Lets go….

I’m ready for someone to pull up in a van and hand me a check so charley and I can go start an adventure. When it happens, I’ll let you know but here are some places I’d love to go (my list changes a lot though). Photos are politely stolen from national geographic .com. Click them to go to the page.
1. Ireland and the UK. Green hills and castles. need I say more?

2. Taiwan- to see a whole new culture and visit friends
3. New Zealand- for the beauty and to pretend that I work for the WETA workshop

4. Mexico-(you gotta say it like mariocart mex—eee-co!)

5. Honduras

6. Iceland- I’m surprised I added two cold places on my list. But we’ve wanted to go here for a while! and go back with our friend Z. who’s already gone to see the aurora and Gull Foss.

7. Alaska-okay the second I read the travels of bumfuzzle it confirmed my desire to go here. It’s breathtaking, wild and I wouldn’t mind seeing some baby bears (from really far away).

8. Morocco

Greece

Russia


Where do you want to go next?

Where’s Waldo?

I’ve been stalking bunnies in the backyard for a week now. There's a family of baby bunnies living under our neighbors shed but they are soooo shy. Juneau scares them away most of the time, but I’ve seen them bounding around in the yard while she sleeps. It has been my quest to get their picture…but alas, they’re quick. This will have to do…just in time for Easter. Now if you can just pray that Juneau doesn’t eat them or my husband doesn’t run them over with the car (he has a history of hitting bunnies on the road, it’s weird.)

How to remove an old stump

STEP ONE:  Stick head in ground and survey stumps size and the thickness of the roots.

STEP TWO: Dig on one side of the stump deep beneath the grass.

STEP THREE: Switch sides and dig on the opposite side of the stump

STEP FOUR: Take a break. Bark at the hole to make sure there are no tunnel monsters** coming out of it.

      ** special note: tunnel monsters are known to exist in warm regions and like to hide in small dark places like tree stumps, sheds, and vacuum cleaners. They are easily dispelled by a Bark of Might or the Formidable Husky Yowl.

STEP FIVE: Survey hole from within for  more intruders. When deemed safe, continue digging.

STEP SIX: Call owner to remove stump. Clean dirt from tongue.

Thought bubbles

Today I took our Fruit slicer into the backyard with some soap water to try to entertain Juneau. I thought she’d go crazy and catch the bubbles. She just sat there and looked at me. DIDN’T CARE at all!!!! I was crushed. So I basically played with bubbles by myself.

Ceramic Animals

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I found this little guy at the antique store, while cute, he was intended for our bookshelf. He didn’t fit the quota for uniformity and cleanness. A little leftover high gloss spray paint in the garage did the trick, and voila! an instant shrine to Juneau while remaining modern and clean. He is up on the bookshelf next to Juneau’s cookie jars full of treats. Appropriate right!?

Honey Bourbon Chicken

salt and pepper chicken. Heat oil in skillet, when smoking, place chicken strips in pan.  Cook for a few seconds on either side for a crispy skin. Make a glaze out of bourbon, honey, and lemon by reducing the alcohol in a saucepan for about 20 minutes and adding other ingredients. Coat the chicken and continue to slow roast the chicken in the oven.

Now and then….

Homemade Sundried Tomato and Absinthe Pasta

Charley gave me lessons in pasta making today, I thought I’d pass them on!

1 Cup Regular Flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Two Eggs

two tablespoons absinthe

two tablespoons water

(optional) sun dried tomatoes

Put dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a small crater in the center and crack your eggs in it. Using a fork, slowly pull the flour in from the outside. Keep mixing until you have a crumbly mixture and then switch to kneading by hand. form into a flat log and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for about an hour at room temperature. This relaxes the dough and you can now flatten it an feed through your pasta roller. (If you roll out by hand you will need to roll, rest dough, roll flatter, rest dough.) Then feed the dough through a slicer and hang the noodles to dry.

Anne's landscape

I finished finally. I hadn't worked on this for soooo long and it was about time I finished it. I lost interest in it halfway through because of my composition. I still feel like it's a little "bla"....but it's finished. That's what counts. This was it in the beginning stages from this post. Juneau kindly informed me that she thought the painting was incomplete and that it would have looked better like this:

I think it looks a lot better with Juneau in the picture :). This painting lacks a clear focal point and the central diamond shaped cloud takes over. Lesson noted, next landscape, I should probably work on that. The greenery was from a picture I had taken in Tuscany at the amazing house of our tour leader. We were fed authentic homemade Italian meal complete with fresh breads and a unleavened fruit cake with berries from their garden. They owned a three part villa on the side of a mountain with a brick oven and a bedroom that opened up to the sky. Paradise in true form. My friend Anne (whom the painting is for) and I spent a happy moment napping in the grass while their donkey and goat bleated down the way.

 

I wish I could sleep as soundly as Juneau

I put clothes on today

Thats a step towards a healthier life right? not wearing "comfy clothes". Well these don't count for much because they are still comfy clothes...I just figured I'd get back on the bandwagon with the pictures. I haven't really wanted to go take pictures of myself in a while. I was way lazy and set the camera in the patio chair instead of a tripod which is why there are blur lines from the bars. Below the backyard pictures is my new dress that I'm pretty stoked about. 

On a positive note, friends are the best. They really do make my day and I think I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world for knowing the ones I do. 

Happy Monday

I really like my new dress from the clearance rack at Anne Taylor loft. I needed  a dress for shooting weddings that wasn't made of flimsy jersy like my other dresses. I needed something that was easy to move around in and had a high neck so I could lean over modestly. I usually wear black to weddings so I blend in more, but since we were outside I felt like this blended better. My second shooter Abby snapped these while we did the bridal party...it's really weird seeing pictures of yourself at work!

I realize the pics are a little hard to see but I will be wearing it on Easter Sunday so maybe I'll take another picture.

Thinking through it

You may remember my post about our drab bedroom from over here. I've been trying to come up with some cheap ways to freshen up the bedroom with a near to none budget. I'm rather stuck. The light is VERY dim in there because the window faces the neighbors siding. The paint is a dingy green and the trim is off white. I'm not a huge fan of our country orange stained bedroom set but I can live with it for now. I just wish there was a way to balance out the tones. My dream bed would be something like the farmhouse canopy set from Pottery Barn…but alas, my pocket does not have several thousand to dish out of a bed. Thus begins BRAINSTORMING SESSION:

There were few color combinations that I could think of that matched the green with the orange wood. The coral and sea green mixture is light and refreshing in the inspiration picture I found via Martha Stewart.

 

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT:

This option is the most practical because it works with what's there. I don’t feel entirely confident that it would pull together well however. I would move our pink chair from the living room to the bedroom for a reading chair and possibly purchase the inexpensive table from urban outfitters and maybe pop a full length mirror in the corner for functionality.

 

WHAT I DON’T LIKE ABOUT IT:

It’s not very “us” and most definitely not very Charley. I shudder to think of even mentioning using a “pink” color in our bedroom. The colors along with our country furniture are just a little too beach comber for our more modern tastes.

 

Option two involves us selling the bedroom set. It’s solid wood and in good condition, if we found the right buyer we could afford something that matched our tastes a little more. I am definitly a bit more in love with the inspiration picture in this one.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT:

this would be a worthier effort to try to define our space. The grey is both warm and relaxing and fits the need for a little masculinity in our bedroom. It’s also not horribly expensive with the bedframe purchase from ikea at 50$ and a custom made headboard. It would match our current duvet cover and we could purchase an inexpensive grey box pleat bed skirt. I would sew a blanket of the Robert Allen Ikat fabric and probably get some soft lambs wool for our feet as we get out of bed.

WHAT I DON’T LIKE ABOUT IT:

It’s not feasible As far as we know we are not allowed to paint. We’re stuck with green unless we could convince the landlords otherwise. We’d also have to wait to sell our bedroom set.

 

Option three would involve making a bit more money off of selling our bedroom furniture. It would be to switch to dark wood to compliment the already green room. Ikea has a wonderful canopy bed for $299. We would also need a dark dresser like the HEMMES (another $299) or we could use our two tone dresser from upstairs.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT:

I will never grow tired of green and white. They are my two favorite colors. The idea of new furnishings is also quite tempting. I love the idea of having an oversized vase on the floor next to some reading materials like the beautiful picture taken from the inspiring “Solid Frog” blog.  Plus it involves no painting!

WHAT I DON’T LIKE ABOUT IT:

Spending the $$$ on new furniture If we have perfectly functional pieces already. We could probably sell the set for enough to cover costs or only pay a small amount possibly. Plus there is the fear of IKEA furniture..they might be more our tastes but will they hold up?

I would GREATLY CHERISH your OPINIONS...help...warnings...snarky comments....ideas....anything!