I finally finished lacquering down my table and we did a photoshoot on the roof deck.
work it work it
own it
work it baby
yeah!
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Tags: decoupage, map, San Francisco, table
Yesterday I had to work late on some stuff, and part of my research included watching a bunch of these videos about Cold Steel. If you like meat and swords, this is right up your alley. If not, it’s just hilarious. Watch below:
Tags: Cold Steel, meat, sword
I had a pretty amazing college career. I loved college. I went to one of the most beautiful universities in the country, and it was at this university that a certain tradition was born. A tradition deeply rooted in the Greek Life system that produced strong rivalries and cut throat competition that could leave the faint of heart crying in a corner. No, I’m not kidding. Everyone knows that when the month of April rolls around, Elon University sororities are frantically busy preparing for the annual Greek Week Dance Competition. What is that you may ask? Well, let me tell you! My life revolved around this competition all 4 years of my college career. I. LOVED. IT. My sorority, Sigma Kappa, would begin preparing for this competition in January….preparing choreography, designing costumes, building the set etc. It was a process, a very intricate process, and a process that the entire sorority helped with and supported totally.
You go Cloris Leachman!
I’m enjoying some R & R time in good ole’ NC this week and using this time to practice for my auditions. My dance teacher is being really sweet and letting me use the studio space during the day when there are no classes. It’s been so great to have enough room to rehearse. A little back-peddling….I’m rehearsing my solo for the audition finals, should I make it all the way. Basically, if I make it all the way to finals, I have to have a 90 second solo routine prepared to show, with a costume and everything. I felt a little funny preparing my solo because it’s not a given thing that I’m going to make it to finals. There’s 2 whole rounds before that I have to get through. I feel like I’m being a bit presumptuous, no? I just don’t want to count all my chickens before they hatch, but in the back of my mind I know it’s better to hope for the best and be prepared instead of being stuck the week before finals knowing that I made it and having no solo or costume ready. So, the point of this post…..
I’m getting old. I spent 3 hours at the studio today rehearsing and sweet Jesus am I sore. I mean I’ll cut myself a little slack, I have been out of dance for almost a year now and jumping right back in head first and making my body do things that it probably shouldn’t be doing right now isn’t the best way to go about doing this. But I have to. If I want to make this team, I have to kick my own butt to do it. But I will admit, I left the studio waddling like a duck because my hips hurt so bad and I’m pretty sure some of my dignity was left on the dance floor, haha. I popped four advil and had some wine when I got home (healthy?) and that of course made things better. Oh, and then I drove to Raleigh to meet my friend Adam for dinner, (dangerous?). We were seated at a table with barstools and it took me longer than the average person to lift my ass on that chair. I got a few questionable looks. And then when we left, I forgot we were sitting on barstools. Adam had already made it out the door before I could slide myself off my stool. Thinking I was in a normal chair, I kicked my legs to the side and proceeded to stand. FLOP! My legs hit the ground and buckled, sending Karen into the chair beside her. Sorry to the lady cougar sitting in that chair who seemed to be on a date with a significantly younger man, who still was suffering from teenage acne. Bless.
I digress. However, no matter how shriveled up my body feels right now, or how sore I will be in the morning. Moral of the story: I will drink a glass of wine and press on!
Tags: dance, Dancing with the Stars, New York Jets
One of my biggest rules in life that I strive to stick to is to always have fresh flowers in my apartment. How Martha Stewart of me, right? It’s amazing what a little vase of flowers on your windowsill can do to brighten your day. Not to mention they make a room smell fabulous. One of my favorite things about living in New York City are the flower markets that line streets in my neighborhood. It’s always nice to, sorry for the cliche, stop and smell the roses on my way home. These markets always have such fresh flowers and you just can’t beat the prices.
My favorite market to frequent is on 52nd and 9th. They have so many flowers and they change their selection weekly. Every two weeks or so I make it a point to pay a visit to my favorite flower market. The guy who works there knows me by now, and usually expects me. Sometimes, when it’s really cold, I stop to get my favorite Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and I pick up a hot chocolate for the flower salesman. Hey, it never really gets above 35 degrees here and he stands outside all day. Brrr. What’s an extra $1.50 every 2 weeks? And he’s always very nice to me. The flowers are already extremely well priced. $10.00 for 2 dozen roses? Yes, please! And today, he was extra nice and threw in an extra 2 dozen roses for $5.00. 48 roses for $15.00? A steal! It sounds like an overkill of flowers, but they all found a perfect place to live in my apartment.
I'm definitely not a great flower arranger, but it works for me 
Now for my Martha Stewart moment of the day. Back when I was a freshman in college, I was invited to be a debutante. I know, I know, try not to hurl. There is a point to this story. During the debutante season, we attended various parties leading up to our ball. One of my favorite parties during the season was a garden party. We went to a local flower nursery and learned all about how to properly pick out flowers and how to care for them. It was at this party that I adopted my rule of keeping fresh flowers around at all times. I really urge you to try it! With the way the world is now, I think it’s so important to cling to the little things in life that make you happy. You don’t need to go to an expensive florist to find your flowers either. Check out some of your local flower markets; you might be surprised what you find. And when you do find those perfect flowers for your home, here are some tips on how to make them last:
1. Fill your flower vases with luke warm water, not cold. The cold water has a tendency to “shock” the flowers and they won’t last as long.
2. When you buy flowers, the salesperson will usually give you flower food. Use it! I can’t stress it enough. It really does keep your flowers going. Use half the packet when you first place them in water. Change the water after a few days and use the rest of the packet of flower food. If you don’t have flower food, place a baby aspirin in the water, it works just as well!
3. Cut the flower stems at an angle when you first place them in water, and again when you change the water. It allows the nutrients to feed the flowers more easily.
Hope my Martha Stewart moment inspired you!
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A: Here’s my interpretation of a “shocked flower.”
“Oh no you didn’t!”
Tags: Flower Market, Martha Stewart
Poor poor neglected little plant.
Tags: dead plant, raising kids
It only took me 3 months, but I finally finished skirt #2! I went on like a 2 month hiatus because I got frustrated, but I decided this weekend I needed to finish it so I could wear it in New York! Everything that could’ve gone wrong did. I ran out of thread, I accidentally sewed something inside out, I accidentally sewed the zipper shut, I broke the needle and had to replace it, I stabbed my finger multiple times but fortunately didn’t bleed on the skirt. But that’s all in the past. I finished it and it’s wearable-ish. Just no crazy squatting or kick moves and it’ll be fine. Check it out:
It needs to be ironed!
and my new favorite shoes!
Tags: project runway, sewing, skirt
Here’s something that’ll make you laugh at my own expense. So my hubby and I are addicted to this game on our iPhones. It’s called Word Scramble or something of that sort. The basic idea is you have to unscramble a series of letters and create multiple words before time runs out. It’s great and it makes me feel smart. Well, we both have the game on our iPhones and we’re constantly battling one another to see who can get the highest score. We’re both huge nerds.
Anyway, so the other day I was on a particularly long subway ride by myself and decided to try to rack up my score. The train was packed, but I was lucky enough to get a seat, score! When I’m in public, I always play the game with my headphones on because every time you create a word and press enter it announces the word out loud in a really excited computer animated voice. It’s like a little pat on your back from your iPhone. However, for some reason, this particular day I forgot to put my head phones on. I was stuck on a really challenging level from the day before and only had one more word to unscramble. I was racking my brain and seriously getting frustrated with myself. What the heck is this last word? Ummm? Ehhhh? Oooohh! I got it! Finally! And I was totally stoked because it was going to up my score to 25,000. Like I said, huge nerd. I had to get off at the next stop and I wanted to finish the round before I switched trains, so I quickly typed in the word and hit enter.
If I had one chance at a redo in life, I would have taken it at that moment.
Right then in front of a packed train of people, my iPhone decided to victoriously announce my final unscrambled word:
PENIS!
I froze, my face started turning lobster red. Did I seriously just do that? Was everyone staring at me? I was still looking down at my little phone that had just created the most embarrassing moment of my life. What were you thinking iPhone?? In front of all of these people?? I chose to continue not making eye contact with anyone on the train. As soon as the doors opened at my stop, I tried to casually walk off the train as if my iPhone didn’t just announce PENIS in public. Yea, I wasn’t fooling anyone. Needless to say, headphones will be a necessity for me from now on.
A: Hahahahahahahahahaha. I laughed out loud. What kind of X-rated Iphone application is this!?
Tags: Iphone, Subway, Word Scramble
So Jeff and I hopped on the subway and made our way downtown this afternoon to pay a little visit to Le Petit Puppy. It’s off of Christopher Street in a really cute part of the city. Now don’t jump to any conclusions, we are NOT getting a puppy anytime soon. Lets face it, we’ve just gotten married, we’re still getting used to living in the city and our apartment is in no way puppy proof. Sometimes I feel like it’s not even fit for humans to live in. But anyway, when we were in college, we used to go to a local puppy store just to have fun and see the cute puppies, so we decided to do the same up here. And OMG, the puppies were adorable! So many cute wittle fluffy faces just peering out at us from the windows. My heart melted completely away.
Now, I’ve always had my heart set on eventually getting a Westie, but we saw the most adorable Maltese while we were there and I think I might be a little swayed in their direction now. I know Jeff liked it. It was all I could do to tear him away from the glass window where the little Maltese was playing, and I really think I heard an “Awww, it’s so cute” escape from his lips. He’ll never admit to it though. But who knows, maybe we’ll have a little furry fluff ball running around our apartment in the next year!
How can you say no to that face?
A: Awww, that’s what Randy and I call “a little poo poo face.” So cute. And this calls for another Puppy Jack picture!
Tags: Le Petit Puppy, Maltese, Westie
We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has left such nice emails and comments about our blog. We really appreciate it and it’s nice to know people are enjoying reading it and can relate to some of our posts. You guys rock!
And now for more shameless self-promotion.
We’re nominated on Divine Caroline for the “Love this Site” Awards (see little box on top left). Please vote for us and if you have already, THANK YOU. You guys rock too! No, no, you guys are the wind beneath our wings. Our blog wings.
OK I’m done.
K: Did you ever know that you’re my hero?
Barb's lookin a little rough.
Seriously though, thanks guys! Y’all rock (yes I still say y’all even though I live in the north now)! We love you like a fat kid loves cake.
Tags: Divine Caroline
