Don't test me

If you've ever spent more than five minutes with me and you've asked, "What should we do?" my response is always, always, "Paint pottery!" I'm not sure how or why this started, but I am always suggesting that we go paint pottery and nobody, not even Justin, will go paint pottery with me. So a few weeks ago, after a weekend in the car to-and-from Iowa, I spent a quiet afternoon painting pottery. BY MYSELF. Because, dammit, nobody will paint pottery with me and who needs you anyway?

I spent two-and-a-half hours at the pottery place. I didn't even know that was possible. I started with some little dishes for the kitchen. I'm a big fan of salt, all kinds of salt, and I hate how when you get a "pinch" from the salt dispenser, you have all of this leftover, wasted salt that you can't put back in.

So now I have two cute little bowls, one for big salt and one for small (big=Kosher). I am thrilled to death with them and they are perfect for cooking and baking and admiring.

While those were drying (three coats is a lot of coats of paint, people), I worked on a bigger project. I've always wanted a cookie jar, and the only one I have is a penguin. While he's adorable, he's also seasonal, and some years we forget to bring him out at all. Clearly, a new cookie jar was necessary.

I do love this jar. It took forever to paint, but it was worth it. I drew all the circles, gave them three coats of paint, and then outlined them with tiny-tipped paint bottles.

Hopefully the inside will answer any questions about an empty jar:

Yes, I'm glad I painted pottery, but it would have been more fun with a friend. Do you hear that, friends? Do you? LET'S GO PAINT POTTERY.