Long break coming to an end

Where on earth have I been? I had hoped to be posting more regularly, but life took over. Since my last post (in October!) we had some renovations done to our kitchen. This took over our home from right before Thanksgiving until mid-December. Living out of boxes, walking past piles of our belongings and trying to keep the dust out of our living space while gearing up for the holiday season was a bit hectic to say the least, but completely worth it in the end.
Now we have a much more spacious and efficient kitchen that is easy to maintain with extra cupboards and pretty to look at. Now as I wake up each morning to our cozy new room, I enjoy spending time sitting at our table drinking tea.This makes my chef fiance very happy and has been inspiring him to cook some fancy and elaborate meals. Just today he started a batch of homemade kim chi. This was from our perfectly quiet New Year's dinner.
All the renovations at home made the holidays sort of just slip past. Days just vanished as I was busy with my shop, day job, renovations and the usual Xmas hustle and bustle. In the studio I am back to glazing a new round of work. The holidays cleared me out, giving me room to work on some more new ideas and focus on some old familiar items too. Glaze firings are always exciting since you never really know how the glazes will come out. This firing will feature 3 new glaze colors: bright avocado green, apple red, and tangerine orange. I can hardly wait!

The push I needed

The thought of my first entry has been daunting to say the least. I've had many things to post about over the past few weeks, but was was never sure where to start. Luckily, my dear friend Shoshona gave me the push I needed. She tagged me. Up until this, I had no idea what this meant, but here are the rules:

* Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blog.
* Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, well to start with my seven facts. Since I'm new to the world of blogging, there's a lot people don't know about me.

1. I'm not one to play by the rules, especially with chain letters, etc. It feels like sending people you care about junk mail. Plus I have a bit of a rebellious streak, so this feels like a place to start. I won't be following the last two steps of tagging.

2. My fiance and I love to play board games, mostly in the cooler months when there's not much to do outside, so we're pulling out all of our favorites from childhood. Clue, Life, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Uno. I could go on, but you get the idea.

3. I am fascinated by antiques and the history behind old household items. I love going to flea markets and antique stores. The discovery of some obscure item and what it's use was many years ago makes me appreciate a slower pace of life, without computers and cell phones. It also makes me feel much more connected to working with clay, one of the most ancient forms of art.

4. Traveling is when I feel most alive. Meeting new people and discovering new places is so exciting. And seeing connections between food and culture. When I can't travel, I live vicariously through Anthony Bourdain.

5. My fiance is a former chef and up until about 2 years ago, we were pretty much vegan. He creates amazing meals since cooking is his passion. I'm always impressed that he can whip something up out of nothing. We support our local co-op and health food stores for almost all of our food. Mostly we eat at home so we can cook as healthy as possible. But, we also love to eat out and find new restaurants. Our junk drawer has a huge stack of menus from places we've tried or want to check out.

6. NPR is always on in our house and my studio. When I was a kid, I thought talk radio was so boring and never imagined I'd be hooked on it.

7. Yoga keeps me flexible and sane. I notice a huge difference if I don't keep up with it, both physically and emotionally. I'd like to have a regular meditation practice, but get distracted. With yoga, I know when I get to a class the next hour and a half will be focused and for me.

Thanks Shoshona for getting me started!! I'll be back to post soon with some pictures next time.