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Monday, December 19, 2011

Stack of books...


Just a little something I was working on tonight while re-watching Harry Potter GOF. I think its one of my favorite HP films.
I've had books on the brain lately...ones I would like to read in the future and have been thinking of making a list of titles to read in 2012. Sort of a New Years resolution of sorts. I'm not big on resolutions since I'm crap at keeping them. But I think this year I will set some realistic goals for myself. Plus, I like the idea of making lists that I can cross things off of. :)

Sunday, December 18, 2011

A week until Christmas!? Really?

I just took this picture with my phone of the view from my desk. Its damp today, there are still brown leaves falling into piles and clinging on to branches, and not a snow flake to be seen. It feels more like the week before Thanksgiving than the week before Christmas. 


Where's my snow!? Its not like I'm asking for feet and feet of it, just a light dusting to make everything look like a winter wonderland...and possibly get me out of work early! :)
I'm done with my Christmas shopping...which was enough to make me feel like the Grinch. But instead of complaining, I think I just need to be better prepared. The problem is that I am the fucking queen of procrastination and put everything off until the very last possible nanosecond. Seriously, I can rationalize myself out of doing anything. I'm really going to try this year to buy gifts throughout the year and keep them in boxes labeled with that person's name. Hopefully, if I can stick to this plan, I will have a much less Grinchy holiday experience. How about you? Are you done with your shopping? Any tips on how to manage stress during this time of year?
Also, please feel free to use this coupon code for the month of December: BLOGDEC2011.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Holiday Coupon Code!

Where has the time gone!? I hope you have been well. I have been busy this week preparing for my first two small craft table event...things? Creating new things and preparing my set up has occupied most of my free time, but I think it will be fun! Plus, I have lots of great new ideas/things for the shop and I will be listing them soon! For now, here a is a coupon code for 15% off for the month of December: BLOGDEC2011. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Little Pumpkin Patch

Sadly, I have not yet made my way to a real pumpkin patch this fall, but I did create my own little one at home. I'm thinking about listing this little gnome-sized pumpkin patch in the shop later this week with a few small paintings I still need to photograph. 






Thursday, October 13, 2011

Why oh why...

...are days at work so much longer than days spent at home? Seriously, the hours drag by when I am at work, but a day spent at home (not sleeping in, even) just zips by so quickly! Not fair at all.

Maybe if I didn't spend my free time at home consumed by Pinterest, I could get things done. But I am addicted! This is the face my cat makes at me when I spend too much time on Pinterest:

Monday, September 12, 2011

Loaded Baked Potato Soup


The weather has finally started to cool down here and I thought it would be a great night to try out this recipe for Baked Potato soup. I really love baked potato soup. Safeway (or perhaps Vons in your area) sells a great version of it with their signature cafe soups. This one was pretty good, though I ended up altering it a bit as I was cooking. Here is the recipe from the website:

Ingredients

  • 3 bacon strips, diced
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 cup half-and-half cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
  • Shredded Cheddar cheese
  • Minced fresh parsley

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley. 

 I ended up leaving out the dried basil, the fresh parsley, and the hot pepper sauce, and I added about a half of a cup more of the chicken broth and an extra strip of bacon, cause you know, its bacon.
I cooked the bacon in my dutch oven pot, cooked the onions and garlic in the drippings, and mixed in the flour and broth. It was at this point that I actually read the list of ingredients and realized that it calls for cooked potato. Derp. So I cubed my uncooked potatoes and threw them in the pot. It came out just fine anyway. I also added about 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese as I was mixing in the cream. I garnished the soup with more cheese, diced green onion, and bacon bits. Noms to the max. I think this will be a great recipe for chilly fall and winter nights.

 Also, I recommend pairing this soup with some kind of raw vegetable. I went with a spinach salad. Its such a rich, bacon-y, creamy soup that I really felt the need to have some kind of healthy vegetable with it so my arteries didn't immediately seize up.


 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

This week...mail surprises, sandwiches, nail polish.

On a particularly horrible day, I came home from work and was surprised buy this super, wonderful, thoughtful mail:


Our wonderful friend, Caleb, sent these magnets to us. How freaking cute are these, just look at the little ties and the tiny wands!? I love the beard on Fig and my hair. And the fact that he personalized it with our houses, too! I LOVE these and it was so incredibly thoughtful and meant so much to me on that particular day. I have the best friends. Seriously.

Another highlight to this past week were these awesome sandwiches and french fries I made. I had been craving a roast beef sandwich with Aus ju dip all day, but didn't want to spend the money to eat out or spend the time making a roast and creating the dip from scratch. So, I bought some sliced deli roast beef and a good french loaf. I added caramelized onions and a few bits of shaved parmesan, I think provolone or swiss would have been good, but parm was all I had. I buttered up both sides of the bread before slapping this all together and tossing it into the oven to warm and toast up a bit. The dip was just beef broth with a little Worcestershire, not the highlight of the meal. Also, I've never made fries from scratch (always used the frozen kind), but this was so easy I can't imagine not doing this way from now on. I just cut up the potatoes, tossed them with a little canola oil and lots of seasonings and then tossed them into a 425 degree oven for about 30-40 min. Yums.


And finally, I changed my nail polish, which is not really important to you, but it sure is making me smile. I'm really digging the glitter stuff right now, I also bought a gold glitter polish for the next mani. The down side is that I'm thinking this stuff is going to be a pain to take off. Derp.


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Heart Bandit

Hello there! Just wanted to share a new painting I recently completed. I think I may list this in my Etsy shop soon. This is The Heart Bandit and her sack of stolen hearts:




Monday, August 22, 2011

SemiNomadicSoap!

I just wanted to share my amazing experience with Will and Serra of SemiNomadicSoap. I ordered the 4 bars for 10 bucks (2 eucalyptus mint, 1 cedarwood sage, 1 peppermint for me). I've ordered from this shop a few times now and each time I am impressed by their customer service. I mentioned one of my other orders from them in a previous post. The soaps are exceptional. They smell wonderful, they have a great look and feel, and the packaging is simple and pleasing. They always include a little something extra, which isn't necessary but makes all the difference. It's not that I like getting stuff for free (but who doesn't really?), it's just feels like they put a little extra care into the package, like they actually put enough thought into it to think I might enjoy trying a new scent or the beautiful handmade soap dish they included in this last order. Plus, their communication is great, they let me know right away that they had shipped my order (which, by the way, arrived super-fast) and they thanked me for my business. They are wonderful sellers and I highly recommend purchasing from them if you are in the market for top notch handmade soaps and quality customer care.

Check out my loot! Please excuse the not so great pictures...I've been dinking around with the retro camera app on my phone. But for better pictures, check out their shop: SemiNomadicSoap

The four bars I ordered, plus a mini soap in a new scent I haven't tried, PLUS a really awesome, handmade soap dish! Score!

Retro camera app (blurry) pic of the Eucalyptus Mint bar...my FAVORITE. It smells so clean and so refreshing. If you're going to order from them and are having trouble deciding...this is the one I recommend trying first.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

A magical room of books

A few weeks ago, Fig and I decided to go a-wandering into some of the antique shops in downtown Tacoma. Along the way we spotted some pretty neat finds and we stumbled on this amazing, magical room of books, buried deep under the city sidewalk. 









Tuesday, August 16, 2011

BFFs and babies

I spent a long, wonderful weekend back in Las Vegas, visiting friends and celebrating the coming birth of my BFF's baby on the way. Hands down, that was the most fun I have ever had at a baby shower! The mother to be was gorgeous and glowing, the food  was delish, silly awesome decorations, and hilarious games. 
For the shower I knew I wanted to give her something handmade along with the store-bought gifts. I couldn't decide between a mobile (which I might try to make and send to her before the baby gets here) and a set of blocks...I finally decided on a set of alphabet blocks. I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but I do have a few shots of the making of.


But besides the mega awesome baby shower, it was just so wonderful spending time with my friends. My BFF and I spent time cooking and catching up. She found a recipe for Hagrid's rock cakes online and we whipped up a batch. They were awesome and if she sends me the recipe I will post it here! Plus, we sipped on amazing jasmine tea from our matching mugs. Fun!



Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sunday Snapshot


Here is a snapshot of my Sunday afternoon. I have settled down to enjoy a steaming pitcher of cinnamon chai with soy milk, while I dream about fall. Fall is my favorite time of year for these reasons:
-chilly weather
-beautiful fall colors on trees everywhere
-crunchy leaves to pile up, jump into, and walk on
-foggy mornings
-the scent of fall in the air (mixture of dying leaves, wood burning, and....magic?)
-excuses to wear layers and scarves and boots
-pumpkins!
-cozy dinners of beef stew and hearty bread with hot cocoa for dessert
-halloween!
-back to school supplies (which I have no real reason to purchase, but I LOVE to peruse the aisles and check out all of the new stuff anyway. As Tom Hanks says to Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, "If I had your address I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils." There's nothing quite like the scent and feel of new pencils/crayons/notebooks....ah, the possibilities they hold.)

There are a hundred other reasons I love fall, but I think one thing that really makes fall special is the anticipation I feel during that time of year. Its almost like a new year, I suppose. Maybe because it used to mark the start of a new school year, which as a child is how I really ticked off the beginning of each year. Even now, as an adult who is done with school (for now, at least), I still anticipate fall as if it is the start of something new and fresh. It marks the start of the major holidays (halloween!, thanksgiving, christmas, new years) and it just feels like the overall pace of things pick up in the fall. Maybe I'm just imaging this bit, but either way I love fall and look forward to it every year.

What are you up to this fine Sunday and are you looking forward to fall?

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Did you see it?

Have you gotten a chance to see the last installment of the Harry Potter series? We went to a midnight showing. It wasn't nearly as crazy as I expected, but we must have just lucked out with our theater location. Normally, we avoid midnight premiers and such, but I knew we would see it in the theaters and since it is the LAST film, I wanted to enjoy it with a theater full of die hard Potter fans, most of whom were decked out in costumes and tribute t-shirts. I myself wore my AVPM 'Keep Calm, its Gonna Be Totally Awesome' shirt.
I thought it was wonderful! Great way to wrap up the films and much more humorous than I expected. I laughed, I cried (a little), I loved it. What did you think of it?

 I'll love you forever, Harry Potter.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Penelope

Have you seen this movie? It is definitely in my top 10 favorite movies for the following reasons: adorable/innocent love story, a full cast of wonderful characters played by amazing actors (Catherine O'Hara, Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage...), awesome score/soundtrack, BEAUTIFUL sets and props, and I love, love the costumes. Penelope is just adorable from head to toe. Plus, I just want to live in her bedroom, the colors and textures are gorgeous, and all of the terrariums and bird cages are wonderful. I've rounded up a few beautiful items that I would love to have and that I think would most definitely be found in Penelope's wardrobe.

If you haven't seen this yet and you are in the mood for a cute, feel good movie or are needing some creative inspiration I totally recommend this one. Plus, it has James McAvoy. James McAvoy. You pretty much can't go wrong with that.
Image Source

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Also, here is a great post about the set of Penelope from Apartment Therapy.