A trip to a magical land

Remember when I said I'd talk about the most magical place on earth? Well today I'm making good on my promise to take you there, in a matter of speaking.
First, the day's most exciting discovery:

 Candytufts! And lots of them. They were literally everywhere. I bought 6 of 'em just to make sure I'd have enough.

 Then there were these neat bags that you could plant things in but they hung on a wall or off a fence. The next evolution in vertical gardening?

 And rhubarb, glorious rhubarb. If it weren't for Miyagi and the chance he might accidentally eat the poisonous leaves, I might have bought a few pots.

 So pretty! And ready to give their life to make a strawberry pie better, I'd wager.

The place is huge, by the way. There is an outdoor nursery and two greenhouses, along with a gift section, cafe and sweet shop. I could lose myself for hours in the main greenhouse.

Among the ornamental plants:

Or delicious veggies and herbs:

 They even had bowls of lettuce:

 And some extremely beautiful dahlias:

This final feature is something shock and amaze. It's called "Magic Carpet Thyme":

The carpet part is due to its ability to grow quickly and spread out, to "carpet" the area you plant it in. The "magic" part, it turns out, is due to something even better. When I took a whiff to see how close to thyme it smelled like, it turns out it didn't smell like thyme at all. In fact, it smelled exactly like Fruit Loops. I'm not even joking. I circled back to snort some more right before we left and they still (amazingly) smelled exactly like one of my favorite childhood cereals. When I figure our where I might actually be able to plant these, I'm going back and I buying a bunch so I can make some area smell delicious!

Collard greens

I cannot recall actually eating a collard green. Oh, I know I have at some point. But it must have been so bad that I blocked the experience from my memory. So when my neighbor behind us (we have a common fence) offered up his huge collard greens that I had been intrigued by (see, I even snuck a pic of them a couple of weeks ago) since I noticed them in his garden plot (I want a garden plot!), I couldn't say no. It seemed it was time to face my fear of the repressed memory and see if collards are as good as everyone says they are. Now to find a great recipe. A quick google search reveals this:

• Classic saute
• Collards with bacon
• Citrus collards with raisins

I'll let you know which one we choose. With three large bunches, we'll likely be able to tackle at least two kinds (I'm thinking bacon and citrus). I'm actually already thinking of making the citrus collards and serving them with pork chops that were marinated in an orange juice based sauce (like this Asian-inspired one or even this spicy version).

Brightly colored treasures

Here's the thing: I hate shopping. Maybe it's the crowds or the fact that I am spending money, but I rarely shop. In fact, I've only been shopping twice in the last couple of months, and both times included my mother. See, when she comes into town, I am suddenly willing to shop. And our favorite places are the outlets in Williamsburg, mostly because they tend to be on the cheaper side.

This go around I found many things I absolutely loved but couldn't afford and a few things I liked the price and look enough to purchase. Since everything I was drawn to during the trip featured bright colors, I'd say I'm definitely looking forward to the arrival of spring.

Here's a rundown of why I bought what I bought and what I would have purchased if I had more disposable income than I could ever need.

Because I need more than one

I currently have one belt and I love it. It's a white Star Wars belt with black graphics depicting the Battle of Endor.

But the bright colors and comfortable, flexible knit on this one from Eddie Bauer was just too much to say no to, plus the price was affordable.

Because of the irony

When I got my first checking account, I bought a wallet from Walmart specifically to hold my checkbook. 10 years later I'm still using the same wallet, but it's stuffed to the brim with junk I've been collecting since high school. Yet, I haven't purchased a new one because I couldn't take the hit a brand new wallet might have on my... well, you get the idea.

But a recent trip through the Fossil outlet revealed a sale on the wallets I've been drooling over since I found them there several years ago.

What I can't afford and really don't need

And here's a look at my favorite things that I couldn't bring myself to buy, all of which were found at the Le Creuset outlet. Despite the outlet discounts, everything there is still sadly overpriced. I've wanted a tagine since my trip to Morocco. Unfortunately the quality examples are ridiculously expensive. Like this gorgeous kiwi green one, priced at $120:

And while this piece wasn't really expensive, it is a waste of money considering I don't really need a honeypot. But I still love it:

And here are a few more items that I didn't take pictures of because the salesladies were giving me weird looks. Plus, I've never really taken pictures in a store, so I'm not used to the guilty feelings I was having, as if I was breaking some sort of law.The Zen style is so me, but since I get so much use out of my electric kettle, this might be more of a decoration than anything. I definitely couldn't spend money on something I would likely never use.
As for these pepper and salt mills, I know I could snag similar ones for at least half the price of Le Creuset. But they really are gorgeous. Sigh. My aversion to spending money on a whim sure gets to me some times.

By the way, being Le Creuset items, everything in my didn't-buy category comes in pretty much any of their colors, except that sweet honeypot (forgive the pun). That only comes in the gorgeous sunny yellow that such an item should be. Pooh, at least, would be proud.

New plan for an old fave

I have a slight obsession with cork - but not in the way you might think. I truly dislike the traditional corkboard that we were all given as a going-to-college present. But I love when the beauty of cork - it's earthy color and it's usability - gets repurposed into something unexpected.

Case in point:

From "Original Ideas," Young House Love

The best part is that this looks incredibly easy to do and has the potential for plenty of applications. Ergo, you won't be wasting a whole bunch of cork since you won't be buying a whole roll for just one project. Looks like spring is bringing on a whole bunch of inspiration for me to try new things!

I'm back!

Well, I've actually been back from my honeymoon for a few days now, but I sort of felt like I needed even more time to recover from the craziness. That and there's been a lot to accomplish since I've been back. I have not really accomplished much of it, but I have gotten one big thing finished. I set up an site for everyone to upload their photos of our wedding.

Our first dance, photo by Paul Beck (my dad)

Wedding photos tend to be the biggest chunk of change for many brides/grooms and their parents. In order to save some money we asked my stepfather to be the official photographer and then told everyone else not to forget their cameras. After the wedding I planned to set up an online account with a photo service where everyone could upload their photos.
This is the only thing I've really accomplished since returning. My house is still a mess. Miyagi seems to have forgotten large chunks of his training. I have piles of gifts (which we are really grateful for) from extremely generous friends and family that I'm hoping to finish writing thank-you notes for soon. And on Friday we are moving back to Newport News.

You may now kiss the bride, photo by Myrna Teague (my great aunt)

But I have officially set up a pro account on Flickr. Everyone can upload their photos there so I can download high quality original copies instead of shrunken files from Facebook. That helps triple the total number of photos I have access to when I'm finally able to afford printing good quality copies. Looking through my stepfather's pictures, I've realized he doesn't have the right eye I wanted for catching some of the details of the wedding (which I worked so hard to visualize and my friends and family worked even hard to implement). He did capture the basic photos you want, but some shots were missing. Having others take photos as well allowed me to have shots I wouldn't have gotten if I had depended on just my stepfather's shots. Such as this shot from my new sister-in-law:

Table settings, photo by Jenny Land (sister-in-law extraordinaire)

So if you plan to get married, I really recommend doing this if you can't see spending $3,000 (minimum!) on wedding photos.

Technical gibberish, or Why I chose this method
I chose Flickr because for about $25, I get unlimited downloads, storage and access to the original sized uploads.
Why is this important? Well, I wanted the chance to Photoshop photos that might not be perfect (most have beautiful potential, but many need a little tweeking) and that is extremely difficult to do when you are working with sizes that have been shrunken down for web use.
Facebook, for example imports photos at a resolution of 72 pixels per square inch and a size of about 720 pixels wide by 540 pixels high. For comparison, the camera my dad was using saved pictures at 4,272 pixels by 2,848 pixels at 72 psi. That may sound like gibberish to you, but pixels hold the information that make up the building blocks of a photo. So, the more pixels, the more information I have to work with. Ergo, I can make a beautiful photo perfect.
At the same time, to print photos they need to be at least 200 psi for quality printing. If you resize the Facebook photo to 200 psi, it can be printed no bigger than 3.6 inches by 2.7 inches. And that is too tiny for me to use.

Coming soon
Finally, I wanted to let you know that I am going to be doing a lot of posting in the near future. Not only do I want to go through some of the awesome details of the wedding, I have several other posts I've been putting off, including: several book reviews (including The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender and Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber), a photo tour of our new home and the setbacks and triumphs we've hit while training Miyagi.
So, please come back soon and let me know what you think!

Wordless Wednesdays: Love & Marriage

Photo by Ken Kienow via Ruffled blog

Turtles and cake toppers

This is our cake topper. It's so awesome we're getting a cake so that we have something to put it on. It was gonna be a small cake, but now I'm worried people will want cake instead of pie. Plus you KNOW the cake will be awesome. I suppose we'll have to figure it out soon. I mean I only have a week and 3 hours.

Wordless Wednesdays: A table full of pie

Photo by Brinton Studios, via Style Me Pretty

Mainstream Avant-garde: The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd

I've mentioned I've been reading a lot, right? Well, I figured it's time to start sharing my thoughts on what I've been reading. So, look for a weekly review of the books I've been reading. I'll attempt to post on Tuesdays so you always know when to check back for tips on a good book, or to ignore my blog if books really aren't your thing.

Overview
Today's book is called The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters. Chip Kidd, a man known more for his graphic design skills than for his writing, authored a novel. The book is set in the 1950's and follows a college freshman as he acclimates himself to a new school and his seemingly random decision to be an art major. Kidd touches on themes of love, young relationships and even a first foray into gay infatuation.

Reactions
Upfront I have to admit that the book really isn't that great as a novel. As a collection of entertaining anecdotes and lessons on life, Kidd does deliver some great one-liners and surprising twists. Considering it had been a while since I had been able to read books for fun, it offered a quick summer read with just enough substance to leave me hungry for more books.

But my favorite part about the book was the design of it, likely furnished by Kidd as well. Depending on how you look at the edge of the pages, you can see some of the graphic design teacher's favorite life lessons to the students.

As a designer myself, I got a kick out of it. Unfortunately for people picking up this book with intention of delving between it's pages, the best thing about it really is this quirky design choice.

Bottom Line
I wouldn't necessarily run out and buy this book, but if you feel like a quick, entertaining read, I wouldn't mind loaning out my copy.

Wordless Wednesdays: Fuji mums and Lemons

Photo by Carla Ten Eyck; From Little Black Book Blog

Wedding Decor: On folds, fans and fun

Less than a month and I'm just now considering decorations. What am I considering? Well I'm falling love with these:

And these:

And these:

And, yes, especially these arbor decorations (cause I'm really not feeling the plain white arbor):

They can't be hard, can they? In fact, I could easily start right now and do a few during every show I watch and I'd be done in a week or two. Now I just have to buy tissue paper and maybe some origami like paper.

Can I just say how much I love the Internet and it's plethora of tutorials?

Wedding notes: On hair

It's one of the least important aspects of my wedding (to me) and yet it seems to be one of the first things women tend to ask me, right after what color my dress is (ivory) or what shoes I'll be wearing (yellow Converse). Who knew that hair was so important among us females. I certainly didn't. In any case, my hair will most likely be simple, just like every aspect of my wedding. For a few ideas, see the following wedding porn (as Ariel of Offbeat Bride fame calls it):

I like the simplicity of pulling back some of the hair, but leaving the rest loose. Plus you can't beat fresh flowers.

Long and loose, with a curling iron to add a bit of flair.

And then there is the low bun with a floral accent, which I'm leaning towards if it is hot and I don't want to get overheated.

NaBloPoMo: TGIF fotos

Nothing is better than being on the edge of a weekend. So here's to Friday's.

More time to relax

More time for my baby, Miyagi

More time to drink a beer with friends

NaBloPoMo: A long time ago, in a bookcase far, far way

Sometimes I am amazed by the cool things I find online. Then I am usually sad that I can never afford such awesome things. Such as this ridiculously awesome Star Wars bookend set. Unfortunately it also costs a cool $59.99. Just teeny but out of my price range.

But hey, I can still dream about having wall to floor bookcases filled with books that are held up by these beauties. That's what daydreaming is for, right?

NaBloPoMo: Parental distinctions

My parents are very different. This week brings that fact into sharp focus.

As my wedding date nears, my mom has suddenly taken more of an interest in being a part of the planning, which is fine. What is so clarifying for me is that before committing to coming to visit me this weekend I had to assure her several times that there would be stuff to do. In essence, she needed a play-by-play before she decided that she was definitely coming down.

With dad, all he wants to know is that he can see me. What we do is irrelevant, it's the fact that we are spending time together that matters. Don't get me wrong, when dad and I hang out our time is usually jam-packed with activities. But we are much more spontaneous. And he is also content just talking or just sitting.

I sometimes wonder if my mom can handle just being near someone. She constantly needs to "do," despite the fact that she often complains about being too busy. Sometimes I think that she wants to be unhappy on purpose. In any case, I was never good at just scheduling every moment of my day so there would always be something to do; I am more laid-back, like dad. This is likely the reason that mom and I don't get along at all. Our sensibilities are so different that a natural tension develops when we spend time together. This state is exacerbated by the fact that mom can't accept that our ideologies differ. The experience is such that I look towards spending time with my mom with dread, and I search for reasons to avoid the experience.

When people ask me what my parents are like I tend to say my mom is my mom and then move on to describe my dad in more detail. I know him better, despite how little time we've had to spend together. According to mom, I have even developed some of his mannerisms over the years.

It is with this in mind that I know that mom and I will never have the experience that most do when they are planning a wedding. Mom and I approach things so differently that when I told dad that mom wanted to help, he said that I should remember that the day is about me, not mom. And he's right, of course. Dad's contribution to the wedding planning has always been as a sounding board (as he is for so much of my life) and I am grateful to him for reminding me what matters. Mom's contribution will likely be to remind me what I don't want for our big day.

But as I continue to plan my wedding, there is a certain resigned sadness that shadows the process. Not because of the relationship we won't have, but because I am sad that I can't give her the experience she so obviously wants. But this is the way it's been since high school and I don't ever want to compromise myself or my ideals just to make my mom happy. And it's not that I don't love my mother, because I do. But some things need to be accepted for life to move on.

NaBloPoMo: On philosophers and comic strips

Sometimes I wonder how comic artists can continuously come up with new gags and hilarious situations. And then I remember that the world is a funny place. Today I thought I'd share one of my favorite comic strips. Of all the comics printed in the funny pages, this comes in second only to Garfield.

Click on the image to see a full-size version.

NaBloPoMo: Baking is science...

One of the best webcomics out there is called Questionable Content, an amazing romp through the lives of indie kids and the problems they have. Oh, and did I mention the cute robots? There is nothing quite like the hilarity of seeing a roomba team up with a cat to attack a beefed up iPod. Hey, it could happen.

In any case I wanted to share some of my absolute favorite merchandise (or soon-to-be merchandise) from the site:

I am super-excited about this one. It will be coming in both t-shirt and apron form. Yay!

Aren't we all?

My love of this one stems from my years working at the CNU library. Oh, the memories.

Anyway, there is lots to love about QC. Go check it out and maybe grab yourself an awesome t-shirt.

NaBloPoMo: First dance

One summer, the fiance and I headed to different parts of the world. I went to Morocco for three weeks as part of program from the previous summer that brought 20 Algerians and Moroccans to our shores for a cultural exchange. The fiance headed to Costa Rica for a month to help with Loggerhead Turtle conservation efforts. When he returned he made me promise to salsa with him sometime because he had so much fun with the dance down there.

We've thought long and hard about what our first dance will be to. When we touched on the idea of doing a salsa dance I couldn't help but consider a song I hadn't ever thought of before. Most of the songs we mentioned to each other were slow songs that meant something to us as a couple. But this song is different. While it does speak to us, it's not what most people would think of as "us." But we're all about having fun and this song just makes you want to dance. It's not exactly a salsa tune - it's more reggae hip-hop - but the fiance says you can salsa to anything with a beat. And this song has a beat.

So here's what we're thinking of as a first dance song:

"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti



This one goes out to you and yours worldwide
I say hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
I’ve been a lot of places all around the way
I’ve seen a lot joy and I’ve seen a lot of pain
but I don’t want to write a love song for the world,
I just want to write a song about a boy and a girl
Junkies on the corner always calling my name
And the kids on the corner playing ghetto games
When I saw you getting down well I hoped it was you
And when I looked into your eyes I knew it was true
I say Hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
Now I’m not a highly metaphysical man
But I know when the stars are aligned
you can bump into person in the middle of the road
look into their eyes and you suddenly know
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
Dancing in the night in the middle of June
My momma told me don’t lose you
‘cause the best luck I had was you
I said Hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
And I said rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said Hey momma hey momma close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said hey trippa trippa close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said Hey Momma close to you
Rocking in the dance hall I said
hey momma hey momma hey momma hey momma

My momma told me don’t lose you
Cause the best luck I had was you
And I know one thing that I love you
I said I be gone today but I’ll be back around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see the less I know
But I know one thing for sure
I love you (3x)

Lessons in dog training: Shake it like a Polaroid picture

When we got Miyagi, we first focused on building him a great foundation. The idea with training is when a dog masters something, you can often use that skill to help him master something else. A good training foundation includes not only "sit" and "stay," but also "down" and "leave it." With these basic commands you can gain control over your dog. For example, telling a barking dog to lie down will often snap him out of his new obsession and often get him to stop barking. "Leave it" is a super important tool if your dog is anything like Miyagi and likes to grab pretty much anything he can get his mouth on.

Now that Miyagi has relatively mastered these basic concepts, he's ready to move to more fun, creative tricks. Like shaking. This was no easy task since there's no natural inclination to lift a paw in dogs, but LOTS of repetition eventually led to this:

It definitely fills me with pride and excitement to see Miyagi mastering such concepts. It's also pretty funny. Now that his repertoire is growing, you can almost see on his face how he's trying to remember what he's supposed to do. Then there's the aha moment and he lifts his paw into your outstretched hand. Maybe I can get him to honor his namesake by doing "Wax on, wax off." What do you think?

Venison Parmigiana

When I was a kid, I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of venison. I mean, we've all seen Bambi; we all know that venison was essentially Bambi's mother. But there are a lot of things to like about deer meat. High on the list is that it is low in fat. But this also presents a problem to cooks who want to eat healthy, but don't want to spend hours gnawing on a tough chunk of meat. One way around this is to get it as cube steak, which my stepfather does. Cube steak is essentially meat that has been beaten to tenderize it. Seeing as how this is the first step to making Chicken Parmigiana, I didn't think it was much of a leap to go with Venison Parmigiana.

What I like about this recipe is that it is almost designed to cater to tough meat: you first lightly brown the meat to seal in the tenderizing juices, and then you bake it in the oven with pasta sauce to create a yummy and juicy Italian classic. And to paraphrase Homer Simpson from a recent episode, you can "parm" pretty much anything.

Venison Parmigiana with pasta

Adapted from a recipe on AllRecipes.com

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 tablespoon oregano

2 eggs

2 tablespoons water

1/3 cup bread crumbs or crushed crackers (I used whole wheat crackers)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

4 (4 ounce) cube steaks (I used venison but you can get beef cube steak at any grocery store)

1 1/2 cups pasta sauce (I used some that we had just made a couple nights ago)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and put a pan with olive oil over medium-high heat.
• Set up your "parmigianing" station: Mix flour, salt, pepper and oregano in one bowl; whisk eggs and water in another; and mix Parmesan, basil, oregano and bread crumbs or crackers in a third.
• Dip steaks in the flour, then the egg wash and finally, the Parmesan mixture. Place in pan. Brown on each side, but don't try to cook through.
• As the steaks are browning, line a pan with tinfoil (for easy clean-up) and spread a thin layer of pasta sauce on the bottom. Place browned steaks on top and cover with more foil. Put the pan in the oven for 10 minutes or until almost cooked through. (This time will change according to the thickness of your meat. Mine was pretty thin.)
• When the steaks are almost done, cover with more sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella. Put uncovered in the oven for another five minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is heated through.
• Serve with pasta and your favorite red wine.

Despite seemingly having many steps, this recipe is actually super quick. The whole thing took me about half an hour or so. Maybe some day I will share the fiance's secret to an amazing pasta sauce (he's been making his own since I met him). But for now, just enjoy these lovely pictures: