottom), and cut along this fold.  You should now have a total of 4 rectangles.  Fold each individual rectangle in half.  This crease will be the spine of the book.

3.  Nest the pages inside each other, matching the crease in the spine.

4.  Cut a piece embroidery thread about the length of your arm from shoulder to fingertip.  Thread it through the needle, and tie a knot in one end.  Open your book up to the middle page, and poke the needle through all four pages along the middle crease (it's easiest to do it one page at a time), beginning near the bottom.  

5.  Stitch the pages together along the middle fold, however is easiest for you.  I used a backstitch of sorts.  It doesn't matter if it's pretty or not, as long as it holds together.  I ended up covering my stitches with ribbon anyway, and so can you if you want to!

 

6.  Now comes the fun part!  Make a scene on the book cover by cutting out shapes from your fabric and ribbon scraps.  You can glue them to the paper with the glue stick.  Voila!

7.  Here are some ideas of things you can use your new book for:

- record your goals for the rest of the year

- get out the paint and put a hand/paw print of each of your family members inside, one on each page

- use it as an exercise log

- write your grocery list inside it

- write reasons why you love ____ inside it, and then give it to them as a gift.

- plan your meals for the week

- stick some magazine clippings that make you smile inside

- keep a record of birthdays for your friends and family

- write a fairy tale 

- put your dreams into words

- make a checklist of 30 things down that you want to do in August

- write and draw your own mission/values statement

- write a letter to yourself, and read it a year from today

What would you do with a little notebook?  I'm still making up my mind...!

a picnic in the park

You wouldn't think that today would be a perfect day for a picnic in the park (being that it was a bit rainy and gray), but it was.  I was the volunteer face painter and helped turn kids into bulldogs, tigers, jaguars, and cats, with whiskers on their little faces and paw prints on the backs of their hands.  I also held the most darling baby girl.  I love holding happy sleepy babies.  It makes me feel peaceful and lucky, like I can't believe I've got something so wonderful in my arms.

I had fun with Ashley and Sky, too.  Ashley and I met at the same picnic last year, so we joked that today was our one-year anniversary :o)!  This one was taken after the volleyball game (the other team got smoked). 

...and a cute picture taken from the backseat on the drive home.  I was documenting their love story :o)  I really like taking pictures of people when they're smiling and together with the ones they love.  Visual memories are so special.  Happy August!  I hope your weekend is filled with good and restful things.

a red striped scarf and romantic hairstyle

Hello!  I hope you had a beautiful Tuesday.  I finished my scarf on Sunday.  It had about a million strings hanging off of it, so it didn't quite look finished, but they were surprisingly quick to weave in.  The only thing I have left to do now is block it.  

Since I wear my hair in a bun 99.9 percent of my life, I decided to have a little fun yesterday.  I went to town with bobby pins, put on some mascara and lip gloss, painted my toe nails, and put on some perfume, just for fun.  I guess it was a continuation of my "feel good spa night" I had started the day before.  I felt special taking care of myself in these little ways. 

 

Next Wednesday, Marc comes for a visit.  Yippeeeeee!!!!  When I wake up tomorrow, I can say, "in one week, he'll be here!"  I'm really looking forward to it.  When he comes we're going to buy him a bicycle (and helmet) so we can pedal leisurely around town together.  I don't have a car, so normally when he comes we rent one.  But not this time :o)  

 

What am I doing right now?  Welllll..... if you guessed baking chocolate chip cookies, you'd be right!  They're amazing.  I think they're the cookies of my LIFE.  I can't wait to share them.  Do wonderful things!

pink noodles & knitting in the park

In between cleaning out my papers and trying to declutter, I cooked up these pink Korean noodles with some basil, tomato, and garlic sauce.  The strands are so fine they cook up in just 4 minutes!  I didn't get through all the papers I wanted to organize.  They're in a pile on the floor.  I figure if I leave them there, and have to see them and step over them all the time, I'll do something about it quickly!  Doesn't this sound effective?  (you don't have to answer that!)  I've been really feeling the need to organize lately.  I don't know what it is.  Today I went through my bookshelf and put some old college textbooks for sale on half.com.  I don't like having too much stuff especially if I'm not putting it to good use.

Today was one of those perfect days; breezy with just enough sun to warm your skin without making you sweat.  In the evening I biked to the park, kicked off my shoes, and spread out a blanket underneath the trees.

I spent yesterday morning at my neighbor Vicky's house.  She's an amazing woman, 74, and from Croatia.  I brought some needles and yarn along with me so I could start on a project.  I began knitting a little red and white stripey scarf.  Vicky taught me a new way to knit edges in a much neater way than I was doing before.  You just slip the first stitch, rather than knitting or purling it.  This allows you to control the tension of the yarn on the edges, resulting in a neater line.  After a bit of knitting, we made banana splits.  I carved some small spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream from the carton and plopped them into my ice cream bowl.  Vicky was like "No, take more!!!" and she saw to it that I had an extra heap of ice cream added to my lot.  She always makes sure that I am well fed!  She also taught me how to make deviled eggs (angel eggs are actually her preferred term), with horseradish, mayo, pepper, mustard, paprika, and sprig of parsley to top it all off.  In between knitting, banana splits, and angel eggs, I was spoiled with good food, fun, and company.  

I brought my scarf and a good book along with me to the park.  I read and knitted in the shade until it was time to ride back home again.  If I put the edge of my scarf on the ground by my toes, and hold it up, it reaches to my lips.  That's not saying much, because I'm not exactly tall, but I'm making progress and enjoying myself!  

When I got home, I made blueberry topped zucchini bread with the summer squash I found at the farmer's market last Saturday.  I followed the recipe, except that I halved it, used whole wheat flour, skipped the walnuts, and sprinkled blueberries on top of it before sticking it in the oven.  It tastes healthy and delicious, and it isn't overly sweet.  The blueberries don't sink into the batter when the bread bakes, so the loaf ends up with a jammy sweet blueberry cover.  I don't know what gave me this thought, but when I was cutting it into slices to cool, I could picture myself feeding it to my one-day children because it looked, smelled, and tasted full of goodness.  Is that strange?

pinwheel apple pancake

A copy of Cooking Light happily found its way into my mail box yesterday.  The cover recipe features German apple pancakes.  I modified the recipe a little bit, but it turned out light and delicious.  I used 4 egg whites and one whole egg instead of the egg substitute, cut more than half the sugar, used two apples instead of one, and sprinkled pearl sugar on it as a finishing touch.  I didn't have a cast iron dish like the recipe suggested,  so I cooked the apple on the stovetop, and then arranged them on the pie plate, and in a loaf pan (leftovers!).  It was so much fun to watch the pancake rise like a fluffy down pillow in the oven.  It puffed up and would move and bubble in the heat.  I felt like I was watching it come to life.  It's amazing how the batter just lifted the apples up to float on top of the pancake.    

The consistency reminded me of the fläskpannkaka my mom would make for dinner.  It's one big eggy pancake made on a baking sheet with bits of bacon in it.  I can't think of anything that smells better in the oven... speaking of which, I must ask her for that recipe!

I can see myself making this again for breakfast or dessert.  For breakfast, I can see myself adding bacon to the apples.  For dessert, it would go really well with vanilla sauce.  I really like Cooking Light recipes. I feel good about making them (especially the desserts) because they keep recipes interesting, tasty, and healthy at the same time.  

berries and a little mouse who likes rice

I ate what was left of my farmer's market berries in my new blue bowl.  It's colored like a robin's egg and even has cinnamon colored specks and a scalloped edge.  The berries were like jewels inside a pottery nest.

This little salt-dough mouse found his way on to my table.  I think he likes rice and the smell of lavender...

...Or maybe he wanted to remind me about what's important in life. 

Love.  That's what this little lavender heart is made of.  I cut out a heart on magazine paper, and used it as a template to cut out four heart shapes.  Two of muslin, and two of the blue flowered flannel.  The flannel is dear to me because it comes from a pair of pajamas that belonged to my Mormor.  They were too worn for me to wear so I wanted to use the fabric in ways that are meaningful to me.  I poured a mixture of lavender and rice into the muslin heart, which I had placed inside the outer heart (leaving a small matching opening in the two).  I hand-stitched it closed.  It is soft and fits floppily into my palm.  I keep it by my pillow because it smells cozy.  This idea was inspired by Blair's wonderful rice pillows.  I made one earlier in the year when it was still misty and blustery outside, and it kept me warm and comfortable many many nights.  In fact, I still use my pillow as a little computer wrist rest now that it's warmer outside.  

I planted sunflower seeds last week on my kitchen steps.  They have just popped their green little heads up out of the earth and this one is stretching its leafy arms out to give you a hug.  

I have been listening to this song (the cowboy one) for most of the evening.  Yeehaw :o)!  Hope your week is off to a wonderful start.