Sorry for being MIA

Since returning from our trip I have been plagued with almost constant sinus pain and pressure which leads to migraines in my case. I had a real doozie last night as a matter of fact. When I do feel some relief I try and get stuff done that needs attention and that has left my blogging at the wayside. I'm sorry. I will try and do better in the near future. Right now I am trying to get in to see my doctor to find out if I don't have a sinus infection or something.

More later!

We're Back!!

We survived our whirlwind Seattle/Vegas vacation. We have spent the last 2 days trying to detox from the trip. We ate a ton of crap and totally screwed up our internal clocks. With the time change and the desire to stay up all night in Vegas we are having a really hard time settling back into NY time and haven't gotten up before 10:30am yet. We are also detoxing from all the caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and dairy we ate on the trip. It has been nice to eat home cooked meals again. Trip recaps are coming soon! This weekend we are trying to get the laundry done, the house put back together, and some final projects completed. We visited the library again yesterday and I got a whole bunch of books on home decor and DIY projects. I LOVE THE LIBRARY!

Rediscovering the Public Library

In our new apartment Greg and I are just 2 blocks away from the Sunnyside Branch of the Queens Public Library. It is a REALLY small branch but we poked our heads in the other day and we were impressed with the selection of books and DVDs. We didn't have a library near our house in the Bronx so we never went. I had actually cut up my Queens library card when I left Astoria 5 years ago. I guess I never expected to return! We have had to go through the process of having our cards re-issued. Fortunately our accounts were still active so a $2 fee was all it took to get new cards. We picked up a couple Las Vegas books while we were there. Now we will win big for sure! I love that we live near the library again!

Scrapbook Update!

No, you didn't misread it. I actually have a scrapbook update to share with you today. I managed to complete a couple layouts over the weekend. My scrapbook area isn't really user friendly yet and I learned that my lighting is really bad in the office but I didn't want that to keep me from working through my pile of photos! These are 2 more layouts about my ski trip a couple winters back.

This first layout is about the cottage we rented during our trip (called a Tupa in Finnish). I used my trusty photo corners, letter stickers, paint, brads and a flower. I hadn't expected to paint on the layout but when I went to add my title the letter stickers just disappeared into the busy background paper. I painted a strip of color to help them stand out and then painted around the edge.Next is a layout about the cute reindeer that live on the grounds of the resort. It is a very simple and clean layout using paper, rub-on letters, letter stickers, and brads. Quick and easy!

These layouts bring my total for the year to 15. Um, that isn't very many compared to last year but there is still plenty of time to work on that number. I do need to work on my craft club demo pretty soon so I had better switch gears to card making. Thanks for looking!

Cruikshank Cartoons

You probably have all seen this already but if you go to the Simpson's Movie website they have an avatar maker where you can make yourself into a Simpson's character. Well, as best you can with the options they give you. We haven't seen the movie but probably will rent it at some point. Anyway, Greg and I played around with the avatar maker yesterday and this is what we came up with. I made Greg and he made me. I think the cartoon of him is spot on. Mine is probably a little more glamorous than I am in real life. Still fun!

I made it to work with no problems yesterday and managed to get a lot done. I was going to start my vacation on Monday but I ran into some grant problems at the last minute so I will have to work on Monday in order to get them fixed before I can take off. Hopefully it will all work out OK. It always seems that I put in a ton of overtime just so I can get away for a vacation to the point that I don't actually get any real "time" off. I will need to work on that this fall.

Greg did end up having to go into work yesterday to help get the freezers hooked up to back-up power. The fire occurred where the city power hooks up to the college. Someone caught the fire on video and put it up on YouTube. You can watch it here. No wonder they lost power, it is pretty nasty. You can hear the electricity surging and crackling and the building where they shot it is pretty far away (student housing tower). Last time the fire was in the basement, this time the flames were right by the main entrance. Pretty serious stuff.

The weather here is great right now. The rain on Friday brought a break from the humidity and cool temps so we will probably try and get outside a little. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Fruit Pizza

We had friends over for dinner last night. Well I shouldn't say over for dinner since we didn't cook dinner. We took them to De Mole, the Mexican restaurant we tried last weekend. It was great and the total bill for 4 people at the end was $35! You can't beat that, not in NYC anyway. This time Greg had the Squash Blossom Quesadilla and I had spinach enchiladas. My favorite part though was the beans and rice on the side. They were REALLY good. I did manage to whip up the dessert pictured above to enjoy after dinner. This is Fruit Pizza and was an old family favorite when I was growing up. It was just as delicious as I remember. I tried to find the ingredients for it to be vegan but I didn't think to make it until the last minute so that limited my ability to find what I needed. I thought I would share the recipe down below.

In other news Greg is on his second day of vacation and has been a real help around the house. Our desk finally came from IKEA. It arrived damaged but after the saga in trying to get it we decided to turn the scratched corner to the back and keep it. So Greg got the rest of the office set up. It is nearly done now. We just need a clock and a garbage can and a new bulletin board. It is really shaping up. It is also raining again so I am a little scared to try and get to work for fear that the train may not be running again. We'll see. It is just supposed to drizzle all day but with everything still wet from the big storm I am sure it will be a problem. Greg just got a call from his work and they have had a fire in their electrical room (this is now the second time!) so the entire complex has lost power. He has been on the phone for the last hour trying to figure out what is going on. He will probably have to go in to work to see if they can get their freezers working. Oh brother. At least it is Friday!

Fruit Pizza
1-Log of ready to bake sugar cookie dough
1-8oz Package of cream cheese, softened
1-8oz Tub of cool whip, thawed
1-Pint of strawberries, sliced
2-3-Ripe bananas, sliced
1-Can (1lb) of sliced peaches, rinsed and drained
1-Can (8oz) of pineapple, drained (or fresh)
(You can substitute or add any fruit you want, I also used mandarin oranges)
1-Recipe of Orange Sauce (recipe below)

1. Cut cookie dough into 1/8" slices and arrange on a slightly greased pizza pan beginning 1/4" from the edge (1/2" if your pan doesn't have a lip). Continue in a circular pattern overlapping the slices slightly. Press the dough slices together making sure there are no holes, to form the crust. Bake on the lowest rack for 10-12 minutes until the edges brown. Use the temperature listed on the dough wrapper. Cool completely.
2. Blend cream cheese and cool whip together until smooth and spread evenly over the cooled pizza crust.
3. Arrange strawberry slices around the outside edge of the crust, then bananas, then peaches, and last pile the pineapple in the middle with a strawberry in the center. Feel free to get creative here with the type of fruit you use and the order you put them in.
4. Spoon orange sauce over the top of the fruits. This is important because the sauce seals the fruit and keeps it fresh and stops browning. Refrigerate before serving. This dessert gets better the longer it sits in the fridge so leftovers are always great! Enjoy

Orange Sauce
1/2c.- Granulated Sugar
1T-Cornstarch
1-Pinch of Salt
1/2c.- Orange Juice
1/4c.- Water
2T.-Lemon Juice
1/2t.-Grated orange zest

Stir together sugar, salt, and cornstarch to combine in a saucepan. Gradually stir in water, orange juice, and lemon juice over medium heat. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a thickened boil and boil for 1 min. Remove from heat and stir in orange peel. Cool completely before using on Fruit Pizza. This sauce can be made ahead and then saved in the refrigerator in a sealed container.

Wild Weather

Maybe you heard but there was a tornado in Brooklyn yesterday. We had a severe thunderstorm early in the morning from about 5:30-6:30am. It shut down our entire transit system and many roads. It took me over 2 hours to get to work ( a commute that is usually about 30-40min) and it took Greg 3 and a half hours (1 train and 3 buses). Plus it was about 100 degrees yesterday even after the storm. I had to watch 8 packed trains go by before one stopped that had room for more people. It was a mess!

I think terrorists need to take note. Stop making bombs and focus on how to make it rain. Apparently that is all it takes to bring this city to its knees! My hope is that everything is fixed for this morning so I can get to work without becoming a hot sweaty mess on the way.

Sorry, no photos since I was asleep during the storm.

Card Making

I couldn't sleep last night so I tip toed away to my office/studio to pass some time. Can I just stop and say how nice it is to be able to close a couple doors and not have to worry about disturbing Greg with light or sound? Not possible in the Bronx since we had no real bedroom wall.

Anyway, the studio is still a mess and I am still searching for the perfect new containers for my shelving system but in the meantime I decided to make a few cards. I purchased a card making kit from Lisa Bearnson during the move and had put together a few already (it was her kit of the month in July). I pulled the box off the shelf and assembled a few more. Not really very creative since the cards are pre-designed but still got my juices flowing and was a great project for late night crafting. Here are the cards that I have finished so far. Keep in mind they are all in triplicate.

I have to say this kit was not as good as the Becky Higgins/Lisa Bearnson kit from a few years back. This one has too much "chipboard" which is the new snazzy way of saying all the pieces are cardboard. But the designs are cute. I just wish it was a little more mixed media.

Swimsuit Season

Since we are heading to Vegas in the near future and will most definitely be visiting the pool on a daily basis I thought I had better pull out the old swimsuit and assess the damage. Well I am surprised to say, not as bad as I thought. Apparently I did a pretty good job picking out a suit last summer that holds in all the jiggly parts and covers everything else and has a little bit of a retro feel (it isn't as matronly as it looks, don't worry). Which is good because I don't have the time or the mental and emotional strength to hit Macy's again this year looking for a new suit.

I did notice however that my legs are a startling shade of white so I bought some of this tinted tanning lotion stuff that is supposed to tan legs more slowly and evenly. We'll see if it works (I am a tad sceptical).

Also last night I received a package from my mom containing these:

3 pairs of new sneakers! She has a cousin who works in the sports goods industry and sent her lots of free goodies and they shared the love with me! I am wearing a pair to work today. Gotta love free stuff! Thanks Mom, thanks Donna, and Hi Aunt Mary!

I have a dentist appointment today so I had better floss and do an extra good job brushing so that Valerie won't be mad at me during my cleaning!

Weekend Update

We have been having a great weekend and I remembered this time to take photos for my blogger friends.

Our little air conditioner has been chugging along and making the downstairs nice and warm. Not hot but warm. I guess I keep thinking that because I'm not chilly or cold then it isn't working but that is what I hate about air conditioning, being too cold. This little unit cools the air just enough that we aren't sweaty and uncomfortable or hot. That is a victory in my opinion.

Saturday morning I did some more organizing around the house. A trip to the container store on Friday got me 2 drawer organizers that are working out great. The first is in the kitchen. We have a lot less drawer space in this kitchen so most of our tools go into one drawer and it was a jumbled mess. I found a drawer organizer that you cut to fit as you need it and it works great to divide up some of the tools and keep them from sliding around and making a big mess. The divider did displace a couple tools that were really just too big for the drawer. One was our handheld strainer (which we love and use almost daily). I was listening to a pod cast on organizing and the professional organizer mentioned that the inside of door cabinets is a huge untapped resource and she specifically mentioned hanging your colander there. So I mounted the strainer and splatter screen on the inside of the door with 3M hooks. I also worked on organizing my main cabinet so that I could fit my appliances inside and get them off the counter top where they had been sitting since we moved. I want the counters to be clear most of the time. We are used to pulling out appliances as we need them and just leaving out appliances that are in heavy use (like the blender when on a smoothie kick, or the toaster when there is a new loaf of yummy bread). That system works for us. (The counter photos shows where they used to all sit. Now it's clear).I also want to share my lazy susans. My main food cabinet is a large corner cabinet which means it is almost 20" deep. It was impossible for me to see all the way back there and to arrange things so they were all visible. I found these heavy duty 18" lazy susans at the container store (they can hold 100 pounds each) and they have made a world of difference. I can spin them and see everything, even on the second shelf. I can still hide a few things on the side if I need to but most importantly I can see everything I have. Love them.

The other drawer I organized is the little file cabinet in the office. The Bronx apartment had a built in desk that held all our pencils and staples and stuff. We bought this small Galant file cabinet with drawers from IKEA to replace the built in. I found a great organizer at Container Store that is expandable on the sides and it fills the drawer perfectly and had lots of spaces for all our office supplies. I love it when I find the perfect product for the job.

Saturday afternoon Greg and I walked around the neighborhood to take a look around. We poked our heads into the vegan bakery down the street only to find out it isn't a vegan bakery really. They specialize in making vegan marshmallows (remember that marshmallows are made with gelatin which comes from boiled animal bones, hooves and tissues so it isn't even vegetarian) and marshmallow products and apparently they only sell wholesale. The girl who owns it told us that they will be selling soon in local Whole Foods Markets so be watching for Sweet and Sara products. She was so sweet and gave us some free goodies. We got 2 peanut butter smores and a box of coconut marshmallows. All were super yummy. Greg hates coconut so those are all mine. We shared a smores bar last night and it was da bomb. Marshmallow on a thick layer of sweetened peanut butter on a layer of graham cracker crust all covered in dark chocolate. I am salivating just remembering it. Luckily there is another one down in the fridge!

Then we had lunch at De Mole where Greg tried a grilled cactus burrito. We were trying to figure out what cactus tastes like. Kind of like bitter bell peppers but in a good way. I had a boring quesadilla (not a lot of vegetarian options) but it was all really yummy and the guacamole and salsa were really good. Only negative in my opinion was they don't sell margaritas although if you bring them tequila they will make you one (no liquor license). That is pretty common in NYC. We are so happy to have so many great little restaurants around us again.

Then it was home for a nap and another trip to IKEA. The new catalog is out by the way! They sent me a postcard to let me know my desk was back in stock and that they were holding one just for me. Unfortunately when we got there is turned out to be a computer glitch and they were still sold out! Man was Greg mad. He already hates IKEA and that was just the icing on the cake. I still say that despite the constant lack of stock and computer errors like that the customer service is pretty good. They offered to ship the table top to me for free since this was my 3rd trip. I was going to demand that anyway so I am glad they offered. So it should be here this week. It is exactly like the scrap table (Galant) but it is smaller and will be at normal desk height. That's all. We finished our evening with dinner (sloppy joes and salads) and Greg searched online for a non-IKEA alternative for our dining room chairs and then some TV before bed. It was a great day!

Beautiful Bathrooms

It seemed like our furniture and decor fit perfectly into our old space. When we moved all that stuff to our new apartment it just didn't fit as well and it seems that every room needs a large amount of tweaking which can be overwhelming. I know that it takes time to find new things, rearrange the old things, and pull a room together. It took me 4 years to get our Bronx apartment the way I liked it. Well, yesterday I took the day off of work on a whim and spent the day putting together the new furniture in the office and made a trip to Target for some cleaning supplies. I also managed to find the remaining things I needed to "finish" the bathrooms. I picked the 2 smallest rooms to pull together first. It gives me a sense of accomplishment in a manageable chunk. First the upstairs.

This is our main bathroom and it is SMALL. I hunted all over town to find towels in a brown/grey color to match the tile detail on the wall and I happened to stumble upon some new towels at Target that were perfect. I also settled for an all white shower curtain after searching for a printed or brown/grey one for a long time. The plain white really makes the room seem larger and gives it a clean crisp feel. We also added the little stick-on-the-wall toothbrush holder in brushed silver which I love. I would still like to find one decorative item for this room but it has to small since anything too busy makes this room look like the postage stamp that it is. I also need to find a better solution for the toilet paper. The owners put in this toilet paper stand but it is way to big for the room. There just isn't much room for a roll to hang on the cabinet. Then the downstairs:
Remember that this room is as wide as the vanity you see on the left! Tiny! I hate the wall color but everyone who comes in to see the place thinks it is great so it is staying for a while. I had these fake orchids in my old place by the fireplace. I separated them and re-potted them in these cute white IKEA utensil holders. The leaves inspired me to go with a dark green accent. I bought the towels and a tiny rug at Target yesterday. I hung the print and the little shelf on the back wall above the toilet and added the fake grass (all items from the old place) and some black stones for detail. I LOVE this room now. My only problem is finding a garbage can that will fit next to the toilet. There is only about 5" of space between the toilet and wall so it has been really challenging to find a small enough container.

Greg helped me finish putting together my scrapbook table last night. I LOVE IT!!!! I took a que from my sister and made it waste height while standing. I am going to get a stool for when I want to sit down (it was sold out at IKEA of course!). I am determined to become a standing scrapper. It will make retreiving stuff from my shelves easier since they won't be right behind me anymore. The table is 63" wide and 31" deep. I spread a bunch of stuff out on it last night and can I just say wow! It is so nice to have room to spread out. I put my old cutting mat on the table which used to FILL my old little table in the hall. It looks like a tiny place mat on the new table! I will definitely need a new cutting mat. Here it is from last night. I was pulling out some new supplies I had gotten in the mail during the move. Last night was my first chance to really look at them in over a month. Now I just need to organize organize organize.Something we did before buying our table which I would recommend is to cut out a piece of paper the size of the table (you can see mine underneath) and lay it out on the floor to see what it will be like spacially. Originally I was going to get a smaller table (it looked so big at the store!) but when I laid it out I realized I had room for a larger table and the small one wasn't much bigger than what I had before. It was a big help.

July Highlights

What a crazy month July was. We found a new apartment, moved in drips and drabs, had my mom out for a week and then I had a grant application due at work (meaning I was really busy and stressed). Toss in a 6th wedding anniversary and time with friends and it seemed like a whirlwind. We are still trying to get settled into our new place and learn the neighborhood. Here are some highlights:

1. Decided to get a second air conditioner for the first floor but the only place it can really go is in the kitchen so it isn't great at cooling the living room. Any relief is good relief so we aren't complaining.

2. We found out there is a Fairway Market in Redhook, Brooklyn just 15 min from our house so we are super jazzed about that. (We used to shop at the Harlem Fairway and were really sad to leave it because it is such an awesome grocery store.) The Redhook local is actually bigger and better than the Harlem one. YIPPIE! The grocery stores around here just didn't carry the "health food" that we eat.

3. We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with a much needed nap. It was wonderful. Of course you know my rule if you have read this blog for very long. I need an anniversary photo and since we didn't do anything really photo worthy that day it means Greg will have to be subjected to a photo shoot at home! HAHAHAHAHA (maniacal laugh).

4. The trip to IKEA finally happened last night after 3 failed attempts. It was quite the ordeal clocking in at 6 hours of total trip time. We were there long after closing dealing with typical IKEA drama with missing inventory and then customer service errors. But we got the main things taken care of. I now have a bookcase, a scrapbook table, a working file cabinet, and an office chair. We also managed to pick up a bookcase for friends and it all fit in Suzan's Matrix. It was amazing what that car held in the end and still had room for more (the book case was over 6 ft long!). I will have to go back for the computer table but we are hopeful we can fit it in our car. I also found my camera cord so here is a photo of the office right now. It still needs a ton of work. 5. My mom had a good time on her visit and hopefully will share some photos with me. Hint hint. Pull out those instructions I made you on emailing photos mom!

6. Greg managed to get a converter kit and hooked up our washing machine so it can run off the kitchen sink. That is a relief because otherwise we'd have to get rid of it.

7. We finally after all these years got wireless DSL at home. WOW! What were we waiting for? It is so awesome to be able to do all the surfing I do at work but at home (I am typing and uploading photos from home right now!).

8. We are planning a vacation out west in August. So Seattle readers let me know when you are free for a visit. We will be in Seattle for 5 days. (I don't want to post dates here just in case bad people read my blog.) Then we are off to Vegas for 4 days of R and R. I am not excited to put on a bathing suit but I am looking forward to some pool time. Dry heat is always better than wet heat. Trust me!

That is all I can think of right now. Our goal for August is peace and relaxation. Summer is almost over and we don't want to totally miss it!