Chalk on the cover of O

I spied this February issue of Oprah Magazine at my doctor's waiting room this morning. Check out that cover! I love just about everything about it. There's an article on Oprah's website about the Making Of and the chalk artist who created the lettering, Dana Tanamachi. Check out her portfolio of custom chalk lettering. So lovely!

I'll have a slice and a puppy, please.

We walked into our favorite pizza spot yesterday to discover that it had been taken over by the longest and most amazing parade of stuffed animals. Cats, squirrels, pigs, and mostly dogs (dozens and dozens of them!) were lining the walls. All of them were handmade by a couple of local gals, and are made almost entirely of recycled and found fabric: "Old shirts, brocade from the couch, clothes too nice to toss, the bits left after cutting out a dress pattern."

Now, I was already going cuckoo over so much crafty cuteness (do you see the red one with the polka dots??), but imagine my excitement when I found out that they were up for adoption! For a mere $30, 100% of which will proceed Greyhound Friends for Life, one of these babies could be yours. Clearly a fantastic deal, and consequently only two doggies were left: Stilton and Feta.

Oh wait, did I mention that the dogs were named after cheeses? Yes. You see Brie and Raclette engaged in some canine PDA below.

Anyway: we get to pick up Feta next week when all the puppies (and cats, squirrels, and pigs) are going home with their new owners. And: I had a slice of leftover pizza for lunch today. Oh, the joy!

Urchins and peas

I have a lifelong fascination with the shapes, textures, and colors of sea creatures. I forgot what I was looking for when I came across Heather Knight's Etsy shop, Element Clay Studio, but if I had some extra money to spend, I'd do it here. Her serving pieces and textured tiles are inspired by shellfish and botanicals, and crafted from delicate porcelain.

How lovely are those pea pod bowls? I imagine them filled with an array of different kinds of Ceviche.

Cozy in Geneva

We got stranded in Geneva on our way out to Germany, which actually turned out to be quite nice. Sure, it was cold and we didn't have our luggage, but we wandered the streets and drank vin chaude and enjoyed the adventure.

I saw these lovely knitted cup warmers in a store window. Such a cute idea, and the timing couldn't have been better: Just a few weeks ago I had decided to finally learn how to knit socks — in blatant defiance of my poor knitting skills and lack of patience. But see? Even if I never learn how to do more than the upper part of the sock, I can still turn it into one of these!

Happy New Year, may it be a cozy and creative one!

For coffee, tea, grog

Santa brought us these adorable harbour mugs last year, so that we don't need to miss Hamburg quite as much. They were crafted by Hildburg Lucardis Wittke and cure thirst and homesickness equally well. The mugs are light as a feather and the harbour scenes in their happy pastel colors are so much more darling than the usual Hanseatic imagery you'd find on a souvenir mug.

Fortunately our yearly visit to Northern Germany is imminent, right in time for the pinnacle of hot beverage season, and so we'll be spending Christmas drinking hot mulled wine (aka Glühwein) and singing a shanty or two.

And for those of you who really feel like having a grog now, there's a recipe in Marion's Kochbuch that'll also teach you how to avoid a hot mess on the kitchen counter.