Happy Homemaking

Here are some things I'm loving today:

This apron, a late Christmas present (Pete and I agreed to set aside a little mad money for me to use on Etsy as my gift)to myself, purchased from Boojiboo on Etsy. I. Love. This. Apron. It's easier to wash dishes wearing an apron this beautiful. It really is. I put it on in the morning and it keeps me going all day.
Also from Etsy, from Maine Woods Yarn this time, a beautiful drop spindle kit. It came with both top and bottom whorl spindles, beautiful hand dyed roving and some undyed merino roving to practice on. You can see the undyed roving, my first attempt at spinning, on the bottom whorl spindle below. Sorry about the picture quality. I am very excited about this!!! Although, it is a bit harder than I expected. Thank God for You Tube tutorials.

For my birthday, my grandmother had given me a gift card to Macy's. Unfortunately, my two year old doesn't seem to appreciate all the beautiful things at Macy's, making shopping with her quite difficult (she knows that there is a pet store at the mall, and she wants to see those puppies, like, now). So, when Pete finished the semester in December, I still had the gift card in my wallet, and off to Macy's I went-- toddler free.
I got this beautiful Martha Stewart 7-qt enameled cast iron dutch oven.
In which, pictured, are the beginnings of a very yummy tomato sauce (thank you Jamie Oliver),
which became this very yummy pasta al forno con pomodori that Pete and I enjoyed (and Aurora refused to touch) for dinner last night.

I also used the gift card to get a yogurt maker, which experimenting with has proven to be much fun. Here you see the fruits of my first attempt-- Lemon Curd and Blackberry. Both were very yummy, though I prefer the lemon.

You can also see, that I need a better camera. Or to improve my photography skills. Or both :)