Snow Day!

2010!

Mike gave me this vintage sailor shirt for Christmas. I love it, especially the bow! So far I am doing awesome on my New Year resolution! I think most of my resolutions for this year are pretty much the same ones I made last year. I feel like I did fulfill those resolutions, so I want to do more of the same this year! This year I would also like to make some major changes, new job and new location! Also, maybe a new haircut.

So.. my 2010 resolutions are:

1. Wear bowties/bows

2. Have more dinner parties, at least one a month.

3. new job! new location!

4. Work more on my etsy shop, list more artwork.

5. Have as much fun as possible in Bloomington before we move!

Thanks ReStore!

Today it snowed like crazy in VA :(  So we couldn't start our driving today. Instead, we went to some thrift stores and used my Honeybaked Ham gift card! Yum, ham.

We went to ReStore and they were having a crazy sale $2 for a cloth bags and as many books/magazines as you could fit in the bag! I have to admit, we totally restrained ourselves, I could have fit way more magazines! A few are going to be gifts. I am keeping the Turkish cooking book!

Mike also gave me an early Christmas present...

I am definitely on my way to completing my New Year's Resolution!

Peace Out Summer 2009

Wah. I am sad summer is over and winter is approaching. I have never loved winter but I have especially hated it while living in Indiana. The sun is gone until spring, it is terrible!!

Here is a look back at a super fun summer...

I grew tomatoes! Hmm, only 2 but they were the most delicious tomatoes of all time.
Ginny came to Indiana! And we had a murder mystery puzzle party.
Josh and Katherine moved to Texas. Sad news, but fun because we visited them in Fort Worth!
First (and last??) experience at the drive-in theater.

Perfect Weekend!

Friday: worked lame... then came home and got Subway for dinner and went to see a movie in the park with Mike, and Nichol and Joseph. We saw Sunset Boulevard, I had never seen it before and I liked it very much!

Saturday: got up late, did yoga, showered, went to the grocery store, got Wendy's for lunch, hung out, walked downtown and went to a new antique store and Salvation Army. The antique store had a bunch of good stuff, Salvation Army was kind of crappy. Then we stopped at Sahara Mart and got drinks and started walking home.. then we saw a sigh "Guy Stuff for Sale!" so we stopped by. Guy stuff = random wires and wheels and a portable toliet. We didn't buy anything but it was pretty funny. The guy said there was a lady sale last week so I am sad that we missed that! And then Mike figured out how to attach our computer to our TV so we can watch netflix instantly on the TV. So, we watched a lot of Party Down a very good TV show!

Sunday: had at-home pedicures with Nichol and got caught up on Project Runway. I think I am rooting for Carol Hannah!

Weekend Recap

We went to the drive-in! It was the first time either of us had ever been to one. I thought it was a fun experience, but we both totally feel asleep. Lame-os.

I baked banana bread for the first time! I found an eggless recipe online since we didn't have eggs. We also didn't have the required 3 bananas, so I used 2 bananas and some applesauce. It tastes very good!

And we saw this ginormous buck! I have seen a lot of deer in the wild, but never a buck and not just hanging around in someone's yard eating plants! It did blow my mind. We walked back to the house so we could get the camera and come back and it was still in the same yard! What a weirdo.

Derby!

This summer I realized that I love roller derby! Not playing, I am not a good skater and have crappy health insurance but it is so fun to watch! Here are some shots from last night...




My garden has not been as fruitful as I had hoped! So far we have only eaten one tomato and there is one little green tomato still on the vine.



The tomato we did eat was delicious! Sprinkled with a little salt, pepper and feta! Yum! I think next year I will try a few varieties of tomatoes.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Last night I went to a Chinese New Year celebration. It was so fun and had free chinese food! Score! Mike played with 2 of his friends, here is the band before their big performance...



The opening act! The cutest little kids singing!





The auditorium before the performances began...



Mike and his friends playing. It was very dark, so hard to get a good photo.



Andrew, playing traditional Chinese songs. It was really neat, the crowd was singing along and waving their cell phones.

Snow. More blah.

Snow is beautiful, but I don't know what Bloomington's deal about not plowing is about. So, personal day at home it is!

blah

I hate snow.

July already!

This has been a semi-busy summer so far. Mainly busy because I got a job! I design the interior of books. I've only been working about a month but so far it's been pretty fun. But, since it's an 8-5, I haven't been working on art very much. Although I do have to admit to doodling at work. I have decorated my cubicle a tiny bit. I have my "Baby Sasha" pillow monster and 2 family photos!

I have been liking work also because I have been enjoying dressing up! It is a pretty casual office and technically we are only supposed to wear jeans on Fridays, but I have noticed a ton of people wearing jeans during the week. I have made a deal with myself that I will only wear jeans on Fridays and so far I have been good, although in the winter I can see myself wearing jeans more. In the summer I have been loving skirts and dresses, fun and easy to wear! I have had Mike take a picture of me when I come home so I can post it to wardrobe_remix. I am also keeping up with a pact I made that I will only buy from thrift stores, so far I haven't gotten anything new since December, except a black pair of malindi crocs I bought myself for my birthday. I am not sure how long this pact will go, maybe indefinitely except for very special things. I have been wanting a pair of black boots since last winter, so I might buy those new. Not buying things new has really changed my perspective on new clothes, and buying things in general.

In other news, Tuesday is me and Mike's 2 year anniversary. I think we are going to get fondue for a fancy dinner. I am going to wear my "anniversary dress"- a super colorful dress I found at a thrift store and have been saving for this very special occasion. Also, the traditional 2 year gift is cotton, so I am very anxious to exchange gifts!

Bloomington is so fun in the summer. We've been walking downtown a lot for dinner and walking to the cute little grocery store by our house. Next month we'll be going to the Greenbriar in WVA for a vacation with Mike's parents and sister and brother in law. I am very much looking forward to it! I saw that the Greenbriar recommends "resort casual" clothing, I don't really know what that means, I take it to mean skorts and floral and since I have both of those things, I am ready!

Fun weekend!

Mike's parents visited us this weekend, we had a blast! We ate at a lot of good restaurants, yum. We also went to Indianapolis and went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art!



LOVE sculpture! So cute! I didn't know that the IMA would be so big and nice- it is a really great museum. They also have a really nice garden, we saw a wedding couple taking pictures and I guess getting ready for their big day! It was really cute.
We also played my favorite game, masterpiece and I tried a new recipe, Minty Pea Green Guacamole- it was pretty good.

Green Pea Guacamole:


1 handful mint

juice from 2 limes

1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 cup green peas

1 garlic clove

1/2 t curry powder

1/2 t cumin

salt and pepper to taste


Put it all in the food processor and blend!

We ate it with tostito scoops. Also, I accidentally used tumeric instead of cumin, and I added a whole bag of frozen peas.

fun fun weekend!

I had a great weekend- 3 exciting art things..
-I sold two prints to one of Mike's friends who gave them to her sister! Now my prints are living in Seattle!
-Nichol (pillowmonsters.etsy.com) bought my mini set of peanut paintings!
-3 of my paintings are displayed at Sweet Hickory!

And then my mom and Ben were here all weekend and we had a blast. We played Masterpiece, which is very fun with four people. We ate a lot of good food, I made them lentil quesadillas and brownie sundaes. We ate at Bistro et Crepes, yum. We ate at White Castle, yuck, but Ben wanted to go, those little hamburgers are gross and weird. We ate at Snow Lion and got treats from Blu Boy. My mom and Ben and I went thrift shopping all day Saturday and we all found a few good things. I found chartreuse pumps, black shorts, a stripey tank top and a crazy jacket. Ben found the most deals with like a hundred button-up shirts and ties. Here is a picture of us wearing some of our new things.




This week it is back to adding things to etsy and job searching!

Tulips!

Yay! It is a beautiful day! I am even wearing shorts!
Also- I started a new painting, I am excited about it.

Another post! Mom's house tour.

I still have some pictures from my mom's house that I didn't post. This is a clock that Mike and I gave to my mom for her birthday. We had been to a craft fair in Bloomington and really liked the clocks and wood sculptures at Joe Henderson's booth, and later went to his house/studio and purchased this clock, along with a clock for Mike's mom for Christmas, and a larger clock for Mike's sister's wedding gift. I love the style of the clock, it is adjustable and so fun. They come in many different wood types, clock face styles and sizes. I want to get one for myself too!

It is snowing again!

booooooooooooo!

Weekend Recap

-picked up Jennifer at the Indy Airport

-ate in Nashville, Indiana, not Nashville Tennessee. Nashville, IN is a weird little place. Lots of artsy little shops and just weird stuff, like one of those old-timey portraits shops. We ate at the Hob Nob Corner Cafe. It was cute.

-Gave tour of Bloomington- pretty short tour, we drove around IU and that was about it.

-Went to FARM! It wasn't a long wait at all, the hostess said it would take 30 min so we waited at the bar, and only waited probably 5 minutes. The only problem was that I couldn't order my planned meal! They switched the menu on me! So, we shared the minty green pea guacamole, it was very good. Then I ordered the chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, also good. And I didn't order a dessert but I ate some of Mike's apple pie and Jennifer's "chocolate pot", which I thought was called "chocolate pod" and I thought it was going to be weird balls of chocolate. Overall, I did really like FARM, interesting menu, very cool interior design, definitely very trendy/hip sorta place, but it is too expensive to go very often.

-Sunday- went to church downtown for part of Mike's research. It's a church that meets in a theater. Walked around downtown, ate burritos at the Laughing Planet. Looked around at the vintage store, Cactus Moon. I love that store, but am usually too impatient to look that hard to find something awesome. We went to one of the gourmet/local grocery store and picked up some food to make quesadillas for dinner. 

-Had an oscar party. Ok, so it was just the three of us, but we did have oscar bingo and filled out the ballots. Mike won, but he didn't pick from his heart, he picked the predicted winners. I had only seen Juno anyway.

-Then this morning we went to the Runcible Spoon for brunch, had french toast. I had wanted to go there for a while because before I moved to Indiana, Ginny gave me an Indiana guidebook and it recommended that restaurant because they have fish in the bathtub in the bathroom. To me, that is reason enough to check out a restaurant. And they did have a fish! It was cute.

-Then we had to take Jennifer back to the airport, and now I am back to start working on art and taking Mike to his night class.

A very nice weekend, and lots of fun food! We also taught Jennifer how to play cribbage, so we played twice. We are like 75 years old.

Happy Wednesday!

I am in the process of listing 2 more items on etsy. Loading the pictures is taking forever! So now I have 8 things for sale.

I listed my peanut in flight sculpture and the peanut shaped living room painting.

So, about the weather! It snowed again last night. Do you know what is annoying? Pushing a grocery cart through an icy, slushy parking lot. Yuckers. That happened last week when I was shopping too. I am bored of winter. I hope the weather doesn't mess up Mike's sister's travel plans. Even though where we live in Indiana isn't very much north of where I am from in Virginia, I do think that it snows more here, and is definitely more windy. Also, there are tornados!! I am scared of tornados.

Other differences from VA and IN.

Liquor:

IN- sells liquor in grocery stores and even CVS!

VA- only sells liquor in liquor stores.

Motorcycles:

IN- don't need to wear a helmet.

VA- need to wear a helmet.

Terrain:

IN: very flat.

VA: very mountainous.

Cars:

IN: best DMV I have ever been to, and cars don't need to be inspected.

VA: terrible DMVs, although NC had the worst ever, and cars need to be inspected every year.

Those are all of the differences I can think of right now.

Food

One of my favorite things to do is look at menus online and pick out what I would order, is that pathetic? Anyway, Mike's sister is coming on Saturday so we will be going out to eat a couple times this weekend. That is the great thing about Bloomington, super great restaurants! FarmBloomington is a new restaurant that opened maybe a month ago and I have been dying to go! I have already picked out what I would order- so there will be no dilly-dallying in the restaurant. Straight to the food please.

Appetizer:  Green Pea and Avocado Guacamole with Spiced Flatbread

Dinner: Jerked Chicken Skewers with Sweet and Sour Tamarind Sauce

Dessert: Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Cashew Caramel Corn

So, I am ready for Saturday night. (or Sunday night)

I don't know what else we will do this weekend. We'll pick her up from the Indy airport and maybe stop at an outlet mall so Mike can spend his bday money.