Movies movies movies!

 Tin Tin starts today!  Alas we don't have time to see it until next week, but here's a preview:

 

And, the official The Hobbit movie trailer has been released today!  Hurray!

 

Holiday Traditions

Every family has some kind of tradition regarding the holidays; often times if these aren't participated in then the holidays just don't feel quite right. It could be certain foods that are prepared, a trek to visit a relative, volunteering, or just having a movie marathon while drinking eggnog. For me it's making a fruitcake while listening to Christmas music, particularly this album: Vienna Boys Choir I fully realize that both of these things are probably too nerdy to fall under the "it's so kitschy/ironic that it's now cool" category, especially since I whole-heartedly embrace them, but it wouldn't feel like Christmas without it.  Happily, I can check these items off my list!  Let the festivities begin!

Halloween/Dia de los Muertos

A co-worker had a Halloween costume party last night, which I wasn't prepared for. So I decided go as a skeleton bride ala Day of the Dead. I didn't need to buy anything for it except for flowers, I just used clothes and makeup that I already had from previous costumes. Here's a photo of the finished look, followed by some step by step shots.

People seemed overly impressed by the makeup, in my opinion, but it was pretty easy, if a bit time consuming to do. So because people were interested, here's how I did it (apologies for the odd expression, it's hard to take self portraits with a crappy camera-phone!). First I started by applying a white base of regular theater makeup, using my fingers (a sponge would have probably been better), including lips but avoiding the eye area. This was followed by white powder to help set the base.

Next I used liquid black eyeliner to outline my eyes and to define the edge of where my eye sockets were going to be. I used a black eyeliner pencil to color in my eyebrows and black eyeshadow to fill in the area.

Next were the flower petals around the eyes. I just drew them in using my back eyeliner pencil and a red lip lining pencil. The black had a hard time staying down over the white makeup; I think next time I need to use face paint or have someone else draw them on using the liquid liner (I don't think my hand would be steady enough to do it on myself). I then used the liquid liner to draw the shape of a spade over my nose and filled it in with black eye shadow.

The spider web on my forehead was drawn with the liquid liner, then I used the black eyeshadow to, well, shadow it and give it a little depth. I also added some dots above my eyes to give a little interest.

Then came the mouth, which consisted of using - yep, you guessed it - liquid eyeliner! I used the pencil on the inside of my lips, since I figured it would smear a bit less. I also used a white makeup pencil to try and color in my lips just a bit more.

Lastly I drew in another spade on my chin with the liquid liner/eyeshadow fill. And more dots! It doesn't quite match the shape of the spade on my nose, but eh, I was starting to get in a hurry. I used the black eyeshadow lightly along the hollows of my cheeks and around my jawline to get a little more depth. At the last minute before we left, I did add little hearts on either side of the spade (black outline, red fill) to add a little something extra, but I didn't get a picture with them in it.

That's it for the makeup. All that was left was to change, pin on a veil and fresh flowers, and voila!

This was a really fun, inexpensive costume! I think I'll be doing it again and trying out more makeup techniques. Happy Halloween!

Blessingway Blanket Update

The deadline is drawing near, and I'm not done yet. However I might still make it. I'm on the last section, then I just need to block and stitch the sections up. Here's the latest pic of all the sections:

Here's one of the end knot pieces:

Here's the center work-in-progress piece:

Just a few more weeks until the baby is due; I can totally finish it by then! Heh.

Mushrooms!

Last weekend I went mushroom hunting with two friends up on Mt. Hood. We were primarily looking for Chantrelles, but were excited to just get out and tromp in the woods. We ended up finding quite a few Chantrelles, as well as Lobster mushrooms and lots of others that we left alone. Here's our joint haul:

Naturally I've been sworn to secrecy as to the exact spot where we found our mushrooms, but that just adds to the fun!

Processing them was tedious; I did a combination of drying, freezing, and of course cooking! Here's the ones I dried, and the finished product (doesn't look like much):

I'd love to go out again. A good mushrooming reference is the book "All that the Rain Promises, and More..." by David Arora, found here. I think Oyster mushrooms will be popping up soon. In the meantime, I think I need to find a good mushroom ravioli recipe!

Munchies

Been thinking about writing quite a bit, but haven't felt quite motivated to do so.  Perhaps a snack would help?  These writers seemed to think so:

Personally I like pretzels, particularly the big Snyders of Hanover kind.

Hobbit movie update!

Jackson has posted a new production video:

Homemade shampoo and conditioner

Alright, I made up a batch today based on a recipe found here.  I picked some rosemary and lavender from our garden and steeped them in hot water for about 30 minutes.  Then I added tea tree oil and unscented Castile liquid soap.  Proportions were:

1 handful of rosemary and lavender
2 cups water
1/2 cup Castile soap
2 tsp tea tree oil

I'm storing it in a mason jar until I find a suitable squeeze bottle.

The conditioner I made a few weeks ago (see here) went rancid and was a bit oily for my hair, so I'm switching out the olive oil for walnut oil and will use just under a teaspoon, and I'm using the "tea" made from rosemary and lavender like I did for the shampoo.  Hopefully that'll work a bit better.

Blessingway Blanket

A friend of mine is expecting her first child this November, so I decided to make her the "Blessingway Blanket" from Knitalong by Larissa and Martin John Brown.  Here's 2 finished sections:

And a close up to see the cable pattern a little better:

I have 3 more sections to go, then I'll stitch 'em all together and block it out so that it'll hopefully look something like this:

This is the most ambitious project I've taken on, so keep your fingers crossed!

Up!

Hey, remember that movie "Up"?

Well it looks like someone may have watched it a few too many times:

This totally made my day!  It's only a few blocks from my work, I think I'll check tomorrow and see if it's still there...

Summer Reading

Few things make me happier than a big ol' pile of books to read, so naturally I signed up for Powell's Books "Indiespensible" program; a new book shipped to me every 6 weeks plus assorted other goodies.  Info to be found here.  When I got back from camping this weekend I had these waiting for me:

Love love love!  Two books and a magazine, plus an author interview.  The fact that these are reading materials that I most likely wouldn't have picked for myself make them particularly exciting.  If you need me, you'll find my nose in a book.  Whee!

Homemade conditioner

I really like the idea of making my own everyday stuff, but lack of time/energy often prevents it.  However today I made my second batch of homemade hair conditioner.  It's ridiculously easy to do; all in all it takes less than 10 minutes.  I was inspired by this article.  I've made a few changes, namely I'm only using xantham gum as I couldn't find guar gum at my co-op.  Here's my recipe:

2/3 cup of water
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp olive oil
a few drops of tea tree oil
a few drops of "sacred altar" essential oil

Add all ingredients to a blender and mix for about a minute.  Ta-da!

This seems to be about the perfect sized batch to last me about a month.  I wouldn't want any more than that as I don't want it to go rancid.  Next time I'll try using an herbal tea instead of plain water, or I'll pick up a new essential oil from the store.  Now I need to try making my own shampoo!

Chilean sky

So my dad is off in Chile installing a cloud/sky camera he designed and built, in the Andes at CTIO alongside the telescope there.  He sent me a link of some pictures that his partner has uploaded, and they are amazing!  Here they are: http://pandalewis.smugmug.com/Other/Chile-2011/17510066_Q43VcW#1332682037_2MM3Sgm-A-LB

I have to say I'm both envious and extremely proud of my dad for having the opportunity and skills to do such a thing.  And he gets to see the night sky in a way that probably very few of us will have the chance too, due to atmospheric conditions, light pollution, never ending clouds, etc. etc.  I've been fortunate enough to be on the Big Island of Hawaii where it's also possible to see the night sky so clearly that it seems fake, or just alien; it weighs down on you, you're conscious of breathing it in, and you have a hard time looking away.  Living in a city makes it easy to forget how powerful and beautiful nature is.  I don't know how many more years I can live in Portland.  Perhaps the grass is just greener... or maybe I'm just an Earth-mother hippy at heart.

Star light, star bright

One thing about living in a city that is overcast for around 9 months a year is that I've pretty much forgotten what the stars look like.  I miss the stripe of the Milky Way, hunting for constellations, and feeling humbled by the magnitude of the heavens.  When I was in third grade I briefly entertained the idea of becoming an astronomer, until I realized that it was probably too solitary of an occupation for my liking, not to mention the heavy math.  So since I can't have the real stars, I hunted around on Etsy for things that reminded me of them.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4de861df94d16d913040df97/starry-starry-night

It's inspiring looking at the things others have crafted.  Perhaps I'll find some additional inspiration while camping this weekend, provided the weather cooperates.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

The Hobbit movie news!  Jackson announced his first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released December 2012, with The Hobbit: There and Back Again out in December 2013.  Woot!  Here's a fun behind the scenes video:



I will be there opening night!

Bridge City Blues

Today's building air pressure and threat of thunder is outwardly mirroring the pulse of my sinus headache.  I'm just waiting for the storm to break so I can get on with figuring out what to do with my life. :)  I've created this blog to get in the habit of writing regularly, about things that I find interesting.  Consider this as me sticking my big toe in the pool to test the water.  Over the next few days I'll be tinkering with the layout, format and content, so expect changes as I figure this out and settle in.

On a side note, coffee with chocolate milk instead of cream?  Hell yes!