Have A Lovely Weekend!

Sorry I was MIA yesterday - I threw out my neck doing yoga on Wednesday night and spent most of the day on the couch/in bed...  After a round of acupuncture, some icy-hot patches and lots of stretching I'm stiff and sore, but overall much better.  I'm hoping it's even better by tomorrow because I have a fun weekend of DIY's and visiting with friends planned and it would be nice to be 100% mobile again!  Are you doing anything fun this weekend???

(photo from here, and I REALLY wish they weren't sold out...)

Summer Fruit

I'm trying to eat a bit healthier, i.e. less processed sugars and flours (except for today when I can't seem to stop stuffing my mouth with sour patch cherries...), and so I've been making most of my snacks and deserts fruit based.  Watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, and blueberries specifically have been absolutely delicious lately.  The weather in Florida is overwhelmingly hot in the summer, but the summer fruits help to make up for it!  I've also been in a baking mood lately, but have yet to act on it. Therefore my goal for the remainder of the week is to bake a delicious fruit desert that I can snack on (semi) guiltless-ly!  The two options I'm considering are an apricot tart (or maybe peach or plum?) and a variation on this pistachio crumble recipe with blueberries instead.  I plan to substitute sugar and wheat flour with agave nectar and rice flour to help in the guiltless part.  Which desert sounds better to you?

Antimatter

CERN has recently announced that not only have they been able to isolate antimatter, but they have been able to trap and hold it for nearly 17 minutes!  Read about it here and here!

Note to alarmists out there: antimatter has been isolated and the world hasn't exploded into a black hole yet...

What A Weekend!

I took Friday off of work to drive to south Florida with my friend R for night 1 of her birthday extravaganza weekend.  We met up with one of her friends for a delicious sushi dinner and followed that up with a live stage performance of one of my favorite movies: Hedwig and the Angry Inch!  It was awesome.

After the show we went out to a bar that was hosting a gay weekend (as most gay friendly establishements in Florida were doing due to Disney's Gay Days weekend) where we shmoozed with drag queens, drank, danced, and had a ton of fun!

We crashed at R's parent's place that night and drove back up on Saturday.  I was home for about 3 hours, most of which I spent napping, before I hopped back into my car and headed out to Orlando for night 2 of R's birthday extravaganza where the weekend theme of drag queens continued.  We went to a restaurant in Orlando called Hamburger Mary's, where they host a drag show on the first Saturday of every month.  The performances were all great, with my personal favorite being Lady Gaga:

After dinner and the show I declined another late night of partying and headed back home to sleep in my own bed.  I woke up semi-early (for me on a weekend at least) on Sunday so J and I could head BACK OUT to Orlando for the Orlando Farmer's Market, where the Top Chef tour was making a stop!  Despite the long wait list we actually managed to get into the tent where 2 of the chefs from previous seasons, Eli Kirshstein from Season 6 in Vegas and Kenny Gilbert from Season 7 in D.C, competed against each other in a 15 minute quickfire battle.

Here's a picture of Kenny and if you look to the left of the table, you can see J in a blue shirt and sunglasses!  We did get to taste the food and it was good, but J thinks the food we make at home is just as good.  The farmer's market is located next to Lake Eola so J and I stocked up on some snacks and drinks at the market and then went for a lovely and leisurely walk around the lake before heading home.  Overall it was a busy, but incredibly fun weekend!

DIY Mecca

A while ago I discovered this blog, HonestlyWTF, and it is chock full of fantastic DIY projects and artistic eye candy.  I have gotten so inspired to get back into art and crafting since reading their posts that I've actually gone out and made a number of things on my own.  I also have plans to try out a few more projects that I haven't gotten around to yet.  Here's some of the great DIY projects they've made, inspired by high fashion designs:

This bracelet is actually one I've recreated myself to great results!  I went on to Etsy and searched for chain link or curb link bracelets and then used embroidery floss from the craft store and they turned out beautifully.

These necklaces were inspired by Proenza Schouler's recent jewelry line.  I've actually already bought almost all of the necessary components to make one of these myself, but I think I'm going to try for a bracelet design first...

I absolutely LOVE this belt!!!  I know it's definitely "different", but it's so cool looking and I've been a bit fixated on animal inspired designs lately.  Luckily the blog post lists where you can buy the parts!

The inspiration necklaces that this design was based off of are much busier and I sort of prefer them, but the instructions on making this minimized design are an excellent jumping off point for the larger configuration.  Once again, all of the components are easily obtained at a craft/fabric store.

These printing blocks are actually not from  DIY post, but rather in a post about Indian fabric artisans who carve the designs out of wood.  I am in love with the intricate designs and the bold colors they use.  I have block printing materials stored at home that I'm now planning to dig out of their hiding places so I can create my own designs inspired by these!

Last Time Ever - Shuttle Edition

Last night was a big night for shuttle "lasts" - Atlantis rolled out of the VAB for the last time to head to the launch pad.  Not only was this Atlantis's last roll out, this was the last time ever that a shuttle will roll out of the VAB for flight...

There were more people gathered at the center to watch this roll out than I've ever seen.  It was almost a carnival atmosphere until people started talking about why there were so many people and we remembered that none of us would ever have the opportunity to see it again.

The second "last" was the safe landing of Endeavour, finishing the STS-134 mission.  Endeavour landed around 2:30 a.m. and though I had every intention of waking up to hear the sonic booms, my body was having none of that.  This was Endeavour's final mission and the vehicle is already back in the processing bay undergoing preparations for "retirement". 

Finally, another video has been making the rounds here documenting the STS-134 launch.  There's some pretty incredible imagery and I suggest you check it out!

Found Interview!

I finally got ahold of a link to one of my press site interviews!  Start watching at about 12:00 in for my interview for STS-134 with Spaceflightnow.com! 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Whether you are taking advantage of the long weekend to travel or staying home and cooking out with friends and family (which is what I plan to do), I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

(pictures from here, here, here, and here)