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ARCHIVES:
JANUARY 2006
monday, January
30
+++I am doing this "meme" thing once and only once for
BunintheOven and for the
sake of good internet kharma and on the off chance that it's fun.
Four by Four
Meme
Four jobs you’ve
had in your life:
Yogurt shop worker
Amusement Park portrait sketch artist (for 3 hours)
One of those Warner Brother's character that stand in front of the
mall stores (1 day)
Flower shop delivery person (as part of that I used to deliver mini
bud vases to Burger King. I would set out the new ones and pick
up the old ones to take back to the store.)
Four movies
you could watch over and over:
When Harry Met Sally
Pirates of the Caribbean
Lord of the Rings, any of them.
Something about Mary
Four places
you’ve lived:
Austin, Texas
Richmond, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Four TV shows
you love to watch:
24, even though it stresses me out and is kinda stupid sometimes
Desperate Housewives
What Not To Wear
Isaac
Four places
you’ve been on vacation:
Seattle
Lake Tahoe (twice)
Hawaii
San Diego (many times)
Four websites
you visit daily:
Bunintheoven
Penelope
Illustration
Drawn! (try to)
Lori Joy Smith
Four of your
favorite foods:
Tater tots
Avocado
Chocolate turtles with pecans
Chicken verde enchiladas with charro beans
Four places
you’d rather be:
Eating dinner with Snail at UCHI
Watching a movie at the theatre with Snail (it happens so infrequently)
On a sandy sunny beach
Finally, alone and all the time to paint with Snail in the other
room painting too
Four albums
you can’t live without:
Private Beach Party by Gregory Isaacs
Anything by Prince
(I'll think of something tomorrow)
The end.
saturday,
January 28
+++ There's a cute store in town that sells the cute Japanese character
stuff and we used to go in there pretty regularly. The lady got
to know us and we would always buy something. The last time we were
there about a year or so ago, we paid cash for a purchase and were
.25 cents short. We had to go out to the car to get the quarter.
No...it didn't matter that we'd spent probably a few hundred dollars
in her store, or that we were loyal customers....No, she couldn't
spare us a quarter. It was pretty insulting and we haven't been
back to her store since.
Anyway, I stopped by the online store I check out, Dreamkitty,
to see what was new. What's new is this plush
Afro Ken. Hilarious.
wednesday,
January 25
+++Sunday, I finally made a new recipe that I had been salivating
over... Carmelized Apple Tart on the cover of January Issue Bon
Appetit. The first step was making a simple crust which is something
I don't do very often, but is something I have done with success
in the past. (I am confident in my direction following abilities,
if nothing else.) The crust had to sit in a ball in the fridge for
an hour while I started carmelizing apples in an iron skillet on
the stove, with butter and sugar.
Once that cooked, I took the dough ball out of the fridge to roll
out but it was much too hard to roll out. When i tried smushing
and rolling, it got crumbly, which i took to mean that it was too
dry. Then I shrugged my shoulders and crumbled it on top of my apples
and stuck it in the oven to cook. Apple cobbler, anyone?
Before the crust was brown, the apples got too carmelized, i think.
And to me, the crust tasted like flour.
I have been trying to think what i did wrong. The only thing that
I can think of is that our fridge is too cold. This seems reasonable,
because we've had some frozen diet cokes as of late. But, I didn't
think of that at the time, or I would had given the crust some time
to relax.
This is no way to impress Bun
In the Oven, that much I know.
saturday,
January 21
+++I am sorting throught 2 small drawers in my craft area. One is
labeled CARD MAKING and the other is labeled SCRAP PAPERS. Over
time, they have become full of the same unorganized random items
-- mostly scrap peices of paper and a few odd envelopes. Some of
them are decorative looking and some of them are scraps. I threw
them all away because I am thinking, "When will there ever
be no scrap paper laying around? In fact, I get
10 peices of scrap paper in the mailbox every single day. The stuff
is pouring into the house....It's lying on the counters. As if I
need a drawer labeled SCRAP PAPER. I couldn't possibly use this
all of the scrap paper if i TRIED!!."
Last week at work I finally cut the ball and chain that was this
giant notepad that had been on my desk for about 3 years. It came
from 3 mergers ago, and at the bottom of it was 3 pictures of credit
cards. It was heinously ugly....but....there was so much paper to
be used!!! Sigh. Well, after 3 years, I barely made a dent in the
sucker, as I primarily make lists in a fancy spiral notebook that
I bought at Container Store cause that's the kind of notebook the
designer is supposed to carry around. I can't tell you how happy
i was to throw that ugly pad of paper into the trash.
Right behind that, is a stack of tall and skinny pads of paper that
our company printer had made up for a few people, each with our
names across the top. I have a stack of this stuff about 6 inches
tall. I think i'll throw that away on Monday.
monday, January
16
+++Snow Miser and Isaac Mizrahi separated at birth? Yes? No? Yes?
sunday, January
15
+++Friday night I ate the most blissful cheeseburger at Fuddruckers.
Snail and I split the 2/3lb and he assembled all the toppings, which
is what he does best. It was moist and the bun was crispy buttery
on the edges and the lettuce was cold and the fries were hot. It
was wonderful.
After the movie, we went to see Harry Potter. WHY on earth do movies
need to be soooooooooo long? Its just ridiculous. There's no way
in hell i'm going to see Kong OR Narnia.
Anyway, i haven't read that Goblet of Fire book ( i want to), but
it was good, but it was long. This is how long it was:
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Dragon fighting
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Golden Egg
Long
Long
Creepy bath with egg
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Ron with his ugly dress robes
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Long
Underwater mermaid stuff
Long
Long
Long
Long
Dead guy
Long
Long
Long
+ I went to a Yoga class this morning in effort to bring some relaxation
and exercise into my life. The room was packed, but there's tons
of natural light, which makes for a super nice Yoga studio. I will
look forward to going back. I was in a back corner laughing that
I can't touch my toes. Maybe that's my goal for this year -- touching
my toes. Seems doable in 12 months time.
Anyway, the girl in front of me had a dime sized hole in her pants
right where her butt hole would be. Isn't that a crack up? I mean,
what WOULD a yoga class be without that?
thursday,
January 12
++Lovely prints by Angie
Lewin. (via buzzville)
++Cool looking Japanese
doll making book. (via wee
wonderfuls)
-=-=-=
wednesday,
January 11
I have been busily researching alternative allergy treatments. Back
in December, I found an acupuncture person that was recommended
to me and I made an appt for the beginning of January. After I made
the appointment, Snail and I drove by the doctor office so that
I could check it out. I knew it was near the college and it DID
end up being in some random, average-looking apartments. It turned
out that I ended up canceling my appointment because I had a cold,
but i didn't reshedule because of the crappy apartments.
Since then, I have fallen victim to Google and "allergy"
and "treatment."
As far as I can
see, there's acupuncture, herbs, NAET treatment, Yoga, Bio-Set and
I guess that's it so far. The Bio-Set has to do with enzymes/ more
herbs/ detox? and the NAET technique has its own set of complications
-- both of those fall under chiropractic methods. The Yoga has to
do with stress, which can be a factor that can make allergies works.
Did I mention unpasteurized honey once a day?
Its difficult because I lean toward thinking all of it is a bunch
of voodoo bullcrap. And on the other hand, I need help and Mr. USA
Allergy Doctor has nothing left for me.
I'm fine with paying out of pocket for one of these alternative
treatments, but that doesn't mean i'm thrilled with going down a
$500, 6-month road to come out with nothing.
Which brings me back around to where I started.....acupuncture.
Can millions of Chinese people really be wrong for thousands of
years?!?
-=-=-=
Thursday,
January 5
I'm not into New Years' Resolutions but I DO think it can be a good
thing to have goals for yourself. If you don't have goals, whether
written or not, you might forget that you wanted to do something.
For me, last year I accomplished my one goal which was to sell a
painting. And the selling wasn't as important as just getting my
work into a public space -- some place other than my studio. All
that to say that I definitely did that. It took me until mid-november,
but I did it.
For this coming year, I don't have anything that specific yet. I
know that I need to take a break from painting in order to beef
up my online design/illustration portfolio. I don't want to take
a break from painting, but the professional design stuff is being
neglected and I must shift my attention over there for a while.
My flash skills have become beyond rusty and its time to get back
in the game for the sake of my job/career.
I keep thinking about combining Sleepypie and my portfolio but I
don't think that route is for me. As much as I admire so many folks
who do that, and as clean and appealing as it all is in one neat
package and as much 'publicity' as I could get for my artwork......
I think it would feel burdensome and sleepypie was always meant
to be fun, even at the risk of being neglected. The day it becomes
a chore or something that reflects my professional side, is the
day I stop.
I am constantly amazed at all of the projects that I wish I had
more time to spend on. It hasn't always been like that. I'm starting
to be jealous of people with time (whoever those people are, but
i know you're out there).
====
These were my VERY limited Christmas crafts for last year - Mini
Embroidered Santas. This is one of the ones that I didn't like enough
to give away. I think only 2 made the cut for being giveable and
the rest lay in a stack. Maybe i'll make a 'santa rejects' pillow
next year and sew them all together.
-=-=-=
Sunday, January
1: Happy New Year!
...Today,
our fourth pita pizza, the recipe has been perfected.
Step 1
Take one pita bread, whatever size you like.
Step 2
Using your oven broiler, toast on one side.
Step 3
On the untoasted side, place some grated mozzarella and a sliced
tomato
Step 4
Place in broiler and cook until toasty
Step 5
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Step 6
Regret that you don't have any fresh basil.
Step 7
Enjoy!
_+_+_+_+_
Saturday,
December 31
...Dear Sleepypie of the Future, December 2006:
Here is your Christmas craft. You will make these cute little ornament
birds using felt and scrap material. (Don't forget the curly cue
on the tops of their heads.) Yours won't be as precious as these,
made by Anthropologie people, but don't despair. You can only do
what you can do.
Good luck with everything else!
Yours truly, Sleepypie of the Past
Wednesday,
December 28
...We
got back home last night, from Virginia. Naturally, my stepsister
gave birth to her baby girl today. I left yesterday and she gives
birth today. I predicted that's how it would happen. I am already
pricing tickets for a trip back out there.
.... We didn't see any movies while we were gone.
....I didn't end up doing much Christmas baking this year, which
is sad. Today, I made some granola to help get it out of my system.
It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe: Coconut, Cherries and Almonds (I
used pecans, left out the cinnamon [Can't we have oats without cinnamon
for once?!?!] and added some salt). I've never made granola before
and I'm curious to see if its that much better than what you can
buy in the store. We have recently gotten in to plain yogurt and
adding our own flavoring/honey/ etc.
....Speaking of sweets and our Christmas travels, I think there
was one thing I ate that stood out far and above in my mind. It
was pecan pie squares. I am not sure what they are officially called.
Anyway, they are so much better than actual pecan pie because the
crust is a little bit thicker and the mystery goo part isn't as
gooey and there isn't as much of it and there's proportionally more
nuts. In the end it comes out perfect.
...I was thinking I would do a Christmas Regrets list/post or a
Christmas Resolutions. The idea is that I would reread this information
about mid-november next year and I would heed my own words. I have
been making this list in my mind for about a month but I didn't
write anything down. I know there were some key ones that I can't
remember. Anyway, in the hopes that it does SOME good, here it is:
Christmas Resolutions:
1. In November, start making your christmas craft, whatever it will
be. Also, decide who you will give them to because you always end
up with ones the have no home merely because you weren't sure who
to give them to because you didn't have very many.
2. Don't forget to make your neice a felt snowman with a pink scarf
with her name on it to hang at your dad's house with the other family
snowmen.
3. Don't forget to make your husband a christmas card. You made
a really nice one for your first year of marriage and then promptly
dropped the ball.
4. Do another gingerbread house if possible.
5. You'll never have enough time to do everything you want to do.
Oh well.
6. Make some pecan pie squares.
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