Let's Go Play Outside

Good morning, all!  Hope your last few days have been lovely and enjoyable.  I stopped by the park on the way home for dinner the other night for a spin around the lake.

On my second loop around I decided to venture over to the community garden.  Ever since one of my friends and I found it in high school, it's been one of my favorite spots.  You may even recognize it from past blog posts!

It was a beautiful day to be outside; not quite as hot and a little cloud cover.  Perfect for debuting a pair of linen-like shorts I found on end-of-summer sale last year, and a classic black tee.  There was quite a bit of vegetation growing in the little boxes: tomatoes, zucchini, peas, peppers, asparagus, and even strawberries!  It was fun exploring, and a good way to get some activity in for the day.

(photos by e.hunt)

A Master of Coffee

I have officially started my journey to become a Coffee Master.  I will study and become extremely knowledgeable on the topic of coffee: where it comes from, how it is processed, flavors, roasts, and good food pairings.  And at the end I will receive the coveted Black Apron.

The first step is finishing my Coffee Passport.  I have to try all of the different Starbucks coffees and write my reactions to them.  Today's tasting is Veranda, a blonde roast that's balanced and flavorful without being overwhelmingly bold.  Fun fact - the lighter the roast, the more caffeine!

(photo by e.hunt)

27: Day Five

I'm finally coming down from my fun and exciting birthday weekend.  I got to spend time with old friends, lots of family, and got to pick the menu for Sunday's dinner party.  All was good.

One of my best college friends, Shelby, arrived on Friday to spend the weekend celebrating with me and a couple of our friends who graduated on Saturday.  We spent a lot of time catching up and talking about life.  Friday night and Saturday day were pretty low-key, then Saturday night we went all out.  Sydney, who graduated that day, planned a big party at a bar downtown called McGurk's.  It's a huge establishment, with little bars spaced out on the inside, then also around a courtyard-like outside area.  We commandeered one of those outside bars, and talked and sipped on cocktails the night away.

The next morning we slept in, then stopped and got coffee before Shelby dropped me off at my car and then continued on to the airport.  I'm really glad she ended up coming in for the weekend.  We only get to see each other maybe once or twice a year, and a lot of times its for a wedding or other event so its nice when we just get to hang out, like the old days.

Later that day I drove home for Birthday/Mother's Day dinner.  Grandma and Nana joined us for a delicious meal of barbecued chicken, rice, green beans, and Dad's special corn dish.  The Gary Hunt Workshop does it again!

Mom had even made a dairy-free ice cream cake!  This recipe has sort of become a birthday tradition in our dairy-free household, and for good reason because it is delicious!  Once everyone had a slice I started opening gifts.

Taylor gave me a really awesome Return of the Jedi Sketchbook (appropriately wrapped) that has sketches of characters, ships, and the different planets.  It's really cool to see the progression of ideas: the first sketches of Jabba the Hutt look nothing like he does in the movie, for example.

Mom found this vintage lamp at an art fair a while ago and thought the French porcelain characters would go great in my apartment.  It's a little girly, but I like it, and it looks good next to the French dining room chair and the Star Wars prints.  As Taylor said, across galaxies and time!

What a great birthday weekend!  Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy day, and to everyone that celebrated with me!  Year 27 is going to be a good one, I can feel it.

(photos by e.hunt)

Queens of Celestial Clouds

I chose a deep blue for this month's inspirational color.  Blue has always been my favorite color.  Calm, soothing, but also intriguing and mysterious; the color of the ocean, the color of the sky, a beautiful ink and paint hue.  Perfect for this early summertime month.

(photos collected from instagram.com/acolorstory, instagram.com/jxxsy, nofatnowhip, genuine-people, fightingcrimewithflipper, instagram.com/dominomag, instagram.com/acolorstory, anthropology, behance, pinterest, flickr, pinterest, domino, hairstylezz, thealphabetisletters, tresorbsdeboitesacouture.fr, instagram.com/nasa, victorypaperdesigns, chictopia, and etsy)

A Red-Tinted Grey

Outside of the work realm, my couch arrived!  I got home to see a giant box sitting in the hall outside my door.  Luckily, they brought it up the stairs; I don't know what I would have done had it been sitting on the first floor!

I was able to slide it inside myself before Mom arrived to help me put it together.

We opened it up and took out all the pieces.  Everything was included: framing, cushions, pillows, six little feet, and some bolts to hold it all together.

We screwed the two frame pieces together and all was well.  At least it was until we tried to lift it.  The whole thing collapsed into itself!  After some discussion and an almost-trip to the hardware store to get longer bolts, I made an emergency call to Taylor who figured it out almost immediately.  We were screwing in the bolts from the wrong side!

After the frame was together, I screwed in the feet, and next were the back pieces.  They just snapped in!  After that we put it in it's place along the wall, and it was all set!  It's pretty comfortable.  The cushions are a bit stiff, but just need to be worn in a little.  I was a little nervous ordering a couch online, but overall I'm quite impressed.  It arrived in a week, was easy to put together, looks great, and I can stretch out on it while watching a movie.  A win-win all around!

(photos by e.hunt, and r.hunt)

"Do You Still Have the Unicorn?"

I know I haven't posted much lately.  I've been at work a lot, and I've heard this question far too many times a day for the past several weeks.  No, we are out of the Unicorn Frapuccino.  Here's a cute little doxy unicorn instead!

(photo collected from instagram.com/hollyandhans)