clear trampoline

2011 in Music

2011-12-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

Alex

Colin

Maren

Mayhaw

So my bffs from way back, Alex and Nick (aka Mayhaw) have a new band (with 2 other cool kids, Colin & Maren). They are called the Spookies (pictured above) and they are totally awesomesauce. Check out their demos on bandcamp by clicking here. They played a super awesome show at the Know last weekend, with the Woolen Men and Paper Brain (who both were also good! click the links to their facebook pages). I had the privilege of taking photos for the Spookies at the show, which was really fun! I'll hopefully be uploading them all to flickr here at some point.

Other than that I haven't listened to all that much new music this year, so my top 5 list is more like a top 3. Woops. Is this what happens when you turn 30? You stop listening to new music, and forever listen to what you listened to in your 20s? Maybe, but whatevs. :) Here are the three albums that came out in 2011 that I managed to get into. No new bands here, just some old favorites with new albums. Pretty good stuff. Click on the links to go to the bands websites. :)

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

TV On the Radio - Nine Types of Light

Feist - Metals

Oh my goodness!

2011-11-22T12:35:00.000-08:00

Sea Foam at the Oregon Coast, October 2011.

It has been sooooooooooooooooooooo long since I blogged, what is wrong with me?

Nothing really, I've just been a bit busy doing other things. :)

I went to the Oregon Coast, it was fun! I took lots of photos and video, which I may get around to posting here someday, no promises. :)

I started a facebook page for my photography, you can visit it here if you would like.

I've been watching a little bit of sitcoms on Hulu, The New Girl, The Office and Parks & Rec, they are good! :)

I went and saw Wil Wheaton vs Paul and Storm, that was super geeky funtimes. This cute geeky girl band opened for them, the Double Clicks, they are superduper, you have to check them out!

I've also been watching Wings on Netflix. Do you remember Wings? It's pretty great. There are a few Cheers crossovers for you Cheers fans.

I've been running! Well, walking/running with my buddy Rachael. We're doing that good old C25K program, and we're on week 4! Amazing!

I've also been trying to be super healthy eating lots of veggies and not eating lots of processed foods, which is something I usually try to do but I'm trying EVEN harder lately because it just feels good, you know?

Sooooooooooooo, what have you been up to?

I believe it all

2011-09-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've been busy! Trying not to stress. I can do it! Posted a new pic to http://camillelorainephotography.wordpress.com/ go there to see it. I'll be posting another one next week, for realz, it's already in the pipeline! :) So how cute is this Regina Spektor video? Animated by a fan I believe. Birds are pretty cute. I know it's the cool thing to say, but it's true. :)

Cute plant.

Someone was watering this plant in the "lunch room" today. I put "lunch room" in quotes because it's really not a room, its very tiny, and you can't lunch in there. You can store your lunch in there though. Fridge. Anyway, back to this cute plant. It is cute, isn't it? I totally wanted to steal it. But obviously I didn't. I don't steal. This picture does not even show you how cute it is, it looks like a mini tree, and the trunk is like, braided. Very cute.

Cute mug.

Also cute, this snowman mug. It's so silly, but I like that snowman smile. I keep thinking of bringing in my own super duper mug into the office, because I have so many, I love a good mug. The ones here in the office are so random! I really like the idea of drinking out of a snowman mug in the summer. It probably gets neglected by most people except for during the month of December. Sad snowman.

I've got some really great photos I want to share here soon, from a trip out into the country a few weeks back. I need to get a roll of film developed first. That could take a while, knowing my track record with film development... but I will try to do it soon!

Hope you all are having a good week!

And the days blur into one

2011-08-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done

Listening to this song on repeat today. What are you listing to?

Lost Lake, 2008

2011-08-07T10:55:00.001-07:00

Got a set of prints developed from my lomo fisheye camera. This film had obviously been sitting around for a while, I believe this shot is from 2008.

Riker is so jazzy.

2011-07-27T20:37:00.001-07:00

Daisy Path

2011-06-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

There is this little path that lives just on the other side of my apartment building, pictured below. Can you even handle how beautiful it is? I look out my living room sliding door at this cute little spot and take my pup for walks out there. It definitely makes living away from my home a tiny bit more bearable when I can look at this everyday!

Frittata!

2011-06-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

I made the most delish frittata today. I followed the basic frittata recipe from How to Cook Everything, but I had to flair it up a bit. If you don't have that cook book you should totally get it. I'll give you a rundown of what I did though.

First, I preheated the oven to 350, and then I chopped up some peeled sweet potato and a head of broccoli (like a cup of each roughly, I didn't measure) and steamed that for about 8 minutes. While that was steaming I browned half a chopped onion for about 5 minutes in my cast iron skillet, added one minced garlic clove, and let that cook for about another minute before turning off the heat. While both of those things were going on I shredded up some parmesan and chopped up some bits of bree and some fresh rosemary. When the veggies were done steaming I let them cool a bit and then chopped them even more, and then threw ALL of that in with the egg mixture (6 eggs, salt & pepper to taste whisked together). Next, you add the whole dang mess to a big cast iron skillet (which has been preheated on the stovetop over medium heat, with about a tablespoon of butter melted in it). You turn that down to medium low and let it cook for 10 minutes, and then you move it to the oven to cook for 10 more minutes.

I'm telling you, so easy and so delicious. I should make frittatas every weekend! They're good for breakfast or brunch or dinner and make excellent leftovers for your lunch the next day. I totally recommend you make one soon!

Links and such

2011-05-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get caught up on my blog reader lately, and deleting feeds that I never read. It's been like spring cleaning for your inbox! Very fun. Anyway here are some of my favorite bits from around the web this week:

Photography DIY: how to make your own bokeh shapes

Crochet a tea cosy

Spring Minestrone Soup Recipe

Happy Friday everyone!

2011-05-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

I went to Canon Beach on my day off last week, and it was super fun! I've been super duper busy with work lately, and it looks like I'm getting busier all the time! On one hand, this is good, because busy with work = more money to pay bills, but on the other hand it means less lounge about time, and you all know how I love to lounge about! It's when I get my creative work done!

Anyway this week I have two blogs I want to share with you guys that I'm digging lately, I don't think I've shared them before but if I have well then check them out again!

1. Tomboy Style This blog is all about tomboys! It's really rad. Full of cool photos of tomboy style icons and cool ideas for hip things in the tomboy way. Check it out!

2. Rides A Bike This blog, it's actually a tumblr, what's the diff between that and a blog? Not much? Anyway this is all pictures of movie stars riding bikes! Mostly movie stars form the past. It is very cool! Check it out!

Also, you might notice a few random blog posts show up if you subscribe to this blog in a feedreader. I've decided to just combine my food blog with this blog, since I don't regularly enough post there, at least not at this time. This way I can just have the one blog to upkeep, should be fun and awesome! Good times!

thirtysomething

2011-05-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yup. That's right. I'm thirty, have been for like, almost two weeks now. Thirtysomething. Just like the hit tv show. I vaguely remember my mom watched this show when I was a kid. It was on from 87-91. They have it now on netflix instant view, and I gotta say, it's pretty good. I've only watched the season so far, but I totes recommend it. Especially to all you thirtysomethings out there.

Back to turning thirty. So basically I had a lot of anxiety about it. I mean, I feel really behind in life, there's a lot I wanted to have accomplished by this point in my life that I haven't. Big major life things. Financial stability. Career. Babies. I've not got those things. But you know what I do have? A wonderful husband. Fabulous friends. A cute dog. Those things help make the fact that I don't have the other things figured out yet seem not so bad. And frankly, what's the rush, right? I mean, if you spend your whole life working on the next big thing, are you really enjoying the moment? But it's still good to have goals, especially for us list maker type folks.

With that in mind, I'd like to revisit my new years goals, and add a few new ones, what I like to call my 30th year of life goals.

New years goals:
1. Try to get rid of some books. Before I become a hoarder and die in a pile of my own making. In fact just try to get rid of a lot of stuff. Too much stuff!
This one we've done pretty good on, but there are still a lot of things to get rid of, especially if we get a roommate, which we are considering because it would be a lot more financially prudent.

2. Read more. I only FINISHED 9 books this year, according to Good Reads. And one of them was a comic book. Shameful! Of course I started and put down like, at least 10 books. Which leads me to number 3...
Well, I haven't been as good on this one so far, I mean, I've only read 5 books so far this year, and 2 of those are cookbooks, so they almost don't even count. Must continue to read more!!

3. FINISH WHAT YOU START! I have a problem.
Haven't really started too many new things, but still something that needs work.

4. Write more, blog more. In 2008 I wrote 333 blog posts on this here blog. That is amazing, that's like, almost one per day! I want to beat that record.
Also something that still needs work. Although I've been pretty constant about posting roughly once a week, which is something.

5. Go to social gatherings. I have a weird problem with social anxiety. I will skip going to events, even when I know it will just be a group of good friends and people I really like! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I've got to work on this, or I will have no friends left.
This one I have definately been better about, but like everything I could still do better. I skipped out on a dinner party last night, but for good reason, I've been super sick! Although I still felt super bad about missing it.

6. Yoga run workout loose weight, take my dog for lots of hikes and walks, the usual get fit stuff.
I have not been doing good at this yet, but now that the weather is nicer, and since I'm participating in Jasmine's Couch to 5k club I should be jumping right in to the get fit stuff. Especially since Eli has agreed to run with me! :) We are planning on doing our first run tonight.

7. Paint more. My grandma gave me some painting tools for Christmas, which reminded me that hey! I used to paint. I need to do that again.
Well, fail on this one. I've done 3 pieces of art all year, but actually, that's something, right? I participated in Trisha's March Postcard art exchange (which you can see here), but I majorly failed to finish (or even start) the one for April. Must work more on that.

8. Get more photography work. Which means finish website, work on a flyer, new business card, take free photos to build portfolio, etc.
Another fail, but really, I don't feel so bad about this one. Photography has always been something fun for me, and if I make it more of a job I don't know that I will enjoy it as much, which to me is just not worth it.

9. Save money, make more money, don't get more debt, etc. I am going to be 30 soon. When do I start bringin' home the big bucks y'all?
Well, no big bucks yet, but we are always trying on this one. Going to have to try even harder though, I really want to get a nice amount of savings saved up for the times when we really need it.

10. Don't waste so much time doing NOTHING on the computer, ie wasting time on the Internet or playing the Sims 3 and/or Lord of the Rings Online too much. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stop doing these things. Just don't do them as much. Especially just sitting on the Internet, doing nothing but checking facebook, googling pictures of Ryan Gosling, looking up weird things on Wikipedia and checking Oregonlive.com for Kyron Horman updates. I really need to stop doing that. Such a time sink. Or sync?
I definitely feel I've been better about this, but like everything else, always room for more improvement.

Ok so now for my 30th year of life goals.

Eat breakfast everyday, plan weekly meals better
Shop more at farmers markets this season
Keep a cleaner house
Spend more time in the outdoors
Visit family more
Work on creative projects
Travel
Read more

So as you can see, some of these are similar to my new years goals, but they are more focused on doing things that make me happy, cuz really, what I've been thinking about lately is mainly to try and be more positive and focused on the good things and not what I don't have yet, because it's all about perspective!

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

- Groucho Marx

Elk grazing near Mt. Hood

2011-04-23T20:08:00.001-07:00

Elk grazing near Mt. Hood
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

What a beautiful day!

Good week

2011-04-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Eli being eclipsed by the sun.

Scully looking into the sun.

Scully doing what she does best, chew!

The sun is back!

We had a lovely day yesterday after getting off of work. Opened all the blinds in the house so the sun was streaming in. We also enjoyed hanging out on the porch with the pup. I got some nice pictures in the light of Eli and Scully. Even took some with my konica, hopefully I'll get that roll developed soon!

Then we had a really yummy dinner, Spaghetti with homemade Tuna Puttanesca Sauce (recipe from How to Cook Everything), sooo yummy! While we were cooking we watched a bit of Rick Steve's Europe. It was the best of Northern Ireland episode, gave me the travel bug for sure! It was a good start to the week, which will hopefully go by really fast since Friday is my birthday! Yay! :)

Tea time.

2011-04-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Tea!

Still reading Anne of Green Gables. It's such a fun read. Maybe it's the foodie in me, but I've really been noticing all the food references, which include cakes, biscuits, pies and so on. Also often mentioned is Tea, as in the meal, not the beverage (although the beverage tea is part of the meal). If you want to read more about Tea the meal, check out the wikipedia page on it.

On a side note, I haven't had coffee in like, 5 days. It's been all tea all the time. I've always liked tea and coffee, but lately, and maybe it's just because I'm surrounded by bad coffee all the time, but I just haven't been in the mood for coffee, so I finally just decided to stop drinking it. Unless I go out to a place I know makes great coffee, like here or here.

I really want to have a Tea party sometime, wouldn't that be fab? With little cucumber sandwiches and scones and clotted cream and whatnot. I think it would be lovely. I also want to go to a tea shop, and this one in Beaverton, Tea Thyme and Lavender, has always been on my list, antique shop and tea house, love it! Not quite the traditional Tea house but I still think it looks like fun.

Anywho that's all I got on tea for now. Do you like tea? Are you a tea, coffee or both person?

I made a sweater!

2011-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Baby sweater and mittens.

I made my first sweater! It's a crochet baby sweater, made for my dear friend Shawna's baby, who will be appearing sometime near the beginning of May. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? Everything is cuter when it's tiny. I found the pattern through Ravelry, it's called Kelly's Sweater, from Bella Bambina, here's a link to the pattern. Pretty simple pattern but oh so cute. I have always been afraid of making a sweater because I thought it would be too hard, but this was a good intro to sweater making, especially since it's crochet, which I think I'm a stronger crocheter than a knitter anyway. So, if you are like me and you haven't branched out much from hats and scarves, try this one out!

stream of consciousness and a scully pic

2011-04-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Scully.

The weekend is almost here! I'm ecstatic because last weekend was only one day. This weekend is gonna be busy though! I have a lot to prepare for my friend Shawna's Baby Shower on Sunday. I got this idea to have a photobooth, and I need to have a bunch of fun silly props for funtime photos, and batteries charged and cards emptied, then I still need to finish crocheting a certain baby item I should have finished a long time ago then I gotta make a casserole and I still haven't decided on a recipe from one of my million old cookbooks. BUT the good news is that I'm super excited about all this stuff, especially the shower itself! So despite my continual desire to always do nothing on the weekends, I figure it's cool to be busy when you have cool stuff to be busy with, right? Although I also need to do a lot of housekeeping, our place has gone to the dogs, or a dog rather. But it's not entirely her fault, she has two lazy pet owners who can barely manage to clean the place up once a week. I mean, who is she learning it from, right? :)

Movie Time! This week: The Last of the Mohicans

2011-04-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

The Last of the Mohicans, 1992.
Image found here.

It's been a while since I talked movies on this here blog and I have to rectify this! Last night I watched The Last of the Mohicans, and since I can't seem to get it out of my head, I'm gonna blog all about it!

I've probably seen that movie at least 30 times, and that is a conservative estimate. It made me realize why I've been so down lately, it's because I haven't watched that movie in AGES! What was I thinking going so long between viewings? All joking aside, it's really put me in a good mood ever since I watched it, I think I might even watch it again tonight.

Epic fighting going on in this flick, squeamish folk be warned..
Image found here.

Now, I'm not saying it's pick me up kind of movie, because it really isn't, but there is something really powerful about, and I'm not just talking about my love of Daniel Day-Lewis. Have I mentioned before how much I love Daniel Day-Lewis or discussed him at length? Oh, yeah, I have. Doing a quick search I see that I mentioned him here and here and here oh, and here, just to name a few, but I can see that it has been a while. Did you hear that he's gonna play Lincoln in a bio pic directed by Spielberg (read about it here)? I mean, genius casting right? He already kinda looks like Lincoln, just click through the image source on the pic below to see a side by side comparison.

Daniel Day-Lewis.
Image found here.

Anyway back to LotM, The movie is really good. In the strange case that you haven't seen it, I mean, it was released in 1992 so I'm guessing most people, especially movie lovers, have some familiarity with the film, but if you don't, I'll give you a rundown of why I love it.

First of all, it's beautiful to watch in HD, let me tell you from experience of having seen it many times on VHS, in HD it's truly awesome. The vibrant sweeping shots of the landscape make my heart ache to be out in the country. We are so lucky to live is such a beautiful place, aren't we? It makes me think of the song, America the Beautiful, which for some reason always chokes me up when I hear people singing it, but that's a topic for another day, isn't it?

"You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you.
No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you."
Image found here.

The movie is based on the book of the same name (I haven't read the book, but Eli tells me it's good, and a bit different from the film, but aren't they always), and the story is an epic period piece, set during the times of the French and Indian war, full of good guys versus bad guys, damsels in distress, heroic and romantic gestures, I mean, all the great epic tropes that we know and love.

This is the younger sister, she has a beautifully tragic scene that will bring you to tears.
I hope I haven't said too much! I just had to mention it though,
because it's one of my favorite parts of the film. Bring tissues girls!
Image found here.

Another thing about this movie that rules is the soundtrack. Epic and perfect for the film. You watch this movie and the score is stuck in your head for days, but unlike the latest Katie Perry song, you're not gonna hate having it stuck in your head. It's gonna make you smile. Below you will find a youtube video of the main song from the score. Listen and enjoy!

So basically that's about all I got on LotM for today. I just might watch it again tonight, supposing Eli doesn't mind watching it again, haha! And if you haven't seen it, I totes recommend. :) Good times!

Are you a doctor?

2011-03-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Mckinzie

There are a couple of things I like about this pic of my niece.

For one, she is making a hilarious face. It's look, oops, I got caught doing something, or maybe it's an I don't know who broke that, it wasn't me kind of face.

At the time it was taken she and I were running up and down the hallway at the hospital after her brother was born. She kept trying to go through this door that said "Authorized Personnel Only" and I was trying to explain to her what that meant. I said, are you a doctor? and she basically made this face in reply. Lol!

Also note the chocolate milk on her face. It's good to be a kid. :)

All I want now is happiness for you and me

2011-03-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Carnations

I sort of have two modes.

Happy carefree girl, and negative depressed downer.
(Or good-brain bad-brain, for those of you who remember that comedic revelation from college. :P)

I mean, obviously a lot of the time I'm somewhere in between, but often I tend to go to one extreme or the other. Does that make me a manic depressive? Maybe. I'm no doctor or anything.

But the point is, when I get in the negative downer stage, I can go from being really down to straight up sobbing and loosing my shiz, which ain't good for me, my poor hubby, I mean, that ain't good for nobody.

I can fall into that pit of dispair, or I can try to find something inspirational, pick myself up out of it, and be the happy carefree girl I wish I was 24/7.

Today I found inspiration in a blog post, and in hearing a Coldplay song pop up on the radio. Yeah, I like Coldplay. And I'm not sorry about it! :P

Basically my point is, you gotta focus on the good things. I mean, as far as I can tell in my near 30 years on this planet, there's always gonna be the bad, stressful stuff that makes you feel like garbage, nothing is ever gonna be perfect, the difference is how you react to it. Right?

I've made posts like this before. And I probably will again. Because I think it's important to not focus on the negative, but on the uplifting things.

So spread the love. What are some things that make and keep your happy? Cheer you up when you're down?

We can all help each other to be happiness!

All I want now
is happiness
for you and me
- lyrics from the Elliot Smith song Happiness.

Today's motto: Be happiness.

blog words blog, eat food eat, drink tea drink

2011-03-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, just realized I passed 600 blog posts recently on this blog. That's something I guess. I went back over and read some posts from a long time ago (ha, like 2005 was so long ago!). Man, I used to swear a lot, lol! What a foulmouthed One-hour-TV-Drama watcher I was. Not that I'm all done with the swearing (sorry Mom!) but I've definitely curbed it on the internets. It's like, hey, my grandmother is on face book now man, I don't need her seeing me swear in print. I know Alex Arrowsmith still has some of our old blog posts from the geocities days. I figure, we started that in 2003 maybe? What do you say Alex? At any rate I figure I've been blogging for around eight years. Eight years! That's nuts.

In other blog news I keep thinking about how to handle all these different factions of my life in the blog world, I've got the wordpress one I started just for my photography, but let it be know I kinda hate wordpress, so clunky and annoying! Blogger is so much more user friendly, and I think you can really accomplish the same things in either one (especially lately, blogger has really stepped it up!), so yeah, I might as well stay here with this blog. And then there's my food blog, which I don't update as often as I would like even though I photograph almost everything Eli & I cook/eat, but I like that that blog has a focus, where as this blog has been and will probably always been random and completely lacking in direction.

Meh, what can you do? Should I just have one blog/site where everything, personal and professional collide? Or should I keep things in their own little corners, like how I sort of have it now? Who knows. I like posting photography here, day to day type stuff, and I want to just keep that wordpress one for like, showing to perspective clients, when and if I actually get it profess enough looking where it would actually get me a client as apposed to turning them away at my lack of webmastery.

IN OTHER NEWS... I got the latest Chelsea Cain novel today, the Night Season, Eli picked it up at Powells for me. I can't friggin' wait to read it! I love Chelsea Cain. I want to be her (or like her rather) when I grow up. Is it too late? NO! 'It's never too late to be what you might have been.' as George Elliot said. Anyway the Night Season is the forth installment in the Archy Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series of serial-killer fiction set in Portland. If you like mystery/scary/dark humor stuff you will like these books. Especially the first one, it's dynamite! You'll read it in like one day, I swear. Gonna have to put all my other books on the shelf for now (according to goodreads I'm currently reading 6! Woops!).

Ok, so if I was casting a movie for these books, here's who I want. Charlize Theron for Gretchen, Jena Malone for Susan, and Michael Chiklis for Henry, and maybe Ed Norton for Archy. Still not 100% on that one though, I mean, it's Archy. It's hard to find someone that would be perfect for that roll. I think Ed could do it, but I maybe want someone a little more, I don't know, different? Maybe Christian Bale could pull it off too, he seems to be so method with his acting, I mean did you see the Machinist? The dude looked like a skeleton! I don't know, I still am not sure. I almost kinda want John Cuscak for it, although I don't know that he could go that real, ya know?

Anyway that's about as far as I've gotten in the casting, other roles in my imaginary adaptation are still up for grabs. Although I did hear a rumor somewhere that they were thinking of doing a movie with January Jones as Gretchen. I could get behind that too, although I think Charlize would be perfect.

Ok, so that's about it from me for now. I would have photos in this post except that there is something going on with flickr, it won't let me log in! Grr! I need pretty pictures! Oh well. Do some reading. It'll be good for ya. :)

Baked Lemon Pasta

2011-03-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer Woman knows how to make a delish dish. I mean, every recipe I have tried from her website has been spectacular, no foolin'!

Baked Lemon Pasta

Her recipe for Baked Lemon Pasta is really great. Lately I've been very much into recipes that have lemon in them. I love that tart citrus lightness that lemon gives to a dish and this dish inparticular, it feels clean and healthy (even with all that butter, lol!). If you actually wanted to make a healthier, lower calorie/fat version you could use your butter replacement of choice and low fat sour cream, I'm sure it would still be delish. I followed the directions pretty much to a T (except I used whole wheat noodles) and I served it with a side salad (mixed greens tossed with home made mustard vinaigrette).

Baked Lemon Pasta with side salad.

The only thing I think I would do differently the next time I make it is maybe up the amount of sour cream, it was a teeny bit on the dry side, maybe it's because I used whole wheat noodles (I always and only use whole wheat noodles, so much better for you), they seem to require more moisture than regular noodles do.

Anyway I totally recommend you try this, it's not your average pasta, you will the uniqueness of this! Clearly tasty!

Our numbers have grown by one.

2011-03-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend spent in the hometown. There was lots of time spent with relatives, including my brand spankin' new nephew Clinton. Isn't he precious?? :)

Clinton

Mckinzie was being the cutest big sister ever, it was so adorable.

Mckinzie and Clinton

But then, she's always being adorable, isn't she? :)

Mckinzie with Magnifying Glass

Noise? I hate noise!

2011-03-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

I just discovered Topaz DeNoise from an ad on a photography site I was reading. Anybody use this product or one like it? It's a photoshop plug in that is supposed to clean up noise. I'm wondering how it works and if it's worth the price tag. I have noise problems. Especially if I have to shoot on ISO* 800 or heaven forbid 1600. My lil xti just can't handle it. And I can't handle it.

I'm just trying to come up with solutions for some problems, particularly noise and lighting. I want to be able to do more than my current equipment can handle. I've definitely hit the ceiling with it.

When outdoors in low light, or when indoors and nothing near enough to bounce light off of I really struggle with the ability to get the photo that I want. Getting a nice flash has been a partial solution, but I just don't have the money to throw at getting new gear right now, i.e. a new camera or more flashes/light equipment.

I know there must be some good diy tips out there. I've checked out some of the Strobist's stuff, which is creative, but even some of his ideas are expensive, for me right now anyway. What can I do that is dirt cheap? Any ideas folks?

*woops, typo. fixed it. :)

Cute overload

2011-03-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

Crocheted hat for Baby Lewallen

Went to my dear friend Leah's baby shower today. Basically picked up baby fever. Must have baby asap!

I made this cute baby hat. I was up til after 1 am finishing it last night. Yup. That's what you get for procrastinating. I can't help it though. I hate to sew in my ends!!

I also went to my cousin's wedding today. My cousin was so beautiful I nearly (ok, definitely) burst into tears the second I saw her walk down the isle. I am such a dang softy! She was so pretty though. Like a movie star. :)

Now I'm trying to fall asleep but I can hear the neighbor downstairs snoring. Kinda weird. I should turn on some Magnum PI asap to drowned out the annoying noise!

Busy weekend!!

sotc

2011-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

March 1st. SOTC

I think I'm going to try and do more straight out of the camera shots (sotc), really try and improve my shot before it even goes to the computer. It will be more of a challenge, can't rely on auto white balance and auto iso, etc. but I think it will be fun, and plus, quicker to post things for you all to enjoy! :)

I'm homesick.

2011-03-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

I wish I was home. I miss my places.

My idea of home is one that includes a vast spot of land, including my parent's house, my grandparent's house, the land behind and adjacent that my uncle owns, my brother's house... this place is my home. Land my great grandparent's farmed. Where my grandmother grew up. Where my father grew up. Where my sister and brother and I grew up. Where my niece is now growing up.

It's a magical place. I'm sure I've waxed poetical about it before.

My idea of home also includes the Hood River Valley in general. The roads between town and the upper valley. The mountains and hills. My best friend's houses. My favorite coffee shop. The Columbia and the Hood rivers. The orchards. The trees.

I'm just really missing my place right now.
I think it's time for a trek east.

in the fields.

on the trail.

in the yard.

at the wood shed.

on the porch.

Scully

2011-02-23T21:07:00.001-08:00

Weekend

2011-02-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

Plant in the window, Chemistry Lab, OMSI, 2011.

I had a good weekend. Did you have a good weekend? Don't you wish it was always the weekend?

This week...

2011-02-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

Classical Cassette Tapes.

2011-02-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

Glenn Gould image found here.

Classical Cassette Tapes.
Part One in a series of Memoirs on Music

Do you remember how grocery stores used to sell things totally un-grocery related? Maybe they still do, but I don't notice it. When I was a kid I remember randomly seeing special things like, a matching set of Christmas Dishes, or a multi-volume Encyclopedia set, or random music collections brought to you on cassette tapes.

The collection that caught my interest was cassettes of Classical composer's greatest hits. Kinda weird for a 9 or 10 year old kid from the sticks, but for some reason I had to have them. I bought a Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky tape. Who knows where I got the money for those, especially considering we were not the wealthiest of families by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe it was with birthday money, or maybe one of my grandparents forked over the cash because they thought it was a worthy purchase.

Whatever the case was, I was super excited about these cassettes. I listened to them all the time. Especially the Mozart and Beethoven ones. I memorized every little nuance in the performances, to the point where even now, when I hear a piece of music that was on one of those tapes I can tell that it is a different recording based on minor adaptations of notes and tempo.

I used to listen to them over and over, and fancy myself a little conductor, I would swing my arms and bob my head to the tempo, and act out different scenarios with my barbie dolls where they were classical musicians, and of course they were very famous and wealthy. I would pantomime piano playing, envisioning myself as some grand master piano player, when in reality I never really learned to play anything very complicated in the 5 odd years in which I took lessons off and on.

I still love classical music, and listen to it regularly. I feel very much an amateur though, my knowledge of the classical world is very small. I know I love piano sonatas, I know that much, but I really have no knowledge of who or what I like outside of Moonlight Sonata. I recently watched this incredible program on PBS about Glenn Gould (which I totally recommend watching, it's amazing), and fell in love with him. He was like, the rock star of classical musicians, he was talented, obsessive, quirky, strange, eccentric, brilliant. I fall in love with anyone that loves their craft that much.

But other than those three composers I had on cassette tape, I've really only picked up Vivaldi, Bach, and Leonard Bernstein (thanks to my love of old movies) albums since. I really need to expand my knowledge though. I owe it to my childhood self.

And now for a completely unrelated movie quote (from the hit film Empire Records)

Lucas: Warren, look what you took.
[going through the CD's that Warren stole from the store]

Lucas: Rap... metal... rap... metal... And Whitney Houston.

Warren: It's for my girlfriend, okay?

Lucas: Suuure it is. You know, someone like you needs to diminish their criminal impulses, not magnify them. Maybe some jazz or some classical.

Warren: Maybe you bite me.

So how about you, do you like classical music? Any recommendations of classical composers or musicians?

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Made some cookies today. A bit of a riff on the standard Peanut Butter Cookie. I used whole wheat flour instead of regular flour, and I added a chocolate chip on top. I halved most of the ingredients from a classic type recipe (Here's one at Simply Recipes), but these ones have a higher ration of egg and peanut butter, which gave these cookies a little more of a fluffiness than your usual pb cookie. They turned out really nice and light. Eli's had like, 4 in the last hour. I think that means they are tasty. :)

Yum!

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened to room temp.
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar in bowl til well blended. Add egg, milk and vanilla extract, mix until smooth. Add flour, baking powder and salt, mix til combined. Spoon one tbsp size balls onto cookie sheet (I did two batches of 8). Top each one with a chocolate chip, pressing down slightly. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool on rack and enjoy!

Makes 16 cookies.

So tasty!

Tidbits or, Things of Interest to me this week.

2011-02-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Tidbits or, Things of Interest to me this week.

(full of linky-links for you to clicky-click)

This morning my friend Nick called just to chat. It was nice. We talked about old tv shows that we like and how cool the Real Life Gidget was. I told him about this neat-o vid I saw of Alain Gree drawing a happy picture. I recommend everyone should call a friend for no reason but to chat, you will make your friend so happy. Try it out on one of your friends today!

Outside today it is sunny and cool.

I have been reading the Tolkien Reader, listening to the Tolkien Professor Podcast, and playing a lot of Lord of the Rings Online. Basically I've been back on a Tolkien kick, and it has been marvelous. I would be reading Anne of Green Gables right now, but I can't find it. I must have left it somewhere. If you see it, let me know, OK?

I've signed up for this website Sparkpeople. It's pretty neat for tracking nutrition, fitness, dieting, etc, and best of all it's free! I figure it might help with my whole get fit new years resolution thingy.

Today's lunch, approx. 590 calories.

My friend Jody texted me this photo of her latte today. She knows about my love for lattes, art, and latte art. This latte is from of 10 Speed Coffee. I wish I was drinking a latte right now, but Earl Grey tea is OK too.

Yummy latte.

What are your interests this week friends?

I want to answer it, I truly did, but today, today I am suffering from ennui.

2011-01-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

Image of Anne (of Green Gables fame) found here.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's not even February and I'm off my self imposed blogging schedule. Real life man. I have been pretty busy trying to be good and do happy things, but all I feel is ennui (definition of ennui). Do you know ennui? Watch this clip from Gilmore Girls if you don't. It's probably due to a lack of sunshine/vitamin D/~~direction in life~~ wait, no! I have direction! It's just sometimes the going is really slow, so that you feel you are not going up anymore, you know? Anyway fighting this off with books and pie and knitting.

Part of my whole new years resolute-thinger was read more, and I've been doing pretty good. I finished up Left Hand of Darkness this week, and I started Anne of Green Gables. Can I even begin to tell you how much I love Anne Shirley? She is my hero. I want to have her attitude towards life. So excited and looking at the beauty in everything. It's wonderful.

Anyway how have you been? Any ennui sufferers out there?

Beans and Bread and other things

2011-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I managed to get 2 of my dinner plans done. Not such a great record, but I still feel good about it. The Curry Quinoa was a hit with some tofu, read about it here in my previous post.

On Saturday I made the Butternut Squash and Coconut Milk Rice as planned and it was lovely. I followed the recipe except I used chickpeas instead of black beans (it's what I had in the pantry). The only thing I would have done differently is maybe leave the lemon grass whole and take it out before serving, because I guess I didn't get it chopped fine enough and it was a bit like chomping down on tree bark at times. Teeny tiny pieces of tree bark. The flavors were phenomenal though, and I will definitely make it, or a variation, again soon.

On Saturday I also made two loaves of bread and a big ol' pot of black beans. For the black beans I used this Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans Recipe from Simply Recipes. The bread and the beans turned out AH-mazing! I think I'm gonna make it a regular thing to make bread and a pot of beans, or something equally as slow-cooking and savory, on Saturdays. A nice long day of leisurely cooking and baking in between book reading.

Trying out a new thing, here is a link to the bread recipe I used from the Joy of Cooking on google books. It's called White Sandwich Bread. Scroll down, it starts on the bottom of this page and goes on to the next (they explain the whole wheat version on the next page, that's the version I made).

Colors make me happy.

2011-01-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange." - Vincent Van Gogh

Back when I was a graphic designer at a lil small town newspaper I used to do all sorts of creative things all day long. Some of it was pretty much wasting time when you get down to it, but I like to look at it rather like building the creative mind instead of calling it a waste of time.

Anyway I used to frequent this website, Colourlovers all the time for color ideas. What you do is build a color palette of 5 colors. It is addicting! You can use photos to help make your palettes, or just pick colors. You can also then apply those colors to fun patterns. The coolest part though is you can download a file for photoshop or illustrator and thus import your colors into the color palette of the project you are working on. So awesome.

Click here to see colors and palettes I've designed. You should head over there and design some palettes of your own. It is fun!

Tree Jewelry

2011-01-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Fall.

Winter.

Now I just need a pic during the spring and summer and voila, round the year photos of the tree on grandma's back porch. This tree always makes me smile because of all the decor it gets to hold. I like to think of it as if the tree is wearing jewelry. :)

5 blogs

2011-01-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

Mt. Hood from Booth hill, October 2010.

I thought I'd make a little list of some of the blogs I've been into lately.
Maybe you'll discover a new favorite?

Cannelle et Vanille
This blog is what I aspire to do with my blog Clearly Tasty. It has such beautiful photos, clean design, and nice writing, and the recipes are so fresh, full of good things, real food, the kind of food I love. I really can't tell you enough how much I love this blog.

Eat Move Write
This blog is great. It runs the gamut from easy everyday-style recipes, books and writing, inspirational, relationships, life and everything in between. I really like it because it's very accessible and it is so down to earth it's refreshing. It's cool to see how it has evolved and grown since I started reading it, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Go Fug Yourself
Does this count as a blog? I think so. Basically this is a couple of gals writing about crazy Hollywood fashion, and they are friggin' hilarious. Kindred spirits. We must be close to the same age because all there jokes are hilarious and there references are spot on. If you are like me, and you probably are since you are reading this, do yourself a favor and read this site for some laughs.

Meet Me At Mikes
This blog is so great. Crafty and retro and fun and lighthearted and nice. I really like how the gal who does this blog is so upbeat, and not in a fake way. It makes me smile all the time, and she links to music a lot, I have discovered some real favorites because of her.

Lovely Undergrad
This blog is written by a college student, and she posts mostly about interior design type stuff, like good ideas for your dorm room or small apartment. While I'm not in college anymore I find her ideas still really useful, and she always links to pretty pictures, and you all know how much I love pretty pictures. She also blogs a bit about fashion and other college type stuff. It is enjoyable.

What are some of your current fav blogs?

Breaded Curry Tofu and Curried Quinoa Salad

2011-01-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

So, first day of this week's meal plan and already off track!

Monday night dinner.

I decided I needed to switch Monday and Tuesday's dinner plans since I forgot to soak my white beans overnight, which meant Curried Quinoa Salad. While reading a post this morning about tofu on I Will Run For Chocolate I remembered I had some Mori-Nu Silken Tofu on top of the fridge, and decided I would incorporate that with the Curried Quinoa Salad.

Curried Quinoa Salad.

I loosely followed Healthy Green Kitchen's Curried Quinoa Salad recipe, found here.
Here are my changes: I used peas instead of edamame, fresh tomato instead of sun dried, walnuts instead of pecans, and omitted the parsley (would have been delish but I didn't have any) and didn't do the chicken or turkey recommendation. I add some chopped fresh spinach and a splash of Ponzu (which is basically a citrus soy sauce). It was amazing. Fresh and filling.

The tofu recipe follows. Served on the side. In hindsight this would work better with non-silken tofu, and I wish I'd sliced the pieces a bit smaller, because it crumbled a bit. Still it turned out amazing.

Breaded Curry Tofu.

Breaded Curry Tofu

1 pack firm or extra firm tofu
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp curry seasoning

Drain and pat dry the tofu. Slice the into 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch chunks. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, lightly tossing. In a bowl combine the breadcrumbs and curry seasoning, toss in the tofu and mix lightly until coated on all sides. Heat a nonstick pan or a wok over high heat, add the remaining olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the tofu to the pan and cook until crispy, flipping a few times to cook on all sides. Remove from pan and drain on plate covered with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Menu Plan Sunday!

2011-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

peeling apples

This week I'm going to try and use up some stuff around the kitchen without purchasing anything, or at least very little. It's the new year, and one of my resolutions is trying to be as frugal as possible. Should be easy for a while, since we've got lots of meats in the freezer and beans, rice and quinoa in the pantry as well as various veggies. I'm sure I can come up with plenty of interesting recipes! I've found a few for this week, and I'll just adapt them as close as I can to what I have.

This week's plan:
Sunday- Leftovers!
Monday- New Orleans' Style White Beans (with sausage, only because we have some in the freezer)
Tuesday- Curried Quinoa Salad with steamed broccoli
Wednesday- Polish sausages with garlic potato fries
Thursday- Burritos with chips & salsa
Friday- Leftovers!
Saturday- Butternut Squash and Coconut Milk Rice with baked chicken breasts

I also think I'll make an apple crisp at least one night this week since I still have a few apples left in my fridge.

What are you making this week?

Grandma's Garden

2011-01-02T00:43:00.000-08:00

Uploaded a bunch of photos from last fall, you can see most of them in this set, Plants & Flowers on my flickr page. I love taking photos in my grandmother's garden. One of my favorite places on the planet.

It's good to have goals.

2010-12-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

Scully dog.

Do you ever remember something or someone from long ago, only to realize moments later that it is not a real memory but something or someone from a movie or a tv show you used to watch? This has happened to me so many times I can't even tell you. The other day I was trying to remember the name of this professor from college, and realized I was thinking of one of Joey Potter's professors from Dawson's Creek! I tell you what, I was filled with laughter and shame all at the same time.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, wait, were we? Oh, I guess I just mentioned Dawson's Creek. Anyway I love guilty pleasures. Remember when Dawson's Creek was awesome and the biggest crisis in life was that the dude you had a crush on might know that you had a crush on him and oh boy wouldn't that be embarrassing? Anyway Dawson's Creek really did not stand the test of time. I should know, I have the whole series on DVD. The first few seasons are fun to watch, kind of cheesy but in that good way. The last few, not so much. I still can't even bring myself to watch that last season again.

But I have that problem a lot, even with good things. I don't want them to be over. I really hated watching the last episode of LOST even though I couldn't wait to watch it, but I just didn't want it to be over! I was the same way with the final Dark Tower book. I put it down for months, refusing to let it be over. This applies with everything in life too. I lament college being over, I lament Sydney's Cafe and Elliot Glacier pub being closed... I don't want to let anything go!

Something to work on for the new year I suppose. For some reason I really love making New Year's Resolutions. I am utter failure at follow through, but it's fun to make them. Must be the list maker in me. Here 's my top ten list:

1. Try to get rid of some books. Before I become a hoarder and die in a pile of my own making. In fact just try to get rid of a lot of stuff. Too much stuff!
2. Read more. I only FINISHED 9 books this year, according to Good Reads. And one of them was a comic book. Shameful! Of course I started and put down like, at least 10 books. Which leads me to number 3...
3. FINISH WHAT YOU START! I have a problem.
4. Write more, blog more. In 2008 I wrote 333 blog posts on this here blog. That is amazing, that's like, almost one per day! I want to beat that record.
5. Go to social gatherings. I have a weird problem with social anxiety. I will skip going to events, even when I know it will just be a group of good friends and people I really like! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I've got to work on this, or I will have no friends left.
6. Yoga run workout loose weight, take my dog for lots of hikes and walks, the usual get fit stuff.
7. Paint more. My grandma gave me some painting tools for Christmas, which reminded me that hey! I used to paint. I need to do that again.
8. Get more photography work. Which means finish website, work on a flyer, new business card, take free photos to build portfolio, etc.
9. Save money, make more money, don't get more debt, etc. I am going to be 30 soon. When do I start bringin' home the big bucks y'all?
10. Don't waste so much time doing NOTHING on the computer, ie wasting time on the Internet or playing the Sims 3 and/or Lord of the Rings Online too much. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stop doing these things. Just don't do them as much. Especially just sitting on the Internet, doing nothing but checking facebook, googling pictures of Ryan Gosling, looking up weird things on Wikipedia and checking Oregonlive.com for Kyron Horman updates. I really need to stop doing that. Such a time sink. Or sync?

OK, so that's my list. What's yours?

busy with things.

2010-12-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Painting by Mary Smith (my grandmother).

I have so many projects in the works right now!

Alright, there are TWO new blog posts over at my food blog, Clearly Tasty. I'm going to make it a new year's resolution to blog there at LEAST twice a week. I have so much material to work with too, I'm really excited about it.

Also, I created a very, VERY basic site for my photography services Camille Loraine Photography just so I have something when people ask. I plan on updating it very soon with photo examples of my work, etc, and as soon as I have the $17 to spare I'll get my own domain name and do some more design work on it, make it look totes profesh. Anyway hop over there and take a look, I'd love to get some feedback on it.

I'm also scanning family photos from my mom's side of the family, which is so much fun, but also very time consuming. It will be really great when it's finished though, all those pictures for everybody in the family to have access to is really neat I think.

What have you been up to? Any big projects on the horizon?

Chunky Lentil Soup and Homemade Broth

2010-12-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Chunky Lentil Soup.

This Chunky Lentil Soup is from the cookbook Super Natural Cooking (I found a link to the recipe on another blog here). I love this book because the recipes are healthy, delicious, and easy to prepare. I probably cook out of it at least once a month.

When I made this soup a couple of weeks ago I tweeted this:

Hilarity ensued, with people wondering, what is this chucky lentil soup? Did the bride of Chucky make this? Why do you want to marry it? I shake my fist at you sometimes, twitter! It was pretty funny though.

Now back to soups. When I make soups from recipes I tend to follow them loosely, quantities are not really set in stone. You have 5 cups of homemade broth when the recipe calls for 3 cups? Why waste it? Use it all.

When it comes to soups, heck, when it comes to pretty much all cooking, I'm also a heavy spicer. I almost never measure the spices out, I just eyeball them with a few pinches, dashes, shakes, what have you. I also used regular ol' lentils because that is what I had. This is also a good idea, especially from a frugal standpoint. You don't need to go out and buy some special ingredient when you can replace it with something already in your kitchen.

Homemade Broth
Have I mentioned my easy way for making homemade broth? It's not rocket science, it's actually pretty easy. Basically whenever you use veggies, instead of throwing things away, things like the ends of carrots, the outer layers of onions and the ends, the garlic that is left in the press after you smash it, the tops of celery, potato peels, etc.throw them it in a little zip lock bag or reusable container and toss it in the freezer.

This also works for chicken, if you buy a whole chicken, toss the bits from the inside that you usually cringe and just throw in the trash, with the back and what ever other pieces you don't use into the freezer. You get the idea.

When things start falling out of the freezer every time you open the door, its time to make stock.Grab your big pot or dutch oven, toss in a bunch of veggies and/or chicken bits, fill with water till covered, add a few of your favorite spices, peppercorns and a few pinches of salt, bring to a boil and then simmer for a few hours. Strain and use, or put in the fridge or freezer for later. So delicious and frugal!

Bottom line, don't be afraid to veer off the road a bit! Make homemade soup. Use what you have. Eat. Enjoy. Clearly tasty.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2010-12-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ah, the age old question. What is the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? Not a whole heck of a lot. Especially with these Chocolate Chip Muffins from Joy of Baking I made a few weeks ago. I think the only thing keeping them from cupcake territory was the lack of frosting or icing. At least that is what I told myself as I ate one for breakfast 3 days in a row. For some reason mine look nothing like the ones pictured on the Joy of Baking site, but they were mighty tasty non-the-less.

I am an artist and a dreamer.

2010-12-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

I remember being a dreamer. The future seemed to hold so many possibilities. I remember Idaho. 1999. Drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Writing and drawing in my journal. Cold winters, wearing scarves and thick jackets. My Discman spinning mixes of Damien Jurado, Pedro the Lion, Sunny Day Real Estate. An extra pair of double A batteries always in my pocket.

The possibilities seemed endless then, when I was a dreamer. I want that back. I am going to be a dreamer again.

---
Side note: I find Kevin Smith pretty darn inspiring at times. While his comedy is often too blue for me, what I find inspirational about him is that he does what he wants to do. Sounds simple, right? For some reason it isn't. And that is so frustrating. But Kevin Smith posted a blog recently that really hit the nail on the head, you can find it here, but I'll paraphrase for you. When he was young, late teens/early twenties he was talking with his older sister, and he said to her, "I want to be a film maker." And she was like, "ok, so BE a film maker." And he was like, "yeah, I'm gonna." And she was like, "don't say your gonna be a film maker. BE a film maker. You are a film maker, you just haven't made a film yet."
---

I'm gonna be 30 next year, and I still don't know for sure what I want to do or who I want to be when I grow up (ha!). But I know it's not this. And I know its gotta be something creative. While change and success don't happen over night (something I have to always remind myself of) I am on the path to something greater. And I need to remember to stick to that. Whatever it ends up being. Photography. Writing. Drawing. Crocheting. Painting. Smiling.

I am an artist. And I am a dreamer again.

Gloria

2010-12-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

Gloria with Indigo & Tolkien

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. Holidays. Anyway I had the opportunity to take a family portrait for my good friend Gloria last weekend. It was raining, and we didn't have a lot of time, but we managed to get a few nice shots. This one is probably my favorite.

Scully's first snow day

2010-11-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

Scully running in the snow.

Scully was having a good time in the snow, and I managed to capture this rad photo of her. She looks nuts, it's hilarious. I wish it was more in focus, but it's so hard to capture a fast moving puppy!

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to all you peeps out there! :) Enjoy your day!

Rice Crispy Treats!

2010-11-21T16:05:00.000-08:00

Today I made Smitten Kitchen's Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats for a work party Eli is throwing.

Rice Crispy Treats

This recipe is little different than your traditional one, you brown the butter and use sea salt to give it a more grown-up flair, but basically they are your traditional rice crispy treat. I didn't follow the recipe to a T, it calls for a 10 oz bag of marshmallows and I instead used half of a 16 oz bag (this way I have enough to make another batch for a Thanksgiving treat!).

Rice Crispy Treats

Despite cutting back on the marshmallowy-goodness they are still very delish and sticky and pretty much perfect! I totally recommend this recipe if you want to make this delicious treat that will transport you to your 10 year old self. :)

Alfredo

2010-11-07T21:43:00.001-08:00

Alfredo

Here is another senior portrait I did recently. I really love doing these. They are so much fun, and the pressure is low. The hardest part is getting the kid to relax and get a natural smile out of them, which for me usually happens around the 30 minute mark. Once they get used to having their picture taken and don't feel embarrassed or self conscious that is when it really gets great. So much fun!

Alicia

2010-11-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Did some photos for a couple high school seniors a few weeks back. Here is one of my favorites from that session. The fall leaves were in full effect that day. You couldn't pay for a better backdrop!

Alicia

Flowers

2010-11-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

I love flowers, and love to take photos of them whenever I get the chance. I just want to remember each one forever, you know? Here are a few from a while ago, all these and more can be seen on my flickr page here. Enjoy!

Cathay Dinnerware

2010-10-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Cathay Dinnerware
Originally uploaded by SHAG (Philadelphia)

This photo was not taken by me, but this is the dish set that I have. I could only wish I had that creamer and butter dish though!!! Someone quick, find them for me! While your at it find me a few more of the cups, I broke two of them when moving boxes a few months ago. So sad.

Random Order Coffee

2010-10-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pics from my recent trip to Random Order Coffee.

Mulled Cider with Ginger Rum

Apple Pie

If I lived in the neighborhood this would probably be my regular stop for coffee, but since it's quite the trek I hadn't been there in probably a year or so, and had forgotten about their tasty baked goods! I had a piece of apple pie as well as a hot apple cider (with a shot of ginger rum, yum!). They were both fabulous. I definitely recommend this place. It is often very busy and there isn't much seating room, so just be ready to drink your coffee and eat your goods standing up, or take out. The last time I was there in the morning there was a long line for coffee, and I patiently waited for my cappuccino, and was so excited, and was walking back to the car when I tripped on this groove in the pavement and splashed my coffee all over the sidewalk. I was horrified! I don't recommend doing that. Who was I with that day? Anyone remember that?

Flowering plant.

2010-10-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

This plant flowered a few weeks ago.

Larger photo here

I forget what it's called, but I believe it's a succulent. I have had a plant like this for years and never seen it flower. In fact the one I had before this died. Probably due to over-watering. That's how I accidentally kill most succulents. This succulent has been living on the porch though. Usually I keep them inside but these three here (other two not pictured) have lived on my porch all summer long. Which I think is why they are thriving. I was doing some reading and I guess they like to get cooler at night, like they would in the desert. Too bad they are going to have to come inside soon, since it's getting too cold.

I visited my family this weekend and took lots of pictures around my parents and grandparents place. I can't wait to share them!

Sliced bread

2010-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Sliced bread
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

I made homemade yeast bread for the first time ever and it was AWESOME! I used the recipe for White Sandwich Bread from Joy of Cooking, although I did the whole wheat version. And I decided to half the recipe because I only have one loaf pan. BUT, I forgot to half the 1 cup of warm water, so when I was mixing in the flour I was like, "WHAT IS GOING ON THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" and then I realized my mistake, and just kept adding flour til the dough was not soo sticky.

Even though I made that huge mistake it turned out amazing. I was worried since I had halved everything else, especially the yeast, that it wasn't going to rise properly, but it did. Now I want to make bread all the time! I recommend trying it. It does take a long time, what with the 3 hours your bread has to rise, but it is totally worth it!

Another fall photo

2010-10-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Fall leaves.

Took this yesterday while taking the dog for a walk. Not easy to take photos and walk an unruly puppy, I might add. This shot I scrambled to get off because the leaves fluttering in the wind looked cool and I was anxious to get them in the frame. Luckily I was able to catch one of them. I love fall.

Sarah

2010-09-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Sarah

I have Photoshop CS2 but I have been running a trial version of CS5 that is on its last log in. I haven't logged out for 3 days in attempts to finish up some projects before I have to say bye bye. I don't know why, it's not like it's that much different, but I just don't want to let it go. Nor do I want to pay the money to upgrade, frankly because I just don't have the money right now. We'll see how long I can last before having to restart my computer, until then, good times roll. :)

This is a photo from a roll of film I recently developed. I do not remember when it was taken, but it was at least 2 years ago. Maybe longer. It's a perfect portrait of Sarah, her facial expression says it all. It says I am person who is chill, who likes to have a fun, who is nice... I just love this photo. Such a cool thing to find when getting a mystery roll of film back from development.

Tuna Casserole

2010-09-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tuna Casserole

Sometimes you cook without a recipe and it turns out AMAZING. This casserole I made on Thursday was one of those meals. I browsed a few of my many, many cook books, browsed some of my favorite online sources, and none of the recipes fit the bill for what I had in my fridge and pantry, so I decided to just make it up.

Basically here is what I did.

Camille's Thursday Night Tuna Casserole

Ingredients

1/2 bag of whole wheat noodles

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup to 1 cup of milk, or as much as needed

1 can of peas, drained

1 can of tuna, drained

1 onion, chopped

1 can of sliced Shitaki mushrooms (or the reg. kind would work as well, I bought Shitaki because they were on sale), drained

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese

Handful of breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cook the noodles as directed. While the noodles are cooking, fry up the chopped onion in some olive oil, cook on medium for about 5 minutes, or til the onions become translucent. When the noodles are done, drain, and put into a oven-proof (casserole-type) dish. Add the mushroom soup, milk, peas, tuna, onion, mushrooms, and about half to 3/4ths of the shredded cheese. Mix this all up real good (you could of course do this in a mixing bowl and then pour into the pan, but I like to make as few dirty dishes as possible since I have a tiny kitchen). Top with the remaining cheese and the handful of breadcrumbs (I also topped with some chives I had left over from a previous recipe). Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until bubbly.

Honestly, this is like the definition of comfort food. The great thing is, you could basically use this as a template and switch things out depending on what you have, so say you have some left over chicken instead of tuna, chop that up and throw it in! Say you have a can of corn insted of peas, or green beans, or fresh veggies. All good things. Say you have a can of cream of broccoli, or whatever. You get the idea. Experiment a little.

As a side for this casserole I went with a salad, this photo is bad but you get the idea. Lettuce, carrot, onion, tomato, cucumber (I'd hit the farmers market earlier in the week, yum!) tossed with olive oil and white wine vinegar, salt & pepper to taste, top with chopped almonds (I love nuts in my salad!).

Salad.

Some more pics of my Scully dog

2010-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Scully is a deep thinker.

Scully & Frax having fun times.

These were taken on my Konica Autoreflex TC. I got the film developed down at the Walgreens on the corner, and the prints kinda suck. I don't know what I was expecting, I mean, it's friggin' Walgreens, I realize that, but seriously, kind of disappointing. Gonna have to go to a real camera shop and get prints made like a big girl.

The leaves are changing.

2010-09-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

It must be fall.

Scully

2010-09-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Anyone have any good tips for dog-walking a puppy? Scully pulls so hard when she's on the leash that she practically chokes herself. Yesterday we picked up a Gentle Leader Collar which seems to work well, but she HATES it. It's like having a bridle on a horse. Do horses like those? I'm sure she'll get used to it and it's supposed to be safe and humane for the dog but I still feel bad. We practiced with it for about a half an hour, and about every 10 steps she would stop and roll on the ground trying to take it off. My dream is that one day she will walk calmly beside me everywhere we go, like my old family dog Jake. He was great. Although my sister trained him for years in 4-H, that might have had something to do with his good behavior. And Scully is still just a puppy. She'll grow out of it, right? Here's hoping! :)

This weekend I'm going to...

2010-09-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend I'm going to...

Visit with some friends and their little baby
Hang with my puppy and go on a nice walk
Work on my website so it's presentable and portfolio-esque
Re-edit a few wedding photos
Cuddle with my hubby
Watch some MST3K

What are you going to do?

Terry & Shannon's Wedding

2010-09-11T09:03:00.001-07:00

Terry & Shannon's Wedding
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Posted the pre ceremony photos from Terry & Shannon's wedding. You can see them by clicking through the photo. Is this the cutest girl you've ever seen or what? :)

Enchiladas

2010-09-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

Enchiladas
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Yummy!

2010-09-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Wish I was here:

2 hours til the weekend!

Sneak Peek

2010-08-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Sneak peek of Terry & Shannon's wedding. I still have so much to do but I just wanted to wet everyone's appetites. :)

Martha & The Vandellas

2010-08-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Shut up and let 'em play already, right? This song is, how you say, ON FIRE. Loves.

BFFs

2010-08-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

Spent a lot of time today emailing back and forth between some of my besties. It got me thinking, why don't we do this all the time? We are so awesome. It's nice to stay in touch, especially when we are scattered across the country. Miss and love you ladies!

Camille, Amanda, Martine, Sara, Megan

2010-08-10T23:16:00.001-07:00

Camille, Amanda, Martine, Sara, Megan
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Finally pretty much mostly got all of Martine's wedding photos up on flickr. Love this picture of the 5 of us! BFFs For Evah!

Butterfly

2010-08-09T19:12:00.001-07:00

Butterfly
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Eli and I went to Newport. There is this touristy awesome place, Newport Bay, with lots of cool things to see, like these beautiful butterflies. Lots of fun. :)

Rose

2010-08-01T22:11:00.001-07:00

Rose
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Uploaded a few more pics from Fred & Martine's wedding. My goal is to finish with that this week some time, and then I have some baby pics/baby announcement to work on for my friends Ben & Krista's newborn Naomi (PS She is freaking adorable!) and then I have the Shaky Hands at Burgerville photos to go through. Lots of photo editing to do! My goal is to definitely have all that done by the time of Shannon's wedding so that I can jump right into those on the 21st. :) Yay for being creatively busy!

Mayhaw Drinking Soda

2010-07-29T22:56:00.001-07:00

Mayhaw Drinking Soda
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Here's a little preview from Thursday evening's Shaky Hands show at Burgerville. There will be more, much more, later. Actually, I still have 2 projects to get to before this one, so it might be much later. My day job keeps getting in the way of my dream job/hobby. Grr!

Dutch Babies

2010-07-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dutch Babies
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

My mother has a few signature dishes, and this is one of them. For special occasions or basically any time the family is all together she makes Dutch baby pancakes, which we affectionately just call Dutch Babies. Basically eggs, butter, milk, flour and sugar are whisked up together (or in a blender) and baked. For toppings we usually had thawed frozen fruit (my mom is never in short supply of frozen peaches in her freezer) and confectioner's sugar. Clearly tasty. :)

*This photo is from Christmas circa 2008. Also seen on this plate are skillet potatoes and link sausage.

Long time no post

2010-07-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here since May, and for that I apologize. You know how it goes, busy with life and whatnot. I'm hoping to get some posts up soon, however. Stay tuned.

New puppy!

2010-07-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

We got a puppy!

I have been wanting one for a long time, and it all just came together yesterday. We found her from an ad on craigslist, the couple who had her seemed very nice, and she appears to be in perfect health. She is a 5 month old mix, probably lab/corgi of some kind. We are going to take her to the vet soon to make sure she's all good on shots and whatnot and get her spayed.

She is very cute and full of energy! She loves to chew on things and give licks. The name they had given her is Gemma, but we are probably going to call her something else, but we haven't decided what yet. Isn't she a doll? :)

Kiss

2010-06-23T21:28:00.001-07:00

Kiss
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Isn't love grand? Took some photos at my friend Martine's wedding last weekend. Still have a few more to go through, including a really awesome photo of her parents dancing. Yay for fun times!

Amanda and Sara

2010-06-20T17:00:00.001-07:00

Amanda and Sara
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

My friends are so good looking. :)

No Trespassing

2010-06-09T20:36:00.001-07:00

No Trespassing
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Eli's always getting into trouble.

Top 5 Albums of All Time

2010-06-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

Picking your top 5 favorite albums of all time.

This is a hard, near impossible thing to do. I could give make a list of favorite songs pretty easily, I think, but albums are tricky. They have to be cohesive. Every song has to have its place. Sometimes you might think that an album is your favorite, only to redirect and realize that no, just one of the songs on there is your favorite.

It is super hard for me to pick ALL TIME favorites, because I feel like it's a growing, ever flowing thing, one's relationship with music. There are many albums that meant a lot to me at one time, and nostalgically (is that a word) still do, but they aren't in heavy rotation anymore, so where does one place those on this list?

I posted the following as a comment on a friend's facebook page. A top 5 favorite albums list, compiled after 1 hour of deliberation on June 8th, 2010.

This is hard. I have soooooooooooooooo many favorites. You know this is true because of how many o's I used in the last sentence. Here is what I came up with in the last hour:

Radiohead - OK Computer
This album is where I fell in love with Radiohead, and they've been one of my greatest loves ever since. I had a near spiritual moment with this album while skiing once...

Weezer - The blue album
This album basically changed my life in 8th grade when I got it on cassette tape. It is the perfect cassette tape album. To this day I can pop this album on and listen to it all the way through, there is not a single bad song. Too bad that can't be said for anything Weezer came up with post Pinkerton. Single tear.

The Cure - Disintegration
This is another one that got a hold on me when I was young and never let go. Listening to it is like, a time machine, and a cigarette, and a long drive, and a favorite pair of shoes all wrapped up into one.

The Beatles - Abbey Road
They were my first favorite band, and basically I can't let go of them, as cliche as that is. I have a hard time choosing between Let It Be and Abbey Road. They are both just so amazing, and my favorite Beatles song of all time 'Across the Universe' is on Let It Be, but Abbey Road kind of nudges itself ahead because the whole second half of the album is so amazing, I mean, so it the first half...it's a real album lovers album.

Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
This is a rather new album, as in it's from 2008, but it's a solid listen, and when I was working at Sydney's it was pretty much in constant rotation. So many amazing songs, and it just feels real, you know what I mean?

Runner Ups: Beirut Gulag Orkestar, Belle & Sebastian Boy with the Arab Strap, TV on the Radio Desperate Youth blood Thirsty Babes, Led Zeppelin 1, Damien Jurado Rehearsal for Departure, Van Morrison Astral Weeks, The Shaky Hands eponymous album, David Bazan Curse Your Branches ...

UGH! Where do I stop? :)

Grass 5

2010-06-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

Grass 5
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

I love going to the Oregon coast. It is my happy place. I also love to take photos of fields of grass, or whatever you call this tall stuff. Is it wheat? Hay? I don't know for sure. It's pretty though.

Shoot Out in Tombstone

2010-06-03T18:27:00.001-07:00

Shoot Out in Tombstone
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

This photo is from August 2009 when Eli and I went to visit his parents in Arizona. For some reason I had gone through the first set of photos from this trip, but not the last set. I get burnt out when I'm like, half way through a photo set, and then never finish it (thus the whole point of this experiment, edit a photo a day).

This is from the day we went to Tombstone, the infamous town. It was so much fun. They do live re-enactments in the street, which is covered with dirt, much to the chagrin of the locals. Can you imagine living in a town like Tombstone? I mean, I though Hood River was a touristy town, but dang. Shoot outs on the street. Good times.

popcorn

2010-06-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

popcorn
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

I take a ton of photos. Too many. The problem is I never have enough time to go through them and pick out the ones I like and edit them in photoshop and share them with my friends, let alone get prints made. I'm going to try to rectify this. Today is my first attempt. This was taken February 1, 2010. It is a photo of my popcorn popper doin' its thing. Enjoy.

The Lost finale

2010-05-24T21:55:00.001-07:00

My thoughts on the Lost finale (a mere half hour after watching it).

Obviously I'm going to have to watch it again to fully understand everything, make that, I'm going to have to watch the entire series again, but I think that I loved it (the finale).

I have literally watched this show since the pilot. Who was I with, Mark maybe? I'm not as good as remembering things like Al is. But it's been an obsession of mine ever since I first saw the pilot. I have forced countless friends to watch it, a habit of mine when I come across something I love as many of you who know me can attest to.

After the first couple seasons I didn't always keeping up every week, sometimes not watching for almost a whole season and then getting caught up online or on dvd because I couldn't handle the weekly wait. This is dangerous if you are worried about spoilers, because in this internet age it is hard to avoid them, but for the most part I did, or if I ever did get spoiled it wasn't really that big of a deal to me because for some reason I could still totally get immersed in the show no matter what. It's about the characters and their journey and I can always get behind characters and their journey. That's my thing.

At any rate I watched the entirety of last season in the last two days, so it's all kinda swarming in my brain like I was struck by lighting. While I understand people are unhappy that they didn't get some of the answers they wanted I just gotta say I never expected to get them, the show was always like that, so why wouldn't it be in the end? And why would you want it any other way? It's like Eli said to me 10 minutes ago, a magic trick isn't magical once you've seen how it works. Which is totally true. And that's how Lost is. And I, for one, can live with that.

Happy Birthday Katharine Hepburn

2010-05-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

I was trying to think of what my favorite Katharine Hepburn movie was, or rather what role she played that I liked the best, and I think it's Susan Vance in Bringing Up Baby, and shucks, let's face it, I love me some Cary Grant. She and Grant also teamed up in the movie Holiday, which was good too, although not so much with the funny. Her character in that flick was inspiring though, and the movie kind of reminds me of the story I Capture the Castle, only, you know, different.

Katharine Hepburn is, was, and will always be fabulous. Go enjoy one of her flicks today.

Bubbles

2010-05-10T16:17:00.001-07:00

Bubbles
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Another picture of my cute niece. Can't have too many of these. :)

Sometimes I get bored at work. I find that making sound effects when I do things, like dropping paper into the recycling bin, makes me smile, and really, that is all it takes sometimes. Dorky, I know, but try it. Zing!

Monday, April 26th, 2010

2010-05-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

Chicken & Split Pea
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Ok, so last Monday I realized I did not have enough lentils to fulfill the Lentil Soup recipe, so being the crafty creative girl that I am I decided to use split peas instead. It turned out pretty good. We roasted a couple chicken thighs too (Thriftway was running this incredible deal on them). All in all successful meal. We even ate the split pea leftovers yesterday (is that too long to have leftovers, a week? eek!) and they were pretty good. :)

Menu plan... Tuesday?

2010-05-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so last week's menu planning went pretty well. I need to get a better handle on cooking for two though, because most recipes are for 4 or more, and between Eli and I we just end up wasting food, which, much like my sims in the Sims 3, I really hate to do! I'll post some pictures from last week later. I got some really great shots of food.

This week we are really on a tight budget, so we decided it was 'don't go to the store at all' week, which is proving to be difficult. It's like we have half of the things necessary to make many different things, but not a whole heck of a lot that goes together. It should be interesting to see what we come up with. Last night we had left overs lentils from last week with a salad and toast with cheese. Tonight, who knows? It's kind of exciting. :)

Oreo

2010-04-26T21:17:00.001-07:00

Oreo
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Cookies yummy.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-04-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't been planning many menus lately, because things have been so hectic with schedules and what not, but I am vowing to get back into it. This week I've planned on simple breakfasts, oatmeal, eggs, cereal; lunches of leftovers; and some fun dinners, as well as some crockpot meals for Wednesday and Thursday which are both long days for me. It's heavy on the chicken this week, but they had a great sale at Lamb's Thriftway that I just couldn't pass up on. I love that store! It reminds me of the grocery stores of my youth, and while they don't have the hugest selection of organics, they do support local products, which I love, and they are super duper friendly, which, lets face it, goes a long way.

Here's the dinner plan (and I'll let you know how well I follow through)

Monday- Alton Brown's Lentil Soup
Tuesday- Meatloaf* with steamed Broccoli and Kale
Wednesday- Crockpot Chicken and Quinoa
Thursday- Crockpot Boneless Chicken Cacciatore

Friday- Roasted Chicken with roasted sweet potatoes

Roasted Chicken is one of Eli & I's favorites. For a while after we got married we would make it like, once a week. We haven't had it in a while so this will be a nice Friday night. :)

*Anyone have a good Meatloaf recipe? A coworker was eating leftovers last week and I just got a hankerin' for it. Not my usual fair, but I thought what the hay, some times comfort food is what you need to get through the work week, right?

sewing project one

2010-04-14T20:32:00.001-07:00

sewing project one
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

My first sewing project in over ten years! I was all thinking it was going to be like riding a bike or something. It was not. Making this silly cloth napkin was a lot of work, and it kinda looks like crap. But I made it, all on my own, and that's something, right? :)

Rocky Walk

2010-04-14T18:30:00.001-07:00

Rocky Walk
Originally uploaded by cleartrampoline

Went to the coast. Love it there. Someday I will own a house on the beach and walk on the beach everyday. That is my dream.

Today I am going to the ocean!

2010-04-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Found this pick in the parking lot at my apartment this morning. it has a hole in the middle, ain't never seen that before. I will keep it in my pocket until it is no more.

Saturday was a very fine day.

2010-04-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, Saturday was one of my bestest days in a while.

I got to have tea with Gloria.

I made peanut butter cookies and a cabbage salad for a potluck. They were both delicious.

I went to said potluck and had a FABULOUS time catching up with Sydney's buddies. I needed that real bad. It was awesome.

I stopped by Extracto on 15th and Prescott (GO THERE!) and saw my BFF Forever Chewy.

After that I got to see my good friend Robb, and coincidentally Laura (who works) at the Rose and Thistle.

See, I get in these funky funks where I have crazy social anxiety and I don't see my friends for a long time. It is stupid. Saturday reminded me how rad my friends are. Not that I needed reminding, I know I have awesome friends. I just needed reminding that I needed that. Or maybe reminding that things don't always suck, because of your friends, if you bother to see them! I don't know how to articulate it, other than to say seeing all you people on Saturday made my day, hell it made my month. My year.

I know that sometimes I say I'm going to be somewhere and I don't show up. Don't take it personal friends. I am just a neurotic. Sometimes I just need more prodding. Lame, I know, but you've all got to know that I love your guts. And thanks for putting up with me. God knows Eli has to put up with me enough. I should definitely spread the crazy out to y'all. :)

Happy things.

2010-03-25T11:57:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I get blue.
Then I try to think of things or do things that make me happy.
I thought it would be nice to share a few of those things with you.

The scent of Rosewood essential oil.
A cup of Earl Grey Tea.

The Mates of State song My Only Offer.

What makes you happy when you are feeling blue?

Nicest day so far this year

2010-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Things I'm working on.

2010-03-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Shush! It's a secret. :)

When is Saturday?

2010-03-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

In 7th grade, our science teacher, Mrs. Price, gave everyone a gift, it was either at the end of the year or it was for Christmas, I don't remember. They were like gag gifts, sort of. The gift she gave me was a cassette tape of the Muppet book, When is Saturday? Featuring Grover and his mom, and the anticipation of Saturday because that is when his uncle was coming for a visit. I remember at the time thinking it was a weird gift, like, she thought I couldn't wait til it was Saturday. What did that say about me as a student? I just couldn't wait til Saturday! Like I hated school or something? Whatever, Mrs. Price. Whatever.

This is AMAZING

2010-03-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

This is amazing. And amazingly dorky. A fan made music video for the song Walk through the Fire from the Buffy episode Once More with Feeling. Oh wait, it gets better. It's made from the Sims 2. Thank you internets. You amaze me everyday.

*If you are seeing this in facebook go to my blog www.cleartrampoline.blogspot.com to see the video if the link does not show up.

Sad face

2010-03-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

Man, first it was Jonathan Brandis and now Corey Haim. All my celebrity crushes from my teen years are dropping like flies. So sad. Don't do drugs kids!

Love

2010-03-09T21:59:00.001-08:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE ZOOEY DESCHANEL. Ugh. I wanna be as cool as her. I can't stand it. Love love love this new video. Be my BFF Zooey!!!!!