speeblog

Spring Break was great! Dixie, Clint, my neighbor Brittani, and I went to see Peter Bjorn and John at a free SXSW day show at the ACL studios. I can't believe how fakey the "city" in the background is! I wanted to take a picture, but my camera ran out of batteries. Boo! I did manage to get a few pics of the band before that happened. I promise Peter (or Bjorn? or John?) wasn't as ghost-like in real life.





I also did my main task, which was organize my workspace. I'll post some pics of that later.

And I read two books. The first was Calamity and Other Stories, by Daphne Kalotay. How can I say no to a book of stories which is compared to those of Alice Munro and Lorrie Moore?? It was a really lovely book. I read it in a day.

I also read Marjane Satrapi's newest graphic novel, Chicken With Plums. This was awesome, too, but I should learn my lesson and not by graphic novels while they're still in hardback--you can get through them in one (short, $17) sitting!

Chibi had to get her little teeth cleaned yesterday! The poor thing, they were really terrible. I'm not sure how they got that way, but man, she had the worst breath--you would never have expected that such stinky breath could come from such a cute little animal.



See how stinky? Just look at the expression on my face. So anyway, they have to anesthetize dogs to clean their teeth, which meant leaving little Cheebs at the vet all day. I got her this toy at Bark and Purr to make it up to her. I thought it was an orange but apparently it's a muffin. Anyway, we lost privileges on this toy real fast. See that little octopus thing on the muffin's head? Yeah, she set to work on that and pulled it off in about 2 minutes. I had to cut it off, and now the muffin man is without an octopus friend.





The second picture makes her look a little demonic, I'll admit.

But anyway, Chibi did great and now her teeth are shiny and clean! Yesterday she even had sort of a "new car scent" for some reason.

One more thing--I adapted my grandmother's chicken spaghetti recipe and made my own version! Hers was not vegetarian (obviously, with instructions like "skim off the chicken fat, melt it, and use that to cook the vegetables"). I substituted TVP for chicken, "No Chicken Broth" for the real thing, and I used whole wheat spaghetti since that's what we always use around here. And I cooked the veggies in a little bit olive oil. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll share! I just didn't want to post it on the internet since I can't get her permission. It was so good, and it reminds me of being a kid and having Sunday lunch with everyone over at Grams's house.



Okay, I better get back to my homework now...

xoxo,
s

Saturday we took the dogs to Pedernales Falls--it was one of the best Saturdays I've had in a while. Reggie swam and looked for rocks. Chibi was too afraid to get in the water, but you could tell she kind of wanted to. There are a bunch more photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/manekicollection/sets/72157594581367448/

So, a while back I think I posted about making a new display for P&L...ugh. It was kind of a disaster. I really liked it but I could tell the necklaces weren't being displayed as well as they could be. So I spent the day yesterday making a new one! It was an EXTREMELY stressful day, but it all worked out. This is actually my favorite display so far--it's very bright and pretty. Shea came up to P&L with me last night to help switch everything out. These aren't the best photos, but you get the idea.



I am loving spring break! I met Shea for lunch and then I spent the afternoon wandering around the Austin Antique Mall, looking at all the awesome stuff they have in there and listening to the thunderstorms outside. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon. I found this kids' book, too--it has a lot of neat illustrations in it that I plan to use for some kind of craft project, but then I found this:



...and I had to buy it. Am I the only one who thinks this is funny? I am so immature!

xoxo,
s

It's officially Spring Break! I had a French test this morning, but all my other classes were cancelled. I have been SO ready for this, too--I love school but it's really hard, and I'm looking forward to just relaxing and being able to keep up with all the extra traffic at Parts & Labour. I also plan on spending a lot of time reading in my hammock, practicing yoga, organizing things, and maybe taking my little Chibi to the park. Basically, just doing whatever I feel like!

When I got home today I was so excited to finally be on break and able to work on crafts again that I whipped up this little tote. It's part of a care package for a Glitter friend. I got this fabric from Melissa at one of the Glitterati meetups! I love it, and I still have a bunch left. I might have to make another one just like it for myself.



xoxo,
Sarah