month in review: november

Happy (late) Thanksgiving!

I’m thrilled to announce a new Nudson! My brother and his wife welcomed Dylan Henly Nudson into the world the day before Thanksgiving and we couldn’t be more thankful both mom and baby are healthy and well. I am so excited to have a niece, and I can’t wait to meet her in a few weeks. The blanket I’ve been knitting is for her, and now that she’s here I hope to finish soon so we can snuggle her up in it.

So between that and spending Thanksgiving with family and friends in beautiful New Hampshire, I have been floating through the end of this month in a happy cloud.

The top posts of the month were:

  • what would death wear. This post was the most fun. I’ve discovered The Sandman comic series this year, and Death is a fantastic character. And Neil Gaiman, the writer of Sandman and many many other stories, saw this post on Twitter and retweeted it. It was so cool to reach out to someone whose work I admire and know they saw it. And the chatter on Twitter about what Death would wear was a blast. This is the reason I love this blog so much: I get the chance to connect with people and nerd out over new things.
  • yarn cross-stitch pillow. I love this pillow. It was a fairly easy (though sometimes tedious) project and looks much more expensive than it really is.
  • moma and what i wore. I went to my favorite museum this month and wore an outfit inspired by the artwork we saw.
  • marathon brunch. This month started with one of my favorite days of the year. The New York City Marathon is a big party for the city and we celebrated with brunch at my house–right on the path of the marathon.
  • project life: october (week 2). Project Life is still going strong for me. This has been one of the most consistent scrapbooking efforts I’ve undertaken and right now I think I’ll continue it into 2014. This week was dedicated to #fatcat.

November was amazing. I am so happy for this month and I can’t wait for December and Christmas! Some snapshots from the month (first one shamelessly stolen from my sister’s Facebook, the rest are mine):

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today i am

fatcat

hearing | Lorde’s Royals on repeat.

thinking | I should really be knitting more if I’m going to get this blanket done by December.

reading | House of Leaves for family book club. Our deadline was Sept. 30. I’m late!

feeling | Excited for my dad to get here for the weekend!

watching | The Breaking Bad finale again and Bob’s Burgers. I think they might be direct opposites.

tasting | Pumpkin chai tea from Trader Joe’s.

seeing | #fatcat hide under the covers. I guess that would be “not seeing” him. (The above picture of him isn’t from today but it’s too cute not to share. It also reminds me of these lines from Ozymandias, the poem they used in Breaking Bad this season: “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command…” Life imitating art, you guys.)

What about you guys? Have a great weekend!

month in review: august

A lot of people mark Labor Day weekend as the end of summer. It’s technically September now, but I’m going to hang on to summer for as long as I can. I’m still feeling rooftops and rosé, not sweaters and pumpkin beer. Summer went by so fast that I’d just like to enjoy it a little bit longer.

The top posts of the month were:

Here’s some pictures from the month.

brooklyn

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baby blanket

yarn for blanket

A few months ago we learned of the exciting announcement that my brother and his wife are expecting. And now I’ve promised my little baby niece a baby blanket. I am following the pattern for the chevron baby blanket from the Purl Bee, one of my favorite knitting/sewing blogs.

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month in review: july

July is over. What a fun month. There were fireworks, rooftops, and friends. It was hot–super hot–but the weather seems to have chilled out for now. The top-viewed posts in July were:

Some snapshots from the month:

beach

#fatcat

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under the dome: emergency kits

emergency pack rae's days

I have a friend who is always prepared. She has the band-aids, the directions, and the back-up plans. I’d like to have her in my corner if ever I see a disaster like a giant dome falling over my town. Which is something I think a lot about. Not just a dome–any kind of disaster. What would I do? How would millions of people get out of New York City when most don’t have cars? But seriously, if someone could tell me it would ease a lot of anxiety.

During Hurricane Sandy, and a few other storms we’ve had to button down our hatches for, I knew what I would need to grab to get out of the city if I needed to evacuate. Luckily, we had warnings for those storms, and I knew would eventually pass. In Stephen King’s worlds, it’s almost never that easy. As we saw in Under the Dome on Monday night, you have to be ready for every kind of disaster. Even–especially– for the one’s you’d never see coming.

So, basically, I should have made an emergency kit a long time ago. What would you need? Let’s start with the basics.

  • flashlight (with batteries)
  • bottled water
  • first aid kit
  • canned food/snacks
  • cat food
  • #fatcat’s carrier
  • swiss army knife
  • thermal blanket
  • maybe some different weather prep depending on your area
  • an extra phone charger probably couldn’t hurt (like this super cool solar charger!)

emergency kit

If you’re in Stephen King’s world, though, you might need some different things.

  • a Geiger counter, in case you run into radiation
  • a stake or cross, for any vampires in your small town
  • a current newspaper from your town, so in case you wander into any other worlds or time travel so you will know which world you came from and what day it was there
  • probably some penicillin, unless you are allergic to it like I am
  • a tranquilizer dart or two for any large, crazy animals. or people.
  • mayyybe think about keeping some extra propane tanks on hand
  • if you have guns handed down to you from your father and your father’s father and his father’s father, you should probably bring those, too

Anything else? What am I missing?

Also, I just read this thing on the Internet (because of course I did) about how if you are in a house and electricity went out and you don’t have water, you should check the freezer for ice cubes. Those will be safe to drink. Any other tips, figurative boy scouts of the world?

This is the one of a few Under the Dome related posts this week. Check back later for more, and you can see other posts here:

valar morghulis (embroidery no. 11)

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Valar morghulis. All men must die.

This theme and these words come up over and over again in the Song of Ice and Fire books, the series that includes Game of Thrones and its sequels. As those who watch the show and read the books know, in George R. R. Martin’s world, a lot of men must die.

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small cool space

rae's days small cool spaces

I finished one of my 2013 goals of decorating my apartment to enter Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool Spaces contest! I’m so happy with my home. I am really proud of turning this apartment into a place I truly enjoy spending time in and showing off. Please stop by Apartment Therapy’s site and vote for my place and any others that you like!

couch

I love having a full size couch. In my old apartment I could only fit a loveseat, and it was a little too small for company or comfortable naps. Plus, I got to add some pillows that I made!

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game of thrones outfit inspiration: jon snow

I think we can all agree mostly everyone on Game of Thrones right now is losing. The Lannisters are down a hand and up two unwanted fiances. The Starks are all over the map, losing battles and friends. So I think Jon wins this week because he made it up and over a 700-foot wall made out of ice. Did you guys see that climb? Holy wow.

Jon has joined the Night’s Watch, where the men are nicknamed crows and wear all black. They have to bundle up because, well, it’s cold up there and they live on a giant block of ice. If we were to take Jon’s style and apply it to now, I think it would look something like this.

inspired by jon snow

A leather dress, feather coat, and a bracelet decorated with skulls? Seems like a pretty accurate representation of the Night’s Watch to me. But if you have to go out and not look like a super awesome, slightly trashy grunge heiress, maybe you’d try something like this.

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end of the month review: april

Can you believe April is over? I feel like I say this every month, but this year is really flying. April was a wonderful flurry of friends and family and good times, and now it’s over! On to May, and even more fun, but first a look at the top-viewed posts from April.

city

fatcat

rae's days embroidery

new rug

baseball game

What a great month! For these and other snapshots from the month, you can always follow me on Instagram at raenudson.