Fun Finds Friday

I have Five (ok, six) Fun Things for you this Friday! I'd love to make this a staple on the blog, maybe every few Fridays or so, but lets see how long I can keep this up first.



1. Dream Big - a mosaic of Martin Luther King Jr. created entirely out of Rubik's Cubes!
(via)



2. The greatest website ever created! Ok, maybe that's a stretch, but not really.
PrintFriendly.com



3. This custom Guess Who? game board featuring US Presidents is pretty awesome.
(via)



4. Who doesn't love The Count? ...ten apples... eleven apples... hahaha!
(via)



5. I've seen so many different takes on the "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters... this is one of my favorites.
(via)


I thought I'd throw this in too: I've been loving these yoga sequences by Bridget Lyons. I've been doing the 30-minutes sequences and they're just enough to get you heated and revitalized; she also has enough on there for variety throughout the week.

Happy holidays, everyone! Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Recap! One Week Later...

Whenever I happen to mention to Shawn that I don't post on here as often as I'd like, or that the flickr is full of photos I've never gotten around to posting here, he always reminds me that I don't have to be so wordy all the time and that I can do mostly-photo posts every once in a while too. Well, Shawn... you have a point. (Shh! Just don't tell him I said that.)

So I'll try to keep it short this time. Key word in that sentence... try.

Here are a few things I've been diggin' lately:
- Pandora's Jurassic 5 channel (seriously, it's all music to my ears)

- amazingly delicious strawberries from the farmer's market (can you think of anything better than local produce? besides homemade cookies?? I didn't think so.)


- our newly re-arranged living room; we moved Shawn's keyboards back to our desk area and put the bookcase in it's place, leaving us with better defined 'office' and 'living' spaces:


- the little details in our apartment, like our various knick-knacks, french candy, and some new salt & pepper shakers for my collection...


- gin and tonics (um, the perfect summer cocktail? fo sho!)

- getting out of the house for a few hours last Friday for some Willie Nelson & friends action (courtesy of my boss, who ended up with some extra tickets at the last minute)

- the double rainbow we spotted after a short heavy rainstorm on our way home from New Jersey on Saturday - it was full on!



We also got to see a full rainbow arch!


- a Sunday well spent with a group of good friends; a few hours at Adventure Aquarium (because seriously, when was the last you've been to an aquarium?!) and a simply delicious dinner shared at El Vez. (traditional Mexican fare - I definitely recommend it next time you're in Philadelphia. Everything we tried illuminated our taste buds like a well choreographed multi-dance number.... if that makes any sense at all.)










There are a ton more photos from the aquarium on our flickr, and a couple of short video clips on our youtube!
Ha! So much for keeping it short and sweet... see what I mean? I just can't stop words from flowing through these finger tips.

Lists, Recaps, and Hobbies

I've been keeping my word about posting at least one recipe per week so far this year, so I thought it'd be nice to give you a little recipe recap:

Fleur de Sel Caramels
Spicy Peppered Meatloaf
Peanut Butter & Honey Cookies
Lemon Loaf
On a side note, for anyone who's curious, we just finished up season 4 of LOST... and we're still just as into the series as we were season 1- but with a ton more questions now. And for anyone who told us the show starts to lose its' luster after season 3 and that the writers just threw the rest together, well, we think you're wrong. Everything is moving along perfectly, and all the side-stories relate back to each other in such a tense mysterious way... thankfully for us, we don't have to wait two more years to watch the last two seasons! Thank the Netflix gods.

And in keeping with the beginning theme of this post I have two more lists for you. I've let a few of my old hobbies fall to the way-side these past few years and I want to do something about it. I have big plans for this year! Ok, maybe they're not so big, but I have to set myself up for something I can accomplish, right? Don't worry, I'm not going to give up baking - I'd just like to spend a little more time doing some of the things I used to enjoy too.

So I'm giving myself two goals: 1. to finish sewing three things/projects by the end of the year and 2. to read at least five books by the end of the year.


(sewing inspiration)

Three sewing 'projects' I'd like to have finished by the end of the year...
- one accessory (wallet/bag/belt)
- one top (shirt/sweater)
- one bottom (pants/skirt)

Five books I'd like to have read by the end of the year...
- Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
- The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga, by Deepak Chopra + David Simon
- When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
- Food Matters, by Mark Bittman
- The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Why sewing and reading? Because the last time I did either of this things with any regularity was well over four years ago. The last book I remember reading in full was The Book of Lost Things, and that was about two years ago... don't even ask me when the last time I pulled out my sewing machine was.

So this year I'm making a change, no, a commitment - the next time I find myself pondering what to do with my extra free time, I'll pick up a book, or plug in my sewing machine!