I have been Instagramed

Hello! 

This is my first Utah winter. We have lots of beautiful snow, but it's different that NY snow. Because of the lack of humidity, it is not heavy, soggy and icy. The roads are dry and we haven't lost power once. Yay!

In NY, it was a pretty common occurrence for us to lose power for a week at a time. For us that meant, no light, no heat, no flushing! Eek!

Besides enjoying this beautiful nature, I have been busy editing that craft/kit book I told you about and I have succumbed to peer pressure and joined Instagram. "Peers" being my family and friends. I am glad to be there, running into old and new friends, getting even more inspiration to make beautiful things. 

If you would like to connect with me on Instagram:

Children of Eve/ eve crespo

If you do visit me there, let me know you are a blogger friend. I would love to say hello. 

It's Alive!

Soon after we arrived in Utah we went to an outdoor festival with local artists, food and music. My family has a penchant for hand made one-of-a-kind mugs. You know when a mug is right for you, it fits your hand perfectly and feels just right. I love the idea that it is made from the dirt of the earth, just like us. We made our way over to the potter's stand and I found a perfect cup for me. 

After I purchased my lovely cup the potter and his wife offered me some sour dough starter that has been alive in their family since 1891! I made bread with it a couple of times and then parked it in the fridge. Life got busy and I ignored my poor starter for a couple of months. Last night I decided to take a peek at it. Eek! It was not a pretty sight. There was a pool of grey liquid on top that smelled of strong alcohol. I poured off the liquid and fed it with flour and goat milk in the hope that it may come back to life. It did! I left it to feed overnight and in the morning it was beautiful, active and sweet smelling once again. 

I proceeded to make some pretty tasty sourdough biscuits with it. (That intensely purple stuff is wild blueberry jam I made a few days ago.) I am always amazed at the transformative quality of microbes. Keep feeding the good guys and starve out the bad guys. 

God created our world (and our bodies) to renew itself. It will, if we give it what it needs.  When we're in need of even greater transformation, that same God can give us a turn on his potter's wheel. He can take a rancid old thing and build it back up to glorious life again.


1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 
Jeremiah 18:1-6

my book is happening

A few months ago a friend told me that her publisher at the The Book Shop Ltd. was looking for crafters. She advised me that it was a good time to pitch something if I had any ideas. Oh, I've got lots of ideas...but the timing was really bad.

I was smack-dab in the middle of moving from New York to Utah. Purging and packing up NY, searching for a rental home in the Salt Lake area, closing accounts, opening new ones. Top that off with trying to visit everyone who is dear to us to say our goodbyes. Pitch a book?!

What did I have to lose? Besides precious time and my sanity! Having a free hour to kill while waiting for my girls outside their circus class, I sketched out my idea on a piece of paper. I scanned it with my phone and emailed it to the Book Shop Limited, not putting much hope in the outcome.

Two weeks later the publisher called. She had "shopped it around", and Barnes and Noble was interested! They want to turn my idea into one of those craft book/kits. Oh boy! Now I was in trouble! They needed information from me...exact sizes and weights of fabrics and other supplies that would be in the kit. They needed it asap, so they could source it all and see if it would be worth the cost to do it.

As our worldly possessions were being loaded into PODS, I sat on the floor in an empty room with a laptop and sketchbook. Making patterns and seeking out all the necessary info needed to source the kit supplies. All this to say, my book is happening!  I made samples and patterns and they have all been enthusiastically approved. Now I begin working with a book designer and an illustrator to lay out the book. I am listed as the author, which is kind of weird to me. Barnes and Noble changed a few things from my original theme, but not much. They approved all of my fabric choices, which I am really happy about because I think that's the one place I was able to throw a bit of myself in. This book has been a real gift, a complete surprise, giving me all kinds of confidence and dreams for the future.

Why we left New York

Leaving NY was not an easy choice. My husband and I were both born in NYC, we met at The School of Visual Arts on 23rd St. The city was our playground and source of inspiration. And then we grew up. Our priorities changed, we felt closed in, we needed room to breath. We moved to a suburb and became commuters and had two daughters.

As the girls grew we found ourselves needing more nature around us. My interests shifted from concerts and restaurants to mushroom hunting and knitting. My husband wanted more time with us, more time in the woods, but commuting to Times Square everyday left him little time for either. Commuting two hours each way is soul draining. And once he got there he had to fight the crowds of tourists and fake Elmos just to get into his building. After 19 years, he had enough! 

Our girls, now 15 and 19 were feeling it too. We all desperately needed a change, we had become stagnant both creatively and spiritually. It was either make a major change or continue to do the same thing day in and day out, which was killing us. 

My husband quit his job after 19 years as an Illustrator/Art Director at Nickelodeon and we told everyone that we loved that we were leaving. It was no easy task. Some understood, some felt abandoned. We packed up two PODS and drove across the country with two teens, two snakes and one guinea pig. Off to find adventure and seek our fortune!

So, where are we? Utah! We love it, we feel peaceful, at home and free. We have been here for two months and have no regrets. We have no idea what lies ahead, but we know that God has directed our path and He will continue to do so. 

Now that we are settled, I am free to devote more time to blogging this new adventure as it unfolds. 

I hope you are finding wonder and joy in unexpected places. Don’t be afraid of change, life is too short. 

MerRy ChRistMas

I hope this day finds you all well. Happy, healthy and looking forward to the new year and all it has to offer. We experienced a beautiful Christmas snowfall today. It was so peaceful and still afterward. 

While opening our presents our power and wifi went out. I could really "hear" the quiet. No humming fridge, no clanging radiators, no Christmas tunes, no tree lights.  It didn't matter much to us. We were happy together, opening gifts, chatting and telling each other "This is the best Christmas ever!". We say that every year, and every year we mean it. 

I found a new focus today that I will carry into 2018. I am going sink into the stillness of winter and listen. I will listen to God most importantly, to my husband, to my children, to my friends and to the birds.  I will listen without interrupting, without trying to fix it, without thinking of all the other things I "should" be doing instead of listening. 

I will be still.

Wishing you all 

A Merry Peaceful Christmas. 

When the wind changes.

Greetings! I am back! 

So much has happened since my last post. I will give you the nutshell rendition and slowly peel it away for future posts. First off, we decided to sell our townhouse in April when our already too high taxes were assessed for double. Selling a house is quite a chore. I had to empty it out, it has to be sparse and clean at all times because you never know when an agent will be requesting a viewing or an open house. It sold fairly quickly and we began our search for our next home. 

After viewing many homes, we decided to rent instead of buy. We began to feel strongly that we may not want to buy in NY again. Like Mary Poppins, the winds are changing and we want to be free and flexible to go.

We moved into our wonderful rented home in August. It suits our needs so well, my girls for the first time each have their our rooms. The grounds are beautiful, butting up against woods, lots of big rocks, moss and lichens, which I am crazy about.

During the moving/settling process these things occurred:

My younger daughter was found to be Lyme free!! After a year of unrelenting treatment that was amazing news. (This is a story I must unravel for you in future.)

My older daughter "graduated", finished her homeschooling. 

We had no fridge for a month.

My sister and her son came to stay with us because she has a chronic disease and needed help and care.

Almost every weekend we had out of town visitors sleeping here, before we even had furniture. One airbed...and it leaked.

We don't know where we will end up, but for now Halloween 2017 we are all together and well and happy. The foliage is spectacular. I will introduce myself to my new neighborhood as Mary Poppins tonight. My daughter just informed me that she is going to bake some black pretzels.

Life is good and this is where you will find me...until the wind changes.

 “The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8  

Hitting 50 with a cold lake & warm knits

Sometimes it's nice to venture out when all other sane creatures seem to be hibernating. Today it was a grey 29 degrees. We braved the cold and headed out for a morning hike. Our most frequently walked trail has become new again now that it's frozen over. The swans, fish, frogs and turtles are gone. At least gone from our view. The place that was bustling with constant motion and sound is now still, quiet and mysterious. 

It gladdened my soul to see these plants sprouting up in the springtime. In summer and fall this weedy shelter was home to tadpoles and fish. This grass is still beautiful, but in a whole new way. Each stage has a magic of it's own. 

My birthday was last week, I hit fifty years.

The current "me" feels very connected to this season of the lake. Partly because I was born this time of year.  But more than that I see I have changed...yet I still remain completely myself. I think even more myself than ever.  I can only describe it as a "truer" me. There is a certain clarity, a peace, even a stillness inside that has come with the years.

I am still knitting away. I just finished this scarf, ribs with random bobbles here and there.
It's a match to this Bobble Hat.

I also made these little hats. Hats are instant gratification fun for me to make. They are the only thing you've got to show off when you are bundled up from chin to boots, which I am these days. Each day I can at least have a bit of fun by popping one of these on my bean.

My daughter came along with me to brave the frigid morning, it was actually her suggestion. She was also grabbing the opportunity to snap some photos in the great outdoors for her online taxidermy scene.

I hope you are all warm and well and taking on this new year with a spring in your step, discovering and creating beauty wherever you find yourself.