happy halloween

happy halloween everyone! i have no big plans for halloween, josh and I are probably going to walk down hillcrest, which is two blocks down from our house - One person described hillcrest as 'the griswold's of Halloween' so you can imagine it's quite extreme. beth and i moved into our new apartment this weekend so that consumed most of our time. i love the new space and always enjoy going through the things i own, it helps me realize the things i do and do not need in life. well i hope everyone has a great halloween :^)

brown county trip

needless to say we had a great time. it was a beautiful day and the riding was perfect!

holiday gift guide for kids

holiday gift guide for the kids in your life. i know when i was a kid, i would have loved these as gifts. forts are one of the most memorable times i had as a child.

superhero cape

cardboard playhouse + rocket ship

canvas kit

crazy forts

cakes by jessie

so i promised pictures and here they are. my dear friend jessica makes cakes for all occassions, and these so happen to be for my cousin's, samantha, birthday party. she does a great job, the best part is they taste as great as they look. too often you order an expensive cake from some bakery and it doesn't taste half as good as it looks!

 

oh, contact me if you would like jessica to help you with your special event :) 

her prices are too good to be true.

hump day

beth and i ran around the reservoir last night and i captured this lovely sunset. we have also taken up yoga together, it has been... let's say interesting. so interesting in fact that the first class we went to, a man was wearing a thong during the yoga class. exactly! anyways, i want to thank my very good friend/roommate beth for always joining me on my crazy adventures, it's a lot more fun with you around. thanks for always being there :^)

spiral drawings

this has to be the neatest type of art i have ever seen. could you envision this?

Chan Hwee Chong creates meticulous spiral drawings of three masterpieces using his pens. In case the drawings themselves aren’t proof enough of Chong’s skill, a video was shot by Eric Yeo as he draws Girl With A Pearl Earring - check out the video here, it's beautiful!

2,000 dandelions

beautiful art installation by german artist, regine ramseier. she successfully transported 2,000 un-puffed dandelion plants into a building and then suspend them one by one, but this walkthrough of the entire process is really sublime. apparently the flowers were first treated with a gentle adhesive before being placed in a special palette Ramseier designed to fit in the back of her car. after transport the entire palette system was moved into the room and the flowers were removed and hung one by one. and now you know the rest of the story. (via colossal)

red hog closed

i found out today the restaurant i have been serving at is closing it's doors, but when one door closes another one opens...right? 

coffee & doughnuts

this weekend josh and i are headed to Brown County to do some mountain biking. i've never been there but from what i hear it's peak weekend to go and see the leaves change colors. i'm so excited -i love fall! and yes i will post pictures next week.  our weekends almost always entail coffee & doughnuts, hence the picture below. every saturday morning i tell josh i don't want a doughnut but always end up taking bites off his, which now he has figured me out & so he gets an extra doughnut so i wind up eating a whole one anyways, good grief!

(photo credit)

i went to visit my grandma & aunt yesterday at the compound, and here are some pictures of my two cousins aiden & rowan. we had a battle previous to me taking this picture of aiden, i of course surrendered, i mean he is fully suited up with a sword longer than my leg. you should have seen the weapon he gave me, it looked like a butter knife :)

aiden

rowan

well enjoy your weekend, most of my family is in Sioux City, Iowa for my Aunt Ginger's funeral. hope everyone's travels are safe, sending lots of love to you :^)

the making of a plane

did you ever wonder how a plane was made, well check out this video.

i love rainy days

it's raining here today so instead of a walk in the park i thought it would be nice to bake cookies. 

here are some links for your wednesday, hope you are having a great day!

                 car wallpaper, my grandpa kramer would love!

                 look at all this snow!

                 25 photos taken at exactly the right moment.

                 intricate hair

kale soup recipe

so here is my favorite dish currently, i absolutely love it. the last time i made this i did it in a crockpot so if your in a hurry try that. hope you enjoy!

              1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzlin
              2 cups of brown rice
              1 pound precooked pork sausage, cut into ¼-inch pieces 
              3 15-ounce cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed 15 25 40 
              2 cups chicken broth  
              1 medium bunch kale, leaves stripped from stems and coarsely chopped,
              Salt and freshly ground pepper
              Garlic 

Directions 

Brown you Sausage in a frying pan. Cook your brown rice in a pot, according to directions.  In a Crock Pot or a large Soup Pot add sausage, rice, beans and garlic, chicken broth and kale and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Add water if needed. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

chemex

this past week i bought josh a Chemex, which is a device that makes coffee. it was invented by an American chemist Peter Schlumbohm to improve filter-type (infusion) brewing, in 1942. they say it is the cleanest tasting cup of coffee you can make, and i must agree. the french press makes a creamy cup of coffee, but the Chemex is just like they say very clean & polished. if you ever get a chance to try a cup of Chemex coffee do so and let me know your experience - here are some photos of ours.

leafsnap app

found a really cool app the other day, Leafsnap  -- the way it works is actually pretty simple. Leafsnap identifies tree species by the shapes of their leaves, so the app's algorithms extract the edge contours of the leaf in question (that's why the app asks you to snap your pics on a solid background) and match it against an online database assembled by the Smithsonian Institution. enjoy!

some little things

 hillybilly tea

blue dog bakery, private party

 

from my thoughful boyfriend, thanks josh.