Phoning in the weekend... on Wednesday

Hello everybody! It was a big weekend, mostly full of food. So that's a pretty good thing, huh?

First my sisters and I got mani/pedis with our mom as a belated mother's day present. When I asked for a glass of water the kind receptionist brought me this goblet of water. I'm going to start drinking water out of wine glasses all the time; it's much more fancy.

After mani/pedis it was time to prepare for my youngest sister's bachelorette party! I made some cupcakes that called for beating six eggs whites until they formed stiff peaks. It never fails to amaze me how much egg whites expand! Look at that! It's kind of gross but so impressive! It's as magical to me as instant mashed potatoes. And if you are thinking that a woman who is amazed by egg whites and instant mashed potatoes must be constantly in awe of the world around her...you are correct.

I ended up not making guacamole for the bahelorette party, so I had a left over avocado! I baked an egg in it and topped it with goat cheese and salsa. And I was so happy I died and then came back to life. But that's just a normal reaction to goat cheese.

This didn't happen over the weekend, but if I deprive even one person of this picture, I could never forgive myself. This is me knitting with my niece Evelyn who at that moment was embodying Cinderella and "knitting" (stabbing a blanket repeatedly with knitting needles). It was the cutest thing ever.

Phoning in the weekend- Valentine's edition

Hello everyone, and happy start of your week! I hope you had a lovely, restful Valentine's weekend! Mine was very fun.

It started out with Valentine's cards and treats for my student assistants and trying to bribe my APA manual to be good to me while I write a paper for a conference (come to Denver, it's going to be fun!)

After work, I drove to Grand Rapids for a fun filled evening of dinner, drinks, and pin ball!

The next day, we went to the Grand Rapids Public Library (amazing!), a plant store, a record shop, and a local brewery for snacks and drinks. Also, the gorgeous antique store pictured above where I was almost overcome by all of my antique store addictions: sparkly jewelry, bags, Fiesta Ware, and hats. If there had been more Pyrex I would have been truly done in.

Sunday was lazy with sleeping in, pancakes, and dinner with my family. What did you do this weekend?

Phoning in the weekend (only not really)

Here are the three pictures I took this weekend. That is it. It was a super busy and fun weekend, I just didn't document a lot of it. What these three pictures do document is getting ready for a fancy dinner, getting a surprise picture of Roman, and a difficult pattern I was working on which I sent a picture of to Erica to get her to join in on my self pity.

Not pictured activities include: getting coffee and going to the coolest specialty bookstore, the 1939 copy of Jane Eyre I bought there, finding SO MANY RECORDS I've been searching for at the record store (including two Mel Tormes, Jethro Tull Stand Up, Little Orphan Annie for  a dollar, and a Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers Christmas album!), walking around a super cool fish store, knitting, eating dinner with my family, and playing cards with good friends.

Sometimes your just too busy to take pictures, I guess! What did you do this weekend?

Phoning in the weekend 1/13/2014 edition

 The weekend started out on an interesting note when one Ms. Erica, partner in craft and coworker decided I didn't have enough Nick Cage in my life and stuck this to my office door. He lives inside my coat closet now so I can have a heart attack each morning when I come to work.

Then came Friday night and a soothing symphony orchestra concert and soothing dirty martinis to help calm my Cage-frayed nerves.

On Saturday I did the most perfect long-tail cast-on I've ever done! I got all my stitches cast on with just enough yarn left over to weave in the ends! Woo hoo!

It helped that I was closely monitored by this handsome guy.

Sunday was my niece's third birthday party. I had to look my best.

What do you buy for the coolest three year old around? Binoculars, a toy story etch-a-sketch, and glitter bracelets. Obviously.

To top off a great weekend, it was so warm out and so much of the ice and snow melted that I got to run outside TWICE! Woo hoo!

I hope you had a lovely weekend too! What did you do?

Happy Thursday! Picture Post part two

After I got back to work, my niece Evelyn visited to ease the transition.

 Some friends and I ran in a Zombie run. We cut up old scrubs and pretended we had been in the lab when the zombies broke out. Sorry we made zombies, you guys.

Over the weekend I spent some time with these cute babies and their owner, Liz.

Liz and I took these bags of boring old grey and white yarn...

Used some egg dye tablets...

Some water, vinegar, and heat...

And dyed all that wool all of these exciting colors!

Once my drop spindle comes in the mail you may never hear from me again.

Then I spent some time in Grand Rapids. With a hammerhead shark and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The company I keep is a little disconcerting.

At Sunday night dinner at my parents' house I read Evie a couple of stories to top off the weekend.

Happy Thursday, one and all!

Phoning in the weekend (and much, much more!)

Oh hello friends! I was going to do the traditional Phoning in the Weekend Monday post but then I realized A) I barely took any pictures this weekend and B) I haven't posted since I took a vacation from work and had all the fun in the world the first week of September (were you wondering why you had no fun the first week of September? It's because I hogged it ALL.) So I'm going to do two picture posts this week and dig way back into my camera roll for those vacation pictures. It will be fun because I get to relive my vacation along with you AND it's mostly cute animal pictures, with a side of projects, fun people, and bonfires.

The first thing I did on vacation was go to Frankfort for my Aunt's 60th birthday party. There were approximately 17 trillion dogs there, but these two were Frankfort newbies! The little guy who is melting your heart on top is Miggy a 5 month old English Golden Retriever and all around heart breaker. The sweet girl on the bottom is Tina Turner, the ?? year old black lab/border collie/? mix my friends adopted from the shelter. She came with the name and OF COURSE they're not changing it. So if you're asking me if I spent the first weekend of my vacation with Tina Turner, the answer is yes and she is lovely and gracious.

And so began vacation.

With bonfires,

Fancy dinners,

Snuggle times with more cute animals,

So much good food like this birthday cupcake my friend Chris gave me,

Dr. Who themed ice cubes,

Progress on some projects,

And then some homework with my two best assistants.

More pictures to come soon!

Phoning in the weekend 8/26/2013

It was the kind of weekend that started with some scotch. It was a crazy, crazy week and a busy weekend. But with such fun activities who can complain? Not this girl!

But I did take what time I could to relax Friday night. I ate some Annie's mac and cheese and snap pea crisps and watched some British TV (Landgirls anyone?) and knit some dish rags.

The next morning my sister Laura and I picked blueberries. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

We picked A LOT of blueberries!

Then we stumbled upon a junk/antique store and had a calling dibs fight over this cart. I won! I also would have gotten this:

But it seemed ever so slightly impractical. And expensive. But COME ON! That was hard to walk away from.

Then I went to the hardware store and got supplies for crafts. I was outside on the porch almost all day painting.

Work in progress, first coat!

Then outside all evening at a cozy bonfire.

The next day we went dress shopping for bridesmaids dresses for my cousin's wedding. My sister stuck this veil in my bangs and put that crown/ribbon thing on. She is not to be trusted in a bridal shop.

Not pictured: my living room full of half finished projects, washing my car (black car, what was I THINKING?!), no dishes getting done at all all weekend, the resulting shambles my house is in.

What activities did you do this weekend?