walkscore

i saw a post on sightline's daily score talking about the new website that calculates the walkability of your neighborhood, walkscore. simply enter your address & up pops businesses in your neighborhood (all places tagged are pulled from google). the sight also gives your a rating, my apartments is 92 out of 100. quoted from sightline, "walk score does not count every single business within a one-mile walkshed... it calculates the distance to the closest business in each of a list of commonly used categories such as grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. it assigns points based on the distance to these amenities, then averages the score. this simpler strategy works well and generates great maps."

crafting with the kids

while back in northern michigan for 9 days, i decided to do a project with my 2 nieces, ages 8 & 5. i had read about using freezer paper to do screen printing multiple times on craft:. i bought all the things needed: t-shirts, freezer paper, fabric paint, stencil brushes & of course, rhinestones & craft glue. i'm not going to say that i thought that it was as simple as i thought it would be; mostly because the freezer paper was hard to cut. i ironed a full sheet of freezer paper on the back side of the shirt & it did create a tight stencil on the front. i let the paint dry & pulled the paper off. the girls were really happy with the finished product.

not yet a pillow

i haven't posted a project in so long. i have no excuse other than it is summer & i bought a bike. i've started two crafts in the last couple of weeks; a purple tank top inspired by this top from j. crew & two pillow cases.

i bought this amy butler fabric & 2 18" square throw pillows a month ago. after a crafting night with the ladies, yachi gave me the idea to embroider one of the flowers. i'm not a pro embroiderer, but it turned out nicely. i'll be leaving for michigan 9 hours; finishing the sewing of the pillowcases is the first thing on a list of "to dos" when i return.

quinoa & sweet peppers

i spent the better part of april & may living at chris's apartment while he traveled the west coast for work & just avoiding my house all together (i had a crazy landlord, not just ha ha crazy...but really nuts). for that time period, i didn't do a whole lot of cooking. i spent a lot of time at in the bowl & ha na on capitol hill. i moved into my new apartment almost 2 months ago & have found pure happiness & comfort in spending time at the apartment making myself dinner & enjoying over-easy eggs & an english muffin on saturday mornings.

the majority of meals i cook have the same composition, i don't use recipes & rely heavily on red pepper flakes & olive oil. the usual composition being:

• carbs (whole wheat pasta, quinoa, arborio rice)
• meat (usually prosciutto, pork or chicken)
• some sort of veggie (eggplant, sweet baby peppers, asparagus, spinach)
• cheese (mostly goat cheese)

i like my meals in a bowl, so i cook these things separately & then mix into a bowl, portion out that meal & garnish with cheese & more red pepper flakes.

so, the point of this post is my recent rediscovery of quinoa & sweet baby peppers. it is an edible seed that has a similar texture to cous cous, the flavor is mild & slightly nutty. outside of the texture & flavor, quinoa has great nutritional value, as it is super high in protein & fiber. the sweet baby peppers from costco are such a great deal & perfect to have on hand. they are about $10 & you get a boat load of them.

edward burtynsky

i was browsing through cut+paste blog & was taken back by the photographs taken by edward burtynsky. these photographs were taken during the filming of the documentary manufactured landscapes by jennifer baichwil. burtynsky is known for his large-scale photography capturing the industrial revolution.

"MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is a feature length documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky makes large-scale photographs of ‘manufactured landscapes’ – quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, dams. He photographs civilization’s materials and debris, but in a way people describe as “stunning” or “beautiful,” and so raises all kinds of questions about ethics and aesthetics without trying to easily answer them.

The film follows Burtynsky to China as he travels the country photographing the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. Sites such as the Three Gorges Dam, which is bigger by 50% than any other dam in the world and displaced over a million people, factory floors over a kilometre long, and the breathtaking scale of Shanghai’s urban renewal are subjects for his lens and our motion picture camera." - the edward burtynsky website

UPDATE: manufactured landscapes will be playing for one week only at varsity theatre, starting tomorrow, july 13th.

google image - dottie

my friend ragan did a google image search for her name & was freaked out by the results. i decided to give "ann" a whirl & was disappointed to find some sexy pic of a girl from thailand (but now that i do it again, i get ann coulter). i tried dottie & i'll stick with the above picture.

give it a try & send me your results!