I went to school for architecture and although I am not an architect now there are certain things I loved doing as an architectural student that I kind of miss now. This post at Materialicious made me remember how much I used to love building models. When you start along the path to becoming an architect, the quickest way to get your ideas out of your brain so that other people can see them, believe it or not, is building models. First quick ones, along the lines of these made out of business cards, then on to more complicated models as the project evolved. Eventually you move onto drawing your ideas on paper and then on the computer. It is not nearly as satisfying as holding a tiny little representation of your idea in the palm of your hand.

I haven’t posted much about the property lately. Not a lot has gone on so I guess I haven’t been thinking about it. Today I saw these wondering concrete sculptures by Magdelena Abakanowicz and it got me thinking again. With 18 acres of space to work with we have a lot of opportunity for large sculptures. I love that they are so massive. It makes me think of Stonehenge. Maybe these can take the place of the fence we wanted to put in for privacy from the pesky B&B next door. via

I know that some of you out there can read what this says. The rest of you can probably guess. Even though I can’t read binary, it is pretty neat. via link Does that make me a geek? In case you want to convert other messages to or from binary.

My life is generally in a state of organized chaos. In the past few months I have been getting further and further from organized into a more total chaos. It is a slippery slope. Well I am whipping things back into shape. I am getting more organized, cleaning up and clearing out. I find that when I feel bogged down by my stuff, I am not as creative and I feel overwhelmed. Already I have conquered a few tasks which have been nagging at me and I am feeling better already. I finished a scarf the other day that I started two years ago. I unraveled a sweater from which I have been meaning to reclaim the yarn for at least a year. I am looking at what I have with a more discriminating eye. Am I really going to get to that needlepoint project that I bought 5 years ago? I know that paper is really cool, but am I going to get around to using it? Sorry M, I think I need all my yarn. You never know! Now that a few of those things are done that I have been putting off, I can start new projects… with materials I already have, of course, because craft diet is still in full swing.

When searching for a recipe online in order to catch my attention it should have two things. First it should have the ingredients I have on hand or that I think I would like to use for another recipe. There is nothing that turns me off more than to have to by obscure ingredients that are either going to take up room in my cabinets or go bad because I can’t possible use it all. Second to really make me interested, it should have a nice picture. To be honest, a wonderful picture can make me want to make a dish with even the most obscure of ingredients. I have been checking in lately at a site called TasteSpotting. I love this site. It grabs my attention first with a yummy looking picture and when you click viola! You have the recipe. The one catch is the recipes aren’t always in English. Thank goodness Google can translate web pages.

In the past few months I have made a major change to the way I eat. I just decided one day that what I was doing wasn’t working and I needed to make a change. I adjusted what I was doing and lost some weight in the process and that has been fantastic. Even on vacation I was able to not gain any weight. It has been pretty easy… until now. Christmas time is another story. Vendors and consultants are sending cookies and candy and popcorn and chocolate and I am only human! I can only pass up on the peanut butter cookies so many times before I eat one (or two)! I am weak, I know. I can’t wait for the new year when I can get back on track.

I have been thinking a lot about changing the look of my blog. I like the color scheme, which is why it has survived this long, but I need a change. You will probably see it go through a few different iterations before I settle on one I like. Never fear though, the ramblings will remain the same.

In this time of giving, wouldn’t it be nice to have a little cheat sheet on everyone on your list so that when you see that perfect something you know what size and color without having to guess? Well here you go! via Swissmiss. Cookie over at Made in England by Gentlemen has put a vital stats sheet together. There is one for boys and girls. I love the design and after peeking around the rest of the blog I added her to my links list.

I don’t like being uncomfortable when it comes to my clothes. I have been known to go out at lunch and get a new outfit, which I will then put on because what I was wearing wasn’t cutting it. I found myself in a similar situation today. On my way to work my pants were literally falling off. I mean if I hadn’t had a hand on them, they would have slipped right off. Why would I walk out of the house with pants that large? You will have to believe that they weren’t that large when I left and in general I wouldn’t say they look gigantic. I usually wear a belt with these pants, but I didn’t for some reason today. So on my way to work I had to quickly pop in and get a belt. Is it really my fault that they had cashmere sweaters on sale for almost nothing? I say no, I am not to blame. It will be my fault when I have to go back this evening and get another one though. I am willing to accept that I am not perfect.