sundays are for baking & drawing

Another weekend down. Where does the time go? People have told me that time moves even faster as you age. I can't even imagine!

If you know me, or have been reading my blog for a while, you know that Sundays are my rest day. I like to do a few things, but I love not having any set plans and spending my day doing what I want when I want. I know this luxury won't last forever, so I plan to take advantage of it!

Yesterday, I woke up slowly and chatted with mom on the phone for a bit. Once she told me they were having smoothies, a craving hit. After finishing our phone call, I busted out my trusty magic bullet and threw in some frozen peaches, fresh strawberries and low-acid orange juice. Instant smoothie! Even on a frigid day, like yesterday, a smoothie still hit the spot.

I've already told you before that Sunday makes me want to bake. I've also confessed that baking feeling went away the day we moved into this apartment, with it's seemingly surface-less space. D had been wanting to make for a couple of months now, so yesterday we bit the bullet and made them. It didn't take very long, since worked together. He did the wet bowl and I did the dry bowl. Then mix. They turned out alright from what I could tell. I only had a little bite because I was too busy binging on chocolate I had bought on Friday.

One must-do Sunday activity, unless it's raining, is to take Abby to the off-leash dog park. She doesn't get much (if any) dog interaction during the week, so we try to bring her a couple times every weekend to release some energy by chasing and wrestling the other dogs. When we finally took her inside because our feet were frozen, she looked like this. Man, she knows how to turn on the puppy eyes.

Later on in the evening, after watching a couple episodes of Ink Masters on Spike TV, D & I decided to draw. Inspired by the tattoo designs on the show, we decided to challenge each other. We set up our table so we couldn't see each others' drawings and then described a tattoo we would want to get. We had one hour to create a cool design. The photo on the left is just a sketch I started to make a collage over, the photo on the right is what I came up with after he gave me the following instructions:

I want a bomb dropping into water. You can use blue, red and orange.

A man of few words.

Not bad, for my first "tattoo design" ever. I'm pretty sure that no one would ever get this permanently drawn on their body though. Haha. I asked for a spiral/floral design with lots of detail in blue, green and purple, but he won't let me show you his. It was actually really fun to surprise each other with the design at the end. We'll probably try this again.

The design on the left above is just a sketch I made of an old travel photo my parents took. I'm planning on doing a paper collage over it sometimes this week or next. I'll be sure to show you the finished product.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

xx Janelle

sundays are for cuddling

I have what seems like an infinite number of photos of Abby in this last pose. Sulking, all day long. Just look at those eyes and tell me how you could bring her back to the shelter. Abby was adopted and returned at least twice before we met her. I just don't get it.

On to happier thoughts...

My plans for the rest of the night consist of sipping vanilla nut cream tea, while watching my new obsession, Sherlock, on Netflix and pretending I don't have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh, and cuddling up with my two housemates, one furry and the other not so much.

What is your favorite Sunday night activity? Tell me.xx Janelle

PS - try to ignore the terrible white balance in the photos above. D bought new lightbulbs for the living room but we still have the old, yellow light ones in the office. my camera doesn't know how to handle that. haha.

sundays are for ... cleaning?

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a lovely, relaxing weekend. I usually tell you about how Sunday makes me want to bake, but today I went on a cleaning/de-cluttering mission.

the only photo i have of myself "cleaning", Summer 2011.

Although I still managed to be lazy for most of the day and watch multiple episodes of Say Yes to the Dress & the latest Amazing Race, I managed to cross these items off of my to-do list:

- put away half of the gigantic pile of clothes taking over my closet.

- re-organized my big drawer of toiletries. my parents & D's mom always give me a slew of bath goods for Christmas. i have unopened bottles of almost every bathroom 'necessity' including 3 sugar scrubs, 8 bars of soap, 4 toothbrushes and 3 things of floss. seriously!
- scrubbed the burners of the stove. this was so long overdue.up until today i had to strategically pick which burner to use based on how little it smelled like smoke when i turned it on. (gross, i know. but i'd rather be real about it)
- 2 loads of laundry. baking soda in with the towels to make them smell super-freshhh.

- washed utensils.

- cleared off my dresser, went through my jewelery & set aside anything i didn't wear for donation.

Sometimes completing a bunch of little tasks can feel so good. I know it isn't that much, but it was a serious step toward simplifying the apartment. One of my goals for this year is to focus on paring down my possessions and focusing on the non-material things that make me happy. When we next move, I do not want to lug around a bunch of junk. My gimpy little arms can't handle it. I want to take only the things I need & love.

There were, and still are, things around the apartment that need to be done. But they can wait. My dog needs cuddling.

PS: I'm thinking about doing a short series of posts called The Lazy Girl's Guide to Cleaning.It would have quick cleaning tips for when you only have a few minutes and some very simple green cleaning methods. Would you guys be interested in reading something like this? Let me know your thoughts and any suggestions on areas of the home or specific tasks you want me to cover.