#60

I like to bake, but I don’t really like to cook. Whenever I cook something, it never turns out right. And cooking meat makes me nervous. I always worry that I’m undercooking it and that I’m going to get myself and everyone else in my house sick. For the most part, I stay away from cooking meat. But I’m going to try and change that! Here are a few recipes I’m hoping to try out within the next week or so:

1) Shrimp, Tomato, and Basil Pasta from MarthaStewart.com: The recipe doesn’t look difficult at all, and there’s even a video you can watch to help you along the way!

2) Lighter Sesame Chicken from MarthaStewart.com: I don’t have a steamer basket, but I do have a colander, and I think that could work for steaming the broccoli.

#57

Entry #1 to the Veer Grand Prize Contest

Entry # 2

Entry #1 is my favorite.

Making sweet potato fries for a study snack. I almost burned them in the oven.

Etsy Finds

1. Turquoise typewriter

2. Rosie garden necklace

3. Washi masking tape

4. Feather and flower headband

5. Book of lists

6. Winter trees pop wall

7. Glasses

8. Chair clutch

9. Aluminum letters

I’ve started my application process for grad school! I’ve decided to apply to Pratt, RISD, and SCAD. The next two months are going to be very stressful!

Links you should visit today:

1) Design Vagabond.

2) Delphine Ephemera.

rambling #54

It’s 7:41pm and I’m sitting in my COMM462 class. The class is called Designing Persuasive Communication. It’s an okay class. Today’s lecture is about building brand strategy.

Class ends at 10pm, and I forgot to pack a snack. Darn it.

I had two exams earlier today, and I think they both went well. Though I did have some trouble with a short essay question. I simply had no idea what to write!  I just scribbled out a couple of paragraphs. It probably won’t make any sense to my professor or GSI.

This past Saturday, I went to Wiard’s Orchard with the yearbook staff. I had a blast; we raced through the Labyrinth (my team lost), walked through the corn maze (sadly, the corn was really short…and that’s coming from someone who’s 5’2”), went on a hay ride, and filled up on apples and cider before we left. We didn’t pick any apples, but I was more than fine with that–there’s always a ton of apples at my co-op. If I had brought more home, we would be drowning in apples right now.

I made apple cake later that night. It was pretty delicious. I got the recipe from smittenkitchen.com. Where else. I’m in love with that website.

rambling #50 @ 3:57pm

In my room. Currently listening to nothing.

I leave for New York in two days! I am so excited! I spent all last night doing laundry and packing–I didn’t go to bed until 4am! And I got up extra early to do some last minute errands. I’m really dragging right now.

I made raspberry scones today with some leftover raspberries from a berry picking adventure. @sara_bee, @jasminezoo, and @Steph_Steinberg I went berry picking this past Sunday at Makielski Berry Farm in Ypsilanti. It was about a 15 minute drive, and we had a great time. Except for the bees. They were everywhere.

After berry picking, we met up with @LaraZade and went canoeing and kayaking down the Huron River! It was a ton of fun, but VERY tiring. We canoed and kayaked for 2 hours, about 3.7 miles! That may not seem like much distance to some people, but my arms were very sore after. @Steph_Steinberg and I kayaked together and we ran into trees and bushes that line the shores of the river quite a few times. I almost lost my glasses one time because of tree branches.

After canoeing, we all went back to my co-op, made raspberry almond scones (@sara_bee found this recipe, and we substituted the blueberries with raspberries), and had a tea party. It was a great day.

One of the scones I made with leftover raspberries from a raspberry picking adventure. This is my second helping. Nom nom nom.

I updated my links/resources yesterday. Check out some of my favorite blogs and websites to the left, under “Some Favorites.”

1) decor8. An amazing blog by Holly Becker. I discovered it yesterday and have been reading it ever since. I went to bed at 4am this morning because I was reading this blog while I was packing!

“As a writer and interior design consultant, I created decor8 to catalog beautiful finds and to inspire others.” -Holly Becker

There are some great resources on here for organizing, decorating, painting, art projects, the list goes on.

In one post, Holly Becker blogs about Coral von Zumwalt Photography. I love this photo; I love seeing people's inspiration walls/boards. Photo: Coral von Zumwalt

2) seesaw. I found the link for decor8 blog on this site!

“Seesaw is a graphic design & letterpress studio. This is where we share all of the things that inspire us on a daily basis.”

They post on a wide range of things: art, architecture, industrial design, information design.

Very clever design. And think about how green it is! Not too much waste, the packaging for it is probably simple and clean, and you can ship and transport a ton at one time.

rambling #49 @ 8:47pm

In my room. Currently listening to Regina Spektor.

I put zucchini bread in the oven about half an hour ago and it should be ready to come out in about 15 minutes. I got the recipe from marthastewart.com. It’s the second time I’m using this recipe, and I’m hoping it turns out as good as it did the first time!

I started moving into my new room, room #9, yesterday! It’s just down the hall from room #6, the room that I’m staying in now–thank goodness I don’t have to go up any steps. I had room#6 all to myself for the past few months and am rooming with someone in room#9. Her name’s Christina. I haven’t met Christina yet, but we’ve exchanged e-mails.

Read about my moving adventure below:

Monday, August 25th, 2009:

5:00pm: Get home from work to find that #9 is locked. I had spent the previous day cleaning and moving furniture around. I had pushed a dresser out into the hallway because I didn’t want one and notice that the dresser is gone. The desk hutch that I had put out in the hallway was gone too. Maybe the maintenance guys moved them to the basement?

5:03pm: Run around my co-op looking for Amanda so I can get into room #9. Find her in the basement computer lab with her boyfriend, Evan, talking about groceries.

5:05pm: Unlock room #9 and find that the desk hutch is sitting comfortably on my desk. There are also three dressers in the room. Three. I had pushed mine out into the hallway and left one in the room for Christina. Where did the third one come from?

5:10pm: Pushed two dressers out into the hallway. I probably pulled a muscle in the process.

5:23pm: Ask Evan and Amanda to help me move a table from the basement to room #9. It’s really hard walking up the stairs backwards carrying a table.

5:30: Talk to Amanda about how horrible our vacuums are. The one on the 1st and 2nd floors don’t work. Amanda says that the one on the third floor works.

5:32pm: Lug the third floor vacuum down to room #9. It works! Spend the next few hours cleaning.

6:17pm: As I’m cleaning the radiator, I find some cheese melted to it. Cheese.

6:40pm: Pick up a piece of cardboard from the closet floor and see a spider on it.  Run downstairs with the cardboard and spider and let the spider loose on the front porch. Hopefully he doesn’t find his way back in.

7:00pm: Vacuum. There are a lot of feathers on the carpet. Was there a pillow fight in here?

7:08pm: Wipe down the walls, windows, and closets and realize that I’m inhaling the cleaner. Ah!

8:00pm: Take a break. Go on to marthastewart.com and look up recipes for blondies. Go on to smittenkitchen.com and look up recipes for blondies. Decide to make the blondies from marthastewart.com.

8:30pm: Slowly start moving things from room #6 to room #9. I didn’t realize I have so much stuff.

9:21pm: Start baking!

10:02pm: Slide the blondies into the oven and clean the kitchen while they’re baking.

10:33pm: The blondies are done! Enjoy them with Amanda and @bcbodnar, another housemate. Talk about the history of the co-op, drugs, and skunks.

11:30pm: Return to room #6 and look up recipes for carrot cake.

12:07pm: Bed.

I hope to finish moving everything into room #9 by tonight, but I’m dead tired, so we’ll see.

The list:

1) Human Resources. “Human Resources is a source of creative visual and aural inspiration” (from Human Resources). They have some pretty nifty stuff on here and also post links to people’s portfolios and websites.

Wishing my room were big enough to accommodate these.

Wondering how the shelves are arranged in the "L," "A," and "N" pieces.

2) Dazed Digital. I got this link from Human Resources! It kind of reminds me of NYMag.com, which I adore. Dazed Digital seems to have more content, and I’ve practically glued myself to their Arts & Culture section.

3) Style Bubble. I got this link from Dazed Digital! It’s like that 6-degrees of separation thing–every website is connected to one another through links to one another. The author of this blog,  Susie Bubble, is a contributor to Dazed Digital (more evidence of the 6-degrees of separation phenomenon). She lives in London, so I’m sure she has an awesome accent. Jealous.

Anywho, Susie blogs about fashion and her life. Her life is a lot more interesting than mine, but then again, my life’s pretty average. She describes her blog as “a record of observations, experiences, and thoughts about my very specific view of fashion.”

Here is Susie selling some things at a flea market. She's trying to clear out her closet. Picture courtesy of Style Bubble and Fred Butler's blog.

rambling #45 @ 11:05pm

In my room.

Currently listening to The Beatles.

No national or international holidays today (according to Google Calendar).

@BCBodnar and I hosted a dinner for a few friends tonight.  It was a success! The food turned out pretty good (@BCBodnar and I made a completely vegetarian dinner: veggie pizza, arugula and romaine salad, potato salad, avocado dip, and blueberry cobbler with ice cream–YUM!), and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I hope we can host another one soon.

Not too long ago, @sara_bee tweeted about moo.com giving away a free pack of sample business cards. I filled out an order and got my sample pack a couple of days ago (I didn’t realize they had arrived at my co-op until this morning)! You get 10 sample cards, and you get to choose any 10 images for one side of the cards. I found all my images on sxc.hu, an AMAZING stock photo website. The upside: the business cards are free. The downside: there’s a moo.com mark on the bottom of each sample card. If you don’t want the mark, you can pay about $6 to have them removed. The cards are pretty cool.

My sample pack of cards from moo.com. My information's on the other side. I'll probably use them as bookmarks.

The paper dress that I’m making out of the U-M Student Directory is slowly coming along. I have the top mostly done–it just needs some trimming and assembling.

The list:

1) thisiswhyyourefat.com. The web address says it all.

"The Miles Dog: A hot dog covered with cheese, tomatoes, grilled onions, ketchup, guacamole, and several slices of bacon."

"Deep Fried Captain Fluff: Deep fried Marshmallow Fluff and Cinnamon Toast Crunch."

2) Spotted: DC Summer Interns. Probably the most amusing blog I’ve read. Ever.

“This blog is dedicated to those DC residents who dread intern season. Interns swarm in like the Eighth Plague of Egypt (or the cicadas of 2004). Essential to the function of offices in DC, interns are willing to complete tasks that permanent staff are not and are eager to do so. For many interns, this blog will not apply. For those interns for whom it does apply, we hope that you use these anecdotes to change your behavior and, eventually, change the stigma attached to DC interns. *PLEASE NOTE: As with the viral nature of the Internet, many offices are concerned about anonymity and poor reflections upon them – please be assured that no office or individual will ever be singled out. This blog operates under complete anonymity and will never be of a libelous nature; it will never post any identifying information including, but not limited to: place of work or residence, name, or anything else that may identify an individual. We welcome you to submit any absurd intern stories you are bound to acquire. To the interns: please use this blog as a learning tool. Godspeed, my friends, and best of luck this summer.” (from http://dcinterns.blogspot.com/)

3) Target, Anna Sui, and Gossip Girl. Anna Sui is teaming up with the awesome Target to create a Gossip Girl-inspired line of clothes. There are a few dress/outfits each for Blair, Jenny, Vanessa, and Serena. I really like the Blair outfits.

Blair dress #1.

Blair dress #2 (possibly my favorite).

rambling #43 @ 9:24pm

Currently watching LOST with @BCBodnar

My housemate Bridget and I started watching LOST last week, and I can see why people are addicted to it.  We’re on Disc 6 of season one.

On Wednesday, I went to the Salvation Army and Treasure Mart in search of a briefcase like the one below. I think it’s so classy.

http://www.etsy.com/category/jewelry?page=19

But I couldn’t find one. Darn. I did find a crystal pendant and a pearl necklace at Treasure Mart though, and I only spent $10. Score!

I love Treasure Mart.

I am not giving up on the briefcase.

Yesterday, Bridget and I went to Fleetwood Diner.  Neither of us had been there before, and I think it was okay.  Here’s what happened:

Waitress: What kind of toast would you like?

Me: Um…french?

Waitress: White, wheat, or rye?

Yup. That really happened.

Bridget and I also went to Nakamura Co-op for a bit yesterday to celebrate my past roommate’s birthday. I hadn’t seen the birthday girl in ages, and it was really great to sit and catch up.

Early Sunday morning, Bridget and I are going to go to Afternoon Delight for breakfast (I think Bridget and I are going to hit up a good number of Ann Arbor restaurants this summer) and then we’re going to go to a Quaker service after that. There’s a Quaker/Friends House a few houses down from our co-op, and we think it’d be interesting to sit in on a service.

Today, I signed up to be a guinea pig at the Dental School. If I’m eligible for the study, I think I’ll be testing out some new mouthwash. I’ll get paid and a free teeth cleaning. Woot.

The list:

1) Lovely Package. A website similar to The Dieline. Loves it.

I love packaging design. This is what I want to do with my life.

2) Fleuron. Hmm. I can’t remember if I already blogged about this site.  Fleuron is a “journal of typography and design,” and there’s some pretty neat work on here.

By Isabelle Vaverka (visit her at http://isabellevaverka.net/)

rambling #34 @ 10:05pm

in my room

Whoa.  I haven’t updated my blog in a while.

Currently listening to pink and drinking carrot juice.  The carrot juice is kind of gross.  It tastes like carrots, but at the same time it doesn’t.  I have an almost-full bottle left, and I’m not dumping $4 down the drain.  It’s healthy…I’ll just keep telling myself that with each sip.  It’s healthy.  It’s healthy.  It’s healthy.

Today is John F.  Kennedy’s birthday!  He would have been 92.

As many of you know, this past Monday was Memorial Day, but it was also Spring Holiday in the UK.  No idea what Spring Holiday consists of, but I like telling people of random holidays.  I look like an idiot when they ask what the holiday is and I don’t have an answer for them, but whatever.  It’s fun.  I would provide a link here to an article on Spring Holiday, but I Googled it and got weird search results.  Maybe you’ll have better luck.

Oh, and yesterday, the Dragon Boat Festival was celebrated in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

It’s also Feast of Weeks today and tomorrow.  According to Google calendar, Feast of Weeks is a Jewish holiday.  That’s all I can tell you.  Want to learn more?  Google it!  Or click here.

I just imported all the possible Holiday Calendars into my Google Calendar, and after quickly glancing at it, there’s practically a holiday every day!  I will keep you updated on holidays, mostly on twitter.

Spring term is kicking my butt.  Ugh.  My drawing class is coming along nicely though.  We drew nude models last week with charcoal (I’m not a fan of charcoal; I don’t really know how to use it and always end up leaving class with charcoal marks on my cheeks) and this week we did self-portraits (mine turned out looking like a duck) and started on one-point perspective drawing.  Our homework assignment for the weekend is to draw a room in one-point perspective.  I tried to draw the tv lounge in my co-op, but after four/five failed attempts, I gave up and decided to draw my room instead.  I’m having just as much difficulty with my room as the tv lounge.  Blurgh.

My Communication Studies classes are ok.  A ton of reading, though.  I always complain about how much reading I have for my Comm classes.  I need to stop complaining. I need to stop complaining.  I need to stop complaining.

A new person started in my office last week.  He just graduated and wrote for the Arts section of The Michigan Daily for the four years that he’s been at the University of Michigan.  I work for Design.  Small world.  Oh, and a girl in my drawing class knows my younger sister.  Small world.

Today I met up with a friend for dinner at Cafe Habana.  I ordered the Cuban sandwich.  It was pretty good, and I have leftovers.  Woot!  I really like the skinny fries that they serve there; they’re amazing.

Remember when I e-mailed ffffound.com asking for an invite, like, 2/3 weeks ago?  Well, I haven’t heard back from them.  Crap.

Oh, and Washtenaw Dairy is celebrating it’s 75th birthday tomorrow.  They’re throwing a block party, and my housemates and I are going to try to go.  It should be exciting.  Read about my first trip to Washtenaw Dairy here.

The list:

1) NY Times’ The Moment Blog.  Why am I just learning about this?  Kooky fashions, reasonably-priced finds (most of the time), awesome/absurd quotes.  Again, why am I just learning about this?

Image courtesy of the NY Times The Moment Blog.

It’s a puffer dress!!!!!

2) I don’t have a second link to share, but visit ffffound.com!  I can’t push this site enough!!!!!!

Now, off to see UP with a couple housemates. YES!

rambling #33 @ 6:26pm

in my room

Currently listening to Corinne Bailey Rae.

Spring term is INTENSE.  Right now, I’m working on my art homework, which is to draw a shoe.  I think it’s turning out ok.

On Friday, my housemates and I went to Washtenaw Dairy to get some ice cream.  It was my first time going there, and their ice cream is amazing (I got chocolate).  I ended up going there again a couple of days later with some fellow Michigan Daily designers.  I went around the Daily office and asked if the other sections (Sports, Photo, Opinion, Arts) wanted to join the designers, but there were no takers.  Nobody had eaten dinner yet.  I personally think that you can eat ice cream any time: morning, night, before dinner, after dinner.

Sara (left) and me.  Sara got cookies ‘n cream and I stuck with simple strawberry.  Photo courtesy of Hillary Ruffe.  Hillary got some ice cream with peanut butter in it.  Not pictured is Stephanie, who got a chocolate marshmallow shake.  Stephanie was waiting on her shake when Hillary snapped this photo.

My housemates and I are planning on going canoeing down the Huron River this weekend.  I am super excited.  Hillary and Sara are going to try and join us too.

The list:

Sorry, but I don’t have any links to post up.  I’ve been visiting ffffound.com everyday for the past week and haven’t explored other sites.  I absolutely love this site.  There’s just so much great stuff.  I REALLY WANT AN INVITE!  I sent an e-mail to ffffound asking for one a few days ago, but I haven’t heard back.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ll hear back.  Boo.

rambling #22 @ 9:11am

@ home for the weekend

Currently listening to my sister watch a YouTube video about sewing.

This is my second time coming home this month.   I usually don’t come home this often.

I got home early yesterday morning and was able to get a good amount of work done before I took a nap at 5:00pm.  I was planning on napping for only an hour, but I didn’t get up until 8:35 this morning!   I slept for 15.5 hours!  I guess  I needed it.  I barely slept for two days last week because I had to study for an exam.

Though I was able to get a lot done yesterday, I still have two chapters to read for Cognitive Psych = 80 pages.  I also need to start on a paper for Communication Studies, and a presentation for another Communication Studies class.  Great fun.

The list:

1) Remember that bag that I wanted from Goorin?  Well, I ordered it online yesterday, and I should be getting it within 2-8 business days.  So excited!  And just in time for Spring.

2) 15+ creative music cd cover designs. Nice collection.

Clean and simple.  If only my life were like this at times.

3)  Where are the apple slices?