Ciao

Hmm it's been over a month since I've posted on here. I think I am going to "officially" make my one and only blog "Brand New Hoosier" aka my secret project. Check. It. Out.

I may post some projects on here so when I have time to work on them, I know where they are all kept!
...like this one:

TTFN :)

Thinking Positively

Since my life will be spent studying, I need to make my study environment much more welcoming.

My goal for this week is to make it look more like this:

Source

I'll definitely post before and after pics :)

A Preview of my Life

...for the next 12 months (hopefully not more). Saweeeet.

Yesssss

Something to look forward to besides the 24/7 studying that will begin tomorrow: the Renegade Craft Fair.

Now I've just gotta decide whether to go for the day or the weekend. Thank you CPA exam. It will probably be just the day.

First CPA exam: Oct. 4th. YIKES. Goodbye whatever little piece of social life I had.

The Moment You've Been Waiting for...

...the unveiling of my "secret project."

Surprise! It's another blog I've been doing. I've been cheating on this one with my other blog called "Brand New Hoosier." You can read through it all. I've been working on it since April I think? It's pretty self explanatory. I chose today to share it with all my friends and family because it was a deadline for me to work towards. You can read more of the explanation on this post.

As for this blog...you can probably tell I've been slacking. I will still probably post things as I come across them, but my other blog will definitely be updated much more regularly :)

I Suck.

Ya, I suck at posting on here. I finished my first week of work and couldn't be happier it's the weekend! Sunday is the unveiling of my "secret project" which is 1/3 done.

This weekend will consist of farmers markets, going to the gym, and car shopping :)

First Day: Done

First day as an "adult" is over. I don't feel too much different. Now I just need to plan trips to see all my friends and they should plan trips to see me :)

Haircut Thursday. Short or keep long. That is the question. We shall see...

Sorry for the short post, but it's past my bedtime. 6am comes fast!

Vanilla Cupcakes :)

Yum yum yum. Mom made these with the shredded zucchini my bff brought over from her fam's garden.
Who would think they are kinda healthy??  She got the recipe from Cook Yourself Thin --> here.

I didn't make the chocolate ones yet (maybe next weekend) but these were a good replacement!

Self-reminder

Self: make these muffins!

One day left before I begin the big girl job. I'm staying busy getting ready.  One thing on my list to do tomorrow is make these amazing-looking chocolate zucchini muffins. I found the recipe on Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

Moving day!

I'm moving out of my apartment today. Done with college :'(

I also kind of unexpectedly am starting my job on monday!

All this means: Updates will be sparse this next week. Until I reveal the super secret awesome project next Sunday.

I've gotta lotta shopping and organizing to do!

Heat Warning

As I'm waiting to go to tennis class, I keep hearing on tv that there is a heat warning for Bloomington. Lovely.

Since I painted my bedroom at home white and I'm moving back into it in a few days, I've been searching for a bedspread. It's time for me to grow up. No more bright pink. I found an awesome bedspread from Anthro but it's a little $$$$.

So I hopped over to Anthro's little punky sister, Urban Outfitters, and found this lovely duvet:

I'm in love.

The Bloomington Dress!!!

During my boredom I was just browsing Modcloth and came across the Bloomington Dress!!!

I thought, surely this can't be the same Btown I know and love and am currently living in...but it was!!

SO CUTE.

SO BORED!

One week left as a student at IU. 

My apartment is almost empty.

Going to paint my room at home this weekend.  White.

Maybe it'll look something like this. If only I had a bigger window!

Time to watch more Wife Swap and look at the new Ikea catalog.  Oh my life is so exciting.

These shoes want me

...and I want them.

Fair Time :)

I took this picture last night at the county fair. It was fun and felt like I was at the county fair where my cousins show their animals.   Unfortunately this is not from my new Polaroid camera. I used a program called Poladroid (google it) which turns jpegs into Polaroids <----I LOVE IT.  Many more faux-polaroids to come!

Unexpected Find

What an interesting weekend. Class was cancelled Friday so I headed home Thursday night...after a little stop in Broadripple. Friday I took my sisters to the Monon Center which is basically a small little water park. Then it was "game night" with my best friend from high school and her college friends. It was so much fun and gave me the perfect idea for my sign language presentation! 


Well, I was planning on heading back to school Saturday morning but instead, I got dragged to northern Indiana to help my mom clean out my grandpa's house and get it ready to be sold.  It ended up being way more fun than I thought because I had to clean out drawers and closets and ended up finding TEETH! False teeth...multiple pairs. 


But that is not the highlight of my finds. I was taking things to his garage when I saw a dirty black bag. I opened it up and found an old Polaroid camera!!!!! It took me a second to figure out how to get it opened, but after I did, I pressed the button and it took a polaroid picture. The film was super old and not good anymore, but it got me super excited to order some online and try it out. Since Polaroid stopped making film, I've gotta order it and it's running about $25 for 8 pictures. Ughhhh


Here it is:

I can't wait to get some film! Now Holga has a buddy :)

Holga and Bliss

This is just another picture from the Venice Cafe in STL. I LOVE playing around with them in Picnik. This one has a Holga filter on it. 

*source: http://www.overlookpress.com/by-title/bliss-remembered.html

In other news, I'm reading Bliss, Remembered and it's sooo good so far. 

drool: Anthro bed

I wish I could skip the next year and go straight to where I'm moving right into my own apartment that I don't have to share with anyone and I can decorate it however I want.  

I would like to move into Anthropologie.

This could be my bedroom:

But really, I love the bed and color of the walls.   (yes, this is another post I'm writing  so I can save this little piece of inspiration)

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adorevintagecom/538907433/   and ya, the link isn't working again!

Who crochets fire hydrants? I wanna meet them!

*embellishments by pugly pixel

It may be artichoke season?

I just discovered Pugly Pixel and can't get enough! I'm still exploring it, but there's so much to look at and try out in Photoshop!


Anywho, I went to the grocery store yesterday and artichokes were $1!!!

I had to buy 2, so I grilled one yesterday and tried broiling one today (my grill scares me...fireballs...).


I just cut it in half, boiled the halves for about 20 minutes, then drizzled the cut sides with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt and peppa (and some chicken taco seasoning!). Then I put them cut side up on the grill and let them get yummy. After about 10 minutes, I flipped them and let them cook about 5 more minutes. So good.

Mini!

I bookmarked TilkShiftMaker.com a long time ago and never used it because I didn't have a real good landscape picture to use. Basically, the website uses filters to make your landscape look like it's actually a miniature version. I think it's pretty cool...so I tried it on one of the St. Louis landscape pictures I took from the top of the arch, and here is the before and after.

Before:

After:

So.Freaking.Cool.

Holgaaaa

So, back in the day, I was obsessed with my holga. It's not a pink one like in the picture, but it is just as cool. I need to finish up the role of film that's about halfway done and start another role while I'm in beautiful Bloomington for about another month.  Then I still have to send them away to be developed. Can't wait!


Oh, and an update on my "secret project"  :::  It's going very well. It won't be all "done" for a very long time, but I will post it on August 22nd (the day before I start my big girl job!).


*Image by Dream's Photography...link isn't working but here's the url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/-dream-/4019683807/

Sticky Fries, I love you

This weekend, "S" (hahaha) I mean Stacy and I fell in love with the Drunken Fish's sticky fries.  They are sweet potato fries covered in a thick honey sauce and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. We dipped them in spicy mayo.  I was craving them, and didn't have any other food in my apartment besides a partial bag of Trader Joe's Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries.  I baked them up and drizzled honey over them. I didn't have any sesame seeds, but I didn't miss them.  Since I didn't have any mayo, and in an attempt to reduce calories, I made spicy greek yogurt! I used plain greek yogurt and mixed it with buffalo wing hot sauce. It was sooo good. Stacy, you should definitely grab some of the TJ's fries next time you're home because they have the perfect crispiness and aren't fried.

Mini Trip to St. Louis

This past Friday, right after class was over, I got in my car and headed west to St. Louis where my good good friend from high school, Stacy, is in grad school. When I got there, I brought my stuff up to her apartment and then we headed out to dinner at the Drunken Fish.

I got a pomegranate martini and Stacy got a "blue" martini. They were both super good.  While we were eating, a guy who sounded like Jon McLaughlin started singing and playing his guitar for the restaurant's outdoor guests.  For dinner I got spicy octopus sushi and stacy got veggie sushi. We shared "sticky fries" which were so so good.

After dinner we walked around and saw a cupcake shop so we had to stop in...
I forget what kind Stacy got, but I got a peanut butter cup cupcake. We had them at her apartment later for dessert.

Saturday morning we found St. Louis' famous Soulard Farmers' Market. It was huge and had incredible produce prices.  Some of their famous items are the mini donuts and bloody mary's.  It was too early for me to get a bloody mary, but we saw a handful of people walking around with them. Next time, that'll be me.

Next on our whirlwind tour of St. Louis was "The Loop" which is a lot like the Broadripple area in Indy.  We walked around and checked out our lunch options while we were looking at the cute little shops.  We ended up eating at Cheese-ology, a restaurant that only served various types of mac 'n' cheeses! My heaven! 

After walking around for a while, we went to take the Anheuser-Busch tour. It was pretty cool to see how the beer is made and the free samples at the end were cool too!

After the tour and our free samples, we went to the Venice Cafe. It sounds fancy and Italian, but it's actually a really cool eclectic (to say the least) restaurant.  Their menu is pretty small, but I got a falafel and it was really good.

After dinner there, we met up with some of Stacy's friends from undergrad. They were in town to explore too.  We were going to go to the top of the arch, but the wait was too long so we went the next morning.  I heard the elevator was a little scary, and it was, but not as bad as I was expecting.  

Overall it was such a fun weekend! I'm so glad I got to visit Stacy and we were able to explore a pretty cool city (even though Stacy may not think the same..haha).

yay photoshop

ooh fancy

Good Riddance, Dell.

Yesterday I got a Mac! I'm in looove. My Dell was getting old and slow, so it's such a nice change of pace for my computer to start up in less than 5 minutes!  (Plus no more calls to India for hours and hours to get my computer fixed)

Now I've gotta water my pepper and basil plants. They haven't had any h20 in a while and are looking very sad.

My Mini Mini Mini Marathon

This past Saturday I ran in a 4.5 mile race, the Carmel Freedom Run. The longest I had ever run before it was 4 miles on a treadmill. I hate running outside so I never even attempted it. My dad gave me advice, like I had never run in a race before..such as "start out slow." I didn't listen to him and ran way way too fast for my first mile and a half. Then I slowed way down at the first water break and it all caught up with me. I thought I was going to have to find a stranger and call my mom and have her pick me up! I kept walking though, right past a hooker who was going the other way...talk about a bad walk of shame! Then I thought...dang, this is going to take forever if I walk the rest of the way, so I started to jog, real slow. I kept up a slow and steady pace until the end and finished 4.5 miles faster than I had finished my 4 miles on the treadmill! My official time for the run was 57:40.09.  I'm glad I did it, and more glad it's over. Now I will be training for a 5k that's at a vineyard in late September. My goal is to run the whole way without stopping at all!

I want...

to buy this: 

to roll this:

and play with these: 

Scanwiches

This website, Scanwiches, is so random, but I love it.

garden update

Some lovely human being decided to steal my purple basil plant yesterday. I think it's the lawn guys who mow the grass because they mowed yesterday and mowed the day my pink chair got stolen off my deck! Suspicious!  But at least they left this one! It's my pepper plant and green basil plant. So..that's my updated garden. It's in sad shape!

Car Shopping

This weekend began my car shopping expedition. My brother's car is on its last leg and he will be getting my car once I buy a new one. I grabbed a bunch of used car magazines (you know, the kind at the grocery store entrances) and started checking them out. Unfortunately my financial advisor, aka my dad, said no Volkswagon van. 


"Those aren't accountant cars" - Dad 


So I am moving on and will save the Volkswagon van purchase for when I retire.


I am moving on to smaller and better things though:

My dad approves.

she knows me well

Like I've mentioned, my family recently got back from their vacation (without me). 

When I went home last weekend, they told me all about it, and my mom gave me a little present since I couldn't go. She stopped at an Anthropologie (my FAVE) in Myrtle Beach and picked up this adorable measuring cup set.  My little sister was kind of confused how it worked, but she got the hang of it. Looooove it. Thanks mom!

the perfect morning

The Today Show  Kathie Lee and Hoda from 10-11. So good.


Homemade Iced Coffee  Instant coffee, milk, sugar, creamer


A Trip to Target Tennis balls and salsa


Tennis Class  50 minutes of learning the basics. "Just show up, you'll get an A"

Father's Day dinner

The last summer session wasn't as relaxing as I thought it would be, but I shouldn't have been surprised since I was taking 10 credit hours.  Now I'm down to 4. Sign Language and tennis! I have so much free time I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. 


I went home yesterday morning for Father's Day. Traditionally, I make my dad breakfast in bed, but this year I let my sister's take over so I could sleep a little longer! I cooked my dad some special apple/chardonnay/chicken sausages on the grill and then took my sisters shopping. My dad had to get a bunch of stuff done for work, so we let him work.  After shopping the sisters went to the pool and hung out there since it was crazy hot. When we got back we picked up our mom and did some more shopping (same store...). Then it was time to start the most epic Father's Day dinner ever created.

We made:

• pesto from basil my family was growing
• bruschetta 
• giant fillet from Fresh Market
• pear, goat cheese, walnut, and arugula salad
• mini potatoes cooked on the grill
• fruit cups: strawberries, pear, raspberries, blueberries

It was soo good!

my project!

After the past two days filled with rain and tornado sirens, we finally have a gorgeous day! I finished my project. 

You can check it out here:  Old and New   I'm not gonna lie, I really like it! My other projects felt rushed, but this one wasn't because I didn't have to learn a new Adobe program to make it.

pretty food, pretty website

Someone told me about this website, and I'm so glad they did!

The website, Eat Drink Pretty is so adorable and so is the food they make.


Ugh, I wish this could be longer, but there is ANOTHER storm coming! Today only, there has already been two tornado sirens!

Spring > Summer

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bugalugsrox/469788104/

This weekend I have had enough of the storms and lightening! I barely got the yard mowed at home before it rained and the grass grew 2 inches.

Currently I'm working on a pretty cool (in my opinion) project for my digital design class. It's another website (not a lame one like the last one) and I will post it on here when I'm done on Thursday.

Time to work out and study for the final I have tomorrow. blah

I like Spring better.