Jan 27th 2007 10:42:43 pm

Today has been a fun day. I spent most of the afternoon/evening in the kitchen. For dinner I made Soba Noodle Soup. I got the recipe from the most recent issue of Domino. Unfortunately, they don’t have the recipe up on the site, so I will paraphrase it for you:

• broth: bring 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon each of brown sugar, chopped ginger, and chopped garlic, and 1 cup chicken stock to a boil.
• place the tops of 20 shiitake mushrooms in the boiling mixture for 10 minutes.
• remove mushrooms and set aside. add 5 cups of water and the mushroom stems to the broth and simmer for 30 minutes. discard mushroom stems after the 30 minutes.
• meanwhile, cook about 10 oz of Soba noodles as per the directions on their package (boil about 4 minutes).
• heat 1 pound of tofu in the microwave, or in a skillet like I did.
• place noodles, mushrooms, and tofu in each person’s bowl and spoon hot broth over the top. garnish with thinly sliced green onion and nori (dried seaweed).
• makes enough for 2-4 people, depending on how hungry you are.

It turned out even better than I was expecting! I would definitely recommend it as a quick, nutritious meal.

Travis also helped me make valentine-themed, chocolate-covered pretzels. The recipe is pretty self-explanatory and not quite as healthy as the soup. (I got this pretzel idea from Chelsea when she said she was going to make some as holiday gifts.) We had fun making them and I hope to give some as valentines to my friends at school or send some with Travis to his office. We’ll see if we can manage to refrain from eating them all before then!

5 Comments » Categories: Food, Home

Jan 26th 2007 01:34:18 pm

Just the other day I was feeling so optimistic and spring-y, and now I am feeling down in the dumps. I am not sure why. It is Friday and I don’t have a ten-page paper to work on this weekend… I should be jumping for joy!

In an attempt to cheer myself up by counting my blessings, here are some of the fun/happy things I am working on:

• I turned in my application for the Italy Field School! Now I just have to wait to hear back to see if I will be spending four weeks in Italy this summer.
• I signed up for the Gel Pens Swap on Swap-bot. I love gel pens and this is such an easy swap. We are nearing almost 2000 swaps that have been hosted on Swap-bot – how wild is that?!
• I am going to try my best to participate in Stevie’s (of tru-che) Color Week Challenge. It starts on Monday, so get ready for some color-themed photos!
• I am hoping that Travis will take me to Portland on February 11th to go to Crafty Wonderland for my birthday. It is a monthly craft show that I have been wanting to go see for a long time.

Yep, listing out that happy stuff cheered me up a bit. Too bad I have to ruin the fun by vacuuming my house and then going to a meeting up at school… bleh.

3 Comments » Categories: Crafts, Feeling Sad, Swap-bot

Jan 24th 2007 03:25:18 pm

The high today is 50 degrees and it is actually sunny and nice out. Even though it is still January, I feel like spring is on its way. In honor of my cheery spring mood I was inspired to make a collage of cute, new spring-y products. Enjoy!

These cute things are:

• bobbi brown violet face palette
• philosophy lemonade hand cream
• little odd forest bird pin brooch
• one good bumblebee jar of whimsies
• goodmorning, morning! pink floral birdie pouch
• jewelry from anthropologie:falling rocks earrings, swallow ring, gold branch circlets earrings
• j.crew lisette printed fabric ballet flats
• pins from pink loves brown:dressmakers pin, cream floret pins

(I just remembered that my birthday is in less than a month! I don’t know how I overlooked that… Of course, any of these lovely spring things would make a perfect birthday gift! xoxo)

4 Comments » Categories: Accessories, Fashion, Feeling Happy, Lovely Things, Make-up & Beauty

Jan 23rd 2007 11:50:05 pm

I think that one of the true signs of genius is blindly and relentlessly doing what you love. In other words, living truthfully as the person you are. I know that sounds kinda vague, and if you had told me that when I was in high school I would have been completely confused because I had no idea who I was or what I truly enjoyed doing. I think I am just now starting to get a glimpse of my true self. (I am totally jealous of those people who seem to know exactly who they are and what they want to do from the very beginning.) The only problem is that my many interests seem to lie in two disparate categories.

Category One: making things, design, websites, having fun, crafts, paper, art, drawing, glitter, color, fashion, writing, entrepreneurship, being silly, decorating…

Category Two: history, old objects, non-fiction, learning, museums, old buildings, discussion, libraries, archeology, art history, folklore, documentaries…

I am currently trying to make some semi-major life decisions and they are basically choices between the two categories. I am not exactly sure what to do because I think that I like both categories equally. The obvious answer is to do both. I think that is basically what I am currently doing, but I am afraid of spreading myself too thin. Any suggestions?

(I am also interested in my husband, my family, science fiction, candy, computer games, coffee, puppies, and sleeping… but none of those things fit into the two categories!)

2 Comments » Categories: Art, Crafts, School, Thinking

Jan 21st 2007 12:03:30 am

Travis and I spent just about the whole day working on some cool updates to Swap-bot. Travis does most of the work, but I designed the new home page and made all of the graphic elements (except for the Flickr montage – Travis wrote the code for that). Oh, I am also taking over the new and improved Swap-bot Blog! We are super-excited about how popular Swap-bot has gotten and we really want to make it a fun and positive place for all of our members. We just wish we had more time!

3 Comments » Categories: Projects, Swap-bot, Travis, Website

Jan 19th 2007 01:46:44 pm

The design*sponge blog had a post a few days ago about artist Lisa Solomon. I think her work (embroidery on paint chips) is wistful and lovely, but even more interesting is the conversation included in the comments about the validity, originality, and value of art. Check it out and tell me what your opinion is on the subject. Also read the interview with Lisa. She makes some interesting comments about art vs. craft and what the difference is.

For more information and inspiration visit Lisa’s website (adorable) and The Beholder gallery, which sells her work.

1 Comment » Categories: Art, Lovely Things, Thinking

Jan 18th 2007 11:18:16 pm

I bought this book today, The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony, by James Deetz. It is semi-required for one of my classes (American Building Methods History), but I think it sounds fairly entertaining… if you can get past all of the old-timey language. What can I say, I am a nerd; I like history.

I am studying in the Arts and Administration department, but Historic Preservation classes count toward my museum studies focus. The Historic Preservation professor is my favorite. He is little gruff, but he is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his field. Not that my AAD teachers are not knowledgeable, but I am simply finding out that it is near impossible to be passionate about any kind of administration…

So, I have made a decision and I am going to put it out here on the internet so that I can’t back out: I am going to try to go to Italy this summer! There is a four week field school program there that the Historic Preservation department conducts each year. The website says this about it:

The Italy Field School provides a unique window into the stone building culture of Italy’s Ossola Valley. With the guidance of regional scholars, students explore medieval villages learning the history, culture and unusual stone architecture of the area. Course work also focuses on documenting and analyzing important structures and participating in a hands-on building project.

I still have to apply and get accepted, so it is not a done deal, but I am excited about the possibility. I have always wanted to study abroad and I feel like this might be my last opportunity. I’ll keep you updated on my plans!

6 Comments » Categories: Books, School, Trips

Jan 17th 2007 06:11:44 pm

Blankets are definitely one of my most favorite things in the world. It has been so cold and snowy here. All I want to do is stay snuggled on the couch and finish watching Season 2 of Millennium. That, or buy myself this and start working towards level 70.

2 Comments » Categories: Just for Fun, Photos

Jan 14th 2007 02:56:47 pm

My office has been Craft Central for the last few days. My sister-in-law Chelsea and I have this joint scrapbook that we work on. It isn’t really a “joint” scrapbook because we both have one and every time we make a page we make two: one page for ourselves, and a duplicate page for the other person. It is fun, but Chelsea is much better about making pages. Her pages previously outnumbered mine 7 to 2, but not for long! I have been a busy scrapbooker! I have these three pages coming to you in the mail, Chelsea:

I had a lot of fun making them, and I wish I would just make the time to finish up all of the half-completed scrapbooks I have sitting around. I have a difficult time with scrapbooks. The number one problem is that I don’t make the time to work on them, but I also have a difficult time deciding on the style I would like to follow. I am somewhat of a purest when it comes to scrapbooks in that I think the photos (as opposed to the store-bought stickers and doo-dads) should be the focus of the pages. However, and this is the confusing part, I really like all of that store-bought cute stuff! I am torn. Do I want the pages to be simple with just photos and captions, or do I want them to be all decked out and cute and colorful? It is a dilemma! I really like Ali Edwards’ scrapbook pages. They are so cool and full of information… I guess scrapbooking is just like anything in life that is worth doing well; it takes a lot of practice and time.

2 Comments » Categories: Crafts, Family

Jan 10th 2007 01:30:53 pm

I think I had done this meme before, but Cam from Off the Island tagged me, so I am compelled to participate…

Here are five interesting, yet little-know, things about me:

1. When I was younger I wanted to be an Egyptologist… either that, or a photographer, or a geneticist.
2. One of my favorite foods is Melba Toast.
3. I have never been to Texas.
4. My brother Aaron just got me hooked on Battlestar Gallactica, and I love it!
5. And finally, a true confession: I claim to be a Martha devotee, but my house is not very clean… and I don’t even care! ha!

One other note of interest: It is currently SNOWING in Eugene!

2 Comments » Categories: Friends, Just for Fun