Amber Dusick

Happy Halloween...circa 1981

Here I am in 1981 during my first ever four minutes of fame by getting my photo in the local paper for the big pumpkin that my aunt and I grew.  (I'm the four year old)

I vividly remember that day, we rolled the pumpkin from the back garden around to the front yard and waited for the photographer from the newspaper to arrive.  When he got there, I was SO nervous and shy, but excited too.  I haven't changed much in that regard.  

This was also the year that I was a devil for Halloween and my costume came with a little plastic pitchfork.  My grandmother told me to poke anyone who doesn't give me candy.  Unfortunately, I took her joking literally.  One woman gave me an apple, so when she turned around to shut the door I poked her in the butt with my pitchfork.  I can still remember the surprised (but trying to be polite) look on her face.  Oops!   

Happy Halloween!  

  

Halloween Candy

I had good intentions of giving out organic candy for Halloween but I assumed I'd be able to find some locally and I'm out of luck and time!  

I did manage to find these healthy-ish gummy worms at Whole Foods - who I really think dropped the ball by not merchandising natural/organic Halloween candies this year.  The DumDums are not fancy, just regular old DumDums, but I love them - they remind me of my childhood.

The colored twig pencils I bought in bulk from eBay seller, Wanda, after learning about them from fellow Etsy seller, Chris - who happens to be doing a blog contest right now, so hop on over!  

Coincidentally, last week I was sent a copy of Celebrate Green and they suggest twig pencils as a Halloween candy alternative.  I've thumbed through the book and there are some good ideas - but honestly, I was bummed that there isn't a single photograph inside.  If I saw this book in a bookstore I wouldn't buy it because of this, I'm a sucker for photographs.       

My little cookie

Phew, I finished it in the nick of time.  Okay, not really, it is Wednesday and Halloween isn't until Friday.  Anyway, every time we asked my son what he wanted to be for Halloween he'd say, "Cookies!!!"  Upon further pressing, "What kind of cookies?"  He'd elaborate with both, "Big Cookies!" and also "Chip Cookies!" so "big, chip cookies" it is. 

 

Yes I know the above picture sucks.  He just wouldn't stay still, he was running to the mirror to look at himself in it.  This was just a test, when it is showtime on Friday, he'll wear dark brown pants and shirt for the full chocolate effect.  The full tutorial and instructions are over here with more photos too.

 

The coolest part is that the costume is in two parts that transform into cookie seats for his art table chairs in his room.  I think I deserve an award for that one.  (unless of course Martha Stewart or some other blogger did this last year, which is usually the case...and here I thought I was all original, lol)  

Recycled Baby Food Jar Crafts - Halloween Decor

I made these recycled baby food jar pumpkins last night, to deck out our front porch each year! 

 You'll need empty baby food jars with lids, lcd lights and glass paint (I use Pebeo) in orange and black.  

You just paint it on and then pop in your oven (follow the directions on the paint for temp/time, all glass paint is different) and then add your lcd light.  I got those little lcd lights at Michael's.  

I love glass paint.  Have you used it?  You paint it on and then bake it in your oven, which makes it dishwasher and even food safe.  It looks beautiful, like blown art glass.  I'll be making more of these for the winter holidays for our table in other colors.  Above was taken inside, wouldn't these be beautiful in reds and greens or blues and whites for the winter holidays?  

This weekend I finally finished my son's costume (a chocolate chip cookie) which I'll share soon.  Pumpkin carving is next...can't wait!  

 

Birthday Self Portrait...and Shoes!

It is my birthday today!  I had a great lunch at Mani's bakery down the street with my mother-in-law and my son and we have a fancy dinner planned - sans baby, just husband and I.  All I asked for my birthday is crab & shoes.  The crab will happen at Crustacean - they have this amazing garlic crab - yum.

Getting shoes for my birthday has become a tradition and these t-straps by Sofft fit the bill this year.  They are a "comfort shoe brand" and while they do have a fair share of old lady shoes, lucky for me I like their vintage styled old lady pumps!  Finding heels that are cute, affordable and seriously, honestly comfortable is such a rare thing for me.  

    

I never do fashion type posts because I'm just not very cute most of the time.  I aspire to be.  I used to be, but I'm pretty boring these days.  Thanks to our lovely hot climate here I have a year round uniform of tank top + skirt + barefeet.  This isn't too far off from that!  The shirt is clearance Anthropologie (they have racks and racks of summer clearance right now at the Grove for you local people) and the skirt is vintage (obviously, there is no mistaking those cheesy '70s mushrooms!) from DustyDog a new vintage Etsy shop that offers free shipping on US orders.  

Since it is my birthday I feel like I should say something wise and poignant, but honestly, I really am not feeling deep today.  I just want to have some fun in my new shoes.  

       

Our New Autumn Nature Table

I fell in love with the work of Etsy seller, MargaretJeff, and thought a table from them would make an ideal "nature table" for our hallway.  Not to big, not too small, perfect height and the table alone is a beautiful work of nature.  After a few conversations with Margaret, I finally picked the Ambrosia Maple table and it arrived this week!

   

So what is a nature table?  Well for us, it simply means a designated place to bring the outside, inside.  A reflection of the changing seasons.  This is something that is important to me to convey to my child since we live in the city and his nature time is confined to walks or going to parks.  (Unlike my own childhood in the rural midwest where I rarely was found indoors during the daylight hours)

 

So today we set up the table in our hallway and then set out on a long walk.  He carried the bag that I shared in this post and picked up leaves and acorns and magnolia tree cones and some other seed pods from the neighborhood.

Then he proudly came home and arranged his goodies on our "Natuew Table" as he calls it.

He arranged this display and I'm restraining myself from messing with it.  I want him to have ownership of it and not be afraid to play with it.  Luckily (for the artist in me) my son is very organized and likes to arrange and sort things, so I trust that he'll keep it looking pretty.  

We had a table like this when I was in 2nd grade (in a public elementary school) and I still remember discovering all the treasures that would appear there as the seasons changed.  Our teacher would bring new things in and we'd talk about what they were and where they came from.  Things like turtle shells, seed pods, cocoons, rocks and shells.  I love this type of learning/teaching and am so glad I'm able to incorporate it at home.

  

Getting Cozy for Fall

It is starting to get cold!  Well, as cold as it gets in Los Angeles anyway, which is just cold enough to get out some hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows and have our very first fire.  Small wood scraps from my toys and figures makes excellent kindling.

 

Thanks for all your comments about the new Children of Nature designs.  They are all loaded in the shop, everything I have on hand is there.  

I realized how fun it might be to design some custom Children of Nature figures, inspired by things from your neck of the woods.  So if you have a local plant, bug, etc in mind that inspires magic in you and would like your own custom figure created for you or your kids, please contact me through the shop!  

When I was a child I believed that acorns were elf hats.

Didn't you?  

This "magic of childhood" is something I often discuss with my husband and the question of "How do we make sure our own son's childhood is magical without lying?"  My husband has a scientific background and he is more apt to go into a lengthy explanation of blue light waves being smaller than other colors when traveling through the atmosphere when asked, "Papa, why is the sky blue?"  I on the other hand (having no idea why the sky is indeed blue) will say, why do you think it is blue?  And then suggest we find a book that explains it so we can learn.  The magical answer to this blue sky question would be something along the lines of "because fairies paint it blue every day" but I just can't do it.  I don't believe in lying to my children, even "cute" lies like this, it isn't respectful.  I believe that he'll come up with some fairy/elf/magical stories on his own without me feeding it to him.

    

It is in this vein that I have started a whole new series that I'm obsessed with...the Children of Nature series.  These childlike nature folk can be whatever the child dreams up.  No story behind them, just open-ended toys that can let some magic in...if the child decides to.  They started from my own childhood belief that there were magical tiny creatures hiding in nature, like the elves with their discarded acorn hats.  While my own mother never said, "These are elf hats" she did say, "Don't these look like elf hats?" and that is the brilliant fine line between allowing the magic in without forcing it or lying.  

How was your childhood magical?  Are you still letting it in?   

 

Decked out in Etsy gear, on the way to the market!

I snapped this picture today on the way out the door to go to the market.  I send weekly photos to my mother so I pretty much always have a camera on hand.  After doing so, I realized that both his trick or treat/market bag (it is reversible so he'll use it not only on Halloween but as his own little market bag) and his monster shirt were recent Etsy purchases.  Yay for handmade!  

 

(so was the shirt I was wearing, and the purse I was carrying for that matter, ha ha...)  

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

This is really IS a great recipe! Easy too.

I always bookmark and have every intention of using recipes that other bloggers recommend.  I never get around to it.  Until now!  This Broccoli/corn soup recipe posted by my happy little life here sounded just too easy and I happened to have everything on hand already.  

While Kelly suggested leaving out the bacon and using veg stock, I on the other hand, make my soup even more decadent by adding additional bacon (you really need twice the amount called for to have enough to sprinkle on each bowl served) and substituting the 1 cup whole milk with 2 cups heavy cream.  Easy peasy and wow, it is a great fall soup!

PS - that rooster print peeking out?  They are vintage linens I found in a tiny town's thrift store in rural Wisconsin when I visited in July.  They are my fall table linens (placemats and napkins were part of the set) and I adore them!