Kristin received her dog paintings yesterday and already put them up on her wall! She said she started crying when she opened them. I'm glad my art can make someone that happy, which is what it's intended to do!
I'm finally done with doggy style! :) Just a follow up to my Sammy, the Boston Terrier...here are the rest of the doggies!
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I love the holidays when all the pretty lights come out! My parents bought these stars while they were in the Philippines and I couldn't help but take a picture last night when everything was dark. The only thing that brought any light or color into the house were these beautiful stars and their light's reflections throughout the whole house. It definitely set the mood for the holiday season!
Technology these days is something else. Whatever happened to just picking a name out of a hat!?! But this is actually a pretty cool idea. Elfster is an online Secret Santa. They make group gift exchanges for Secret Santa easy! All you have to do is sign up, create a wishlist and they will randomly pick another person for you. It's so great because you can go online and add any items you want for Christmas on your wishlist. I think I'll be using this list for my family as well.
It's just a shame that I'll be missing the actualy gift exchange party, but I'll be there in spirit.
I recently watched the movie, The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It was an alright movie, but the message was so much more meaningful. The story is about two men who have both been diagnosed with cancer and they were both told that they only had a year at the most to live. They created a bucket list of things they want to do before they die. I thought that I need to create a bucket list of my own. I'm pretty sure it will get longer as I go since, hopefully, I'll be crossing stuff off, but as for now I only came up with 35 things to do. What would be on your bucket list?
1. get married
2. have kids
3. hang gliding
4. travel the world
5. run a marathon
6. learn to play the violin
7. scuba dive in the great barrier reef
8. go to oktoberfest in germany
9. camp in the grand canyon
10. go on a safari in africa
11. watch my kids get married
12. have grandkids
13. buy a house
14. go to mardi gras
15. visit Ireland for st. patrick's day
16. camp in oregon
17. drink wine in napa valley
18. visit the statue of liberty
19. get my nose pierced
20. visit graceland
21. drive a racecar
22. go to hawaii
23. ride a horse
24. ride a horse on the beach
25. get my masters
26. teach a class
27. bungee jump
28. visit the great wall of china
29. swim with the dolphins
30. swim with sharks
31. own my own company
32. visit the eiffel tower
33. see the pyramids
34. shoot a gun
35. visit every state in North America
Viva Las Vegas...Viva Las Vegas...I kid you not there was an Elvis impersonator at the Las Vegas sign letting people take pictures with him but he only takes $10 tips. Ha!
My family and I had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving again this year (last year we went to Dauphin Island).
We spent 4-days and 3-nights in Vegas, baby! The first two nights we stayed at the Bellagio and the third night at Mandalay Bay, which both places took a lot of my money. It's all good...they were comp rooms any way, so it was like I really paid for my free vacation if that helps out my rationalization. Oh well! It's all about entertainment anyways. I think the only thing I won was my bet on Georgia to win the Tech game. Glad I could count on my Dawgs to win me some money!
PS. There always has to be some food involved in my posts/vacations always! Aren't these sliders so cute? For some reason I take pictures of every slider I get even though they all look the same. They are just so darn cute. Good finger foods for parties!
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm in Vegas this year, so hopefully I won't lose too much money!
There are so many things I'm thankful for this year:
1. Getting back to my artistic roots by taking up figure drawing classes and creating several paintings for friends and family: Sea Shells
2. Spending time with friends and family in Destin, Kansas City, DC, Athens, and Minneapolis
3. Working hard for the money and the awards! A website for the GPS, RoadNut, won a SEED Award and is featured on Cool Homepages
4. Listening to the music. I got to see BB King, Stevie Wonder, Journey, The Whigs, Ben Harper, Paolo Nutini and Amos Lee.
5. Experiencing new restaurants in Atlanta for Girl's Supper Club. My favorite: Watershed
I can't wait for the 2009 holidays. This year has gone by way too fast! Hopefully I can catch up!
Last week, I participated in AIGA's Ink and Drink at the Atlanta Printmakers Studio. During the event, we screenprinted our very own holiday cards while we drank! It was my first time screenprinting and I had such a great time! It was so easy and so much fun that I'm definitely going back there. I didn't even get one drop of ink on my nice clothes. I'm not gonna post pics of my cards because you'll just have to wait and see when you get yours in the mail!
Screenprinting my first color onto my card!
The second step after you screenprint is to flood the ink.
Looking at what I have created!
Such the ultimate comfort food for me on these cold rainy days: meatloaf with mashed potatoes. You can never go wrong no matter what recipe you use. I was gonna go with a Paula Deen recipe that probably called for 14 ingredients, but found this recipe on the back of a Lipton Onion Soup Mix box. Super Easy!
1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Onion Soup Mix
2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs*
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup ketchup
| 1. | Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. |
| 2. | Shape into loaf in 13 x 9-inch baking or roasting pan. |
| 3. | Bake uncovered 1 hour or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. |
I've been so busy lately that I haven't even gotten a chance to give a shout out to my Dawgs! No matter how awful we are this season, I always have a great time going to watch them play and hanging out with old friends.
Just wanted to go ahead and share my pumpkin masterpieces!
Hoot! Hoot!.jpg)
Goooo Dawgs!!
The House Divided....That's my brother's perfectly cut Georgia Tech pumpkin. What a dork!?.jpg)
While Kriston, Julie and I were at the AIGA Conference in Memphis, we had to eat some BBQ! The first night we visited Neelys (From "At Home with the Neelys" on the Food Network) and let's just say we thought it would be a little bit more inviting. The food was good, but the atmosphere was just scary.
The second night we ate at the famous Rendezvous.
Kriston and I split the full rack of ribs!
All gone!!
Just had this for dinner Sunday night and it was delish! The perfect weather for some chili!
White Chicken Chili
Ingredients
1 1/2 to 2 pounds white chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 can chicken broth
2 medium onions, finely chopped
14 oz. green salsa (tomatillo salsa) or your favorite red salsa
48 oz. Great Northern Beans
8 oz. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese or Pepper Jack Cheese
Directions
1. Saute onion in a small amount of olive oil in a large skillet.
2. Transfer to crock pot.
3. In the same skillet, cook chicken in a small amount of chicken broth. Transfer to crock pot.
4. Add remaining broth, salsa, beans with liquid to crock pot.
5. Cook on high 2-3 hours or low 4-6 hours.
6. Add shredded cheese in the last half hour.
I used pretzels, Butterfinger candy bars, chocolate graham crackers, m&m's and reese's pieces!
Jessica enjoying her bites!
Frozen Chocolate Dipped Banana Bites
From Bon Appétit
Ingredients
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons canola oil
Assorted toppings (such as crushed chocolate sandwich cookies, toffee bits, Butterfinger candy bars, chopped salted peanuts toasted shredded coconut, crushed chocolate dipped pretzels, crushed pretzels, chopped hazelnuts)
3 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
Directions
1. Stir chocolate and oil in heavy small saucepan over low heat just until smooth. Let stand 15 minutes to cool.Makes 36 banana bites.
Sammy is one of four dog paintings I'm working on! Sammy is just as funny as he looks!
Stay tuned for the other three pups!
This month's supper club was at Taverna Plaka off Cheshire Bridge. The food was delicious and how can you pass up The Chef's Special!! It was $25 and included three appetizers, a salad, three entrées and two desserts. Definitely a Greek Special! We even got to mash up our own hummus...I've got the hummus!
As good designers you have to have the ability to make and to think and you also have to have the ability to make people think...
I caught a couple of good sessions, but the main one that gave me some inspiration was the Hatch Show Print letterpress. They have such great artwork and most of the woodtype they use are originals since the beginning. It's amazing how timeless art can be.
and here's what was going on the day you were born...
President: Ronald Reagan
Vice President: George Bush
Top headlines:
"Smile Jamaica" concert for Hurricane Gilbert victims held in London
S Ueda & H Kaneda discover asteroid #5005 Kegler & #7751
Orel Hirsheiser, 1st to pitch shutout in playoff & world series (World Series #85)
Top Songs...aww man...good times when you were born....Rick Astely, Billy Ocean, MJ, Steve Winwood....I'm kind of jealous...
Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses
Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley
Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car by Billy Ocean
One More Try by George Michael
Roll with It by Steve Winwood
Man In the Mirror by Michael Jackson
Look Away by Chicago
Anything for You by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
The Flame by Cheap Trick
1988 Prices:
Gas: $0.96/gal
Stamp: $0.25/ea
Min Wage: $3.35/hr
On TV..I miss The Wonder Years...
The Golden Girls
Married... With Children
Murphy Brown
The Wonder Years
L.A. Law
China Beach
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Roseanne
The Cosby Show
Moonlighting
Hot New Toys:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures
Micro Machines
Super Soaker
Power Drencher
Dino Riders
It was a good day
I thought I would never ever ever be jumping out of a plane but I just did! It was such an unbelievable experience that words cannot do justice for the feeling of free falling for 47 seconds (which PS felt like 5 seconds) and 10 minutes of floating in the air looking out at the Atlanta skyline.
The four of us, me, Jessica, Maggie and Erin, set out on our what felt like a really long trip to Monroe, Georgia. Driving from Athens to Monroe hungover seems to make time longer for some reason. Tip#1: Don't drink and dive! (and no, we did not have any projectile up in the air...thank god!)
I don't think the situation had hit any of us until we were getting into our jumpsuits and the intercom came on and said "5 minutes for skydivers!" Umm what, I just put my jumpsuit on...But I do have to say, being in those jumpsuits makes you feel pretty awesome and important. Like I'm on a mission (which we were)! I feel the need...the need..for speed!
Jessica and I were the first jumpers and as we made our way on to the plane, the mood quickly changed from "I'm so excited!" to "What in the hell am I doing?" Jessica's face was priceless and basically said it all!
The moment got all too real when they opened up the hatch and you were kneeling right there in front of the open air amidst the clouds and ground below of what looked like a model of a small town. What is this? A center for ants?!?
1, 2, 3....
I free fell for 47 seconds with sleeting hitting my face. It was like little pricklies hitting my face, but that quickly wasn't important anymore as I could finally see the ground below me. I became used to the fact that I was free falling and stopped screaming and then tried to breathe normally. Tip #2: Dont' try to breathe normally. Just keep screaming.
Free-falling felt like 5 action-packed seconds of my life, but the ride afterwards felt like forever, but a good forever. It was just so peaceful floating and looking at everything around...the Atlanta skyline, Stone Mountain, Athens...
I would do this all over again! Thanks Skydive Monroe!
