Happy belated new year!

2011 was a year that I didn't expect too much starting the year out with no new years celebration due to being plagued with the stomach flu. But turns out the saying "in like a lion, out like a lamb" showed some validity. 2011 was the year I began to consider myself a true artist, acquired a boyfriend that isnt scared by my quirks, graduated, and now considered an adult by society. Lets see how long I can update the cyber universe on my thoughts, hopes, desires, and adventures. Cheers to 2012 and all that it brings!

ok so doing your laundry at a laudromat is sooo bad....

Sitting here (IN AIR CONDITIONING!!! :)!!!!) watching "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" with the cookie monster reading the questions = awesome

The Laundromat isn't so bad. I have memories of watching Ross & Rachel doing their laundry at such a place and learning some very important tactics! "No Suds, No Save" etc. :)

Plus it's a great place for WIFI, people watching, catching up on some tv watching, which today is actually kinda educational. I mean I just learned that Hawaii is the only state to grow coffee in the U.S!!! And I just realized that the cookie monster kinda sounds like he has an asian accent??? Maybe my ears deceive me??? Oh and watching the clothes going round and round is mesmerizing and I wonder if you could hypnotize yourself to pass the time if you didn't have a lovely laptop like mine.

Possible upcoming topics might be regarding.... Clay Wars, Tattoos, MN State Fair so stay tuned!

I'm a Baker now!

I've always imagined myself being a baker but I never thought it would actually happen! I've been working at Target for many years and last week the LOD talked to me about if I wanted to be cross-trained in Bakery! So this week I've worked a couple training shifts and found out Bakery is A LOT of fun! And easier than I expected...still very challenging but I don't have to mix anything! It has been challenging to remember the order in which to bake everything and figuring out how much to make but I have been doing it and haven't been messing up too much! hehe The first day I forgot to scour the french bread which wasn't a big deal bc we still sold it no prob! It just didn't look like it should aesthetically... that's all for now

Moving...

Being in the same place for two years has really spoiled me.... I forgotten how much of a pain it is to move all your furniture across town just for a year. It really makes you look at all the crap you have accumulated and decisions need to be made whether you should keep or toss it. Turns out I was too lazy to figure that out before I moved to my new place because I have so much junk! Is it sad that I am thinking about taking over the lease after my roommate Leda graduates just so I don't have to move again at least for another year after this one.

It's weird how I have only spent two nights in my new room but it's starting to feel like I have always slept in the room.

What is going on??

It's May and it should be warm and sunny but here I sit with multiple layers freezing - a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt plus I am wrapped up in a blankets!! How sad is it that I actually want to go back to the print studio because the room is warm from the hotplates being used!

I actually finished my woodblock relief project with time to spare today...the only problem is that I don't think people will "get" what the imagery is!!! So far people see my "cave" as a sunset and forest when I really tried to make the stalactites and stalagmites look layered and cool! Oh well I will post a photo later...and let you know how the critique goes next week...

Ah Spring...

I have never smelled so many lilacs across town ever! Spring is here, everything is blooming, and it is time for my favorite things of the year which are farmer's markets and garage sales!

There's something about going to a garage sale that is so alluring for me.... I don't know if it because I can get a puzzle for 25 cents or because I get to meet the people of the neighborhood while pieces of their life are on display and for sale. My mom has held a tremendous amount of garage sales so I have made up a list of the types of people that love garage sales.

1) the collector- they are very direct and sometimes do not even step outside their cars. They know what they want and if you don't have it... see ya!

2) the vintage lover- I am one of those people that love old things because they have a story to tell- a history of why it was made, etc...

3) the hand-me-down queen- these are moms that are savvy shoppers and know that their children will grow out of their clothes too fast to buy something new and expensive

4) the college student- they need everything but don't have the money to buy from dept stores so garage sales are the place to be!

There's always more....

a interesting ponder....

Can you see an invisible person using x-ray vision?

The Julie/Julia Project

Just got done with watching Julie & Julia for about the 5th or so time and it makes me wonder if I could ever commit a year in completing a project like that. People make new years resolutions every year. Mine this year are pretty generic and uninteresting: exercise more, eat healthier, and get Mondays off to go out and mingle more. However, as generic and uninteresting my new years resolutions are, they were carefully planned so they can be attained. I mean, I knew if I were to put down actual numbers like losing 20 pounds and failing to do so or whatever, it would stress me out. I figure, if I can only add an extra block or two for my walk to school everyday that it still counts! hehe Mmmmm but if I were to create my own project....what would it be?

It's been a while....

I have realized that it takes a lot more planning to have a blog than I had originally expected.... Or at least for me. There are some reasons for this: 1) I don't spend that much time on the internet other than to check email 2) lately I barely have enough to sleep 3) I feel like I don't have anything witty enough to write.... yet here I am babbling! But that is the real reason to have a blog in the first place is to babble and see if anyone agrees with you.

My Bagel Adventure!

Bagels are the perfect breakfast food and my favorite thing to eat on the go. I recently engaged on my own adventure to make bagels so I can have fresh bagels whenever I want! Muhahaha

The thing is I had no idea about all the steps it takes to make a successful bagel.

1) you need bread flour! I learned that bread flour has more gluten, gluten is what makes bagels nice and chewy.

2) I'm not sure I activated the instant yeast I bought because they really didn't puff up as much as I thought they should.

2-1/2) I hate the smell of yeast and it is not a good idea to take a big whiff!

3) you need to boil the bagels for a minute or two before baking them.

4) I need to add more bananas in order for it to taste like a banana bagel.

5) I need to not forget the chocolate chips!

All this means is that there will be future bagel adventures and hopefully will not result in bagel hockey pucks!

aw autumn where have you been all year...

Today was the very first day it felt like Autumn and could it have come any later?? It's almost October! I was so delighted this morning as I awoke with goosebumps instead of sweat. It has been the weirdest year in terms of weather and it only makes me think of that movie," The Day After Tomorrow." I even had the chance to wear my very new vintage leather jacket I bought for $10 and scarf from Florence. I looked like I could fly an airplane but I was cozy and that's all that matters right? Autumn is my favorite time of year because of the beautiful colors of the leaves changing, the crispness in the air, and wrapping up in cozy sweaters and socks.

Sidenote: One thing about Autumn that is weird in comparison to the other seasons is that it is also called Fall. No other season has two names and what I have heard is that "Fall is the season so nice, they named it twice!"

Fruit flies every where.....

Either they have banded together to stalk me where ever I go or there has been a wide-spread infestation of fruit flies.  Even across states I ran into fruit flies every place I have ventured whether it is a supermarket, cafe, my house, or where ever.  I believe that there can no other reason for this abundance of fruit flies is that the world is rotting away. Society and it's greed of land, resources, and total disregard for preserving the world for future generations has caused the world to slowly rot away and the evidence is seen through fruit flies.  Is this a complete ventification of my own being fed up with society or is there some truth to it.... hmmm

My first Pub Crawl didn't involve crawling which is good...

I don't know what it is but 30+ people all wearing matching shirts, drinking and dancing the night away. It's a lot of fun and I didn't actually spend that much because people kept buying me drinks.

We went to every single bar on the water street strip and I can't believe I actually ended up drinking at every single place.  I have no idea how late I stayed out but the fatigue I feel today is worth it. I think a float down the lazy river will do me good.

Catch ya on the fly

Another previous food adventure....

I have only had sushi once before, a california roll with some kind of orange colored caviar on top.  The california roll I liked, the orange colored caviar - not so much because it was very salty and fishy which is implied being pickled fish eggs. 

But even with my previous experience with sushi and not particularly liking the whole package, I decided to give sushi another chance.

Challenge: food adventure

The destination: Shanghai Bistro

The chosen sushi: avocado roll (WHICH I FOUND OUT DOESN'T ACTUALLY HAVE ANY FISH IN IT oh well), spicy tuna roll (deliciously spicy), salmon avocado roll (ok), and california roll ( yes I gave it another try and liked it b/c this time there was no caviar all over it).

The result: 1) I learned that I will only eat Maki type sushi which is the seaweed wrapped kind compared to Nigiri type sushi which has the raw fish just sitting on top (eww).  

2) I really liked the spicy tuna roll and california roll.

3) I learned not all sushi actually has raw fish in it which I find odd but oh well...

what i hope are plums....

So I have these trees in my front yard and they now bear fruit that looks a lot like wild plums so I have decided to harvest them and make something delicious.  It was quite the sight to see because I was too short to reach most of them so I shook the branches which resulted in a avalanche of plums upon my head.  So I now emerge covered in plum juice with quite the bounty ready to bake! I just hope that they are not poisonous because that would be a problem.  I thinking a cake or pie might be nice.... I will keep you updated with how it turns out and if I die or not.

This is an adventure in food for sure... more to come of course

Ingredients vs. Contents

I've noticed that manufacturers/ companies (whoever creates the product's label) put the word 'ingredients' instead of 'contents' on shampoo, lotion, dish soap, etc.. aka things you should not eat.. but when I think of ingredients usually food comes to mind and I generally feel hungry (but just want to clarify that I have NOT tried to eat any of these products). I think that they should change it read contents.. this way nobody will get confused.... although... I've never confused my shampoo or dish soap for chocolate syrup..hmmm...but still ..even if it was just a movie or not--Freddie Prince Jr. in the movie Down To You drank shampoo!!-- different circumstances or not.. he coud have been confused because of the ingredients thing.. therefore I think it should be changed.
Any thoughts?

1000 journals

http://www.1000journals.com/index.php?view=Journals%2FIndex 

1000 journals, all with different covers, all around the world...check it out

I bet you've never dreamed of this....

Okay this is something I heard on the travel channel as I was flipping through the channels... yes that's right i watch it all the time cuz i like to imagine my self at these places but anyways.. There is a place in Prague called the Imperial Cafe where there was a bowl of 5 dozen day-old jelly donuts stacked and for 60 american dollars you can buy the bowl and literally throw them at people in the cafe. Now I've heard that there were some conditions to this transaction- 1 you had to be 21 or older & 2 you had to be sober to do this. The whole thing is at your own risk because the restaurant wont protect you from the angry customers but....
This whole idea came from one of the most popular books in the Czech Republic which is a comic novel called “Satumin" that was published in 1943, during the Nazi occupation. And the novel opens with the division of everyone in the world into three types. According to the novel, in a café confronted by a plate of doughnuts, Type 1 people just stare at them and do nothing, Type 2 people fantasize about throwing one but don't, and Type 3 people are "for whom the idea of a doughnut whistling through the air is such an enticement that they get up and actually make it happen." I totally want be type 3 but because im chicken so thats makes me type 2. What about u?

All I have to say for the day is.... There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.::: Henry Moore :::