What I write about in my new patchwork notebook

I love notebooks. I buy them all the time. Cute notebooks to fill with lists and reminders, quotes I love, prayers, inspirations and in my most well-intentioned moment, actual writing. That rarely happens. But I buy them anyway and proceed to use them very haphazardly and sporadically. They help me be a tiny bit more organized, although that word still doesn't really apply to me. At least not most of the time. But just holding one in my hands makes me feel inspired. So it's worth it.

I bought this black-white-and-yellow cutie at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair earlier this month from a booth called Hip to Piece Squares. I wanted to buy just about everything on her table. She had a snappy purse that I keep thinking about and it's not in her shop. Lesson learned: when you fall in love with something at a craft show, buy it!

I've been busy not really writing in my notebook but carting it around with me everywhere anyway. One day, my husband and I had a lunch date.  (Metro Detroiters: it was at Due Venti in Clawson. You should go! Northern Italian yumminess.) I had my notebook with me. And we made this list:

A little tough to read. But that's the dream list of everything we want to do to our house, you know, if money was no object. Money IS an object though, so haha, this will never happen. Not all of it anyway. But I do think in 2012, a few of these things might get checked off this list. It's a weird time for homeowners right now. We look at houses online (our friends call this real estate porn, and it's so true!) and swoon at how much house you can get now for the money. But would we ever be able to sell our house, purchased in 2006, just before the floor fell out? Not for a profit, that's for sure.

So we're a little stuck, unless we want to lose a bunch of money, which we don't. So I am trying to focus on gratitude for what I have. And I do have gratitude for my home. There is a lot to love about my place. I want to add a few more from this list though. That's OK, I think.

Long ramble! Not really sewing related. Sorry. But this is what's on my mind these days. I'll leave you with one more house-related thought, this one of the sewn variety. Check out the little detail I added to the puppet theatre house, which is still coming, slowly. (My threading problem has been solved, by the way. Thanks for your advice! I put in a new needle, re-threaded and upped my tension a little bit and that worked.) Can you tell what that thing by the doorstep is?

Leave me your guesses in the comment, and tell me, if you could do one thing to your house in 2012, what would it be? Give me either your money-is-no-object answer or your realistic view. Or both!

Family Thursdays

We're trying to institute a new tradition here: spending our Thursday mornings together doing something as a family. Something that isn't what we do most mornings together -- eat breakfast one-by-one, putz around the house, workout at home while Luke spins in circles pretending to exercise, playing random games Luke invents, taking care of chores, paying bills, returning emails, surfing online, etc. Some of it might be defined as "quality time together" but certainly not all of it. So the new goal is to try and get a few hours of good quality time doing something together each Thursday.

I hope a lot of those Thursdays wind up looking like today.

We did brunch. I heart brunch big time. And we tried a new place -- Mae's in Ferndale.

I feel like I'm the last person under the sun to try Mae's. Now I see why. First of all, it's adorable. Very vintage charming. Faygo stickers, old black and white photos, turquoise vinyl, mismatched salt and pepper shakers, water carafes on the table to greet you, thrift store cups.

 Isn't it sweet?

Of course, who cares if it is cute if the food blows? Alas, it did not blow.

 Gypsy omelet with red peppers, mushrooms and shaved parmesan. Awesome. And the multi-grain bread was the prefect kind of chewy.

Mae's also specializes in fantastic soups and baked goods. That's actually one thing that drew me in -- I kept seeing their soups and baked-goods-of-the-day on Twitter. Then I'd walk around the rest of the day with drool on my chin. If you can't read it, one of the soups is Dill Pickle Potato. Unique, right?

We left with two of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Pretty sure the secret ingredient in them is coffee. They're delish.

It was lovely.  I wish it had been warmer so afterward we could have gone for a walk or to a park or something. Hurry up, Michigan, warm up! But still, lovely, and I'm excited to see what the new tradition brings us.

Do you have a designated "family time" each week? What do you do with that time typically? I'm trying to gather some ideas for our future Thursdays together. I'd love to hear yours so please, do share!

Pssst: Very cool giveaway happening on the blog Gwenny Penny for a blog redesign from Simply Klassic Blog Design! Go enter, but please, let me win, OK?