Me and Abagail.

Looking up.

****

We finally got a nice snowstorm here, of course now it is all just about melted, but it was fun while it lasted. I had grand plans to go out and take all kinds of wintry wonderland photos, but as it turned out, I never had the time. I did manage to take a few shots with some Impossible Project PX600 film and I am quite please with the way they turned out. Perhaps not brilliant shots, but I love the tones.

Life is busy all the time even now when I am taking some time off. Our internet was out for a day which was rather stressful because it happened the morning of December 17th which was the last day of the Poppytalk Handmade Market I was in as well as the last day my shop was to be opened. I had lots of Etsy updates to make and, well, I couldn't do any of it. I do get kind of bothered by how dependent on the internet I am, but oh well, that's just how it is these days. Fortunately we got it all fixed up on Saturday when a very nice service guy came over and put in a whole new line for us.

I still can't believe how this month has flown by and here we are approaching Christmas and then the end of the year. I have to admit that I am not really ready for a new year. There are so many unknowns for me and it has me wanting to avoid going into it. I know that sounds terrible...it's not that I am so afraid of change, perhaps it's just that I don't even have much of a plan. I guess I should be excited about a new year and changes. Maybe with this coming week and some more down time, I'll actually have some time to think and dream and absorb and process more of this past year and what I want to make happen in the new year. I don't think I've really allowed myself to do much of that. A little dreaming would probably be good for me.

I hope to check in again before the end of the year, but things are going to be a bit hectic so I'm not sure I'll have the time.

Best wishes to you all in 2011!!

Yarn fuzz and some faves.

Perhaps yarn fuzz art should be my new thing. I imagine it has already been done.

So we don't decorate around here. And by "around here" I mean our house, not Santa Fe. Santa Fe has plenty of festive lights and decorations going on.

But while at home, I am getting my holiday decorations vicariously through Flickr.

Sometimes Flickr just wears me out, but then, there is is always THAT PICTURE. The one that totally blows me away. And that's why I keep looking. Always.

Some recent faves:

Maddie has totally been blowing me away with her Spectra Softtone images and this one is no exception.

Also love this shot of mercury birds from Laney.

And I love that Brooke decorated her indoor potted tree. Fabulous.

Ashley got the perfect winter wonderland shot with the PX100 film from the Impossible Project.

How cool is this wreath that Tracy made? So simple and beautiful. I wish I had such brilliant ideas!

From Vanessa, sheer magic.

This portrait from Azuree is so stunning. I wish I had such skills with the new films.

And I could go on, but I won't. It's time to go make the salad and try to get my husband out of the studio so he can make the pizza. I'm dying to finish season one of Friday Night Lights!

(No idea why it took us so long to get to this show considering our total football obsession. I keep telling Will he needs to be a a high school football coach. I mean, his dad was one, that's qualification enough, right?)

Holiday lights and more tapas.

Last week was a long and somewhat emotionally draining week. Albeit a very productive week as well. So on Friday evening, we decided that we wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner, some place warm and cozy and relaxing. We ended up deciding to check out the Chispa Tapas Bar at El Meson.

As we were driving over there, I asked Will to drive by the Plaza so we could check out the holiday lights. It's so rare that I am out in the evenings, I really haven't seen all the festive lights that folks have put up. So we cruise by the Plaza and it just looked so happy and festive.

I asked Will, "Have we ever been to the Plaza at night around the holidays before?"

No, I don't think so.

So yeah, this is our fourth December here and the first time we've seen the lovely lights on all the trees at the Plaza. We are so bad.

We parked near Back at the Ranch which was looking pretty festive as well. That's where I took the photo of the bull sculpture decorated with lights.

El Meson was hopping, but the hostess gave us a table in the bar that someone hadn't shown up to claim. Some older fellows were setting up to play some jazz and they turned out to be highly entertaining. We like jazz just fine and good lord, at least it wasn't more blues which is usually all we hear in this town. And these fellows, man, they made the best faces while they played, especially the drummer and the stand up bass player. It made me happy that these guys were still doing something that they obviously love a lot.

We started off with olives and manchego cheese which had some sort of quince from Chimayo sauce on it. Quite tasty. Will wanted the Patatas Bravas Con Mojo Picante which is basically fried potatoes with dipping sauces. Something I had a lot of when I was in Spain. Good but not super exciting. I picked the Sauteed Scallops with White Wine and Serrano Ham. The ham was pretty incredible, the scallops were fine but didn't taste particularly fresh. Will's next choice was a pork tenderloin with something or other that I can't remember. It was good. And then we decided to try the veal because neither of us have had veal since forever. It was Fried Veal Cutlet rolled with Serrano Ham and Manchego Cheese, served with a spicy tomato sauce. That was tasty. And for dessert, churros with chocolate sauce.

All in all it was a fine meal and it was actually exactly the kind of evening we wanted. A little wine, a little food, some jazz and no stress. But La Boca is waaaaaay better as far as tapas go.

Last Thursday was my last day for felting things and I'm pretty much done with work stuff, but the "things to do" list still doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. We ran around most of this afternoon and I am totally beat now. Rocky has been getting me up at 5:00am and while it's way better than 3:00am, it's still really disruptive to my sleep. I decided not to run this morning and I so wanted to sleep in, but after getting up 3 or 4 times with one cat or the other, I gave up and got up at the usual time. Those damn cats are lucky they are cute.

Hoping to have a little more time for photo taking and blogging this week!

Isaac.

I woke up to some sad news this morning from friends in Pittsburgh about their awesome cat Isaac. He is no longer with us and he shall be greatly missed.

Isaac was a great fluffy gray ball of strong personality and total sweetness. I remember when I first learned of Isaac, I was told that he had quite the bad reputation. He had a tendency to attack people and perhaps even trap them in the bathroom from time to time.

I got along pretty well with Isaac and always loved him no matter if he scratched me, but I do think he trapped me in the bathroom a time or two. A gray ball of fluff with sharp claws can be quite intimidating.



I was never really afraid of him, I just tried my best to respect him. Sometimes he would let me pet him, sometimes he wanted none of it.



Such a handsome cat, that one. And just so awesome.





I loved him like one of my own.



And my heart goes out to my friends who found him when he was not even 6 weeks old. Isaac had a good life and a fairly long one at age 16, but no matter, it is never an easy thing to lose a beloved pet.

Rest in peace Isaac.

****

It's always a bit frustrating to "waste" shots whether it be from mistakes or things like the camera locking up and causing the film to jam.

But that initial frustration can also lead to a bit of delight when those mistakes turn into something interesting.

I love how the mushed up chemicals have so much texture. They look like logs to me.

It's the simple things in life.

Like watching Rocky drink water out of the tub faucet.

Hi.

I'm still here!

Life is really busy right now and so I haven't really had any time for blogging. I am hoping to get through a lot of stuff this coming week so that I can then take a breather the next.

I am tired.

I would like to sit in the sun
and do nothing
but feel the sun

instead of always doing one thing and thinking about the next.

Soon.

Mad Orange Sale!

15% off everything in the Mad Orange Shop today through Monday, November 29th!! Enter the coupon code HOLIDAY2010 at check out.

Make.

This week's Words To Shoot By is Make. I really love all the submissions. Well, I always do, but sometimes they seem particularly fabulous.

I also love that Will is building a drum set! He's so great at making things, I am glad that he finally has time to make something for himself. Something that he loves. And the shells he bought are super awesome!

I had fun taking photos of him working yesterday.

New stuff.

Nothing like waking up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning!

I actually had two decent nights of sleep earlier this week, but then it was back to the usual crap sleep. After we went to the movies on Friday, we finally went to check out mattresses. Will hates our current mattress and while I don't hate it, I have this tiny hope that a new mattress/bed is going to be the answer to all the restless nights. We're leaning toward getting a Tempur-Cloud because we slept on one while we were in Arizona and really liked it.

Aside from the movie and the bed shopping, all I have been doing is working. Knitting. Crocheting. Felting. And knitting some more. I love it, really. I love knitting new designs and using new colors. I love watching it all come together (so to speak) in the washing machine, the shapeless pieces turning into sturdy felted pieces. And I especially love it when something turns out even better than I could have imagined. Felting is magical.

I was accepted into the Poppytalk Handmade Holiday Market No. 2 which I am super thrilled about. Poppytalk is one of my favorite design blogs so I feel quite lucky to have been accepted into the market. It opens tomorrow so please stop by and check it out!

I've been working as fast as I can to get new things in the shop. This past week I added many new bags, nested bowl sets and even some more colors of zinnia pins! And there will be more to come.

Etsy is now allowing coupon codes, so if you are interested in making a purchase, I'm offering 10% off all regularly priced items through November 25th. Just put in the coupon code "MADORANGE10". Then over the weekend (Black Friday through Cyber Monday), I'll have some other discounts available like free shipping and 10% off selected items.

If you are at all interested in making a special order, please contact me by the first week of December so that I have ample time for production. And the cut off date for made to order items will be around December 10th. That way I have time to make everything and get it mailed. Last day for mailing ready to ship items will be December 19th.

And remember, even if you don't buy my work, you should buy handmade!

Nine years and tapas.

Simon thinks he has a pretty rough life. I beg to differ.

And the photo has nothing to do with our tapas dinner, it's just what I have.

Yesterday was the day that I met Will...nine years ago. Perhaps not a true anniversary, but it is always a happy day for us. A happy memory. Will is incredibly awesome and I am a very fortunate woman.

To celebrate, we went out to a local tapas restaurant, La Boca. We've been meaning to go there forever because Will got a bonus from a gig that he did in February and said bonus was a gift certificate to La Boca.

It's located in downtown Santa Fe in a fairly tiny unassuming space. But it was comfortable and the service was great. I threw my digital point and shoot camera in my bag just in case, but alas, I did not take any pictures. I will share what we ate with you though because I know there are one or two of you out there who like to hear about food!

We ordered a bottle of Tempranillo which sadly is not listed on the online menu and I can't remember the brand. (Found it on the receipt, Araca.) It was a 2004, that I remember, and it went quite well with all our food. (It was also the cheapest bottle, but hey, you know how it is.)

We shared tapa de la casa while we studied the menu. It included catalan olives, mracona almonds and manchego cheese. All delicious.

Next up, the arugula salad with drunken goat cheese, avocado, lemon, olive oil and roasted peppers. I have no idea what makes goat cheese drunken, but it was really good. Totally different texture than regular goat cheese.

The next tapa was one of the specials so let's see if I can get it right. Crab croquettas with morcilla sausage and spicy red pepper sauce. Amazing. And not too spicy for me.

Tapas are small portions, but for some reason, after the crab, I was already feeling totally full. And usually I have quite the hearty appetite. (I suppose it might have had something to do with the leftover chicken friend steak, scrambled egg and English muffin that I had as an early lunch.)

No matter, we had to try a few more things.

The crab was followed by a grilled Moroccan shrimp tapa that isn't on the online menu so I don't know what it was exactly. It was served with some sort of blended avocado something or other. The shrimp was grilled to perfection, but I let Will eat most of it because it was SPICY.

Last up was the grilled hanger steak with smoked sea salt caramel or cabrales butter. Our waitress recommended trying both sauces so of course we did. The cabrales butter is all about blue cheese which neither of us like so we stuck with the smoked sea salt caramel which was AMAZING. Unlike anything I've ever dipped my steak in before. Loved it.

And okay, at that point, I was REALLY FULL. But skip dessert? Never.

We shared a chocolate ganache-custard with polverone cookie and a glass of port (I think it was the 1982 Toro Albala, Pedro Ximenez). I'm not big on dessert wines, but I'm trying to have an open mind since I love wine with chocolate. The wine was super syrupy and figgy and I definitely couldn't drink it all the time, but it went well with the chocolate dessert.

The entire meal was delicious all around.

And the rest of the week? Super busy! Will and I are both totally exhausted. On nights like these, we both wish we still lived in Brooklyn where we could order take out from any number of places. In Santa Fe...mmmmm...not really any choices for delivery besides pizza.

Tomorrow...Harry Potter!!

****

Busy, busy right now. It's good.

Still waiting for sleep. Not so good.

A new week ahead, exciting things to come.

xo

Sleepy days and sleepless nights.

We're all a bit sleepy around here right now, although the cats get plenty of sleep so I don't know what their excuse is. Now that the nights have gotten colder, they are both mostly sleeping through the night which is great. They sleep until around 5:00am now instead of 3:00 or 4:00. Sadly this hasn't helped my inability to sleep through the night. I haven't stay asleep for longer than 3 hours at a time for a few weeks and it's starting to get to me. Just once I would like to open my eyes and find that it is morning instead of the middle of the night.

And I can't blame the cats although they do tend to hog the bed and the comforter. The past few nights when I've awakened in the night, I've found that I am pinned down by sleeping cats. One on my legs and one at my side. I like the warmth they bring and the sweetness that is a cat sleeping next to me, but sometimes they don't leave much room to move.

I really need to become a heavy sleeper.

Really.

My dreams have been so vivid and long and weird lately too. It's like I am dreaming so much that I am not actually getting any rest.

Nonetheless, I have been getting loads of work done. Knit, knit, knit. Crochet, crochet, crochet. And then felt. Yesterday I had quite a good felting day of three bags, two sets of coasters, two sets of nested bowls and a handful of zinnias. And today I have already finished knitting up one bag and I am almost done with a second. This week I added a few new things to the Mad Orange Shop. And there will be more. Soon.

That's what the weekend holds for me as well. More knitting and crocheting. It's a good thing that I run five mornings a week or else I'd never get out of the house! (It's kind of bad, this whole not leaving the house thing. I need to get out more.) Sunday will bring a bit of daytime football capped off by the nighttime Steelers game. We'll be cooking up BBQ pulled pork and baked beans. I can't wait.

Hope everyone one has a happy weekend!

****

The latest Words To Shoot By went up on Monday. It's quite a fabulous celebration of Polaroid. Go take a peek.

The last of summer vacation.

This morning I posted the last Polaroid from our summer vacation. It's been rather nice, posting our vacation photos slowly, revisiting such a lovely time. It almost makes me sad to be mostly done with the photos. (I actually have film in my Holga that will be developed someday. And then I can remember again.)

It also makes me look forward to our next road trip, this time going east instead of west. During the winter instead of the summer. No beaches, but a place I've never been and perhaps some roads not traveled before.

Another adventure.

Instant Love.

My very first Etsy treasury!



This morning I woke up before the crack of dawn, and with the end of Daylight Savings Time, the crack of dawn was pretty damn early. So I found myself digging around Etsy for interesting Polaroid-related items. A few of them, like the plushie, calendar and pillow, were featured as giveaways during 'Roid Week, and that's what got me thinking about finding more nifty stuff.

You can check out what I put together here

Fall 'Roid Week, Day Five

The past few days, I've really noticed that I have quite a thing for instant film shots of trees! So many of my favorites are trees. Again, you can check out the entire 'Roid Week pool here.



1. last of the winters, 2. In the midst of the dying forest. , 3. Untitled, 4. The rabbit from my hat, 5. Untitled, 6. Looking Out, 7. Love, 8. The WonderDog, 9. *, 10. end, 11. faraway, so close, 12. winter no 43, 13. pztrees, 14. 'Roid Week 2010: 09, 15. hurricane., 16. Dead Tree, 17. Couch, 18. The raining umbrella, 19. Untitled, 20. Polaroid Week Day 5, 21. London, September 5th, 2010, 22. Untitled, 23. Untitled, 24. Mums, 25. Untitled, 26. Every ending is a new beginning, 27. Alone, 28. You Hum It, I'll Play It, 29. Leaf on PX 600, 30. trees & road, 31. Untitled, 32. Looking Up, 33. Untitled, 34. Untitled, 35. Umbrella, 36. Point Loma, CA

[Created with fds flickr toys.]

Day Five.

Alas, today is the last day of 'Roid Week. It's been especially brilliant this time around. So so many amazing shots in the pool. And so many mind-blowing shots with Impossible film. I can't wait to try out more myself!



Another shot with the expired Time Zero film.



And a faraway boat on ID-UV film. Another favorite from our vacation photos.

A happy weekend to all!

xo

Fall 'Roid Week, Day Four

Check out the group pool here.



1. V, 2. The Dogs Barked, 3. Distant forest., 4. silence, 5. Port Macquarie, 6. Untitled, 7. polaroid week: we wander aimlessly..., 8. Lonely?, 9. Spirals, 10. to eat flowers and not to be afraid, 11. untitled, 12. 'Roid Week 2010: 07, 13. Untitled, 14. Hanging Around, 15. Untitled, 16. Montague Terrace (in Blue), 17. the lonely tree that guards the path, 18. Untitled, 19. Untitled, 20. Untitled



1. Broken Top, 2. Untitled, 3. at kuriftu, 4. Untitled, 5. PX70 Push - Neptune, 6. The Art of writing, 7. This is turning out to be my favorite tree, 8. London, September 5th, 2010, 9. Polaroid Padawan, 10. melvin064, 11. Could you please?, 12. thursday*, 13. why we love it, part three, 14. Untitled, 15. a storm, an accident and the rebirth of leviathan, 16. bex., 17. Nest, 18. Can you see the waves...? ....as its nearly twilight it seems..., 19. Simon, 20. thought

[Created with fds flickr toys.]

Day Four.

Because it would be impossible for me to get through a 'Roid Week without posting a flower picture.



And ditto on the selfie.

Fall 'Roid Week, Day Three

Check out the whole group here.



1. oregon coast, 2. Expanse, 3. Untitled, 4. Avalon beach, 5. Only., 6. 'Roid week Fall 2010, day 3: Mill Co. are us!, 7. waking up, 8. Untitled, 9. Bird girl, 10. Roid week Fall 2010, day 3: "My heart is buried in the sand", Garretstown beach, Co. Cork, 11. rainy day, 12. Sorry We're Closed, 13. Ranchos de Taos church, 14. Untitled, 15. birds, 16. Untitled, 17. in the sun, 18. Untitled, 19. Moonstruck, 20. a good sign



1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Yo., 4. Roid Week Day 3, 5. the start of something new, 6. hanging around, 7. another misty time, 8. Untitled, 9. headstones, 10. Untitled, 11. Nantes France, 12. arctic, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. Venice beach #3, 16. what decade?, 17. Polaroid_PX100FF_20090523, 18. Copse, 19. Untitled, 20. Eliot In the Lavendar, 21. Eliot, 22. Yellow Leaves, 23. bended

[Created with fds flickr toys.]

Day Three. (Really? Already?)

This is Gilda. She is awesome.



This is a glass owl from my grandparent's collection. It's also awesome.

Fall 'Roid Week, Day Two

Check out the entire pool here.



1. Day 2 - Shot 1, 2. Untitled, 3. Southern Iceland, October 12th, 2010, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. another little planet, 7. golden_path, 8. Untitled, 9. c h u c k s ., 10. RoidWeek #4 - Colorado on Impossible, 11. Untitled, 12. Polaroid : Montauk, New York, 13. alleyway garden, 14. Untitled, 15. picks, 16. squinting into the sun, 17. bare, 18. Untitled, 19. Ivy, 20. Fade to Fall I, 21. Base, 22. Bando, 23. ., 24. On the High Line



1. the last of the Edge film, 2. 'roid week day 2: where the ocean meets the sky, 3. Untitled, 4. TUESDAY, 5. the miss, 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. 'roid week :: day 2 (lily), 9. mistycal creux du van, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled, 13. central beach | october 17. 2010, 14. $85 for two nights., 15. Untitled, 16. Untitled, 17. rain, 18. eyes, 19. tuesday**, 20. Evenings bidding, 21. Hundreds of windows, hundreds of lives. , 22. px600 spectra, 23. Better Starfish, 24. Sorrow

[Created with fds flickr toys.]

Day Two.

This is one of my absolute favorites from our summer vacation. Sometimes Polaroids are simply magical.



I wish I had used more of my Time-Zero film while on vacation, but I have to admit, I took so much film with me that the Time-Zero kind of got lost in the mix until we got to San Diego. Then I loaded it in the SX-70 Alpha and got stage fright. I never worry too much about "wasting" film, but this stuff, this is it. So yeah, stage fright.

Fall 'Roid Week, Day One

Check out the whole group here.



1. Birds, 2. start, 3. La Tour Eiffel 1, 4. One day last week., 5. pre-start, 6. 立山, 7. the happy couple, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. where you can find me most mornings, 12. ., 13. bovroid, 14. Untitled, 15. black sun., 16. Untitled, 17. curiosity caged the cat, 18. Day 1 - Shot 2, 19. Dia de los muertos, 20. Lonetree, 21. Untitled, 22. miss daisy., 23. Portugese Tiles, 24. professionals, 25. Self Portrait, 26. Trees Light, 27. All dressed up and nowhere to go, 28. silent village, 29. Untitled, 30. Polaroid Week Day 1, 31. London, September 5th, 2010, 32. Dusk at Kew, 33. Endless Summer, 34. Untitled, 35. countdown: cannon

[Created with fds flickr toys.]

And so it begins...Fall 'Roid Week!

Here are my submissions for day one. Check out the whole pool here. I'll post my day one faves sometime tomorrow morning...hopefully.

Yay for 'Roid Week!

The best of times.

This set of photos never fails to make me smile.

And the winners are...

First winner is Maddie! Maddie gets three of the larger sized zinnias in any of the available color choices.

And the second winner is Ashley! Ashley gets three mini zinnias in the colors of her choice.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. I wish you all could have won!

And remember, you can still get 10% off any of the non-sale items in the Mad Orange Shop. 10% off any special orders too. Just drop me an email first.

A happy weekend and Halloween to all!

The last of the zinnias.

On Monday afternoon I went out and cut most of the zinnias in the yard. And I am so glad that I did because that night it got cold enough to freeze most of the flowers in our yard. Zinnias can withstand quite a bit of cold, but apparently it was just too cold that night and when I went out on Tuesday morning, I found a lot of not so happy brown zinnia flowers and stalks. Alas!

No matter, I have a lovely bouquet in the kitchen and one on my office desk. And after spending most of the fall trying not to take too many zinnia photos, I gave in today and took a bunch because I realize that maybe in my attempt not to take too many, I didn't take enough.

Something.

Zinnias make me happy.

The giveaway ends tonight, tomorrow I shall draw some names and Friday I will announce the winners!

Green. Blogs. And orange.

So green! My aunt and uncle have a lime tree in their backyard. It was so nice to go out and pick limes for our margaritas right off the tree. They sent us home with a bag full and I was oh so sad when it was gone.

I want a lime tree in my backyard. And a margarita tree.

It's been awhile since I shared some of the new blogs that I've been reading so here it goes.

There are two Pittsburgh blogs that I really enjoy reading. One is The Long Way Home which I discovered via Facebook as the writer of the blog is married to one of my friends. Lisa always has interesting stories to tell and takes great photographs. I especially like her self-portraits. The other is Eleanor's Trousers which I stumbled across awhile back when I was randomly reading tweets about the Steelers. I don't recall what she wrote, but it was enough for me to check out her blog and I've been visiting ever since. She's quite a fabulous writer. And a Steelers fan, so hey, you know. Plus I always have a special place in my heart for all things Pittsburgh. I miss that place.

The other one that I am going to mention I literally discovered yesterday. Usually I find a new blog and check in from time to time before getting totally hooked, but every once in awhile, I find one and immediately know that I am going to want to check back daily. xo azuree is one of those. Azuree lives in Chicago with her musician husband and they live in a 12x15 foot studio. Yes, I just wrote 12x15 foot studio. That blows my mind. In a good way. I discovered Azuree via Words To Shoot By. She is one of the newer contributors. Yay!

Which leads me to orange. The latest Words To Shoot By is all warm and lovely orange. Check it out.

And with that I must leave you and get back to my never ending list of things to do.

Cheers my loves!

Oh and don't forget to enter the zinnia giveaway! Tomorrow's your last chance.

In the backyard of my aunt and uncle.

Hydrangea.
(A word I have quite a hard time saying.)



Blue bottles
and
an orange birdy.



Green leaves
against
a pale yellow wall.

Sunset.