or maybe it's the weather or something like that...

hello! man, the weather has been crazy here! it was 95 yesterday and today the high is mid-70s! I wore a long sleeve shirt today because it was barely 60 when I got up and went to school.

I'm kind of sad today because I was planning on going to the free Andrew Bird at Millenium Park tonight but it's going to rain and everyone is busy :(

so, tonight is going to be a typical Wednesday which involves going to Doug and Laura's and eating dinner and then watching Project Runway and working on homework. I really got Doug and Laura into PR! haha they watch it with me. I don't think they like it as much as I do but they comment on the outfits and things the way Marissa and I do when we watch PR :)

I've been keeping myself busy! I finished a few projects but mostly I was lazy over the holiday weekend. I hope everyone had a lovely one! I will post pictures of the finished projects before I send them away to their new home. (I made a few things for Marissa....shhhh! it's a secret!) I will show you that later this week. I did however take pictures of some yummy food I made this weekend!

some cheddar biscuits!


I made some chicken florentine soup. I just kind of made it up, I am going to post the recipe later because it's so YUMMY! I almost ate it all before I could sneak a pic :)


I made some spring rolls with rice paper. rice paper is so fun to make stuff with! I am obsessed with making rolls. I'm forever trying to figure out new ways to stuff them.


♥ a

the new semester and some money well spent

today was my first day back at school! it was very good. I like my classes a lot. I have some interesting reading to do and just a tad of homework. I bought the rest of my books today and I did pretty well with the money saving for that. (I went to bn.com...shhhh!) I only had 2 classes today and they were from 10-12:50 so when I got out at 1 I met Doug at Jaipur for lunch and I ordered the best chicken makanhi and vegetable pakora (gf because they use chickpea flour and a dedicated fryer!).

I stopped by Joanns on my way home and picked up some things on sale. I went there to buy fabric for that anthropologie pillow I want to make and I wanted to stick with one main color, orange and I had the hardest time finding the right orange. but, alas! I found some quarters that went very well together!


AND as I was browsing I spotted a neon green and black leopard print fabric that screamed MARISSA! at me so I am going to make her a shoe organizer with the pattern from BUST magazine. I think she'll love it! and I might have some left over for something else, who knows??


I also got some 8x8 cardstock that was on sale and the colors are gorgeous! I see card making and note writing in my future :)


remember that I rearranged my room? well, I think it looks pretty good! I got all my crafting stuff in one corner!
I do need a bigger bookshelf though...but everything else is good!






and here is the new embroidery project I've been working on! I like the way it's turning out! I'm coming up with the different patterns as I stitch.

well, there you go loves, I'm off to Doug's to work on homework and spend time!

♥ a

last weekend

this was the last weekend before school starts :( wahwah

I was mostly really lazy (and so was the gizmo) but I worked on some new crafty things and I cooked a lot. I got a bunch of new magzines in the mail and I rearranged my room. I like to rearrange my room and clean it very well before school starts that way I'm not distracted by a mess. I also put the rest of the Christian Bale movies that I haven't seen in my Netflix queue. I tried to add the version of Lolita with Jeremy Irons (love him!) but it said it was unavailable...hmph...I have always loved that story and Nabokov is a personal favorite so I want to see this movie! I have seen the Kubrick version though.

ALSO I went to DeKalb's famous Corn Fest (more on that later)

so, Friday night I made some chicken pot pie from scratch, crust and everything. my crust recipe was from this book. I HIGHLY recommend this book. everything I've made from it has been delicious and of course, gluten-free.


I kind of made up the filling as I went along. I mean, it's chicken pot pie, how could I screw that up??

so....Corn Fest!
I had a lot of fun. the highlight was a B-17 bomber that you could pay to tour and you could also take a ride in it for $400, no thanks I wish. anyway, my mom and I were sitting in the house and we heard a big plane going over and we knew it was the B-17. it was so cool! it's amazing that a plane that old is still around! the only thing I could think of the whole time was Twelve O'Clock High which is one of my favorite movies. it was very cool to tour also. oh, and the corn was yummy :)




so last night I went through all my new magazines and I found some things that I covet mega style :)







Doug and I made dinner last night, we love cooking together (he's a very good cook thank goodness) and we made up this great Italian style moussaka. it had layers of eggplant, zucchini and meat sauce with LOTS of parmesan cheese. it was super yummy and I will post a recipe if anyone is interested...




well, I better go to bed. first day of the new semester tomorrow!!

♥ A

sunday is the day we walk

so....how do you like the new look??

I've got gluten-free pita bread in the oven and it smells amazing! I'm waiting for it to hurry up and bake so I can eat it!

I'm making Doug dinner tonight and then we're going to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He LOVES Woody Allen, in fact, I haven't shown you guys the shirt I made him for his birthday! I will do that soon, tomorrow perhaps?

anyway, I bought some cute dishes at anthropologie on Friday, remember? well, here they are in all their CUTENESS:



I got the new Marie Claire and I am in love with this blouse and these accesories! it's gorgeous!


this EXCITES me too! gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream! it's not bad! the ice cream part is a little too sweet but the cookie parts are yummy




and Doug and I went for a walk around his new neighborhood and I brought along my camera...

I am very excited there is a bookstore within walking distance!

we found this written on the sidewalk...it's kind of true for DeKalb :)

this is the Egyptian Theater, it's on the National Historic Register, it was built in the 20s I believe when Egyptian themed EVERYTHING was all the rage


at the candy store!


all of these cute places are within a block of Doug's new apartment! I love his new place and the neighborhood is great!

I am off! to eat dinner and see a movie with my sweet!

♥ A

ideas...

so I went to anthropologie yesterday and there were so many things that gave me ideas. a lot of things at anthro are way out of my price range! so, sometimes I go in there to get my crafty brain storming on.

here are some projects that I want to start:


this orimono pillow

this orimono pillow

this dishtowel

also, I bought some CUTE dishes there...that's coming tomorrow along with other things

♥ A

ps: have a wonderful sunday!

BLOC PARTY

hey, sorry it's been a few days...I've been super busy helping Doug and our friend Laura move into a new place. My friend Alyson also moved to Seattle (sniff sniff) but I'm going to visit as soon as possible. I've also been busy trying to figure out how to pay for tuition this semester....sheesh, all that and work on top of it! How do I get ANYTHING done?? haha

well, I have pictures of the show and they were amazing as expected (even more so) and we had a little drama which may or may not have made me decide to never go to another House of Blues show again (but that's another story, I just want to talk about the great show they put on)

first of all, if you ever get a chance to see them live, GO! even if you are a mediocre fan, they will make you into a HUGE fan.

second of all, Kele is the most adorable man on the planet!

okay, pictures: (which I did not take, we met some guys at the show who promised us pictures)









and CSS opened! they were great also!



so, we had a lot of fun...danced, sweat, screamed, and danced some more


♥ A

ps: they covered Prince and went right into Flux which is amazing live!



and I'm still kind of sorry I missed this....

Mercury has really really grown on me, I didn't like it at first but now I LOVE it