First FO of 2019 / Branches and Buds

I finished my first project of 2019 — Branches and Buds Pullover! 😍 I must admit — I’ve been knitting for many years now but I only know just a handful of techniques. 😓 I always c…

My Make Nine 2019

I’m not one to make New Year resolutions (it’s too unrealistic to assume that I’ll be able to perform the things I couldn’t or wouldn’t do just a day ago) but I do like planning things …

Happy 2019!

Happy New Year! This is what our holiday season looked like, summed up in a five minute video. One thing I noticed while editing the video is that my daughter sure loves her Hello Kitty hoodie. I t…

NYE Osechi Prep

Our New Year’s Eve was spent doing what we do every NYE – help Kevin’s parents with Osechi making. Well, I say “making” but I don’t do any of the cooking, of course. Kevin’s paren…

New Year’s Eve Eve with Maya

My BFF came down from PDX to spend the New Year’s Eve Eve with me and the family. Here’s Maya, with the Pebble Beach Shawl I knit for her. I love knitting but I seldom wear my own creations s…

Branches and Buds Pullover

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I can’t believe we’re mere days away from welcoming the New Year! I recently began knitting Branches and Buds Pullover, a beautiful pattern by Carrie Bostick Hog…

Homecoming : Pebble Beach Shawl

Hello! Guess who’s back in the blogosphere! I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to return to the blog but after being away from it for an entire year, I realized how much I’ve missed this space! I ha…

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to cross over to the new year when so many people weren’t as fortunate. My ultimate goal for 2017 is to start 2018 as a…

Theatre Sunday

Kevin and I got away for a few hours to enjoy the theatre over the weekend. We went to watch the matinee showing of Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown Los An…

Eau Rose

I recently started blogging using my iPhone, which brings a fair share of its pros and cons. The obvious pro is that I get to post things more frequently because of its convenience. The con, howeve…

Soap Making Magic

The temperature is rapidly rising and it’s beginning to feel like summer has officially arrived here in Southern California. Warmer weather means more soap making at the Lavender and Olive ho…

Kumamoto Earthquake Releif

There are many great places where you can donate to Japan’s Kumamoto Earthquake relief fund, including Yahoo Japan and Japanese Red Cross. I donated through an organization called AAR Japan (…

Sending Love to Japan

Today was a sad day for Japan. The Kumamoto Prefecture was struck by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, which resulted in several casualties, with many sustaining injuries. Thousands have been displaced f…

ReFa and Other Skincare Favorites

I usually pride myself as a practical and relatively level-headed shopper, and don’t (excuse the pun) buy into the hype behind the hottest “must haves,” EXCEPT when it comes to sk…

Back to Reality

I fought the urge to go to Urth Caffe this morning and settled on a more appropriate 85 Degree Bakery in Old Town Pasadena, and enjoyed a cup of coffee with a small cranberry and cream cheese bread…

New Blog URL!

I’m not sure if any of you noticed, but the URL for this blog has officially been updated to reflect the actual name of the blog — Lavender and Olive! Okay, it’s technically missi…