goin to the island for more than 30 years

Just found these pics of the little sibs and our friend Jenny waiting for the ferry to the island.

look at those pants I'm wearing on the right!

Oh man they were so cute! They may not be little any more but they sure were back in what I'm guessing is probs 1979.

I'm trying to arrange a little reunion for us Jenkinses in August so we can take some trips down memory lane together.

I am so digging my outfit - that yellow poncho rocks! I will have to get one for Ceciley for her visit so we can do some matchy photo-ops. We like those ;)

Happy Birthday to ME!!

My darling sister Ceciley made me this sweet video.




Thank you all for the birthday wishes - you all rock!

Marcel in action!

My sister wanted to do a video about Marcel so she could have all his cuteness with her when she's in LA. Here it is!

Ceciley's birthday bunnies

It's Ceciley's birthday tomorrow and as you know I sent her several pairs of clip-on earrings made just for her.

And a very cute dress from Zara (I bought one for me too)!

And then of course I sent her some bunnies!

But I thought I'd send her a few more here so we could all enjoy some cuteness at the end of a very long week.

What is it about a bunny in a tea cup that is extra cute?

Ask ...

and you shall receive!

You want bunny kisses?

Here you go!

Have a great weekend everybody and happy birthday to my sweet sister!

Happy Long Weekend!!

And happy holidays to all my friends and family celebrating holiday-type stuff this weekend!!

Us Jenkins like to celebrate all things bunny in April.

Since Ceciley's birthday is coming up and spring is finally here.

So here's a little Vernon for ya - played by Mr Lapin.

etsy experiment

OK well, I thought I had kind figured out how I wanted to approach the etsy thing and what I wanted my banner to look like and how I would like to photograph the earrings. All of it very do-able but requiring some new fonts and new pictures. I figured I had about two weeks as I wanted it to be ready for my sister's birthday.

I mailed her presents to her last week thinking it could take a while for them to get to her. But they arrived super early and she opened them right away. And wore them right away. And made a video and talked about them right away.

And the video will be up on YouTube later today. So I scrambled to throw something together late last night and get etsy up and running - ahhhhhh! It's not at all what I want it to be just yet, but it's there. I'm interested to see what happens! Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JessicaLovesJewelry

jessica's jeweleries

Here I present you with some photographic experiments of recent earrings made by me and modeled with the help of some West Elm purchases.

This is now the best thing ever for organizing projects I'm working on:

aquamarine and labradorite on silver

 

 labradorite and pearl on antique brass

labradorite and quartz on antique brass

labradorite and pearl on antiqued brass

coral and brass birds

I definitely think some of these work better than others. The mercury glass votives seem too reflective and I think that's the same problem with the silver bowl. But would the better ones be good enough to put on etsy? Would love to know your thoughts about this.

And there's lots of labradorite on the go right now because my sister made a birthday request and then I just got kinda carried away!

making cookies with my sister

My sister and I lived together for many years on our own and for all of those years our cooking repertoire consisted of pasta and eggs - everything else was take-out or order in. Neither of us knew how to cook, so this is actually the first time we have made something together.

It's funny to me to see how we interact together. I've got the technical and instructional part down and then she makes it fanciful and creative. We're both good at both of those things but when we're together these are the roles we tend to take on - me being the bossy older sister and all.

Since I started making these cookies last year, they have become an absolute staple. They're super-easy to make and everyone loves them - enjoy!



Here's the recipe again:

• 1/2 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

• 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips or a bar of your favourite chocolate, chopped up
* you can add other goodies that you like in addition or instead

- preheat oven to 350 degrees
- mix dry ingredients together
- add nut butters and mix
- add egg and mix
- add chocolate chips (and/or other goodies) and mix
- drop dough in rounded balls onto greased baking sheet
- bake for 5-10 minutes, keep and eye on them as they can burn quickly
- let them cool for about 10 minutes so that they set and don't fall apart
- EAT, ENJOY! they are yummy with a glass of almond milk!

dinner party for my sister - with the actual dinner

In case you were wondering how the lobster salad turned out, the last video did indeed show us triumphantly finding the perfect, and perfectly ripe avocados to serve it in. And if you would like to see how it turned out press play below:

 

And here's the recipe for the Lobster salad:

- 1 can lobster (tails & claws only)
- grape or cherry tomatoes*
- mini cucumbers*
- celery*
- red onion*
*all chopped very small

Dressing:

- juice from 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- splash of grenadine or pomegranate juice
- salt & pepper

Serve in half a perfectly ripe avocado and enjoy!

dinner party for my sister

When my sister was here I threw a little dinner party so she could meet the fine fellow and a few of my other boat friends. And to make it seem like summer, I wanted to serve the amazing lobster salad that Tim had taught me how to make.

Since I'm still kinda new to this whole cooking thing it could have been a disaster, particularly since i forgot to get avocados the day before. So we went to Kensington Market on a quest with fingers crossed ... 

Marcel's patience - rewarded!!

This is a happy cat!

And a happy sister!!

I'm happy that she's here and they are both happy!!

Zushi Puzzle

Am I being lazy by just putting up videos that my sister made? Maybe, but if you like sushi the food in this is pretty incredible - all courtesy of Chef Roger at Zushi Puzzle.

video from Berkeley

So my sister took a bunch of footage on her flip-cam when we were together in Berkeley - this one's got Mini the cat in it!

flower gateway to ...

It was extremely lovely to have even just two days with my sister.

A couple of times a year just isn't enough,

even if she does always borrow my clothes.

It's nice to be with someone who loves all the same things,

and was even more excited than me when we spotted this wall of pink flowering amazingness right next to this,

gateway to fairyland?

sister by my side

My sister has come up for a visit from LA!!

I'm not really that short - she's wearing very tall shoes!

And this is the first sunny day of the trip. It's nice not to need a sweater.

Oh happy day!

Happy 4th of July!!

OK - I'm a day late but I just thought this was too cute not to post ...

bunnies for Ceciley's birthday

It's my sweet sister's birthday today! and I am oh so far away from her since she lives in Lala land.

She loves Marcel the most and he loves her, so we thought it would be nice to share some things that make her happy on her birthday.

Afer Marcel,

bunnies

are her

favourite

thing.

Marcel is ok with that - he knows he's the cutest.