paperwhites

FISH!

I love this hotel

Spinach and Mushrooms

I was cooking dinner several days ago
and was inspired by the colors to snap a quick picture.
It's also ridiculously steamy. :)

ORANGE!

Speeding in the fall

The Flaming Agave

spring project revealed

I actually finished this in July... but I'm slow to post these days. (See April 19th for the start of this project)

in my yard

Chelsea's Carrots

bird on a wire

Wind in Thomas WV

Fun with Photos

MMMmmm... Shiny Chocolate

Summer of Love

I love flowers. The colors, the shapes, the smells, all of it.

HAIRSPRAY!

This past weekend was spent at Hun Fest in Balmer.
It was a hot sweaty day but fun fun fun.
Lynda, Chelsea, and I had our hair done by making a charitable donation.
We ate at a great restaurant called The Golden West and then found our way over to Canton for a little lite roller derby.

It only took me 45 minutes in the shower and a quarter bottle of conditioner to get my hair back to it's flat happy self. :-)

Viva Las Vegas

I spent the bulk of last week in Vegas on a business trip with my Dad. I learned the 4 tiered definition of psychopathy.
I enjoyed chorizo and eggs for breakfast several mornings at my favorite Vegas strong hold the Peppermill.
Dad and I walked The Strip one evening with a list off all the free things that can be done. We watched the water show at the Bellagio, looked for the lions at the MGM, found the flamingos in the gardens at the Flamingo Hotel, admired the statues at Caesar's, and tried to get our fortunes told (50c) at the Imperial Palace but the machine was broken.
We toured a chocolate factory and a cactus garden, a dam and the Liberace museum. We saw Mermaids and fish. Sampled some beers at three brewpubs in and around town and shopped at the "world's largest gift shop".
Over all it was a fun trip. However... Half the Strip is under construction. the Frontier Hotel is now a dirt lot and in it's place is planned another lush super hotel. Vegas is becoming a place to be seen, if your in your twenties and have a rocking body. I felt old and uninrested this time and it bummed me out a little. I miss old Vegas.

summer in a bowl

I've been on a new weight loss mission. I am going to change the way I do things completely and forever and loose 100 pounds in the process. Woo Hoo Go Me!

Zen Thoughts

This morning I watched a Documentary called How To Cook Your Life. It was about the head cook at a Buddhist mountain center in California and the zen philosophies about food and its preparation. I enjoyed the movie. The two things that stayed with me had little to do with food. I keep thinking about the idea that if you are always trying to make everyone else happy you will never be happy, it's impossible to please all the people all the time.
The other idea is about meditating. About how you are supposed to think only of what you are doing while your doing it. I.e cutting carrots. While cutting carrots you are to only think about the act of cutting carrots, you mind should not wonder.
I was aware that I would not make a successful Buddhist practitioner when I got up in the middle of the movie to go take this picture.

Lovely Cherries

It's spring! Hoo-ray! The smell of cut grass fills the air. Everything is a lovely vibrant green, new green, young green. And the trees are filled with flowers. 

I love this time of year. So pretty. 

a spring project

I have been working on striping this window for about two days now. (2 hours) Then I will paint it and hang it on the wall of my bedroom as a large picture frame. I hope to have this done by the end of this month. I'm already kinda over it. But I will finish it! :-) 

75th Year of legal drinking

Last Friday, in honor of the repeal of prohibition, we went down to Capital Hill and drank beers with some very large horses. 

It really was fun. 

MMMmmm... Spicy Pickled Carrots.

Whenever I visit The OC I always make a trip to Mereno's Mexican restaurant solely because they make these fantastic spicy pickled carrots that I can not get enough of. One time I even got an order to go and carried them back on the plane. (It was tense, not the kind of thing you want to spill on a plane, or in your purse for that matter.)  I have spent the last two summers trying to duplicate this recipe in my own kitchen and just couldn't quite figure it out... I came very close, but still. 

 

I went to Mereno's again on this trip and was lamenting about the fact that I couldn't get the carrots right at home to anyone who would listen, or not listen but smile politely anyway. 

Now before anyone even thinks it, yes, I did ask at the restaurant about the recipe but they were not very forth coming. "carrots, jalapenos, and onions" yeah, I can see that much, but what else. The waiter just shrugged and brought me a bowl of them to go.  

Anyway, back to this trip... When I came back home and was going through the mail I see that I had received the newest issue of Everyday Food magazine. Can you guess what was on page 116 of issue #51? 

Yes, Spicy Pickled Carrots! I laughed out loud. I tried this version out the next day and YES! Yippee! This is it! (what did I expect they are just pickled carrots) 

So I am now living happily ever after, as far as carrots go. So pleased. Who would have ever thought it would turn out so cliched as Martha Stewart to the rescue. 

I'd like to send this one out to Bob...

This is a list of things I would like to do before April of 2009. 

1. See Madame Butterfly at the Lyric Opera House this fall.

2. Visit Marfa, TX and stay at the Thunderbird Hotel.

www.thunderbirdmarfa.com 

3. Photograph iconic signs of Baltimore (a la Domino Sugar)

4. See a Circus Parade

5. Redesign my website www.jillijilli.com  

6. Go to a Ravens game

7. Find the park at the end of the BWI runway and watch the planes come and go

Flowers Flowers Everywhere

I spent 5 days in South California recently and made a trip to the Carlsbad Flower Fields. What a lovely place to spend an afternoon. Nearly 50 acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers to brows through at your own leisure. All right on the edge of the pacific ocean. Just Gorgeous! 

It was a good trip. Spent some time with old friends. Entertained the idea of moving back. Reveled in the weather.  I sometimes wonder just how different my life and habits would be if I had stayed in CA or even moved back now. Would I be happier? An I really even unhappy here in Maryland?  

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I am 36 years old. Not so old, not so young. 

I had a good day all in all. I heard from some people who mean a lot to me and a couple of long lost friends. A few people I expected a note from didn't come through but lets be realistic.. I'll give then till Saturday. :-)

I had lunch with with three of the greatest friends a gal could want. Gave 4 piano  lessons. Went for a walk with Molly, a lovely labrador. And drank a glass of earthy cabernet while waxing nostalgic with one of my closest friends.

A good day. 

What are we going to do today Brain?

Some days I just don't trust my cats... Some days I just feel like they are plotting. Like I've interrupted there plans to take over the world. I think I'm just slowing them down.

dinner

Who doesn't like a chicken dinner. :-)

Oscar

Last night I watched the Oscar's. I watch every year and pride myself on the fact that I have usually seen 90% of the movies that have been nominated. I was VERY please to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova win for original song. They both gave very lovely speeches about not giving up, keep making art, don't get discouraged and good stuff like that. I was very inspired. I get very excited about the Oscar's. I, like everyone else, like to see what everyone is wearing and make catty comments, but I also get  caught up in genuine thrill of winning exhibited. I was happy to see Diablo Cody win for original screenplay for Juno... being the once stripper, independent writer and all that. :-) Nice to see the Academy reach a little farther this year and recognize some not so main stream work. And of course I was thrilled to see the Coen Brothers take home 3 statues. 

Today I got up ready to work in the studio. I then spent the next three hours trying to find a camera that would work. One was just broken, one did not have the right sync terminal, and the digital just won't take a clear picture. So I made some phone calls and surfed photo sites looking for a hot shoe slave and think I have found what I need, but I'm not sure. It's all very frustrating. 

So now I'm just going to sew a patch on a pair of jeans and call it a day. I think I'll use too kinds of fabric just to make it more fun. 

Day Two... Weather.

It's snowing again. The TV says there will be 3-5 inches of snow followed by 1/3 inch of ice. So in expectation of being stuck in the house all day tomorrow I baked cookies. I ate two and am already over them. Chocolate, cinnamon, walnut, cranberry, oatmeal... basically everything in the cupboard. 

I've been wearing a pedometer, the goal being 10000 steps a day, and today I made it to 7000. I'm feeling good about that and feeling a little guilty for not pushing to get all 10k in. 

Day One

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now.... but I don't know what I want to do with it. I do think I'm making it harder then it needs to be. A friend said to me "just create one and let it become what it will". So that is what I have done. 

Let's see where I go with this.