A long time wish has come true! For my birthday my dad and mom got me a typewriter! Oh yes, and this was the big 18, which is (in America) the step into "adulthood" (kind of, you don't really get to do anything exciting though, can just vote and get drafted into the army). Anyway, about my typewriter, it's an old one. Solid metal, with a fabric ribbon which still has ink in it, none of the keys stick (shockingly), and the only problems it has is that the ribbon doesn't move on it's own and the caps lock doesn't work. Both of those are fine with me though, I just love that I can type little notes and letters on it!

Not to mention how nice it is to see it sitting on my desk when ever I'm in my room. There will be more on what I've aquired lately later, I just thought this deserved a post of it's own, and you all deserved a post sooner as well. I just can't get over how wonderful you all are.
The end of summer is going wonderfully, I've been getting out alot, and making sure I enjoy every minute of it. Life is good.

Love, Clara

aquired treasures

Well, it's taken me much longer to post this than I thought it would. But at least I'm here. So, first up is my garage sale loot. Every year there's this huge sale in support of one of my church's missionaries and I always find something old and awesome! And this year was no exception.

An apron, is it not beautiful? It makes me want to find some rustic kitchen and bake tarts.

Or little cakes, these little pans are so adorable, my favorite thing about them is how they're unusual animals. A bunny, a squirrel, a duck, and a horse.Okay, I've got to stop saying I love everything I got. BUT I do love this lamp, it needs a short little candle put in it and then I'm ready for any loss of electricity or opportunity to time travel.

Yarn and thread, a knitter can always stand to find more of those.

Now this is exciting, Better Homes and Gardens from 1930 and 1945! The oldest magazines I own now by far. Before it was my 1948 McCalls which I also found at the same garage sale two years ago.

A book of sweet children's stories, from the 80's, but it has cute illustrations and most of the tales I would have picked out myself for a collection.

I've always wanted to get into pottery, not really for art, but to make useful things. I got this though, because it has really good information on clay and all those things that are good to know and have reference to. Hopefully I'll get to use this soon.

Now I NEVER thought I'd willingly buy a chemistry book, for while I enjoyed it more than physics, that isn't saying much at all. The only science that I had fun learning was earth science and botany, everything else was a nightmare. I also hate math, apparently I'm good at it, but the hate of it takes away any satisfaction I might get from that. ANYWAY, all of that is to say that I did buy a chemistry book, but it was merely for the date in the front which is 1897. So yes, I definatly bought it once I saw that. oh goodness, I do make myself laugh.

These really tiny, really pretty vases. They're just perfect for little wild flowers or our lily of the valley.

This was quite the exciting find for me, it's a fisherman's basket! I'm hoping to attach it to my bike some how, just can't wait to bike all over Alaska with it.

Now every Memorial Day Value Village has a 50% off sale, so here's what I got this year: two vintage patterns, this cute brown skirt...

This lovely coat (yes I bought a wool coat at the beginning of summer, yes that's weird, but it was only $5! plus I loved it! how could I say no!?) (actually your all wonderful and would never question give me a hard time about such a per chase), and this great gypsy vest. Also (that I forgot to take pictures of) a fair isle vest, some legwarmers(Clara seems to have forgotten the season again), knee socks, and a lacy pink slip.

Now remember, there was also graduation in all of this, so yeah, I've been getting a lot of stuff lately. My dear friend Kristen got me this tea cup in DC, isn't it beautiful? And one of my favorite teas, Jasmine. If you haven't tried it, please do, it tastes like a fairy drink, especially sweetened with honey. Also not pictured: a gingham apron (that was my great, great, grandma's!), some old money, and a charm bracelet that my grandma got on her graduation.

I've been very busy doing many of the things I mentioned on my last post, I just haven't had time to write about it! But there will be one about it soon, tomorrow morning we're leaving to go clamming. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

love to you all, Clara

update on things in my little corner of the world

Oh boy, am I happy right now! Things are wrapping up and getting wonderful here and since I just finished my government course I'm letting myself post. Here's a fair warning, when I'm happy I tend to be wordy and use a lot of exclamation points (I've already deleted four! whoops). I first want to thank you all for your lovely comments and support, you've all been amazing and I appreciate you so much. I am planning to post a whole lot more real soon, this has just been a wild in-between/figure-everything-out-at-least-as-much-as-I-can kind of section of my life, so we'll just have to see where everything goes. ANYWAY, what's some things I've done. I've been baking a little, but mostly playing with what I bake, as you an see from my little elephant parade here.

I've been drinking lots of tea and have the pleasure of watching all the snow melt. That's right, our yard is now completely snow free! I am more ready than I think I've ever been in my life for summer.

No, I did not do this, and no, it is not my truck. It's my friend's and I thought it was funny and fun, and in it's own strange way, kind of pretty. If anything you can see what my little town is looking like right now in the back ground, beautiful skies and soon to be budding trees.

Now for the thrifted things. I wish I had a better picture of this, it's a wonderful leather backpack that I got for a $1.50! It's just what I've been needing and it will be perfect for bike rides this summer.

A nice peach sweater, that's very soft and sweet, I especially love the collar.

And what I got just last Monday, a pattern for little girls coat, some very tall socks, and a nightgown. The coat the pattern is for is so adorable, I'm pretty sure it's early sixties, which I love for little girl clothes, knee socks and short pleated skirts everywhere! When I say these socks are tall I mean tall, as in they go above my thighs, I do have short legs, but I didn't know that they even made socks like these! I'm just hoping I can find more. Now the nightgown, I hope no one thinks is gross that I'd thrift one. Yes, I am planning to sleep in it, but only after it's been well washed. You see, I've been looking for something like this for a long time, it's long and soft, worn, flannel. It's perfect for pretending I'm Elizabeth Bennett or just about any other storybook character.

This summer I plan on learning more about wild plants that grow here in Alaska, their food and medicinal abilities. I know a bit already, but my goal is to eventually know just about everything I can. I'm especially interested in healing properties, have you noticed too that in many of the best books the main girl knows herb lore? How amazing would it be to be able to save some one's life (or at least sooth a stomach ache) without any medicine or help! So yes, that's a summer goal, you will hopefully be hearing a lot about. Here's a little sneak peak on the one and only project I've managed to finish in all this time (but I haven't started any new ones, I've been good, I promise!). I'm going to dedicate an entire post to it though, because it's so amazing. Not really, I mean, yes I'm proud of it, but the main reason for waiting is so that I can show you more pictures of it than I could if it was mentioned now. Also, if I'm to post more I probably shouldn't talk about eveything at once.

And so I'll leave you with this lovely rainbow we saw last week, and I must say, I've never seen one that wide. Ah, the marvels of nature.

with fresh air and leaf buds,

Clara

best things of 2009 part 1

Happy New Year everyone! Well, It's taken me a while but I should be back for good now. This new year is very exciting for me because so many good things are going to happen, but I still want to look back and be thankful for all of the positive highlights of the last year. So here they are!

Good Thing #1 finding Vintage and Antique things at low prices, the little clock and this embroidered picture, thing, are my most recent purchases.

Good Thing #2: decorating my room! Here's my tree, (there will be more on it soon) and I love it so much. I feel so blessed to have gotten to do so much to my room this year, it feels amazing to finally get to make it look how I want it too. (this picture is from this summer when there was actually LIGHT, all my photos look so grainy this time of year)Good Thing #3: My art class. I learned so much, had a fun teacher, and got an A! These are all little drawings from my sketchbook, twice we went to the museum and spent two and a half hours drawing animals, I think that was one of my favorite things we did. Above is a seal.

Left: Emperor Goose, Right: Muskox

Left: Grizzly Bear, Right: Auklet

another little drawing.

Good Thing #4: Altering and fixing up clothes. The dress is what I changed this time, all I did was shorten it, but that's all it needed to become my new favorite dress!

Good Thing #5: One of my goals I made at the beginning of last year was to get better at Photography. Anyway, I think I did. I'm sure the main reason for this was my wonderful camera, but I can still see a difference.

Good Thing #6: Getting to discover some wonderful small lives right in town was amazing this summer, and I realize now that I never shared these with you! These baby birds grew up in our own yard.

This little guy I found while reading outside of the library, I was just doing my own little thing when I heard a noise in a bush near by and saw a bit of movement. So I went over to investigate and it was several mice! I just am still in a state of wonderment over the fact that I actually took this picture.

Good Thing #7: Dance has been full of ups and downs this year, but it's still been one of the best things that's happened to me. This is also a full view of the mazurka costume if you're wondering. Oh, the hours we put into all of those. :)
Good Thing #8: Finding beauty in my surroundings has become so important to be this year, and it's made me fall in love with Alaska over and over again. The light and the sky, the snow, the rain, the clouds, the woods, even the people here are beautiful in the way that people should be.

Good Thing #9: YOU!!! you all have been so amazing to me this year, it started out without having any followers at all and now I have forty! Thank you all so so so so much, you have no idea how much it has helped to know that there are wonderful people like all of you somewhere in the world, your sweet comments have truly brought the sun out on many dark days. I love you all very much.

So, I had planned to go through my favorite books and movies I read or saw for the first time this year as well, but I've decided to save that for another post because this ended up pretty long, also this way I'll be able to do little reviews of them. I'll be back soon!

Love,

Clara

What I Want to do Now

1. I want to read Taliesin (again)

2. Go to Creamer's field and take pictures

3. Go to Value Village (must find vintage swim suit!)

4. Knit a beret

5. draw pictures (think I'll do that during church tonight)

6. Go on a really long walk

7. Find myself a bike

8. sew!! PJ's, blouses, dresses...

9. make biscotti

10. Read poetry while sitting in a big tree

11. Finnish dance bag

12. Buy Fabric at Joann's (they have some super pretty prints on clearance!)

13. Hide in the playhouse

14. Eat dark chocolate

15. Run in the wind

Cool, that came out to exactly fifteen, and I hadn't even counted first. These were taken from a list I made this morning while writing a report, and boy do they sound nice. It seems to be a universal thing that you guys like vintage swim suits so I thought I'd show you some from my magazines. They are all from the sixties, sadly my none of my older ones are summer issues, yet they still are fun to dream over!

There are stripes,

and buttons on white

and patterns in blue,

and a swim cap that reminded me of Rebbecca,

and cute kids too!

Hope you all have a fabulous week end!

Love, Clara