Photography

This next weekend is going to be all about taking photos for me! I have been putting off getting familiarized with my new Nikon and I need to get some practice. I'm going to be doing some informal photo shoots soon (for fun and to see if I can eventually earn some cash from taking photos to support my art/photography hobbies) and I need to know what I'm doing for that. I feel comfortable composing shots, but my technical knowledge sadly lags behind and I need to improve that.

Dr. Horrible = Dr. Awesome

I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog this weekend and it was really great. The songs were very catchy, the acting was great, it was funny and sad and wonderful and awful with all of the little details and things I like about the Whedonverse!

I am glad that Jeff is back...

Here is a picture of Jeff when he was in Seattle on his trip. Isn't he cute?

Jeff made a casserole (or would it be hot dish?) in our pretty robins egg blue dutch oven that we got as a wedding gift. I like it so much when he cooks! I wish he'd do it more!

Too Hot

It is really hot outside today. It has been for the past couple of days and it is really getting to me. I feel tired and lethargic and sick. I stayed home today because I felt so horrible. Jeff does too but he is so behind at work after being gone for nearly two weeks that he had to go in no matter what. He's under a lot of stress right now. But he brought me home some Famous Dave's for dinner because I wanted some barbecue so I love him extra specially today.

I finally felt okay enough to go out tonight by 9 p.m. so I went over to Target to get some bottled water and soda and razor blades for Jeff. While there I found some plaid rainboots (I've been wanting rainboots for about a year now at least but had only seen them online) so I bought them. They were only ten bucks! I think they'll work just fine for what I want them for - slogging around outside when it is just too wet and muddy and nasty for regular shoes. So between those and my winter boots, I am now set for all kinds of weather!

Welcome Home Jeffrey!

Jeff finally came home today! Sweetie and I were very happy to see him. We expected him yesterday but by the time he reached his mom's house last night he was way too tired and just couldn't drive anymore. He drove 5,056 miles on his trip! It was crazy. He took some beautiful pictures and got to see lots of natural wonders and had so much fun but is very glad to be home, too.

I've been cleaning and working like a madwoman for the past few days so I was tired today. I've been tryng to keep on track with my projects but it's hard. I still have to do a lot of cleaning but I really just want to do art projects and crafts. I think I've been doing an okay job of striking a balance with both. I've done a little decoupaging and made a bracelet for Jami on Friday. I also finished painting my tray and I painted the pink bookshelf cream, which was definitely the right choice. Now I need to paint the little bench in the bedroom (right now it is a dingy white). The color uniformity will really help pull things together, I think.

Food, glorious food

Lately I've gotten really interested in food. Not in my usual craving sugar kind of way, more in a "I want to make it myself" kind of way. I've been looking up cookbooks and started getting the Rachael Ray magazine which has a lot of recipes in it. I don't think I'll ever be a fancy great cook but hopefully I'll be able to progress beyond just making macaroni and cheese from the box soon.



Tonight I made lime bars. They were a packaged recipe and weren't bad, but not as good as lemon bars are. I think making lime cheesecake bars would have worked a little better. Maybe even with raspberry. (I think that would turn out either awesome or totally gross - I'm not sure. My culinary skills are not advanced enough to know definitively.) Next I want to try making my own custard. I also have this little stoneware-type baking dish that I've never used and I'd like to break it in. As part of my cleaning I'm going to be making the "appliance garage" in the basement more accessible so I'm going to finally start using some of our new kitchen toys that I've put off trying out for way too long.

I went to Lowes two times this week and bought some home stuff too. I got a shelf for the upstairs closet and a cream colored paint. I think it is about as good of a color match as I could possibly find, all things considered. The little tray I'm working on painting right now should blend in nicely. I will probably also paint my some of my white desk accessories and the little pink shelf the same shade so they'll be less obtrusive. I am on the fence about painting the shelf. It took a lot of work to paint it pink, so I hate to just change it, but I think I'd like it better and would feel I had more options with placing it if it were cream instead...

Hanging with Sweetie

So with Jeff gone on his big trip I've been trying to get some major housecleaning done - the kind that is hard to do with him home because it makes a bigger mess that is impossible to live with initially before it gets better. I've contained my mess in the upstairs rooms for quite a while so I've been unearthing lots of stuff. It is kind of scary.

At least I have Sweetie to keep me company. She has been a hungry mungry lately and is constantly meowing at me for food and treats. She also finds my cleaning insane.

I miss Jeff

He left on his big motorcycle trip today and I miss him already. I took pictures of him as he left and waved as he drove away and felt sad. So now it's just me and Sweetie for the next week and a half.

I plan to do lots of projects to keep myself busy in the meantime. But not tonight. I watched "John Waters: This Dirty World" instead. I saw him speak at the Walker a few years ago and it was great. The film was basically another lecture by him in a similar format, just telling some more stories. Some of them were pretty funny - I especially liked him telling how he likes to eavesdrop and sharing some of his favorite overheard comments. I love that kind of stuff and always try to remember those kinds of things.

I think my all time favorite eavesdropping story is from many years ago when I was riding the bus home from my job in Downtown St. Paul one day. An elderly lady got on shortly after I did and sat right up close to the driver. I could hear her talking softly and figured she was either chatting up the bus driver or simply talking to herself. Then she started to get really agitated and spoke more loudly and it became clear really quickly that she was talking to imaginary people/experiencing delusions. Suddenly she shouted, "You ruined my life and my children's and Rod Stewart's!!!!" A couple of girls sitting near me started to giggle and the lady shot them evil death glares. I looked out the window and bit my lip and tried to keep from laughing and attracting attention to myself. The lady then settled down and got off several stops before I did, thanking the bus driver nicely in a sweet little voice as she got off the bus. I never saw her again but I never forgot her funny comment.

Mmmm Strawberries

On Monday I went to Hudson and picked strawberries at Fred's Farm with my mom. It was fun and went quickly because they had so many good berries. I don't think I've picked any strawberries since I was a kid, so it was a neat thing to do and I'm so glad I got to do it this year. Since doing that I've eaten a lot of strawberry shortcake and have frozen a bunch of berries for later.

I also went to the chiropractor for the first time in years and she did an adjustment on my neck. My one leg was shorter than the other so I was way out of alignment. At first I wasn't sure if it did much but I've been pretty achy in my neck and upper back ever since. The good news is that my bad knee is much better and feels a lot more stable so I think it really helped with that. She also gave me a cleanse that I plan to start this week. Not looking forward to that, but I can tell I need it and in the end it will make me feel better.