the joy of a mixed tape. (or CD. or playlist.)

i am a huge fan of the mixed tape. in my parents' basement, there are boxes of cassettes that i made by either taping off the radio, dubbing from other sources, or gotten from old boyfriends. i even love the way cassettes LOOK - now they are considered "retro" or "vintage" in the digital age (and yes, i am dating myself but i don't care.)

mixed CDs too are pretty fantastic - sometimes i load the mini into the car in the mornings and start the engine and the husband will have put a new mix into the CD player and off we go, dancing in our seats to some new band that he found while trolling music sites on the internet. thecharmlady on twitter tweets the BEST in music - i'm slowly compiling stuff from her playlists to make my own. my friend M from the office makes these epic mp3 mixes that we upload to our computers - we have very similar musical tastes - and we are always in competition to show each other something new. (it's quite disturbing to us that the order of the songs get mixed up when we import it into itunes - whatever happened to the sweet science of curating songs?) my ipod is just one big playlist of music that i use when i go running and i'm tempted to buy another one with more memory just so i can add more playlists to it. the mini knows that the ipod dock in the kitchen has her favorite They Might Be Giants song on it (the mesopotamians - go figure!)

it's funny how music - no matter what format it's in - still continues to MOVE us. i'm hoping that we are sharing the joy of music with the mini - who already has a fantastic sense of rhythm.

(the awesome cassette tape ring is made by CsCharms on etsy! rock on!)

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happy valentine's day

february 14th... my most favorite holiday of the year! who knew that a cruel world would still stop in it's tracks to celebrate a day full of love?

today is the 15th valentine's day that the husband and i will be celebrating together. and the 2nd with the mini. our little family.

happy valentine's day to you and yours! whoot whoot to love!

xoxooxox

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feeling like i keep dropping the ball. i need a time out!

this last week has been a real pain in the you-know-what. along with the huge dumping of snow and the frigid temperatures, i feel like i've been dropping the ball both at work and at home. lately, my to-do list at the office just keeps getting longer and longer no matter how many items i cross off the list. at home, i think that the soap scum in my bathroom is slowly planning a coup-d'etat and that the fridge is going to burst open at any time with the amount of leftovers and neglected vegetables sitting on the shelves. and in an attempt to regain my former fitness level, i'm trying to squeeze in at least 20 minutes of frantic cycling on the stationary bike in our basement on top of it all.

sigh. maybe it's the winter blues. maybe i need to get inspired. maybe i need to crochet some more. so of course, i sit here and browse for ideas. i am eyeing pancakeandlulu's "learn to spin kits" (look at the gorgeous jewel tones of the roving in the photo! swoon!) - i have bought some of aimee's beautiful handspun in the past and LOVED it - and am thinking it's about time i learn. handspinning with a drop whorl spindle is one of the oldest methods of spinning yarn and apparently, very relaxing and meditative. which i soooo need. (if i don't drop kick the spindle while learning how to do it though.)

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wedding. ring.

we didn't have a wedding. the husband and i hoofed it down to city hall, me in a purple a-line mini dress, clutching a fresh bunch of wildflowers from the corner store, and he in a jean jacket and his doc martens. we tied the knot at 9am in front of the most quebecois justice of the peace on the planet. we took our wedding party (our friends cindy and steve) to breakfast and then we drove out to the husband's mom's house for some polaroid wedding pictures next to the st. lawrence river.

i don't regret for one minute not having a huge blowout wedding. i kind of regret not getting married by an elvis presley look-alive in vegas, but that's another story for another day.

however, my friend jerseymaids is thinking about getting married and slowly has been formulating ideas about what she wants. of course, she would love everything to be handmade (we are card-carrying etsy members, after all) and had included me in some jewelry conversations.

being on a budget, she talked about how she wanted things to not only be affordable, but also beautiful and timeless. (like she is!) which inspired my new wedding ring collection. in staying away from the conventional diamonds and white sapphires, i am hoping to make a handmade wedding and engagement ring set that is affordable to the new bride. i'm loving the results. and these rings also encapsulate the informal quality that i loved so much about my wedding day.

ah, romance! thank you, jersey, for being my inspiration!!!!

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