Daily Pic | August Edition

I truly cannot believe it's already time for the August grid.  It feels like yesterday I uploaded July's.  Let's see whats new:

Awesome new Warby Glasses.
Umbrella-Free wedding for a pal of T's in Jersey City.  Pretty.
Great bday celebrations for my dad and sister-in-law.
Unbelievable amounts of crafting & jamming out to Cut Copy [a new fave].
Shower hosted by my amazing girls.
Tanning on my lunch break.  

That'll do for now I think!  
Grid-time!

Daily Pic | July

July Highlights

Well, there's a pox upon our house!  T's been sick, I did something dumb and ended up with three stitches in my ankle.  We're like Lame and Lamer.

Besides that though.... we had a good month.

- Modest Mouse @ the Wellmont

- Lots of rsvp's rolling in, which, is the most fun thing ever.

- I'm DONE at the DENTIST!  I have a whole new mouth!!!!

- Company picnic which was a blast!

- I'm one step closer to getting to specs.  I am totally looking forward to this.

- Lunches and dinners with friends new and old.
- CONE-Y 2012 is back on.  Sometimes these things just need to be handled mano e mano. 
- Developing a whole new 'lack of sleep' sched while the Olympics are on. USA USA!

And Le Grid!

Daily Pic | June Edition

Here 'tis folks.  June.  Over in the blink of an eye.  Which would more accurately be the wink of an eye, singular.  
Noteworthy items:

1] 6.30.2012: Laura trades in the Satty for a 2012 black Scion tc.  This was pretty earth shattering.  Separate post to come. 


2] Saw two of the MOST amazing concerts at Terminal 5.  TuNeYaRdS and The Hives.   

TuNeYaRdS: Honestly, Meryl has some of the best pipes I've ever heard, ever.  Artists like her are what it is ALL about.  Seeing her in person surpassed my HIGH expectations.  Simply, amazing. 

The Hives: DAMN!  Haven't seen a crowd like that one since high school.  Constant crowd surfing, a decent moshpit and energy through the roof.  Despite being pretty much of a narcissist, lead singer Pelle Almquist knows showmanship.  He pulls off his self absorption like a champ!  I showed my age by wearing ear plugs this time and I was really glad I did.  T5 isn't afraid to blow the roof off the joint.  ROCK!  Opener FIDLAR kicked major butt as well. 

3] I've officially lost count of my trips to the dentist.  Oh, this wont be ending with June's close. 

4] CCP and her random shenanigans gets me through one of the toughest work weeks to date at RP.


5] I am utterly OBSESSED with Original Gourmet Wild Cherry Lollipops.  [see #3: Sigh...]  It just so happens they're sold everywhere I go most.  Michael's and Rite Aid.  (That's everywhere!)  I buy them like, 3 at a time now. 


6] Lets see, #6 for month 6.  .... Final fitting for the weddin' dress... most of the details are falling into place.  The next two months will be buuusy.  Close!!!


And last but not least... The Daily Pic

Daily Pic | May Edition

Whoa!  Fastest month ever.  

Highlights:

Rain rain rain... followed by some more rain.  Then a little rain.

Hoping to snap out of my exercising rut with one of these SOON! 

We’ve dropped from 8 to only 6 appearances of the pashmina.  Next month I predict none. 

First trip to Ocean Grove.  Resulted in: The Laurbster.  Weirdest sunburn in random streaks. 

Already working on box #2 of 2012’s FLA-VOR-ICE.  Simultaneously working on the fudge pop version and excited to try the Soda Pop flavors soon too.  Maybe I should consider sugar free....

Had Extreme (!) recipe success with: Mexican Street Corn, Chicken Enchilada Pasta and our take on Tipsy Parson’s Mushroom Toast.

And if you're still here.... daily piczzzzzzz:

Cone-y 2012

Welp, Here it is.  One of the wedding crafts!  Don't think I've shared anything since the save the date.  

Part of the Cone-fetti Colony

Behold!  The Cones!  These little guys and I have become so close.  I thought it would be so cool to have cones filled with confetti for throwing after the ceremony.  The top would be a little tissue paper hat of sorts that you'd poke through (like that game in Price is Right)  and then filled with eco-fetti!

The first cone to be born

I hastily made about 80 of them over the course of a Saturday morning and some slow afternoons at work.  I even thought it would be the perfect way to incorporate chevron in a way that we probably wouldn't regret in 10 years (it wouldn't be a 2012 wedding without chevron SOMEwhere!). Anyway I digress:.. Curious why I am using past tense here????

We went for our meeting with the priest on Thursday and he put the kabosh on my cones!!!!  Can you believe it!?  No confetti, no birdseed, basically nothing that "he would end up needing to sweep from the church steps" after the ceremony.  (And to think, in our parents era people threw RICE and PENNIES of all things!  I guess priests back then were just happy to give the 87¢ to the Church).  I explained how the innocent eco-fetti worked, that it "disintegrates" (or did I say "evaporates"?) as he stared at me blankly just waiting for me to say that it takes a day or so.  Yup- a no.

I do not plan to give up my cones, so I'm reaching out to everyone in blogland to see if they've heard of some miracle to put in these dang cones!  I thought a teensy helium balloon would be SO awesome but when I told my sister she gave me a similar look as the priest.  I need something that would literally float away with the toss rather than fall to the ground.
 

I probably just need to give up the dream here.  I could try to somehow make a ribbon explosion or my latest hairbrain idea is to put pom poms on a yarn string inside.  I fear everyone is going to feel like a giant tool "tossing" that though (even though the pictures would probably be priceless!).

Candy was a good suggestion too, if I use the cones in a different way, which is what it might come to.

Wah, Boo to the Cone Grinch!!!
 

Taking a Bite Out of 'The Avengers'

 So, a bunch of us went to the Dinner & a Movie theater and saw The Avengers tonight.  I was happy to go, and I really like the genre, but I can't say I had super HIGH expectations.  Well, I thought it was AWESOME.  I'd forgotten how FUNNY Iron Man is.  Robert Downey's humor, Chris Hemsworth's awesome 1950's-appropriate-script, ScarJo's flexibility, yada yada yada.  The real surprise for me came from Ruffalo & The Hulk character!  TOTALLY awesome.  

Ok, I've gushed enough.  My criticisms are simple and two-fold.  One, I thought Samuel L. Jackson sounded like he was reading his lines off a cue card.  Bleh.  Felt very much like watching an "actor", very little like watching a character. 

Secondly, BAH!  Whats up with Hulk's teeth?!  He's totally baddd ass in this movie and he has this lil nubby Chiclets teeth.  I mean, the dude should have the chompers to match his personality!  See for yourself....

Remind you of anyone else? ...Like....

Hmmmm, oh well!  It was still an awesome movie.

Sushi Ya... Yeah YEAH!

So, ya know… as per the 'usu (yuge?…whatever)  we go to Sushi Ya last night.  No biggie.  I get the same thing as always- no biggie.  I'm sensing more and more familiarity with my girl there (meaning the 50-something lady owner/hostess/waitress/wife of sushi making master).  She's warming to us more and more.  Her stoic-sushi-serving exterior is falling away each time we come.  As always, it was a bangin meal.  The bill comes and I say thank you and that the meal was delicious.  I get a nice big grin from her and some nodding.
Then….
THEN…
SHE COMES BACK WITH ONE OF THESE!! 

Pic from the web, but this is what they're like.

Cut in half for us.  Why Sushi Ya lady!!!  How NICE of you!!!!

Have you heard of these?  Mochi Ice Cream?  They're so so so good.  First bite impression is like, what is this?  Its kinda like ice cream wrapped in raw dough.  But the ice cream isn't super rich.  And neither is the dough.  And the dough tastes good.  And by like, the third bite, (which is all you get when you have 1/2 of a mochi), you want MORE!

Its unclear which flavor we were given.  They had green tea (really wanna try this), 'red bean' (?!), vanilla, strawberry... and maybe 1 or 2 others.  Plus I think they charge like, $3.50 per on these lil babes.  Do I even need to tell you what I was like as we were leaving?! 

No, I can't explain my craving for social acceptance from the Sushi Ya couple.  I don't know why I long for the day when we would go in and I could just say, "The regular" (I think 'usu [or is it "yuge"?] might get lost in translation) and my Sushi Mama would know what that is.  But I DO know we're one step closer.  

That little Mochi Ice cream spoke unsaid volumes.

^ _ ^

Daily Pic | April Edition

Somebody's been a bad blogger this month!  

Here's a little April Breakdown:

- I had a lot of allergies, and thus wore almost no makeup the entire month!

- I'm slowly phasing out the pashmina and blue flannel!

- I've completed one full week of brewing my own coffee at home and not buying it on the way here!  Helps me rationalize my other out of control spending!

- I had my 2 year anniv. at work, which i filled my duty of bringing bagels in for.

That's about it!!

The 'A' in April Stands for Allergies!

Moi!

Here's a quick post about some things I could absolutely not live without at this present time.

1) Allegra.  I forgot to take it last night before bed when my 24 hours from the previous dose ran out.  My body kindly reminded me at 5 AM with full out allergy mayhem of the head.

2) Tissues & my eyedrops.  See above.

3) My Adobe 'progs: AI+ PSP+ INDD= <3

4) My XMU

5) As always, QC coffee

6) My new pink h&m flats. MUST get a backup pair.

7) Micheal's and more importantly, Micheal's Weekly Coupons. 

8) My google reader

9) The nifty small gauge wire that's holding my muffler [er, entire exhaust system apparently] on until further notice.

10) Rita's Ice.  I went 3 times between Monday night and Tuesday night.  :)

Traditions

I'm not sure how long you have to do something before it is considered a "tradition", but I am hoping that T and I are beginning to settle into one.

For the fourth or fifth (?) time last night, we went to a nearby sushi restaurant (Sushi Ya) for dinner.  We love going out on Thursday night.  Maybe its memories of college when Thursday night marked the beginning of the weekend (le sigh...), but by the time Sunday rolls around you look back, it feels like what you did Th. night was part of the weekend. You just need to zip through work on Friday and its back to playtime. 

This place is really the BEST.  Owned by a 'mom and pop', it has full on authentic appeal.  Like our meal might actually be helping them earn a living.  I've gotten the same thing every time so far: 1/2 Udon soup and spicy crab roll.  I have no intention of switching my order any time soon.  It's SO good.  

Nabbed this from Yelp.  I haven't creepily taken their pic... YET!

We walk the mile+ [that's there and back] which will only get more enjoyable as the weather turns warmer.  And, cheesy as it is to admit, I kind of love that we are becoming "regulars"!

Plus, every time we go we get to say... 'Sushi... YA!' at least 50 times.

Jammy Time & a Little Reminiscing

So this post kinda came together today.  Last night, I was poking around the interwebs before bed, when in walks my man, also ready for bed.  He looks down at himself, then at me and goes, "Oh!  Nice!".  We were both wearing one of the tee shirts I had designed for our company picnic 4 years ago at the company where we first met.  I had done two versions and we were each wearing one of them as bed time attire.  It was a fun little moment so we snapped a pic. 

 

 

Better yet was this morning when I realized I probably had the oldddd email correspondence from my then, 'work buddy', regarding said shirts from way back in '08.  I DID find the email. [Gotta read from the bottom, up.]


I didn’t include the part of the email from after the picnic when we discussed the young, awkward intern who became totally smitten with my guy that day and was following him around every minute.  He cracked me up noting her resemblance to Tony Danza circa the Taxi era.  

...And he's cracked me up every single day since.  <3

Daily Pic | March Edition

Hey all... It's that time again! LAST WORK DAY OF THE MONTH!!! Seems like this month crawled by as much as it flew. But, March is a long one. That week of warmth was really the best thing ever. 

Before I post this months daily pix, thought I'd do something cheesy! Here are some things I <3 from this month: 

My new wind chime.  LOVE it. 

All the successful projects and purchases that helped the home look much better.

Rad time that will be had tomorrow night.

Concert that i caught streaming on youtube that i still can't stop thinking about.

Higher temps and more sun. Need i say more?!

And in case you missed last months explanation on The Daily Pic.

A little artschmart Art

After looking through (and loving) the abundance of 'typographic affordable art' that's out right now, I had a brainstorm about making my own up.  

These pix have been all over blogland, pinterest and most of them originate from here. I love them, but a lot of them make me feel like a hack.  I love the look of the 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost' print, but it really doesn't fit me or my life.  What does?  Check out tonight's creation...

Low Res so's I wouldn't have to put a watermark over it, sahry!

I'm excited about this.  I was warning T that I was planning to stain some pine planks (for some diy shelves- stay tuned for that one) on the kitchen table.  Of course, right?  Where else would you stain planks of pine?!  This is totally the story of my life though.  My life long art projects have occurred in locations such as, but certainly not limited to: bed and living room floors, dorm room floors, various abandoned classrooms, brother/sister-in-law's basement, parent's back yard, unauthorized storage area in old apt complex (got in trouble for that one and almost got my paintings thrown away), library parking lots, etc.. the list goes on.  So yeah, I've never had my own back yard/garage or studio space [Ha!] to work in.  

So, rather than stain planks tonight I ended up in psp making that print. I thought about what kind of background image I wanted and felt that one worked well.  I've actually staged 'photo shoots' for my etsy paintings in alleys that looked JUST like that (sadly).  The grimier and more abandoned, the less chance of getting in trouble for working there!

T actually had the BEST idea EVER when we were joking around about having a Pimp My Ride-esque expandable art studio tent that would pop out of my trunk.  Like seriously- that would be the most awesome thing EVER.  Then I could do projects on my lunch hour too!

Anyway, planning to print this out this coming week and can't wait to display it on those shelves, once I actually get them stained and up on the wall. 

Chopped: Part 2

Its been a couple weeks since we did Chopped At Home, Part 1.  And now: I'm BACK!
This time it was my turn to be the Chef.   Once my man got home with basket items in tow, it was ready, set, cook!  And what were they?  I'll tell you!  My basket contained: Fresh swiss chard [reaction: Ohkaaaay] , Dried porcini mushrooms [Oh boy!], Aloe Vera Drink [What the …?!], and Veggie Balls [Double, What Tha?!…]. **Post disclaimer: Be ready to read the word 'balls' a lot.

Tisket a tasket- Check out my Chopped basket

I think the first thoughts running through my mind were, 'You've gotta be kidding me, my mom has made swiss chard about one million times and I've watched and I HONESTLY am not sure how to cook this stuff'.  That and 'What on earth are these veggie balls and what the heck does ALOE VERA DRINK even taste like?!'  So like any good procrastinator, I quickly opened the mushrooms, and threw them into a sauce pan with some canned chicken stock from the pantry, a shake of italian seasoning and let those start to reconstitute.  They smelled interesting right away- kind of smoky and very… shroomy, if you will.  **Edited to add: WINE!  Why didn't I put wine in this mix?!

My initial idea was something like, 'I'll bring these mushrooms back to life and do sort of a brown sauce with them & the veggie balls, and do kind of a swedish meatball thing with some broad noodles.  ::Cue record scratch sound.::  T HATES egg noodles.  I mean haaates.  A completely unreasonable thing to hate?  YES.  Its a NOODLE!  Sooo, I back burner-ed that idea (so to speak) and pressed on. 

Since I really couldn’t think of how to approach the chard in the proper way, I did basically what you do with any veggie you don't know what to do with.  I chopped it up and threw it in a pan with olive oil, some of the stock, and a shallot.  And that’s about the last thing that I did with it.

Next step was, be a big girl, open the Aloe Vera drink and find out what on earth it tasted like.  I was expecting: Sour?  Bitter?  Medicinal?… I got… YUM, sweet and a hint of peach.  Ever so slightly effervescent and strangely viscous.  Really, there was no way I could think to incorporate this into the savory meal, so I totally ripped the idea off T and decided I'd make a cocktail with it.  Put a few tablespoons of it in a shaker with a lil Smirnoff and poured over ice with some gingerale and a cherry garnish.  Done.

Back to the stove: I threw the veggie balls down into the mushroom sauce, which had come together pretty well.  I knew I had to come up with the 3rd component of the meal and it was back to the pantry for some fakey-fake mashed taters.  Those took all of 2 minutes to come together (Geoffrey Zakarian and Alex Guarnaschelli would have a stroke on the spot if someone tried to use fake mashed potatoes on Chopped but sorry, I was working in a no-egg-noodle-zone and really needed something I knew would at least taste good for sure).

I think my biggest fail came in the plating stage.  I really wanted to plate impressively.  I thought my artsy side would take over but instead my practical side was like, 'If this sauce turns out to taste gross and its all over everything, then this whole meal will be a bust', so I took a more pragmatic approach to the plating and just put each thing down. 

All in all, the chard was okay, except the stems were underdone.  (Mom later informed me that she boils it first… Duhh).  The balls in shroom sauce were actually totally delish and you can bet that if I ever got them in the store I would NOT have thought of this way of preparing them.  The drink- now that was kinda odd.  It was weird to drink something with clear globbiness to it and also not knowing what any of the benefits are to Aloe.  Web search later revealed that its actually VERY good for lots of things: digestion, skin, immune health, etc.

I guess in real Chopped world, I'd get points for the shroom sauce but I think they'd be underwhelmed with my lack of 'transforming' the veggie balls.  Eh- I did okaaay with them.  Its HARD to transform ingredients.  They also have a huge advantage with their expansive pantry.  Anywho, it was really fun.  I felt challenged and we were satisfied.  T had seconds and cleared his plate twice.  Woo hoo!

Oh, and in lieu of $10,000 or brownies, I was taken to Target and this happened:

Yes.

3.18.12

Well, my brother & sister-in-law getting sidewalk chalk was totally worth the wait.  Even if they did buy it for the kids...

Red Dresses.

Almost every child goes through some kind of obsession. Princesses, cars, Elmo, purple... Mine, was red dresses.  I don't know when it started and I don't know WHY it started, but 5-6 year old Laura was red-dress obsessed. 

I wouldn't take a book out of the library unless it had a girl, (or creature) sporting a red dress.  Every single thing I drew got a red dress slapped on and looked something like this... 

Note: No arms.  Red dress. | Even animals wear red dresses.

I'm not even sure I owned one, but everything in my imagination got the red dress treatment.  Other colors just wouldn't cut it.  Yellow?  No thanks.  Pink?  Close, but no.  

If Olivia were around when I was little, you can bet she would have been my ALL TIME favorite character.  Anyway, I had to give THIS BLOG POST a shout today.  Turns out, adult Laura still has a soft spot for the red dress.

If they make it....

Well, if by chance this years Bachelor and his sassy-pants fiancee actually make it, this is what I anticipate the future looking like for them...

You... Have [not] been Chopped!

Hi!  So, as promised, here is Part 1 of 2 on the CaraGusa CHOPPED night.
Background: As avid Chopped watchers, we decided this could totally be adapted to a home-game version.  We'd flip a coin to see who would cook first versus shop first.  If you don't know the gist of Chopped, you can check it out here.

I'll still sum up in a sentence or two.  You get a basket of 4 challenging ingredients and you have to make a course of a meal with them, plus pre-stocked pantry items.  We decided to just stick to the entrée portion for the at home version. 

I went to the grocery store at lunch to get the ingredients.  I knew going in that I wanted jumbo shrimp and golden raisins.  Those two were easy.  I got the shrimp cleaned and deveined (because I'm not mean!) and the raisins were no sweat.  The hard part was produce.  I went in wanting parsnips or as a backup, white asparagus.  A&P had neither!  I saw this large green grapefruit looking thing (called a Pumello) and eventually decided that would totally work and also possessed the 'What the heck is that?!' factor that Chopped is known for.   Last item for the basket came from the junk food aisle: Pork rinds!! Something that neither of us had ever even tried before.

The Chef with his basket

So, after throwing a pan of brownies in the oven (in lieu of $10,000) and setting up the kitchen, T got to work.    He seemed surprised/delighted at the bizarre looking pumello and mind reader that he is, said he thought I'd get shrimp.   The pumello was the 1st thing to get inspected and he quicky made a marinade for the shrimp with it.  Pantry items like: frozen cauliflower, a shallot, a can of white beans  and a flour tortilla were utilized.  I was SURE he was going to crush the pork rinds down and bread the shrimp in them (a classic Chopped move) but no!  They got mixed with the beans and blended into a delicious hummus-like dip. 

Le Basket: Pumello, Pork rinds, 1/2 lb. Jumbo Shrimp & golden raisins

Chef T at work

The raisins got combined with the shallot and cauliflower, oiled and seasoned and thrown in the oven to roast.  Let me tell you- THIS WAS AWESOME. Try it.
By the way- he was cooking for like half an hour before oil came out.  I was sitting there wondering if he was ever going to use any oil! The shrimp got a quick sautee near the end. 

I think the best surprise came in the form of a cocktail!!!  Chef T actually had a Iron Chef worthy moment when he was slamming ice cubes in a ziplock bag with a hammer. (How did I miss that photo op?!)   :)  Anyway, The juice of 1/2 a Pumello + JD Honey Whiskey+ gingerale, shaken with ice.  So, so good.  I was so impressed he made a cocktail.

Pomello juice, Gingerale & JD Honey Whiskey

Probably should be mentioned that we decided to remove some of the pressure and didn’t time things.  It took about an hour all told.  Plating was quick and simple and it was time to eat.  Really, every single thing was delicious.   My beginner-chef fiancee REALLY did himself proud.  This was so much fun and we can't wait to do it again!

Before- and AFTER!

My pretties...

Saw these at Payless.

Stewing with this pic for a while.  Luckily they were like $8!

Daily Pic | Feb. Edition

One year ago, we had a St.Patti's day party @ work and I decided to mark the occasion by posing for apple's program Photo Booth with my margarita glass.  Now, you may be thinking two things.  Where is this going and what do margaritas have to do with St.Patti's?  I can't answer the 2nd part of that other than my company just loves booze.  The 1st part: Well, it became a fun thing and I decided to do it daily.  So, even though I've never shared one before, behold!  Feb.2012's daily pix.

While this seems like one of the more self-absorbed things a human can do, photo-diaries are actually pretty fun ;)

Oh and use this link to make the mosaic.  I make one at the end of each month.  You just have to sign up but the program is free.  Tedious, but free!