I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Archives for February 2012

Project Life 2012: Week 4

I am head over heels in love with Project Life.

I have been so busy at work that getting to work on PL has been getting pushed aside a bit but I’m determined to work on it a bit more this week. I am constantly thinking about taking photos, which ones to print, and what size. Plus I think about what goodies can I slip into those pockets. What shall I journal? I can’t see myself getting bored.

Week 4:

Left side

 

Right Side

 

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Whitney

Woke up from a nap, checked twitter and saw Whitney Houston died. What the hell is going on? She was just 48. crazy. too soon.

Such an amazing song to sing really loudly in the car. I suggest you do it if you have not done it recently.

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Spring Shoes

Help me pick out some spring shoes!!!

The majority of my shoes have had years of abuse so it’s time for some shopping to get some new ones. I really need a pair of sneakers but that’s not as fun to look at as pretty heels, platforms, and flats.

These are the ones I currently have my eye on.

Kate Platform

Would be great for work. I don’t have a neutral shoe.

Skip N Jump

I like them in this print. I love wedges. Walking in Boston is so damn hard with all the bricks so this would make it a bit easier.

Milly Authentic Original 2-Eye

How do I not own a pair of Sperry Top Siders now? I had them growing up, which just got so beat up from being on the boat that I destroyed them. And by then I just started to go barefoot. My boating days are sadly over but I still need a pair. A green pair. Obviously.

Authentic Original 2-eye boat shoes in twill

Or how about these Sperry’s? The are HOT PINK!!!! Okay, the color is called neon azalea, which makes me love them even more.

Good Day Boot

Not super springy but they could work as a good transition shoe that I can wear with skirts.

Mindy Lace Up Wedge

I love shoes that provide a peak at my mermaid tail tattoo.

So what do you think?? All of them?!?!? 🙂

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100 Years of Style

This was around last summer so it’s a bit old but I absolutely love pulling it up and watching it every now and then.

Happy Hump Day.

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A Sea of Blue: The Giants’ Super Bowl 46 Parade

So I played a bit of hooky today and skipped out on work to see the Giant’s parade!!! My brother went to the parade when they won the 2007 Super Bowl so we decided to go in and see it together this time. So after work Monday I decided to just go, threw some clothes in a bag, and I hightailed it out Newton to drve down to Greenwich, where I stayed at home for the night. He came by this morning and we went into The City.

We took the West Side Highway down to TriBeCa where we parked to be able to walk down to the parade route. Well, the streets were insane and we ended up being directed back up North along West Broadway to Leonard Street, where we could cut over Broadway, to then go back South. That is when things got even more complicated. Once we got to Worth Street we were stuck since they were not letting anyone cross Worth or Broadway. After being stuck at an intersection for a bit we decided to head back and with some luck noticed a parking garage pass-thru that was not barricaded (well) and we ended up being able to pass through and get to Lafayette. This was much less crowded and we ended up getting a spot at Worth and Lafayette that is where they turned to get to City Hall. We got spots about 3 people in from the barricades. For the parade I ending up perching myself up on a barricade around a crossing walk post which gave me a better vantage point since it put me a little bit higher up.

Our first glimpse of the parade

Jack Ballard

 

 

The Lombardi Trophy. (Manning on was on the other side of the float)

Justin Tuck

See that arm on the left waving?!?! That’s Eli Manning. That’s my only pic of him. ha!

 

Joining the band!

Running backs… running

 

After the parade we headed up to Little Italy and we had lunch there. Obviously the TV’s where showing the key ceremony at City Hall so we caught part of that too. A quick walk back to the car and we were on our way back up to CT. I grabbed my over night bag at home, said bye to the dogs and then I was on my way back up to Newton.

I do have to admit that while my heart belongs to the Giants, the Boston/New England teams have much better parades. There were several things that they could have done to make it more enjoyable for the spectators. Overall, I felt that they missed the mark with the timing of the parade. There were periods of time when 2-3 minutes would go by and there would not be a float so people actually ended up leaving and missing out on some at the end. They should have been much closer together, like the Celtics 2008 Championship Parade. Also when they did go by they were really fast. Thankfully, my camera was able to do a pretty good job of keeping up on the continuous shooting setting.

I’m so glad I was able to go to The City to see the Super Bowl parade and have a nice time.

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Collin Kartchner Studios- Photos and Review

For my Mom’s birthday I decided that I would get us a photography session while we were in Utah attending Spark: The Event in October.  To me, the obvious choice for a photographer was Utah Valley Photographer Collin Kartchner. I came across his work from his wife’s blog, Dear Lizzy. Liz is a scrapbooker and her blog captures their well photographed life’s moments, which she happens to scrapbook. Obviously. I loved the look of the photos on the blog, and in Collin’s portfolio and on his blog. His photos and videos capture a multitude of emotions through poses and angles but I really loved his play with light.

We met Collin near the location he had in mind to take us. We ended up by some beaten up buildings in the Pleasant Grove/Lindon area, which is South of Salt Lake City. My mom was skeptical of the locale but went along with it since she has not other choice but to follow my sparkly heels in the weeds. I love the juxtaposition of getting dressed up and sitting in a barn so I happily wobbled along to the different areas where we took the photos.

We spent 45 minutes taking the photos. Collin asked about us, our hobbies, our jobs… which prompted lots of laughs from the stories my mom had from work and her less than PC approach to retelling these stories. There were even some hilarious demonstrations caught in the act. All in the name of loosening up to take lots and lots of photos around the buildings.

After our photo session, Collin sent us on our merry way to Thai Ruby, a restaurant that he suggested highly. The man not only knows how to take great photos but he knows his quality Thai food. 🙂

In all Collin took over 320 photos for us to cull through. We received a link to the album he put online for us to go through and select 20+ of them for him to edit. Once he was done with the edits he emailed me a few of them for review and to be able to order 1 as a large print for Christmas for my mom (see top photo). I then received a flash drive of all the photos in the mail.

I can’t stop raving about my experience working with Collin. I look forward to venturing to the beautiful Beehive State again and scheduling another session with him.

Collin Kartchner Studios

collin@collinkartchnerstudios.com

Utah Valley, UT

801.472.6010

Very Berry Sangria

Price and I recently had a party at our place for my birthday. It was centered around a Mexican theme so I’ll be posting a few recipes from that that works well for a fiesta or just a great gathering. Enjoy!

I love sangria so much because it works well year round and with so many different add in’s. You can do citrus, stone fruit, or berries, or an combination in between. I really prefer wine sangria but I have been enjoying red sangria more and more. Most of all I love to serve sangria when people are over. It works well for a crowd since you start with inexpensive wine, add fun fruit to it and it really transforms into a great drink.

 

This red sangria is packed with fruity flavor. All of the different types of berries add so much sweet, bright flavor.  Each of the 4 different types of berries provides a different flavor to the sangria. Then when you add the tequila you get a bit of a kick to it in the end. The seltzer adds a nice bubble to the the whole thing to finish it off.

 

Very Berry Sangria

Serves 12-16 people

Ingredients

  • 4 bottles of red wine
  • 1 pound of strawberries
  • 1 dry pint of blueberries
  • 1 dry pint of blackberries
  • 1 dry pint of raspberries
  • 1/4 cup agave, depending on the wine
  • 3 cups of tequila
  • 1 liter of seltzer, or ginger-ale

Process

  1. Divide the 4 bottles of wine into 2-3 pitchers, depending on the size of pitcher. Fill the pitcher about half way full.
  2. Wash all the fruit. Discard an bruised fruit.
  3. Slice the strawberries.
  4. Add all the fruit to the wine, divide evenly.
  5. Add the agave and tequila. Gently mix the wine to incorporate.
  6. Let chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
  7. Right before serving add the seltzer to the pitchers.

2012 Goals and Wishes

I am a planner. I love to plan out events, weekends, vacations… you name it. It is how it gets me through the hum drum of daily life. I get to work and I plan on what I am going to make for dinner and what I am going to do that night. I love countdowns. It has me set my heart on something to look forward to.

Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t get disappointed. I was planned on going to Greece this spring. It was the thing that was getting me through this project phase. It was something fun that Pricer and I were going to be able to experience together. But things get messy and the trip was canceled completely. What was I going to look forward to now? I’m still looking forward to getting to meet and visit Amanda in May… some 91 days from now. But I need more.  I need to know we will have lots of fun things going on this year to look forward to.

I was feeling a little lost with the sudden change in events and the plan B coming into place and all the other things floating around in my head so the other night I insisted we did this:

We just started to rattle off things that we planning and hoping to do this year. Big plans. New goals. Dreams. Trips. Foolish hopes. Fun things. Promises. Silly things. Seeing these things will us develop plans to make them happen.

Some of the things we want to do will come true. And others won’t. But I’m learning that is okay because for everything I don’t do there on the blackboard, there are 2 other fun things that we did instead. It’s all about making it work and having fun.

What are your goals this year? What do you hope to do? What do you already have planned? Are you counting down until then? Please share  them with me!

 

Harry’s All Grown Up LO- Studio Calico 1.02 Sunday Sketch

1.02.12 Sunday Sketch

One of the things I love most about Studio Calico and their kits are the selection of patterned paper that is included. When I was going through my stash I started to pull out a lot of papers with simple geometries on it. I love simple patterned paper that can be layered well or mashed up with patterns because of similarities with color or shape. When I pulled out the paper that I ultimately used for the main paper I knew it was the best fit because of its similarity to the set design in the photo. It was just meant to be! I pulled solids that matched the photo and main patterned paper for the background banner pieces. The rest of the components where picked from my stash. In fact the white lined piece is from product packing from Studio Calico stamps.