fantasy knuckleheads

last year, matt joined a fantasy football league at work. neither of us were really into the NFL before (except for the saints!), but it was really fun. especially since he won. so i wanted to play this year.

we started a league with some friends from church that was originally 5 girls and 3 guys. so me and my friend, meredith, decided we really needed to punch it up with some girly team names. we eventually had 2 more guys join the league, but that didn't stop me from naming my team "the monistat 7." and with a current record of 0-3, i have last place firmly locked.

i usually don't have fun when i lose, but this is still fun. matt, of course, is undefeated. anything that involves some element of luck is an automatic death sentence for me. the brashears are not known for their luck.

in other news, tiny little ella biscuit had to get her yearly shots yesterday and she is beyond puny today. we enjoy laughing at her misery, which bodes well for our future children.

slacker

i always intend to blog more. i just never do.

so here's what i've been up to in DIY Land:

this is the box valance i made for our big living room window. using foam board, of all things.

i had to buy a staple gun and scared myself to death using it. i'm not so good with guns.

hubby bought me a sewing machine! it's for my birthday. which is in october. c'est la vie. got that "telephone desk" at a thrift store.

obligatory ella picture. this is how the doofus sleeps.

my first sewing project! well the green one anyways. the other one was the first pillow i ever made and i used stitch witchery. not.a.fan. it'll probably get redone.

i sewed the first two here. the orange in the back is another victim of my stitch witchery. also, i'm addicted to buying fabric off of ebay. actually, the yellow one was a remnant from joann's. i get social anxiety when i have to go to the fabric cutting lady at fabric stores so i just use the remnants. it's gonna be the next big trend in sewing.

all my happy throw pillows in all of the their non-matching glory.

this was a no-sew pillow cover. just knotted the fabric in the middle. i think it'd look better with a solid colored fabric but that's boring.

i was trying to get a better view of the knot. the busy-ness of this pattern (called "vintage people"...presh) really camouflaged my expertly tied boy scout knot.

in other news, tropical storm lee is here this weekend. it has beat my poor impatiens bloomless and woke me up several times with its howling winds.

also, i cut my hair into an angled bob. it's cute as a button. next time, purple streaks.

mid-life crisis?

casa de everett (picture-heavy)

matt and i have lived in our current house for about 4 months and i realize i've never really posted any pics of it. mainly because it is still quite sparse. we went from 900 sq ft to 1500 sq ft and definitely not enough furniture to fill it up. i'm also only showing pics of the rooms that i don't mind people seeing. and a couple of DIY doo-hickies at the end.

first off, this is the episode of the office that was on while i was taking pictures (we have a tv in our bedroom...our marriage is doomed). can you guess which episode it is, misti dawn harrington walker?? ("i call this...'the bumper test'")

you may recognize that magic eye looking canvas from this post. it has been replaced and now sits on top of the bookshelf in the guest room. please do not closely inspect said bookshelf...it was a PITA to put together. three things of note: the terrifying pic of ella on the top shelf, my tech bulldog and my "serve it up" award from pine cove on the bottom shelf.

this is to show how bare the guest room is. my mom did the painting on the wall. her wall art is much better than mine. and all my winter shoes are in that closet.

we do have an actual bed in the guest room. the mismatched bedding looks bizarre, i realize. and i actually think my avocado chair looks good with the teal curtain. you'll notice i don't hang two curtain panels on any window. it's a quirk. DEAL WITH IT.

this is ella biscuit wanting me to open the blinds so she can watch the neighborhood cats nap on our front porch. i didn't oblige. suck it, pal.

one view of the living room. please note: the 70s loveseat inherited from my parents, the one curtain panel and the tissue paper flower on the coffee table. i fit no style mold.

ella laying by her favorite pillow. i made the cover out of 2 napkins from world market.

the couch where my butt expands from east to west. and ella naps all the live long day. jan also did that painting above the couch. she made it manly for matt.

this floor lamp was a nice garish brass color so i first tried painting it krylon's "tuscan sunset." totally came out titty pink. so it got repainted in jade. much better.

another sommer original. just give me some painter's tape and some neon acrylics.

matt doesn't like the pink so i've made its home in my bathroom. because in 3 years of marriage, we've yet to actually share a bathroom.

there's two other bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, a foyer and two porches that i didn't include. maybe one day.

a (blog) break from DIY

i've still been DIY-ing my little rump off, but i decided a spontaneous non-DIY post was in order. because this is important.

2011 is over half-way done. we're on the downhill slope to fall and pumpkins and soup and cardigans and spiced cider. and while 2010 proved to be a great year in terms of music, this year has been, shall we say, underwhelming.

but two little jewels have occupied all my ipod time this year.

first off is lykke li (pronounced like "licky lee"). she has phoebe's "sexy phlegm" going on and while her newest album wounded rhymes initially started my infatuation, her older album, youth novel, is equally enchanting. she does sing a song about prostitution called "get some," so i wouldn't necessarily recommend her for your 8 year old iCarly-tee-shirt-wearing prepubescent.

Then there's Cults. yes, they have a penchant for long hair. and yes their name is "Cults." but look at that doll-faced little piece up there. with a sugary sweet voice to match AND her name is madeleine ("lighter than air") which is only one of the most preciousiestestest names ever. their songs will forever remind me of summer. and not just because it's summer. and i'm listening to them. they are in the lead for my prestigious "band of the year" for 2011. i've never done a band of the year, but it's still prestigious.

i would say pandora these fools, but i'm way past pandora and have been building my life around spotify. get.your.spotify.on. listen to pretty much any song for free. FO FREE. that's my favorite price.

p.s. i quit biting my fingernails about a month ago and it's hard learning to retype with these raptor talons!

my DIY is getting better

i've moved on from pouring paint into jars and calling it a craft to making things that are actually useful.

i used to keep all my jewelry (well, necklaces. i own like 3 bracelets) in a jewelry organizer that hung in the closet. when we moved to this house, i realized the rod in the new closets was too big for the hook on my jury thingie. so it hung on our closet door for months. until i saw this idea on pinterest.

i already had the towel rack (which was a blinding nickle silver) so i got some $5.99 shower curtain hooks from marshall's and some oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

i think i may have hung it a little high, but i have some long necklaces and i didn't want them dangling in the laundry hamper below. Dangle. Hee hee.

obligatory picture of "ella-pecia" in all her devil eyed glory.

now my coffee filter lamp has been a debacle. gluing on the filters was no problem. but when i screwed the shade on my original lamp base that was reeeeeeally skinny, it looked like a mushroom. on meth. a methroom. so i bought a plain white one at tarjay and spray painted it.

our guest bedroom has: 1) a bed, 2) a table, and 3) a chair. that's it.

oh and this lamp. it's a shame when a table lamp is the focal point of a huge bedroom.

lately i've been making tissue paper flowers like a fool but i've been too lazy to take pictures...mainly because they are lame.

it's been raining too much to run so that's how i've been spending my time. it lets my shin splints heal.

Now that we're home...

...here's my Top 5 Favorite Things About Seattle (besides food, since I already covered that):

1) The weather. Holy crap. It may have possibly reached in the 70s the first few days but after that, it never got out of the 60s. I don't think I even sweated. Like at all.

2) The coffee. Duh. I took pics of the foam art on our lattes/mochas but they're on my phone and I'm lazy. Seattle Coffee Works was our fave. All drinks had double espresso as a standard. Didn't have to bother with "an extra shot." And they had a "slow bar" that we didn't get to take advantage of. **hates ending sentences with prepositions.

3) The flowers. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful.

These baskets hung from every light post.

The market had the biggest peonies I've ever seen. And $10 bouquets!

These window boxes ran along the top of every store in the market. Sunflowers are so happy.

4) The views. When we were riding in the cab to our hotel from the airport, we immediately noticed the beautiful trees and mountains. And then we actually went up to an observation tower and wow...
We didn't go to the Space Needle because it was too far to walk and cabs were a hassle. But the building we went to on Jefferson and 5th was actually higher so we got a better view. Say "hi" to the Space Needle!

5) The people. Cars stopped and let us cross the street. Just out of human decency. And all of our waiters/waitresses were sooooooo nice and personable. Is southern hospitality a myth?

Today, I'm vacation-sick. And I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Vacation Food

So Matt and I have been in Seattle on vacation this week. And while I love New Orleans food in all its fried-in-peanut-oil glory, I've loved eating some fresh, fresh West coast seafood.

These are my favorites (in order):

(also, misti, feel free to stop reading if this is going to make you eat your pillow or alan's head.)

1) The special at Serious Pie on Sunday was pizza with roasted garlic, chanterelle (sp?) mushrooms, and buffalo mozzarella. OMG. The roasted garlic was like candy. So sweet and creamy and NOM NOM NOM.

2) Ivar's crab cakes are the BEST EVER. With a stone ground mustard aioli and topped with basil/balsamic tomatoes. Holy rusted metal.

3) Shrimp cups!!! The fish market at Pike's would sell these little cups of huge shrimp drowning in a homemade cocktail sauce. We ate them twice.

And although not a food, we also visited The Juice Emporium twice for coconut, pineapple and watermelon juice. SO yummy. And healthy!

Soon will be back to the tasteless swill that manage to scrounge up so we don't starve. Saddest!!!