Birthday Bazaar

Even though boyfriend's birthday was last weekend, we waited until this weekend so we could get in at Bazaar, his restaurant of choice for his birthday meal.

And what a dining experience it was!

We had fabulous gold dusted and poured over cotton candy cocktails,



watermelon and yellowtail,



caviar cones,



a little birthday chocolate cake,



and many other small dishes. It was a splurge, but a fun dining experience. Happy birthday, Leon!

Beads

In honor of starting a new job last week, and because I have to wear my badge everywhere I go, I dug out my beads last night to make a lanyard. I haven't touched my beads in years, but I have quite a few.



It was fun to look through everything and come up with different combinations. I chose fairly neutral beads, as I'll be wearing it with everything.



Now I have a little sparkle for everyday!

Braided

Over the holidays I knit up the Braided scarf. I've never seen or thought to use an i-cord to make a braid before. This project was fast, and really fun to knit.



I left mine behind with my mom (lucky her!), as it's pretty thick and chunky, and a little too cozy for winter in LA.



Another quick project I whipped up for the holidays, was a crocheted gift bag to hold the cork elves I made. A fun alternative to wrapping paper!

Tackling Needle Felting

Boyfriend very cleverly got me a needle felting kit for Christmas. The kit included everything I needed to needle felt two small cupcake ornaments. You can find a similar one from Etsy user FancyTiger.



I have never needle felted before, but thought it was easy to learn, and a lot of fun. I think my first cupcake turned out really sweet.



Santa had a lot of help from the hand-crafters at Etsy this year. Another fun find under our tree was a set of customized mustache tea cups from UrbanAntix. Placed just right, they are the perfect disguise!

Crafting for Mom

For one of the hand made gifts I gave this year, I was inspired by the new "So You Think You're Crafty" blog to make my mom a harvest wreath from fabric.



I picked four different fabrics, and cut them into strips, folded them in half, and ironed them.



Next, I created the leaf shapes, and hot-glued them to muslin in a circle shape.



This will fit into my perfectly with my mom's decor come harvest, fall time. The full tutorial can be found here. While you are there, take a look around - the So You Think You're Crafty blog has some great ideas!

New Year's Tasting Menu

Happy new year!



Boyfriend and I fancied ourselves up and went to Bond St at the Thompson Hotel for their six course tasting menu.

We had:
Big-Eye Tuna Tarts
Micro Shiso

Albacore Tataki
Local Greens, Ginger Dressing

Maine Lobster Preserved Meyer Lemon, Leeks, Lobster Jus

Japanese Bouillabaisse
Squid, Ama-Ebi, Uni Rouille

Australian Wagyu
Potato Cubes, Cippolini Onion Puree, Hedgehogs, Soy-Garlic

Vosne Romanee
Traditional Flavors of the Appelation

Fancy!

Year End

Now that the holidays are coming to a close, I am going to have some fun knitting to share with you. As always, I had a lot of fun knitting gifts for the holidays, and feel they went to some very knit-worthy recipients. Stay tuned to future posts to see what's been on the needles lately.



For now, I'm going to work on getting settled back in after a week away in with family, friends and lots of snow. After a day of traveling back, a nap may be in order, if I plan to make it to midnight tonight! Thanks for tuning in to this little blog during 2009. Happy new year!