I May Be a Little Late to the Game on This One...

I've developed a new obsession with Lana Del Rey - I know there was a whole SNL debacle with her a little while back that made her known to everyone else, but I've just been catching snippets about how awesome she is on the blogs I frequent and decided to check her out on my own.  I REALLY like her music!  In fact, it's been on heavy rotation on my Rhapsody app on my iPhone.  You can get her album here or on itunes.  Here's a preview:

Ow

I'm a mess at both ends today.  Somehow (I was sitting in a chair doing nothing special) I managed to pull a muscle in my neck today and now it's painful to move my head.  Always fun on a "yoga day".  Grrr.  And then on Monday I was literally attacked my mosquitoes - my ankles look like I have chicken pox and I've been buying up so much benadryl cream to contain the itching that you may want to consider buying stock in the company... the bites still haven't gone away and they still itch like crazy.

(image from here)

Careful - It May Be Contagious...

I have too many shoes.  I know this.  That doesn't mean I don't want more.  It's a sickness....


Polka Dot Flats | Blush "Jelly" Sandals | Leifsdottir Mixed Leather
Glitter Mid-Heels | Red Ankle Strap Flats | Turquoise Kitten Heels

 Must... exert .... self .... control.....

Houston Cultural Attractions

Growing up with the amazing museums in Chicago spoiled me a bit.  The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Art Institute, and Adler Planetarium are still some of my favorite places to visit.  And living in central Florida for 7 years was like a cultural void in my life - Disney, Universal Studios, and an exhibit about Harley Davidson at the local "art museum" do not a well rounded city make.  Which is one of the reasons I was excited to move to Houston and be near a "real" city again.  And I have to say, so far Houston has not disappointed!  Their zoo was large, pretty, and well tended.  The caged animals had the usual effect on me (depressing) but as far as zoos go, it was really nice!

The aquarium building of the zoo had a lot of really beautiful tropical fish and it was the first time I've ever actually seen an octopus swim out from behind a rock and propel itself up to the viewing window (I'm bummed that I was so transfixed by this rare sight that I forgot to take a picture!).

True to form, they had some Texas themed areas too.  My favorite was this sign!

And then of course they had the standard lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) as well as giraffes, rhinos, monkeys and apes, birds galore, and my favorites the elephants and baby elephants!  There were 2 babies and we were kind of obsessed with them...

After the zoo we hit up the art museum which was actually pretty phenomenal!  They were focusing on collections of realistic paintings that were incredible - the gold threads in the tapestries and the life-like appearance of metals and fabrics was stunning!  My favorite area was the Audrey Jones Beck collection, though.  That woman had truly unbelievable taste in art!  The book above, which I'm probably going to buy next time I head to the museum, actually has an image of my favorite painting on the cover!  We also walked through a really fascinating collection featuring modern sculpture and focusing on ceramics.  I only got to see about half of the museum, so I definitely plan to go back sometime soon to check out the rest!

Have a Fantastic Weekend!

I'm switching things up this weekend - Saturday is going to be my "chores" day and Sunday I'm going out and exploring the city with friends!  I'm desperately in need of an oil change on my car, I need to make flash cards for my Russian class so I can actually learn the HUGE amout of vocabulary that's been thrown my way, and I'm hoping to try to get some of my DIY's done, so that's the (theoretical) list for Saturday.  Then the plan on Sunday is to hit up the Houston Zoo and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston!  I sometimes find zoos a little depressing, but I do still enjoy watching giraffes and monkeys so I think it's another of those "don't think about it too hard" types of things - like eating meat.  And I always love a good art museum so I'm excited to see how Houston's stacks up!

But to kick of my weekend tonight I'm planning to get a refresh on my pedicure and then hit up the movie theater for some Avengers! 

(image of a painting by Andre Derian hanging in the MFAH from here)

Next DIY Binge

I seem to go in spurts when it comes to my DIY projects.  I let them pile up for a while and then BAM!  I bang them all out in a week.  Well my pile is starting to get big again, and I'm thinking I need to get cracking.  Here's what's on the line-up so far:

Yes, it's a deer antler - don't judge.  I did not kill any deer to make this happen.  Trigger happy gunmen already did the work ages ago and I found the antlers in vintage shops, k?  Ok, I'm a little sensitive about these myself and despite the fact that the purchases were made in vintage shops, I was a bit squeamish about buying deer antlers, but aesthetically I love the look and so I'm going to give it a try...

I'm OBSESSED with these little skull beads, so any project I find that uses them immediately jumps to the top of my "DIY To-Do" list, starting with this fun leather tassel!

I feel like I'm 10 years old again because friendship bracelets are back with a vengeance!  Aside from cool varations on the standard embroidery floss construction like these and these, I'm also digging the cool versions here that utilize gold vermeil links and chinese silk cord to upgrade the look from pre-teen girl to pre-teen girl in the body of a 30-something.  I've already ordered my supplies and can't wait for them to arrive!

This is another project I've already stocked up for.  I got some cheap rhinestone necklaces on etsy and some white and flourescent yellow spray paint from the hardware store.  Now I just need to set up a little spray paint booth on my balcony and go to town!

There are a few more projects I have brewing as well, so I'll be sure to keep everyone updated as they are completed!

Another Citrus Conundrum

I've already raved about my love for blood oranges and tested a few different recipes incorporating them.  I've now moved on to another of my citrus obsessions: Meyer Lemons.  They're a slightly orangier, slightly sweeter version of a regular lemon and I love them.  I actually have a mini meyer lemon tree on my patio that I've managed to keep alive for about a year now (I killed the first iteration, luckily it had a waranty), but I still haven't managed to grow any fruit on it.  So I picked a couple of meyer lemons up at Central Market last time I went, about a month ago.  Citrus lasts practically forever, but I think a month is getting close to the point where I need to use these suckers.  So now what do I do?  I've narrowed it down to three options:

1. Meyer Lemon Frozen Yogurt with blueberry swirls (optional) - Despite the fact that this is a desert, it really isn't that unhealthy.  The recipe is very simple and only calls for yogurt (I could easily use low fat or fat free), 1/3 cup of sugar and lemon juice and zest.  That's it!  The blueberry swirl doesn't have very much sugar either.  Leaning toward this option.

2. Meyer Lemon Cake - apparently this is the recipe for "The Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake" according to Saveur magazine, which I'm going to place a lot of culinary clout in. Naturally I'd replace the whole eggs with egg whites only. Only problem is, I'm on a "diet", as are a number of my friends, so cake may not be the best option...

3. Meyer Lemon Ricotta Muffins - These actually aren't too horrible.  Once again, I'd replace the eggs with just whites and the recipe actually calls for whole wheat flour so slightly better than the cake.  Of course there's still the full fat ricotta, cup of sugar and the stick of butter to contend with, however at least with muffins you have pre-portioned out sizes.

What do you think I should make?

What an Eventful Weekend!!!

So the weekend with my parents was awesome (more on that later), and of course there was the news of me hitting a major milestone - the big 3-0.  But that was nothing compared to this:  MY BROTHER AND HIS AWESOME GIRLFRIEND GOT ENGAGED!  I've known it was coming for about a month because I was a member of the "ring hunting team" back when I was in South Florida at the end of March.  For obvious reasons I couldn't share the amazingness of helping him pick out a ring so as to not ruin the surprise for her, but he finally popped the question on Saturday and everyone in my family now has wedding fever!

Now for what I actually did this weekend besides jumping up and down and clapping....  I'm so exhausted from my long weekend that I think need another weekend just to recover!  My parents and I stayed busy exploring the Houston area.  Kemah was fun, it was great seeing our friends, Galveston was enjoyable with the highlight clearly being the old fashioned soda shop/ice cream parlor/candy store - YUM!, and the JSC tour was incredible thanks to the help of two wonderful friends who know far more about Houston's role in the space program than I!  My parents really enjoyed being able to get up close with a shuttle cockpit simulator and some interesting experimental projects that JSC is working on!  This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend too since I'm still learning about JSC myself!

Can you stand all of this excitement?!?