May Finds

Well, I almost missed May, but here it is in the nick of time. “Tangerine Tango” is one of Pantone’s colors of 2012, and I am finding lots of stuff in cute, cheerful oranges and corals. I used to hate orange, but I think thats because there was only ever one shade. Now there’s lots to chose from!

1. Coral Skinny Jeans  I don’t have this exact pair but I did find a very cute, flattering, and cheap pair at Marshalls! They look good with lots of stuff. I also bought some turquoise legging jeans at Gap- they’re super comfy.

2. Stripe and Polka Dot Washi Tape I love washi tape to decorate envelopes, gifts, notes, journals, and to make labels for things. This Etsy shop has lots of other cute options too.

3. West Elm Bowl I have these bowls in grey/yellow/blue polka dots and stripes. They are a great size for snacking.

4. Target Stripe Tray This is a really cute line at Target right now of summer stuff. There are trays and plates and tablecloths, and it all comes in a turquoise color scheme too. The only reason I haven’t bought any is because i can;t decide which one I like more!

5. Rumi Quote Print ”Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” A good quote to keep in mind.

6-7.Essie Nail Polish Tart Deco and Coral Reef I have both of these and they are great and fun for summer. Fingers or toes!

8. Pantone Notebook My theory is that you can never have too many notebooks. I picked up this one at Dick Blick last time I was in Chicago. It’s a good size, and has blank, lined, and grid pages. Fun for everyone!

What is your favorite use of tangerine this season?

Memorial Day

How was your Memorial Day? I spent mine eating bagels and Indian food, drinking a crappy homemade bloody Mary, napping, and quilting. Not a totally unsuccessful day.

However, since living in Indy, the important part of Memorial Day weekend is not Monday, but Sunday, for that is when “The Race” occurs. The Indy 500 of course. After last year I swore I’d never go again, but if any of you know Melissa, you know she is nothing if not persuasive. So I found myself at 5:00 pm asleep in a camping chair, sunburned with blisters on the bottoms of my feet, miles from home and hungry. The thing is, the race itself is kinda fun, once you are inside the track, relaxing with some crystal light and vodka. The journey to and from, however, pretty much ruins it.

This year we drove to a hotel a couple miles away, parked, and decided to walk to the stadium. The picture below shows you how scenic it was. And this was before the junkyard shortcut. Melissa walks 2 miles all the time in Chicago, so she thought it’d be the same. But, they have sidewalks in Chicago, and you are never the only one on the road. In Indy, we walked in the bike lane. Eventually we did get to a sidewalk, no worries. Actually, the walk was fine, we were still fresh and happy, and there was a nice breeze happening.

We hung out with Mel’s bro and his friends in the tailgate area for a bit, enjoyed some champagne from the bottle and then we headed in to “turn three,” which is what part of the infield we sat in. Aka Party Central.

Here was the view from our chairs. You see about 50 yards of the track. So every 3 or 4 minutes a couple race cars go zooming by, really loudly, and then they’re gone. THere’s an announcer telling whats happening, but we couldn’t hear it. We didn’t even figure out who won until about an hour after the race. Apparently the winner was Ashley Judd’s husband. Yay?

We had a hell of a time walking (hobbling) back to the tail gate area where I fell asleep and then was forced to subject myself to a 500 degree porter potty, but eventually we made it home to the most wonderful shower ever, and delicious pizza. We all fell asleep for a couple hours and then watched a awesomely bad movie at home. Overall it was a fun day, but I am glad I’ll be long gone from Indy by this time next year and there’ll be no way Melissa can talk me into it again. Or can she….

Bachelorette: Muppets Edition!

I will definitely be recapping my Vegas trip soon, but first: Le Bachelorette!

So, it’s only the second week, which means there are way too many guys, but here’s whats up so far. The very first date is with someone named —–. I honestly can’t tell if he’s good looking or not. Sometimes I thought he looked like a kinda cute older dad type, and sometimes he looked like he was just missing a rhinestone encrusted button up and a gold necklace and he’d never have to leave the Jersey Shore. Weird dichotomy. Not my type, plus his muscles were too big. What do you guys think?

Dad or douche?

They baked cookies then he sat in the car while Emily brought her daughters soccer team snacks. Haha. Fun! Of course, since he’s not an idiot, he said he was having a great time. Like anyone wouldn’t play along. Then they go to dinner and a show and danced on a platform surrounded by people. Kinda weird.

So… no helicopter?

They had a decent conversation and Emily responded to his words with other words! Take notes Ben– this is what a conversation looks like. So nice not to just have nods and grunts! Overall it was a fine date.

On the group date I found out the name of the guy with glasses I liked in the first episode. It’s Aaron… and he’s a teacher. Perfect?

The guys have to perform on stage to raise money for Emily’s dead fiance’s charity. Kermit and Miss Piggy are also there. Im certainly not calling Emily a pig, but they do have some stylistic similarities!

Blonde, pink, and sparkles.

Now you guys all know I love making fun of things, especially this show, and I’ll continue to do so, but so far I think Emily is pretty cool. She talks and jokes with the guys and seems caring and thoughtful and she has freaking great clothes! After the muppet variety show they all go to the normal hotel and Emily has this awesome black little dress with a lace back. So pretty!

She talks with a nice guy named Chris, a young lil dude named Jeff (?), slow dances with Pauly D (at least I think that was him) and then this season’s Courtney cuts in. His name is Kelen or some such, and I do not like him. I shall call him Kourtney. They both have weird lips, shiny faces, and are way too full of themselves. JUST by the way this guy sits I can tell that he thinks he is the hottest thing goin. He tells Emily he has no problem talking to or getting hot girls. Yuck. He sucks. Cute teacher Aaron comes up and tries to steal her. Let him! It’s super awkward.

No socks no service.

She goes off with Aaron, yay, and Kourtney gives him this creepy little smile over Emilys shoulder as they hug goodbye. It’s gross. And then he has a confrontation with some other guys. He really is Courtney! But I have a feeling he will not be winning this season. And if he does I’ll shoot myself. And by myself I mean him.

Every girl wants me

Shockingly, the rose goes to Jeff! The 8-year-old boy who didnt look at Emily enough during the day. So I guess she likes a challange. Or, maybe she is picking him for little Ricky, and she’ll end up with someone else. We’ll see!

The next date is with Matthew McConaughey’s look alike, if Matthew McConaughey gained a few pounds for a role. I wasnt paying much attention to the date except the went to some gaudy hotel in West Virginia where Emily got her “first makeover.” What does that mean? How many has she had? And why? Maybe she used to look like a troll doll! There’s hope for all of us. Maybe I should go get my first makeover at that hotel…

What’s she going to wear to the final proposal? So fancy already!

Ultimately, their date was pretty boring and she didnt give him a rose. This makes Emily cry. Eh. Bye bye. I have forgotten his name already and I am literally watching the show as I write this… But I’m glad Emily is cutting people she doesnt feel a instant spark with. It’s good. If I’ve learned anything being on match.com over the years, its that you can tell pretty quickly if you’re into someone or not. Like within, say, 3 minutes.

At the Rose Ceremony Emily reads a looong, like TEN page letter from Ryan. Really?? What on earth could you fill ten pages with, on a person you’ve spent 1 date with? Wow. They should really post that letter on the Bachelorette’s web site. She also gets rid of cute Aaron. COol! Call me! Dont know who else she got rid of, but unfortunately not Kourtney. Next time!

Stay tuned for roller coasters, man tears, and a shattered ostrich egg. Sweet!

Off to Vegas

I am so excited about my mini vacation to the desert! I actually havent been outside of the midwest I think in like 3 years, which is not acceptable. I plan to eat some good food, relax by the pool, see a show, do some shopping, and perhaps gamble. I have a book of gambling tips to read on the plane. We’ll see. I’m not too concerned with trying to win money (aka losing money). I just want to have a few days of fun before I come back to insanity for the next week during which I have to find a new apartment to live in, pack my whole house, move, and sew three quilts and a purse. Luckily, the quilt tops and backs are already made, just need to quilt them and bind them. Eek! But for now, time to fun in the sun!! Vegas here I come!

Lately

My lunch, and some peaks at what I’ve been working on lately. Lots of quilts and projects to finish in the next week and a half! Plus moving… No problem!

Return of The Bachelor: Bachelorette Edition!

This season we will be going along on Emily’s journey to find true love for her and a great dad for Ricky. Tall order! Emily is so pretty she looks fake (and her teeth might be) but Carrie, Kevin and I all had a crush on her from Brad’s season. As Carrie speculated, she’s probably really ugly in real life…. to test that theory, here are some of the many adjectives the men used to describe her throughout this first episode:

gorgeous, stunning (many many times), amazing, phenomenal, holy smokes, beautiful, wow, in awe, absolutely gorgeous, [strong, responsible, independent-- what?! these all came from one cool dude], great, amazeballs (jk, i added that one), better in person, hottest bachelorette, hottest mom in the world, jaw dropping, princess… etc. You get the picture!

Anyway, the first few episodes of any season aren’t ever that good. There are too many people, I don’t know who’s who, and there is too much corny chit chat. I had this one on in the background while I made dinner and priced items for my garage sale. So I know no one’s name. Plus, the best part is the preview for the rest of the season.

But, here are some things that stood out from the episode:

A singer/songwriter who claimed writing songs came as naturally as walking. His song consisted of singing the name Emily over and over again. Yeah, I guess that probably did come pretty easy, but I’m not sure it counts as a song….

A racecar driver? Hmmm….

If anyone ever got down on one knee in front of me and said “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away” I’d probably puke on their head, so props to Emily for pretending that wasn’t terrible. Actually all throughout the meet and greet Emily was a good sport. I guess the guys are coerced into doing really dumb, embarrassing things, so it’s hard to hate them too much…

Warning: DON’T take a drink every time Emily says awesome or you’ll be blacked out before the show is halfway over.

For the first time I’m starting to feel like a lot of the guys look young (as in younger than me). Looks like my window to be on the Bachelor is closing! Oh no! It doesnt seem like EMily would be drawn to anyone young or baby faced, (or artsy or foreign or skinny) but I guess we’ll see! Just because she looks like Barbie doesnt necessarily mean she only likes Kens (but look at Brad…).

Aaaand 34 minutes in we have our first helicopter sighting! So glad that this show clings desperately to its symbols.

“Whoever this is we’re going to hate him”

Some dude named Kalen comes out and I am not impressed. I am also very tired of names ending in -an or -en. They are everywhere lately, and they usually sound fake. Aiden, Braiden, Caden, Kayden, Shaden, Laden, Maiden…. (I only made 2 of those up.)

I don’t remember anyone standing out except one guy who said he had six kids. I thought he was kidding but then he brought it up again in his exit interview before starting to cry. Six kids six moms? Who knows, he’s gone.

I like this guy:

Someone find out his name so I can see if he’s even still on the show. If not I’ll recruit him for my season.

Anywho- What did you think? Will this season be good? Luckily there are no models so we won’t have to deal with another Courtney. Plus Emily isn’t as dumb as Ben (and much easier on the eyes) so that will help, but I will miss making fun of Ben’s tank tops, hair, and general caveman demeanor.
Come on a journey of loooove with me! See you next week.

 

 

April Book Club

Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism, by Maria Emmerich. Well, technically I haven’t finished this book, but I have gotten a little bit bored with it. It has a lot of really good information, I especially liked the part that explained the connections between your period, energy cycles, and metabolism. But it gets very repetitive overall. Basically, eat a lot of vegetables. Don’t eat sugar. There, now you don’t have to read the book. Because it’s other problem is that it was self-published and edited by the husband…who would have failed all my English 111 grammar exercises. I read it with red pen in hand and there were mistakes on every page. Not exaggerating!  So that was hard for me to read.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russel. I bought this book from the sale table at Anthropologie a while ago. The narrator is a 13 year old girl aligator wrestler whose mom has just died. There are a lot of sad parts in the book, but kind of a good sad, and I love the main character so much. The writing style is very quirky and unique and it kind of wraps you up in words, if that makes sense. I guess the author just did a really good job of creating a whole world for you to live in as you read it. The end was super suspenseful and tense, although the beginning started off more languid. Overall i really liked this book! Check it out.

11/22/63 by Stephen King. On mom and aunt Kiki’s recommendation I checked this book out from the library. And was surprised to see that it was over 800 pages! However, the writing wasn’t dense, and the margins were wide, so it really didnt take long to get through. Plus, I really wanted to find out what happened, so I read it pretty fast. Since it’s Stephen King, you know he’s good at suspense and keeping things going forward (or backward, since it’s about time travel). But, it is NOT a horror novel. Of course there are some creepy moments, but it’s not a scary book. I thought it was actually extremely realistic in terms of what could actually happen if someone found a time travel hole in their diner. I liked the way King showed us the various outcomes the occurred when one or two things in the past were changed. So if you want a page turner for the beach this summer, get this one!

 

I didn’t read as much in April for some reason, but now I don’t remember why. Reading a good one right now, so I’ll report back on that in my May posting. What are you reading right now? Is it good?

Saturday

Saturday I spent the day alone while Aaron traveled to Illinois to retrieve his car (finally). I decided to indulge my whims and do whatever I wanted! Admittedly, this is not as wild as it sounds. Since I had to drive downtown to drop Aaron at the bus stop, I took advantage of being down there and stopped in at Crimson Tate. I needed more blue fabric for a quilt back I’m working on as a commission (it’s turning out great, btw). Found some good blues, and also, for me, this awesome teal moon, stars, and clouds print, and these cute (very soft) lobsters for 2 baby quilts I’m making. I think I did a good job of not buying too much. Then I headed north and went French Seam for some fabric for backs of baby quilts. Those three should all be done in the next week or so, and I’m liking how they are all turning out.

I spent the afternoon sewing, cutting, reading, and just hanging out. I guess I should have cleaned or packed but I was having too much fun. Considered running (even put on a sports bra) but it didn’t happen. I got a craving for shrimp and cheese grits (not sure why I got that craving, because I’ve never actually had that before) but it sounded really good. So I went to Whole Foods for some shrimp (and a slice of cake) and came home and cooked them up. It turned out really yummy. I used a Bobby Flay recipe. And also had some prosecco. Here’s a really bad, dark pic.

It was nice to have a day to myself and just do whatever I felt like. But then I got a little sad because pretty soon all of my days will be all to myself. It’s ok, I guess, but it is a hard transition right now, and I go back and forth on feeling ok and feeling really sad. Been looking for apartments online. Found a cool one with a loft I think I’ll try to go look at tomorrow. It’s reasonably priced. I didnt really want to sign a year lease, but it’s hard to find anything else. Everything just feels so weird and up in the air right now, and once again I have no idea what I’ll be doing 5 months from now. In a way it’s a good, liberating feeling, and in a way it’s scary. I bought Shambala Sun this month (a Buddhist publication I used to read more often) and the issue was all about change and impermanence and not getting attached to things. It was a good reminder.

Also, I’m preparing for a garage sale this weekend, and I’ve been in a particularly unattached mood lately, wanting to get rid of most of my things and start fresh. I feel like I have too many belongings, and it’s all starting to feel very heavy. Like, I have a two story house of just my stuff, and it’s weighing me down and, I think maybe, keeping me from moving forward. Maybe it’s weird, but this is why I never wanted a couch before… it seemed to represent some weird permanence, or trouble just going. I was lulled into a sense of security with Aaron, so I got a couch, and now once again I am wishing I didn’t have it. Not literally though. I like my couch! And actually, this one breaks down into many pieces, so it’s actually pretty transportable.

Alright, I suppose I’m babbling. Stay tuned for Bachelorette recap season! Starting soon!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to my great, lovely, smart, funny, generous, thoughtful mother! Thanks for being my mom. Wouldn’t want anyone but you! Love you! PS Did you see the google homepage today. It was so cute!

I’ll be back to blogging more this week. Hope everyone has a nice day with their moms. I’m off to serve a bunch of other people’s mothers seasonally fresh lunches. Ciao!

May Day

Welcome to a new month. I love new months! I’m starting May with a brand new coffee mug I spotted downtown while I was on my way to the quilt guild meeting, so I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve also been in a mood the past week or so to PURGE! My things that is, not my food. I am planning on having a garage sale in 2 weeks to make some extra money and lighten my load. Plus I still have all of Aunt Kiki’s stuff so I’m gonna make some moola off of that too.  It’s good that we live on the corner of a really busy street so I won’t have to advertise or anything. Although I don’t really have any tables to put my stuff on, so maybe someone I work with can loan me some.

This month is going to be really busy. I’ve got 3 classes worth of final papers and late papers and past assignments to grade and turn in, then I have 2 quilt orders to make (yay!), gotta pick up more shifts at work, have to pack and clean my entire house (uhg), garage sale, Vegas (woohoo!), find a new place to live (scary), and lots of other stuff! I should probably start working out again too. At least it’s finally getting warm again!

I also have a goal to not buy any more new clothes or fabric. I will only buy something if I see something cool when I’m in Vegas. I spent waaaay too much money last month on clothes and fabric, so I have plenty of fabric to keep me busy with all the quilts and things I want to make.

So anyways, that’s my plan. And then summer is out there looming, unseeable, but exciting. Just really hope I find a cheap sunny place to live for the summer. Soon! Wish me luck.