prints

I've been sorting through digital images recently getting ready for a massive print, and realized almost a years worth of everyday pictures are iPhone only. I'm going to see what they look like printed, but don't have high hopes. So, I'm going to vow to start carrying my digital camera with me everywhere again, and try to get into the habit of grabbing it instead of my phone. The phone is just always in my lap, always charged, and doesn't draw any attention. Oh well. For now, here's some hipstamatic shots from our Friday's drive to get the boys:

weekend

This weekend we had a community bbq qrill party, which involved the buying and assembly of a grill, the trimming of trees and general cleaning of the patio, stringing of white lights everywhere, and a pretty community effort of making the outside space here not look crappy. It succeeded really well, so much so that it's hard to come in.

One of our neighbors even made citronella candles out of wine bottles, so cool and artsy:

I made my chocolate pumpkin muffins, that apparently turn into cupcakes if I frost them, is that how it works?

And seven-layer bars, which were a big hit. I'd never tried them before and they were so good and easy. Here's the recipe, but no pictures:

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup (6 oz.) butterscotch-flavored chips
• 1 cup (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts

• Heat oven 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
• Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Press crumb mixture firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly with fork.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.
• For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up by edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individual bars.

I also finally started doing my 5-mile walk/jog again (well, 2-3 miles of it anyway) and it is so fun! I think I missed my friend Leslie... and eating cupcakes and seven layer bars without feeling guilty.

the good, the bad, the ugly

We've been drinking a tiny bit more wine around here than ever before, and occasionally buying few bottles for the house, and since I know absolutely nothing about it except whether I like the taste or not, I figure I probably should start paying attention to which ones I like (and especially which ones I don't like) instead of choosing at random at the store. Iphone camera photos come in handy for this as long as you remember which were good and which were bad.

Here's the ones I would pick up again:

Paso Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Les Jamelles Merlot 2006

And one I wouldn't:

The Show Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The label was pretty though. So far I usually only take a picture if I like it, but from now on I'll try to remember to do the bad ones too.

And one I really liked the first time (the right side, left is still unopened), but not much when I bought a second bottle of it:

Clos Du Bois Sonoma Reserve Alexander Valley 2006

And of course, all of the wine we tried in Rome was sooo good:

Pradio Cabernet Sauvignon Crearo 2007

Terre Di Zagara Nero D'Avola Ummira 2008

Bertani Villa Novare Valpolicella 2008

Dolcetto d' Alba

Chianti Classico Point Al Mass

street art

I'm thinking about ordering and framing 20x20s of these New York graphitti photos. It would pretty much solidify the street art theme of the apartment, but at the same time I really think they would look good in our place:

(There are 20x20 black frames at Ikea for $20 each!)

I plan to start buying even my little album prints from Mpix because I haven't been happy at all with the other services I've tried (most recently Apple). I want them to look and feel like a real print instead of a flimsy paper.

memorial day

Today we pick up the boys for a long summer vacation, which means last weekend was our last weekend in a while with just me and D. And we sure did fill it up!

Day 1:

Shorts shopping after work in which I find that Lucky Brand tank tops have it all over Old Navy's. I also found some short-shorts that I proceeded to wear the entire rest of the weekend.

Then an hour or so of our normal Rockband playing and guitar playing.

Then had a minor roach incident on the porch and walked over to the bar to get away for a few minutes. Seriously, how can there be so many roaches?

We had a beer and listened to a band, that was really just two guys with lots of gadgets but were really good, and then met up with our neighbors and hung out for a while.

Day 2:

Drove to Austin to hit up a few vintage stores. One was closed, two were really small, and one was Buffalo Exchange (which takes so long to look through we had to take a break mid-way through for to eat a hawaain hamburger - with teriaki and pineapple - from TEX Burger 2. It was simultaneously good and gross. I couldn't decide which was more.). I was very impressed by my husband, whom I couldn't really imagine shopping at thrift/vintage stores. He found some good stuff: couple t-shirts, gray jeans, and two pairs of shoes! I found a cute dress and a couple band t-shirts.

Vintage Rick Springfield:

Drove home, then stayed out on the porch until 3:30 am, drinking beer and wine with all of the neighbors. I love our apartment building!

Day 3:

Slept in!

Wore newly thrifted band t-shirts (that I washed that morning)!

Ate sushi in record time, and made it to the early showing of Date Night, and it was very funny. I love Marky Mark as an actor.

Walked over to the nearby bar and shared a ice cream brownie thingie (soooo good) and then sat outside on listening to the band for a while.

Then guitar, rockband, and bed.

Day 4:

Sex and the City 2. With a girlfriend. Can't remember last time I went to the movies with anyone except myself or D. or the boys. It was weird. The movie inexplicitly made me really sad, and it stuck with me for the rest of the night. (Date Night was so funny but made me a tiny bit sad too. I'm tired of seeing married couples that aren't happy with each other in movies: Get a divorce and find someone that you can't wait to come home to. Or don't get married in the first place.)

Then D. and I went to a nice Mexican restaurant, instead of the normal hole-in-the-wall, and had some margaritas and shrimp tacos. I need to just stick to comfort food like cheese enchiladas, but for some reason whenever we go to the nice places I switch it up and order something new, then regret it and think how much better I prefer the cheap-y places.

Then we watched a 30 Rock and Blow-Up, a 60s' movie which was pretty much exactly what I expected it would be, except with less Jane Birkin and no Bridgitte Bardot, and more screaming mimes. Let's just say I won't be getting it on dvd.

And then the weekend was over. But today summer vacation starts!