now what...

Fall showers bring....

2008-09-27T20:52:00.006-04:00

I guess the end of September brings strange wildlife to my little flower beds...

crazy big spiders (yeah yeah I shouldn't dislike them because they eat other bad bugs but EWW)

this looked gross and smelled even worse! UPDATE: Found it! ...and if you want to be grossed out click here.

But on the bright side, the break in the oppressive heat plus the frequent rain changed my cute little flower bed into an almost jungle. Tons of green and purple everywhere!

DC Trip Part 3

2008-08-19T20:58:00.005-04:00

The Mineral & Jem Display at the Natural History Museum

crazy necklaces

Huge diamonds - I think the 10carat round (I am going by memory so that could be wrong) would look quite nice in my current setting :-) and Marie Antoinette's 20 carat earrings would also look lovely!

crown jewels
a bejeweled ring

more crazy necklaces

pearls

more huge rocks
bejeweled butterfly
...and...the Hope Diamond

Just so you know you could lose an eye by being short and trying to see the hope diamond. Those ladies and gents are vicious trying to get their photos. At one point I thought I was going to stand there all day when people would not let me AWAY from the display...then they realized that the display rotated and I was no longer on the "good" side! :-)

DC Trip Part 2

2008-08-19T20:39:00.005-04:00

The Monuments and Buildings

Capitol Building

WW2 Monument

Lincoln Memorial and ol' Abe himself

Washington Monument from a few different spots (the 2nd of which I was pretty sure my feet were about to fall off from walking all over the place)

White House from a few different locations

And just for fun I have to post the crazy lady (protesting, possibly homeless) that was being yelled at by another crazy lady (tourist?) for her protest topic of choice. That topic was obviously so important that I have no clue what it was! There were also a couple of folks singing patriotic songs while wearing shirts that looked like they should have been in Myrtle Beach instead of DC but I do hope they were having a good summer vacation! :-)

DC Trip Part 1

2008-08-19T20:13:00.006-04:00

The hubby and I went to PA this weekend for his 10 year HS reunion. We flew into Baltimore and took a one day detour to DC with his parents.

The Library of Congress was awesome. They really knew how to build a nice place to store important documents back then (250+ years ago).

golden lettering everywhere plus neat quotes

awesome mosaics with stories

23k gold foil ceiling and check out the moldings

more ceiling greatness

intricate painted details all around

statues and carvings

even the floors were awesome (Mom this is for you) I tried to get all of the astrological like symbols but the pesky other tourists were getting in the way.

We also saw lots of books, old bibles, rough drafts of the Declaration of Independence and so much more that we couldn't take pics of. All around was an awesome place to visit.

My how they have grown!

2008-08-19T20:03:00.004-04:00

While we were away the flowers just took off! The elephant ears grew to a massive size and sprouted babies/

These lovelies filled out nicely...

And all the purple is awesome...just need a little more orange and we will be all set for football season ;-D

Making a digital collage...

2008-08-10T16:00:00.005-04:00

Ok so I love all the digital collages that I see on blogs everywhere. I know they are using great software (that costs lots) to create these works of art but I wanted to see if I could do it myself, without tons of effort, or money. This is what I ended up with. I used Picasa to get the images lined up neatly -- I used contact sheet as the collage style then cropped to get just the images. Then I loaded the collage image into picnik to add some text and borders. Probably not the quickest or cleanest way to make a collage but it works!

Do you make digital collages? How do you do it?

Just for you Mom

2008-07-24T18:09:00.003-04:00

Pepper plant finally had a pepper make it through a rain storm. Whatever those pink annuals are -- they rock. The verbena (aka barbie dream house bouquet plant) is going gangbusters. The Elephant Ear has MASSIVE leaves now. The hydrangea is doing well -- bloomed again.

Cupcake Icing 101

2008-07-24T17:54:00.002-04:00

I am not the best teacher but I had a great student -- April's first try at decorating cupcakes!

All before 11AM

2008-07-20T11:05:00.004-04:00

I am not an early riser on Sundays (generally) but look at all I got done today...

made 20 babies...

transplanted the newbies...

And almost passed out of heat stroke. Why is it 90 degrees at 11am??

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

2008-07-18T20:19:00.005-04:00

Great mirror, about 12" x 18" or 24" (I didn't measure) But it is pretty...

The Lamp

2008-07-18T20:19:00.003-04:00

Fun and funky lamp. Do people make things as cool as this anymore?

Yellow Dresser

2008-07-18T20:16:00.002-04:00

Awesome yellow dresser

Fabulous Frame

2008-07-18T20:15:00.009-04:00

A frame April and I found while antique-window shopping.

Wave Table

2008-07-18T20:15:00.008-04:00

A table I would love for my living room -- I refused to look too closely at the price tag because I think it would ruin my love for the wave table....

Wedding Cupcakes

2008-07-18T19:46:00.003-04:00

Wedding cupcakes from last weekend. Chocolate with chocolate frosting and purple flake sprinkles. Vanilla with lavender icing with clear flake sprinkles.

More Blooms

2008-07-09T17:56:00.004-04:00

More blooms (before the crazy rainstorm that made all the plants droopy)

....and I guess I am going to have bell peppers soon! The flower was pretty just this morning but I guess more rain made it get not as pretty.

Blooms

2008-06-28T21:02:00.004-04:00

Blooms from my garden...

one more from this lovely Tuesday morning...

Vanilla Cupcakes

2008-06-28T18:17:00.005-04:00

Ok so I found a delish vanilla (white) cupcake recipe thanks to the fabulous Amy Sedaris. So I started playing with icing swirls this afternoon. I still need to work on the perfect lavender/violet shade and the stiffness of the icing but I have to say not bad for my first go at icing in many months!

I like the second one best -- more of a flat swirl....what do you think? Oh yeah I slipped a brown wrapper on as a test to see what it would look like.

The Universe is Talking to ME

2008-06-25T08:13:00.000-04:00

Always keep in mind, Constance, that no matter what has happened, you did the very best you could.

And so did those who may have let you down.

Love, The Universe

Ahhh.....I needed that this morning!

What were they thinking?

2008-06-20T17:10:00.007-04:00

OK so I have been hearing about THIS all day.....I get it, I get that "kids" (yes those snappy youngsters that I once was not so long ago) have sex before marriage, or college, or they grow a brain, etc. This is what I don't get -- how exactly did these girlies come to the conclusion that getting preggo on purpose (at 16) was a fabulous idea? THEN who decided that is was even cooler to make sure the dad was a 24 year old homeless guy? (on another note are all the fellas in this town between 15 and 25 panting with anticipation at the obviously eager girlies?)

I really think there should be comprehensive sex ed in schools -- I don't mean just how not to get preggo or diseases BUT also the financial ramifications of such actions. Using this niffty calculator, I just found out that if I was a hypothetical single mom in the NE, making less than $40k a year and not planning to send my poor helpless child to college I can still look to spend close to $150k for the kid over 18 years and I am guessing that doesn't count that time when you have to rush the kid to the emergency room for that broken arm they got from jumping off the wood-shed out back.

Does this remind anyone else of Idiocracy???

Why couldn't these girls make a pact to meet back in town at age 25, settle down and then have babies to then raise together? What was the rush? Was life really that boring?

UPDATE: Now everyone is denying the fact that there was a pact...not sure if it makes me feel better BUT I will believe it does... :-P

Chocolate Cupcakes Test 2 & 3

2008-06-15T16:09:00.003-04:00

Well two more tests today for the chocolate cupcakes. Both recipes came from the same nifty website -- Cupcake Bakeshop.

The first was a very simple old fashion chocolate -- delicious! Not too sweet very tender and the top was brownie like. I have to be careful about how much batter to put in the cups....an overflowing cupcake is not pretty to decorate. A tad over half full would be the best.

The second was a Devil's food and it is my choice. It is moist and not super sweet. Best of all it makes a pretty cupcake and will taste yummy with chocolate icing.

Now to find a few vanilla recipes to try...

Happy Father's Day Dalton

2008-06-15T08:34:00.003-04:00

I hope you have a FABULOUS day!

To Plant a Garden

2008-06-15T08:02:00.011-04:00

I live in a townhouse so there is only a small yard in the back that includes a pretty small flower bed. My husband I and have lived here for a little over two years and have done NOTHING with that back flower bed. See the before....

My mom came for a visit this weekend. We headed down to Greenwood, SC to visit Park Seed and came home with TONS of fabulous finds. We planted for a few hours on Saturday. See what we planted! I can't wait to enjoy my little garden for the rest of the summer.

And all done!

Chocolate Cupcakes Test 1

2008-06-10T21:19:00.003-04:00

I am practicing a few cupcake recipes in preparation for a friends wedding next month. Today I made trial 1 of chocolate cupcakes. I used a recipe off of the food network (this one). I did not make icing so I could really just taste the cake and make sure it was something good enough. Results -- really sweet, not sure I would want to eat it with icing, really moist, kids would love it, chocolate connoisseurs probably wouldn't. If I made it again I would probably toss in fruit or nuts and use them for sweet muffins OR follow the same recipe, serve them warm with whipped cream.

Jam!

2008-06-07T17:38:00.006-04:00

I have been wanting to try to make jelly/jam for a few months now but just have been too busy to make it to a farmer's market to get the needed fruits. Friday, a nice farmer guy (aka Summer Santa in full Summer Santa gear -- overalls, trucker hat, white beard, etc) showed up at my workplace with his truck loaded down with strawberries! I think it was truly a sign to learn to make JAM! I promptly purchased 4 containers and he gave me one free. Somehow I missed the fact that each one was 4 quarts. So as soon as I got home and stowed the berries (all 20 qts of them) in my fridge I ran to the local store and got 2 dozen jars, sugar, and pectin.

This morning I spent 3 hours cleaning berries, processing them into juice, cooking and jarring jam. It was fun, messy, but totally worth doing again. I now have 20 jars of jam (the small half pint size), one batch of juice frozen for future jam endeavors, and TWO containers of berries still in the fridge. I plan to make at least one more batch of jam (I have to get more jars) then clean, slice and freeze the rest for my hubby. He likes smoothies!

Canning Jars

Yummy Berries

Jam all Finished

My Mess!

I can't wait for some yummy toast!!

Lesson Learned

2008-06-02T11:48:00.003-04:00

There are reasons why "they" tell you to pre-wash your fabric before sewing! That cute blue dress I made... yeah remember that...it is now a solid 4" shorter!

Bad Day?

2008-05-28T14:43:00.002-04:00

Sometimes when I am having a bad day it makes me feel better to hear that someone else is also having a bad day. Does that make me weird?

My Favorite

Book Review: The Underachiever's Manifesto: The Guide to Accomplishing Little and Feeling Great

2008-05-27T08:17:00.002-04:00

The Underachiever's Manifesto: The Guide to Accomplishing Little and Feeling Great by Ray Bennett

FABULOUS! This is the perfect read for people like me -- those trying to be less perfect, and more calm, happy, and relaxed about life in general.

Slow Motion

2008-05-21T09:28:00.002-04:00

Why do some days move in slooooow motion? Tuesday was like that for me. Work took 8 hours and turned it into 40 trillion. To cap off my evening I cooked a nice BBQ pork tenderloin and when I took it out of the oven it just fell out of my hands (again with the slow-mo)! I spent a few minutes sopping up BBQ sauce, ate, then went to bed.

Hopefully today will not be so slooooow!

Craft Idea to Remember

2008-05-20T17:17:00.001-04:00

Paint by number idea

What am I willing to receive?

2008-05-20T14:07:00.002-04:00

Love, compassion, strength, energy, kindness, love, empathy, a compliment and all of the normal material things that everyone else also loves!

Question of the Week

2008-05-12T22:40:00.003-04:00

Totally stolen from this post because I love the idea of a question of the week!

What are you willing to receive?

Manic Mondays?

2008-05-12T22:35:00.003-04:00

Are Mondays crazy for everyone or just me? I never feel rested enough and always like something BIG or BAD is just about to happen and work is always busier on Mondays. I started wondering tonight (during the relaxation portion of yoga when I was NOT supposed to be doing such wondering) if maybe Mondays are only bad because I expect them to be. What if next Monday I wake up and tell myself "Today is going to be a FABULOUS day"? The intention thing always works in yoga -- I always leave feeling more calm or confident or strong when I set my intention for one of those things. Maybe a work day will be just the same. I will start tomorrow with my good vibe intentions and let you know how it goes...

First Dress

2008-05-06T22:40:00.007-04:00

So in addition to making the super fast flower belt I decided to sew up a dress. I used a pretty easy pattern. It took a bit of time to make since I was trying to be careful and follow instructions. I apparently am not an 8' tall super model so the dress doesn't look like what their model is wearing BUT it is super comfy and that was the point. Also, that cute belt tied around her waist...yeah...mine was about 2' too long! I am adding in some bad pictures so you can see the results. I need to play with the top a little more to get the shape right but overall I am happy with the results!

Cool Belt

2008-05-06T22:22:00.007-04:00

J. Crew has this awesome belt for $68. Seeing as I want to wear this belt with ONE dress maybe twice all summer I thought I would try to make it myself. After a quick trip to a nice florist I found a pretty rose, removed the stem, attached a bar pin .... voila instant accessory! I do think I need a different ribbon OR I need to come up with a way to make it smooth all the way around. The hanging ends don't look as polished as I would like. Please excuse the dark photos.

a. Flower; b. flower with bar pin; c. tried to get the full experience without wearing dress; d. gave in and put the dress on.

Skirts

2008-04-29T21:15:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I traveled up to Raleigh for some much needed family time and I came back with a few fabulous skirts. I got the skirt pattern from Susan over at West Coast Crafty and it was the best way to start sewing. I will post some pics of the completed skirts when I can get some good shots.

We did find some really pretty fabric but I can't wait to find more. When my mom visits next I am graduating to dresses!

My Notes

2008-04-29T08:08:00.002-04:00

I love love love today's Note from the Universe...

Sometimes not knowing what you want, Constance, is enough to go on.

After you, The Universe

I guess it is A-OK that I do not know what I want my 5 year career plan to be....

Really?

2008-04-24T16:19:00.000-04:00

Since when do hotels (nice hotels of the over $150 a night, catering to business folk type) have curtains that do not shut?

Daylight at 2:30am anyone?