Dear Santa....part 2

Dear Santa,

I'd like all these things from Urban Outfitters too!

The Vega watch by Nixon in white

The Where the Wild Things Are tree ornaments

and this pretty Welcome yellow coat hanger!

Dear Santa...part 1

I know I've been gone for almost a week but my meetings in Ferney (outside Geneva) were so draining that after they were done, all I could do was sleep or eat cheese. I'm back now and ready to post ahead.

So M asked me yesterday to make him a list of things I want for Christmas. I do this every year to help him think of ideas for presents. I usually get one or two little things off my list. I think it's just fun coming up with the list. Here's the first item on my list...

It's from domesticity. I'm in love with entry ways. I can't wait to design my own when we finally get our act together and start building our house. If they carried the hook in yellow instead of orange, I'd be in heaven!

fruity goodness

I got an email this morning saying I had a package to pick up at the front desk. I thought it was a book I had ordered for work but was delighted to find our Save the Dates instead. Looks like I'll be addressing postcards to pass time on the flight to London on Tuesday. I went to the USPS website to look up stamps and they currently have just one set of $0.27 stamps. I guess it is a good thing they are cute, colorful and that I love fruit:)

New things of the month

I forgot. I have some new things of the month.

1. Eat all my meals at the dinner table (which I broke last night while watching the election results)

2. Screen print something. If you saw my earlier post about that, then you know I haven't been having a lot of luck.

3. Go somewhere new. This one just fell into my lap. I'm headed to Ferney (outside Geneva) for some meetings next week.

4. A new Thanksgiving theme. Every year M and I have a Thanksgiving theme for our meal. The first year (our first year together) was a very traditional meal. The second year was Chesapeake inspired. Think Old Bay seasoned turkey, Onion tart and Oyster stuffing. Last year was Hawaiian inspired. The Hawaiian one was the best and the easiest to make. We had Kalua Turkey, Spam fried rice and a tofu in soy sauce "salad" that is super yummy. There were other dishes that escape me now. This year our theme in New Orleans inspired. We're thinking Blackened Turkey, Andouille and shrimp stuffing, fried okra, some kind of salad, and beignets in place of pie. Yum!

And now the dress!

I've showed you the shoes and the hairpiece and now all that's left of the outfit is the dress. Actually, I still need jewelry which is another thing entirely! I knew I wanted something short and something made for me. I also knew that I wanted something that was modern yet feminine.

I was at home working one day and decided to take a break to see what was new on Etsy...and there it was. I didn't hesitate. I contacted Liza and asked her if the material of the dress was dressy enough for a wedding gown and as soon as she said yes, I was sold. The material is a cotton sateen that is a really pale grey.

I was a little worried about having a custom dress made for me in August 2008 when the wedding wasn't for another year. Liza said that once payment was made, she'd cut and put the material aside and that in Feb/March I could contact her with my measurements or come down to Portland for a fitting. Done! I paid for the dress right then and there. Liza even sent me a sample of the material so I could match accessories to it.

Hair is done and paid for!

Ok, after a lot of back and forth, I finally decided on a hairpiece for the wedding, custom ordered it and paid for it. I'm so excited. I might just have to wear it around the house! It was only $45. This is a picture of what the hairpiece is based on and this is the description of the custom made piece from House of Telsa who's making it for me.

"I think the style of the speckled green fascinator would really complement your dress quite nicely. The rosette lends that feminine touch and the lines created by the tulle would mimic the structured lines of your dress. The rosette part of the piece measures approximately 3.5" x 3.5", which is not too large and since the tulle is translucent, it creates a soft subtle effect that does not overpower. I know I will find the perfect pale gray dupioni and I already have the gray tulle I'd like to use. The look would be subtle and the swarovski crystals (not black, but a color called "crystal") added to the tulle would be the perfect touch. Also, vintage rhinestones in the middle of the flower instead of swarovski crystals would add a much nicer touch given the special occassion. I'm loving all the tone on tone contrasting that will make up this piece and I think you will too!"

Searching in a field of yellow

So I've been searching for the perfect yellow shoe to go with my dress. Unfortunately, nothing in my price range comes in my size or is something I can walk in. All the cute shoes in yellow have 4 inch heels. I tried walking in them, and it's just not possible. 3 inches is as high as i can go. I had just about given up when I found these saviors from J.Crew. The yellow is soooo perfect!



I know the wedding isn't for 9 months, but I tend to lose a lot of time because of work. I just found out today that I need to be on a plane to Geneva in 6 days. In all, I'll probably lose 3 weeks because of the trip. I have to buy what I can when I can, and I'm so happy I found these shoes!

Rain rain go away...

...papayadog wants to screen print today! So as I mentioned before, we're (which really means me) making the invitations ourselves. I've designed it already and got all the necessary supplies (paper, screen, ink) for a fun day of screen printing. I'm using the photo emulsion technique where I coat the screen with the emulsion, let it dry in a dark place, and then place my negative (the image on a transparency) on the dry screen and expose it to the sun. I've tried it twice and both times didn't go so well. The first time I put too much emulsion on an it didn't dry evenly. When I placed my image on the screen, part of it was still wet so the whole image didn't catch. I tried it again yesterday and I think a) I didn't put enough emulsion on and b) it was too cloudy to work. Unfortunately this being Seattle in the fall/winter, I probably won't see any good sunlight for a long time. I decided last night to invest in a 150 watt light bulb to "burn" the image onto the screen. I tried picking up a bulb last night at target but they only came in 3 packs. I only need 1. I'm hoping a trip to Home Depot or Lowe's will be more fruitful. If all else fails, I do have someone who will print our poster invitation (yes, 11x17 posters) for reasonably cheap. I really do want to do these myself though. I've always wanted to learn to screen print. Hopefully I'll have a more positive entry about screen printing in the next week. Etsy has a great DIY screen printing video for anyone interested.

A change of hair...

I think I like this better for my wedding hair. If felt like I could pull it off, I'd buy a couple and where them everyday! Giantdwarf makes it and you can find her stuff on Etsy. I love the color and this gorgeous hair piece will match my shoes! I wonder if this can be made with silk or a cotton sateen.

Inside of color

I thought I'd just share a couple of great color blasts from my apartment.  

I got this rug from my Brother-in-law who served in Afghanistan.  He had few days in Kabul before he left and he bought me this rug as a birthday present.  I love it!  It's so soft and the colors are totally my style.

This reminds me of that great mirror from Habitat.  I actually got the idea from Blueprint (R.I.P).  They did it but didn't put the second frame inside or the image.  The images of boars are from this great Japanese calendar we couldn't bring ourselves to throw away.  We saved our favorite images and framed them.  The frames are a little crooked in this picture for some reason.  

Yum...lemongrass!!

I love Vietnamese Lemongrass chicken. I was on the West Elm website cruising around and the description of lemongrass accessories peaked my interest. Thank goodness it did! I found little bulb vases in a lemongrass color for $3.99 each. I bought 20 of them. Turns out shipping is free and there was no sales tax. Score!




I'm also trying to decide on the grey and clear/white vases to complete my look. So far, I think I like these from CB2.

These are going to go on top of the different fabric table runners. Since I'm doing all the flowers myself, I decided that instead of huge arrangements, I'm going to do the a vase with a single flower on top of the cool fabric. I'll still need about 75 stems, but that's easier to manage than hundreds. Also this way, I can mix and match different varieties of white and yellow flowers. My big problem will be the round tables. I didn't realize that I'd have to decorate 5 round tables. For me, they are harder to design because of all the space in the middle.

Buried in fabric!

So I found out a few days ago that I'm probably going to go a on a few work trips in the next few months which is always exciting. Unfortunately for me, when this happens, I don't really get more than 10 days notice before I go and I usually have plans already in place and have to cancel. With the wedding next year and several weddings we have to attend already scheduled, I know I need to get as much planning done now as I can. This week I've been obsessed with table setting/scapes.

I found some really cute yellowish bulb vases from West Elm on sale and a smoky cooler glass and fun flat stem vases from CB2. My idea is to do table runners with fun fabrics that have black, grey and yellow, and then put a few of the vases on top. I've had to add black to the color palette because it's impossible to avoid.

Looks at the fun fabrics I bought for table runners!

I also bought this but then realize it was to casual for the wedding. It's not a huge piece, so I'm going to keep it.

While I was at it, I got this one to put in M's mom's christmas stocking. She's always complaining about the lack of fun fabric in Myrtle Beach.

I need a few more fabric pieces since some of the ones I bought are fat quarters or about 1/2 yard. Those I can use on the round table and in the booths, but I need longer pieces for the 6 foot long tables. These are the ones I'm thinking about.

I know I'm going to get the geometric grey print since it's pretty cheap (I found it on Ebay) and has a lot of grey. I need some yellow prints. I wish I could find more fabric that just had the yellow and grey combination. I'd buy all these fabrics if the budget allowed for it. I can see how people have huge fabric collections. They have some great stuff out there.

I love organization

Some parts of my apartment are really organized and some are in need of some real help. One of those ares in need of help is the laundry closet. I wish mine looked like this!

Missing in action...

I know I've been M.I.A. but we just got a new computer, a Mac, that I'm still trying to figure out. On top of that, my boss made a surprise visit to the office (he lives in Arizona) and a lot has been going on at work.

So after some discussion, we changed our mind on my sister's dress. Instead we're going with this bold beauty!

She hasn't seen it in person as she just moved to Italy, but she saw the picture and says she loves it. Now the decision is grey or black shoes!

Weekend fun

This weekend M and I completed the last steps in the Limoncello making process. A friend gave us 20lbs (no joke) of lemons over the summer and we needed to come up with a project that would use most of them. It was all a blur between the zesting and the zesting. I hope this turns out well. We want to make and bottle more (yikes) to give away as wedding favors. We also have limecello (with limes) that we made. We got pounds of those too.

Here's the recipe

Ingredients:

15 lemons, 2 bottles (750 ml) 100-proof vodka, 4 cups sugar 5 cups water

Prep:

Wash the lemons with a vegetable brush and hot water to remove any reside of pesticides or wax; pat the lemons dry. Carefully zest the lemons with a zester or vegetable peeler so there is no white pith on the peel. NOTE: Use only the outer part of the rind. The pith, the white part underneath the rind, is too bitter and would spoil your limoncello.

Step One: In a large glass jar (1-gallon jar), add one bottle of vodka; add the lemon zest as it is zested. Cover the jar and let sit at room temperature for at least (10) ten days and up to (40) days in a cool dark place. The longer it rests, the better the taste will be. No stirring!

Step Two: In a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water; cook until thickened, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Let the syrup cool before adding it to the Limoncello mixture. Add to the Limoncello mixture from Step One. Add the additional bottle of vodka. Allow to rest for another 10 to 40 days.

Step Three: After the rest period, strain and bottle: discarding the lemon zest. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve.

Yay pink!

I LOVE this mirror from Habitat.

I love this shirt and it goes to a great cause.

More of Zambia

Here's another picture I found. I know I have more saved somewhere! I spent a weekend at Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) a.k.a Victoria Falls and got happily very wet. Pictures of elephants and my cool hut on the Zambezi river are coming soon.

The other dress

We just got my sister's bridesmaid dress. We're trying to make things really simple and as handmade as possible. We found this dress on ebay after seeing it at Dillard's but we're going to accent it ourselves with a ribbon in place of the belt and maybe a brooch or flower to dress it up. The colors of the wedding are yellow, grey and cream/off-white.

Working girl

So on the side I make posters for M's band. I'm no artist or graphic designer but I have fun and they usually come out ok. We decided that I should be able to come up with a few ideas for wedding invitations, save the dates and such. I'm excited and nervous about it. I've been sharing my ideas with a few friends and one suggested that I post some of my drafts on Zazzle to sell. I thought it might be a good way to make some money for the wedding. I just set up a PapayaDog gallery of items. Here goes nothing...and everything!

The first poster I ever made for the boys

Beads, beads and more beads

I was in Ethiopia over the summer for work and one weekend I stopped in this little bead shop off Churchill road in Addis Ababa. Oh my the beads! I took more than I needed home though I would have been quite happy to take everything home.

The Reception Venue

After a lot of searching, disappointment and whining (by M), we finally found a reception space that everyone loves. It was the last place we looked at and we knew we wanted to have our reception there as soon as we walked in. Yay! for the Lake Union Cafe! The site is beautiful and the staff is super nice. The best part is that we can bring are own booze. I can't wait to taste all the food!

Time for a shot of color

I want these! M is in need of shot glasses for our home bar setup and these would be perfect. Generate is selling them on their site. I also really want this really lovely Timeless Clock which would go with all the green in my apartment. Alas, it's a little out of my price range but I can dream can't I?

I heart color

It's true. I love color. It's my favorite part of changing seasons and the subject of one of my favorite books, "Color: A Natural History of the Palette." When I saw this image on by Polly Apfelbaum on Apartment Therapy, I just knew I had to share it. Hoorah for color!!

Wedding hair or winter wear?

I bought this beautiful brooch (circa 1920) to use as a hairpiece (maybe as a clip or as part of a veil) for my wedding but now I really want to wear it on my winter coat. I won't really see my dress in person until April so I won't know if it will work with the dress until then. What's a girl to do?

Zambia

I'm really, really lucky that I get to travel with my work. Last year I went to Zambia a few times and I wanted to share 2 pictures. I have some amazing ones from Victoria Falls that I will share later.

She had the sweetest smile!

On the road...as usual

Please Vote!

No matter who you like or don't like, please vote. I admit that the elections are long and sometimes overwhelming, and that we are asked to vote way too much (depending on your state), but we should all vote. If you're not registered, now is the time. Here's a little help.

Oh please say it will be so!

M and I were talking about the sad state Husky football is in this year and I told how much I'd love it if Mike Holmgren (current coach of the Seattle Seahawks) would take over for Tyrone Willingham (current coach of the U of W huskies) if they let Tyrone go. M sent me a link to a Husky blog but I've pasted my favorite part of it below.

--- Mike Holmgren, Seahawks. Another popular rumor has Holmgren simply moving across the lake once this season is done. Stranger things have happened.

My fingers are crossed!

Welcome to PapayaDog Land!

Think of this as FAQs that haven't actually been asked yet!

PapayaDog?

I know you are all wondering what is PapayaDog or why PapayaDog, so I'm going to put you out of your misery right off the bat. When my fiance were in our second year of dating, he lived in Brooklyn and I lived in Washington DC. Every two weeks, one of us would visit the other in our respected city (oh Chinatown bus, how I sort of miss thee!) for a weekend. I don't know how he felt about coming down to DC, but I loved going up to Brooklyn. Great places to hang out, awesome shopping and delicious food -- what more could I ask for. It was like living in New York without paying to live in New York. So one of my favorite things to eat was Grays Papaya hot dogs (mmm...I'm hungry just thinking about it!). One day I wanted a Grays Papaya hot dog so bad that almost considered going to have a Papaya Dog hotdog (not as good knock-off). My fiance, M (he's a secret agent and I have to protect his identity), decided that since I loved the hot dogs so much, he'd nickname me PapayaDog. Well, the name stuck and that's that. Actually M has a gift for coming up with nicknames. He gave a friend of his the nickname Sugarbowl 7 or 8 years ago and it's stuck. Actually, for the first year I knew Sugarbowl, I had no idea what his real name was!


Why PapayaDog the blog?

The dirty truth? I'm using this blog to help me with my New Years Resolution. I know it's October and this probably should have been done in January, but I wasn't having problems with my resolution until last month. What is the resolution? To try something new every month. Some new things have been more exciting (visited Ethiopia) than others (stay on budget for the whole month), but they were new things none the less. Now I've gone a whole month without doing anything new and am on the verge of extending my streak to a second month. I thought a blog would keep hold me accountable. That's it. This blog is my new thing for October and I hope to post regularly for a year.


About me

I'm a 28 year old Jane of all trades. My Mom used to call me a Jack of all trades when I was a kid. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a way to get me to focus on one thing but either way, it's true and I'm OK with that.

During the day I work for a public health non-profit where I am the resident Jill of all trades (literally) and in the evenings I do what ever needs to be done followed by anything I have time for.

I love colors, traveling, cooking, crafting (sewing, pottery, any DIY), the Seahawks, U-dub (that's the University of Washington for any of you outside Washington state) sports, March Madness, Spin and Aqua (yes, the one where old ladies jump around in the pool) classes, design of all kinds, making and checking things off my list and of course my family and M.

Just so you know, I'm a procrastinator and am a horrible speller. I blame part of my misspelling affiction on living in England for a while and part of it on my Dad who is the world's worst speller. I will say in his defense that American English isn't his first language but he speaks it wonderfully and at times funnily (is that a word?). I also make up words -- just FYI.


This Blog

I'm going to try my best to not have this be a diary even though this first post sounds like one. I hope this blog will motivate me to try new things and share them with all of you. I also will post things I think are cool, projects I want to try (and probably won't), wedding planning (this won't be a wedding blog) and other things I think I should share.

All that being said, WELCOME!