I think I'm smart sometimes

There is no vent or fan in my bathroom, I shower with the door open but the walls still become damp from the steam. I hung this picture up last week with a 3M hook, but all the steam and drippy walls was too much for it and the picture fell off the wall when I was showering and thought somebody was breaking in to kill me. Putting a nail in the wall is not an option and I want the picture there to cover up the marks on the wall. So, I am going to use a 3M hook still, but with a little extra protection from all the wetness. This is my solution

Today is No Un-birthday

4 years ago Honeysuckle Mulberry called me to say she that her baby was now in the world. Feels more like 4 months ago...so hard to grasp that she is a big girl because sometimes when I think of her, I picture a baby. Anyway, Happy Birthday K Bean!

Getting Excited for Halloween #5

Just finished the pill box hat for the Jackie O costume. Mango is going wear it tonight and next weekend Gooseberry will. I did while Kumquat took a nap, the entire thing took roughly 2 hours and I hot glued my phone to the floor in the process.

Of Course This Would Happen

Down in Milwaukee, hitting up some shops in the Third Ward with Kumquat Desert fig, we passed an antique shop, I took one step in and didn't want to go in because it was too loud, but Kumquat coaxed me into checking it out. By the time we reached the third and final floor I had fallen in love with roughly everything insight, as we were about to make out exit and venture back downstairs, what should I see but an end table, with handles that match my desk! (My Desk) Of course I would find them just 2 days after I purchased knobs for the doors. 

Getting Excited for Halloween #4

I can not wait for tomorrow! We kicked off the weekend with a good old fashioned haunted house tour!

Getting Excited for Halloween #3

The first Halloween at 11OH!7, we dressed up 2 nights, Thursday and Friday. First night I was a golfer, mainly because I had a skirt that I really wanted to wear. Dewberry and I kicked butt in beer pong that night and the next morning I went to class rather hung over. So hung over in fact that when I got home from class I went and slept in Kiwi Oil palm's bed with our friend because I didn't feel like making the effort to go upstairs into my own bed.
The second night I fulfilled a life long dream and wore a Princess Jasmine costume, the top was made by Snow berry Star apple, and it was a glorious evening. I saw many other Disney characters out that night and took every opportunity I could to get a photo with them.

My Desk

I found this antique desk 2 summers ago, it matches my antique dresser and nightstand perfectly. It was in very rough shape when I found it, one drawer was missing and all of the remaining drawers were broken. My dresser was missing a handle, so I got rid of the 2 drawers on the left hand side, using one of the handles on my dresser. So now I only had 2 handles left and potentially 4 drawers that would need them. I decided to have a door put on where the 3 drawers on the left had been and have the remaining drawer replaced with a new one, thus only needing 2 handles. Perfect. So it was sent to a wood shop (one that I used to work in, fun fact) to have the door and drawer made. But when I got the desk back it had 2 doors! I am all about the matching handle ordeal, and having 2 doors now required me to have 3. This was a serious crisis for me. After my mom told me I was overreacting with the whole "crisis", I decided that 2 knobs will be put on the doors (well the desk came back from the shop with knobs on the doors and a handle on the drawer, they matched each other but not the rest of my furniture which was a big part of the reason I threw a fit) and 1 of the handles will go on the drawer and the other handle will be kept in case of an emergency. I have decided to ask people on Facebook to vote on a photo of the 2 knob options with the handle. Whichever one people think matches better, I will purchase. All that's left to do is to paint and to replace the handles. One day this beauty will be complete and I will be a happy woman.

Stupid Statement #5

This week's Throwback Thursday coincides with a Stupid Statement made by Gooseberry Banana. So this Stupid Statement will have a bit of a story to it.

It was the night Kumquat Desert fig, Kiwi Oil palm and I moved into our 11OH!7 house, Gooseberry was visiting for the evening and helping us break in the place properly. Which in our world meant tequila. Shots! Shots! Shots! (EVERYBODY!) At some point Gooseberry meandered over to our neighbors' house, after she made quite a show, (I can only assume, I wasn't there) they came over to our house and asked us to collect our friend. I stumbled over expecting to find her passed out on a couch. Instead I had to journey to the bathroom, after passing a bicycle in a shower I found Gooseberry hugging the most disgusting toilet, seat up at that!  I tried coaxing her away from the porcilean throne and she wouldn't budge. Hoping to get her to understand the gravity of the situation, I told her to look at me, her response was:

"I'm not looking at you unless you're a toilet"

Beauty and the Review: Mascara #1B

This is the second part of this review, part one Mascara #1A gave a brief intro of the product, part two is going to include the final results and ultimately how I feel about the product. I have been using this mascara for 30 days, a huge commitment for me because I always have more than one mascara in my arsenal, so sticking to just one for a month kind of annoyed me. Rimmel claims that using this mascara continuously for 30 days, your lashes will appear fuller and more numerous. The top photo of my eye was taken the first day I used it, the bottom photo was taken this morning, day 30.

What: Volumizing Mascara

Brand: Rimmel London

Line: Lash Accelerator 

Color: Black

Price: $8, roughly

Application: Wire bristled wand, one side with long bristles for the upper lashes, and the other side with short bristles for the lower lashes. 

Coverage: Pretty good I'd say, you don't need to pile it on

Longevity: When I first apply it in the morning my lashes look longer and slightly fuller than they did with out it but by night time they don't look like anuthing special, certainly not volumized. It can also get flaky by the end of the day, but that could be that I end up rubbing my eyes later in the day. 

Positives: It's nice and black, I tend to think black mascaras are not black enough. Also, it does make them look fuller, but not as full as I want, I think the commercials gave me very high/unrealistic expectations.

Negatives:  A you can see in the photos there is an improvement in my lashes, but not much, like I said the commercial gave me high expectations. Also, it's a clumpy formula, that right there made me want to give up after 5 days, but I found that placing the tube in hot water for a few minutes (more than 5 but less than 10) helped with the clumping. Now I'm note sure if it's the brush or the mascara formula, but my lashes don't really separate, they cling to each other, I'm not very fond of this look (the London look?). 

In a nut shell: This product does what it claims, but does not do what I want it to, I like feathers for lashes, not spider legs. If I could have only one mascara for the rest of my life, this would not be it

DIY

I found a darling little chair at the thrift store, perfect for a vanity or dressing table, but since I don't have either of those it is going to be my desk chair. Normally I am against altering something this old because I like things to be in their original form, but I really didn't like the white glittery original seat cushion, as a compromise I just covered it rather than ripping it off and then re-upholstering it. I first cut out a circle of fabric larger than the seat, laid the seat on this and then pulled the edges of the fabric tight and stapled them to the underside of the chair. Once that was done it was a pretty ugly sight, so I cut out another circle of fabric, this time smaller the seat and stapled that to the underside of the seat, covering up the stapled edges of the first circle and it looked much better! I was pleased. But, when it came time for me to fasten the seat back to the chair, I realized I had covered up the holes on the underside of the seat for the screws to go in! So now the seat just sits (pun intended) on the chair, until I buy a drill and put new holes in it, since ripping the fabric off and locating the holes is out of the question. Lesson learned and a good experience overall.

Save the Whales

Anybody who has lived with me can tell you that I take stupidly long showers. I just lose track of time when I'm in there and just spend a lot of time letting hot water rain down on me. I have made an effort to end my water wasting ways, the last few times I've showered I have listened to music and try to finish my shower in 4 songs' time. It's going well.

White Chicken Chili

I found this recipe on another blog and replicated and enjoyed it.


I added about a cup of celery to the recipe because I felt like it.

White Chicken Chili:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

1 medium onion, small diced

1 T vegetable oil

2 cans cannellini beans

14.5 ounces chicken broth

2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup half & half

8 ounce reduced fat sour cream

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken and chopped onion and saute for about six minutes, or until the chicken is seared and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another three minutes.

Add the beans, spices, chicken broth and green chilies and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for thirty minutes.

Turn off the heat and add the sour cream and half & half. Serve with cheddar cheese and additional sour cream to top.

Beat It! Beat I-aaaaggghhhh!

When I was 15 I had a job washing dishes at a supper club. I mostly worked Friday nights and would get done pretty late (in the world of a 15 year old) and would get picked up by a member of my family, it was the best when Vanilla Cocoa bean would pick me up because we would both be out past curfew! So she was 17 when I was 15, and had just bought a new car, Ford Bronco II, the coolest thing either of us had ever owned, it even came with extra tires, which were strewn about the back seat. We picked it up one Friday when we were done with school before I needed to be dropped off at work. Feeling charged with the rush of being in a new vehicle, I decided I wanted something new too. I had just begun my Michael Jackson obsession so I bought the Thriller CD from Shopko, which wasn't far from where I worked so I only got to listen to 2 songs before Vanilla dropped me off at work. Fast forward 5 hours and I am done with work, Vanilla picks me up in the sweet ass Bronco of hers and I instantly blast my Michael jams. Vanilla is letting me enjoy my moment as I sing at the top of my lungs ("they told him don't you ever come around here"), she concentrating on the road,("you wanna be tough, better do what you can so beat it") Vanilla is about to make a turn and I am about to belt out the chorus ("beat iiiiiiit!!! Just beat I-") I feel a hand grab me from behind, I look at Vanilla and both her hands are on the wheel, I turn and scream at the top of my lungs into the face that is connected to the hand that grabbed me. Once my eyes adjusted from my shock I realized fucking Desert lime Buffalo berry was hiding in the back seat amongst the spare tires. I can't hear the song "beat it" without thinking of this moment.

This is what makes me happy also

Each day is an opportunity for me to fulfill one of my ridiculous fantasies. Cross "buy real cream in a glass bottle" off the list.

Just to confirm, this is what makes me happy!

Milk in a glass jug and brown eggs :)
Theses are a few of my favorite things

Odd Habit #5 <- Proof

Sunday Funday

It's Dewberry's nephews birthday party today and since I live on my own now I get to bring an appetizer to family functions (been waiting for this day forever!). Anyway woke up this morning, got the beer bread baking in the oven, because that's what I chose to bring for an appetizer, made some garlic and fiesta party dips to go with the beer bread. Life is going well, had a few extra minutes before the beer bread was done in the oven so I decided to vacuum some spider webs. As I was using the hose attachment I wasn't paying attention to what the other end of the vacuum was doing and heard a very loud noise, looked towards the source of the noise and saw both ends of my phone charger laying on the floor, with nothing connecting them in the middle. Death of a phone charger. Done vacuuming. Beer bread is done. Go to call Dewberry's mother to let her know what time I'll be at the party, my phone is dead. So is my charger. Luckily I have a car charger so I go outside to plug in my phone and notice I have a flat tire. No birthday party for me, but on the bright side, lots of beer bread for me and Snow berry because she is coming to visit!

Myth Busters vs Titanic

What you talk about at work one day will be on Myth Busters the next.


Myth Busters Video <- Click That!

Oktoberfest Taste Test

Leaves crunch under my feet, cold air paints my cheeks red and baseball playoffs are happening. October is here. Gone is summer and the need to drink only light, low calorie bathing-suit friendly beers. We need to star our winter coats and a darker, thicker, richer beer is needed. But which beer? To help answer that question a very extensive, in depth taste test was preformed in my apartment.

For this taste test 4 brews of Oktoberfest (Samuel Adams, Leinenkugels, Chop Block and Capital) were sampled by a panel of judges whose pallets ranged from sophisticated to not so sophisticated. The beers were chosen based on their availability and that is all.

The 4 beers were set before the panel, who then conducted a blind sampling of the beers, cheese was the chosen pallet cleanser as the salsa I originally provided was more of a pallet destroyer. After much sniffing, swirling and swishing, the best Oktoberfest of these 4 readily available brands was proclaimed to be Chop Block. The favorite/best tasting beer overall was said to be the Leinenkugels and the least favorite the Capital, leaving Sam Adams to fill the 3rd place slot.

What we can take away from this truly epic taste test is that if you enjoy light beer, most Oktoberfest brews will not appeal to you, but if for some reason you are required to drink a beer that is only an Oktoberfest, a Leinenkugels is your best bet.

Chicka-Chicka-Yeah

I met Sweet sop Passion fruit when I ran track in college, we pole vaulted together. In meets, after clearing a height, we'd like to say "Chicka-Chicka-yeah!", actually we'd do it in practice sometimes too. Anyway, we were vaulting indoors, I can't remember if it was during actual indoor season or if we were just vaulting inside because it was so crappy outside. Anyway, Sweet sop was up to take her vault, which she made (chick-Chicka-yeah!), her next vault however she did not make. What happened was she came down with a leg on either side of the cross bar, and took a hit straight to the ole crotch. I winced, laughed and felt bad for her. I can't remember how the meet finished for either of us. She has no idea how much anxiety I had about crotch shots for the rest of my track life.

Odd Habit #11

The main reason I make meals that require the use of an oven is so that when I'm done making dinner I can leave the oven door open and let the heat spill out into my apartment.

Beauty and the Review: Gel Manicure

What: Gel Manicure

Brand: Daisy

Line: N/A

Color: Not sure what the actual name is, but clearly it is bright pink.

Price: $30 at a nail salon

Application: Somebody else does all the work.

Coverage: N/A

Longevity: I have had this for 10 days now, the top photos was taken the day after I got it and the bottom photo was taken at the 10 day mark. Chipped nail polish is very annoying to me, so with regular nail polish I have to redo my nails every few days, not the case with the gel manicure. I did have a nail chip because I was moving into my new plance and banging my hands (and elbows) into EVERYTHING, and only having chipped one was quite the accomplishment. Not to mention my hands were submerged in every kind of cleaner imagineable and the gel is still on there! (I should mention that the top photo is a more true to the actual color)

Positives: It lasts forever and is so shiny.

Negatives:  As your nails grow out, so does the manicure, so getting one every 2 weeks might be in order if you don't want to look like white trash, however, that could get spendy at $30 a pop. I plan to explore DIY options, so stay tuned for that!

In a nut shell: I would reccomend a gel manicure to anybody who asked  my opinion, I love love love it.

Odd Habit #10

At work, I like to drink water out of a coffee cup because it make me feel powerful.

This is my bar

I took an old head board and made it into a mini bar. Felt like a genius. The painting above it is perfect, courtesy of Snowberry's former roommate.

Getting Excited for Halloween #2

It had somehow escaped my attention that I have done a group costume effort with Gooseberry Banana and her man before! Which only makes me more excited for our JFK/Jackie O/Marilyn trifecta! This photo is from 3 (holy shit 3?!) years ago, it was my favorite Halloween of my life. We danced until bar close and Dewberry challenged me to a dance off that ended with me kicking him in the head during a cartwheel.

Odd Habit #9

Now that I know the correct situations in which to use "whose" and "who's", whenever someones says either one of these words, I can't help but picture the correct context of the word coming out of the person's mouth in big white block letters.

Allegra Box Splits

Here is my attempt at the Allegra Box Splits, not quite flexible enough to fully pull it off but I’m happy with the progress I’m making. The goal is to have both legs flat against the pole, in which case I am sure I will need to hold on with both hands. I wish I had gone up higher on the pole for this photo so it would be obvious that I am not standing on the floor, because that is the cool part of the trick!

Stupid Statement #4

I was recently trying to explain to a coworker that I like turkey, just not when it's in the form of lunch meat that you get from the deli. He was saying it's the same thing either way. Turkey is turkey. In the end, I thought the best way to prove my point was to say:

"I only like turkey when it's still shaped like a bird."

New Home

I've moved into my new apartment, and spent a good portion of my evening unpacking belongings that have been hibernating since May 2011. My favorite treasures I discovered were:
Track button with a picture of Desert lime Buffalo berry and me.
A picture frame full of photos of Kiwi Oil palm and me, a Christmas gift she gave me freshman year 6 (yikes!) years ago.
A list of promise Dewberry wrote me a couple summers ago.
ALL MY TUPPERWARE!