Does anybody else take pictures of food?

I love to bake, when I have time. Unfortunately, that is not as often as I would like it to be. Sometimes, when I am done, the result is so beautiful that I take a picture. This might be a little weird. Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this. Oh dear...

Well, here are some things that I have captured lately.

My neighbors helped us catch our cats the other day, so I baked to say thank you! The cupcakes are just plain white cake mix with cream cheese frosting and of course, sprinkles!

Over the summer, we make a white cake with white frosting so that the strawberry flavor would stand out. The only problem with this one was that we didn't let it cool enough. As soon as we cut it the whole thing slide apart. Still tasted delightful though. :-)

So, today F is for FOOOOODDDD. mmmm...

Exam's made me do it...

...So this is a post I wrote a LONG time ago, but I never got around to uploading the image. Here it final is for your reading pleasure...

Sitting here at my computer, I have tried to come up with a wordy post for you about the wonders of studying for exams. Words escape me, so I will show you a picture instead.

This is the view that I have been stuck with for days now it seems like. My computer is the center of attention. I take almost all my notes on the computer. The internet is an unlimited source of information (just be sure to find a credible source)! It is also a great distracter when you just can’t think anymore.

To the left, we have the ever essential source of caffeine and source of motivation. For caffeine I choose coke today, but it could be Mountain Dew or coffee or tea. The main idea is to provide a stimulant because my body’s favorite way to escape the torture of little sleep and endless reading and learning is to fall asleep. For motivation, I have my current knitting project. I have found it is useful to set little goals for myself and once they have been met I am allowed to knit for a predetermined amount of time. It works well. My current project is a plain hat with a seed stitch cuff, very good for the zoning/relaxing.

To the right, we see my fuzzy cell phone case I knit up. This is the way DH keeps track of me. Sometimes the studying keeps me away from him and “the zoo,” way too long but it is a necessary evil.

Under the computer are my shoes. They must be easily removable to facilitate the learning. Who can learn with shoes on? Hehe.You can also see my headphones sitting on the computer. Studying in a public place, even if it is the student lounge, I find it absolutely necessary to drowned out the noise, or silence, with music. It helps keep the part of my brain that wants to check facebook or ravelry or twitter busy so that I can get some work done.

Speaking of that… I do need to get some work done. So, yeah, E is for Exam… see ya!

D is for DH

A long, long time ago in a land called “Undergradia,” I was heart broken and depressed. My long time high school sweet heart and I had just broken for the last time. I was pretty convinced that I would never be happy again and really, people around me were sick of hearing about it.

Sorceress Clara took pity on me and worked towards cheering me up. She concocted a miracle elixir, a love potion, if you will, and after drinking it all we stumbled off to the “Ball” (read: house party). While I didn’t have much experience with going to Balls, the miracle elixir did wonders for my confidence. I was able to meet and chat with quite a few potential suitors.

It was one prince in particular that caught my eye and the rest of the party faded away as I started chatting with him. The time flew by as the prince demonstrated his charm and great conversation skills and all too soon the clock was striking midnight (well, more like 3 in the morning, but we are sticking to the fairy tale theme here).

As I tried to give the handsome prince my (umm..) castle number, Sorceress Clara appeared again telling the prince there was no need- he would follow us back to the castle for the “After Ball.”

When we arrived back at the castle, we had some more miracle elixir. Laughing and chatting, we socialized until the wee hours of the morning. It was probably sometime around sunrise that I realized this was the prince for me… and we lived happily ever after.

I was going to try to come up with something more “original” for my “D,” but DH is such an important part of my life! It is also convenient that his name also starts with “D” and his birthday was the first day of the “D” window. I felt obligated. Plus, I have some very cute pictures of him! Hehe.

C is for Cone

A little over a month ago my poor pup started showing signs of illness. I took him into school with me to be seen by one of the vets in the hospital and they couldn’t find anything obvious. Trying to save me money, they didn’t do a full work up and sent me home with medicines they thought would help.

A couple days went by and “Steve” wasn’t getting any better. I brought him in again. This time they thought maybe he had a crazy food allergy and that was the reason he was not eating or “tossing his cookies” every time he tried. He was really starting to pull at my heart strings. He would stand by his food bowl, staring longingly at this food. You could practically hear the internal doggie monologue.

Meanwhile, a whole week had gone by and my puppy was losing weight instead of gaining like normal. His ribs were starting to show and you could even see the bony prominences along his spine. Desperate for some solution, I rushed him off to school with me Monday morning. The worst part of the whole thing was that he was still his happy little self. He even stopped to greet my fellow student, tail wagging, as we entered the building.

Luckily, the physical exam that morning revealed his issue. Palpation of his abdomen (~belly) and rectal exam revealed a squeaking noise. Bummer. Steve had swallowed the squeaker from one of the dog toys and it was now obstructing his intestines. He couldn’t eat anything because he was all stopped up.

One, expensive surgery later and he is as good as new. And, super cute with his “cone” on.

My round-about B

I've been sucked in.

Over the summer, my best friend's teenage sister told me about a movie that she couldn't wait to see. She told me that the new "in" reading for girls her age was vampire romance novels. And they had finally made her favorite book into a movie... Twlight. Oh goodness.

I was pretty convinced that I could resist this fad. What kind of interest did I have in reading books about vampires?

Then, my roommate, the movie theater manager, started talking about this movie he had screened that he really loved. It was about vampires... So. cool. He immediately started reading the series and has already finished the third book. But, really, do I need to start a new book series? My schedule is already full with scholastic reading right now... must resist.

Next, I started school for the quarter. My favorite colleague and study partner drives me to school everyday (because she is awesome). She mentioned needing to stop by the bookstore to pick up the second book in a series she has been reading. As she reached for the book, my heart skipped a beat as I was starting to recognize the extended hands holding an apple. She was already on the second book of the Twlight series... I'm starting to think this is a sign. I can't get away from this.

The last straw was when I started looking for my "B." My thought was that I could combine my need for a new knitting project and an entry for B. I decided to start looking through my ravelry favorites for a project that started with B. The first project that I came across that fit my current needs of "fun, quick, portable and starting with a B," was Bella. As I start to read the description of the pattern, I realize there is no avoiding the inevitable. The pattern was written after the writer saw the movie - TWLIGHT- and loved the main character's mittens so much.

I've given up. I have cast on the mittens and started reading the first book. Really, I'm not sure why I resisted so long. So far I am loving both.

(I wrote this a few days ago... I am now almost done with the first book and done with the first mitten!)

First post for ABC-along 2009

A is for Alexa

It doesn’t seem like very long ago that I made this Daisy Hoody for my soon-to-be neice, Alexa. I was so excited to have an excuse to make baby clothes. Even if she never wore it, I had a blast making it!

Every time we see her, she has grown and learned new skills. It wasn’t long before she had started to crawl and had the bumps to prove it.

By this summer, she was already this little person. She had a great time at a family picnic on the same type of slide that I had as a child. It is funny how some simple toys have lasted when there are such technologically advanced toys available (leap frog anyone?).

She is 21 months old now and so much fun. At Christmas, she was able to hand out all the gifts (“This gift is for Uncle Butthead” – my husband, hehe) and open her own presents. She then played doctor with her new toys. I just can’t get over how smart she is.

…I am not a proud Aunt at all, just in case you were wondering. Hehe.

E is for Elephant

I may have a motive behind bringing you here with a cute picture of a baby elephant....

Every year since high school, I have participated in the MS Walk. It is a cause I believe highly in. This is a disease that affects more than 2.5 million people all over the world. I need your help.

I just signed up for the MS walk today and so I am a little behind the ball on fund raising. Please sponsor me by going here. Or you can leave me a message here and I will let you know where to send the check!

Where does the elephant come in? Well, I have been in this city for a couple years now and they used to hold the walk at the soccer stadium near my apartment. Last year, my hubby and I pulled up in our car only to find no one had shown up. Did we have the date wrong? Was society completely forgetting that giving back is an important part of success as a community?

No. We hadn't bothered to notice that the venue had changed. They held the walk at the Zoo last year and we got to walk around adoring the beautiful animals! It was amazing as one of my favorite places is the zoo. I look forward to it this year too, but it would be even better with your help.

Even $5 helps! Thanks a bunch in advance.

Dead of winter

I was attempting to keep my ABCAlong knitting-related but I guess I am going to have to break that. In trying to come up with a word for “D,” I kept coming back to one word… Death. That is not too fun to talk about, right? I think I have come up with an acceptable solution though.

I love winter. People tell me I am crazy because there are so many things wrong with winter. The roads are horrible. The weather sucks. The sun rarely comes out. Everything is dead. Well, I’m ok with all of those things because… I don’t drive. I am unfortunately always inside - I used to work in a radiology department. How many windows do you think they have around that place?! Hehe.

As for that last complaint, everything is dead. I think one of the most magical parts of winter is that it can even make the most dead of gardens look absolutely beautiful…

So, my D is a little late (what’s new?), but D is for The Dead of winter…