SciFi Man and I spent a long weekend in Chicago. We met up with some of his friends and visited the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. I’ve always had a soft spot for fish and watery places, so I really loved spending an afternoon at the aquarium. They had exhibits covering a wide range of habitats, but my favorite was the Wild Reef exhibit, which was absolutely full of vibrant, beautiful corals and fish.

I also really liked seeing the “coral nursery,” where the aquarium was raising new corals for the exhibit. There were several tanks full of baby corals, and it looked as though two fish were helping to tend them.

Obviously, there was more to see at the aquarium than what I’ve posted here, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you with pictures. You can see more aquarium photos on my flickr stream.

I’m not sure where my motivation went, but it’s been a tough couple weeks in the sewing department. I just can’t seem to get excited about cutting fabric, and that’s a rather essential step to take if I’m going to be putting anything together. Amanda and I were going to work on this motivation thing together by having a craft day, but we can’t seem to get that off the ground either, and we’ve tried three times. No oomph.

Today I’ve been forcing myself to do the tiny tasks — punch out tag shapes and circles from cardboard packages, for repurposing, and attaching the strings to almost-finished tags. Tiny stuff that requires little motivation. I also managed to start baking a cake late enough in the day that it’s going to ruin gym time, but I’m turning that into an excuse for a date night with SciFi Man.  And maybe after that I’ll be able to find a little more motivation to create? I don’t know.

What do you do when you’re not feeling motivated? How do you get your mojo back? I need some help here.

A small bit of my stationery stash.

I have always had a special place in my heart for pretty stationery. Over the years, I have created a collection of pretty papers and note cards that seems to outpace my opportunities for sending little notes and letters. I will often glance at my stationery stash and wish for a reason to send someone a note by mail. I finally found a reason with a post on IndieFixx this week, in which Jen proposed the Penpal Project. Inspired by some e-mail problems, she thought it would be great to connect IndieFixx readers with one another to exchange real, snail mail letters. I love it! I have already arranged to be penpals with a couple of people, but if you are also interested, send me a message (there’s a link to my email just over there, on the left)! (I’m serious. Let’s be penpals. Who doesn’t love mail?)

Sometimes, it seems like things snowball. And this handwritten-note/stationery love thing is one of them. Just today, I stumbled across a giveaway on Elephantine for some really lovely note cards and gift tags made by Kristin Sanchez. You should definitely take a peek at her charming Etsy shop and sign up for the giveaway. If you win, you can use one of the note cards to send a letter to your new penpal!

The Big Billy-Goat Gruff Tramped Over the Bridge

Do you remember the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff? I didn’t remember all the details, but the character of the troll really stuck with me. Throughout the years, I’ve occasionally encountered people that I’ve thought of as “bridge trolls.” I know that isn’t very nice, but then, sometimes we meet people who aren’t very nice, too!

Over the weekend, I visited with a friend who lives in a small town nearby. We spent a day visiting small local shops and antique stores. And when I came upon this illustration of the Big Billy Goat and the Troll from a 1938 version of the story, I simply had to buy it. I mean, seriously, who else feels such a strong connection with the bridge troll? It was meant to be.

Of course, then I had to look up the story to remember how it went, and I was sad to learn that the billy goats triumphed by apparently killing the mean old bridge troll. Sure, he threatened to eat them, but he also never actually did. Poor guy. Also, it strikes me that a lot of children’s stories and songs are seriously morbid. I mean, the big billy goat actually says to the troll:

Well, come along! I’ve got two spears,
And I’ll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;
I’ve got besides two curling-stones,
And I’ll crush you to bits, body and bones.

Sheesh! I’m feeling more and more sympathetic for this poor little troll. And maybe I will start being a little warmer towards the “bridge trolls” in my own life, too. Maybe. Either way, I’ve now got this fabulous bit of bridge troll art for my wall, and I love it.

Are there any bridge trolls in your life? Or any other creatures from weird children’s stories that you’ve held on to the way I have the bridge troll?

The place was packed with people and things, and was a bit overwhelming! It was also evident that this person was a collector of mushrooms and craft supplies, which was plenty to make me happy. I came away with a great assortment of vintage buttons. These are some my favorites:

Vintage Buttons

The buttons on the right are labeled “Montana Wild Flowers” and appear to be dried flowers encased in resin. I love them!

Montana Wild Flowers Button

I also brought home this charming little jewelry set. A necklace, earrings, and brooch, which all fit together in a tiny little box. How cute is this?

Mushroom Jewelry Set

While I enjoyed the “treasure hunt” aspect of the estate sale, I also wondered about the person who had lived in that home and collected those things over the course of a lifetime. And I wondered what it would be like to have strangers hunting through my treasures after I’m gone, and how that would feel for my family. Some of the people I saw at the same were talking as if they knew the woman who had lived there, and I imagine it would be a rather surreal experience to go to an estate sale of someone I had known and loved. But maybe these are just the thoughts of an estate sale novice. What do you think?

My sweetheart doesn’t often get crafty and make things, so this is extra special. He also told me that he came up with the center piece all on his own. (He found directions for the rest of the flower online. When I told him I would blog about this, he asked me to warn you to be careful when googling for origami flowers, as his computer was almost infected with a virus when he was searching.)

It may not be red roses and chocolate, but it’s perfect. Thank you, darling. You can be my Valentine any day.

Some notes from the week…

• Did you see the giveaway Olive Manna and Hooray Design are doing together? It seems like such a lovely idea to team up like that, and the little cans of goodies are so sweet! You should check out the giveaway, and then stay for the blog, or something like that. They both have great blogs.

• If you like chickpeas at all, you need to give this recipe for Lemony Chickpea Stir-fry a try. Soon. It’s so very good, and easy. I made it on a last-minute whim this week, and I liked it so much I made it a second time. I served it with some brown rice, cooked in veggie broth. And while you are cooking, make a batch of these Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies. You won’t regret it, although your waist might.

• Are you on Twitter? I am, and I was thinking this week that if you aren’t following me on Twitter, you might be missing out on some of the little updates that I don’t think merit a whole blog post, but are still awesome. Like when I tweeted about this fashion no-no. I’d love for you to be my Twitter friend. :)
• I really loved this post on Cicada Daydream, Anatomy of a Cost Effective Project.

What are your weekend plans? Are you relaxing, doing something fun? Going somewhere interesting? Whatever they are, I hope it’s a wonderful weekend!

Snuggly Yoda and Roo

Sometimes you have to interrupt the craftiness for a little kitty snuggle. I love the way Yoda and Roo end up hugging each other when they cuddle. Aww.

Christmas Cactus

Doesn’t it seem like some things make dramatic changes overnight? It seems that way with this little Christmas cactus. I bought the tiny cactus after Christmas last year, when it was droopy, neglected, and on clearance before being thrown out . Over the year, it’s become happy and healthy and put out lots of new leaves. But just this morning I noticed that It’s also covered in buds and one bright pink flower. It’s starting the holiday season a little early, but I’m so happy to see it doing so well!

Other little things making me happy lately:

The fall market season is over! While I loved doing the market, it sure was getting cold, and I’m appreciating being able to sleep in again on Saturdays. I have one more confirmed show lined up for this year (the Fancy Schmancy Holilday Shop on November 14th!), and two potential shows that I’ll let you know about once they’re official. I’m excited to be doing some holiday shows and I’m extra excited that they’ll be indoors.

It’s a little late in coming, but I also wrapped up the contest for a Little Hootie Owl on my Facebook fan page. Lots of you submitted wonderful haikus, and it was so hard to choose just one. The winning haiku was:

cold rain from the sky
strips the colors from the trees
the ground bleeds bright red

What can I say? I have a weakness for fall colors. Even in haiku form.

And finally, today we switched our clocks back an hour for daylight saving time. It’s always nice to get an extra hour, which I promptly spent sleeping in.

Those are some of the little things that are making me happy lately. What little things are making you happy today?