Party Cats, David Guetta, & Memories

Dear friends,
I need a dance party, pronto.
Sincerely,
Party Cat
PS- Seeing David Guetta live is my newest goal on my Life To Do List

Question of the blog:
Are you a dance party kind of kid?

Twinkle In Her Eye

Image Via WeHeartIt

I didn't write much this summer. In my travels, I expected to spend my days writing all about the things I discovered, my thoughts, my feelings. I came home with 4 pages; one of notes from my photography workshop, two pages were a letter I wrote and never sent, and one with a quote of some sort. As I look back on the quote, I try time and time again to think of where I heard it, or read it. Maybe I wrote it down because I felt a connection to it, or that it rang true to the moment I was in. Before I wrote this blog, I typed it into Google so I could write an author after it, but there was nothing. As I write this, my thoughts are leading me to think that maybe I wrote it one night, presumably in my tent with my dog Newo. A week into our trip, I realized nights got very cold in some places, so I bought a new sleeping bag for myself and gave her my old one. Before bed, I'd read for a little while by flashlight as Newo snuggled up to me.

"Are you happy?" I ask as she lays comfortably on her favorite blanket. There is a twinkle in her eye. "Me too."

Question of the blog:
What is one of your favorite quotes?

Clean Sheets and Christmas Lights

There's something so refreshing about spending the day, doing laundry and cleaning up your room. Currently, my deep purple sheets are hung up in the windows, and they look like the walls lining a bazaar. As I wander around my empty flat, it smells like fresh flowers, and I feel so much more peaceful than how I felt earlier in the day. My desk is lined with tea candles, lit and glowing with my desk lamps, and our Christmas lights that decorate the hall. They all bring a sense of warmth into this oftentimes empty heart of mine.

Life can be frustrating, overwhelming, heartbreaking, and disappointing, but at least we can go to bed with the knowledge that tomorrow brings new opportunities for us to grow, and be lovelier people than the day before.

Question of the blog:

What brings you comfort on lonely nights?

SFvsLA

I heart baseball. I started getting into baseball, especially the San Francisco Giants, about a year and a half ago, and have absolutely adored it ever since. I've tried football and basketball, but they've never snagged my heart like baseball has. A dear friend and I went to a Giants game at Dodger stadium yesterday, and had such a good time watching them totally crush the Dodgers 10-1.

(All photos taken by me)

Question of the blog:

Are you a big fan of sports? What is your favorite, or most tolerated, sport? Who is your team?

Don't You Put Me On The Back Burner

One of my alltime favorite songs.
I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier.
I wanna dance, and be free.

Going Right

Miles D. Buckley and I wrote and recorded last week. Listen here!

Open Up

star wars shirt. running shorts. it's a funny day, with the wind blowing and the sun shining like it does every november. walking down the road, i can't help but smile. it's that still silence of the trees and fields. i'm shaky from the coffee i drank an hour ago. van morrison fills my ear. i'll take your advice and say fuck it all. tomorrow i'll chat with the art institute of seattle, los angeles, new england. what will i do, i'm not quite sure to be honest. lick my lips, pull up my hair into that messy bun you used to love. sit down at my computer and i write about children, and families, and communities, and societies. it's fun. next door my neighbors smoke in the living room, and they enjoy every second of it. and they love it and i love them and they love me. in the library, love is blooming from germany to norway and i can feel them smiling from here. it's the sound of going home. i'm in love with today and with you. thank you. beautiful ideas spill out of my mind onto this keyboard and come out completely wrong, but here it is. the french don't say i love you, but rather i am in love. that's what i am today. with nothing in particular, but with everything. and everyone. i don't have a lot, but that's what i do have. guitar strings without voices. sometimes this is just what i need. nothing is okay but i know it will be, and that's okay for now.

With Arms Outstretched

This day was unlike any others. May of 2010, with 3 of my favorite women. Boating, sunsets, and singing at the top of our lungs. I love you all.

Some days, they last longer than others;

but this day by the lake went too fast.

Question of the blog:

What is your favorite body of water?

Although I've had great memories at Lake Englebright, and years of fun at Seal Beach on the Pacific Ocean, I think I like the Yuba River best of all.

In Telling.

Just watching the trailer makes me want to cry.

Question of the blog:

What movie always makes you cry?

Lullaby

These two songs have been on repeat in this little head all day.

All Four

Spring is here. I finally see it! I am so glad I live in a place with four seasons. I always want to live in a place that holds all of them.

(All images from WeHeartIt)

I love the changes of the seasons. It's so beautiful to see how the earth weaves in this pattern, from hot to cold, dark and light. The thing I enjoy most about spring is the smells. Trees that carry a smell of pretty little blossoms. Flowers that fill a room with joy and fragrance.


I like summer for its power. The sun beats down and I drive to the river to bask in its heat. I like the jolt of cold when you first jump in the Yuba. The sunsets make me feel full at the end of the day, like today was an accomplishment in itself.


I like autumn for its colors. Autumn is sort of a lonesome stage of the seasons. The colors turn so incredibly vibrant as the days grow colder. I love seeing little animals collecting their food for the winter, especially squirrels with cheeks full of nuts. I like the dry feeling of Autumn.


I like that winter forces you in or out. I love the preparation that goes in to staying warm, and the surprise of new snow on the ground when you wake up. Winter is gentle, but cold.I like traveling up in elevation and seeing how the snow has laid itself on the mountains.

Question of the blog:
I like Autumn the most. What is your favorite season? Do you live in a place with all four seasons?

Life And Times

Hello friends. This is sort of a color-coded blog. I guess I just have some catching up and explaining to do. So we'll start with this. The other day was a turquoise day. I love when I get in my car, and the sun is shining ever so perfectly that my clothes sort of light up the inside of my car.

A lot of my days are spent solo. I've learned to like it that way. It's a peaceful solitude that gives me time to think, for now. I have a lot of things to think about right now. But sometimes, I just need a friend right next to me. When I can't have that, I just want to just scream red! But it's teaching me patience. So I go to the fairgrounds, and take my box of fried rice, and I read on my own. I'm learning to be on my own.

Something that has always been incredibly important to me, is capturing moments. I'm a forgetful person. God built this beautiful person that I have come to love as myself, but I'm a bit broken. I am forgetful, and I lose sight of what once was. I love looking back at silly photos and just chuckle at my life. Welly has been doing this thing where he will sneak up on me while I'm on my computer. My bed is right behind, so while I'm at my desk, he hops up onto my shoulder and rests half his body on me. It is so cute, and brings a little sunshiney yellow to my days.

There is someone very close to me whose spiritual life completely changed mine in high school. I have always struggled with the expectations of what a priest's daughter should do, and in a sense I took those expectations and felt very discouraged by them. When I met Jillian, I introduced her to the Christian life, and the other day she reminded me of the importance I was to her in that time. I don't think she will ever know what an impact she made in my life at that time, and how much she inspired me to learn and grow in my faith, so that I could properly minister to other people. Her clay stained hands have molded me into a better person, that I am proud of today.

Today, I bought glasses. They are for times where I am studying, or reading, or on computers. They are a pretty brown/light blue/teal combo, and I like them. While I was at the optometrists, I was taking photos of the glasses, and of my dad and I. A man asked me if I was a photographer.
Am I a photographer?
I don't know, really. I mean maybe. Wikipedia defines me as a photographer. But more importantly, do I consider myself one? I have yet to decide. It's a browned down type of passion. Not one I want to flaunt, just something I want to share with the world.

That's why I'm writing to you, for you. I want to share my life, my times, with you. Whether it's black and white, or I'm living my life in technicolor, I hope you and I can share that together. Am I a photographer? Maybe. But let's go on that journey together, and we'll figure some things about all of us on the way.
Thank you for coming along with me!

Alexandra's Wreck Journal: Part 5

Woohoo! Look what I got in the mail yesterday!


Andy filled out a few pages, and sent my Wreck Journal right on back to me. I'll be honest, I was going through withdrawals (more Andy withdrawals than Wreck Journal).


1. Tape This Journal Closed. Mail It To Yourself. Andy did the honors, and mailed it home in this fashion. I hope this made a few people smile on the way.
2. Scribble Wildly, Violently, With Reckless Abandon. I am positive Andy used one of his precious pens to scribble on this page. He is one of the few people I know who have this obsession with owning a million of only one model of pen. I'm the type of person that as long as it's black or red ink, and it works, I'll use it.
3. Tear Out. Crumple. I like the journal entries that have dimension to them, because when I close my Wreck Journal and look at the edges, it looks worn.


Thank you Andy, for helping me destroy my journal a little more! See you in less than 6.

Question of the blog:
Tonight, I made a quick detour to Save Mart and bought some M&M cookies, which are the best. What is your favorite type of cookie?

Ice Cream Pie!

Spring is here!
It's getting warmer, and I'm starting to uncover those shorts and skirts I haven't seen in months. The other day, it was about 75 degrees here, and everyone around town was in flip flops and buying ice cream.
During this (short) glimpse of warm weather, I decided to make an ice cream pie with Heath bars in it. Ice cream pies are super easy to make, and are a great treat on a warm day like the ones we've been having.


All you'll need for your Heath Bar ice cream pie is
1 Ready Crust chocolate pie crust
5 Heath bars
Enough vanilla ice cream to fill a pie pan.. So not that much. I bought 1.75 quarts of vanilla ice cream, and didn't even use 1/4 of it.
1 freezer.. For freezing, duh.


1. Set up a place to make your Heath bar ice cream pie. Leave the ice cream out to soften.
2. Cut up 3 of your Heath bars into small little pieces. These are the pieces that will go inside your pie, so make sure they're small. You don't want a huge Heath piece to be the death of a friend you are hoping to woo with this delicious treat.


3. Once the ice cream has softened enough to easily scoop with a spoon, lay down a layer of ice cream in your chocolate pie crust. Pack the ice cream as gently as possible, so you don't crush your crust.


4. Next, throw a layer of Heath bar on top of your layer of ice cream. You can put as little or as much as you would like, but make sure there you can see some ice cream through the Heath, so the two layers of ice cream can settle together. How romantic.


5. Once you are satisfied with your level of Heath bars, cover it up with the vanilla ice cream. I chose to only make one layer of Heath bar, but if you're feeling saucy, try putting two layers in, with three layers of ice cream. Just make sure to cover the Heath chunks completely.
6. Smooth over the top of your pie, and put it in the freezer for 45 minutes, or until the ice cream is frozen again. You don't want to eat Heath bar soup.


7. While your pie is freezing, break your last two Heath bars into big thick pieces for the topping. Another way of doing the topping is crushing the Heath bars, so your pie is more of a crumble pie on the top.
8. Take out your frozen ice cream pie, and start decorating! I did more of a Flinstone/mosaic top, but I encourage you to decorate to your own satisfaction. As you decorate, push the Heath bar pieces into the ice cream, so that they aren't easily moved when the ice cream starts melting.


9. Put your Heath bar ice cream pie into the freezer for another 45 minutes so that all of the ice cream in the pie is frozen.
10. Invite your friends over, and slice your pie open to reveal a delicious, chocolatey inside.


One great thing about this recipe, is that you can substitute Heath bars for any candy you want (maybe not any candy..but most). Next time I make this ice cream pie, I would love to try Snickers, Milky Way, Reese's, or York peppermint patties. Have FUN with your creation!

Question of the blog:
In all recipes, I prefer instructions that are clear, but with some vague parts that leave room for me to be creative. In my recipes that I post on here, would you prefer to hear straightforward, meticulous instructions, or more of a relaxed view to cooking?

Color My World: RAINBOW EDITION!

Andy and I love to have food adventures when we are together, and this visit definitely included a few of the top food adventures yet. One night, we had delicious homemade vegetable omelets with hashbrowns for dinner. Yum! Okay, that was great, but it was nothing compared to our food adventure we had yesterday. May I present to you, The Great Rainbow Cake!

Isn't it amazing?? So, for your viewing pleasure, and possible future pleasure for your own tastebuds, I'm going to give you a quick image slideshow on how to make this, and then send you over to the full recipe where we learned how to make this rainbow cake!

Andy and I made this cake with these ingredients:
1 package Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake
3 eggs
Some water.. You can measure it yourself
1 package of food coloring (food color gel works better)
1 box of vanilla frosting
2 baking pans

1. After preparing the Betty Crocker cake mix as directed on the box, we split the mix equally into 6 bowls.
2. Andy and I then added the food dye to each (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Our food dye worked great for a couple of the colors, but for the red and purple especially, it was much too pastel colored for our liking.
3. We then took half of each color cake mix, and dropped it in the center of the pan. The bottom color (purple, for example) will spread out as you add the top layers (blue, green, and so on).
4. In your other pan, you can do the same thing, or switch the colors so the color on the top of the other cake is the bottom of this one (for example, we went p-b-g-y-o-r and then r-o-y-g-b-p on our two cakes.)
5. Bake cakes in oven as instructed on the cake box.

As the cakes are baking, take pictures of all of the fun colors on your spoons. Make sure to bake this cake midday so you get the best lighting. I wish mine had turned out better!

Then, after approximately what your Betty Crocker box says, take those suckers out and let them cool. I suggest oohing and aahing for your beautiful rainbow cakes. Our cakes didn't look too pretty on the outside once we were cooked, but not to fear, because nobody sees the outside anyways when you have psychedelic frosting on top!
But before that! After cooling your naked rainbow cakes until they are room temperature, add a sealer to the top of one, and then stack the two. Andy and I used vanilla pudding (which we dyed orange, just for funsies), and it worked great in sticking the two together. It also tasted awesome. Just use a thin layer, or if you're feeling saucy, do whatever the heck you want!

1. Just like you split your cake batter into 6 bowls, split your frosting into 6 cups.
2. Add food dye into each cup to create red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Again, our purple really wasn't that fab.
3. You can really do this however you would like it, but we decorated our frosting in a bullseye fashion, with each color frosting on its matching color of cake. The purple part of the cake was in the center, so we started there, and rainbowed outwards.

4. Once you are finished making your cake into an acid trip bullseye, take a fork or knife, and starting at the center of the cake, pull the frosting outwards so it creates a marble effect.
5. After setting for a while, the fork marks will go away and you will have the most over the top cake you have ever seen.
6. Complete with sprinkles of your liking.

After an hour or so, and lots of dirty dishes covered in crazy colors, you will have a rainbow cake that is out of this freakin' world. Like the Easter bunny barfed up its existence and then put it on a platter. It's that good.

Andy and I, with the completed rainbow cake. What a fun adventure to share with someone. And and I had a good laugh over the commentary from the recipe where we got this, so be sure to go over to Omnomicon and look at her fun rainbow cake and sassy reasons why you want to make this cake. She used gel food dye and her cake colors turned out incredible vibrant and fun. Or if you're just looking for a great photographer, you should look there too. Omnomicon is the full package, complete with cute name.

All in all, the rainbow cake was a complete success. It not only filled our adventurous appetite, but our tastebud ones too! I have been asked by a few people about date ideas for couples, and I would definitely recommend this as one of them. It gives you a chance to work together as a team, while gaining kitchen skills and having fun together. It also teaches boys that they can be creative! Yes, boys, you too can be creative!

I encourage you to try new fun food adventures, whether it's with your boyfriend, girlfriend, mama, or just on your own. The end result is just so satisfying.

Happy cooking! xoxo