veggie love

 emma and eddie

and a sneak peek at embroidered hearts i've been working on...

xoxo

how i really "felt"

despite what my post may have suggested yesterday, i had a very lovely christmas, and i hope all who celebrated did too. one of the best gifts i received this season was the passion for felting (sparked by this holly headband tutorial. many thanks, elycia!=)

in typical kelli fashion, i was up late on christmas eve finishing the last of my felt presents.

picture frame magnet for my sister

photo of alaina and the beefcake, mr. bear

t-rex and stegosaurus for our sweet nephews

inspired by wendy

and yesterday was spent creating some more felt goodies - i can't seem to stop!=) photos to come soon!

thankful it's over...

though i enjoyed being crafty this christmas, i'm so glad it's december 26th. next year i may opt out of the madness altogether. if i hear one more parent tell their child to "be good because santa is watching", i may scream. i know parents mean well, but come on. lying to your children to get them to behave in a way you'd like them to is pretty sneaky. and is that what we really want to instill in our children... "be good" because someone may be watching? sounds big-brotherish to me. the analytic in me finds the whole tradition to be rather disturbing.

to teach our children to embrace truth, there will be no santa lies in our house. our children will not worship a character who guzzles bottles of coke on billboards and gorges on cookies and dairy milk. to teach them to find happiness in things other than plastic toys made with slave labor in china, we will celebrate the season in a very different way, if we celebrate at all. for me, the spirit of peace, love, joy, family, and goodwill is worth honoring every day, and should not be saved for a holiday based on buying happiness and selling lies.

and that's how i feel about that!=)

do it yourself apple star bags

♪brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things♫=)

brown gift bags can be purchased at most craft stores for about fifty cents each. they are very durable and perfect for stamping. no need to purchase expensive stamps - make your own adorable apple-stamped gift packaging with the tutorial below.

you will need:

an apple
red and green acrylic paint
brown gift bags
paint brush (optional)

1. cut the apple in half horizontally (around the middle) to reveal a star. scoop out the seeds.

2. using the apple as a stamp, press into paint.

alternatively, apply paint to the apple with a paintbrush.

3. stamp.

4. let dry for one hour. fold bottom under and follow same steps on reverse side.

5. add gifts, tissue paper and your own personal touches if you wish. below i used old bell ornaments with red embroidery floss.

* brown paper shopping bags can be reused for homemade apple-star gift wrap.

** you may need to cut through a few apples to find a nice star. simple solution for the duds - i juiced 'em with beets, cucumber, carrot, spinach, lemon and ginger.

 cheers to pretty personalized gift-packaging!=)

this is on my mind....

an inspired homemade holiday.

this post is my contribution to down to earth's friday photo feature. above is my little area for crafting homemade holiday cards and gifts. when putting this post together, i realized most of my ideas this year were inspired by fellow bloggers! click to visit their lovely spaces in the web.

crocheted hello kitties for the girls, pattern from sayjai at kandjdolls.

felt dinosaurs for the boys, sparked by wendy of the butterfly balcony.

some card-making

hi!

aroused by leah, whose creations i was so happy to peruse and purchase at a local craft fair.

made by leah

an all-night felt fest was triggered by elycia and lots of scraps! the presents and balls were old stickers leftover from my scrapbooking days and the star is made from reused wrapping paper.

elycia put together a really cute video tutorial on how to make your own adorable holly headband. the holly costs pennies to make and could also be used as a brooch, a tree ornament, or even a magnet! the possibilities are endless...=)

happy homemade holidays!

snuggles and soups

some s's getting me through this sh*tty shivery season...=)

snuggling up with a nice read is what i love most in winter. there are plenty of blog posts to peruse, but it's not very comfy to curl up with my huge laptop. i've been compiling a list of worthy books to read, but it seems to have gone missing.

can you recommend a good novel? as long as my local library has it, i'm willing to check it out. i'm open to all genres and am particularly interested in reading about pioneer times, as well as simple living and living off the grid. please share some of your favorites!

until then i'll enjoy my new seed catalogs and dream of warmer days.=)

 onto some eats...

... lentil soup and raw pizza with steamed broccoli. YUM. i've yet to make a pot of soup or raw pizza i haven't enjoyed. as lentils are inexpensive, delicious, and full of protein, they often find their way into our savory soups. they really "beef" up our veggie soups nicely.=) i think i've sung enough praises for raw pizza.

during these dreary days, raw juices and smoothies are quick pick-me-ups full of nutritional benefits to support immune function. now that i'm able to make fresh juices, i've been preferring them over smoothies. however, it feels a bit wasteful to neglect the pulp. after some research, i found a way to use the fiber for veggie broth!

simply puree the pulp with whole tomato or tomato sauce and freeze in ice cube trays. (filtered water would also work.) add one or more to your next batch of soup for a boost of flavor and sustenance.

and there you have it... homemade veggie bouillon cubes!

lovely locks

and it breaks my hear

ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ah - ar - art

when girls tame and straighten their natural, lovely locks

like i did for years... burning myself in the process

wasting valuable time and precious energy

throwing away hard-earned cash

to look more like them

and less like me.

♥♥♥

and it warms my heart to watch regina spektor, with her gorgeous mane and incredible voice sing and tickle the ivories...



and another ravishing red-head on the keys



who now wears a wig during performances, probably because she allowed stylists to fuss too much with her hair!

as my mother would say, "just leave it alone!"=) 

thankful thursday

amazing how often you use your dominant hand's thumb! you notice these things when yours is out of commission. a little too careless with my mandolin slicer, i slipped and went in to the tip of my thumb. good thing for my long, thick nails or it would have gone deeper.

johnny boy came to my rescue and cleaned me up while i moaned and groaned. it was healing very nicely for a week when i carelessly banged it, reopening the wound! *@&H#^%!

so today i am feeling thankful for:

healthy opposable thumbs
our body's natural ability to heal
coconut oil and vitamin e
my new juicer
and finger condoms

=)

lemme in!

biggles circa 1999

to john

 

my kitty-doting, garlic-loving, animal-friendly sous chef

foreclosure fraud-fighting handyman

truth-seeking, truth-speaking conscious hip-hop artist

and indie tv star=)

world's best snuggler... and silliest man alive.=)

my "love twin"=), always by my side

easing my fears, spreading love, and forever reminding me it's just a ride...

happy 30th
from your girls,
mommles and madj=)

love you daddles
xoxo

jack be nimble, jack be quick...

jack juice me some carrot sticks!

we now have a juicer! a jack lalanne power juicer pro given to us by generous friends.

our first juice consisted of apple, cucumber, lemon and ginger, plus chard and carrots from the garden. t'was glorious. question: do you juice the carrot tops?

i'm in love.

♥

gold dust synchronicity

wordy last post, huh? sometimes i don't have much to say about my food, if you can believe it!

but i do have a lot to say about where my thoughts have been lately. when i started this blog it was for recipes, but it has evolved into a journal of sorts. i hope you don't mind me sharing more than my animal-friendly food.

friday i was reading tavi's blog when i was reminded of a song called gold dust from one of my most beloved tori amos albums, scarlet's walk.

as tori spent childhood summers with her grandparents, whose cherokee grandparents survived the trail of tears, she has a deep understanding of the horror this nation is built upon. in creating scarlet's walk, tori traveled the united states after 9/11 in an attempt to re-examine the nation's history, the myths, and what it means to be american. you can read more about the album's concept here: lost in a place called america.

the album came out in the fall of 2002 when i was a senior in college. it's somber feel enchanted me, and when the pain of adolescence and early adulthood was too much to bear, music was therapy, especially tori amos.

"how did it go so fast
you'll say as we are looking back
and then we'll understand
we held gold dust
in our hands" 



friday night, john and i watched the movie, frida based on the life of frida kahlo. before she's severely injured in her trolley accident, frida's given a handful of gold paint particles. upon impact, a shimmering shower of gold dust rains over the wreckage. the lyrics, 'we held gold dust in our hands' replayed in my head from earlier that day as i sat in awe of the timing. was the gold dust a coincidence or a symbol for me?

i'm still not sure, though the synchronicity did lead me to some reflecting while youtubing my favorite songs from the album. these videos are so beautiful to me that i wanted to share, though i understand if they're not for you. tori herself says she is an acquired taste, like anchovies.=)

here tori shares some insights she gained from a native american woman whom she met while researching for her scarlet's walk album.



"big brave nation
but instead
her medicine
now forgotten"
-scarlet's walk



a bouncy lil' number with yummy bass...



"I think that there is a place where she [Scarlet] realizes that people come in and out of your life. Sometimes for a day, sometimes for longer. And all of them make you what you are. You can't separate these people out of you. They form who you are. Even the ones that you kind of say well...you know, I don't know if I wanna be formed by them anymore. (laughs) But you are in some way. You are. That's why, maybe, you don't have to look at them so harshly because they have effected you." - From the promotional-CD "Scarlet Stories" (source)



"woke up to a world
that i am not a part
except when i can play
its stranger"
-strange



a haunting song symbolic of 9/11...



and lastly, the winning video for a "taxi ride" contest, one of my favorites on the scarlet's walk album.



i had to stop myself from posting more, and i didn't even get to share all my favorites. if you'd like to see them, i'd be more than happy to share!=)

any other tori amos fans out there?