homemade, creativity, originality, and coffee

The above picture is from a book that has been my constant reading companion for several days now, Home Is Where the Heart Is by Ilse Crawford.  This book is lovely, much along the lines of one of my other favorite "lifestyle" books (is that an accurate description?).  (Ilse Crawford also has a website with more lovely images.)

This book is covered in a satiny red, and the cover image feels like an actual photo pasted down, it all feels like a scrapbook.  There are inspiring quotes and thoughts sprinkled throughout it. This excerpt, speaking specifically about the need for handmade things in our lives, is my very favorite-

"We need handmade to balance the mind-numbingly similar machine-made things around us, things that can only express the efficiency and speed with which they were produced.  Craft makes our homes more human.  We sense the time, care, and skill that went into the making.  Resembling life, in its slow accumulation of experience, a crafted piece is an expression of the daily moods of the maker during its creation.  It speaks of the concentration and love with which the object was made.  It can be sensuous, intricate, full of sentiment- and imperfect.  It carries the imprint of the hands that made it."

Do you love that?  I thought you'd love that.  I love that.  I've been thinking alot about blogs and our little handmade corner of the world a lot lately.  There's been buzz about originality lately.  Leisl recently posted some well written thoughts about the seeds of ideas, starting at one stop, then growing and changing as the thread of that seed spreads throughout blogs.  She said what has been on my mind for the past week, I just couldn't put it into words.  Maitreya also posted over at Whip Up about the recent trend of those lovely woolly leaves that started at Pink Trees and how the idea quickly spread throughout blogs.  Isn't that what our world of blogs is all about, inspiring each other and sharing creative ideas?  I could ramble on, but will leave it at that for now.

Thank you guys for all the positivity about the interview yesterday.  I was pleasantly surprised to be posted right after Ash, a Seattle gal I'm practically neighbors with in real life.

We are still snowed in!  I can't believe it, but its true.  School is cancelled yet again, the dough from yesterday is gone, has either been consumed raw or cooked (I recommend it both ways).  I am thinking of taking my kids for a walk up the street to the corner coffee shop, I need an eggnog latte.  See, the great thing about living in the Seattle suburbs is that you still get the corner coffee shop, and they roast their own beans right there in front of you.  Thank you little coffee shop, for being just up the street, the one with the butterhorns that my kids love, for eggnog mixed with good coffee.  And thank you to the sleep gods for shining upon me yesterday, Emma fell asleep for an hour and a half!  Do you know how nice silence feels??  I don't know about yours, but my kids talk....a...lot...