gimme eyebrows

this past sunday, i got up at five am and headed to palo alto for a film shoot. i'll be appearing in bryan's super cool sci-fi serial the curse of the black lotus which should be showing at the next scary cow screening in october. my role? a shrewd board member who tries to crush the protagonist in one of the opening scenes. i tried channeling joan crawford and patrick bateman, and once in the makeup chair, i kept urging ashlei to "bitch me up," hence my amazing eyebrows.

brian clarke built some incredibly awesome set pieces for a control room scene. to look at these consoles, you wouldn't believe how much of it is tape, foamcore, and scrabble tiles.


this is the ridiculously cool van brian transported all of the set pieces in. according to his scary cow profile, his other car is a 1981 gull-wing delorean. i think i just found my new best friend.

very

i'm posting this ridiculously cute button i just made as the first entry for my new label past lives. in its past life, this button was a pair of embroidered silk underpants. i thought such a cute sentiment would garner more compliments on my sweater than my butt cheek.

today, i am toiling with choopy-choos at choo headquarters getting ready for rcf. our agenda for the day is prize badges!

roll like a writer

i had a pretty big script deadline this past weekend, so much of last week was spent cloistered in the shoebox, crouched over my wee laptop with nothing to cheer me but my little sunburned tourist cat doll.

the left end of the sofa was my office...

... and a bottle of scotch, my water cooler.

hey dad!

today is my dad's birthday, give him a hip-hip-hooray!


usually, dad's birthday falls within days of father's day, plus my parent's wedding anniversary is on the 15th. my dad pretty much dominates june.

i love love love you, papa!!

culinary delight!

here is a photo of my dinner from last night, very exciting, i know. it's a bright red bowl of shrimp curry with butternut squash, sweet potato, and (my favorite addition) mango. i've made it countless times and it never tastes the same as i am always fiddling with the ingredient ratios. this time, i was very liberal with the red curry paste and cilantro, and hiding under all of that soupy deliciousness is a mound of my new favorite pasta, lemon pepper tagliatelle from tj's. the curry recipe came from, where else! nigella lawson, who is a holy figure here in the shoebox.

you can find a close variation of the recipe here.

studio choo visit

the choos and i got together again this week to do some more planning for renegade. look at this lovely planter business that alethea made. strawberries & marigolds!

the little boys loooovvve when you put your bag on the ground.

jill is having a blowout print sale and was oh so kind to gift me with one of my favorites based on the inside-out dollhouse her and alethea had been building in seattle. this print reminds me of the paper dollhouse my mom had as a kid, pictured at the top of le blog.

button breakthrough

i learned a new trick today! this choo-approved cuteness will be available on my etsy shop soon and of course at our booth for the renegade craft fair come july.

make a wish

every morning, i make a wish on ellie.

fun with chemicals

pouring over my fabrics the other day, i realized that there were quite a few i'd like to use but the color schemes weren't really jiving for me. a fun and smelly way to fix that is with a plain ol' bleach bath. i love watching the colors fade slooowwwlly and letting intuition tell me when i should pull stuff out. and look! that stack of fabrics look so cute together now whereas before, they would have been way to clashy for my taste.

the bleaching party was a part of my preparations for the renegade craft fair in july where i will be sharing a booth with the choo twins of studio choo. i can't wait!!


who doesn't love a "before and after?"

quilt dream

i am absolutely in love with these new textile designs from heather ross's collection far far away. my favorite is the princess and the pea. also pictured: t. the frog prince and b. unicorn meadow.

if i am ever able to spend some time crafting around the house just for fun, i think the princess & the pea will have to be incorporated in to a rings quilt. we just got a pillowy white comforter that is in need of a duvet cover... too girly?

not so great

i generally try to keep it lite here at pms, but geez, we had some not so great stuff happen this week and i am feeling a little beat.

nathan got in to an accident riding his bike to work on tuesday morning and i spent most of the day at an emergency room half way across town. he survived with just a few scrapes and bruises which is a miracle given that he basically head-butted some guy's windshield sans helmet. sincere thanks to michael, our dear friend, for being on-call all day.

maybe now, nathan will cave and let me buy him this styling helmet i've had my eye on.

look busy

boy, we've been pretty busy since we got back from new orleans. i'm still backlogged with more wonderful photos from the big sticky in addition to more recent snaps.

what are we up to? we're apartment hunting, car hunting, job hunting, cooking more, exercising more, reading, laughing, and yep, crocheting. i have a small vase collection that i've been wanting to make protective cozies for. it's coming along!

birthday boy

it was nathan's birthday last week, but i didn't get a chance to bake him anything until sunday. here is a batch of guinness chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting waiting for daddy to come home. i finagled the recipe from nigella's domestic goddess baking compendium, which is a masterpiece.

mid city supper

megan had a small dinner party tuesday night, and we were happy to be invited. it's always nice taking a break from bar & restaurant hopping to spend some quality time with friends at their homes. we got there just as the day was dusking, so i got a few pictures in of the table and shana & megan's awesome garden before our evening feast.




shana and hippo, say hi!

ferry

on a whim, we decided to take our bikes across the mississippi to ride around old algiers point.

nathan likes both whiskey and wine.
i've been on the natchez twice: once when i was 12 and once when i was old enough to drink a daiquiri on the deck.