It's Holiday Time

After a long day of shopping and a visit to one of the best food stores in Cincinnati, Jungle Jim's, Perry and I headed home with pizza supplies, almond peanut butter, a cart full of wine, and a bag of chestnuts. Our mission: roasting chestnuts over an open fire.
We started a big fire in the downstairs fireplace and got our chestnuts ready. To cook chestnuts you must first cut an X into them with a knife, we used a pocket knife. The chestnuts expand in heat, so it not cut first they will literally explode.
Next find a pan with a decently long handle that you can put in the fire. Place the chestnuts in the pan and cover, we covered them with aluminum foil since our pan didn't have a lid. Place on top of the fire. Make sure you check them and stir around every 5 minutes for so. We forgot this step and our chestnuts ended up black on the bottom.
After about 20 minutes the chestnuts will have expended and will be soft to eat. Remove from fire and let cool for a few minutes. Remove shell and sprinkle with salt and enjoy! Chestnuts are delicious when warm and taste a lot like starchy potatoes.

Progress

So I got butterfly templates off line and printed them out, all approximately the same size. I'm starting with three and seeing how it goes from there. Then I got magazine pictures I wanted to use for the colors, mine are blue/green based. In order to stabilize it I cut up a cereal box to fit each butterfly.
Then I used spray adhesive (I would recommend rubber cement but I was out at the time) and glued the butterflies to one side of the box and the pictures to the other side.
So then all thats left to do is the time consuming part of cutting everything out with a matt knife.
This is my progress so far. I woke up this morning with my arms sore from pressing so hard on the knife, but more is to come!

DIY Butterflies

I have found my latest DIY project. I was a little disheartened by my Anthropologie lion a few weeks ago, but this project seems a tad easier. Image Surgery creates butterflies out of maps and mounts them as though in a collection.






I think the butterflies are lovely and creative, especially mounted in frames. Time to head over to Half Price books and dig through some magazines for maps of my own!

Just Words

I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.
-John Green

Wine

Ben Schiller's TwnetyFour Wine

Francis Ford Coppola "Carmine" Wine Jug


Gut Oggau Portrait Wines


Let it Grow Wine Bottles


The Logan Weemala Wine Collection

I've been 21 for only a matter of weeks now, but I'm slowly experimenting with different wines. I haven't tried very many different kinds but thanks to http://www.thecoolist.com/amazing-wine-labels-30-creative-and-unique-wine-label-designs/ I added about 15 bottles to my list.

Home

I only have a few hours left in Athens until my long Christmas break, which is nice because the one person that makes being here worth it has already left. So tomorrow I will go to work, pack my things, and happily be gone.

Cute Blog

I love this blog. I happened upon it not to long ago and I think it is cute and fresh and I love looking through it and getting ideas from it.





http://www.younghouselove.com/

Time

The time change has thrown me off, I keep waking up and hour and a half earlier than I need to for class. And by that point the room is so full of sunshine its impossible to go back to sleep. I guess its like an extra hour of forced "me" time, where I can actually get things done, like stumble around on the internet and find awesome pictures. Like this village in Holland, its like a mini Northern European Venice.

Feels Like Today

Feeling kind of blue today. Makes me wish I could bury myself in my pillows with my big dogs at home or my cat.

Or maybe just a happy wallaby would make me feel better.

Athens

Today was the first day in a while warm enough for walk. Leaving Athens campus is slightly like walking into a different world. There are no bars, no people, no buildings. It's beautiful, but sometimes I feel like a city girl whose been adventuring in the country side for just a little too long.

GRE

It seems that everyone around me is preparing and studying for the GRE, which I don't have to think about until next year. My Italian partner said that the math portion of the exam was "il diavolo"aka the devil.

It makes me wonder when, or if, people are ever going to stop judging me based on standardized tests or how "well rounded" a person college has made me. To myself I am well rounded despite that fact that basic math still astounds me, and for all the studying in the world I will never pass the math portion of any test. I wonder when people will see what I've done, what I want to accomplish, and what I've done in order to achieve those dreams and just judge me based on that.

Yet Another Monday

The Cat= Monday
The Mouse= me

It's coming to get me

Title

I never drank coffee until my third year working as a Barista at a Cafe. It was an acquired taste that took me a while to enjoy. Now I must admit coffee has become my simple hiatus during my day. It's something hot and savory that takes no time to make, yet is so good. My coffee breaks are my pause in the chaos and my reflection time. In three years I've become somewhat knowledgeable about coffee, and slowly its becoming what I wake up to every morning.
It's my daily dose of something good.

Of Age

This is my last week as an underage. As of next Friday I can legal drink and become an "adult" which I guess means more of this fun thing called bill paying and being responsible for myself. It's hitting me the way turning 10 hit me when one day my uncle told me that I would never again be an age in the single digits. That feeling of leaving 9 behind for a lifetime of double digits is like leaving behind illegal underage life for an entire lifetime of everything. Nothing is really off limits to me anymore.
I suppose if nothing else I feel as though I should completely take advantage of this fleeting time I have with being 20 until I have to morph into this entire different creature that 21 seems to bring with it.

Puppy Love

I miss my dogs when I am at school. They are such an integrated part of my household they are like family. Going back to school morphs me into one of those girls who "awwws!" and smiles when I see a dog on campus. I wish I could have my own, but at this point in time I don't have any time or energy that I would be able to dedicate to it.

In Honor of Rio

I found these pictures and I suppose they honor Rio de Jenairo's winning bid for the 2016 Olympic games. I can only hope I am there to see them and my Brasil family.

Doubles

I am in no way a fashionista. I have neither the time, energy, or money to spend on cloths, as much as I may enjoy them. However I did get a little kick when I saw Chriastian Dior's Spring Collection, it just brought Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland to my mind with all the dress designs and colors. Maybe it just me but I'm definitely seeing the resemblances of doubles.

Autumn

I love this beginning change in weather. I can go out to the edge of Athens, look over the hill, and see every changing tree for miles around. I love how the air is crisp in the morning and leaves crunch when I go out of my way to trod on them on my way home or to class. Autumn is upon us which means Athens is still bearable for the time being. I look forward to cider and pumpkins, boots and jackets, and the onset of Halloween right before it becomes so cold it hurts.

Vegan Cupcakes take over the World

I love Saturdays, if for no other reason its the one day I actually feel free. Today I had my first experience with vegan cupcakes taking over the world. A book my friend Alison owns and loves.

We set about making pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes, which we felt was very appropriate for the cool fall weather and arrival of October. The cupcakes we actually a lot easier to make then I had expected. There were no funky ingredients despite the fact that they were vegan.

The batter was a gorgeous orange from the pumpkin we put in.

I for one did not think pumpkin and chocolate chips sounded like an ideal pairing of foods. However once the cupcakes started baking the smell of pumpkin filled the apartment. And after taking a bite of one I completely understand how a little bit of chocolate and pumpkin go together.

We made the icing suggested in the book, and after a few modifications we had this oddly colored, lumpy gray icing. Aside from appearances it tasted fine...and all completely vegan.

Chilly

I don't think there is anything worse in the transition of seasons than when your waking up early to get a shower and you have to turn the water off. Its that immediate chill that hits you in your steamy bathroom. Its like being doused with cold water even though the water is no longer running. Even your plush, fluffy towel is not enough to alleviate the goosebumps and desire to sprint down the hall and put on every pair of sweatpants you own.
That was me this morning. Unhappy and shivering hurrying down the hall and cursing the change of seasons in Athens County.

Bed Time

After a hard, long week of never ending work, classes, and school (yes, it's only Tuesday) all I want to do is collapse in my bed. Actually, these beds from Anthropologie are looking mighty tempting. Colors and patterns are fantastic and make everything more appealing.

Wonderland

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go" was his response.
"I don't know" Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat "it doesn't matter."

Habits

I love after the start of a new school year or moving to a new place when all the things that were so new and unfamiliar begin to become normal. I love knowing all the little shops in Athens around my house, I love having a new routine for the new year, I love cooking dinner with Perry and learning new recipes as we scour Athens for the proper ingredients.