jamie ann

My Edie is the cutest and happiest pup ever. And then there’s this one that I shared yesterday on DailyBooth.

I had my beginner knitting class last night at New Wave Coffee.

(New Wave has a Nintendo hooked up and some dude was playing Dr. Mario. It was awesome.)

Today I’m practicing a little with my pretty purple yarn, but I also have a pretty fantastic teal color to play with too. I want to get a good handle on the basics before I jump in to a project, then it will be time to look for some easy patterns.

If you have any pattern suggestions, drop a line!

Things are starting to pick up again for me and I’m pretty grateful for that.  I’m much happier when I’m busy and being more social.

Really digging:

• New projects I’m starting to work on. I really love the brainstorming, planning and strategy that goes into getting it all off the ground.
• Boardwalk Empire. I really like this show, especially now that Mad Men only has three episodes left this season, it’ll be a good replacement. I love the time period it takes place in and it just really brings it when it comes to the aesthetics.
• Knitting. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons when it comes to clothing because I really love the layers and chunky knits. I’d like to be able to make some of my own so I’m going to give it a shot and take a class. I’ve been following Allyson for awhile now and really dig what she does.
• Friends. Obviously.
• Branching out and trying new things, feeling out new crowds and places and meeting new people. Change is good, dudes.
• Coffee shops. The other day I randomly got a white mocha, something I never do because I don’t like coffee. And I liked it, so now I like coffee, but only if it doesn’t taste like coffee. Anyway now that I have more projects, I think I’m going to spend more time out of the house and working in cafes and coffee houses. I think it’s time to find My Spot. You know, the place I go to regularly.  Let’s call this The Great Chicago Coffee Shop Tour.
• The urge to go buy Beauty and the Beast on dvd because I’m seeing stuff about it everywhere. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I watched that movie.
• South America Adventure in winter 2011. It’s totally going to happen.

Yeah, so that’s what’s up.

What are you obsessing over? Anything I should add to my list?

Lately I’ve been feeling very domestic which is funny because I’ve never really been much of a cook. I mean I do cook, but I’ve always stuck to super easy things like simple pastas and stuff. Partly because I was just lazy and partly because I used to be a very picky eater. I’ve definitely been a little more adventurous with my food choices though so there’s that. And kind of out of the blue, I’ve decided I want to cook and bake everything. I’m not really sure what spurred this new thing of mine, but I kind of like it. I think it has delicious potential. OBVS.

I kicked things off with some baking. Check out this terrible iPhone picture of the bad ass banana nut muffins I made last week. They were awesome.

To encourage me, my sister has been sending me her favorite recipes including a super yum mac and cheese one I’m dying to try on my own. I have a tiny food folder in Google Reader now with blogs like this one and that one. I’ve been bookmarking recipes of pretty looking desserts. And starring all the adorable looking ones that friends share, like these tiny single serving pies in jars even though I don’t even like pie, but they are so adorable that maybe one day I’ll make them for someone else.

And then friends share super cute posts about how to impress boys by baking that I missed the first time around because I wasn’t reading the blog back then (thanks Shaba!) and now I’ll be able to impress boys with pancakes and lemon cookies. Also, I want to make pretty much everything this amazing woman makes and I’m dying for her cookbook, so feel free to buy it for me should you feel inspired and would like me to make you a feast. And maybe buy me this apron and mitt too because I’m obsessed with it and would really like to look cute while cooking.

OH! I can now make homemade puppy treats for Edie! I can make them! Puppy treats! For Edie!

This week I’m planning on tackling the mac and cheese and baking something but I have yet to decide what.

One day (after I get some kitchen successes under my belt) I’ll have a super cute dinner party and I’ll probably invite you and it will be delicious and fantastic. And then we’ll be fancy and have dinner parties regularly. Or maybe we will change it up and have a brunch party! With french toast!

And booze!

Because even if my food sucks, the booze will be good and you’ll be too drunk to notice. Except the food won’t suck, it will be delicious, but we will all still be drunk so it will be EVEN BETTER.

So if you have a favorite food blog or recipe, you should comment with it or send it to me (jamieislovelyATgmailDOTcom) and then we’ll all be super amazing cooks. And drunk and everyone will win.

It’s pretty much the best plan ever.