Happy Birthday!

My little miss has traveled another year around the sun and is now six!
The past couple days have certainly been birthday focused, with a preschool celebration in her honor on Friday, a birthday party of a classmate on Sunday, her real birthday today, and a birthday tea party coming up on Saturday.  I don't have a shy gal, but one who loves people and friends!  She gets me out and about and for that I am thankful.

Here's her little birthday at home.

She woke up to fresh pink roses and a card. Then she got 2 simple gifts:
a rainbow bamboo geometric puzzle and a wicker basket satchel/drawing board.

After a morning with friends, she came home to spend time with mom and dad hearing Vedic tales and stories, then had a special birthday dinner of salad, spinach lasagna (one of her favorites), and chocolate cake with strawberries.

I am continually amazed by her playfulness, love and good fortune.  I know she is going to do great things in this life and I hope to help her along the way. 

Work in Progress Wednesdays

I'm taking a leap and hoping to have more frequent posts on Wednesdays.  There's a great group of bloggers who participate in W.I.P  and I thought it would be fun to join the list.

So here's my 1st official W.I.P post!

I've been planning my daughter's 6th birthday party.  It's going to be an afternoon tea for with several of her friends.  Here's a peek at the invitations that we sent out.  Each teapot has its own picture drawn by our little miss.  She did the teapot tracing, some cutting, drawing, all the gluing, putting the stamps on the envelopes etc.  Such confidence comes from being able to do things and she was all smiles.
In the era of all things electronic, it was fun to sit down and make these then mail them.

There are a couple more crafty things planned, but I did want to share one of the items I'm making for the tea table.  Homemade napkin rings/ponytail holders.  How many of you reuse napkin rings for anything else than to hold a napkin?  I took out my stash of felted sweaters and some pink hair elastics and voila!  So pretty!  I hope all the girls will like them.

My current knitting project is a pink ruffled sweater.  It's found on Ravelry here.
Another pink/rose variegated yarn that happens to be organic cotton (Tahki Yarns - Palma).  I found it at our local Waldorf school store, The Juniper Treehouse.  I've only made a doll sweater before, but this looks like it will be quite easy as the whole thing is knitted in the round...no seaming. I'm hoping to have it done by the 1st day of school!

Could someone say the collecting of cats is a work-in-progress?  Well, here's our latest addition.
Maybe we will have a constellation of cats one day.  Our big boy cat is Sunny and this little guy is named Mercury.

Hope you are having a great week!

Natural & Practical

woolpillowfront
Originally uploaded by lalitaliving

I love it when something is beautiful, natural and practical. Here are 3 items I wanted to share with you.

I recently photographed a project that I finished in May but started in November. It's a fluffy woolly pillow! The front is hand knitted with a lovely wool roving ribbon yarn called Sasha - color is Snow.

The back is an upcycled felted cashmere sweater. The two panels are held closed by recycled cotton buttons. A down pillow within makes it very soft.
It normally stays on my red couch for hugging and for naps.

Do you live in a two-story home? Do you have the problem of little items from upstairs or downstairs ending up in the wrong place? Yes, I know, all those steps are great exercise but sometimes you need a better way to carry things! Here's my solution: a beautiful basket to keep where needed.

My mother recently returned from Alaska and brought me a beautiful gift. Those who know me have seen my super long hair. Most combs would never do. This handmade comb featuring pyrography (fancy word for writing with fire) has nice wide teeth. Ayurveda recommends wooden combs. Not only does ancient wisdom make sense, but who likes the static electricity made by plastic combs and brushes. My last wooden comb had broken a couple months ago, so this was a welcomed surprise.

What's a natural and practical item you use everyday?  :)

Slow Snail

It's a slow Thursday morning.  I love days like this when there is nothing planned and I can sit down, think and perhaps do something creative.  Then I remembered this little blog of mine and how I wanted to share with you all some of our snail adventures.

While planning our trip to San Francisco at the end of April, I thought about bringing some food for the airplane ride and wanted it to be portable, not messy, and of course, tasty!
I started looking through the Baking Bread with Children book and came across this adorable recipe for making bread shaped snails.  My daughter and I made them the day before we left and they came out wonderfully.  Now she asks that anytime we go on an airplane ride we have to make snail bread. I see the beginning of another family tradition!

If you are looking for a wonderful craft that even a preschooler can feel proud about, why not make a beeswax snail.  My talented friend, Nicole (Frontier Dreams), has a tutorial on how to make them.  It's very simple: all you need is modeling beeswax and a favorite snail shell.

I also recently joined  Slow Food USA .  It's a great organization that is encouraging people to slow down, think about their food choices, and the people who grow it and make it.  It also just so happens that the Slow Food logo is a snail.  Austin's local chapter features one with a cowboy hat.

Want a cute Father's Day story? This one just happens to be about a snail family and a young snail's dilemma about what to give his father. Check out The Best Father's Day Present Ever.
We found the book at our local library.  It gives a great non-commercial message. I think any dad would love to go on a nature walk led by his child.

So here's my little tribute to snails.  These little friends take their time, enjoy the journey and leave a magical silver trail behind.

My Nest at Honeybloom at Home

I'm here in San Francisco meeting some family who flew over from Hawaii for a week vacation.

-from VRBO.com

We are in a beautiful Victorian home.  It has many personal touches and is great place to come back to after walking throughout the city.
http://www.vrbo.com/262220

While I'm away, take a peek at my recent interview with Shannon Honeybloom for her To Nest column.  Find out a little more about me, my family, and home.

If you want to get inspired to have a slow home full of peace and laughter, check out Shannon's book:
Making A Family Home

 

See you back in Austin soon!