Eugene Friday Night Plans? Meet Your Maker

from Meet Your Maker. Follow them on Twitter here.

from Poppy and Moe at Etsy

I'm super excited to attend my first Meet Your Maker gathering this Friday at the Pizza Research Institute from 5:30 - 9:30pm. One of my fave local Eugene Etsy makers will be there, Poppy and Moe! I've gotten tons of compliments on my flying owl tank, the t-shirt version is pictured above from Poppy and Moe's Etsy site. Wish I could wear it everyday. Ahh, alas. But fortunately they as well as many other talented local folks will be sharing their wares at PRI where we can drink (Ninkasi beer), be merrily munching pizza, and shop from those that make beauty through an interaction between their hands, minds, and a range of materials found around them. This is Eugene, OR DIY functional art at it's best. See you there!

For those of you who don't live in Eugene, do you have a similar affair in your town? What's it called? Send the link so we can check out what other DIY and crafty art types are up to. Cheers.

Themed Parties: LOST

Dharma labeled beer & island themed center piece.

Fabric from JoAnn's Fabric store to reference Dharma logo.

Dharma Fish Biscuits via Chef Robin

More Dharma beer being consumed by rabbits #8 and 15.

Greetings Friends!

For those of you who pay attention to T.V. Land you are well aware that this is the last season of LOST and in fact there are only 4 episodes left. We often hoof it over to other people's houses for the weekly viewing and outstanding potluck fare (food often featured in this My Way Around the Kitchen blog of Mrs. C) because our T.V. room is wee and there's just not enough room for all of "we". So Mr. Monkey and I have traditionally hosted the "wrap" party for the last 3 seasons. Fortunately I have pictures to document last year's season finale. The themed party is a fun diversion for a decorating freak like me. I'm always looking for ways to up-the-styling-anty. Last year, if I do say so myself (hear breathing on nails and brushing on shirt), we went all out with costumes and everything! Above are a few highlights. Below are the low lights - namely us (scary child Charlotte overgrown from eating too many Dharma chocolate bars before dinner and the meant to be scary dude who tried to put an LSD soaked sugar cube in Sayid) - plus a last minute Mr. Cluck's Friend Chicken Bucket. Now why am I posting about this party from last year? Because the party for this year is coming up - only about a month and half away and it's got to be a blow out. We've kept it small the last few years but for the final wrap party we will be inviting all friends who are fans of LOST. Of course we'll have Dharma labeled food and beverages but we're gonna have to go bigger and better. We're sticking with costumes for sure. What suggestions do you all have for decorations? What type of center pieces? Flowers? Signs? Posters? Palm trees? Food? Speciality drinks? Smoke monster? And finally the big question - how can we incorporate the theme of time travel? So many questions for one special party and so little time. Unless there was a parallel world . . .

Photos courtesy of Dr. Brian Warf.

Terrarium Fun

I remember when I was a child in the late 70's terrariums were pretty cool. As a little girl I also remember thinking that there must be little fairies and magical creatures that lived in this insular green and gorgeous environments sitting in people's living rooms warm and cozy and surrounded by beauty. They've been popping up again all over the design world - it's safe to say there's a trend. About a month ago we had our niece and nephews in town for a weekend celebration. I thought a fun crafty project would be to have each of them create their own terrarium in a large glass cookie jar. I bought them each a few small things to go inside their jars and a few petite plants to pick from. It's safe to say it was a success -  the five and 7 year old were entertained for about half an hour putting the jars together and then another hour running around the yard looking for rocks and other miscellany to decorate. Theirs turned out so well I wanted to make a few of my own. I'm far from being an expert but I can see how you can become obsessed with these little guys. Here are a few pictures of my final products. One made it to the new office space . . .

Welcome to the modern side of Eugene!

Hi, all! Welcome to my blog based out of Eugene, Oregon. My goal is to show that even in a small city we have a growing group of creative people focused of great modern design. At the same time I'll be showing how I am decorating my first home along with my husband - who is the real monkey - with our Eugene resources and a limited budget. Basically I'm obsessed with decorating our home and this is an outlet for me to post pictures - before and after - and show off some of the cool design that is going on here in Eugene. I read Dwell, Domino, Ready Made, and Sunset and most of the locales in these magazines are based in the big cities. It's time to show that Eugene is more than its reputation of college-town with hippie highlights left over from the 60's. Much of Eugene is looking to the future with an emphasis on a healthy environment out in nature as well as in the home. Yes - it may be a trendy focus but it's been a constant in Eugene as long as I've been here (since 2001). I'll be doing a bit of traveling this month and I'll be sure to post pictures from my travels.  Cheers!