Fun haters unite!

I've been a busy girl the last few days. If busy means lazy. I'll update you on our little camping trip and some other news soon, but for now I just have a couple random things.

Don't you want to make a stamp out of this? It's so cool that interesting shapes like this occur naturally so often.

As life's official fun killer/hater (along with Becky), it's only natural that we both stumbled across this website. So clever! The Fun Theory

My roommate Ashley came across this gem the other day. Apparently two very bored individuals are competing in a daily tie competition. Vote here: Who Wore It Best? A Daily Tie Competition

More to come another time. Have a great day!

Honest Scrap

My Aunt Kate (Chronicles of a Country Girl) has given me an "award", albeit a loaded one! I have to thank the presenter of the award, tell you 10 honest things about myself, and pass the award on to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design or those who have encouraged me. And soo... Thanks Katy! I love you!
>>> I am a compulsive list maker. I make several lists a day but rarely do I complete every item. I think the problem is forgetting there are only 24 hours in a day.
>>> I have a degree in fashion design, but sometimes I feel as though I have no personal style. I like to blame it on my lack of a discretionary income, but who really knows?
>>> I have a very low tolerance for pain. I can whine about a paper cut for a week. Three weeks ago I tripped over a chalkboard menu sign in front of a restaurant. It collapsed and fell on my foot and just yesterday I complained that the bruise still hurt when I put sneakers on.
>>> I am obsessed with letters and stationary but I can be very bad at writing prompt thank you notes. I feel very guilty about this.
> I believe in the local foods movement and I have really come a long way in my thinking about foods and planning my meals. But when winter is around the corner and I imagine several months without tomatoes or salad or berries, I find it difficult to completely comply. I also really love grapefruits and avocados and I'm pretty sure they aren't grown in the Philadelphia area.
>>> I don't have a drivers license. ugh. Most of you readers know me so this isn't a surprise but for some reason is still very amusing and/or irritating to some of you. It is very stupid at this point and I need to get on it.
>>> I really don't enjoy running. I have never gotten into the groove long enough that it has become a pleasant routine. Is this bad?
>>> I don't wear sunscreen every day. There is SPF 15 in my makeup but I don't wear makeup every day and even when I do, it doesn't cover all my exposed skin. I am such a sunscreen nazi with my friends that I should really invest in some moisturizer with SPF and actually wear it.
>>> I don't know how to knit. I own knitting needles, I know how to machine knit, and I was a sweater designer for heaven's sake but I have yet to learn hand knitting.
>>> I am an avid procrastinator. In fact, several of the 10 honest things in this list have something to do with procrastination. Geez. That reminds me, I have things to do!

As for passing the award on.. this is difficult because I don't really have many blogging friends. If you think this looks fun, write your ten things in the comments section, post it on your blog, or even write it down and don't tell anyone.

Have a great day!

Art Speak Ahead

This weekend Joe and I went to the Rodin Museum on kind of a whim. We were walking by and I had never actually been there. It was...enlightening. In regular art museums I tend to gloss over the sculpture offerings and head straight to the paintings, but as this museum is all sculpture, it forced me to really focus on the medium. The manipulation of scale is especially interesting. Some of his work is very haunting and other pieces are very romantic and soft. That juxtaposition made me want to find out more about the man behind the work. Read more about him here.
via rodin museum
via rodin museum
Speaking of artists and their backgrounds, I recommend reading Strapless, the story of John Singer Sargent and the subject of his most famous painting, Madame X. It's like a trashy chick lit novel, but instead of being set in Bergdorf Goodman in 2009, it's set in Paris and New Orleans in the 1890's. And instead of following a Park Avenue princess it follows a popular artist and a high society lady. Good read!

Have a great day!

Pretty impressive harvest

How's this for a bountiful harvest? Along with three tiny strawberries, this mini jalepeno has been our entire yield from our mini-garden this year. I suppose I am not mentioning that we got all the fresh herbs we needed all summer, so that should count. I'm hoping to be a little more ambitious and fruitful (literally!) next year, so we will have to recruit advice from Andrew .
Have a great day!

That's all, nothing more

I'm having kind of a sick day today and I'm drinking peppermint tea and watching "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium". So far it is just what the doctor ordered. It is silly and cute and wonderful. I love all the characters! And when's the last time a movie was rated G?viarlslog

Instead of cleaning and accomplishing other necessary tasks I am going to make a little wish list. Things I want today:
pizza
warm sweaters (via anthropologie)
an old fashioned hot water bottle (design*sponge inspired me and all of the sudden it seems really necessary) via needapresent
a big hug (alicia and phil)

Here's hoping for a couple of these things. Have a lovely day!
P.S. Does anyone have any brilliant Halloween costume ideas for me? I'm accepting suggestions from everyone but Joe because his are all nonsense.

"Kiss!" "The hell you say!"

So the quilt is what has really been keeping me busy for the last month or so, but I have also been living my life during this time. Here are some high points:

We had a wild and crazy evening with some of my favorite people playing board games and being silly. On Labor Day we went to a barbeque at my uncle Pete's house. It was great to see everyone and spend time together. Patty made lots of good food and maybe now Josh and Alexa will remember my name for the next time they see me! The manly men played horseshoes. Here's a photo of my twin uncles, Steve and Pete.Joe and I went to the beach for a week with his family. It was a relaxing and indulgent week spent eating, shopping, and lounging around. We spent hours one night eating crabs, got up to see the sunrise (and all the funny old men with metal detectors that remind me of Pop-pop), and scoured all the outlets for good deals. We visited the original Dogfishhead brewery in Rehobeth Beach and tried several interesting beers and spirits. We spent an afternoon making the next batch of Andrew and Joe's very own beer- a (hopefully) delicious basic IPA. I played the necessary role of nagging quality control expert so no crazy drunkies could mess up the results this time around. We're bottling that beer tonight so it will be ready to test out soon!Joe and I also went to my parents house for my grandparents 60th anniversary party. My parents and sister made an amazing tiered cake with incredible toppers. They molded and painted sugar paste to look like Grandmom and Grandpop and had speech bubbles with endearing phrases often heard coming from their mouths. Grandpop's said "Think it's easy, do ya?" and Grandmom's said "Oh shut the hell up!" It was really clever and well done and everyone got a big kick out of it. And as goes with the theme of my life, there was incredible food. Dad built his own smoker out of terra cotta pots and smoked a delicious pork loin. That's about all, folks! Have a great day!