Taking in the view ....

Nothing like a long weekend to spend a little time learning to paint!  Hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy the view!

Going 3D!

Well tonight I didn't have a chance to draw because I was busy at a 3 hour course of 'Fun with fondant' at Angela Oakleaf Cakes.

On the way over to the class, my husband said that he was going to make a cake with a boat on it. Of course once we got there and the teacher started to demo how to do things with fondant, he stated that there was no way that he was going to make a boat. ... But once you put the idea of a boat on a cake out there, well, you just can't go back on something like .... someone needed to make a boat. And so I did.

I liked the idea of making three-dimensional sculpture on the cake. The boat was made by rolling out a square piece of fondant and stamping it with a wood mold. I then pulled the corners up together, piercing them and cutting off the bottom corners of the fold to create the diagonal edge. The frog was made by making a two-ball snowman and then giving him ribbon legs. I then rolled out a few eyes and used black edible ink to make the eyeballs.

All in all I was pleased with the results. It was indeed FUN with fondant!

Back to Basics ....

The other night I had a dinner party, and my friends were asking what my next hobby was going to be.  I said 'I think I'd like to take digital painting ... I don't know if that's an actual course, but I'd like to take it.'  And that got me to thinking ... I really don't know anything about how to use the tools I have, or how to go about painting.  I need to get back to basics.

And that's when I found this new set of tutorials (link).  This guy is great!  He really dumbs it down for the true beginner.  And he gives you exercises to work on all of the fundamentals.  So I have started working my way through his curriculum.  Of course, I can only draw so many spoons before I get bored, so tonight I also took a pass at this (which I realize isn't actually painting, but rather drawing .... but frankly I just wanted to make something, .... well, something other than spoons).

Drawing tutorial link found here - link.

And of course as I was thinking about getting back to basics, I started thinking ... isn't there a song called 'Back to Basics' from Dick Tracy?  .... There isn't.  It's called Back in Business, which led me to here (link).  And then since I had strayed that far, then I started to think well what else starts with "back" which generated some of the following:

Back to the Future - link
Baby Got Back - link
Back to the Country - link
Back Street Boys - link

... and then it just started to degenerate after that ..... (kind of like the Back Street Boys ... ouch!)

Enjoy!

Lazy Sunday ...

Not much to say today ... it's been a nice lazy Sunday hanging out inside, watching tv, and doing some drawing.  Here's today's attempt ...

And here is the tutorial link - Link

Here's hoping you too have a fun day of relaxation.

And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear ....

Today was the inaugural ride of the spring season on my scooter.  Yes, I said it ... my scooter.

You see I have a 40 minute walk to work every day... a walk which is sufficiently short enough to walk every day, but sufficiently long enough to think about how inefficient walking is - especially in a paved world.  I have thought about riding my bike, but my schedule is too unpredictable and I won't bike home in the dark, so that is not an option.  I tried roller-blading, but there is a no-wheels park in the middle of my walk and it was a hassle to blade around the whole thing. And so I decided that I should take up skateboarding..... but after many pleas from my family and friends not to take up skateboarding for fear of killing myself, I finally went out and bought this... the Razor A5 Lux Kick Scooter.  And yes ... it is awesome.

This baby cuts down my walk to work by almost half. And frankly, if you judge me for riding a scooter, then I probably didn't want to be your friend in the first place.

While cruising on my lovely scooter I was then thinking about what I might draw tonight.  Feeling the exhilaration of passing pedestrians by at lighting speed, I of course thought of none other than Flash Gordon. I also proceeded to sing 'Double Feature Picture Show" from Rocky Horror (which has a line about Flash Gordon in it) for most of the ride home.

Unfortunately, this pic is not quite as good as yesterday's.  I took two different stabs at it, and then decided that maybe I should do the brushes and shading tutorials first (which I will save for a later night ...).

Again, here is tonight's tutorial link - tutorial link.

A black cat crosses your path ....

I've been following this graphics artist guy on-line for quite some time.  Originally, his web-site was called www.idrawgirls.com, but it seems that at some point in time, it appears that he realized he might not be drawing in the right audience (pun intended), and he rebranded the site theartclasses.com.  

What I like about his tutorials are a few things:

- his tutorials are often short

- he is to the point with no cheesy background music

- he gives you drawing tips along the way

- it's actually about drawing, not about using photoshop, so he doesn't seem to use a lot of complicated layers or filters to achieve effects; he actually creates them.

I tried to start out with an easy one.....some of his paintings these days are getting rather complex.  Here's my rendition of his rendition of BlackCat from the Marvel comics.  I used layers only for the purpose of being able to go back and fix things if I really screwed up, and I like to use inverted layers for painting (i.e. Adjustments > Solid Colors, following by CTRL-I)

If you too are interested in the tutorial, you can find it here - tutorial link

I am hoping that placing a black cat in my path has not doomed me for a week of bad luck.... but since my husband is currently sick with a cold; despite my best efforts today to Clorox my entire apartment, it will likely be a best case scenario if I don't get sick.  Good times!  And in case you are a 'cats on the internet fanatic', well this one's for you (not my cat - just a particularly cute cat).

Manhattan or Lime Rickey?

Inspired by my bartending course today, I opted to do the following drawing tutorial as an homage to the under-valued garnish.

Tutorial link

I've got my eyes on you ....

So I am finally trying to teach myself how to use my Bamboo stylus and photoshop that I bought almost two years ago now. And while I have picked it up with the goal of working on my drawing, I have quickly come to realize that drawing in photoshop is really all about painting. I did my first successful tutorial today. Here's the result of my training.


 


I learnt how to do this following the attached tutorial. It wasn't terribly easy to follow and there is terrible music associated with it, but I think it came out relatively successful!

Tutorial link

Next up I suppose I should try for a full face!

The Sixth biggest snowstorm in Boston

Of course it hasn't snowed in Boston for the last two years and sure enough on the weekend that I plan to go to New York, it snows. Yes, in case you have not yet heard, it snowed in Boston today. Now apparently it's not quite as good a snowstorm as the one in the 1970s, but it didn't stop people from cross-country skiing down the street.

We of course are part of the unlucky lot that has to park on the street. Yes this was our car today.

This is the first time that I've actually crawled on top of my car in order to shovel it off. And after a mere 1 1/2 hours we were able to retrieve our car.

What was even more mind-boggling about the snowstorm was that they actually had a street ban. Yes you couldn't actually drive your car. If you did, you could get thrown in prison for up to one year. And so as you could imagine the streets were relatively free, and everybody was walking down the middle of the street. Which is kind of creepy because it kind of looked like there had been a zombie apocalypse. And of course everything was closed, except the pubs, the pubs were full… Very full!

A year ago today ....

After having lovingly ignored my blog for the better part of a year, I randomly decided to look at it today. And sure enough, it was exactly one year today that I last wrote on the blog. Looking back and feeling somewhat sentimental about it, I felt a need to post. Last year, I was busy eating and reflecting on crackers ... this year, instead, I spent my night doing this....

Okay, so clearly this is not me. First off, I don't live in a giant white box, so this photo couldn't possibly have been of me. Secondly, this person is maintaining an upright position for arguably long enough not to take a blurry photo. Nonetheless, I am working to acheive this. Yes, my long time yearning to do a handstand has recently been rekindled. And with only a few practices under my belt I do feel like I am seeing good improvement in my abilities to not completely topple over, or throw myself helplessly against the wall. Maybe one day soon I will be able to post a video of a triumphant 5-sec handstand, although no promises at this point. But taking a step back, I am hoping that starting 2013 with inverted-dynamic postures rather than a cracker box in my hand is a positive signal for an exciting year ahead .... (and of course, one with better abs!)

Crackers vs. Chips - America's New Gluttony

Always at a loss for things to snack on, we recently came upon CrackerChips at the grocery store. You might ask at this point, what are CrackerChips? And after having devoured several boxes of CrackerChips, I have come to the following conclusion, they are the new gluttony of America. Mostly a cracker, they are meant to be consumed like a chip, meaning that we are now increasing the effective rate of cracker consumption. We are training ourselves to eat crackers in a similar manner to chips. But crackers aren't supposed to be eaten like chips - you are only supposed to have a few at a time, whereas chips are meant to be eaten in larger quantities. So what are the potential impacts of this hybrid snack:

1. Our chip-like consumption behaviour will likely spillover to the cracker market, as a result both increasing the size of the existing cracker market as well as creating a new market.

2. And, we will probably need to get bigger belts.

3. The belt market will prosper.

4. Cobbling will make a rampant return. (note: cobblers make both shoes & belts!)

5. Universities will flounder due to the large number of people opting to go to trade-schools for cobbling over universities.

6. Lack of people going to university will mean fewer skilled people for financial jobs.

7. The stock market will crash with no one to effectively manage it.

8. We will go in to an even deeper economic downward spiral.

9. Personal budgets will be stretched, people will need to start watching what they buy.

10. To be more economically effective people will look to cracker-chips to get the best of both world (crackers and chips) on a shoestring budget.

11. The vicious cycle of cracker-chip gluttony repeats.

So I ask you all to heed this warning next time you reach for and fully consume a box of cracker-chips in one sitting. You too may fall victim to the alluring and powerful magic that is the cracker-chip.

Official Site of the Trailer Park Martini

Pressed for time? .... Fridge unstocked? .... Liquor cabinet full, but no idea how to create a good combination? .... Welcome to the trailer park martini!

What is a trailer park martini you ask? Well it is the perfect recipe for the person who always makes sure that their liquor cabinet is well stocked but that their fridge is not.

It is for the busy yuppy on-the-go that is calorie conscience but that also wants to enjoy a few cocktails on a Friday night, and who finds it easier to stock many packets of Crystal Light than easy-to-expire fruit juices.



Trailer Park Cosmo Recipe
- 1 oz vodka
- 1 oz triple sec
- 1/2 oz lime juice
- 3 oz any flavor of Crystal Light (Fruit Punch, Raspberry, and Lime are the original bases)

In essence it is cosmopolitan martini, but with the cranberry juice swapped out for Crystal Light. Sounds peculiar ... but tastes fabulous. If you don't tell people it is Crystal Light they would never know.






As part of the trailer park beverage series, I would also recommend the following concoction for amaretto sours:

Amaretto-in-the-ghetto Sours
- 1 part amaretto
- 2 parts Lime Crystal Light
- sugar rimmed glasses

Here's to a Happy New Year's Everyone!

Drink Responsibly.

The "i" in Sprint's iPhone stands for "irate"

So I tried to buy an iPhone …. I say tried because they are obnoxiously expensive. But when I look around at people on the street, everyone seems to have one; so I thought, there must be some way to get an iPhone at a reasonable price.

And in fact there is, if you want to have a 2-year contract then the iPhone is only $199 vs. $650 if you don’t get a contract. And this is all fine and dandy if you plan on living in the US for at least 2 years, but unfortunately (or rather fortunately) we are planning to move back to Canada in a year and a half, so a two year contract doesn’t make much sense because of the high exit fees.
So I phoned the Sprint people to see what they could do for me. And the answer is ‘not much’. In fact the phone people are enabled with absolutely no power whatsoever to negotiate. I highlighted that I was willing to move to a more expensive plan, and that if they didn’t work with me to come up with a solution that they were basically leaving money on the table, but alas the 12-year old from Kentucky that I was talking to had no ability to do anything different than offer me one option.
And while this frustrated me enormously, what was most appalling is the lack of willingness to listen. Now I know their jobs have to be excruciatingly boring, but seriously …. Try actually listening to people ….
Here is a verbatim from our conversation to highlight what I am talking about:
Me: So is there any way that I can get an iPhone for $199 without a 2-year contract.
Salesperson: Yes. You can get an iPhone for $199, which is the reduced rate when you sign a 2-year contract.

Seriously…..
I am astounded recently with our society’s inability to listen to others. I have recently enrolled in improv classes and one of the key things that we are learning is how to listen to people and pick up cues to move the scene further. Again, I am constantly amazed at how little other people hear. I think society has done a significant disservice to everyone by not focusing on “listening” as a core educational skill that needs to be taught and practiced.
If society had I might have an iPhone.
That’s my rant for today.

Why didn't this occur to me earlier ...

Dear loyal blog-readers, it has ben a while.

I recognize that I am not the most consistent blogger, and I often come up with excuses for not being a better blogger like "well I spent all day at a computer" or "nothing interesting ever happens" or the best "it is all IT's fault. If they didn't lock my BB then I could blog from the road.". Well, it just occured to me ... I can blog from the road. I don't need "the blogger app", I just need google, which I have on my BB. And so I write my fisrt blog from ... Poolside!

Yes. I have a pool. And. It is awesome.

Next step ... Figure out how to upload photos from BB in order to flaunt pool shots to blog-readers, to emphasize why they should be jealous.

How to long-weekend ....

Step 1: Skip Spring Break
I must say, I have been waiting for this long weekend for a while. This being our 2nd year in the US, it had not yet occurred to me that if you don't take a spring break, you will get no vacation from New Year's until the end of May. That's a long time to go without vacation. A very long time. As such, I went into the weekend with a heightened level of excitement.

Saturday

Step 2: Start with pancakes
Of course the best weekends start with pancakes, so we made sure to add pancakes to our agenda. But, as luck would have it (and by "luck" I mean our inner laziness that meant we didn't go grocery shopping last week) we did not have eggs. So I needed to find a good egg free pancake recipe. Now most egg free recipes will take their substitutions much too far, adding in things like apple sauce, soy, orange juice, flax, etc... but this recipe kept it simple, it just omitted eggs (and I used real cow milk).

Egg Free Pancake Recipe

And here are the results of our fine adventures in pancakes ...





Mmmmmm..... pancakes.....

Step 3: Commune with Nature
Next up, some hiking. We decided to drive up to New Hampshire to check out Bear Brook State Park .








And all was well .... we were enjoying the fresh air, the brisk exercise, the occasional off-routing as we lost our trail, but then ... the bugs woke up ... and they attacked us with a fury.... Apparently, growing up in Winnipeg is not sufficient training for the immune system to minimize the impact of mosquito bites .... stupid bugs ....



And so, we decided to cut our trek a bit short. We should have known better than to go hiking in June without bug spray.

Sunday

Step 4: Get makeovers
To make up for our previous day of exuberant exercise, we planned some spa-like activities for Sunday. First up, hair appointments. Frankly, I am not going to hide it, I was quite happy with the results of my hair.

Now to maximize the effect, I highly recommend taking a photo in front of a fan. Apparently, that does wonderful things for showing off one's new hair! From now on I plan to only pose for photos if there is a strong breeze or a nearby fan!



After that we went for foot massages at Rainbow Health down the street. It is one of those shops where the shopowners don't speak English, they charge a nominal fee for services, and you get an hour of foot massage. Our feet were tenderized. (btw - what is not completely obvious in this photo is that Eric is reading a Home Decorating magazine to complete the picture!)



Monday

Okay, so Monday hasn't really happened yet, but assuming the weather stays warm, it will likely involve reading by the pool for the afternoon .... aaahhhhh long weekends....

Hillarity from the Halls of Harvard

Due to the large positive response to a previous post on the "nerdy things my husband says", I have decided to continue with that thread in today's blog post.

Recently heard in the halls of the physics lab at Harvard while working on some mathematical equations including complex and real variables ....

Husband: "I'm a complex conjugate. I'm a complex man with conjugate views."
Labmate: "How does your wife feel about this?"
Husband: "She keeps it real."

Later that day ....

Husband: "I'm a complex man, living in a real world."


Yes, I know, it is surprising that I let him out in public ....

Beautifying Me

This weekend I had a bachelorette party to go to, and frankly not much else to do. So I invested myself wholly in the preparation of making me "hot" for the bachelorette party. And along the way I learnt a few things:

1. The power of the second hand store
Now I don't usually go in to the many, many chi-chi second hand stores along Newbury street, but Eric had recently informed me that my dresses were out of date and I was in search of something stylish to wear for the evening's bachelorette party. After failed attempts at all the typical cheap places, I decided to go into a second hand store - I figured, if I was looking for "unique" style, why not try somewhere that wasn't about mass marketed clothing. Of course, one of my typical worries with the more "unique" places is that they won't have my size, but I entered nonetheless. I was oddly successful. At the first place I went, I found a one-armed black dress for $55, and it hadn't even been worn before; it was the overflow stock from some boutique in Connecticut. Score. I then went down the street and was oddly drawn into yet another second hand store where I found yet another one armed black dress (although very different in concept), and soon found myself walking out of the store with my new BCBG dress and only a mere $68 poorer! I couldn't believe my luck. Now normally, I would start to worry that this might become a problem - but luckily, I don't normally have the patience to riffle through the stacks at the second hand stores, so I think I shall be safe .... well until I need a new dress. (And yes I appreciate the irony that Eric said I needed to update my wardrobe and I was most successful at the "used" items store)




2. The internet is helpful
It had never occured to me before that I could use the internet to learn how to do my hair and makeup. Historically, I had always just asked my hair dresser for a few tips and then spent hours practicing in front of the mirror until I figured it out. So of course with my new "updated" look, I wanted to have new "updated" hair as well, and I started thinking "People on the street seem to have cute hair, it's too bad there isn't a place where people can share how they do their hair and makeup with me." And then it occured to me. There is. It's called the internet. And so off to YouTube I went. And there I found a plethora of videos doing exactly just that. Of course, the only challenge was that apparently everyone on the internet wants to look like Taylor Swift, and I have no interest in looking like Taylor Swift. This guy had the best video by far! At a loss for hairdos, I did end up copying the Taylor Swift do, but I made sure to pull it a bit more severely against my head so that I didn't look like a bustling 20 year old country star.


All in all, my efforts were successful, and I had a good time at the bachelorette party. (And I would like you to keep me posted if you find a good hairdo video that isn't about Taylor Swift!)

We're Back!!!

Blame it on a rainy day, or blame it on Eric working on the weekend, or blame it on Chris' awesome campaigning to reinstate my blog .... regardless of the reason, the blog is once again alive!

And to kick off the new season with a successful start, I have decided to pay homage to one of my favorite blog's (www.newdressaday.com) by blatantly copying its premise and format.

For those of you who are not familiar with New Dress A Day, every day Marisa takes an old piece of clothing and remakes it into something fabulous. So here we go.... it all starts with Eric's favorite sweater.

This is me in Eric's sweater.



If it wasn't immediately apparent, you can tell it was one of his favorites by the giant holes he has worn into the elbows.

My inspiration for today .... Veronica Mars. We have recently latched on to this show and are making our way through season 2 at a fairly rapid clip. Eric is drawn to the petite blond and I am oddly drawn to her sweater vests! So now, to transform me into Veronica. Petite check. Blond check. All that's left is the green sweater vest.



My first step was to take off the arms and about 6 inches in width from the side ... out comes the seam ripper.



Side note: Doesn't the pin cushion in the corner make it look like I know what I'm doing!

Next out, my trusty sewing machine. I have had this machine since 2002. My main goal in selecting a sewing machine was to have something simple with a decent number of features, but that was easy to store and carry around as I move from city to city. The Singer Featherweight II fit the bill perfectly!



I then used my old grade 7 home-ec skills to sew up the seams, taking care to add a zigzag stitch on the outside of the main line to reinforce the seams.



With the sides sewn up, my next step was to add the trimming to the arm holes. Here's where I ran in to my first dilemma. My plan was to take the cuffs off from the sleeves and resow them to the arm holes as trimming. It was at this point that I realized the radius of my wrist is very different than the radius of my arm-pit. And while I am thankful that I do not have chunky wrists, this was a problem. The solution ... well with little fabric available, I decided to cut the cuffs in half to give me twice the amount of fabric to work with.



I then painstakingly pin the cuffs to the edge of the arm hole to make sure that I have enough fabric to go around. Luckily this did the trick!



I then had to hand sew the cuffs on to the arm holes because unfortunately the only thread colour I have is brown and I needed to hide the stitching. I pushed my sewing machine aside and pulled out the needle.

After sewing on both cuffs, here are the result: a cute sweater vest just like Veronica`s - it even has a little embroidered moniker on it just like hers. I wanted to do a v-neck as well, but I realized after the arm hole fiasco that I would not have enough ribbing to redo the neckline so I decided to leave it alone.



Of course the fun part for me was waiting to see what Eric`s reaction would be. I predicted two outcomes: 1. He would realize immediately I had cut up his favorite sweater 2. He would look at it and think "that looks familiar it must not be a new outfit" and not really realize that it was his. While the latter was the funnier outcome, he actually did notice right away that I had redone his sweater. Frankly, I think he is a little jealous that it is now mine!


Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, and thanks for all the continued readership support!

Saturday Night Fever

Alas, our household is taking this theme a bit too literally this weekend. No, dear readers ... unfortunately we are not decked out in snazzy polyester pantsuits, nor are we showcasing our awesome dance moves under a glittering disco ball. Alas, we are at home on a Saturday night with a fever.

Okay so that is perhaps a twisting the truth a bit for the sake of poetry. Eric is getting over the flu which previous invoked a fever, and I am working on getting over an extremely annoying cold. But nonetheless, we are sick, bored, and housebound on a Saturday night.

Luckily, I have several loads of laundry to keep me busy ..... :-P

Natalie Portman actually pregnant not just fat ....

My husband just burst into my room ala Kramer style saying "Natalie Portman actually pregnant, not just fat...." and then swung right back out again.



This of course is even more entertaining when I think back to the time that he and his roommate stole a giant cut out of Natalie Portman in one of her Star Wars get-ups and put it in their family room to admire for a good year or so. Let's just say my husband's taste in decorating has since improved. (Not that I don't think that Natalie Portman is attractive, I just don't want a life sized cut-out in my family room!)

BTW - that rule of thumb also applies to giant checks, they are also a no-go for family room decorating. Seriously it took years for me to convince Eric to take that thing down.