Inside the Fishbowl

Is anybody still out there?

Hey there! I'm just wondering if anybody still follows this blog. Did this post show up in your reader? I've been thinking a lot about this little space that I have neglected so long. I'm thinking that it's time I resuscitated it. So many of us have fallen off the blog-wagon. We're not blogging as much anymore and, to be truthful, I miss our little community.

I have some plans, but it might take a week or so to have them come to fruition. I'm trying to solve this blog's identity crisis.

It's good to be back!

Pace Yourself

Sheesh!  I did not mean to disappear like that!  I've been here and there, but have hardly had a moment to sit down at my computer to catch up on the old blogs.  I finally sat down to over 400 entries the other day, and just this morning got it all down to zero.  That was fun, let me tell you!  And if I didn't comment on one of your posts--sorry!  I let myself get too far behind for that!  I'll try to be better.

Really, today, I'm just stopping in for a quick little tip--a new website that I found out about this morning via one of the blogs I read called Folding Trees.  It's called Feed Your Soul.  It offers free downloadable art that you can save and print yourself.  There is some really cool stuff there!  Go ahead, click the link.  It leads you directly to the downloads page.  I think I'm going to have to print some off and hand them around my studio.  I think you could probably save the art to disk and go have them printed at a photo developing place if you don't have a printer that would give you a good enough print.  Anyway, have fun with this one. It's truly a gift.

Now I'm off to keep cleaning my house.  I find myself wanting nothing but to get my life in order before school starts.  I need to be able to take advantage of all the free time I'm going to find in my hands by the end of next week.

Responding to your comments

One of the cool newer features on Typepad is that I can now respond to comments directly in the comments section.  This saves me lots of time in that I don't have to go through the rigamarole of having to send emails.  A part of my new dedication to being a better blogger, I've decided that I will respond to more (dare I say all?) comments.  Unfortunately it doesn't send an email to you when I respond, so don't forget to check back if you left a comment, especially if you asked me a question.  I will always answer questions as promptly as possible.  Oh, and the other cool thing is that you can post comments to other people in my comments, so don't be shy.  Speak up and make a new friend!

  

Paper Craft Blogs

As I sit around day after day with my knitting needle by my side so I can scratch my elbow when I need to (Susan Bates #2 works best), I have very little to do.  I'm good to straighten my house for about 10 minutes, and then I have to rest the old arm.  I don't want to prolong the 6 week prognosis to 8 weeks, you know!    With a 90 degree angle cast reading isn't very enjoyable--the cast gets in the way.  So, what do I do?  I find new blogs to read.  My goal for the next month is to find enough new blogs so that I never run out of good posts.  Of course I only lurk.  I have to save my poor tendonitis plagued right wrist for writing my blog on occasionally commenting on your blogs, oh, and folding laundry, making lunch, and all of the other Mom duties that absolutely require my attention.

I've been increasingly feeling the pull of my scrapbooking and stamping supplies lately, so my blog browsing has wandered in that direction as well.  Here are a few of my new favorites.

 kwerner design--a really fun one with lots of video tutorials!  Fueled the Youtube obsession.

Paper, Scissors and Superheroes--Betsy Veldman, how do I love thee?  

LilyBean's Paperie--just really beautiful stuff!

Maya Road Design Team--all of that with chipboard!!!

Flutter by Atomicbutterfly--found this one this morning through this site, Paper Trey Ink.

Can you see a theme here?  Most of these are very shabby chic type designers. (I feel a little funny using the term shabby chic--I've never really liked the term.  It feels sort of cliche.  Is that just me?) It's  a look I love, but not one I can really pull off all that well.  I'm planning on doing lots of copying when I can!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!  We're heading up to Idaho for our neice's baptism and some time with grandma and grandpa.  Should be a good time!

Happy Easter!  Oh, and if you have any blogs i must check out, leave me the URL in the comments.  I could use a few more.

Uninspired

I'm feeling rather uninspired, blogwise, lately, so you have to endure another list post from me.

1.  Jeremy and I had a date night in last Thursday.  We were going to go out, but then we couldn't find anything we wanted to do more than eat dinner.  So I put the kids to bed before he got home, and he brought us takeout from our favorite Chinese restaurant, Fortune Cookie.

I first went to Fortune Cookie last year with my friend Jenn.  She'd been with her family and simply raved about it.  Not one to pass up a fantastic Chinese restaurant ever, we went.  Her raving was no exaggeration.  I've been back twice, and have never been disappointed.  The best part is that Fortune Cookie is always packed!  Last time, when Jeremy and I ate the restaurant, we had to sit at the sushi bar.  I know, a Chinese restaurant with a sushi bar. Who would have guessed?  Sadly, I have never had sushi, so this won't include a review of that aspect of the restaurant.

My two favorite dishes so far are the two that we tried last week.  They are from the Chef's Specialies section of the menu, which can be viewed online.  The first is Orange Beef.  Don't worry, this is nothing like the Orange dishes that you will find at pseudo Chinese restaurants like Panda Express, where the orange is so overpowering as to be unpleasant.  Fortune Cookie's Orange chicken is subtle.  It's a little sweet, and a little bitter, thanks to the peppers that tone down what could be a sickly orangey taste. Add to that that the beef is a crunchy from a very unique breading method they use, and you have perfection on a plate.  

The second dish was Crispy Prawn with Walnut. (or Crispy Prawn with Walnuts in the American vernacular).  Why this dish isn't included in the dessert menu is beyond me.  The menu description is "Delicately seasoned jumbo shrimp lightly fried to a golden brown in the white creamy sauce."  (I love the English on Chinese menus!) What they fail to mention is that the white sauce is rich and very sweet, good enough to eat aprés meal.

Finally, we had the pork fried rice.  Jeremy and I love fried rice.  Love.  It.  We can't get enough of it. Just a small word of warning.  They offer fried rice as a side instead of steamed rice.  Don't get it. Now, don't get me wrong, it's good.  But the pork fried rice will knock your socks off!  The difference is astonishing.  And when you taste it, you won't mind spending the extra money.

Conclusion, if you ever have a hankering for some great Chinese food, head up to Riverton to sate your craving at Fortune Cookie.  You won't be disappointed.

2.  My favorite shop for patterns for felt food/toys is Bugga Bugs.  If you have any interest in buying patterns for felt food, you're going to want to stop here first.  I just cut out all of the pieces for the Fun Fruit pattern.  I'll post pictures when it's all sewn up.  Today she posted several new patterns, the coolest of which is an I Know and Old Woman pattern, that contains the old woman who swallowed a fly and all of the other animals that she swallowed.  So funny!  I also love her new cash register pattern.  Seriouslly, check it out!  You'll love it.

3.  I've given in to reading food blogs.  I can't help it.  They're just so beautiful.  And, as I attempt to abstain from foods that will not help me lose weight, it helps to see all of those foods and make plans for someday.  So far, some of my favorites are David Lebovitz (the entry from 2006 where he reviews Choxie chocolate from Target is incredibly funny!), Dorie Greenspan (mmm. . .baking, plus she's friends with Pierre Hermé), Chez Pim (Bay Area food blogger--San Francisco!!!) and, a local food blogger, Stephanie's Kitchen.  If you have room for a few more, you might want to try these out.

4.  One of my favorite CDs right now is Dar Williams's Promised Land.  It's so fun to sing along to.  All of the songs are really good (I don't skip any on my iPod) and, bonus, the Genius mix iTunes came up with for it is my absolute favorite.  Don't get me wrong, the soundtrack from Once is still my absolute favorite right now, but when I want something a little more uptempo, Promised Land is what I go to first.

 

Happy Birthday Marc

On this, the day I leave for Paris, it seems only fitting to do my part to help my friend Michelle's husband Marc get what he wants for his birthday--more subscribers to his blog.  You see, it's thanks to Marc and his career as a French professor at BYU that I even got to go to Paris in the first place, thus fueling the obsession that's taking me back less than two years later.

Marc's blogs is one of my favorite.  It's called Take Out Photo.  It features a monthly photo challenge that comes with some really great Photoshop tutorials.  I don't actually have Photoshop thanks to my switch to Apple computers, but his tutes make me want to go out and spend all of that money to get it!  Even though I rarely participate in the challenges, I just really enjoy reading what Marc has to say about photography, and I hope that someday I can be even a tenth as talented as he is.  

So, make Marc's birthday , click on one of the numerous links I have provided to his blog and subscribe!  You won't be sorry!

Introducing. . .

MakeMyJournal.com-my new website.  We just launched it yesterday and I'm so excited!  I love the new look!  And I'm excited to make journals and notebooks for people who like a traditional method of recording the events of their lives.

There is something so appealing to me about a journal.  It's something tangible, something to hold in your hands, something to pass down for generations, or burn, depending on what's contained within the pages of your book.  As a bookbinder, I have quite the collection of books and journals.  I have a personal journal for the thoughts and ideas that are too personal to share on my blog.  I have an ideas journal/sketchbook that I make notes and sketches in whenever inspiration strikes.  I have a journal to take notes in whenever I listen to an inspirational speech.  In the past I've had reading journals, travel journals and quote journals.  Journal's have always been a part of my life.  There is a record, though it may not be as comprehensive as I would like it to be, but there is a record, recorded in my own handwriting.  It's unedited, it's real and very true.  I love my journals, and I love that I now can make journals for myself and others. 

I am always struck by the amount of information that we have about the past because somebody thought it was important enough to write down.  We know what shade of blue Michelangelo used for the background of the Sistine chapel.  We know where the marble came from for the Florence Cathedral.  We know intimately what happened on the battlefields of the Revolutionary War.  We have first hand accounts of life and death and love, all because people recorded their most intimate experiences in their journals. 

Technology has given us many new methods of keeping records.  People can use their word processing programs, or blogs.  But these things are not as personal as a regular old journal, written by you in your own handwriting, with your personality shining through.  I know I edit myself on this blog.  Some things are lost in the writing for an audience.  Maybe it's intimacy.  Maybe it's a little of the truth. My journal is all me.  It's my everyday.  It's my religious experiences.  It's my frustration and my joy.  It's the fight I had with Jeremy the other day and how I felt about it.  It's my goals and my desire to better myself.  It's the private me, and I like the private me--I just don't necessarily think I want the world to know everything about her.  And so I write in my journal.  Where do you record the private intimate details of your life?

Grosgrain Blog

Yes, here I am at 2:30 AM.  Unable to sleep.  Again.  So I went downstairs and got my computer, only to find on my reader that I had 14 blogs to read.  Good--something to do in the dark!  So I clicked on Sarah Jane's blog only to be led to Kathleen Dougherty's blog, Grograin, featuring this giveaway.  Click the link.  Seriously.  And prepare yourself to be shocked and stunned.  This has got to be the most fabulous giveaway ever.  And, yes, this is my shameless entry into her giveaway.  How could I resist?  Now I'm off to peruse this new blog into the wee hours of the morning!

Cool Blog for Utahns

Hey Utah bloggers.  I stumbled upon this blog a few weeks ago called Your Heart Out.  It's mostly a great place to find out what's going on around town.  What I like is that it has stuff in Utah County as well as Salt Lake County.  Check it out, and don't forget to subscribe to their feed.  I don't think you'll regret it!

Happy blogiversary to me!

***Some of you may have caught this post on the 8th when I wrote it.  I didn't save it as a draft.  Oops!  Today is the actual day.  Just wanted to clear up any confusion!**

Two years ago today I began this version of my blog.  (You can see my old blog here if you're curious.)

 

{My first, not very skillful custom banner}

I've had some growing pains, and I'm still working to define exactly what kind of blog I want to have. Mostly, though, I'm just grateful for this chance to put myself out there, to "meet" so many fabulous people, and to gain a sense of community that's larger than anything I can imagine.

{My favorite banner of all time!}

So, Happy Blogiversary to me! If you're a lurker, please take a second to come out of the woodwork and introduce yourself.  I'd love to meet you, and I promise that it won't hurt my feelings if you never make your presence known again!

{My San Francisco banner. Ah, San Francisco!}