ara133photography

Yes, you CAN teach a cat tricks! :)

2009-10-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Cats CAN learn tricks! My husband and I have two kitties, a boy named Salem and a girl named Camille. They know about 10 words so far, and I'm always working on more! We talk to them all the time, and I think that's part of the reason they pick up on words so well. One word that they picked up just from hearing us use it in everyday speech is "bird". We have a bird feeder on the balcony, and they've come to associate the word "bird" with the birds that arrive at the feeder; every time I say "bird!", they run right over to the sliding glass doors to look at the little birds.

Three of the tricks they do are "sit", "down", and "footsie" (the latter is similar to a dog doing "paw"). I trained them to do one of these commands at a time - first we did sit, as that was pretty easy, then a week or two later we learned 'down', then later, 'footsie'.

To teach them sit, I used food (they used to like these little treats that were good for their teeth, so I called them "tartar treats", another word the cats know, even though they don't like tartar treats anymore!). I'd hold up a piece of tartar treat and say "sit", and then gently push them into a sitting position, or wait until they naturally sat (you can move the food over their head and usually they'll sit right down to follow the food with their eyes).

Down was a little more interesting - their natural instinct to get food was to jump up or just bully their way towards it... so I had to gently put them on their sides and say "down" as they went over on their sides. Because of this, now when they do "down", they flop over on their sides instead of neatly lying down on their tummies!!! It's really very cute. They're not supposed to beg, but it's kind of silly when they do because their way of begging is to flop over on their sides! We don't give in, but they still try :)

Footsie drove my husband nuts. That was the most difficult for them to learn - it took several evenings, maybe 45 mins to an hour at a time, of me repeating "footsie" and touching their paws lightly so that they picked them up and put one in the air! They start from a sitting position, and pick up a front paw. The less natural something is, the longer it will take for them to learn... and holding up a paw to get a tartar treat definitely wasn't a natural instinct for them! The cutest thing about their learning footsie was when my parents visited with their little dog (a lhasa poo named Moxie!). Moxie watched while Salem and Camille did 'footsie', and she saw that they were rewarded with a tartar treat - so the next time I said footsie, all three pets lined up and held up their paws!! Moxie is quite the quick learner :) I swear my parents are training her for the circus, that dog does all sorts of tricks and things on visual commands!

So... now we are learning "speak". So far I'm trying it with a brush instead of tartar treats. They both just adore getting brushed, so I hold the brush up and say "speak", and as soon as someone does, they get brushed for a few moments. Then I take it away and hold it up so they can see it and try again!

If you're training your cats and having some trouble getting them to understand what they need to do, I have a slightly bizarre tip for you - enlist the help of another human as an example! :) My husband just loves this... ha. He was asked to help train them on footsie by holding up his 'paw' for food... and tonight he did "speak" to demonstrate for the cats! After seeing how much Moxie learned from just observing S & C, I'm convinced that's a useful method of teaching. We'll see how long "speak" takes! Tonight they got distracted when I accidentally moved a toy with my foot :)

Free Shipping Coupon Code for MOO Business Cards!

2009-08-03T07:41:00.001-07:00

Here's a code for new-to-Moo customers to use on their first order of cards, to get free shipping!

Code: URMAGY ***UPDATE 10/30/09 - I believe this code has expired, but I'm sure someone else must have one posted if you google it! :) ****

And, I'll 'fess up (as my Mom says) - if enough people order using that code I get a free pack of Moo cards ;) But, either way, I'm a big fan of free shipping coupon codes!! I always check online for coupon codes before I order from ANYWHERE - do you? Sephora ALWAYS has coupon codes... sometimes Ann Taylor Loft... some places never have them though :(

Have you tried Moo business cards yet? I'm a huge fan. They come on fabulously thick paper with a lovely finish, and the colors are so vivid! They come in packs of 50, 100, and 250 I believe (for the regular sized ones - they have minis, which are the size of a business card cut in half lengthwise, quite unique! - I don't remember the pack size for those but I think it's the same). The best part - you can have a different image for every card!! I usually order a pack of 50, and use about 40 different images (they double up on a few if you don't choose 50 different images).

The Moo cards are really professional and unique-looking! The only downside - it takes roughly 2 weeks for them to arrive to me (in Pennsylvania) from England.

If you have any other business card suggestions for people, leave 'em here! :) Or if you have a Moo free shipping coupon code to get your own pack of free cards feel free to leave that too!! (If you're already a moo customer, check your email - there may be a message with your own coupon code to give first-time customers for free shipping) :)

Update on What are these Eggs?!

2009-05-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Visited the eggs in the pond (see What are these Eggs for the original "What are these eggs" pictures!) this evening, the floating flattish round ones (pic 1 of my previous post) were gone... hatched? eaten? However, the blobby submerged ones were still there and there were more of them! They were in different stages of development, it seemed. Here's a closeup pic of the most well-developed looking set - it's kind of a shoddy pic but it was the best I could do without falling in!! :)

Exhibit at East West Crossings in State College, PA

2009-05-15T12:23:00.001-07:00

Exciting news for hubby & me - our photos are being exhibited at East West Crossings cafe in State College (well, actually Lemont), Pennsylvania! We have 37 pieces up, the pic above shows maybe 3/4 of them. If you're in town, stop by! :) They have fabulous teas - my favorites are the masala chai and the roasted Japanese green tea, as well as scones, wraps, soups, samosas, quiches, fresh fruit cups... YUM! :) Today they are celebrating chocolate chip day with choc chip cookies and choc chip banana scones.

http://www.eastwestcrossings.com/

AND they have free wifi and nice tables for studying :)

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So... anybody have fun weekend plans? I might go back, with husband, to see if those eggs (below) have developed any further - I hope I didn't miss the hatching!

What are these eggs???

2009-05-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

I visited a pond last weekend and saw 2 different types of egg masses. This is the first - they were floating on top of the water. The inside circle shaped eggs were white with black round centers, and the whole set was encased in an opaque white mass.

Here is the second type:

These were submerged and looked like big blobs...

Can anyone ID these? I checked some online sources and the first look like frog or salamader eggs (from online pics), but I haven't seen anything similar to the 2nd pic... though I've seen them in various states (Mass, PA, CT)... so I'm sure they're very common.

Thanks!!

Now That's a Good Cheese!

2009-04-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

So... this post is about cheese but I don't actually have a nice picture of it because...er, I ate it!

I'm always looking for The Perfect cheese for my apple salads. I like maple smoked cheddar (available sometimes at Wegmans) with apple slices, but apple salads call for something more along the blue or gorgonzola line, I think.

I've just discovered a cheese yummy enough to actually do a blog post about (and though I adore reading, I think my writing leaves a little to be desired so I don't tend to blog very often, as you can see!)!

Mountain Piccante Gorgonzola, from Italy - the Wegman's description (from their website) is:

"From Italy's Lombardia region comes ''mountain gorgonzola'' so called because morning and evening milkings from mountain pasture-fed cows combine to create this cheese's spicy, earthy, sharp blue flavor and the firm, creamy texture. Country: Lombardia Region of Italy. Suggested Wine Pairing: Villa Puccini Vin Santo." - Wegmans

What I like about it is it's slightly salty, very creamy, and not super super sharp. It has more of a richness and depth than the pre-crumbled gorgonzola that comes in the little plastic tubs (no idea what the brand is, sorry!). So even if you're not a fan of sharp gorgonzolas, give this a try - even though it has a strongish gorgonzola flavor, the depth and different flavors in it keep it from being stringent and super sharp.

Here's a lovely spring salad using this fab cheese! Cut up one apple (tart!), add spring mix lettuce/greens blend, some craisins, walnut pieces and a nice amount of the gorgonzola; sprinkle with a little olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.

Now back to watching Love Actually. Have a great weekend and let me know about your latest foodie (foody??) finds! :)

I've been tagged...

2009-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Photo I took in the marsh Sunday; I played around with colors and filters in GIMP to get this image... I was going for a colorful springy look in this green/blue palette (which always reminds me of old paintings of ponds for some reason!).

I've been tagged by
Joanna !

Here are the rules:
List 7 things that you love and then pass the award on to 7 people...tagging them and letting them know they won!
Also- make sure to copy the Kreativ Blogger avatar and post it on your blog!

Ok 7 things I love:

1) My husband, family and friends!

2) My cats Salem and Camille! They get lots of hugs and kisses :)

3) Coconut flavor coffee

4) On rainy days... sitting in a big floofy chair reading a great book

5) Photographing squirrels

6) When you suddenly remember a scent from years ago - someone's house, a certain food, etc. The other day I suddenly remembered a scent from when I was maybe in Jr. High... it was the smell of my then brand-new Chesney Hawkes cassette tape! It was one of those ones that was clear, and it had a really interesting scent. I have no idea why that smell came back to me - now the songs have been running through my head! I had such a crush on him in Jr. High! :)

7) Discovering a fantastic new author and finding out they've already written quite a few books!!!

Ok... I am going to tag:

a)
http://eastc2westc.blogspot.com/

b)
http://terireeswang.blogspot.com/

c)
http://dandyapple.blogspot.com/

d)
http://karenfaulknerart.blogspot.com/

e)
http://joshjonesphoto.blogspot.com/

f)
http://allieart4children.blogspot.com/

g)
http://upside-of-it.blogspot.com/

Learning to Color with GIMP

2009-02-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight I've been learning to color with GIMP! I drew this narwhal line drawing after lab meeting today, and worked with layers and the toolbar to color it in and add my painted sky (layers of my photographs) background :)

I've found a lot of places where I can improve (as you can see!), and will try again after I get the image scanned instead of photographing it (to eliminate the curvature in the 'framing' lines caused by the lens. I'm going to try again with lots more layers to make it more precise!

Are you trying new things today/this week??

Catnip Eyeballs!

2009-01-23T18:04:00.001-08:00

The catnip eyeballs I ordered from HannaPt arrived today. As soon as I brought the package into my apartment, my cats started to sniff the air... and when I put the package down on the couch they both attacked! I managed to wrestle it away long enough to open it and give them each an eyeball (and of course also grab my camera), and they immediately started doing that cute little bunny-kicking thing, and biting them... and picking them up and rubbing them on their faces!! :) Here are some pics :)

Eleven Days until Twilight!

2008-11-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

My best friend introduced me to the Twilight series, and after the first page I was hooked! This is a very engrossing series, I just couldn't put the books down... even to go to sleep :) Can't wait for the movie to come out November 21! I wonder if there will be any seats at the theater - I really want to see it as soon as it comes out, so hopefully it won't be packed where I live! It's a college town though... so we'll see.

Here's a link to the movie website, several great trailers!
Twilight the Movie

The movie stars Kristen Stewart (whom you may recognize from Panic Room), and Robert Pattinson, previously Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

So, if you've read the series, what is your favorite book?

Halloween Cupcakes for class!

2008-11-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo for a larger view :)

These are the cupcakes I made for my class on Halloween! I TA a class this semester and am in charge of bringing in dessert each week (I LOVE this TA assignment!!)... so for the day before Halloween I brought in about 60 cupcakes - half spice cake and the others were devil's food cake. Cream cheese frosting!

I had a lot of fun decorating them. Oh - and the teapot cozy in the background on the stove is from Stitchella on Etsy!

Did you make anything fun for Halloween?

It's SNOWING in Pennsylvania!

2008-10-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

It is SNOWING here this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many of the trees still have their pretty leaves and little snowflakes are falling and swirling around in the wind!

I adore snow, do you?

I can't sleep.

2008-10-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep. So... here's a photo of blood! ??? From my finger! I took this a few months ago using a very old Fisher brand microscope and my littlest camera, and 'stained' it red using GIMP. I think it's quite appropriate for Halloween coming up and for the book series I'm reading!

I meant to space out reading the first three, but I bought the first one on Thursday and from there couldn't put them down! I did manage to set it aside for schoolwork on Friday, but this weekend was mostly taken up by reading. Now I need to hunt down a copy of the last book... I'm hoping they have a copy at my local used bookstore.

How was your weekend?

I've Been Tagged

2008-10-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've been "tagged" – a great way to introduce yourself to other bloggers. (JMcGuinness tagged my blog, so now it's my turn to tag a few other bloggers.

Here are the rules:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share seven facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Here are my seven random facts:

1) My favorite holiday is Halloween; love to go all-out with decorating for that and Christmas!

2) I know all of the words to every song in "Enchanted" by heart

3) I have to coordinate the appropriate glasses with drinks - for example, I like coffee only out of a thick mug, tea out of a thin mug, apple cider out of a short glass...

4) My computer is never, ever plugged in - in fact the battery is dying right now... again.

5) I still love reading children's books - so imaginative!! :)

6) I have an amazing ability to lose things. I lost several important things just in the past few days, and found 2 of them... as well as a santa hat, plastic Easter egg, 1 black boot, and a mini sketch pad. If only I could find the watercolor pencils I lost!!

7) One of my hobbies is growing unusual plants; I have an interesting collection including annatto, dawn redwood, a South African blooming tree, papyrus, and many others. The J.L. Hudson seed company is FANTASTIC for unusual tropicals! My latest favorite from there is my baby furry pepper plant.

The blogs I am tagging are:

B at East to West

Teri

Tiffany

Plaidfuzz

Jen at 10oneworld

Melissa at MelissasCrochet

T at LanaePhotography

What EASY dessert should I make for class?

2008-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

I need to make some EASY dessert(s) for a class on Thursday - 21 people - what should I make?

I have already done:

apple crisp
rice crispy squares
chocolate chip brownies

So what should I make this week? I'm partial to things you can pour into a pan and cut once they're done - time-saver!! :)
THANKS!!!

Freezing Tomato Sauce

2008-10-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

After some experimenting, I decided this was the best way to freeze homemade tomato sauce: spoon it into silicone muffin cups, freeze those for a few hours, dump them out into a sealing freezer bag thingy and vacuum seal them in batches of 3 or 4!

We had an enormous crop of tomatoes this year. I made red sauces and yellow sauces! The main ingredients were:

onion (sauteed for a few minutes in a tsp of olive oil)
green pepper (also sauteed for a short while)
pepper
fresh basil
fresh thyme

Then for the yellow sauce I used various types of yellow tomatoes and added in some dry sherry...

for the red sauces I used several different red tomatoes (whatever I picked that week - roma, cherry, various heirlooms, etc.) and either dry sherry or a dry red wine. I also added some balsamic vinegar and rosemary to one of the red wine sauces.

I did not add any salt; it actually tastes really good without it, but sometimes if it needs a little bit of flavor I add a small sprinkle of salt when I heat it up after defrosting.

What did you do with tomatoes this summer/fall??

2008-10-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Impressions of a recent stay at a very old New England Inn...

Our afternoon guest

2008-09-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

This cute little cicada was sitting on the steps to my apartment building - I think he had been waiting for me to get home to take his photo! So I brought him inside and let him sit on a book (The Three Musketeers - he looked like an adventurer!) for a few minutes - he was quite obliging. Then I let him go outside again!

Summer Reading List

2008-05-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of creating a summer reading list for myself but haven't researched yet what books to include! So first, I'll share some of my all-time favorite summer reading (great for any season, really!!) :)

Please leave a comment with your favorite summer reading books, I'd love to make a list this month and go book-hunting! :) Thanks!

Some of these are out of print but it's worth digging up a copy from your local used bookstore! Quite a few are what I'd call mystery, suspense and light romance. When I say 'light romance', I think of think Cary Grant - the type of romance in old fashioned black and white movies :)

Mary Stewart: lovely descriptions that let you actually experience new places and mysteries with the characters! I just adore her writing. Great plots, lots of suspense and a little bit of old-fashioned romance!

My favorites:
Nine Coaches Waiting - a young woman travels to France to be a governess for a mysterious couple and their nephew in a mansion...

Touch Not the Cat - a woman investigates the death of her father (there is a wonderful magical feel to this one, but not overbearing!)

Thornyhold - a woman inherits a quaint cottage in rural England from a mysterious aunt...

The Stormy Petrel - a writer leaves for a vacation in an 'ivory tower' and finds intrigue and interesting strangers!

The Moonspinners - a young woman on vacation roams rural Greece and finds more than rare plants and flowers!

Madam Will You Talk? - a young woman meets a little boy on vacation and finds he needs her help!

I've never read a Mary Stewart book I didn't like, and in fact I've read them all at least 4 times!!

Phyllis Whitney:
Phyllis Whitney's books have very intriguing plots and mysteries, and are always a good read! The sense of place and involvement of the reader are almost as good as Mary Stewarts, in my opinion! As in Mary Stewart's books, these are often similar to gothic mysteries - lovely suspense and a little bit of very light old-fashioned romance! Often these books involve a young woman stumbling into a mystery and meeting two men and having to figure out which is 'good' and which is 'bad'... perfect for summer reading!

My favorite book by her is:
Silverhill - a woman visits the home of her deceased mother and finds danger and mystery!

Jeanne Ray:
Jeanne's books are a great light read - they have very good character development, humor and a little bit of light romance! These books often focus on relationships between family members, their significant others, etc.

Julie and Romeo: an adorable romantic comedy featuring two 60-year olds from rivaling florist families!!

Step Ball Chain: a great read about family relationships and romances!

Mignon F. Ballard:
I've read two of her Angel books, and prefer the first, but both are nice for light summer reading!

Angel at Troublesome Creek: a woman who recently lost her mother finds mystery and advice from a visiting guardian angel! Very cute book, a little mystery, a little humor, and a little light romance!

Dorothy Cannell:
Her early books were completely wonderful!!! Great mix of humor, light romance and mystery!

My absolute favorite book by her is:
The Thin Woman - an overweight woman seeks an escort to a family reunion of sorts, and ends up hunting for antique treasure and a smaller waist size! Hard to describe, but completely fabulous book. The rest of the books in the series are good, but in my opinion don't hold a candle to the first.

Also good by D.Cannell are:
God Save the Queen - a young woman, the daughter of a servant in an old castle (set in modern times - the family is very old and lives in the 'grand hall'), attempts to solve an old family mystery, and discovers love in the process!

Down the Garden Path - a woman poses as an amnesiac to dig up the truth in a suspenseful, lightly romantic mystery!

Nancy Atherton: :
So far I have loved every Nancy Atherton book I have read!! I have reread them all. Start with:
Aunt Dimity's Death - a woman down on her luck loses her mother, and gains an aunt, a great mystery, and a nice young lawyer & his father!

If you enjoy it, I recommend the entire series!

Yasmine Galenorn:
This author is for those who enjoy a bit of the supernatural - there are some new age spiritualism and supernatural aspects to these mysteries, but they are fantastic reads whether or not you share her beliefs! I have enjoyed the whole series.

Melissa Nathan:
These books are utterly engrossing! Some of the best from the chick lit (chicklit?) genre. Wonderful character development, lots of wry humor, fantastic plots! They are not quite as 'fluffy' as some of the chicklit novels!

All of her books are wonderful, but my 2 favorites are:

The Nanny - a girl seeks change in her life and finds a job as a nanny - hilarity, heart-warming children, and light romance ensue.

Persuading Annie - I don't know how to describe this without giving away the plot, but generally - a young woman learns the truth about some mistakes in her past - this is a light drama, light romance, funny book.

Sophie Kinsella:
WONDERFUL - she might be my favorite chicklit author. Her books are completely hilarious, heartwarming and FUN! Becky might be my long-lost (though more stylish) twin sister!
I have loved all of her books - there is only one I have not yet read.
The Shopaholic series is fabulous, as is Can you keep a Secret, The Undomestic Goddess... Wonderful reading!!! Be prepared to stay up all night if you start one in the evening!

Laura Wolf:
Diary of a Mad Bride is a funny, slice-of-life, chicklit book describing one woman's path to her wedding. A perfect read for the beach or porch swing!

Delicious and Moist Low Fat Banana Bread

2008-04-20T19:29:00.001-07:00

I'm sure the cute furry little squirrel in the above photo would LOVE this bread! I took his portrait last week when he was running around begging for bread on campus; it is available in my etsy store!

As usual, the amounts aren't exact. But as long as your batter is the consistency of a regular batter-type bread (ie pumpkin bread batter, etc), it should be fine! I'll note what amounts I used, but you can substitute flours, nuts, sweeteners, etc.

This banana bread is unusually moist (I hate dry banana bread!!), and falls apart a little when you eat it! It is so delicious it doesn't need any spreads. It is heart-healthy (esp if you add the grains and whole wheat flour, and flax seed!) and has no refined sugar.

When I make batter breads, I mix everything together and add the baking soda last.

3 very brown/black bananas, mashed
1/4 C oat bran
1/4 C wheat germ (I wanted to use ground flax seeds but we were out!)
about 3/4 C flour (I used white, but wheat would be good too!)
1 whole egg
1 egg white (I think 2 egg whites, or 2 eggs-worth of fake egg substitute would work too)
1 tsp salt
1/4 C apple butter (the type with no sugar added)
about 1/4 C apple sauce (I ran out of apple butter or would have used 1/2 C apple butter!)
1/8 to 1/4 C honey
1 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 C nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc)

Fold everything together without stirring too much - will be heavy if you over-mix. Fold until just blended.

Bake at 350deg F for about 40-45 mins; it's ok if it gets a little brown as it's very very moist and won't get dry by staying in the oven for a minute or two longer!

makes 1 loaf. I use silicone baking things to avoid having to grease them, but you might want to grease/flour a regular loaf pan if using, or line with waxed paper. Also, you can add everything but the eggs and baking soda, and taste to see if it's sweet enough! Then add the eggs & soda once it's at the level of sweetness you prefer.

If anybody tries this out, let me know what you think! :)

Tempeh Thoughts

2008-04-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick and easy recipe for tempeh! If you're not familiar with tempeh, it is a patty-like fermented pressed soy cake/block; there is a multi grain version as well (I like that one best). The texture is sort of similar to a really firm but crumble-able veggie burger, and the flavor is very plain when cooked by itself.

My favorite way to prepare it takes maybe 15 minutes tops, and is quite easy and delicious! Goes well with rice, salad, in a pita, in a wrap, or it's great eaten as is! The overall flavor of this recipe is red wine vinegary and salty. My parents and I love tempeh made this way, but my husband cannot stand the taste of tempeh cooked in any manner.

As with all my recipes, I rarely measure, so these are approximates. And of course you can leave things out and subsitute, etc.! I never make it exactly the same way twice. You could even do something really fun and add stewed tomatoes to this! Or crumble it up and add to spaghetti!

Cube the tempeh into 1/2" squares (I use half a package of the 3-grain tempeh).

For marinade - whisk together:

1/4 C red wine vinegar

a dash of shoyu sauce (or soy sauce if you don't have shoyu, but the latter is REALLY worth having around - it's much richer and flavorful, and not as sugary-tasting)

a tsp or two of sesame oil

a tsp or two of olive oil (or leave out for low fat version)

a few slices of fresh garlic

some pieces of chiles de arbol, or dried chipotle pepper powder - these have a nice rich flavor

dash (few drops) of ume plum vinegar (this has a lovely salty fruity flavor!)

**If you don't have all these ingredients, just the red wine vinegar, an oil and some garlic would be just fine!**

Marinate for 10 minutes in the pan you're going to cook in. Turn up the heat and cook until the marinade has evaporated! YUM! Let me know what you think :)

Wedding Vendors!

2008-03-15T20:21:00.001-07:00

Why are there photos of animals under Wedding Vendors? Because we spent a day of our honeymoon at the zoo! I made these photos into blank folded notecards and sell them on Etsy :)

We got married in October in State College, PA, and it was so difficult to find and choose vendors that I thought I would share here!

I got my dress from Dillards.com! Lovely flowy dress, not very expensive.

We had our flowers done by Woodrings of State College. They are AMAZING! They're SO nice, and will work with any price range. I didn't want to go too low but I didn't want to spend tons of $ on flowers either - they did lots of gerbera daisies and gorgeous arrangements that were bright and colorful for fall. We did mini gerbera boutonnieres and they were lovely. The centerpieces were gorgeous, not very expensive, and they did them in such a way that we could take home the entire centerpieces (containers included). I adore Woodrings!

Our cake was done by Heather Luse of Delectable Delights. She is SO wonderful to work with! We met with her and saw her beautiful examples on display, and she worked with us to find out exactly what we wanted, which was cupcakes - spice for half and the others in yellow cake. She decorated them beautifully with fall leaves, and arranged them the day of the wedding along with the people from Woodrings, so there were flowers on the cake stand, etc.

We had the actual wedding at Toftrees, and their wedding planner is FANTASTIC!!! She is so helpful, nice, informative, detail-oriented, and amazingly organized! Toftrees did a great job, the food was delicious, and they were VERY willing to work with us on dietary issues such as nut allergies and vegetarian dishes, as well as special requests of cider and other details!

I got my stationery at Wedding Paper Divas, which was really inexpensive and lovely! You do have to contact them by phone with all questions or problems to get a timely answer, but they are great and really friendly.

However, if I had known about Etsy when I was planning, I would have bought stationery from SandyPhotoArt - check out her shop, it's gorgeous! Here is one of her invitations that I LOVE:

We used apples as place card holders (using the Martha Stewart Pear idea!), bought those from Way Fruit Farm near State College. They're very friendly and have lots of great apples and other fruits! Very inexpensive. Harner Farms is fantastic too but at the time they didn't have enough Honeycrisp apples. They do have very cute goats though (Moe and Jo!):)

I got the wedding guest book at Michael's. Horrible. Couldn't find what I wanted, and the one we did finally get fell apart while people were signing it! I wish I had known about Etsy!!!

My friend and I got the programs from Staples - bought a little CD template and paper - we made one at home and ended up getting the rest laser printed at Kinko's, which worked out fine.

The musicians were AMAZING - Emily and Eric McKee. They were so lovely to work with, and played beautiful classical and celtic music.

I hope someone finds this helpful! I know I found the cake person (Heather) through someone else's blog! :)

Good luck planning!

Tag You're It!

2008-03-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by studiojewel from Etsy (http://studiojewel.blogspot.com/) to state 7 random things about myself, so here goes!

1) I've been a vegetarian for 16 years.

2) I had nightmares ALMOST EVERY NIGHT from the ages of 12-ish to 26. Some nights I would even stay up all night to avoid certain nightmares I was sure I would have that night (some were predictable - I had annual ones, weekly ones, etc). I have no idea why they finally went away!

3) I can't do basic math (ok I'm semi-stealing this one from studiojewel who said she loves math!!) - seriously, I can't multiply and divide without using my fingers. I certainly can't do fractions or percentages. I have a cheat sheet that I use for math in the lab!! Sometimes when people show me how to do research-related equations I pretend I understand what they're talking about just to not look stupid.

4) I am definitely addicted to sugar.

5) I still believe that there's a possibility that when I walk around in the woods there's a chance something fantastical and magical might pop out from behind a tree!

6) The only concert I've ever been to featured Davy Jones from the Monkees in the 1990s!

7) I think Kelly Kapur (from the office, played by Mindy Kaling) and I would get along! :) I like being around people who talk a lot - less pressure on me to try to keep up the conversation!! And my husband thinks he and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) would be pals! We are TOTAL The Office geeks :)

Well, now I will tag 3 other people...

AlwaysArtistic (wonderful photography on Etsy)
ThisOldHenHouse(fabulous notebooks, journals and more on Etsy)
CrazyTimesCandles(lovely candles, soaps, melts on Etsy)

Comfort Foods, and What on Eart Do I Make For Dinner!?

2008-03-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about Comfort Foods! I've had a pretty rough past 2 weeks, so I'm sitting here watching a Lifetime movie and writing while eating a bar of Lindt milk chocolate, thinking about comfort foods and What on Earth Do I Make for Dinner! The chocolate is steadily dwindling...

So what are your favorite comfort foods? Please post as comments, I'd love to hear!

Mine are Boston Baked Brown Bread in a Can (what can I say? I'm from Massachusetts!), pumpkin pie (again a New England thing) and Shipwrecked.

Ever heard of Shipwrecked? If the answer is no, you are missing out on a fantastic comfort food! And it's healthy, depending on how you make it :) It's one of those 1970s recipes; my Mom used to make it for dinner sometimes when I was growing up (along with those Impossible Pies, remember those???). Here is the recipe, it's absolutely perfect for a cold later-winter evening, and the leftovers are even better than the first-servings!

Mom's recipe (no idea where this is from originally) - note, she used meat but I'm a vegetarian so I use Ground Meatless (or as my husband calls it, Feat (for fake meat)!

1 onion
several potatoes (3-4 depending on your casserole dish!)
1-2 cans of drained kidney beans
1 can tomato soup (or 2, depending again on your dish), don't add the water
1/2 lb to 1 lb of Ground Meatless (for the vegetarian version; otherwise use ground beef or turkey)

Use one of those Le Crueset baking dishes or any casserole dish you might have and spray with a little pam, wipe with olive oil, whatever, to grease it a bit.

Preheat oven to 350deg F.

Slice the onion and place it in the bottom of the baking dish. For true Shipwrecked style the onion should be in half-moon type slices, not diced!

Slice the potatoes and put them on top of the onion, then place the kidney beans on top of the potatoes. Throw the Ground Meatless on top of that, then pour a can (or two depending on size of dish) of tomato soup on top of that, sort of haphadardly.

Bake for 1-2 hrs, covered, at 350deg.F! Fun, 1970s style layered dish! Yum!!

Hot Rosemary Apple Yogurt Parfaits

2008-03-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't taken photos of my recipes yet, so this cup of coffee and cookie will have to do :)

I created this recipe several years ago, and wrote in goofy little descriptions like "cut apple into eyeball size pieces", and "add a pile of sesame seeds"! I'll put in the 'normal' version here :)

This is a warm apple dessert, with still-crunchy apples, lovely melty bananas, crunchy seeds, layered with yogurt (the yogurt starts off cool but warms up a little in the layers). It's very herby, and you can cut that down if you're not a huge fan of rosemary. And some of the ingredients that I use can be left out or substituted with whatever you prefer - pears, ice cream, thyme, etc.! But here is my version...

dried rosemary, crushed a little (with your fingers or a mortar and pestle), I use 2 TBSP
1 apple, cubed
1 banana, sliced
sesame seeds (I use about 1 TBSP)
pine nuts (maybe 1 - 2 TBSP), toasted (I do this in a dry pan, then use the pan)
cinnamon
nutmeg (freshly grated!)
honey
1 tsp butter, 1 tsp olive oil
plain yogurt for layers

Melt butter (with oil) in a pan with the rosemary and sesame seeds. When heated and popping a little, add the apple. Sprinkle with cinnamon, pour honey over to taste (about 1 tbsp or less). When apples are hot (still crunchy!), spoon them out into 2 parfait cups. Replace with banana slices in the pan. These will cook in the apple juices and look very nice when coated with leftover sesame seeds!

In fact, if you'd like to change it up a bit for presentation, leave the sesame seeds out until you're done with the apples, then put in the seeds and toast them in the leftover butter/oil, and then add the bananas which will be nicely coated with the seeds.

Spoon some yogurt on the apples, then add the bananas once heated through. Put a dollop of yougurt on top of the bananas, then the rest of the cooking juices and top with pine nuts!

Serves 2, and is quite tasty and healthy! You can leave out the honey for even less sugar. Sometimes I add some rose water to the yogurt - stirring it in - and sometimes some cardamom for a bit of flavor.