Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Weekend Adventures: Farm Things

North Georgia North Georgia Farm things Hey turkey bro Hello friend!

This past weekend, I accompanied my friend, W, to a farm in North Georgia to pick up some farm-fresh things since the weather keeps postponing local farmers markets from happening.

While up there, we saw the most ominous looking nuclear power plant.  We had to ask the lady at the farm what the heck it was since we know nuclear power plants are usually stationed near running water (like rivers or the ocean).  She told us it's a coal plant and that sometimes it looks a little scary when it's starting up for the day.  What's the first thing we thought?  "We have GOT to film that!!"  Of course!

Next, we made some farm friends!  I snapped the cute little calf while it was feeding in the cage.  Just a note: the smaller calves are put in cages during feeding time ONLY.  That way they won't get bullied out of eating.  Once they're large enough they can eat with their cage-free friends.

The turkey approached us rather aggressively but it didn't try to harm us, it seemed a little...stressed out.   My friend, W, was suddenly struck by the turkey's anxiousness so she started to talk to it in her soothing voice.  Once the turkey calmed a bit, she tentatively went to pet it and it let her!  She continued to pet it while talking to it and it eventually became so relaxed around us that it sat down and curled up next to her.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

All in all, it was fun impromptu trip to the farm and I know I'll be going back with as many cameras as I can fit in my car because there are so many great things to on the way!

Happy Wednesday!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Rosewater DIY + Tijuana Rose Margarita Recipe

After Valentine's Day, my boyfriend and I fell into a rather LARGE concentration of roses.  How large?

Roses Yellow roses
             Roses      My apartment smells the way I think Marilyn Monroe's dressing rooms used to smell🌹🌹🌹

I was very excited to receive that many roses, to be honest. I love them! They're all so beautiful...but what do I do with dozens of roses?  My boyfriend had the grandest idea: make rose simple syrup.  Of course!  I looked up some rose simple syrup recipes and they all started with the same ingredient: rosewater.  It's a lot easier to make than you might think!

Get the steps after the jump

Monday, February 16, 2015

Valentine's Weekend

Happy Monday! If you're in Georgia, you're probably waiting for Snowpocalypse 2015 to come around. I know I am...not actually doing that because I want it to be Spring already!

White Roses Tablescape Tablescape

I hope you had a nice weekend.  I know I did!  My bestie and I went on a Lady Date to see FSOG on Friday night.  It was hilariously bad.  Rita Ora in a terrible wig, crappier-than-the-book dialogue (for reals), and steamy scenes that get ruined by the crappy dialogue.  If I had closed my eyes and forgotten what I was in the theater to see, I would've thought I was seeing some sort of comedy because everyone was laughing that much.  Seriously.  The best part: seeing the Magic Mike XXL trailer on the big screen!  I can't wait for that one to come out :)

On Saturday, my boyfriend took over my kitchen and prepared dinner for us.  It was very sweet because, according to him, he only knows how to cook one thing: chorizo tacos.  They were so freaking delicious!  I loved every bit of them!

Alex in the kitchen Corn Tortilla Prep DIY crispy taco shells DIY crispy taco shell DIY crispy taco shells Chorizo Chorizo and Eggs Crispy Taco Shells Taco Assembly Taco Assembly Tacos (+ salad) Chef Alex's Chorizo Tacos

After dinner, I supplied the dessert.  I didn't take any photos because I was doing too many things at the same time, but I did take some of the finished product!  I made a Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie - which was delicious.  It was even better the next day.  I didn't know it at the time I made it but my boyfriend told me that one of his favorite childhood memories was when his Mom would make...you guessed it: Peanut Butter Pie for him and his sister.  I had NO idea that was a happy flavor from his childhood!  How serendipitous!

Adventures in dessert: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. This bad boy is setting up nicely in the fridge πŸ˜‹πŸ˜„πŸ΄ Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie with shaved chocolate

This weekend was full of serendipitous moments.  We had a blast!  I was even able to make something very special this weekend.  Post to come soon!

What did you do this weekend?

Friday, February 13, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!

Valentine Valentines Valentine Valentines #Valentine shoutout to my shorty!

Happy FSOG Day (aka pre-Valentine's Day)! FSOG will be sure to get all the ladies revved up for tomorrow! LOLJK but seriously - Happy Friday!

What's all this emoji nonsense?  Those are *some* of the Valentines I'm giving to my BFFs this year!  That's right - I took the emoji route because, well, who doesn't like emojis?!
For one of my "serious" Valentines, I took the classic heart+arrow+banner watercolor approach and added a little sass.  I tried doing a pretty 3D version with Illustrator (ughhhh) and Photoshop but it just wasn't coming together AT ALL...then I tried to do a pretty little illustration in the style of my new design crush Lauren Hom, but it just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do (because I'm not as pretty or as talented as her *sad face*) so I went with my pretty, tried-and-true method: watercolors, hearts, banners and arrows.  After a few crude sketches, I arrived at what you see above: "You'll always be my shorty".  I tried a different kind of card stock, which was interesting because the calligraphy ink bled in weird places.  That could have been a result of uneven pressure, probably.  Oh well!  My Valentine received it early and he loved it!

Valentines Valentines

So what's with the Cheesy Pick-Up Lines zine?  Well, I saw Gala Darling's #MEGABABEMISSION for February: Make a MiniZine and at first, I wanted to go serious with a cute guide to ATL's prettiest art pieces (which I will probably still end up making, tbh) but in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I wanted to take emojis and make a list of cute and cringe-worthy pick-up lines for a laugh!  Print one out if you'd like!

Do you have any fun Valentine's plans?

Full disclosure: I'm normally not a huge Valentine's Day fan but for some reason this year I feel like spreading the love - not just to my BF, but to EVERYONE!  

Monday, February 9, 2015

Incoming / Outgoing Mail + SPSH2015!



That's right! Fab is back at it again with the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt 2015!  Have you signed up yet?! I did and I can't wait to participate again!

The prettiest #incomingmail valentine heart! Thank you @lowercase_r! πŸ’˜πŸ’–❤️ 

Isn't this the cutest?! My friend Rachel sent me the prettiest scalloped heart valentine!  I started assembling some valentines to send out but, once again, I'm behind.  Story of my life lol.  It also didn't help that I was terribly sick last week...

Untitled

Here is the prettiest mail from my friend Kathleen!  I always love getting her letters.  They make me so happy!  And she has the prettiest calligraphy :)

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I signed up for Veronica Varlow's International Valentine Exchange and I went on a Googling spree for the name that I drew.  I hope I Googled the right person because I dragged my BF on an extreme Steam Punk hunting expedition looking for anything and everything Steam Punk for my recipient - based on what my Google searches told me.  The result was the gears and sprockets necklace above plus a few other things.  The "Hello Valentine" watercolor was based on this piece from Alexis at Persia Lou.  I love it!  I used Lindsey's method for watercolor jewels to get my lines all pretty.  I hope she likes it!

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My friends and I took a break from playing my new favorite card game to get creative. The result: a marbled clay ring dish for my new apartment! I haven't had much experience with bake clay (not sure if this was Fimo...) but B coached me through it and helped me get this pretty marbled result. I love it!

How has February been treating you?