Media Monday - Zee Avi

Zee Avi
I love her music! It's a go-to for happy vibes.

Zee Avi tells her story

all photos can be found on last.fm

the Sunday Special

i made split pea soup for the first time this week. i just followed the directions on the bag. it's a pretty simple recipe.

Split Pea Soup

boil 4 1/2 quarts water. add 1 bag of split peas, chopped onion, carrots, and celery. season to taste. ( i used white pepper and a Tuscany blend = sundried tomato, basil, bell pepper, and parsley. I tend not to add salt when i'm cooking so it might seem bland to some. the saltine crackers were all i needed for salt.) cook for an hour or until peas are starting to get soft. you can either eat it chuncky or puree it. we did both. all but the last bowl was eaten chunky. i would suggest to puree it and eat with saltines. *edit: I forgot to mention that I added sour cream to it instead of the recommended milk. I didn't measure it so my guess is maybe half a cup.*

a healthy dish you could serve chilled on a hot day if you want, but i prefer warm soups... especially when we have snow on the ground again. can you believe it? good grief :)

a great message

I just watched a little video over at Making Chicken Salad that had a great message and I want to share it with you. Something I've been telling myself, or trying to convince myself of maybe, for awhile now. I'm not sure if I believe it yet, but I keep telling myself.

"...you have to decide right now its ok to be you... you're not deciding what you want to be, you're deciding to be who you are and that's really really, i think, the most important thing is to respect and honor your truth..." Kevin Aucoin

here's the whole video


hope you're all having a fun weekend so far. i've been painting my monkey :)

Free for all Friday

home alone for the next couple days so hmmm.... while drinkin my homemade smoothie, I'm thinking a painting party.

(yes, the ledge is slanted. no worries, I didn't loose my smoothie.)

lets see..... music: check (grooveshark, baby! anyone have some favorite painting music?)
munchies: I can make some guac
drinks: a bottle of wine maybe
ambiance: a fire would be nice

what should I paint? I have a monkey painting I started that I could work on.

Wild Wednesday - Fire Tricks

This past Saturday, we were invited to a camp-out, however we didn't get the memo that it was a 'CARNI' Camp-out. For those who don't know what this is... there are costumes and carnival type activities/entertainment going on. We had a good time watching others on dirt bikes and full suspension bikes, etc. jumping over the fire pit.

(smoldering) fire jumpers

Matty the Birthday Boy in TuTu (reason for the party)



Owen on the Unicycle



more Fire Jumpers

whoops, i missed him. darn camera delay.

shows ya how high the fire got

There was also a fire spinner (yay! another dready girl) and juggler.

fire girl (i didn't get any pics of the fire juggler)

Tuesday Travels' TIPs & TRICKs

My recent experience at the airport gave me an idea....to share some travel tips and tricks with you. I normally travel by car, but this time it was appropriate to fly. I found it silly to pay for checked luggage so (to my very girly sister's dismay) managed to pack 2 weeks worth of clothes and shoes into my carry-on bag. I also brought a small bookbag that contained my laptop, sketchbook, indie biz binder, and pencil bag. Oh, and I also carried a 16x20 painting (this one) that I wrapped in newspaper to disguise it as reading material. lol. it worked :)

Just to fully visualize this, my carry-on was completely full, but it just goes to show you (well, me, really) that one can get by just fine on only a few outfits. I actually didn't even wear everything I brought. well.... maybe I did. (see video below)

ok. lets get to it.

Challenge: I want to bring my scanner back to Tahoe with me. I'm too broke/cheap to mail it plus I don't want it to get damaged. I read the airlines rules on luggage and found that I was only able to bring 1 carry-on bag and 1 personal item. The personal item could be a laptop bag, a briefcase, a handbag, OR a small bookbag. So I need to make my 3 items equal 2 items, without exceeding the size limitations.

Hmmm. I debated leaving most of my clothes behind and packing the scanner in my carry-on bag. Decided against it because I really wanted to have the scanner box too since traveling in the car/trailer makes loose, improperly packaged objects likely to get damaged.

Solution: I used kraft paper to make the scanner box less noticeable and hopefully pass as an over-sized (20 x 14.5 x 6) briefcase. ;) it has a handle even. I then layered as many of my clothes as I could managed without looking to 'obvious'. Since I was now wearing almost the whole contents of my carry-on, I managed to then fit my book bag and all its contents in my carry-on, plus a few items I wasn't able to wear. My carry-on I'm sure surpassed the weight limit but I knew as long as the stewardess didn't try to lift it, noone would know. (just fyi. i was a little worried about my healing hand, but it managed to help get my bag in and out of the overhead compartment resulting in a few aches afterward but doing quite fine.) I DID make it back to Tahoe, to my surprise, without being hassled or questioned about the big extra box. I didn't pass out from heat exhaustion even though it was in the 70's when I departed Wichita and when I arrived in Sacramento.

Here's a little video demonstrating my layering technique =)
note: the pink bottom layer are leggings (aka long underwear) so I didn't want to strip down to them for you.

Media Monday - Elephant Revival

Elephant Revival

(source)

I first saw this band at the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, KS in 2008 on Stage 5. Stage 5 is one of the unofficial stages setup where bands can just sign up for a time slot and play. Oh, yeah... it happens to be on the bed of an old pickup truck. It's a low key, more personal atmosphere than the big official stages.

What intrigued me the most about Elephant Revival was their washboard playin' skills and cute girls in sun dresses. ;) There are also males in this group, but I have to admit that I gravitate toward female artists. If you want a little history about them, here's their website.

Bridget and Bonnie from Elephant Revival w/ Daniel

a soft one.

cute girls in sun dresses playing with Opal Fly (who is good too)