Bonjour, Mes Amis!

Check out the cool new apron in my shop! I call this creation

"Bonjour Poulet." Bon Appetit, chickadees!

I scored the French Market fabric at a tag sale, used scraps of the lovely African fabric Matt got for me in his travels (thanks!), and some leftover blue star fabric for the ruffle. My first go at gathering - not too shabby!

I came across this neat trick on how to gather using dental floss! Stronger and thicker than regular thread, this made the job much easier on my second excursion into Ruffletown - more on that later!

Crafty Cyclers

I do hope I can come up with some inspired cycling costumes like these ladies.

How did you get here? Oh, I biked.

My latest lifelong dream come true! I got a new beautiful bike and I love it so so much. As you can see it is a super hip Raleigh English bicycle from the 1980s and it rides like a dream - I took it out for my first real spin this morning with Brian and it was delightful! I almost hit a bird but escaped in time to avoid disaster.
My mom found it for me and I brought it home last weekend, managing to fit it in the Civic (thanks Brian!). It was an birthday present a few months early but now I can ride it all fall instead of having to wait until the winter is over, like I would have to if I'd gotten it in December.

Also Dorian gave away the surprise within one minute of seeing me, "Emmie you got a bike!" So the jig would have been up on that anyway.

I am still a little scared of driving on busy streets with cars - back in the day when I had a bike gang in Connecticut the traffic wasn't really a huge issue - but I'm learning. Cruising through Prospect Park was a perfect start. I have a helmet, now I just need a little basket and maybe a bell. I will be just like Angela Lansbury in the opening credits of Murder, She Wrote! SO HIP!

My goal this season is to ride over the Brooklyn Bridge to Julie's house -let's hope I can do it before the snow starts! Thanks Brian for taking such fabulous pictures AND for riding with me today! Hopefully the first of many biking adventures!!

A bang up job.

Oh man my hair has been driving me nuts! My bangs are way too long so I either have to put them up in an insane bobby pin and bumpits concoction (as in the fancy picture at a lovely wedding last weekend):

or I try and brush it to the side and it just ends up in my eyes, as in the picture with the cute young gentleman below (not to be confused with the other cute slightly older gentleman above).

Finally I decided I had had enough and did something I've never done before: cut my own bangs! Now, my mom used to trim my bangs when I was young (I've gone with the bangs and medium length hairdo for most of my life), but I've always been too scared to do it on my own. As such, I'm always left in limbo for a month or so before I want to get a haircut but after my bangs are too long. I've heard that you can get a free bangs trim from your hairdresser, but that seems like a hassle, and I'm a little bit scared of hairdressers too. Irrationally so, but they wield so much power over you head! Literally!

I don't want to go to some random cheepo place because I know it would be crooked, and I'm very particular about my fringe. (They call bangs fringe in the UK! So continental.)

I came across this post about how to save money doing little things you might pay someone to do, that you can do yourself, and it included trimming your own bangs! Ta da! I used my sewing shears instead of getting a pair of haircutting ones, which would make sense over the long haul but seemed like an unnecessary expense when I had a perfectly good pair of sharp scissors at my disposal. At least I wasn't using something like this: !

Anyway, the key is to do it with dry hair so as not to be surprised with micro bangs, my worst enemy.

I started by holding the comb parallel to the floor around my eyebrows and cutting vertically, and then tried the twisting small chunks method but both were annoying so I just free styled it. I would say they came out OK - not perfect, but honestly, I am never 100% happy with any haircut until a week or so afterwords. I need time for it to grow in a smidge and get used to the missing chunk when I shampoo.

They aren't totally even but since I don't wear them flat on my head you can't really notice. (Or so I tell myself). This will definitely last me until my next appointment in a few weeks- I can't wait for my day of beauty with Julie in October! I guess we shall see what the stylist thinks of my DIY 'do when I get there.

So what do you think?

Neverending Overdose

Oh man - a championship dinner at Olive Garden last night. Its neverending pasta bowl season, kids! This is my second battle of the year, and it was a triumphant one. Not sure I have another one in me before time runs out, but man I love Olive Garden! Its amazing how polarizing this restaurant is - people LOVE LOVE LOVE it (me) or would rather eat glass marinara than enter its doors. But come on, its fun, cheap (especially now!), and its pretty hard to mess up Italian food, even if its mass produced. Some fun tidbits: Did you know you can get different flavor salad dressing on your unlimited salad? (Soup is for suckers! Or people who don't like vegetables) Its true, just ask! And if you go for your bday (as I have done) they give you a whole chocolate cake!

What do you guys think - is OG a no go, or a yes please? Leave a comment!

Ha tricked you! Here is my favorite DC activity! Made you wait a bit, didn't I? Or, not, if you're reading this all at one time. Either way - The Flea Market at Eastern Market was so awesome! They have tons of food, crafts, antiques, art, junk - everything under the sun, plus a farmer's market and the newly renovated Eastern Market which has meats and cheese and produce and all sorts of good stuff. I got some really cute kitchen implements from the 60s, I think? A sifter and some baking molds - and most of the items in all of the booths were very reasonable. (I love Brooklyn Flea but some of that stuff is just ridiculously expensive!!)

Plus, its in a beautiful part of DC with lovely old homes that is just mesmerizing, especially in the summer with all of the greenery! This would be my #1 recommendation for anyone going to DC - which it was, for a friend of mine to me! Magical!

It was just a lovely way to spend a summer day, strolling around. Highly recommended. Did I tell you go enough? GO!

It was a long drive back, with Sunday traffic but overall a fantastic weekend. And made even more so because of my delightful traveling companion :) I like little road trips, and checking out America! Will have to do more. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Ta da!

So much better! Human sized, even. Thanks for the order, D!