Scenes from the week so far: lots of Easter flowers and sweet little sisters and schnauzers and felt felt felt.
DIY Rock Magnets
Living in DC we go to a lot of museums, a brother or sister or friend is almost always visiting and we walk down to the National Museum of the American Indian for their unbelievable cafe or the Air and Space Museum because everyone wants to see a space ship. My favourite exhibit in the city is definitely the gem exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Aside from the Hope Diamond (THE HOPE DIAMOND) and the Harry Winston jewelry there is the Gem Gallery and all the rocks, gems, minerals and meteorites you could possibly want. After wandering the exhibit I always want to bring home ALL THE THINGS in the gift shop and end up putting pyrite in my terrarium or slices of agate in my jewelry box just to look at. After coming across Leif's gorgeous Gemstone Magnet Set I thought that perhaps the chunks of rock around my apartment could be put to similar use. If you don't happen to have a random collection of pretty rock bits around your apartment Bliss Crystals on Etsy has loads of amazing sparklers and Karma Bead Supply have everything you need.
Materials:
Gorgeous Rocks
Gorilla Glue
Super Magnets
I had a bit of a hard time because the glue doesn't get tacky quickly so unless you are lying on the magnet on a perfectly flat surface it will slide off so I used napkins to wedge things around so they lay perfect flat and then put a tiny bit of glue on the rock and a tiny bit on the magnet. The magnets are super tiny but strong and one kept the agate and smaller rocks on the fridge but the huge chunk of pyrite needed three and an unreasonable amount of unsightly glue because it wasn't a flat surface . They are apparently super strong little magnets and according to the amazon reviews should be kept away from pets because they are super dangerous if consumed or something, so be aware of that. I let mine dry over night and then went crazy pants on my fridge. Now I want to attach ALL the things to magnets and my fridge, possibly small dinosaurs, and almost certainly sheep and llamas.....
Cherries
The entire city is blooming.
This Fall
This weekend David and I are heading to western Maryland to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday in David’s hometown. I’m also going to grab lunch with my best friend from high school while I’m in town and pinch the cheeks of nieces and nephews (I know, I’m an insufferable aunt). There’s a cake to be made before we leave and I think we might walk up to the Capitol building with our dog. Fall in DC is gorgeous, it’s such a green city and everything turns beautiful shades of gold and red and orange. It’s almost all brown now though and it feels quite wintry. This fall has been full, with apple picking and pie baking with my brother and youngest sister and a visit to my alma mater in New England with my old roommates and lots of tromping around the city, museums galore. The holidays are coming at us quickly and I’m looking forward to one or two more fall weekends before the winter starts in earnest.