Ssekos in the summer…

You may have seen me wear my pair of Ssekos here and there, I’ve had them for a couple of years now and get plenty of compliments for them and just figure I’d advocate for their cause (I’m wearing them in the photo above (last summer, thanks to Meg Walsh!).  Daniel got me my pair two years ago. I like beautiful leather soles and unique straps. He was introduced to them by Justin and Audrey and if you live in the OKC/Norman area you can snag a pair at SHOP GOOD–they come in a variety of straps!

So what is there to advocate for? Well, Sseko Shoes (Say-ko) is a not-for-profit organization that helps young women in Uganda continue onto university. These women will not make sandals forever, they will go on to become great leaders. Among the many reasons that drew me to this organization is the fact that they seek to equip these women not only with tuition for further education but skills. Education and tuition for many of these women are difficult to come by in Uganda due to the socioeconomic inequalities that exist.  To read more about their story and those of the women who’ve gone through their program, click here.

Other perks: there are many many ways to wear Sseko shoes! Click here for the various methods to wear them (photos courtesy of the Sseko shoes website and Caribbean travels blog).

And, they’re even ideal for weddings, too!
There you have it, simplicity at its finest and giving back and its greatest!

Dreary day terrariums (DIY)

Remember when I wrote about terrariums the last time? Well, I finally got a chance to make some in April! The irony is, I made a few right before the tornado came rolling through Norman and literally scrambled to clean up right as the eerie sirens went off.
My “tornado-terrariums”: little fairy homes made of collected acorns and twigs.

Terrariums always felt a little delicate so prior to my terrarium ventures, I tried out growing wheat grass and keeping my two air-plants alive:
Seeing that my wheat grass and air-plants succeeded, I dragged a few other girls along the weekend before and had a mini-terrarium party! It was the perfect activity for a dreary Saturday afternoon:

Here are the results from that party:

Terrarium follow-up:
The advantage of blogging waaay after the fact? I can tell you that 3 out of the 5 terrariums are still alive and well. I think that I over watered one of them and “squished” the roots of the other during the “potting” process. Aside from that, I hear from my friends that narrower containers made it difficult to take out fallen leaves that lead to decay and mold.

I noticed that my open, dry, and desert-terrariums did the best, so that’s where I’d start.

left: a “fantasy terrarium”, used some old book pages and maps to make the little house and tossed a skeleton key in there, can you see it?  There’s also a little toadstool hiding in there, too!
right: my “dry” terrarium from the terrarium party

My “fantasy” terrarium is made of sheet moss, reindeer moss, twigs, on a slab of wood.

–this one is perhaps my favorite, plus I used a paper napkin to make the toadstool!

I’m looking forward to being able to make these little worlds with Emmy, someday! She does love peering in them and pointing at the little trinkets I throw in : )

if Emmy could articulate her thoughts…

I’m confident she would tell the entire world about her amazing Dad!
She would talk about how her dad juggles his roles so well–working full-time, starting the coffee business, and the many ways he is intentional within the home (quality time, cooking, cleaning, providing…) she’d also tell him how much she loves him! And……how much she loves it when he tosses her in the air.
…how much she loves swinging with him.…how she loves to snuggle with him (especially, in the mornings! She’s 9 months above).…how she loves lunch dates with him at yummy spots like, Forward Foods.…how she’s just tickled to build forts and play with him.

…how she loves it when he reads to her (Yep, that was her last June at 5 months!).

…how she loves adventuring with him in the everyday, from exploring new places (and spaces!) to roasting coffee beans.

It’s kinda crazy how quickly sweet Emmanuelle is growing! The pic below was from our Father’s Day project last year (with help from Meg Walsh :)
Our Father’s day project this year wasn’t nearly as elaborate as last year, but hopefully still just as meaningful!

…getting a toddler to make little heart shaped thumb prints was a bit of a challenge, but fun!

One thing’s for sure, she loves her Dad more and more each day!

left: Father’s day 2011 right: Father’s day 2012—Hooray for a fantastic Dad!!!

the Big Apple & Windy City whirlwind

Last month, we left Emmy for the first time with the grandparents as we helped our friends move to NYC.  It was a little hard, but it was fun to have a little time to ourselves (plus, the gracious grandparents have eagerly been awaiting the opportunity to watch her!). Emmy was wonderful and loved getting to spend time with her Nai Nai and YeYe. This is a little belated, but here’s the condensed roundup from last month’s whirlwind:

1) Daniel ran a half marathon the morning after we got back from Tulsa (5:30am!). He did amazing!!! His knees had been troubling him and since our trip to Redding, he was believing for complete healing of his knees–so, he ran the whole 13.1!!!

It was a dreary morning, but joined in for the last several miles and loved the experience, so we’re actually going to do the color run next month and a half together in December!

2. Monday morning at 6am, we wake and help our sweet friends, move up to NYC!

3. We loved the trip because we got to spend lots of quality time with our friends:

We drove through Kansas City, St.Louis, Cincinnati and a smattering of many towns and when we weren’t driving, we played with the dSLR.

4. We arrived in on Wednesday and got to spend the evening exploring Astoria. Driving through Manhattan wasn’t too terrible, thanks to Daniel!

Oh, the places we’ve been! I hope to have a follow-up post for more photos, but here are a random selection of some memorable moments we snapped:

Found these lovely birdhouses on the Highline–loved it, it definitely felt like a local’s nook/getaway, people on lunch breaks enjoying the birds and the gardens….

Times square, waiting for rush tickets in the wee hours of the morning, saw this guy across the street, he was the only one in line for the Gershwin rush tickets…we were the 50th in our line (Once musical–AMAZING! if you loved the movie, you’ll love the musical!!!), anyway, I don’t know that guy but I was a little bored waiting in line and just took random photos

Moomah Cafe!!! amazingly sweet creative space–loved it. We were in tri-becca just to visit this cafe but wished we could have stayed for the film festival…so close, maybe next time!

We LOVE pedestrian friendly cities and thus loved being able to walk from one borough to the next and meed up with friends at Madison Sq for a “foodie” feast!

Chelsea market, the Highline, loved seeing street art, hoped to bump into a Banksy but didn’t (till Chicago!)

Here’s a smattering of spots we visited and things we saw, did, and ate! We also visit MoMa and the Met to see the Stein collection (amazing.). What did we enjoyed most? … the small things like standing in line for community rush tickets (and chatting with locals), Chamberlain exhibit at the Gugg, Dumbo district, the Brooklyn flea..etc gave us a taste of the local flavor!

We stayed till Sunday afternoon and headed home. But then…a thunder storm hit Chicago and delayed our flight till the next morning so we luckily got to spend time with the O’Donoghues! They were so gracious to let us stay and even drive us to the airport, funny thing, is, we just went back to Chicago last weekend for Coffee Fest (details to come!).

Of course the get away was nice, but it made the return home so much more sweet, when we got to see these two!

on pins and needles

photo cred: Esther Kao

During the recent cupcake obsession, I figured out how to make cupcakes using felt. Further, I discovered a use for them:
Pincushions. See?

photo cred: Esther Kao

I’ve been making them as gifts and keep forgetting to post the DIY info, so here goes!
Gather: Two sheets of Felt (one color for the “cake” and the other for the “frosting”), Glue Gun, Scissors, Iron

1. Take a standard size piece of felt: Cut in half, and fold each half, then iron. The example pictured above is a “mini” size. Take the folded pieces of felt and roll up. Using your fingers push up from the bottom side to give a “risen” cake/muffin appearance and trim excess felt in order that your

2. Using a glue gun attach a smidgen of glue onto the end of your “frosting” felt.

3. Twist your “frosting” felt like so.

4. As you twist put small dabs of hot glue onto your “cake” surface and immediately attach your “frosting” felt.

5. Just keep going, when you get to the top, tuck the “frosting” felt strand under the rest.

The one I made was a miniature one for Samara but I’ve made many to give away as pin cushions–the variations are endless.