scarves.

I've been knitting a lot. I made this scarf for Ashley for her birthday.

happy friday!

naan for breakfast.

I love naan, just alone, but I made a breakfast sandwich(?) that was AMAZING! I put cream cheese and cherry preserves inside, stuck it in the sandwich press, and out comes this pastry-tasting breakfast thing. The naan was soft and tasted like it just came out of the oven and the flavors inside blended really well. One of my favorite home breakfasts to date.

Happy Friday!

I found what might be my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. But now I can't remember where I got it, so I can't post the link. boo.

I haven't had time to make much lately, but when I had to lay around a lot I worked on my scarf:

One of my students gave me these socks yesterday.... so cute!!

Thyme and Cheese Biscuits

I was woken up to a phone call of some bad news at 4am, so afterwards I couldn't go back to sleep. I decided since I was hungry and worried that baking would be a good idea. Thyme and Cheese biscuits, which have rosemary, thyme, cheddar cheese, and parsley in them. Really good and easy to make.

One of my favorite students requested that I bake the class cookies one day. So I did, and brought them in, and of course the student who requested them was not there that day! I don't remember him ever missing class. And then my 2:30 class found out from someone that I baked the other class cookies, so they were jealous, and now I owe another class a batch of cookies.

These are pumpkin with cream cheese frosting. My mom bakes better ones, but these were still good. [ recipe ]

Ashley's bridal shower was last weekend and I did the worst wrapping job ever. I blame part of it on the paper though. So the night before I was franticly trying to figure some way to make it look better....the only thing I had around was white tissue paper, so I did this to the top..just like elementary school projects with the tissue paper squares and elmer's glue. The present turned out really cute!

happy friday.

much better friday!

Happy Friday! I'm off of crutches and pain is pretty low finally! woot. This week has been incredibly stressful and busy..and now I have to grade a ton of exams, but grading math tops dealing with insurance stuff any day.

Have a great weekend! I'll be celebrating Ashley's upcoming wedding with her and friends :)

halloween + peeper <3

I was in a really bad car accident Wednesday morning (not my fault), and have been out the rest of the week. My sweet sweet cousin Tana drove 8 hours on Thursday to come take care of me. She's helped carry me up stairs, hold my neck to drink water, take me to the doctor, etc. She brought me a bunch of flowers and a pumpkin too!

Tonight we carved the pumpkin and made sugar and cinnamon pumpkin seeds (so delicious).

butter + brown sugar + cinnamon + honey. 325 degrees for 25 minutes..so delicious:

cherry preserve thumbprints.

I was in a baking mood tonight, so I made some cookies from a recipe Amy recently posted on her food blog: raspberry jam thumbprints. Mine are cherry preserves. And hers are much cuter. :)

I can't wait to have one for breakfast. Sweets for breakfast are my favorite. You wake up and haven't drank any water for hours (or eaten anything for that matter), so sweets taste sweet x 1,000,000.

I made my "thumbprints" large because I go heavy on any type of sauce/syrup/powdered sugar pile/whatever. My french fries are swimming in ketchup, my sandwiches are loaded with spicy mustard, my pancakes are smothered in powdered sugar...

<3

making a canvas.

my boy came to visit me this past weekend! when I was cleaning up my house the week before I decided I needed something above my bed. this is what I came up with.

I refuse to pay the ridiculous $$ that large canvases cost, so I always build my own. I usually have access to someone's drill, but I didn't this time. I think I'll invest in one soonish.

Happy Friday! Today is Thursday...but today is my Friday. Tomorrow is a student holiday, so no classes!

bridal invites.

I met up with Stephanie, Ashley's maid of honor, a couple weeks ago to make homemade bridal invites.

Happy Saturday!!

Okay, I missed Friday...so Happy Saturday!

I (almost?) finished the dress form a while back. I should put more layers on it, so I'll probably do that and cover it with some type of gloss/finish. A dent appeared while drying, so I have to try and fix that, too. I used the form to start making a skirt. Pretty exciting because I have never sewn anything using a dress form before. It's so convenient. Before I would constantly try the piece on after each step of sewing. very annoying.

My smoothie was really green this morning, sort of funny and cute:

I want five more hours in the day today to make something!

below is basically how I'm feeling.

late this morning, my TA from UNIV 110 showed up at my office and gave me a cupcake she made! Somehow she knew I was thinking of cupcakes earlier in the morning? :)

clutch.

tonight I sewed this clutch. pardon the multiple errors; choosing to use vinyl on the inside was ridiculous. my sewing machine hates sewing vinyl and so do many needles. I had to hand-stitch quite a few parts because of this.

this was my FIRST time using a pattern...for anything. I don't like using patterns. first off because I hate reading directions and second because I feel like it limits my creativity. something about using a pattern seems like cheating. I'm the same way about cooking. I always want to change something in a recipe at least slightly, so it's my own. okay, okay but I decided to try for the first time ever... a pattern! I added my twist though. they obviously did not design slot holders for quarters and keys :)

orange-miso-glazed tofu and edamame.

really yummy! I typed up the recipe and have left it as a comment.

sunday muffins.

In grad school I would bake a bran "muffin-loaf" every couple weeks to eat for breakfast. I own muffin pans now, so I finally baked them as muffins.

I always use this recipe, but I use applesauce instead of oil and use half whole-wheat flour and half regular. I also cut back slightly on the sugar because I like to slice the muffins in half and press them into natural cane sugar + cinnamon.

I had a lonely carrot in the fridge, so I shredded him and threw him in there.

weekend.

first weekend in town in the last month! I've been playing catch up on a very long to-do list. Today has included grading exams, visiting the farmer's market, swimming in the ocean, shopping at Michael's, vacuuming, and making homemade hummus (artichoke/sundried tomato/parmesan).

friday!

I want.

1. a picnic with a good friend

2. a professional massage (never had one..)

3. a gourmet cupcake

4. to watch the sunrise on the beach

weddingz

This weekend was Danielle and Ty's wedding out at the beach in Charleston. And....I married them!

I made this magnet to give to them along with the gift I got them off their registry.

friday...!

espresso fudge brownies

I used this recipe, and added two heaping tablespoons of instant espresso. Oh, and took them out early to be fudgy.

dress form.

I've wanted a dress form for years. They are expensive new and awkward and pricey to ship. I came across an idea online (here) on how to make your own. I blended two of their ideas together. I made a shell on myself out of duct tape (taping over a dress I didn't mind cutting up), cut up the front, took it off, and duct taped it back together. Then I put a first layer of paper mache. The beginning stage is pictured above.

I still need to put more layers of paper mache on. It's not perfect, but still should be great for sewing...it only cost me $4..the cost of the duct tape!

** special thanks to daddy for giving me the pvc to make the stand! **

creamy banana pear popsicles.

I needed to use the last couple pears from the farmer's market, so I made creamy popsicles.

2 small pears + 1 banana + plain yogurt + agave nector + vanilla soy milk

The pears were similar to asian pears, but really really sweet. I've never had a pear anything like these. The popsicles are great, but I think I wouldn't puree the banana next time around. I got one banana chunk in the popsicle and I really liked it.

atlanta.

My weekend was awesome. Here are some highlights (aside from just being with two really fun girls:)

After an eventful Friday night in Atlanta, Amber woke up on Saturday and made an amazing breakfast casserole from scratch:

We also went to a Brave's game:

this afternoon we went to the cutest/yummiest BBQ joint. Our appetizer of fried green tomatoes:

going to Atlanta this weekend to hang out with Amber and Laura!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so....no projects. friends > crafts :P

Have a great (long) weekend!

friday!

I'm off to Charleston for the weekend....yay- celebrating Danielle's upcoming wedding!!!!
Soon I'll have more time to make real things to post up here..instead of drawings I make in paint :P

grading.

Grading essays. This is so foreign to me.

In other news, I am really bummed to not be able to audit a ceramics course this semester. I was going to have lots of weird clay objects for you to laugh at here on the blog, and now I won't. I also wanted to make the wedding people for on top of Brad & Jamie's wedding cake. boo.

I'm making something I'll post soon, but it's a surprise for someone.

Today I visited the other farmer's market around here. 2 ears of corn, 1 small watermelon, 3 handfuls of okra, 3 apples, 11 small pears, 1 large tomato, 1 pint baby tomatoes, 1 onion, 3 bananas = $10. I win!