Dec. 31

Something is very wrong this year... only two days ago my family and I went to the zoo in Kansas city and I didn't even need a coat. Today it's supposed to get up to 63 degrees! I don't know what's happening, but I'm trying to make the most of being outside in this gorgeous weather.

Since I seem to be neglecting this blog as of late, a good resolution for the new year would be to post more often... maybe once a week? I'd also like to spend more of my time creatively, that's been lacking in my life lately too. I think I'm going to take a screen printing class at the Lawrence Arts Center and I'm excited to learn a new medium!

Until then, here are some pictures of the last month of my life with my lovely little Diana Mini.

Nov. 30

The holiday season is starting! Pretty lights are up on all the trees downtown and there is frost on my car windows in the morning. I can also tell it is getting on winter by the attention given to my little Dala horse ornaments! Here are some of the treasuries I've been in the last week or so... definitely check out some of the other items too, there is some really good looking stuff here.

Nov. 19

Goodness, I've been busy. I went to Chicago last weekend (and had a blast!). Among many fantastic things about that weekend, one in particular was extra fantastic: I got a Diana mini in a big Urban Outfitters sale. Sarah is happy.

I've wanted a lomography camera for quite a while, but didn't want to mess with the medium format film, pricier developing, and less pictures. This little camera just uses 35mm film and came with a flash (with interchangeable color films and adapters for use on different cameras!) and a book of photos. I'm mostly excited about the flash. I can use it on my Cannon AE-1, which has previously never had one. I went through a whole roll of film in about a day, and while most of the pictures were underexposed, a few came out really well!

I'm really going to try and take pictures more with it, since I don't have to really worry so much about them being perfectly composed or in focus.

Nov. 3

I woke up this morning expecting horrible icy weather (it rained yesterday evening and was supposed to snow/ice overnight) but instead it is a bright, chilly day! Always a pleasant surprise.

The other day I made some pumpkin granola (via THIS recipe) and decided I wanted to try out making granola bars with it. After much research on the Pinterest, I decided on THIS recipe, though instead of including chocolate chips, I melted the chips and spread the chocolate on top of the whole thing. Successful if I say so myself, though I might be slightly biased. Next time I might use a little less honey and see if they still stick together.... or just bake up some more with a different recipe (This one uses sweetened condensed milk?).

To note, I don't taste much pumpkin, but I think putting it in the granola gives it a fantastic crunch and some healthy benefits to boot!

Oct 30

St. Vincent at Liberty Hall last month.

It's getting colder and leaves are pretty! I've been baking and sleeping and working and failing at making the most of my time. 

Things I should work on: 

Spending more time on my Etsy shop.

Exercising

Reading

Cooking meals instead of just baking

Oct. 5

This last weekend was quite fulfilling.... it was Lawrence's Final Fridays art walk which is always fun, and the weather was lovely. Me and my friends mostly hung out around the Lawrence Arts Center where there were some bluegrass bands, but we made a detour to a gallery right above where I work called Wonderfair which was great. I bought a print by this wonderful artist (though the print I purchased isn't on her site. It has a gold spaceship floating above mountains). 

Saturday had me meeting up with the same lovely friends to go to a local flea market that, though smaller than we had anticipated, I still managed to find a piece to purchase. I got a set of cameo clip on earrings to make sweater clips out of. We then stopped by the farmers market (where I bought some cider doughnuts from Rees's Fruit Farm) and a local thrift store (where I bought a frame for the spaceship print).

Then we split ways and I journeyed alone back to the Arts Center, but this time for their Silent Film Festival! I watched City Lights, Limelight, The Man with the Movie Camera, and Phantom of the Opera. They were all great, but I have to say my favorites were the first two (which were by Charlie Chaplin), especially City Lights. I had a fantastic time, though it's a shame not more people are interested in silent movies... it would have been great to have a friend tag along.

Me hanging out in the park between films.

Tonight I have had quite a bit of spare time, so I made up the sweater clip I bought the earrings for. I think it turned out pretty good! I really need to find more excuses to wear things like this.

Sept. 29

I had three hours today where I wasn't working (why do I have two jobs again?), but thankfully that was all I needed to make up some chicken and wild rice soup! I have had this planned for quite some time and I'm so glad I finally got to cook it. I used the simplest recipe I could find from HERE, but ended up editing it a bit.

6 c Chicken Broth (I only had two cans of broth, so I used water for the rest)

2 Chicken Breast Halves, cooked and cubed

6 oz pkg Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice Blend-Original Recipe

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 c All-Purpose Flour

12 Tbsp Butter (I only used 8 Tbsp because I thought more than one stick was a bit extravagant)

1/2 c Carrots, diced  (I didn't have any vegetables on hand.... I wish I would have had an onion at least)

1/2 c Celery, diced

1/2 c Onions, diced

3 c Heavy Cream (I used a pint of half and half and subbed milk for the third cup)

1. Open rice, pull out seasoning packet and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. Set aside.

3. In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth and chicken. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice. Cover and remove from heat.

4. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add carrots, celery and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in contents of seasoning packet, and continue cooking vegetables until softened, about 5 minutes more. Add seasoned flour gradually while constantly stirring, to form a roux. Saute roux for 3-4 minutes to cook out raw flour taste.

5. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.

6. Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through and rice is done,15-20 minutes.

First of all, I have no idea what a roux is. In hindsight I probably should have looked that up, as I didn't use all of my flour mixture because my 'roux' was getting extremely thick.... like chunky paste thick. Is that was it's supposed to look like? I even put some of the chicken broth that was boiling on the other burner in it to try and get some more liquid. I assume it is because I didn't use all of the butter?

Regardless of how well I made the roux, the soup turned out heavenly. I was even inspired to go to Checkers in an attempt to find sourdough suitable for bread bowls. I was unsuccessful, but I did get little sourdough rolls that I could at least dip into the soup.

Here is the result. I was most pleased and am excited to eat more tomorrow.