d.Sharp Journal

makes cents/sense

I love flea markets and thrift stores,

garage and estate sales,

taco carts,

block parties,

my art collection by the boys,

a good cup of plain old coffee,

time with friends and family,

the library,

people watching,

scratch cooking,

the dandelion bouquets C always picks for me,

kissing my husband,

creating wrinkles {smiling} instead of trying to erase them {expensive creams},

25 cent cups of lemonade from a little one's stand,

making something out of 'nothing',

and hugs from my kids- better than any massage at a spa.

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What are some of your cheap thrills and recession proof joys?

this guy knows his way around a pair of scissors

Tokyo art student, Wataru Itou, worked on this phenomenal paper castle over four years - complete with electrical lights and a working train made of paper. DED-I-CATION. Incredible. {via tokyobling}

 

counting the days

A salami advent calender. Some kind soul in Germany is thinking of my husband. {i love lovely package}

Derby day

One of our favorite summer pastimes is the annual Soapbox Derby on Mt. Tabor. {more on it from last year} This past Saturday we saw a beautiful view of the city

a Fred Flinstone mobile

a keg car

 

and a mouse and trap

We had a great time watching the derby with Nana and Grampa {thanks for the great pictures!}

The boy's favorite car was made out of legos

and we all liked the birds in the nest

and the headhunters

 

Those last three pictures are from S. Churchill's flickr photostream, more great shots here.

Thanks to all of those creative daredevils who never fail to make a great Saturday in Portland.

full spectrum

Absolutely love this Pantone swatch rainbow - so pretty to look at,  who needs the pot of gold?

See it all here.

colorplay

Remember Candyland? In honor of its 60th birthday, Lombard Street in San Fran. was given a colorful coating.

 

{via Flavorwire}

Diagnosis:

Town Hall Face : An unsightly condition caused by unsanitary health-care politics. Apparently its sufferers can be on both sides of the health care debate.

Newsweek has a slide show of victims of this condition. Some of the captions:

Even the most delicate floral-print blouses cannot offset the startling effect of Town Hall Face

A couple succumbs to a mutated version of the malady - Get Me Out of Here Face

In rare cases, Town Hall Face can morph into Dick Cheney Face

Slideshow here.

Time to debark

I haven't written about any of my medical issues here, it is complex and ongoing. Anyway, I went to a dietitian and nutritionist a while back and was giving a specific plan in regards to daily diet. I eat healthy food for the most part, no junk, but need to strictly limit carbs. So I left that appointment and proceeded to embark on a months long Farewell Tour Of Food. Bon Voyage! In those months bidding adieu to {um, eating}those beloved foods for the, sniff, last time. {not really, but my sweet tooth is dramatic}I ate worse than ever.

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A long while back I heard about 43 things - an online community where people list personal goals, connect with others that have common goals  and encourage each other.
I think it is a really great idea and have been mulling over a way to connect with a few people in a similar way - to commit to a short term goal, pair up with 2 or 3 people who have also set goals, and upon accomplishment of the goal trade out a small token of success to one another.

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My goal is to hit the gym a min. of 3 X per week and record my food { I use this, which I like} 7 days per week for one month.

If you have a short term, measurable goal that you want to commit to and partner up, let me know. It doesn't have to be health related. Leave a comment or email me privately. Perhaps there are enough people to get a few pods of 2 or 3 people together. Like I said, I have just been mulling the idea over, I don't have any firm plan - so any suggestions of what you would like/ think would be helpful. I am thinking at the end of the month commitment, we would send out a small token, {$ limit or handmade?} to the one or two we have partnered with. What do you think?

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I look forward to hearing from people. If not, maybe I will stuff a piggy bank with a few bills after each successful week and then hit the candy shop. {kidding}

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Post Edit 9/4- so we have a group of seven and we are starting out tomorrow. I will let you know how it's going for me!

First Adventure

My work on repainting the bathroom {it is going slooooow} and our anniversary this weekend has me thinking back to the years before our wedding. Having kids has been and is a great adventure, but our first adventure was our first house.

Moving back to Portland {yikes, that was 16 years ago - how can time go by so fast?}for G to go to graduate school, we ended up buying a 1906 house. It made our hearts beat fast the moment we walked in, there was so much potential. It is laughable how little we knew about buying a house/real estate - we were just lucky. The house couldn't be mortgaged or even insured due to its condition, we had to pay cash. {That same year, a family member bought a used car for a little bit more than we paid, although it was a REALLY NICE used car.}I quit the job I disliked and worked full time on the house, G had classes as well as so much to accomplish on the house.

Home Sweet Home

{more after the jump}

Thirteen.

Yesterday we celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary. {We celebrate two anniversaries.}

I feel so fortunate for this marriage, for my husband. I look forward to many more years together.

I made him this paper candy container to make his escape more difficult. {ha.}