I'm Not Dead

I have a feeling this isn't totally normal but I really like being alone. I like doing things on my own, at my pace, the way I like them. I can be a bit bossy and controlling (less so with the addition of Zoloft to my life) and I can be a pain in the ass to do things with. In school whenever we had group projects I would take over and do the entire thing because I wanted it to be perfect. I'm impatient and while I've gotten better at not just snatching away all the materials and doing something myself it can be a challenge.

The one thing that allows me to be both alone and work on my 'being okay with it not being perfect' skills is painting. I go through phases where I don't paint for months and then all of a sudden something inside me decides to break out the brushes and I feel right again. It's calming. I like the look of a brush stroke so I tend to be more okay with them being where they shouldn't. Sort of like puppies.

I've been kind of MIA from the internet this week. I needed some time to be alone and to paint. I needed some quiet evenings full of bright colors. I have things to show and tell you but for this week I'm just going to not. I'm enjoying this little vacation. I'll be back Monday with clothes and craft projects and adventures.

Goodwill Unto Me

Craig and I went to Goodwill last night. We have one here on the East side of the city that's gigantic and awesome and always has something amazing. last night was no different.

Craig was looking for wall art. I was mostly teasing him by pulling out the most hideous things possible. Until I found this. I started to say "Hey Craig, I found you a picture of the Last Supper!" but I didn't get that far because part way through my sentence I realized that this thing is awesome and I did not want to hand it off to him. We both just stood there and there was a moment of silence before, at the same time, we both said "I actually like it..." Finders keepers though so I got it.


Craig found this and said "Look, I found this for you." and then showed it to me clearly trying to insult me by insinuating I'm a crazy cat lady but it didn't work because I snatched it from him and threw it in my cart with plans to make a wall of weird plates in those plates on the wall stand things. He apparently hasn't realized I've embraced being a cat lady. In fact, I'm going to put this in my bedroom and freak out any boys that may make their way into there.

Javi got a little jealous I was giving the plate cats so much attention.


Next I found this which is a conspiracy theory plate. Sounds just about perfect to add to the wall of weird plates.


This is a little blurry mostly because I was bending over while standing in heels to take a picture of this while hurrying out the door to work. If you can make it out though it says lots of fun facts about Presidents Kennedy and Lincoln and implies something was going on but never really makes clear what exactly could have been going on...


Happy Friday!

Passive Aggression

Someone got tired of her office supplies going missing.

And that someone was me.

So Fresh and So Clean, Clean

The other night my face was driving me crazy. I have pretty good skin so I don't really take good care of it. Because any time there's a problem it generally just figures it out on it's own. I once spent three weeks in Boston during the middle of Winter, used no moisturizer, and my face was fine. My "skin routine" consists of washing my face with some grapefruit Neutrogena face soap every other day in the morning and then just washing my face with water on the days I don't use the soap. And I mostly only use the soap because I like the smell of it.

So yeah, not good at taking care of my skin. I do use sunscreen daily though. Oh, and I get a facial every three months but I am contemplating being done with those.

Anyways, the other night I think my skin had had enough. It was crying out for some love. I won't get into the gritty details but basically my face felt greasy and my pores looked awful. And I could feel one of those painful under the surface zits.

I searched my apartment high and low for a face mask, any kind of face mask. I usually keep these little individual packaged ones (you may remember them from the holiday gift guide) but I had nothing. I remembered though this story my hair guy told me last time I saw him about this black face mask he had and how he scared his boyfriend while wearing it. I decided that was reason enough to try it.

I picked up a bottle yesterday and decided to go for it. I had read some reviews on the Sephora site which proved to be helpful. The mask is supposed to peel off, not wash off, so I knew some people had had trouble with not putting it on thick enough. I went ahead and slathered it on.


Javi was super helpful by sitting totally in the way and making it impossible for me to use my sink. But he's cute so I let him sit there and fed him water. (Psssst! Look at his little pink tongue!)



You're supposed to let it dry for 15 minutes so I went to watch Bad Girls Club since that seemed an okay thing to watch sans glasses. Figured I wasn't missing much.

After 15 minutes I got to start peeling it off.


I had read that this mask was basically like a giant Biore pore strip and it's true. It was awesome. I could see all the sick stuff from my skin on the under side of the mask. This is also where I discovered that there is totally a reason they tell you to not get it too near your hair line. I had some tiny baby hairs that got stuck and it wasn't pleasant to tear them out. I also learned that I had maybe been a tad too generous with the mask. If you layer it too thick it just doesn't dry so there were a couple spots I just gave up on and washed off.

Afterward my skin felt incredible. My pores looked smaller and cleaner and my face feels super soft to the touch. It's recommended you use the mask twice a week, I haven't decided if that's really necessary since I got such impressive results the first time. It might be a bit overkill to do it twice a week. But I'll definitely keep using it. And you should too!

Good Morning!

"I'm going to just sit here and stare at you like a creep until you get out of bed and give me food."

What I'm Wearing Today

My legs look a hundred miles long. I love it.

What I'm Wearing Today

Plus a black cardigan, minus an amazing hat.

The sun will come out, tomorrow.

We get a lot of rain here in Portland. I don't know what the official days per year count is but it's definitely up there. Sometimes when it's supposed to be Spring and it's just...not, it can be tough not to wonder if the sun will shine on our city ever again. But then, when it does, you remember why all the rain is worth it.

These were taken from my apartment. In the middle of the city. I don't live on some tucked away little street toward the center of Portland, I live right in the thick of it all. And still, I look out my windows and am surrounded by trees and green.

I love that about this place.

What I'm Wearing Today

There's sun today so even though the high is 52 degrees Fahrenheit I'm rockin' shorts. And color.

And the winner is...

With a last minute and totally hilarious entry the Le Creuset sparkly pink spatula, the Kuhn Rikon ceramic knife, and the adorable cookie cutters go to Curiosity! If you missed her response here it is:

"Oooooo...pretty knife!! Pretty spatula! I am completely helpless to resist everyday items in bright colours. My husband convinced me to purchase our first laptop by saying we could get it in apple green. No joke. I would treasure that knife.

I LOVE that knife. And using the time-honoured wisdom of elementary school aged children everywhere, I would, of course, then have to marry it. Or think it over at the minimum. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about polyandry, but I would ask it to move in with me at least. I'm sure my husband would have some difficulty adjusting, but in time he would come to accept it. I could spend long Sunday afternoons with that knife, chatting, and laughing, and doing crossword puzzles, and then taping the crossword puzzles back together where he got a bit overzealous. We could go out in the evening, and cut a rug. And he would tease me because I'm not as good at it as he is, and I would say "cut it out!". And he would. And then he'd give it to me, because he's sweet like that. And at the end of the day, we could curl up in bed together and spoon. Because he is also willing to try to be different, just for me.

And with all our inevitable half-knife, half-human children running around...er...walking slowly around (because they're sharp objects, and we'll be good parents I'm sure), we'll need to make a lot of birthday cookies and themed pancakes and such, and we will need non-boring cookie cutters (because no child of this union is likely to end up boring), and spatulas. And a glittery pink spatula would be enough to actually convince me to bake them all myself rather than buying them from the corner store and spritzing flour on myself like they do in that commercial.

And with such a loving family and so many hands around just ready to pet things, our cat might need a companion to avoid being overloaded by love and affection, so your cat would fit in just perfectly. He is a very handsome cat, and I'm sure we would adore him.

...What do you mean the cat wasn't part of the giveaway list?"

But! Don't be too sad because if you are Angela I would love to give you a runner up prize of a collection of cookie cutters to use with your nephews. And if you are Lex then you too will be receiving some cookie cutters so you can make your sick friend some fancy cookies.

So Ladies (or gents?) if you want to claim your winnings go ahead and send me an email with your username (so I know what you won), and an address to which I can mail your winnings to adelightfulaffairblog@gmail.com. There's no reason you need to give me your actual name if you don't feel comfortable doing so.

I'm already planning another giveaway although I'm thinking this one is going to be a more style inspired so keep your eyes out.

The Small Object

If you like tiny things (or cute things), and really, who doesn't, you should check out The Small Object. I was at my most favorite grocery store ever, New Seasons, yesterday waiting for my wok to be done when I found the most amazing sticky notes ever. I go through an insane amount of sticky notes at work and I'm always looking for something just slightly more awesome than a pale yellow square. I will be using these forevermore.

I Do...want to wear every one of these.

I'm not really a wedding girl. I mean, someday sure, I'll get married and have a wedding but whenever I picture it it's more like a dinner party with a super quick ceremony thrown in. I don't dream of churches and flowers and cake and wearing white. I do dream of a fantastic menu and a party dress though.

Enter BHLDN (pronounced Beholden).

Now don't let the fact that for some reason someone decided it would be cool and not at all confusing to take all the vowels out of the name of this line or the fact that beholden means "owing thanks or having a duty to someone in return for help or a service" (which is not at all romantic) fool you. This is actually a pretty amazing new line of wedding apparel by the people behind Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People.

There are things like lingerie and jewelry and weird things for your hair and probably something blue and definitely something new but the most fantastic part is the dresses. I would wear these every day if I could.

What I'm Wearing Today

I usually don't like to wear red, white, and blue together because I don't like looking like a holiday when I get dressed but I really wanted to wear this outfit and I was too lazy/going to be late if I worried about changing purses. The pirate purse would have been a way better choice. C'est le vie.

Also I totally got these jeans for $30 and I love them.







Don't forget about the giveaway! Everyone needs a pink glittery spatula.

A Collection of Things

So, I have about a jillion (real number, maybe 5?) things to write about. This means another completely incohesive post. Although they all have to do with this weekend so I guess they at least have some kind of minor thread in common.

First of all, I planted an herb garden this weekend. I thought it was going to be hard and maybe I shouldn't reveal this so it seems more impressive but basically it involved taking the plants out of their plastic containers and putting them in terra cotta pots. Craig and I went to the nursery which I thought was going to be kind of boring but was actually pretty cool. Craig got a garden plot so we looked at veggies for him to grow. He offered to let me come help him with it and I told him I would but only if I could pick two of the things to grow, I don't have to weed, and also it's not a real promise I'll actually help. He agreed which reassured me I am the master of bargaining.

We went to the Portland Nursery. They have a gigantic amount of plants.


Craig wouldn't let me use the Radio Flyer wagon or one of the purple carts for our plants. Well, he would but I didn't want to have to pull it so I said it was okay for us to use the green one. Which I ended up pulling anyways.


Here is Craig holding all our baby herbs.


Later that day we went to dinner and saw Hanna which was awesome. I thought it was pretty violent for a PG13 film but I'm probably just an old lady now that I'm coming up on 26. I'll be talking about how coffee used to be only $3.50 when I was growing up in no time.

Also this movie is funny which it doesn't lead you to believe at all by the trailers. And I very much admire their ability to make it humorous without detracting from the parts that are serious business. That's a tough thing to pull off.


I have a secret I've been keeping just in case it didn't work out. Because I didn't really want to announce to the internet that this really awesome thing could happen if I were good enough for it to happen and then have it not happen and have to be like 'Sorry Internet, I'm actually sort of lame."

I applied for a job with Sur la Table's culinary program. Aaaaaand...I got it! I'll be a kitchen assistant so I'll do prep for cooking classes as well as assist with them. I sort of fell into applying but I'm so excited for the opportunity to be using some culinary skills professionally as well as be in a position to learn so much. It's part time so I'll still keep my current job as well.

In celebration I want to do a giveaway. This is not at all sponsored but I thought it would be appropriate to give someone out there a few of my favorite kitchen things from Sur la Table. I've never done this before so be patient, also feel free to offer advice if you've done a giveaway or participated in one before and think something could be done better. It will be a trial run learning experience.

Here's what I'm giving away...

First up we've got an ice cream cone shaped cookie cutter!


Next is a sparkly pink Le Creuset spatula. This spatula is a legit nice spatula that works well (none of that tough non-bendy rubber) but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I mostly like it because it is pink and full of glitter.


Cupcake cookie cutter! Super adorable to decorate. The cookies, not the cutter.


And last but not least, a ceramic paring knife by Kuhn Rikon. I'm newly in love with ceramic knives and I use this one for everything. You will be getting this awesome color that was not available when I purchased mine.


So now for the how-to. I want to make this fun rather than just use a random number generator to pick a winner so full disclosure, this is going to be totally subjective since I'm the one picking the winner. Leave me a comment telling me what you would use these tools to make and the answer I find most fantastic will win all four items. Remember, if you win you'll have to give me your address in order to mail them to you so if you think there's a chance I could be a murderer and you aren't going to want to give me a place to send these things you should probably not play. The last day to submit a comment will be Friday April 15th, 2011 and the winner will be announced Monday April 18th, 2011.

Oh, and my cat is still adorable. Just in case you were wondering.