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Had an epic week of lots of parties for one amazing friend that's moving, lots of hair fun and even more cupcakes. Follow me on Instagram! MostlyGlasses

. B's going away bowling & laser tag night .

. B's going away hula pub crawl .

. 80's night hair in progress ( it got way bigger) .

. New shoes, only 20 bucks at love Culture . 

. Gettin wiggy with it .

. Turtle cupcakes for B's going away potluck .

cave people did this! and I can't!

I had the bright idea that signing up for a wheel throwing pottery class would be fun. And it was fun.

For twenty minutes.

It turns out that I'm not good at not being good at something. Apparently, I also suffer from a total lack of patience. When you're sewing, you pick out your fabric, cut, iron, sew and you're done! You can stay up all night and finish your project if you want to. You can see what color it's going to be when it's done while you're doing it. You can buy a pattern and pretty much guarantee that you can't really mess up that bad. Did I mention you could finish something in a day?

Not so in pottery! Even after you throw something great on the wheel [I haven't quite gotten that far, my stuff is still "very organic"] you still really have no idea what you're going to end up with. It's all just beige. It takes a few days of drying before you trim the uglies off the bottom and add a handle or whatever other stuff you're gonna stick to it. Then it has to dry for a few days. Still beige. Then you can under glaze. Then it dries for a week. Then it goes to firing, which takes a week. It also might explode. It also shrinks by like 10%. It might not be all beige, but it's still pretty much beige. Then you glaze it and dry it, which takes a few days. Then it goes into the kiln. For a week. Here, there is another opportunity for an explosion. When it comes out, it's a beautiful, shiny, functional piece of handmade pottery.  That is, if you can figure out which one is yours since it looks totally different. It's also probably the year 2035.

The most progress I made so far is adding a handle [and laughed the whole time.]

This conversation has happened in various incarnations every time I make something...

pottery friend: "What are you making?"
me: "It's a coffee cup!"
pottery friend: "Really? It looks like a soup bowl to me."
other pottery friend: "I thought it looked more like a salad bowl."
me: "I just really like coffee, okay?" 

My desperate quest ended in a lunch hour spent sitting on the floor at the library this week. I brought these gems home with me and read them cover to cover. 

Then I went to the studio and did this:

I was proud for a day, and then I went back and looked at it all and just laughed my butt off. I have been outsmarted by a lump of clay. I was fine with sucking at sports and geometry, but sucking at a craft? Say it ain't so! One day, I'm sure I'll make something nice. I'll find something beautiful on the finished pieces shelf and turn it over and it'll have my name carved into it. But that day is no time soon. And I'm learning that that's okay.

I just hope my friends are okay with coffee bowls for birthday gifts!

treat yo self: sewing stuff

The last couple of months I've been spending my time dealing with dumb grown-up stuff (funerals, working, paying bills, blah!) and I have been really lagging on making stuff and being productive outside of work. I figured the best way to get out of the rut was to go the Haverford route and treat yo self!

Last week I got the Chantilly pattern from Colette Patterns because I thought it looked like it would fit my crazy hourglass body shape well. I've been watching Colette Patterns grow from a little company to being all over the place for a couple years now but had never actually bought anything from them. Their packaging is adorable. I can't wait to use it! The instructions are in a really cute stitched booklet with the actual pattern tucked in a pocket inside. I got the supplies today at JoAnn to make it. I might regret going the sheer route when I'm cranking out those French seams, but the navy + stars combination was too cute to say no to.

I also bought a bunch of half yard cuts from fabricpalooza on Etsy. They were each only $3/half yard, so I went a little bit crazy [considering I have no plans for any of it] but it all looks so pretty sitting on my desk. Stash building, as they say.

 I also bought some hair extensions on ebay, but they're being shipped from China so that ridiculous sight is upcoming.

Treat. Yo. Self.

Tuesday Tunes: Lily Allen & hip hop, my weaknesses

Lily Allen is amazing. She's cheeky, hilarious and has a total potty mouth. One of my favorite songs is "Who'd Have Known" because being in the awkward beginning part of a relationship is pretty much the only part of the relationship I'm ever in... 

[Ignoring the fact that the video is high up on the list of most unconfortable things I've ever seen. Kidnapping Elton John is no good!] It contains the following lyrics...

I haven't left you for days now,
And I'm becoming amazed how,
Your quite affectionate in public,
In fact your friend said it made her feel sick,
And even though it's moving forward,
There's just the right amount of awkward,
And today you accidentally,
Called me baby.

Adoooooorable! Even though it's sometimes so irritating trying to figure out what the F is going on,  the best part of any relationship is always the beginning where it's still new and exciting. The song is sampled from this one, but I think it's better than the original. Just when I didn't think I could like this song any more, T-Pain and Wiz Khalifa sampled it! What could go wrong with this scenario!?

Wiz Khalifa shares this insight...

Too many thirsty girls up in this club for me to
Leave here with one of them
That's why I call her
And you'll be right at home waiting for me
iPhone plugged in the wall, just waiting for me
Club closed at 6, left around 4:30
Yeah so by the time I'm at your crib...
(It's 5 o'clock in the morning)
And you yawning, but I've been drinking all night and I feel like performing
With you in the bedroom

Thank you, kind sirs, for clearing up how these things are supposed to work. I have been going about finding a decent guy all wrong this whole time! From now on I'll be waiting by the phone all night so after he's is done with all the other girls, he can come pass out at my house after a performance of some sort. Noted. And for the record, this song is always in my head even though I think the message is shady...and as much as I try to hate it, I just like autotune. 


But not all hope is lost for my pal Lily! Common is here to save the day and make me have faith that two of my favorite things, Lily Allen and hip hop, can indeed come together in a good way. Anybody in an astronaut suit pretty much wins in my book. That, and Common is a total dream boat:

 Am I the only one who thinks that Wiz & T-Pain kind of ruined a good thing? Am I just too sensitive because I've dated a lot of really dumb guys in my life? Do I even want to know the answer to that question? 

Hawaii versus Kansas

In December, I went to Honolulu, Hawaii for a week. Three weeks later, I went to Fort Scott, Kansas for a week. Even though I had a nice trip to Kansas, I was missing Hawaii and noticing how different it was there. After I got home, I realized that if you don't take the scenery and weather in to account, I could find a lot of similarities between the two...

1. They both have statues that are great for (most likely, inappropriately) climbing on! Here's me with Duke Kahanamoku, legendary surfer, swimmer, and activist aaaaaaaand me with Winfield Scott, who Fort Scott is named after. The Duke statue has a live web cam, so my travel companion and I texted everybody in our office and had them watch us throw our leis on his arms and wave like maniacs. It's kind of fun to just watch the web cam. You can see boats going by and people swimming!

2. They both have such nice people! Kansas totally got the memo on the aloha spirit. Having never been to the Midwest, I was not prepared for people calling me Miss, sugar, hon, etc. but it was so cute and I loved it.

3. Both have carb heavy, amazing food. I had five delicious different kinds of pasta at one meal in Kansas (macaroni and cheese, chicken and dumplings, Italian pasta salad, Chinese Chicken salad with ramen topping, rotini and meat sauce) and an equally carb laden Hawaiian hotel breakfast buffet (fried rice, waffle, miso soup and the toast I ate after taking this picture.) To be fair to Kansas, it was a pot luck and I am positive that no other person took my cue and ate everything on the table. Normal people just pick one pasta, but I pretty much eat like I am about to run a marathon when I'm on vacation. Okay... all the time. 

4. Both have ramen! Here's some delicious shoyu ramen I had in Waikiki. The Kansas ramen is in the picture above. This was one of my favorite meals I've had in a long time, actually. The pork was perfectly tender, the sprouts were still crisp and the fried garlic slivers gave it some serious flavor. Plus, isn't the fish cake kind of cute in a why-the-heck-is-this-fish-neon-pink way?

                       

5. There was charming, native wildlife in both places. I met a real, live sea turtle in Hawaii (and went snorkeling with some a few days later- amazing!) but I also met a lot of real, dead animals in Kansas. Here I am forcing my sister to act excited to be standing below a taxidermied zoo with me. Sadly, my excitement did not rub off. 

6. They both have beautiful sunsets. Obviously, Hawaii is amazing. But after growing up in a farm town I just really have a weakness for that golden hour over a farm.

  

7. They both are a 5 hour flight. Look at the cute little curtain that separated my seat from first class on the way to Kansas. As if that tiny curtain could hide the hot towels my spoiled plane neighbors got [which, by the way, I thought was a myth. It is not!]

8. Obama's mom was from Kansas but met his dad while living in Hawaii. True story. I'm obviously desperate for comparisons at this point so that'll end it.

My point of this whole thing is that every place has its own charm and personality, but if you have a statue, feed me ramen and call me 'hon' I will wholeheartedly enjoy it no matter what the weather is like. My friend Steve used to tell me "everything is somebody's favorite thing," and it's true. Except in my case, everything is my favorite thing!

Blogger is out to get me!

I've been using blogger for a WEEK and I already understand why people curse it all the time. I had two long posts all typed up and saved as drafts and both disappeared when I pulled them up on the iPad to add pictures. wwwwwwwwwwttttttttfffffffff. I cooked 3 healthy, delicious meals for the week tonight and had planned to post the recipes but I'm too frustrated to do it right now! Celery soup, roasted root veggies and fessenjoon (Persian pomegranate stew) coming soon!

creamy celery soup with no cream

 As part of the clean eating challenge, I'm finally getting around to cooking! This soup is my go-to recipe for making a few days worth of a fairly healthy lunch. While it doesn't offer a lot of protein and is a little more carb heavy then other soups, it's filling, low-fat, easy to cook and clean up [one pot!] and tastes good. It also freezes and reheats well if you're into that kind of thing. Swap out the chicken stock for veggie and it's vegan too!

Recipe is originally from delish but with a few changes, like taking the wine out because I'm off the booze.

1 large (about 2 pounds) bunch celery with leaves, cut into 1/4 inch slices [I peel my celery to get the strings off, a lesson learned from good ol' Emeril] 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove chopped garlic, or a few shakes of powdered
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves [I have substituted that parsley in the refrigerated tube and a few shakes of dried herbs before and it was fine]
Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
5-6 cups of chicken broth. [obviously, homemade is best, but if you don't have it available then canned or bullion cubes & water work fine]
2 medium (about 6 ounces each) all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 cups of water

1. In 5 1/2- to 6-quart sauce pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add celery and leaves, onion, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook 20 to 25 minutes or until celery is soft but not browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook for just another minute or two cook off some of the kick.

2. Add broth, potatoes, bay leaf and water to sauce pot; cover and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are very tender.

3. Take out the bay leaf [very important step!] In batches, ladle celery mixture into blender; cover, with center part of cover removed to allow steam to escape, and blend very well until pureed. Pour puree into large bowl. Repeat with remaining mixture, but if you want a little bit of texture go ahead and only blend about 3/4 of the soup. If you are like me and only have a single serving blender and a small amount of patience, follow my lead and use a potato masher and mash it right in the pot. 

There you go- healthy, filling soup! Eat it as is, add some Tabasco and cheese [reminiscent of broccoli cheddar soup...without broccoli]  for a more guilty meal or use it as a substitute for cream of celery soup in other recipes. I'm convinced that any vegetable would work for this soup, too. I'm trying asparagus next!