Sunny San Fran

I was lucky enough to have an impromptu vacation in San Francisco visiting my friend Lindsay's family.  Me and my ancient non-smart phone with 3.2 mega pixels had a crash course of the bay area.  Here are some of the random things that made me smile.

Yes, this is a giant sourdough alligator constructed by Boudin Bakery's finest. 

Picturesque shot of the bay with seagulls a-flyin'.

Of course I saw the golden gate.

All time favorite pan-handler.  AKA- the bush man.  He would hide behind the shrubbery, scare people, and then they'd pay him.  Genius.  

Remlinger Farms.

My friends and I went to a Remlinger Farms to get into the Halloween spirit.  I grew up going to Cox's farms in Virginia so this fall festival had a lot to live up to.  I must say Cox's farms has nostalgia and free apple cider, but Remlinger Farms has rides, an awesome resturant, and a muddy corn maze.  Here are some of the highlights...

Ezra making friends with one of the many scarecrow display

Antique car ride. 

Pumpkin Pie, yes please!

Chelsea making her way through the corn maze.

Self-explanatory 

Blogger: A

My favorite gas station.

It is the small things in life that make you happy on a daily basis.  On my drive from school to work I pass a gas station in Wallingford which not only posts gas prices, but also a quote of the day.  Here are some of my favorites.

Adventures at Virginia Tech

Two weekends ago Emily and I went to Virginia Tech with some of our friends from high-school for the Virginia Tech Clemson game.  The entire group had a great time drinking Starbucks, listening to our favorite high-school jams, making bacon, and watching some football.  Also, there was a lot of sibling action with my sister coming up from Clemson, and Emily's twin Adam coming from Christopher Newport.  All in all, the weekend was a hit!  Get ready for a lot of pictures, because I have very little discretion.

Emily, Danielle and I on our first night at Tech.

The happy crew reunited.

My favorite picture of the weekend....Lucas ready for game day!

Danielle and Emily being a Kappa Fleur de Lis.

So much orange and maroon.  This was around the time the dance party broke out.

For some reason we thought this was a great idea.  Those cups have hot apple cider in them...yum.

Danielle and I in our Clemson gear.

We found our friend Veena while we were there who we have not seen in nearly a year!

Twins!  (These two just love Wisconsin, which has an awesome football team this year).

My sister and I with my first and favorite car, the camry...clever name right?

Side note: Clemson beat Virgina Tech 23- 3, Go Tigers!

Thoughts of the day

• I'm pleasantly surprised by O's post,
• Now she needs to post pics from Tech!
• Phone interviews are so awkward.
• Thrifting is awesome.
• Especially on 50% off days.

 More Chicago pictures to come!

Blogger: E

Move

My friend shared this cool video with me last week, and I figured I would share it with y'all.

MOVE from Rick Mereki

The caption to their short film is: "3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....= a trip of a lifetime.

I think this video is phenomenal, similar to stop action photography, but video. My sister is awesome at art and she made a fun video of dog sledding that I will post if I can somehow get it on my computer. The makers of this film made two others, eat and learn, I just thought this one was the most impressive. Check them out!

Fall Comfort Food

I will fall for anything with butternut squash (no pun intended).  For a creamy, sweet, comfort food meal try Martha Stewart's Butternut Squash Sage Lasagna.  The only thing I would do differently would be to use some half and half instead of heavy cream, and maybe try a light ricotta.  The meal was delicious, but very rich.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/314642/butternut-squash-and-sage-lasagna

And here's how it turned out for me:

Bonfire

Can we please discuss how great bonfires are? Over the summer one of our friends Calvin came on a camping trip with us, and while he did not enjoy some elements of the trip (being in nature, sleeping on the ground, sitting on stumps) there was one element he could agree with the rest of us on...... Fires. Are. Awesome.

I have always loved bonfires, fireplaces, candles, and most other contained forms of fire. Recently, while perusing the web for interesting pictures of bonfires (cool right?) I found all these pictures of wedding receptions with bonfires, what a cool idea. Well here is a nice mix of some cool pictures I have found, taken, love.

Calvin and his masterpiece fire.

This looks like the perfect fall, spring, summer, any season set up. via

The annual Christmas tree burning in my town, always the spectacle.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity to try some of the bonfire recipes I have learned of and post my results here. I still think my favorite is the original s'more. Over the summer Emily and I tried s'mores with Reeses instead of a Hershey bar, it was ok, but nothing beats the original.

Also, I learned today that Train released a Petite Sirah this past summer called "Drops of Jupiter." You can check it out here. In addition to being an awesome idea, a portion of the proceeds goes to Family House, a non-profit that provides housing to patients and families of those suffering from severe illness. Wine, charity, and Train? I'm in. I think I need to get a bottle for the next time the trio is reunited. Can you imagine no love, pride, deep fried chicken?

One Groovy Coconut

Adventures in coconut eating land...

Told you it was groovy.

First, you drill holes in the 3 coconut "eyes."

Once there are holes, drain the coconut water into a vessel. You can drink this. This stuff is actually the new Gatorate.

Now this is the hard part, you have to crack the super hard shell. I tried a few methods involving knives and a hammer and watched a YouTube video. None of this worked for me, so I invented my own method. I put the 'nut in a newspaper bag, so it was wrapped very tightly. Then I did a very sophisticated method that involved throwing the bagged coconut as hard as I could onto the concrete ground in my garage. So sophisticated!

The open nut.

Pop the meat out with a knife. Careful!

Now, eat the delish coconut! I consumed one in 2 days. Then I read it has levels of saturated  fat similar to lard. Whoops.

Also, my coconut came dressed in this. Reminds me of a shirt my Ken doll had. Yes Ken, like Barbie's dude.

Sort of like this one.  You can buy it here.
 

Clifton Day

This weekend is the annual Clifton Day in our hometown. Every year the town puts on a festival of sorts, that anyone can have a booth in. In elementary school this was the highlight of October, and I am excited to return to those days. I haven't had the opportunity to go in a few years, but this weekend happens to be my fall break so I will be home for the festivities.

In our prime, Emily and I frequently ran a booth there where we had face and nail painting, what a money maker. Here are a few of my favorite things about clifton day:

Lemonsticks: Simply take a half of a lemon, wedge a soft peppermint

stick in the center, and use the peppermint stick as a straw!

Funnel Cake: Need I say more?

The Clifton Store: This used to be a small general store, and in the past few years they opened a restaurant called the Clifton Pub which has endless pitchers of sweet tea and onion rings. Yum. (This is a picture of my sister and I from a few years ago admiring the classic sign.)

Cherry Picker: No, I won't be taking a ride in one of these this year, but this booth always had the longest line and was the highlight of my day. I'm not quite sure why cherry pickers are so frequently at fairs, but I am not complaining.

There are many other exciting things to tell you about the fair, but time to work on some Civil Procedure Readings. I'll post some pictures soon of Emily and I's adventures at Virginia Tech.

Side note: Remember Tuesday Folders? I had completely forgotten about them until a few days ago when my roommate brought them up, I felt like I had gotten back an entire portion of my life!

October Project

I enjoy watching the leaves change color and fall as much as the next person.  This  Fall inspired project is pretty self-explanatory.  I'll give you the play by play.

Step 1:  Gather and press fallen leaves. Buy some tiles.

Step 2: Mod Podge the leaves onto the tiles, once partially dried apply Poly fill

Step 3:  Allow tiles to dry and enjoy fall all year long!

Blogger: A

The Real Tea Party

I think this post is going to be less controversial than I led you to believe.    There is a underground tunnel that connects our studios with the theatre.  This tunnel also connects with the exhibition hall and  I as I was walking to the studios after a show I poked my head in and was highly surprised to see a lego lovers paradise.   There were legos everywhere!  It was every little boy's dream, and maybe some girls too.  There was a surplus of sy fy leggos but I was a sucker for the history ones.  Check out this display of the Real Tea Party.

and on an unrelated note:  who is the viking master?  

The Ugly Truth

While everyone in the audience gets to see the ballerinas in their pretty pink pointe shoes, not everyone gets to see what is happening underneath those satin shoes.  What is my toe armor?  Masking tape on the big and little toe with a paper towel in each foot for cushion.

No two dancers do exactly the same thing.  Check out these tape jobs.

Still think ballet is pretty?


Blogger: A