Posts have been scarce, I know. I've been on Twitter a looot, since most things are just fleeting little thoughts. But in other news, there has been:
- A walk through town (where I bought an old book on the Johnstown flood! woo!).
- Lots of cooking (macaroni salad = awesome, potato salad still kind of a fail, no idea why).
- Paper Factory picnic, where everyone brought food, Tom kicked total ass at croquet, and a good time was had by all despite drizzy weather
- Lots of banners and invitations and things (some headaches, some awesome).
- Saw Iron Man 2 - though the highlight of that trip was probably DJ's usual insanity as we (Tom, me, DJ and his gf) had burgers at Red Robin afterwards.
- Mom's graduation from MCC up in Rochester - we made a day of it, tried out the Ethiopian place, finally made it to Niblack where I got spices, hung out with family. I worked on a pretty blue doily all through the usual ceremony speeches.
- Dad and Mel came down for a visit on the fourth, we wandered around town, I introduced them to Campi's pizza (which is amazing), hit up a farm stand, and ate whoopie pies in the town commons.

Finished a few crochet things - I have a new shirt, a new pull-over tank top, and several new doilies. Making a giant insane doily for Tom's grandma, who he'll visit soon. Worried about finishing a mobius wrap (in yummy bamboo yarn) because I'm not sure I have enough yarn left, aaand I was sent the wrong yarn twice before I got that one. Yarn! I won free yarn from Phat Fiber! I have no idea what I'm going to do with it yet, and since it's 99% wool I hardly want to even touch it right now, pretty as it is.

My coworkers are all having Tupperware parties - I was stuck working for the first two, but the third I get to go to, that'll be this Tuesday at Sam's. Sam's making food plans and I suspect it is going to be a very fun evening, despite Tom's comments. A coworker is also an Avon lady now, I just placed my first order through her last night. I love Avon's stuff, and I'm glad to help Ashley out while getting stuff I want. ;) (Plus, catalogs mean I can at least sort of trust color swatches, and better define exactly what shade of pale my skin is.)

I'm trying to do more art, because I feel twitchy when I don't, and depression sneaks up on me. (I had a very, very rough night earlier this week. Rationality never can overcome 1am insomniac insecurities.) I did some actual physical sketches last week while enjoying the summer sun... and wound up with a pretty little flower sketch I really like, as well as a ridiculous sunburn on my legs. ;p

It has been insaaaaanely hot this past week. 90s most days, and I live in a brick oven that does noooot cool down. Heat finally broke today, it's been raining and was supposed to only hit 77. (10am in the bedroom? still something like 88. blehhhh.) Humidity makes a cranky Melissa. And there have been far more migraines than I've had in awhile. Heat has also thrown a serious monkeywrench into my newly-attempted exercise routine.

My plants keep dying and I don't know why. (This was before the heat wave.) Some kind of little gnat-like bug got into them, and when I took my mint outside to attempt some resuscitation, I found there were little cobwebs all around the stem! booo. My passion flower and sugar plant are still doing amazing though, and what I assume is a forget-me-not (it's a very different flower from the one I'd expected, but still similar) is blooming away happily.

Tom has all kinds of vacation time he needs to take asap, so he'll be off for nearly two weeks starting... sometime next week. He's planning on some serious immersion-time in his 3D modeling... and I'm hoping he sticks with it, because if he paws at me for attention all morning every morning before I go in to work, I am never going to get anything done.

Counting down the days 'til our trip to Florida for the Star Wars convention! woo! (Though this also means Tom has been on my back for a week and a half about making ABSOLUTELY OH GOD CERTAIN that our hotel reservations are, in fact, reservations, even though they haven't charged me any money yet. They have my credit card number on hold as a deposit, if I cancel I will be charged $70-something. The actual bill is paid at the end of your hotel stay. I know this. Tom is not reassured because he's convinced that, because I'm a scatterbrain about a lot of things, I'm a scatterbrain about EVERYTHING. Sooo, I have sent emails to three places now, trying to get 100% confirmation that will satisfy even Mr. Travelling Paranoid.)

...I did not mean for that to be a mini-rant, but, really, it feels damn good to get that off my chest. ha.

Next post: new wallpaper!

Labels: being social, cooking, crochet, drawing, family, friends, griping, life in general, navelgaze, plants, travel, work

 
Easter dinner is going to be AWESOME. Tom is working, I am not, therefore I have time to cook, uninterrupted. :)

- Apricot-Brown Sugar Ham, which I'm going to try doing in the crock-pot, so I can have the oven free for other things. Tom is skeptical of the apricot-part, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be delicious.

- Heidi's Vibrant Tasty Green Beans, which really are freaking amazing. I wish I had actual real fresh local green beans, buuuut it's a little early for that. Found some pre-bagged ones at Tops that looked alright... at least they aren't spotty like most I've seen lately.

- Horseradish Deviled Eggs, which Tom is bouncing off the walls about. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use a whole dozen eggs - I might do half the regular deviled-egg flavor, and half this, or some other mix of whatever tickles my fancy this afternoon.

- Lucia Muffins!, also courtesy of Heidi. I hadn't decided on a bread yet, when she posted this, and I absolutely HAD to try them. I've wanted to make Lucia buns pretty much since first reading the Kirsten American Girls books when I was like eight... but I'm still a little scared of yeast, and I'd never taken the plunge to plunk down the money for saffron. Muffins do not need yeast. \0/ The saffron was a bit pricey (and it didn't help that the only place my Tops had any was in the organic spice section...ohgod), buuuut, it will last me forever, and goodness knows enough of my curry recipes call for using that (and not turmeric, which is what I usually do).

- A bottle of a citrus-y, semi-dry local white wine.

- Aaand Easter candy, delivered by the Easter Bunny at about 6:15 am this morning. (I bumped into him this year, as I was busy not sleeping from 5 until like 7. So I got up to make Tom his coffee.) Stefanelli's <3 chocolate bunnies, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, jelly beans and malt eggs, assorted sour candies for Tom (including his perennial favorite Toxic Waste), candy buttons and circus peanuts for me.
There's also a pair of these cool little paper glasses we got in at work... we got in 3D glasses (ye olde red'n'blue kind), and with them, other things that look kind of like them, but instead of a 3D effect, when you look at the right kind of light source, all the little light beams coming off it? get filled with rainbow stars, or hearts, or "happy birthday", or smiley faces. Silly, but, entertaining.

Ham is in the slow-cooker, slathered with copious amounts of yummy glaze. I really should go shower, and then start in on the eggs, since they can hang out in the fridge as long as I need them to. And it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS outside - last night made me nervous, we had crazy high winds, and it was spitting rain and was dark and creepy, but today it's full sun again, 60 going up to 70. The peas, dianthus, lemon grass, and mystery plant (possibly cumin) sprouting on my windowsill are seriously happy little things.

Labels: cooking, life in general, plants

 
Tom and I went up to the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens yesterday. It was absolutely gorgeous, we had the perfect day for it, and it was a much bigger place than we'd expected. And flowers always make me happy.







I took like 80 pictures in the, what, hour, maybe two, we were there. They all came out freaking gorgeous. So we're giving flickr a shot again, and I'm posting everything there. Go look! So much pretty!

Flickr set of everything





It was a lovely day, it really was.

And I have THE best shot of Tom:



Title: "Surrounded by the enemy"

mwaaaahahahaha. His expression is absolutely amazing.


Afterwards, we went to Borders (where I GOT BUNNICULA!!! A lovely hardcover compilation of three of the books...which are shorter than I remember them being, but holy crap I still giggled the whole way through them). Burgers at Fuddrucker's for lunch/dinner, then over to Teavana to get some new tea, yay. Lovely, lovely day.

Labels: art, life in general, photos, plants, travel

 
Massive picture post! Finally got all the pictures off my camera... and they do date back quite a ways. But they're all nice and organized on my harddrive now, so here are some favorites. :)


Black locust trees in bloom. One of my favorite things in the world - they're gorgeous, the smell is absolutely stunning, and the flowers are such a lovely contrast to such a dark and moody looking tree.



The new outfit I crocheted during the summer for good ol' Hannah, the Cabbage Patch doll I've had since I was a year old. Based on a pattern from somewhere, changed the colors and made some tweaks to make it fit better.



Braintree Maze Afghan, made for Brian as a belated wedding gift. Still in love with the colors. :)



We made this banner. This is the beastly thing I complained about alllll summer long. Chad came up with the design, the printer cut out all the letters, and Ashley and I spent A WEEK applying those giant vinyl letters all by hand. aaaaaaargh I feel exhausted just thinking about it still. (Note: This is about the same size as any of the other across-the-road banners I've complained about.)



I just love the colors in this shot. :) This is the blanket I made Tom for his chair, so he didn't stick to it so much in the summer, and could snuggle in during the winter. Based on a pattern from Lion Brand (though some resizing was needed, given that it was a baby blanket lmao), recycled cotton yarn.



I was so happy to get the sizing on it just right. :)



My little baby pumpkin! I honestly didn't feel the need to decorate it, it was such a cute little thing all by itself. (Maybe six inches or so.)



Fall makes for such gorgeous pictures out here. :)



Maple leaves. <3



Are these colors not ridiculous?! No picture or words can do justice to the colors I saw this fall - I looked out one bedroom window into a vast pile of molten gold, looked out the other into a flame of sheer scarlet.



Twinkie sushi!!! The first batch I made, for Halloween - I made it again a few weeks later for a PF-related party. Pictures can't do it justice, the yellow of the Twinkie, bright bits of fruit, and vivid teal of fruit roll-up. Ridiculously delicious. (Kel, I can never thank you enough for the cookbook. XD)



Close-up of the shawl I made Tom's grandma for Christmas. Sooo snuggly and gorgeous, the colors are lovely.



Boteh scarf I made for Tom's mom for Christmas. I found yarn dyed with all natural plant dyes! And the pattern turned out gorgeous, I have a hunch I'll be doing this one again. Unfortunately I failed to get a good photo of the scarf I made my mom, the colors in my shots are really off... Mom, you'll have to post a pic of you wearing it. :)



Tom wearing the hat I made him for Christmas! (He only looks that cranky because I was taking a picture. He wears it like every day now that it's cold out. yay.)



Christmas tree! Showing off a new ornament, alongside some older ones. <3



Pictures of myself = fail. This is a compromise on a not-awful shot of me and a not-awful shot of my hat. The pattern I was following for this and Tom's had three variations of the same basic hat, so I did different variants and different colors... unfortunately, it still feels a little matchy-matchy to Tom and annoys him. But I think he takes far more issue with the earflaps. Which keep me AMAZINGLY WARM in this frigid place so I refuse to care. :)


A few more to post, but the chicken parmesan is ready and I need to go eat it. <333

Labels: cooking, crochet, life in general, photos, plants, printshop, work