ice cream parties

i just love summer. ryan has been cooking out nearly every night we eat together, so i'm getting veggie burgers or fresh grilled veggies at least 3 nights a week! i'm also loving how late it stays light out- i think it helps night people like me stay totally focused & productive for many more hours! (and not feel so bad for waking up inexcusably late every couple of days, ack)


lou & i had some friends over last night for an ice cream party- it was suuuuper gooey sugary sweet fun! i had made a joke the night before about putting lucky charms on my ice cream, and lou went out and bought a box! ha. so we had chocolate syrup, whipped cream, lucky charms, m&ms, and my super embarrassingly large sprinkle collection to choose from. above is a little photo collage of everyone's ice cream masterpiece! i think i missed a couple but they were all pretty similar... lots of toppings!


ohh! speaking of food! my dad USPS'd me a box of green tomatoes! it was totally unexpected & kooky (he does strange things like that sometimes) but i fried them up and made tons and tons of fried green tomatoes... now i have this lingering craving for them all the time. i've GOT to get back to juliette, GA (sight of the classic movie) to the Whistlestop Cafe (!!) for more. that was like the best southern meal i've ever had, period.


also, of course, i've been keeping up with my linocut stuff. it's so strange how much i'm enjoying it, that i haven't gotten tired and moved onto a new medium. i'm usually gung ho with stuff for a few weeks or months, then feel very obligated to the medium and move on- or worse, experience a total inspiration dry spell. i think because it is a pretty vast medium & it's given me the courage i've never had to start attempting to illustrate things. the image above was a quick, two minute doodle and 15 minute carve.



that tangent actually reminded me, last summer around this time i got some money together and bought everything i needed to start casting resin. that lasted about 3 weeks or so when i became discouraged after i realized how easy it is for everything to come out looking really kitschy and cheap (which, oddly enough, would be how i endearingly describe my paper goods style). welp, the other afternoon i found a bunch of pieces that i actually like and i went ahead and drilled them & started attaching wire so they could be pendants. i literally stopped mid-posting the last paragraph to try to get some nice pictures while there is still some daylight left in my room- maybe i'll post a few pictures here. & i would love honest feedback, my feelings won't be hurt since this was a medium i never took the time to learn about. are they ugly? are they something you would wear, or even a kooky relative would wear? i would love feedback because if i keep holding onto them i'll eventually trash them like everything else. (there's not supposed to be a cat hair in the second! i didnt notice it until after i uploaded the pic, & it brushed right away.)

that should be about it for today, i think. i'm going to try to be a little better about smaller, more frequent posts rather than these massive ones. ohhh but be excited! this time next week i should have some sets of cloth napkins ready! i am sooooo excited about fabric block printing- i'm going to start practicing tonight on scraps. c:

i am full of okra!

georgia! on my mind! it's recently hit me that i am just a month shy of it being a year since i've last been home. i miss gidget so so much, my little tiny baby doggy- she still apparently looks for me in my old room sometimes. sigh. i haven't seen any friends or family, except for my aunt & uncle that i drove up to the catskills with for christmas. i missed my great aunt's (we call her droopy) 90th birthday bash that my aunt organized- i love her so dearly, she's such an amazing sweet funny old lady and i'm really bummed i couldn't arrange/afford to fly in. somewhat of a relief from homesickness, tonight, last minute, i got to see the braves (um, hello, in these amazing free seats ryan snagged via his aunt) beat the phillies! to celebrate i came home and made up some fried okra- i almost never, ever eat it anymore. i've only found it one other time since i've been up here, and it rotted before i found corn meal to bread it with. so that's a good 2+ years without having my favorite childhood food.


speaking of food, ryan and i had a stuffed pepper night the other night! he is really into that wilted spinach/feta orzo i posted a picture of before. we saw trader joe's use little bell peppers as bowls for orzo, so i grilled up some halves and we scooped it in. then we found a "low fat" recipe for jalapeno poppers, that calls for low fat cream cheese, cheese, and baking rather than frying. while we cook a lot more glamorous things (truly, we grill a lot and make stunning kebabs) they were such a cute pair that i couldn't help but take a picture.


(lilly doesn't want to leave! & my excessive packing supplies.)
they've rented out my apartment and i've got a little over two weeks to pack up & move. i'm pretty bummed about it- so so much has changed here, and even though mistie and i technically had our first apartment for six months... i still really consider this my first. it's too expensive for me to renew my lease, so. we move on.


so other things- this has been a really great week. ryan and i went to see ben folds play at drexel for $5 on saturday, totally last minute. yesterday we met up with dan and had a photo adventure around the nicer, greener parts of philadelphia (see above!) then tonight the three of us went to the aforementioned braves' game, in probably the best seats i've ever sat in. this weekend ry has the kanye/lupe/rhianna/NERD tickets for free, i think- so i'm finally moving at my preferred speed again, and feeling really good about it. especially since it's all been virtually free!

wow, this was soooo wordy. i hope everyone else is enjoying their start to the summer- love love.

happy wednesday

okay, okay, so i know how annoying it is to post two days in a row. but i am having a really great day, and i want to get these pictures up since they are already on flickr.

i got my books today! i am afraid it is going to hinder my productivity, but i am so excited to read again. and learn to draw! if i see any progress, i will try to post it so other drawing-challenged people can know it's not bunk.

last night i made my first etsy sale- it was really exciting to have a sale so fast but i have a feeling i'll probably go a month without another. c: i made a logo stamp for myself last night and picked up some stuff to make clay/silver adjustable rings. i am feeling so creative ever since i left art school, go figure.



today jamie and i went to lunch (i think our like 8th week in a row eating the same meals in the same place) and then fabric row after. the above photos are of the salad i get, that i am so obsessed with (it has trail mix, sprouts, chick peas, roasted red pepper, tons of herbs, veggies, etc for like $4) and jamie. the photos below are of my favorite store on fabric row (it is like that aisle on both sides, plus middle aisles and a huge back with rolls of fabric) and my dream fabric that i have talked myself out of buying for curtains about eight times now. i think that i am going to miss that coffee shop and fabric row a lot if i move away. ugh having an entire strip of fabric stores is so dreamy, even if the majority of them are mostly just upholstery.



alright, i am going to go either make some earrings or dye my jeans dark again or read or whatever- they are all good options.

clumsy

i really resent that i can't draw at all. i feel like with all the illustration-based hobbies i've collected (silkscreening, stamping, embroidery, etc) that i'm really held back by the fact that i can't draw anything that looks... like anything. so i mostly rely a lot on traces/copies of old copyright-free textbooks, edits of old wallpapers- that sort of thing. i got a c+ in freshma drawing and it just made it all so real, that i just cannot freaking draw. i don't enjoy it, nothing i ever try to get down looks like the elaborate concepts in my head. and it's not even bad in that kitschy marketable way. it's just bad. ugh.

well regardless of this never-ending setback, i have a couple of new stamps! including a new ornate stamp that is about 3x the size of the last little guy. i CANNOT WAIT to stamp jersey fabric with this and go nuts making dresses.



here are some of the first finished card sets. i probably will keep these for myself/toss out because they printed so terribly- thankfully i have tons of nice stamping inks coming from jo-ann's this week (ugh i got sucked into a sale + free shipping). also! the colors aren't so offensive IRL, i just took them in a dark room on a black table.





oh! you gotta see this delicious bread that ryan made -from scratch- for us to eat with dinner the other night- (vegan!) recipe courtesy of: my paper crane


and since i've weighed you down with images, i am just going to urge you to look at marc jacob's spring (ready to wear) shoe collection @ marcjacobs.com. i have thought about it at least once a day since i first saw it over christmas break. it will seriously blow your mind.

night!

all things cold!

+this is my little roof deck. woke up about 830 to beautiful, three inches of snow! very exciting. but now, i am stuck in my apartment waiting for ryan to get back from school stuff. i was going to make plans for today, but the gorgeous snow turned to a really disgusting mist that is melting everything. i went to the grocery store a few blocks away, and the sidewalks are gray slush that are soaking my feet, gorgeous boots included.



+i just want to show my boots. maybe the most important fashion lesson i learned this year (the hard way, btw) is to freaking tuck your pants into your socks before trying to wiggle into slouch boots. i'm hoping to pass on this knowledge, because it really knocked five minutes off my routine. FIVE MINUTES OF PUTTING ON SHOES.



+the sundaes i made ry and i for dessert night last night. we've skipped the past few weeks, so this was a real treat. HOW CUTE IS THAT.