Wales

I just got back from an amazing wedding in Wales.  Not only was the wedding and everyone there beautiful, but Wales itself is lovely and full of sheep!  I will have some new art work to share tomorrow, but for today here is the beautiful beach in Anglesey:

 sandy beach full of weird seaweed stuff and lots of tide pools

sheep!

Busy, busy

February turned out to be quite a busy month!  But I did manage to do a little art along with planning a friend's bachelorette party :)  I also got back on a bit of a Pinterest kick, which led me to a ton of new recipes, which got me on a baking kick.  I have to say, I found some really great recipes (particularly the cinnamon swirl banana bread) but I have satisfied my baking itch for now.  You can see my cooking board on Pinterest if you are interested! 

The idea for this painting has been floating around in my head and I finally put paint to canvas! 

close up of the top

New Necklaces

I have been trying to use some of the drawings I have been working on and put them on a necklace.  It was a bit harder than I thought and I am not entirely sure if I like the result, but they are kind of funky. 

I sat down yesterday to try and make some Valentine's necklaces.  I think they look fun as a group.  We will see if anyone in the land of Etsy likes them! 

I was also in the mood to bake this weekend, so I made a delicious frittata (if I do say so myself!).  And then, wanting something sweet, I made lemon cookies which I decided to decorate:

 I used potatoes, red pepper, red onion, thyme and rosemary

Happy New Year!

Hello again :)  I got lost in the business of Christmas and the wonderful, inspirational, time-wasting, fantastic website known as pinterest.com.  If you have not seen it yet, you should, but be warned: you may end up spending LOTS of time looking at all the amazing things on it.  I have been trying to get away from just looking and pinning things and start actually trying to cook some of the recipes and make some of the crafts.  To that end, I made 35 origami balloons today!  

 

They were easy to make once I stopped creasing all the folds.  I had a few unsuccessful attempts of blowing up my balloons before I figured that out.  Once they were all made, I put them on a string of white Christmas lights and hung them in the kitchen.  I think they look great!  

It adds some nice color to my kitchen.  I have several other things from Pinterest that I am eager to try - I will keep you updated on how they turn out! 

Success!

Well, I did it.  I cooked and hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner!  There was plenty of food, nothing burned, and only one plate of deviled eggs tipped and spilled onto the floor (luckily I had two plates).  It was a LOT of work but it made Thanksgiving feel like Thanksgiving and it was much easier to be so far from home. 

A table full of empty plates is a good sign!

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately.  I have also been thinking of a lot of new projects, but have not started any yet.  I also discovered Pinterest, which if you have not yet checked out, you totally should.  I am thoroughly enjoying it!  I suppose I am spending my time looking at other peoples' projects instead of making my own.  It is time to get creative! 

The Turkey

Ok, I have officially cooked my first turkey.  I would like to say that raw turkeys are disgusting.  Totally and completely disgusting.  That was my least favorite part of this whole thing.  But it did smell great as it cooked, and it looks all golden and crisp and exactly like its supposed to!  I think that is a good sign.  I will warm it up tomorrow before dinner and it should be perfect.  So now the eggs are made and the turkey is done and all the chopping that can be done in advance is done.  I am as ready as I can be for dinner tomorrow.  Aside from the fact that my apartment has not been cleaned...

My turkey!

Rite of Passage

Hello again!  I took a bit of a break from my blog due to the busyness of life and the fact that I was out of town for two weeks.  However, as this Thursday approaches, it seems the appropriate time to begin again.  I am about to have one of those stereotypical, American rites of passage: cooking your first Thanksgiving dinner alone.  Since I am living in Germany, it is just another Thursday here.  This means that after working all day, I will come home and frantically cook for a few hours and then lots of people will show up at my house expecting that I have not burned the turkey and have plenty of food for all of them.  I really, really hope that is what happens.  I have planned out things to do to prepare everyday this week, so that Thursday is not too stressful.  I also bought a 14 pound turkey that I will be cooking alone.  We will see how this goes...