Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! I love this dress and many of their other designs too!

SUMMIT OF AWESOME!

This weekend the Summit of Awesome comes to DC! It's a 3-day summit filled with crafting workshops and business seminars for those who are trying to break into the handcrafting for a living realm! There will also be a screening of the craft documentary, Handmade Nation. The home-base for the Summit of Awesome is at Miss Pixie's near 14th and U... one of my newer favorite places to visit on the weekend anyway!

I couldn't have been more excited when I found out about this and I will definitely be attending the activities on Saturday. You can find complete details and a listing of all of the seminars scheduled for each day here. I suggest any of you out there interested in crafting go!

Not In MY Neighborhood!

Every once in awhile something happens that reminds you that you are just as susceptible to crime as anyone else, no matter where you live or how safe you feel.

This morning I had one of those moments. I walked outside around 8:00 a.m., as usual, to walk the dog. I walked right out the front door and turned right to do our tyical loop around the block. As I was coming back around the block towards the house again, I noticed that there were a bunch of pieces of shiny metal lying around underneath my roommate's car. At first I thought they were bottle caps... or something similar. Then I realized, his car was on blocks! His tires and rims were gone and his car was jacked up, resting on a cinder block and a piece of wood on one side and rock on the other side. I was astonished! Immediately, "Not in THIS neighborhood, NOT where I live!" flashed through my brain. I thought to myself that it had to be a prank - but after a few seconds I decided that would be way too elaborate a plan for any of our friends to try to execute.

I went inside to tell everyone but Brett had already seen his car and was equally as astonished as the rest of us. He just got new tires this week and was pretty upset that he was out that money as well as whatever deductible he would have to pay his insurance company. He called the cops - when the cop arrived he said, "I have to be honest with you, we probably aren't going to catch whoever did this." Comforting. What none of us could really understand, however, was who would do such a thing in our quiet little neighborhood. We live in a very nice area of Arlington in a neighborhood comprised of families with young children and older folks. I think we are the youngest people on the street. It seems like such an odd place for someone to come to rip off a car - and no one heard or noticed a thing!

I can't even tell you how often I leave my car unlocked or a window open - even the front door sometimes! Maybe it's that I grew up on a farm with the nearest neighbors miles away (was I worried a deer or a mountain lion might break into my room a time or two? maybe so, but i was probably six at the time). Maybe I have some sort of unquestioning trust of man-kind (it's probably not that). Maybe I am just comfortable and feel safe enough that I shouldn't have to always shut my windows before I go to work. Or maybe I'm just lazy! Who knows? All I know is that now, I will think twice about leaving anything unlocked or open.

Shows, shows, shows!

I have been to a lot of concerts over the past year and have taken a ton of pictures that have never seen the light of day! I finally dumped my old memory card and realized that I had managed to capture a few good shots at various shows, so I thought I would share them here. (I'm sure all of you guys who actually went to some of these shows with me will be interested to finally see the pictures I promised!)


First up:
Delta Spirit & Dr. Dog -Iota Club and Cafe - Arlington, VA - September 5, 2008

First two are Delta Spirit... it took me pretty much there entire set to get the settings right on the camera so I didn't get many pictures of them.

































And now on to Dr. Dog.


























































I got to meet the lead vocalist of Dr. Dog, Scott McMicken, although in this photo he doesn't look too interested in meeting me!



































Next up: My Morning Jacket - Charlottesville Pavilion - Charlottesville, VA - September 4, 2008

Here's what I looked like throughout a lot of the show: beer in hand, camera at the ready! Trevor and I took the two pics below at the exact same time.





































Some of us were representing some other music/bands at the show...












































We waited for awhile for the show to start...but once it did, it was amazing!

And finally: The Pine Hill Haints & Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC - October 14, 2008

First set of pictures is The Pine Hill Haints... for some reason I had a much harder time getting good shots at this show.

Duda + Photoshop Makes My Doodles More Awesome

I can do four or five VERY, VERY basic things in Photoshop... but my friend John Duda is apparently pretty masterful with it (*he is responsible for my banner on the blog - my concept/his execution).

He took the little doodle I did yesterday and turned it into this:

I love it! Very graphic! (Although now mine looks kinda grade school in comparison.) To read Duda's full post about his take on my doodles click here. He has a fun blog called Scissors and a Glue Stick - check it out if you get a chance. He promises that more posts will be forthcoming.

Staff Meeting = Doodles

I hate our weekly staff meetings. They are endless and tiresome. Today, I took the opportunity to get a little creative while my co-workers droned on and on.

Here are the results:













I think I might take this approach every Thursday morning...
And yes, I do keep a box of crayola markers close at hand during these meetings. So far, no one has said anything to me.

Putting a Little Zest in the Baking for Spring

Last weekend, after all the stress of moving and cleaning and organizing, I decided to unwind by doing a bit of baking. Some of you may find it weird... but I become calmer and feel much better after I've baked or cooked something. Anyway, the weather was warm and everything was blooming - it was making me feel very inspired and springy. When I was trying to dream up what I wanted to make, my mind instantly recalled some recipes that I'd read in the March issue of Southern Living Magazine that called for a basic cake but with jazzed up frosting. I pulled the magazine out and decided that the simple vanilla layer cake with key lime buttercream frosting was JUST what I was looking for!

This recipe is GREAT. The punch of the key lime in the frosting really tempers the sweetness of cake and it's a very fresh way to make a cake more seasonal. I've had several people try it: boyfriends, roommates and co-workers and it was a unanimous thumbs up! Here's the recipe, I obviously highly recommend it:

BASIC VANILLA LAYER CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.

Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a electric mixer until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. (Batter will be thick - Use immediately)

Pour batter into each cake pan, spreading to edges. Bake 34-38 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely, about 1 hour.

KEY LIME BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1-2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1-16oz package powdered sugar
3 TBSP key lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. key lime zest

Beat butter, vanilla and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1 1/2 tsp lime zest. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk and lime juice, 1 TBSP at a time at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.

A few tips: I doubled the frosting recipe because I wanted enough to make a nice thick layer of frosting between each layer of the cake. It worked out really well. I also took Martha Stewart's advice and created a "crumb" layer by putting a thin layer of icing on the bottom layer, then refrigerating it and putting a thin layer on the top layer and refrigerating it. Then I iced the whole thing and had no problem getting picture perfect icing! I garnished mine with more lime zest and two sugared and frozen lime slices. Beautiful!

New Project: Rescue Dumpy Dresser

Last year, when I moved from my oppressive/terrible apartment into a cute house a few blocks away I went to check out my room and measure it to see if any of my giant bedroom furniture could fit into it. Alas, the room was super tiny and I realized I would have to get a different dresser (mine was so wide it wouldn't fit on any wall and ended up being used as a buffet in the living room.) The girl who was moving out was there when I was checking out the space and she offered to leave me some of her bedroom furniture that she was planning on throwing away! There wasn't much to choose from - a sort of broken down piece of plastic IKEA furniture and this old style hardwood dresser! The dresser obviously had some drawer problems and was missing a few handles and the top was gouged and water stained... but for some reason I wanted it. So I asked her to leave it.

In the end, it didn't make the cut for my room. But my roommates and I used it as a bar/storage combo in our dining room for the year. It has a dark stain and kinda had that patina an old bar would have.

Now the time has come to move out of the cute little house (moving is in progress as I write this) and I have to find something to do with the sort-of broken, stained up dresser. Once again, the blogosphere (ew- did I just use that word!?) has given me inspiration and a plethora of ideas for the outcast furniture. The Design*Sponge Before & Afters were where I started and through that I got led to various other blogs and websites. The place where I have found the most inspiration so far is Knack Studios. Also I spend a LOT of time drooling over the hardware that Anthropologie sells. It is gorgeous.

The problem I have now is that I have TOO MANY ideas for this one little dresser. My biggest dilemma is that I don't know if I would be better off restoring the natural wood or doing it up with some funky paint. Ahhh! HELP!

I'm posting some more shots of the dresser below. All ideas welcome!

Art by Brett Whitacre

I have a friend from highschool, Katie, who now lives in Chicago and dates a guy named Brett. Katie is a really cool girl, so it is only fitting that she is dating a really cool guy. Brett is the drummer in a band I quite enjoy, Th' Legendary Shack Shakers. They are a rockabilly band that I've seen live here in DC and they really know how to show you a good time. In addition to being a drummer, Brett is also an artist!

When I met him this past fall, he gave me a business card that had a web address to check out his paintings. Finally, I unearthed the business card from the the bottom of my purse and started perusing the site...I was floored! I am no art critic, but I am in love with about 90% of the stuff that he's done. The subject matter is interesting and fresh - names of his works range from "Old Texan Hooker" to "Chicken Leg". It seems that many of the paintings are either of musicians or have a musical theme, which will hook me every time. His use of such vibrant, eye-popping color is great. I think my favorite thing about them is that they are all painted on found objects... even old tvs and suitcases! I particularly love the ones done on old windows. I have copied some pictures of a few of my favorites below for you to see.

I'm planning on adding a few to my collection when I move this summer! I can't think of anything better to spice up a new place!

You can order Brett's pieces and get his personal contact information from www.artbreak.com/whitacre. He will even do custom work for you - make a portrait of a family member, friend or pet or paint you an open suitcase with personalized content. Fabulous!