What's Wrong

Sort of like what can happen while redoing a floor. Poor guys

Ponder Post

This was placed in a yard in my neighborhood. What a fun addition to the scenery. I like when people do something unexpected and I look forward to seeing the new ponder for the month.

Seals

A sample of what I was up to last week at this time. Rockin it at the beach with the seals!

What's Wrong

I am I not a fan of minivans because they don't look good and people driving them drive like morons. I had to drive one this weekend while on vacation with some awesome people. While driving, I discovered why all people driving them drive like idiots. The mirrors are too tiny and there are crazy blind spots. I constantly kept adjusting them, hoping for full visual of the road and my surroundings. Nothing.
For how big the car is, the mirrors are like tiny ears on an elephant, they do almost no good. Look at the photo, it is like they just stuck them on the side because they had to and called it a day. In the future, I hope designers figure out a way to add in mirrors on minivans that are at least the size of truck mirrors. It isn't like the mirrors are what makes the car ugly. Then there will be less blind spots and I won't have to adjust the mirrors every damn time I want to parallel park.

Happy Voting Day!

I hope you all remember to get out and vote! It is such a great honor to have a say in our elected officials and laws.

Plus you get a sticker!

What was in the boxes?

I learned to crochet solely so I could make these:

Cupcake Bears!!

I saw the idea in a book and I would have bought them from her, but they were too expensive. So my lovely neighbor helped me figure out how to make my own. I was SO excited to give them to everyone as a thank you for helping me celebrate my new decade!

Here is a close up of a box. 

 I got the design for the boxes from don't eat the paste. They were a bit too small for the bears, so I enlarged them in photoshop and printed them on 2 8.5x11 sheets of card stock.

 A view of a bear in its box:

Close up of some of the bears. I used wool of the Andes, some colored google eyes and  sparkley pom poms to make the bear. The body is a cupcake liner from Ikea. 99 cents for 65, you can't go wrong!

Aren't they cute?

A new "need" in my life

I was browsing howaboutoranges blog a few days ago at  5am looking for the link to the cute boxes you can download, print, cut out and assemble, when I found this new must have for my life.

http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/

Why do I need this? Well for one, it would have saved me an hour or two of cutting out boxes and two it is just fabulous and I could do at least 7,000,000,000 projects with it, as it appears to do what you want within reason (although my in reason sometimes doesn't match up with other's in reason). It is that awesome!
I was hoping to win the giveaway, but I didn't. Now I just have to hope for Christmas elves to be listening.

Stay tuned for why I was up at  5am making boxes on a Sunday morning.

Monday Quiz

A fun quiz to test your fashion sense. Good luck!

The Great Fall

I have been making things. Lots of things and learning lots of new things. I have piles of posts to post, but sadly there has been a death in the family. My 7 year old camera, who was wonderful and has traveled the world with me, met its death from a 4' fall into the dirt. I tried to save it. I tried to get others to save it. Sadly it appears it was the cameras time. Until I get a new one, I can't post any of my fun stuff. Or at least until I talk someone into letting me use their camera. The fall of mine isn't inspiring confidence though.

Heartbreaking

I discovered these at a race in my goodie bag.

 I don't like BBQ flavors and this I loved.  I emailed the company to tell them how wonderful I thought they were and they sent me a box of all the flavors.

 I fell in love with the salt and pepper. I searched for places that sold the chips. I spent 2 years telling everyone how wonderful these chips are. I was given a box of individual chips and was excited about it. Then I made a fateful mistake and read the ingredients list, of which I can't find an image of and they don't have on their site.

While they are low in calories and big on taste, the chips are not made directly from potatoes, but rather dehydrated potato flakes. WTF? Seriously, my much loved chips have been through way too much to get to be a chip. I can't enjoy them and have banished them from the house. All natural, my ass.

But I am really good at it

Lots, and I do mean lots, of people tell me they are good at driving and texting or talking on their phone. They are not. No one is. Driving is the activity and while it can be boring driving the same freeway everyday or for long distances, it is still an activity and one that can't be added to by say texting and driving. I have almost been run down multiple times by morons on their phones driving. Nothing you are texting or talking about is that important.

Here is a fun game:  text and drive   It will show how terrible you are at it.

Kanye or Karl

Monday's quiz: who said it kanye or karl ?

For those of you who don't know who Karl Laderfeld is, he is a fashion designer. He is wacky and super out there, but awesome. Waste a few working minutes looking up his image online. It will make your Monday better.

I got 10/10. What did you get?

Monday Quiz

Check out this quiz on either facebook or after school special. It is kind of hard. Let me know how you did.

I got 7 out of 11.

What's Wrong

So this didn't turn out as great in a photo, but when you walk by this billboard, the hamburger looks tiny. Like smaller than a slider. Totally bite size. The price is slow low you know something is wrong with the meat.

Quiz Fun

A fun quiz  to help you beat the Monday Blues:

What style are you? I am Metro.

The verdict is in—your style is Metro. Metro is a great modern space. Chic, comfortable, clean. Do the math. Strong horizontals plus graphic clarity plus a fearless blending of metal, woods, leathers, and wovens; minus the superfluous and the clichéd; equals urban architecture domesticated, a vision for living.

What's Wrong

http://www.whoarethetakers.com/

The cast is fine minus one.

What's Wrong

Seriously? Kimberly Clark has to stoop to this? Every time I see the commercial for these, I freak out.










I don't know about you, but when I was growing we each had our own hand towel, the dog never played with them and we washed them once a week. Guess times have changed where people are too lazy even do that. Or our family was rich enough to have separate hand towels.

Good Stuff

I was out at the movies and while walking past the condiment section, I saw this. It is one of my favorite hot sauces. I heart Tapatio and try and put it on everything. Having it in a packet is brilliant! I happily grabbed a couple packets to add to my popcorn. I don't put butter on mine. I add in jalapenos and now this! YUM YUM!

What's Wrong

A lot of people have Wordless Wednesdays. I have What's Wrong. Usually it will be what is wrong with this picture. Sometimes it will be what is wrong with this product. This weeks is thanks to the World Cup. It is a bit old, but some of you might not have seen it. Or you started watching after they changed the abbreviations.

As they should have to begin with. Duh!

Camping

I was going to write a post about how not to plan a camping trip. Mine was planned for 6 months, I owned most of the gear and yet I was still running around until about 10 the night before. Needless to say I was not happy. But then after a 3 hour drive, part of it in a creepy fog straight out The Mist, I saw this.

It was so pretty and it assured me that my first camping trip would be great! Nature, friends and food, you can't go wrong, right? Things did go wrong, but they were small and most are fixable and didn't take away from the great time I had.
I can't wait to go camping again!
What are some of your favorite trips?

Holy Patch work!

This is a super awesome tool from the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wish our museums were working on as cool of things like this. But for now, we will have to make due with stuff from across the pond.
If this doesn't make you want to make your own quilt, I hope it at least makes you want to own one. You can put in any image you want and it makes it into a quilt pattern for you. Super awesome!

http://www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/quilts/patchwork

Have fun!

Lego Fun

I got this set for Christmas and finally made it. I want to have a job making cool architecture into Lego sets! I have been to the Guggenheim and this did capture the feel of the building. The set came with a book that talks about the architect and the building.

I was disappointed on how small the actual model ended up being and it did only take 10 minutes to put together, but I am sure a 5 year old would just love it!

Extra Yellow Page Books?

Here is something fun to do with them. Art!

I don't know who did this, I just saw it while I was out and about. Pretty cool use of something that is basically useless these days with the invention of the internet and yet the yellow pages keeps insisting on delivering like 50 to me a year.

Changing it up small style

This weekend I was bored and disliked the white lamp shades, so I decided to spice them up.

 
 See, boring white lamp shade, with boring white walls and boring white blinds. Lots of white going on! I love color, but can't paint the walls since I rent.
 It is a quick and easy project.

You will need:

- lamp shade
- fabric (I used an old set of sheets)
- spray mount
- scissors

Take lamp shade out of the lamp, lay on ground and measure out the amount of fabric you will need making sure to include an overlap at the top and bottom of the shade. Since I was using an old set of sheets, cleaned and ironed, I used the top part that was hemmed to create a nice and easy finished edge. Cut out the fabric and if needed, iron once more to make sure there are no creases. Then spray the fabric with spray mount and roll the lamp shade on the fabric. Line up the edge piece along a corner of the shade, so it will be hidden. Roll the top and bottom overlap of the fabric into the inside of the lamp shade. Smooth out the fabric and you are done!

A quick and easy way to add color to your life without going all out.

Not At All How I Feel About Sandwiches

but the graphics are funny.
I really really hate sandwiches. just hate them. But I wanted to share with you. I subbed in the word banana split for the word sandwich.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-sandwich-makes-you-its-bitch-in-11.html

Meal Design

I always try to plan out my meals for the day so I am not eating 3 hamburgers and fries or a ton of chicken. This is a bit hard to do since I do not actually do any of the cooking in the house. If I am out and about and I don't know what we are having for dinner, it makes lunch a tough choice. Because of this, I am trying to take a more active role in my meal plan for the day. I think my waist will thank me for it, no more two chicken meals a day for me!
I am trying to make one thing a week. Big, I know, but you have to start small.
Today I made black bean hummus. Oh and tahini, cause why make one thing you haven't made before when you can make two?! Both were easy to make even after I found out my food processor had the day off. A blender works just as well.
I used this recipe from this fabulous blog. Check it out when you can. So many great looking things on it.
http://400caloriesorless.com/?p=2610
I modified the recipe (of course) and didn't add in the sour cream because I didn't have it. I also used tomato paste because that is what I had. It still turned out great. Even my spoon was happy!

Jackson Pollack Crispies

Jackson Pollack was a painter in the early part of the last century. Boiled down to absolute basics and without an art history lesson, his painting look like splatters and drips of paint on the canvas.  I am sure you are wondering where this is going, if I am not going to give you a long lecture on art theory and history.
Did she make a painting and that is our surprise? No and the surprise is still coming tomorrow, depending on my night tonight.
I have a party to go to this evening and I am in charge of bringing a bottle of wine for myself and a dessert to share. Two things that could go wrong, but I made Captain Crunch Crispies from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Sticky-Chewy-Messy-Gooey-Desserts/dp/081185566X
Since I cannot not alter anything I do (I have issues with directions), I made it with peanut butter inside of original and I added chocolate. This is where Jackson Pollack comes in. I made the chocolate in an ode to his work. Check it out:

I with you all could eat some with me. Oh who am I kidding. These babies will be lucky to make it to the party. I would recommend checking out the book and making some for yourself. If I can do it, anyone can!

Bare with me, I am working on my photo taking of food. I don't do it often and it is surprisingly challenging. And I am learning on how to link things, so let me know if it doesn't work.

I know I know

3 days into it and I already missed some days, but I have a good reason. I am working on something fun for all of you! It should be up either today or tomorrow.

Blythe Dolls

I heart Blythe dolls. HEART them. They are so cute in a quirky way and so much fun. Way more fun than the other B doll ever was. Sadly I do not own one. But if I did, I would be doing similar things like these people:

 All the images are from the web, although I don't remember the sources. Don't they rock? I would totally take my Blythe doll everwhere I went and photograph her in each place. Plus then I could make her tiny outfits and live vicariously through her wardrobe. Silk circle skirts are much cheaper to make when you only need 1/16 of a yard.

PS.

Any tips on how to get the photos to go where you want? I want them side by side.

Amoeba dog toy

soft dog toy in the shape of an amoeba. Or at least what I think of when I think of amoebas. I either think of blobs or the record store. Is Amoeba Music still around?
They would be made from tight wool felt and two toned. Color combos, red/light green, blue/black, orange/dark green, etc. I think I might put a squeaker inside along with the stuffing.
These would be for non-aggressive chewers for sure.

Day 1

This blog is to give me something to do while I wait for my life plans to begin. I have a degree in architecture and having been working in the field in some aspect since I was 16. The lovely economy has given me a very large curve ball. While waiting it out, I am looking for things to do. My long time boyfriend has given me an assignment of sorts. A design a day. The design can be anything from architecture, textiles, artwork to food and running routes.

We shall see if I keep it up!