Archives for July 2011

Ian Axel LO

July 29, 2011

Hello stickers. Not until this page was done when I realized how many sticker elements I used. Alpha stickers, labels, and 3 long ‘banner’ embellishments. The mix of types of stickers doesn’t make it seem like ‘sticker overload!’ The tickets are even craft paper like so it gives off an appearance that it is a paper embellishment I taped down.

I admit that it has taken me some time to let loose and not go THEME THEME THEME on my pages. When I first started scrapbooking my page would have been musically inclined being that it is about a concert, but I have realized (?) that it not ciritcal to be literal. Ian was wearing a blue shirt and Chad was wearing jeans so I wanted to pick up on the blue in the photos so I picked a paper to use, then I picked accents that went with that tone. For example, the yellow and cream on the paper was picked up in the yellow arrow tag, blue and yellow shaped sticker.

Techmunch: Top 5

July 27, 2011

I attended Techmunch in Boston on Sunday. It is a food blogging conference hosted by the site Bakespace. The conference consisted of several classes that focused on such things as marketing, making connections with Brands, and SEO.

meeting people at the mixer after all the classes/ a caramelized onion & goat cheese tart

I took a lot away from Techmunch. I could talk and blog for hours about it.

But I leave you with this:

1) Be yourself!

Don’t tailor your blog to fit into something you are not. Find you passion and your voice. It will make blogging easier and a lot more fun. You will connect the people because you are being real.

2) You photos need to say ‘eat me’.

Take a step back and look at your photos. If you saw them, would you want to eat the thing you are looking at? There are simple tips and tricks to folow that will help you. Stobist was suggested as a site to learn food photography.

3) It takes time.

Be patient. Things take time. The people that have successful blogs took their time, learned from their mistakes, and improved things from writing, layouts, graphics, and photography to get where they are today. They are passionate about what they do, if you are and you stick to it then you will find your own degree of success.

4) Traffic isn’t the end all and be all in sponsors.

While you can worry about your site traffic all day long it won’t be thing ONLY thing that sponsors look that. Absolutely, sponsors are looking to pay you for reviews or host giveaways if you have a lot of traffic, but there are other factors in place. Are you a good fit for their brand? Are you just generally a nice person? Is there potential?

Additionally, you can’t just agree to all sponsorship. You should not host giveaways or write reviews if it doesn’t fit you (see #1). Does it make sense for you to give ________ away? Is there a conflict of interest because you are supporting another brand?

And last but not least…

5) SEO! SEO!! SEO!!!

There are things you can do on your blog to make your site come up in searches a lot easier. They are fairly simple. They are kinda obvious once you think about them. Do them! You can refer to this PDF for some help.

books to win through Harvard Common Press/ Sharon Sprague and Justin Ide chatting

I had a wonderful time on Sunday.

Thank you Babette and the rest of the Bakespace team

Thank you Kitchenaid for giving away a variety of kitchenwares. I won a hand mixer!

Thank you Harvard Common Press for giving away books. I am enjoying the Dark Spirits book already.

Julie, Rachel, and myself

Mexican Style Hot Dogs

July 23, 2011

I have a love hate relationship with hot dogs. Love them grilled or off a griddle. Put them in a pot of water and we are no longer friends. However, hot dogs from the carts in NYC are classic and I will tolerate them from fresh from a hot bath. You can not argue with dirty water dogs.

When I went to the BAC I used to run over to Spike’s Junkyard Dogs down the road to grab some dinner between classes. They are one of my favorite hot dog places in Boston, the bread they use for their bun is amazing. That being said, I started to love Chicago Style Hot Dogs because of the unique combination of toppings. I loved getting my hot dogs ‘dragged through the garden’.

Since being done with the BAC and farther away from Spike’s, I have started to experiment with building my own ‘extreme’ hot dogs. I love loading hot dogs to the point that a complete meal. Skip the sides and just slap it all on top of the hot dog. So I began to wonder how can I make an amazing, different hot dog that would include some of my favorite summer time ingredients. I ended up creating a Mexican Style Hot Dog. This is topped with some of your favorite Mexican things like fresh corn salsa and avocado.

July 23rd is National Hot Dog Day so it is the perfect day to make this, but really any day is a great day for a hot dog.

Mexican Hot Dogs

8 hot dogs

8 top split hot dog buns

2 ears of corn

1 cup of black beans

handful of cilantro, chopped

1/4- 1/2 a jalapeno pepper, optional

juice of 1/2 a lime

2 tomatoes

1 avocado

1 cup of sour cream

salt and pepper

Grill or cook hot dogs on a griddle. Lightly toast the buns.

While the hot dogs are cooking, remove the corn from the cob. Toss the corn, beans, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime juice together in a bowl. Salt and pepper to taste.

Halve and slice an avocado. Slice a tomato. Keep both of the avocado and tomato slices very thin.

When hot dogs are cooked to perfection, lay them in the bun to begin topping. First layer the salsa, and then add the slices of avocado and tomato. Lastly, dollop or pipe sour cream on top. Enjoy!

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Summer Lovin LO- 6.26.11 Studio Calico Sunday Sketch

July 22, 2011

Kelly_sketch

I looked up when was the last time I posted a scrapbooking layout… April 25th! That is so damn horrible. I can’t believe it. But sadly that is the way things go. I have to prioritize packing all my stuff in May so craftiness was shoved aside. Then June was all about unpacking. But alas, packing is (almost) complete so I have some free time now to scrapbook.

Getting to create a space for my scrapbooking (to be blogged about at some point) took some time but it feels right. I feel comfortable using the desk station. I really see a lot of scrapbooking occurring there. I have already whipped out a few pages, one of which I am sharing now.

This layout is from a photo I took on the first day of summer. Out of all the photos we took this was the one that i loved the most. It was such a great night with Price that I wanted to feature him. (Plus the picture of me were crappy). The layout the sketch is based off of used a portrait photo but I just used a landscape one because, as always, a sketch is a jumping off point.

I love having all my supplies right at hand now. Because everything is in my face I took care in examining my supplies and using a wider variety than I typically would. I used quite a bit of supplies form my Studio Calico kits, such as paper and alpha stickers, as well as Stampin’ Up! paper and brads. The flag sticker is from Sassafras and the grasshopper ‘paper’ is the back of a business card from SC.

Office Humor

July 19, 2011

Today was okay.

Another Tuesday. Wore my favorite dress. (It cost me $6). Didn’t go outside at all from 8.20-5.20. Had a lunch and learn on elevators. Thrilling. Had a meeting with our project general contractors for project kick off. One of the contractors has a South African accent. He could read the phone book to me and I would listen. Did errands after work. Saw horses, turkeys, chickens, ducks, and a lone rabbit. Tried a new gluten free bread that I used for garlic bread. We both liked it.

The best part of the day relates to this email. I forwarded it around to coworkers and friends. I had tears in my eyes from laughing at one of my coworker’s laughter from it.

Do you see what we found so funny? do you???

If not…

I guess the messenger has some humor.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Brimfield’s weirdest and finest

July 17, 2011

Yesterday I went to the Brimfield Antiques Show for the third time. I absolutely love it. I love hunting around for the best bargains, most unique finds, and spotting the weirdest things that people are hawking.

I was talking Brimfield up with my coworker so we decided to go together. We each had specific things that we were looking for so there was some hunting for both of us. As usual I looking around for Pyrex and blue ball jars.

Along the way we found some other things to purchase. We both picked up old maps. I got a map of Greece published in 1958 that I will use for scrapbooking and a map of North America published in 1964. I’m not particularly sure what I will use that for but I could not pass it up. Grabbed them for 2 for $5.

Olena picked up a map to frame and she hit up some jewelry booths. Her mission critical item was a book to modify to use as an album for her recent trip to Iceland. Her prefect find cost under $5. Big wins all around.

I highly suggest that everyone checks out Brimfield at least once. It’s a lot of fun, plus where else can you see this??

PS. I saw Diane Keaton there. She is stunning. I tired to give Olena a ‘look over there eyes’ only to realize I was wearing sunglasses, which I hardly ever do. I fail.

I previously documented my Brimfield trips… check out my 2009 and 2010 finds.

TTYL

July 17, 2011

I can’t bleeive I have gone almost a whole week without blogging. This might have been one of my driest blogging spells since I started blogging.

It was an off week for me. From work deadline, a little crying breakdown midweek, and witnessing the end of an era (HP!), I’ve had my hands full with stressful and enjoyable things.

I planned on posting a scrapbooking post on Friday since it has been weeks but when I got home to do it I realized that I had not changed the scanner settings at work and when I scanned my page it was black and white. no bueno.

So, I’ll be back soon with real content. TTYL

Avenue One with Boston Brunchers

July 10, 2011

I shall keep this post short and sweet so that you can focus on the pictures of this amazing food.

I had never even heard of Avenue One before getting an email about it. It’s a hidden gem in Boston. Located at the Hyatt Regency Downtown, Avenue One offers a lot of dining options, including live music on The Terrace after-work Tuesday- Friday. While being smack dab in the City the Terrace offers a quiet outdoor setting to enjoy food and drink, which we really savored.

As soon as I heard that Avenue One was going to host a preview of new brunch menu items for Boston Brunchers, including some dishes like Lobster Eggs Benedict, I knew I would have to clear my Sunday morning and sign up. Plus, for the first time, they were going to put the brunch spread outside on The Terrace for us too!

The pancake and french toast station featured cooked to order french toast with stone fruit and a triple chocolate pancake.

This bread and fruit station offered fresh danishes, muffins, and croissants. The fruit was stunning with a variety of melons.

Executive Chef Kelly Armetta explained that he goal is to keep things fresh, local, and seasonal. The majority of the fresh fruit was local, including the freshest strawberries.

I am still dreaming of this bowl of granola, fresh yogurt, and jam. The granola was amazing. Plus gluten free!!! Chef Armetta explained that he makes the granola gluten free to have something for people with Celiac or a gluten sensitivity. The dried fruit, including apricots, textually played well with the crunchy oats and nuts. I wish I could by this buy the pound to take home. Maybe I’ll have to work something out with the Chef

The new take on a carving station. Tired of typical roast beef and ham? This charcuterie spread put a big spin on the typical meats offered at brunches.

Out of every amazing thing I tried at brunch, I have to say that this poached egg salad was my least favorite. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing particularly awful about it. It was down right amazing with it’s poached egg, fresh greens, and fresh fruit. I did not like it because of the dressing. I felt it was unnecessary and made the salad soggy.

I was in awe of the teeny tiny fresh strawberries.

Standing tall… the Bloody Mary and the muesli shots. The Bloody Mary was enjoyable with a bit of a kick from horseradish. The muesli shots were a bit hit because they were super rich from the addition of heavy cream to the muesli.

I highly suggest Avenue One to travelers, as well as Boston locals. You are going to leave full, happy, and grateful that you spent your morning at Avenue One because of such a fanastic experience.

*These opinions are my own. While I won a $25 gift certificate for future use, I paid for my brunch.*

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Home to Train to Home

July 8, 2011

Besides the fact that moving has brought us a lot more natural light, it gave us some natural beauty to look at too. Our walk home before was limited to yew hedges and few flowers. Now our 2 block walk is filled with a lot of bright flowers. So since we have moved, I have been snapping shots of the flowers with my iphone.

-at our new favorite sushi place-

-across from the Newton Highlands T stop-

-from a hanging basket at a store at the corner-

-The yard that these flowers are in is really taken care of and is stunning-

-My favorite flower-

All of this makes me love Newton Highlands even more. I enjoy the display of flowers that town puts out, as well as local shop-owners and the residents on our street. The best is that these are only the flowers on the direct walk to and from the T station. There are so many other beautiful things to look at in the surrounding area.

Lenka: Just enjoy the show

July 1, 2011

On Wednesday night, Price and I went to see Lenka perform at Cafe 939. I have been a fan of Lenka since coming across her first album “The Show” (2008). So when I heard she was coming out with a new album and then touring I was ready to buy tickets as soon as they went on sale.

Lenka put on a fantastic show. There was a wide mix of songs from both her first album and the latest one, “Two”. I loved the personality she put into her performance. There was a lot of gestural storytelling to go along with the lyrics that added a lot of fun to the show. Plus she threw out candy at the beginning of the show since there is no alcohol served at Cafe 939, so if you can’t be buzzed, you might as well have a sugar high.

The majority of the people that I told that I was going to see Lenka responded with “who?” but as soon as I sent them a link to “The Show” they knew who I was talking about. So now that I have been putting the pieces together, go out and get her CD’s. Trust me, you’ll enjoy them.