the pig and the bug

I couldn't help it. I mean seriously, how cute is he?!? Tom and I were just hangin' out at home last night (which is Heaven to me!). I was sitting on the couch, oblivious to the cuteness right next to me, reading my book club book (Blood, Butter, and Bones - anyone read it?) when Tom started grinning and tip toed off to get his camera. He snapped off several photos before Pasqual began to squint a little...
...then came the bug. It gingerly landed on the pig's nose. I swear he stared at it for a full minute before moving. Priceless!
Oh my goodness. Don't anybody tell me that Pit Bulls are not the cutest things ever. Seriously.

a MoMo and a Bernadette.

Meet MoMo. Well, his real name is Morris but for some reason I don't like that. So Tom has dubbed him MoMo. I am quite sure that you might be saying "Uh, Morris is way better than, um, MoMo." But I also want to name my kid (my imaginary kid) Turkish, so go figure.

Normally I enthusiastically introduce our new fosters right away. But MoMo came to us in a kinda round-about way and it's been a rocky road. This adorable boy had a wonderful home where he was adored. His person rescued him from the shelter, he went on trips with his person, slept in bed with his person...and then his person got sick. She lost her battle with cancer in the Fall of 2011. Sadly no family stepped forward to take him. So he found his way to Blue Dog.

But it has not been very smooth sailing. Poor boy has just been shut down. He started out in another foster home but was just not warming up. So we attempted a tried-and-true method of passing a dog around to show them that no matter where they go people are nice, they get to do fun stuff, get lots of treats - kind of an everyone-I-meet-is-fantastic approach. Last stop was Metalsgirl Headquarters aka our house. And he broke my heart. I just could not bring myself to pass him on. I made the unilateral decision that he needed stability. I don't know if that was right or wrong because not a lot has changed. He gives us moments of enthusiasm, but they are short lived. He doesn't want to snuggle even though he's got just about the most snuggable face you have ever seen in your entire life. So we continue to cruise along, looking for that needle in a haystack home that doesn't care if their dog wants to snuggle or not, be pet or not...
And then there's Bernadette. Quite possibly THE polar opposite of MoMo on the social scale, but equally cute. But, and this is a gigantic BUT, we just discovered that Bernadette has a genetic heart defect. I saw her X-ray yesterday and her poor little heart is, well, not little at all. It's huge. And apparently it's caused her gallbladder to swell too. Why all the gallbladder issues!?!? Anyway, she has just started lasix and seems to be responding well. But will someone want to adopt a dog who will need to be on meds the rest of her life? who might have a shorter life expectancy? who will likely have accidents due to the meds she has to take?
Or did Tom and I just unwittingly just "adopt" a MoMo and a Bernadette?

needing a pie intervention.

I've always loved to make pies. When I was a little girl my great grandmother always had a pie on the counter. I remember her cream pies the most, with meringue piled a mile high. I watched her throw everything together, never measuring a thing. I can still see her hands on the rolling pin. She had big hands, her knuckles seemed especially large, but they moved that wooden pin like it was made of air. She was anything but delicate about it and yet they always came out stunning. I feel connected to her when I am rolling out my own dough. I think with every pie I make I am trying to make her proud. In my head I'm saying "Look at this one Nana! How'd I do?"

I've been in charge of the Thanksgiving pies for years, but in the last year I've been slowly developing this dream. It's a total Don Quixote dream, but it's fun to think about. I want to open a pie shop in New York City. I think about what I would name it...something after my Nana... Tom and I talk about what my signature pies would be...I think this part of the dream is what has made me become a pie junkie over the last few weeks - developing my signature pies. And plus, I just like making pie.

My obsession with Pinterest has only added to my pie frenzy. Not so much for the recipe's, 'cause I like to make up my own, but for creative pie crusts! I saw one where the top crust was nothing but leaves. It was gorgeous! I was going to make that, but the pie was headed for a super bowl party so Tom suggested the stars. Once all of the stars were placed I gave it an egg wash and Tom helped me sprinkle chunky sugar over it to give it a sparkle.
It was a pretty standard apple pie. I wanted to test how well that top crust would hold up over a fruit pie. I think I may have used honey instead of sugar in this one. It was yum!
This crust was another Pinterest find. It took me a minute to get the braiding down but once I did it was easy peasy!

And man, it is an impressive looking crust if I do say so myself. I've made it twice in the last month. First on this...
...Cafe au Lait pie! The idea came to me one night when Tom and I were talking about the pie shop, discussing all different kinds of pie, and I realized I had never had any kind of coffee pie. And that seemed ridiculous, so I headed straight for the kitchen! It's a tweak on a vanilla cream pie, heavy on the cream (vs. milk) and espresso powder. It turned out so well that I made a second one for my mom's bridge club.
I used the braided crust on this one too. A Spicy Mexican Chocolate Almond pie for my parents on Valentine's Day.
Then there is the savory pie! Oh how I loooooove a chicken pot pie!!!! I like making the crust for this pie a lot more rustic. We were so busy eating this deep dish yumminess that I totally forgot to take a picture of it after it came out of the oven.
I made this pie this past weekend for my dad's birthday. Cherry pie is his favorite and I had been wanting to try to make this hole-punched crust for awhile, but imagined it with blueberries for some reason. Now that I've topped a cherry pie with this beauty I've bid a happy farewell to the old standard lattice crust.

Now if I could just figure out what to do with all those left over dots...

Hot out of the oven and bubbling over, this has to be one of the prettiest pies I have ever made. So, what's next? Maybe I need to watch The Waitress again to get some inspiration? or go listen to some Patty Griffin...

"It's not far
I can walk
Down the block
To TableTalk
Close my eyes
Make the pies all day"

meet Bernadette.

Amidst all of the drama with Vincent (update on that in just a sec), we got a new foster dog. I know, the timing is ridiculous, but she has actually been a great distraction. My best friend Kim heard through the grapevine that there was a little family of homeless dogs roaming in a neighborhood in South Austin. The photo showed what looked like a couple of adult Basset mixes and a baby Basset mix. Adorable. Kim immediately began trying to figure out how to get these three into a safe environment. After an unimaginable number of emails and phone calls between she and the well meaning e-mailer, Kim was able to go pick up the dogs. Sadly the puppy was gone. We hope that someone came along thinking he was adorable and took him into their home. But after many sign postings and looking high and low, there is still no trace of him. Heartbreaking. And just one more reason to spay and neuter your pets. But I won't jump on that soap box just now.
So, long story short, I am the lucky one who ended up with momma! We are calling her Bernadette. She looks like a Bernadette. She is darling. I'm not sure if she has ever been in a house before, maybe. But I am quite sure she had never been on a couch before. Tom lifted her up and she just shook like a leaf. But after about five minutes she began to relax and then she slipped into a deep, head to tail relaxed sleep. It was the definition of why we do this. To see a dog feel comfort, real and true comfort, possibly for the first time in its life, well, it's just the best. It's been less than 24 hours and her little personality is just shining through. When she wags her tail her whole long body wags with it. The great thing is that she is only a couple of years old, so she is going to have many more good years than she had bad ones. Happy day.

So, Vincent. We spent an agonizing five and half hours waiting for the call from the surgeon. We knew he was third on the surgery list, but it still was an excruciating wait. She called around 5:30 and I felt my heart shoot into my throat. But about 10 seconds in Tom gave me a thumbs up. I swear I felt like my body went limp. Relief literally flooded my body. Everything went really well. She did say that it was the largest gallbladder she had ever seen. And considering that she told us she does about 1-2 of these a week, that says a lot! But it went well. He is in recovery. He has to stay for a couple of days, but we get to visit him this afternoon. I'm so happy. So what if the plans to reupholster my Aunt Millie's two chairs went down the drain with the gallbladder, my boy is gonna be ok.

good thoughts for my donut

It seems like not that long ago that I was asking for good thoughts, but I need them again. Just yesterday I took Vincent in to the vet because he'd been throwing up, now, just 24 hours later and he's heading into emergency surgery to have his gallbladder removed. In the vet's words "it's ginormous" and it will likely rupture if we don't take it out now. Apparently in dogs the gallbladder is nestled right next to two major arteries, so it's a fairly dangerous surgery. Of course I am scared to bits. So even though I may have worn out my requests for good thoughts, I'm asking again. I need my sweet donut to be okay.

re-visiting old photos

This morning I was poking around on the www and ran across some photos from a Metalsgirl photo shoot with the uber talented Casey Woods. She's got a couple of them on her website. I immediately went to my stash to look through them again. I had forgotten how much great stuff there is here...



Man, I am ready to do this again! Girls, who's in?

who loves you baby?

Tom asks me that question all the time. To which I answer (obviously), "Telly Savalas". And he says "yes, and me." This Valentine's Day our schtick was in text form. But it got me thinking, who loves me baby? who do I love baby? And since I love a list...

my baby brother. even tho he's 20 years old now, he will always be my baby brother.

my family. the family I was born to and the family I inherited, they mean everything to me.

my friends. I have THE best friends in the entire world. I will argue that point to the death.

my Nana. she has been gone from me for 26 years but I think about her and miss her and love her every single day.

my dogs. no need to elaborate.

the love of my life.

Damn. I am one lucky girl.

dog cowls, the next big thing?

How hilarious is this? A couple of nights ago Tom took off the cowl I made him and hung it around Seven's neck. It looked freakin' adorable! We both assumed that she would immediately start trying to tug it off, but she didn't seem to mind it at all. In fact, she has left it on for three days now! Have I just stumbled on to the next big thing? Dog cowls!
Okay, I'm kidding, but seriously, she looks sooooooo cute! And it is better than a dog in an unnecessary sweater, right? I can barely stand it she looks so cute!! I'm taking orders...

a horror movie, chinese, and candy hearts.

Our version of Valentine's Day. Rent a movie, take out Chinese, cinnamon candy hearts. This year we're doing some kind of horror movie - I heard recently that Valentine's Day actually has something to do with some beheading...now, I heard that on a sitcom so I don't know how true it is, but Tom and I are running with it and renting some sort of scary, turn off all the lights, and prepare to be spooked, movie. What are your Valentine's plans?
I look forward to our non-traditional heart day plans every year. It might be a cheesy, made-up holiday, but I like it. Any excuse to tell people you love them is good by me. And maybe the whole "heart" thing is over done, but I won't give it up. Once January hits and the Christmas crazies are over I got into full on heart-making mode!! This year I have a few new Valentine's Day goodies in my Metalsgirl repertoire. Like these square brass bangles...

This sweet cut out heart necklace...

Dotted slivers of silver earrings...

And of course, the perfect stand by, charms in red, fuchsia, purple, white...

Happy Valentine's Day!

time suckage and stuff I want

Do you ever have an irrational want for some thing? And you want it really, really, really bad? I'm having that right now. It's for the above sugar canister. I know, you were probably thinking shoes or a car or something more, um, more normal to pine after. Nope, mine's a sugar canister. And that sucker would be mine right now, but for the fact that it's $89.99. Vintage McKee. Drat.

Which brings me to my new time-sucking-obsession. Pinterest. I am late to the game, I know. It's been around for ever and I am just now getting into it. Story of my life. Late to Facebook, late to the iphone, still have a hotmail account so I guess I'm reeeeal late to gmail. Anyway, I discovered Pinterest and it's a colossal disaster because I do not need one more thing to occupy the time I do not have. But it's beckoning, right this minute, "quit blogging. come waste away the evening pinning. you will love it." I am trying to figure out the reason I should be Pinterest-ing so that I can justify this new waster of my time. Anyone?

looking up

Have I mentioned how glad I am that 2011 is long gone? I'm probably sounding like broken record, but really! 2011 had some sh%&# moments! And not just for me, for people I love. So having rounded the corner into 2012, that alone means things are looking up.

We've just about got January under our belt and February means two shows for me and Valentine's Day. All good stuff.

The first show is this Thursday. My friend Liz of Bolsa Bonita had the brilliant idea to have an out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new sale to which I said, "Amen, I am in!" You can see all of the details HERE - it's me, Liz, and our friend Victoia of Victrola Designs. I am gonna have MAJOR sales!! I'm just really ready to begin some new work and need to let go of some things that have been hanging around for awhile. So come see us - Thursday the 2nd from 5-9.

Then on the 11th is the next Austin Flea. Love, love, love this show! It's just so darn Austin-y. Great local artists, foodies, vintage gatherers sharing their finds. It's just kind of my dream show. We'll be at the Highball from 11-5.

And then just a few days later is Valentine's Day. I know, I know, it's a made up holiday by greeting card companies. yada yada yada. I don't really care. For Tom and I it's an excuse to have one more tradition that just belongs to us - rent a movie, get take out chinese, plop down on the couch and just hang out together. No big fancy dinner, no pressure.

So 2012 is off to a good start. Life is looking up.

life style.

Part of what I love about spending time in New York City is experiencing a completely different life than what I live at home. I've lived most of my life in Texas, but for about four years in New Mexico. So I have a pretty small scope of "life style". The first time I went to New York I was already well into my 30's and I must have looked like the proverbial tourist with the mouth agape, camera in tow. 10-11 trips under my belt, I now try to play it cool. But it all still fascinates me. From the sheer mass of it all down to the store windows.
If you've never lived anywhere but a big city, would it fascinate you to have fewer people living on a city block than in your entire apartment building? to live in 1,500 square feet and think it's small? to never walk past a store window? Because those things fascinate me. I can spend ages looking into all of the windows of the shops along one city block - from hardware stores to pharmacies to gift shops. They are beautiful and have a sense of humor, some are political, some are whimsical. It's just one tiny part of the city that I adore.


When you live in most parts of Texas, and the whole country I think, you hop in a car and drive past everything at a minimum of 30 miles per hour. But when you live in a city that has a true pedestrian lifestyle you notice all kinds of things. Good and bad. I notice the intricacy of the architecture, the beauty of the smallest park, the elderly woman's labored climb out of the subway, the street performances - from acting out the latest Broadway play to the Spanish "rooster song" by the little man who was probably 20 years younger than he looked shuffling past with his cane and outstretched cup jingling with coins, the graffiti, every nationality imaginable in one square block, the sky - or lack of it, the trash on one corner and the art on the next, the homeless and the panhandling, the busking, and the dogs in sweaters, boots, and rain coats. I just feel life happening in that moment vs. flying past it at 30mph.
Every time I leave New York I miss it. But I also get home and appreciate the things, the differences, in my life. I'm lucky enough to be able to experience these different lifestyles, soak them in. Of course, I'm summing it all up in terms of the superficial, but it really is worth the time to think about walking in a different lifestyle for a minute...even if it's just a glance in a shop window.