Triumph and Devastation in the Garden of Good and Evil...

so we go outside yesterday morning to put out the stuff for garbage collection. the husband goes out first... and finds our one zucchini plant toppled over, and the one zucchini - the pride and joy of my little garden - partially mauled by raccoons!!!!!!!!! i immediately burst into tears. silly, i know, crying over a lost zucchini, but it was so much work just to get that one to grow!!!!

the husband quickly picked the biggest green pepper that we have growing to try to save it from the predators. (that's me posing with it above!) who knew raccoons were such fans of fresh produce?

i consoled myself by visiting two farmers' markets here in downtown toronto yesterday... and i got blissfully lost in the joy of browsing the little booths and choosing items for dinner! i also learned a valuable lesson in the world of small business... i was wearing one of my swarovski wire wrapped rings, and one of the ladies from the bakery booth asked for my card! and of course i didn't have any. not a one. at least i had paper and pen... but i think i've learned to carry them with me everywhere! you never know when you might stumble on a prospective buyer! and no never know... maybe one day i'll be peddling my wares at the market too!

i also found a pretty fabulous link to the toronto farmers' market network here at http://tfmn.ca/ - the photos are great and the information is pretty valuable. i know it's a little silly, but i felt a little bit connected to these food artisans! of course, my little garden isn't anywhere near being a farm, but just growing my own organic, pesticide-free vegetables and being able to eat them is a real joy.

the husband and i talked about the possibility of one day owning a little piece of land somewhere a little bit out of the city, growing our own food, milking our own cow, showing our future kids how to make soap... sigh! in the meantime, we settled for sharing some fresh ontario peach cobbler (homemade by me!) made with organic brown sugar and wildflower honey. nothing better.

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adventures in soapmaking... and a total lip BOMB.

i bought some wonderful soapmaking supplies this week! i have been kicking around the idea of making my own soap for a while now, and have been doing some reading and research! before heading into the world of lye and water and possible explosions, i decided to try some amazing soap bases for melt and pour - and here are the results. i have two small batches of two types of soap - peppermint earl gray castile soap, and lavender goat's milk! they are curing as we speak and i am so excited to try it! maybe this will be a new direction? hmmmmm...

on the heels of my relatively successful soapmaking venture, i decided to try another batch of lip bomb. well, that's exactly what it was. A BOMB. the mistake i made was not measuring properly. and adding too much shea butter. it was like trying to swipe a crayon across my lips! oh well. at least it left a fabulous minty afterglow... lucky for me, my fellow etsian, salsagal (http://salsagal.etsy.com) took proposed a fabulous idea to donate them so we're going to do that! thanks, salsagal for the awesome idea... and for stopping me from throwing 20 tubes of bomb into the garbage!!!!!!!

i wonder else i can ruin today... :) hey, at least i knocked another crafting resolution off my list!

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dixie chick divorce

when i logged onto the internet today, i read that emily robison - from the dixie chicks - and her husband, charlie robison, have divorced. i'm a closet fan of the chicks (the husband says i must be the only asian cowgirl in canada), love their music, and love their documentary "shut up and sing". so i have to admit that i was a little sad to hear this news.

i suppose that because we're trying to have a baby, watching emily and her sister martie's struggles with fertility treatments were kind of comforting. and i really admire their sense of family and closeness.

just sad, i guess.

(and makes me a little more appreciative of the husband, despite his asian cowgirl jokes.)

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Does This Mean I'm A wRapper? *insert laugh here*

I finally conquered the art of the wire wrapped briolette!! another new year's resolution down! (i really should keep count, LOL!) for some reason, the whole technique has eluded me for about a year and i finally gave up, despite having made a hundred wire wrapped rings. but then, i guess i had an epiphany!!! i got up early yesterday morning and sat down with a pink crystal briolette and twisted and wrapped it... and the rest is history!

i love the way they've turned out, kind of like little whimsical wire wrapped hats for beautiful briolettes!

yay for wire! yay for briolettes! and yay for me finally figuring it out!

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