Recurrence - One Week Only!

My good friend Kim Strom and I have been working long and hard this semester to put this show together. It will be up all week, and there is a reception on Thursday. Here is our postcard for more details!

The Doily Project, Ikea, and Sunflowers!

I've been working on these the last few days, and just took them off the blocking boards. I used corn starch to starch them, and I really like how they turned out. They are for a painting project I'm working on.
Nate and I went to Naperville this last weekend to attend the Midwestern Electronic Music conference and to Ikea. It was a fun little jaunt, and we came home with some nice stuff from Ikea. My favorite thing is the lamp we got for above the kitchen table and the plates we got for our kitchen. I'm sure they'll make an appearance in some pictures sooner or later.
Yesterday I did a little thrift shopping in between errands, and I came across this awesome purse! I've been obsessed with yellow lately, and it is the perfect size. Oh, and those lovely sunflowers? The Jewel-Osco in town has an empty lot right next to it that hasn't been developed yet, and it is filled with sunflowers! I hopped out of my car and 'borrowed' these.

Bad Dog Gallery Show - Fringe

Last Thursday was the opening for the show Fringe at the Bad Dog Gallery. A good time was had by all, and many people showed up to say hi. Thanks to those who came out!
This was my piece from the show, it is titled 'Three Sisters.'This piece is by Kathie Webb
Brikena Boci
Kristine Chisamore

Birthday Goodness

My parents sent me some flowers for my birthday on Friday which was nice. They are obviously seasonally themed, but also, 'pumpkin' is my nickname from my mother. Well, that and 'poopie'... I'm just glad they came in the pumpkin! haha...
Nate's parents sent me a camera stand (yay!), a picture frame, and a picture album. I don't know how I went so long without a camera stand. I've already used it a ton!
Nate himself got me a gift certificate for a massage! YAY! I am saving it for about a month from now when the show I'm getting ready for with Kim is done.
Here is a little something I've been working on all weekend:
It is a watercolor painting of a doily that Nate's Grandma B made for me. I plan on doing a bunch of these for the show. (Realistically, maybe three or four...)

Bo also says hi. He is doing the best couch backstroke that he can muster up. :P
And yes, I still knit every now and then. Mostly just at the weekly stitch and bitch though these days. I'm almost done with the second front panel, all I'll have to do then is the ribbing around the collar. I have a feeling this will become a wardrobe staple.
Also, thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes you left in the comments of my last post! :)
They give me the warm fuzzies!

Working working working...

Sorry for such a long hiatus, I finally caught the cold that everyone else has already had, and I'm just now starting to feel better.
I've been chugging along on some of my work that I'm getting ready for a show later this month.

I also did some cooking tonight. I made some really yummy chili tonight using ground chicken, corn, and black beans for dinner. Nate had a bowl and almost instantly fell asleep. That's when you know you've made a good chili!
I also made some cupcakes for my birthday tomorrow. They are for my students in my drawing class. I think this should help me win the 'most awesome teacher ever to walk the planet' award. They are chocolate cupcakes with heath pieces mixed into the batter with chocolate frosting that I proceeded to dip into more heath pieces. Yum.
I'll give a more detailed update soon, but I wanted to assure you that I didn't fall off the face of the planet. :)

Bad Dog Gallery - Bitchin'

Last night was the opening of the Bitchin' show at the Bad Dog Gallery, and here are some pieces from the show!

Nina Rizzo - Dog Star
Ann Flowers - Hell Cat

Billie Giese - Astrobitches
Christine Lofaso - Lamentation Series: Blair Tom Berenz - Kip

Karen Brown - Venus
It was a perfect night for a show! I am going to miss this warm weather we have had this week.
Lastly, here is the beautiful Ann who posed next to her piece for me. :)

Beginnings.

Just some projects I am working on for my fibers and painting classes:

Projects in Progress

I just made a trip to the craft store so I could get the yarn to finish this bag:

It is a knit version of my crocheted grocery bag pattern, and I'm hoping to get a pattern written up very soon to share with you all. I love the structure of the bag, and the kitchen cotton I'm using is very very strong.
Our tomatoes are coming in full force now. I know it is a little late, but, in my defense this was my first time gardening ever- and I'm just happy they came in. I learned a lot for next year and have been planning next summer's garden in my head. We've been able to eat everything that we've grown, and my favorite thing so far has to be the homemade pesto. We had some last night on some wonderful tomato basil wheat pasta. We just took about a cup and a half of our thai basil, added some fresh parmesan cheese, and then some extra virgin olive oil, and blended it until it was mostly smooth. A little bit of this goes a long way, and we've been using the left-over pesto on our sandwiches as well.

Eat. Sleep. Paint. Class. Knit. Repeat.

I cannot believe it is already going to be the third week of school next week! I am just starting to get into the routine of school again, and somehow I've been able to time manage everything in my life (barely!). My garden has been bearing some more fruits lately, here is a snippet of yesterday's bounty:

I've also been cooking a lot these last few days, trying to use the food from our garden, and also taking advantage of the fact that I go past a fresh food market every day on my way home from class.
This is what we had last night for dinner -- It is a portabella mushroom burger with provolone cheese and homemade pesto (which is hidden under the bun) on a toasted rosemary bun. We had it with bakery bread and cooked green beans and brussel sprouts.
Friday night we also ate well. We had panini sandwiches with provolone, beef, pesto, and honey mustard sauce on them. There was also corn on the cob, but it didn't make the cut due to our scarfing it down so quickly. Anyone looking for a panini maker, don't buy one. Buy a George Foreman grill with a floating hinge instead. That is what we have, and once summer is over, it is really the best thing ever for grilling indoors, and with the floating hinge you can make paninis and grilled cheese without squishing them.
Yesterday for lunch we had nachos. I know, really healthy, but it was really yummy. I've been playing around with making fresh salsas from canned tomatoes, and I'm getting near what I would consider the perfect salsa. We also made some guacamole. I think Nate had two full plates.
Other than cooking a lot, I've also been knitting a fair amount. A lot of this is because Nate and I have been carpooling to class, and therefore, I wait around for him quite a bit (I'm not complaining, I actually use the time to write lesson plans and knit!) I've been going to the Dekalb stitch and bitch as well the last few weeks, so I get a lot of knitting done there too. This is Emerald from Knitty, and I've been chugging away with it. I'm almost to where I'll join the sleeves to the body, and then start the cabled shoulder decreases. I've also started a little vest, and I'm about halfway done with the back. The lace stitch used is really easy to memorize, and I think it will really pop once it is washed and blocked. It is the Vine Lace Vest and I'm knitting it in Cotton Ease as well.
I can't wait to be done with both of them so I can wear them. I've got a sneaking suspicion that I'll finish the vest first though. :)
Here are some more little treasures from my garden.
Not all of the flowers are being destroyed by the little aphids from hell!
It is such a nice morning here, I've got the windows wide open, it is quiet, and there is a nice cool breeze coming in. I'm going to be doing homework most of the day, but as long as it is so lovely outside, I don't really mind that much.
I've got a fun (but busy) week coming up, involving taking my students outside to draw, visiting artists, and some classes that I really enjoy.
Hope you all have some things to look forward to this week as well. :)

Painting Accomplished! ...Back to the Grind...

I don't know about you, but Nate and I (well, mostly Nate...) decided it would be a great idea to paint the living room the same week that we went back to classes (and the same week I started teaching my Drawing Foundations class). I had also just painted three whole drawing rooms (2 coats each room) as a part of my graduate assistantship. Maybe not the smartest idea... But, it looks great so really, it wasn't the worst decision I've ever made. :)
Here I am ready to tackle some painting ass!!
I did all of the taping, edges, corners, and detail areas, and Nate did the big areas.
When we were finished, we were both a little tired. What better to do than plunker down and have a cold one? Or in Nate's case, a giant cold one! Our nice beer steins came from Nate's little bro who had recently been in Germany visiting a friend.
I'll get some pictures up of how the finished living room looks once I get it cleaned up. I'm also going to try and get some pics posted of the various projects I've been working on.
It has been a busy week so far, but I can't complain too much! I'm excited about my classes this semester (two painting classes and a fibers class) and teaching has been going very smoothly. I do have 19 students though, so it gets to be pretty crammed in our drawing studios. Anyways, I've got to get some lesson plans written up and get in some quality relaxation time before tomorrow!

Garden Update 2

I cannot believe how prolific this basil has been! I'm planning on making batches of pesto with it, and then freezing it, so that it will last us through this winter. I read somewhere that if you pull off the flowering heads of the basil, that it will keep growing new leaves longer, so that's what I've been doing, and it has worked like a dream!
My parsley is finally coming up all of the sudden too. It's been slow to grow until recently, but now I've got a ton of that as well.
I also got the first cucumber out of my garden a few days ago. When they were growing, I started thinking to myself "hmmmm those cucumbers sure look strange, and pale, and wrinkly...." Turns out I didn't read my seed packets closely enough, and I got Armenian cucumbers, not regular ones. They stay wrinkly and light, but they are also super crunchy and almost completely seedless! The perfect cucumber in my book! Look how prettily they slice as well! They look like cute little flowers. I've been making sandwiches with them for the last few days. Just cheese, cucumbers, hummus, and red onions with a little honey-dijon dressing. Yum. There are three more baby cucumbers still on the vine, and I'm sure a few more will come in before it gets too cold out.
Also, there is some kind of bug that is eating my pretty little zinnias! I've been having to pick them the day after they open up because if they are open for a few days these little green bugs start to destroy them. I'm really not up for using any pesticides though, so I guess that's the price I'll have to pay. I did find this little pretty poking itself up from the wildflower patch the other day though.
I'm still waiting on the tomatoes. I'm getting way too anxious for them to ripen. I'm one of those people who can eat a warm fresh tomato just like an apple. No salt or anything. Yum.
I also strung some basil in the kitchen to dry out. It made the kitchen smell really good!
The green beans are also flowering again, so we'll get a second round of those in a week or so as well. My homely little garden has been such a good learning experience for this year. I'm already planning next summer's garden. :)

...and it was all yellow...

We are starting to re-decorate our apartment , and I've been having a lot of fun with revamping some of the things I already have. It is fun just to see what a little paint can do to things you are not really attached to. I've really been loving yellow lately. So I've been trying to incorporate it throughout our apartment. I had painted this mirror (which was originally gold and chipped all over) green with silver highlights (it was still ugly). But now it is a cheery ochre yellow and resides in our bedroom. I really love it now!

You can see the former color being painted over in this picture - I don't know what I was thinking when I originally painted it - eew.We also found out that we are allowed to paint the walls in our apartment. We are doing 'crisp wheat' (which is fairly yellow) in the kitchen, and a medium gray color in the living room. Hopefully I'll have the kitchen done by tonight. Here is the one finished wall before and after:

It is amazing how much a layer of paint can make a place feel a lot more like a home.

I also forgot to show some of the little treasures I got while in Galena. First off, there is a wonderful yarn store there called FiberWild. I got these pretties there, they are recycled cotton, and I think I'm going to make a sleeveless top out of them. It is nice and soft cotton.
Also, look what the hubby got me for our anniversary! He know I love rings, and he did some researching on my Wists and my Etsy Favorites, and found this wonderful ring from Elizabeth Scott Designs on Etsy. I love love love it! I especially love the rounded band, it is really comfortable. It is also very well made. I'm sure this will be a staple for a long time. :) Well, I'm off to finish painting, wish me luck!