Eating Pumpkins

Phineas LOVES his baby pumpkin! He tries to eat the stem all the time.

How hilarious is that face!??!

Viv does NOT like to be left out of the fun. 

Classical Comics

Two things happened that were interesting to me today, and somewhat related: 


1) I received a sample of a graphic novel of Jane Eyre that I recently reprinted. 
2) My friend Whitney tagged a bunch of us English nerds on Facebook on a list of 100 books that are "classics" or the BBC thinks people should have read if they're well-rounded individuals. It was actually really fun to me to see how many my friends had read (I was at 31 thank you very much). 

I'm playing with our camera...trying out some new settings!

Weird, huh? 

And here is an inside page of this thing.

This is the iconic scene where Rochester's wife tries on Jane's wedding dress in the middle of the night.

This book is really pretty hilarious, especially for someone who has read the book twice. That whole page is summed up in 8 "bubbles": 

"The same night, I woke up and saw a ghost wearing my wedding dress."

"I had never seen anything like it. I fainted."

"I know it did happen because I woke up and found my veil on the floor. It was torn in half."

"I needed to see Mr. Rochester."

"It was probably Grace Poole. I'll tell you why she lives here after we are married. Do you trust me, Jane?"

"I wanted to please him, and I was certainly relieved."

"The night before my wedding, I slept with Adele in her room. Adele was like a symbol of my past life." 

And there you have it. What more could you possibly need to know? I remember insisting I could read this book in 5th grade. Someone had said it was too advanced for me, so I was determined that I would finish it. I carried it and a dictionary around FOREVER till I had managed to muddle my way through it with a vague to fair understanding of what had happened. 

As far as point number two goes, I was feeling quite motivated to cross some books off my reading bucket list. And the thing is, I own many of the books on that list but have never read them! How crazy is that? I am a bit of a book collector. (Ahem...see below.) But I need to find time to actually read these great works of fiction. Good thing it's about that time of year where you just want to curl up under blankets and not move! 

I may have a problem...

What's Your Dream Job?

Another quick thought after reading this article: what IS a dream job? For me I know for sure it isn't about money. It does have to do with flexibility and time commitments. It has to do with the passion I have for the job. It has to do with how I feel when I go home at the end of the day, and my state of mind on the drive in each morning. It includes a team, creativity and excellence. There is lots of laughter and innovative people. But beyond that, I'm hesitant to nail down anything more specific. My dream job could be anything. And that's kind of an exciting thing to think about. What will it end up being? And when will it be revealed to me? 

Thanks for the photo! According to this we should all be moving to Boston!

Not Far from Friday: {Sneak Peek}

I'm making a whole bunch of thank you cards for my lovely roomie's wedding. It has been SO MUCH FUN. I'm getting to work with a glitter pen, one of my favorite stamps of all time, beautiful papers and whimsical details. They're coming together quite quickly now. Here's a sneak peak: 

Looking for thank you cards for your wedding? I've got you covered. :) 


Also, the kittens have really done well with my evening routine of making cards at my desk. Finny sleeps on my lap, and Vivienne sleeps on the back of the chair. I can roll around in my chair, get up and plop back down and she could care less. (And she doesn't try to eat my hair while she's back there which is much appreciated!) So here's a pic of the pretty girl for you: 

Around-the-World Plane Tickets

I did not know until recently that these actually existed. With how insane air travel is these days, the thought of being able to pull this off without being on the FBI's watch list or something equally crazy was in the pretty far reaches of my imagination. But after looking around a bit, it appears this is a pretty common thing. I was reminded of this traveling idea after reading my friend Alicia's lovely blog post on "spinning the globe and packing your bags." That's a crazy idea too. 


So anyways. These around-the-world tickets. (Which from here on out will be referred to as RTW tickets because it's really annoying properly hyphenating all of that! *sigh* English major.) They're not that bad of a deal at all. Some are restricted by the time frame you have to use them in (a year seems to be pretty standard). Some appear to have loose itineraries. For example you can fly out of Istanbul, and after that Athens (Greece, not Ohio), but you have to get to Athens from Istanbul on your own in the meantime. 


I found a cool site that is dedicated to RTW traveling and tickets and seems to have everything you could ever need to know compiled in one place. Like how you should pack, how to plan your trip, sample itineraries, stories of other people's trips. And they have travel deals posted too. For example, a Latin America budget ticket that includes about 7 stops begins at $1000. 


I was looking at their myths section about RTW travel, and I love this response to the myth "I don't have enough time to travel around the world!": 

We reckon that if you think it's worthwhile, you'll make the time. That's how everything in life is, and travel is no exception.

You can make your RTW trip as long or as short as you want. There is no magic schedule. Yes, we know travelers who take 6 months or a year for their trip, but we also know many people who take a month or two, or even a couple of weeks, and have an amazing trip. You can hit major cities and destinations all over the world, in as little as a few weeks. Time is as much of a factor as you make it. To look at it another way, a job or career might last 30-odd years, but the experiences gained from some time spent outside your comfort zone will last a lifetime. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "There is more to life than increasing its speed." 

How inspiring! I'm ready to pack my bags. I wouldn't much care where I went as long as I began in Ireland and hit all the historic castles and history of the Kings and Queens of Europe (I'm a historical fiction fanatic. I want to see where all these people I read about lived!).

Thank you for the photo, site about Killarney, Ireland.

And finally, read some of these interviews with people who have done the RTW trips. They are amazing. Inspiring. And make me want to pack my bags, sell our cars, and buy a plane ticket. 

So, would you take one of these trips? What would be on your itinerary of must-see destinations? How long would you be willing (able?) to travel? 

So Long Cable TV.

We got rid of cable! AND the DVR! The latter is a little more painful than cable. We realized some time ago that most of what we were watch in the fall/winter is on the basic cable channels.  We also realized that you can get all those shows on Hulu and the network's website. And I decided I was tired of paying Time Warner $112 a month for RoadRunner and cable. That is just insanity.

So Wednesday Brian went to return the cable box and magical things happened. He upgraded our internet speed to the next fastest level, and the awesome guys in the office searched for 10 minutes till they found us a promo code to save us money! I think we're down to $44 a month for the next two years. Can you believe how much money we're saving!? I highly recommend the switch.

In preparation for this major life change (btw it's kind of ridiculous that anything involving cable tv could be constituted as a major life change...but so it goes...) we got a new TV about two months ago. We needed to be able to plug my computer into the new TV to really make streaming Netflix or watching other shows worth it. Then we got an HD antennae, and the funny thing is that the picture looks better through the HD antennae than it did through the regular cable (which was not HD).

So far, it's a little weird going to flip through the DVR and realizing it doesn't exist, but other than that bit of panic that I'm missing things, I often forget that we even made the change. Oh, except about every hour when I want to know what time it is and realize we no longer have a cable box to tell us! Time to buy a clock for the living room.

I must say I'm also very happy to report that if you go to Time Warner in person, you get a COMPLETELY different experience (i.e. a good one) than you do when you call  and talk to some random person on the phone. I have never liked Time Warner, but Brian's new enthusiasm has me converted. Hope you all had lovely weekends!

P.S. When is it going to start feeling like fall??? I have no relevant pics from the weekend, so here's a nice one of me and Mary from the pumpkin patch last weekend. :)

We were the most enthused about picking pumpkins, and we're okay with that. 

Homemade Pasta

We make our own laundry detergent, bread, fabric softener, and now-- pasta!! We tried out the new pasta maker for the first time for lunch today. It's Brian's birthday and we wanted to have a nice lunch. It worked beautifully, and we had fresh pasta in a little over an hour. Why buy something when you can make it!? That is more and more becoming my life motto. :) This post is full of photos, courtesy of birthday boy, so let's begin!

The dough is made out of flour and eggs. That's it! I added a couple tablespoons of water to get the consistency right. You have to work at it for awhile (it's tough dough), but once you do you get beautiful results!

You get this smooth little ball of dough that's ready to rest for 20 minutes in saran wrap. It's not going to rise or anything--just rest. The resting and kneading makes the pasta lighter in the end. 

A pasta machine has 9 levels. You run the dough through level 1 five times, folding the dough in half between each time. Then you run it through each of the remaining 8 levels one time each. It stretches the dough nice and thin, and at the end you have a product that is probably eight times the length of what you started with! This is why it's nice to have a helper--especially when you're learning. 

We decided to make linguini first. The pasta maker comes with linguini and spaghetti (more like a very fine angel hair really) cutters. This is the fun part-watching your dough turn into beautiful ribbons of pasta. 

After you have all the pasta cut, you can do two things. You can hang it up to dry out. Or, you can do what we did which was toss it thoroughly in flour so it doesn't stick together in clumps while you wait to cook it. I actually have all the pasta drying like that right now in bowls. We don't have a fancy pasta drying rack and I didn't feel like cleaning clothes hangers. Maybe we'll rig up some kind of clothes line in the kitchen in the future. :)

We also made the angel hair spaghetti. It was so thin and delicate. It's funny how condensed it made those huge sheets of pasta dough

And finally--our cooked pasta! I had the timer set for 4 minutes, and took it out a little before then. It may have even been a tad overcooked. Homemade pasta cooks REALLY fast. 

We used jar sauce, don't judge. (Classico vodka sauce-it's awesome! I would have made my own, but didn't have heavy cream or vodka. Those are kind of important...) This was pretty delicious. 

So when do you want to come learn how to make pasta? :) Several people want to learn so I'm thinking of picking a day and having everyone bring 4 eggs and 3.5 cups of flour and spending an afternoon making pasta and ravioli. We could also make an easy marinara sauce from scratch. Let me know if you're interested. 


Next up will be ravioli. I'm very excited for this one! It doesn't take much more time. When the dough is resting you make an easy filling. All you need is a ravioli cookie cutter or a pastry cutter and you're in business. I'll post about the ravioli some time next week hopefully. Happy Friday!

Charity Auction

I donated my first item to a charity auction this week. I made a set of 10 cards--a couple holiday, just because, birthday, etc. Check them out at the link below!


Bidding for Good


Once this auction really starts going I'm anxious to see if anyone really wants to bid on my item! I also gave them about 40 business cards they'll set out with my lot on the actual day of the event. Hopefully that generates lots of new interest in the business. 


Which is going really well! The last 7 days have been my busiest yet. Biggest single order to date, the most orders all within about two days. It was crazy for a bit while I organized how I was going to get it all completed. But I did it! (With a bit of Brian's help with the biggest order of 60 cards) 


Which means now I'm ready for more orders! The holiday ones are going really well. Make sure you get your orders in early! Here's a lovely more non-traditional card. It's simple and modern--and a tree with baby blue glitter! :)  

And who doesn't love snowflakes? In hot pink!! They're non-denominational and send more of a "Happy Winter!" message. 

The Etsy store is full of card designs. Mix and match for a custom holiday card set! 

Swing Beds

I saw a swing bed in last month's Better Homes and Gardens and fell in love. I didn't know such a thing was possible!! It is now a design requirement: not only is a porch with swing a must, but a back porch/screened in patio/etc. is a must with a swing bed. I started poking around online and man are these things more common than I thought! Expensive, but common. 

Photo from Coastal Living. Life doesn't get more peaceful than that.

This one is more my style: country chic. I want to be able to read a book, keep an eye on my chickens free-ranging in the yard and watch my kids playing all at the same time (I multi-task, what can I say?).

This bed is from Outback Patio.

And finally, what a cool idea to make the swing bright and colorful and a real showstopper/conversation piece? 

This one is obviously from SwingBedsOnline.com.

Pumpkin Patch

There have been a lot of photos circulating in the blog/online world lately and now I get to add my own. I don't remember the last time I went to pick out pumpkins, and I must say, it's a fairly anti-climactic adventure. Especially when you don't actually go out in the field to snag one, but rather point at one that's already been picked and then have your husband pick it up and cart it away. 

My big strong man holding the ridiculously heavy pumpkins. :)

The original plan was to head to the nature center to get a family photo for Mary and Brad. And some pictures of where they had their wedding with the fall colors. But that didn't quite work out. So we tried some family photos in the midst of kid/pumpkin craziness. Lovely results Gaertners! 

Beautiful family.

We decided Garfunkle needed some artistic shots in the pumpkins. He gamely put on his modeling face.

And what was perhaps my most favorite part of pumpkins....the baby pumpkins!!! It doesn't get any cuter than a big pile of baby pumpkins with gigantic stems. We got one for Finny and one for Vivy. Finny has been gnawing on the stems since we brought them home. 

I'm 100% positive it doesn't get any cuter than this. 

And finally, we went back to Mary and Brads and ordered some pizza and made some spiked apple cider. It was AMAZING. I made a spiced butter that we put into the simmering cider and stirred until it melted. Add a little rum and you're good to go. We drank our dessert for sure. The cider was so thick and rich. Absolutely delicious. After work today I made another stick of spiced butter and put it on a slice of warm homemade bread. WOW is all I can say. Here's a photo of one of my favorite baking ingredient combinations: butter and brown sugar. 

We ended up eating quite a bit of the spiced butter before it actually went into the cider. So good. 

Brian and I are really terrible at documenting our lives together. Maybe I'll make that a New Years Resolution this year or something. We did get several photos together that turned out surprisingly well (with our carefully chosen pumpkins of course). Tomorrow is Wednesday when I'm supposed to post, but MAN do I have a ton of cards to make (like....60...) so I'll probably be sharing more of life again on Friday. 

Hunting Season

Watching the sun rise as I wait for deer last year. 

Hello friends. It was brought to my attention at Cheesecake Factory on Thursday that hunting season is just around the corner. I'm pretty sure Andy, one of my managers, didn't even say hello--just started in with hunting season questions. It made me really excited and nervous. 


This year I am more determined than ever to get my first deer. Now that our meat is coming from Whole Foods, it's EXPENSIVE. If I got a decent-sized deer we could have burger and geotta and other things for quite some time for just the cost of my hunting license and deer tag! Plus, I know that the meat came from an animal that was able to have a good life. And more importantly for me--I know how it died and I will know exactly how it was processed, because I will be doing the butchering. I'll know water wasn't added to bring up the weight. I'll know that it wasn't just hacked up, but rather carefully trimmed of all the bitter fat and weird bits. I can't imagine the sense of ownership and pride sitting down to eat with your family and knowing YOU provided that for them with your own hands, and in my case with my own blood sweat and tears. (I always let my knives get too dull before having Uncle John sharpen them which means I get cuts; it's HOT lugging a shotgun around in the woods in 30 pounds of clothes and 20 pound boots; and if I actually kill a deer I'm pretty sure I'll be crying like crazy.)


Deer are beautiful, and they're living animals, and taking the life of one will be very, very hard. I'm hoping maybe adrenaline will kick in instead of sadness. I know it will, actually. The first time I saw a deer coming at me in the woods I was pretty sure I was having a heart attack. I have NEVER felt my heart beat so intensely. And I want to prove I can do it. After so many years of butchering other guys' deer, it's time to prove that I can get my own, AND butcher it, which many men can't claim. I'm not just a sitter and waiter in the woods. I'm a hunter. :) 


Here's some funny photos of my first year of hunting. It's quite a process of layering to get ready to go out! I was my mom's date for her office Christmas party the night before my first day of hunting. Here's me at 6:00 pm on a Friday night: 

And here's me at 6:00 am the next morning: 

I am smiling under there. Aren't all important photos in one's life taken in front of the fireplace?

And the funny thing is that hunting is really pretty boring. I think it's the anticipation and I assume the actual success of getting a deer that makes all the sitting and waiting worth it. 

It was almost noon I had seen one deer. In 4ish hours. As I was walking to my spot at 7am.  Not amused. 

I am getting much better at sitting alone in the woods for hours. It's really hard. You have to sit still. And be quiet. Taking pictures is frowned upon for sure. Last year I sat on a stump and stared at the same place for an hour without moving. Ridiculous. But I've mostly been better at sitting still because I'm a hardcore daydreamer. I make up scenarios like this: 

"If Bigfoot were to walk out of the woods over there what would I do? Would I shoot at him? I wouldn't want to kill him--what if he was the only one in the world? Maybe I could wound him. But what if he's so strong that my shell didn't stun him or slow him down? And my gun only has three slugs in it at a time! Should I risk having Bigfoot chase me down and possibly kill me in my attempts to wound him for the world of science?! Maybe I should run. But he's over 7 feet tall and could catch me really fast. Maybe I should call Tony on his cell phone. Or fire a warning shot in the air to try and scare him away..." 

These types of conundrums have to be tackled, and I think the woods is the right place for it. Don't worry. I'm solving all the world's hypothetical disaster scenarios out there.  

Our Wedding Photographer--Steph Carson

I've been meaning to share about our wedding photographer for some time. I get questions about our photos regularly. And we consider Steph our "life" photographer. We want her to document everything important that happens in ours lives--starting with our engagement photos a year and a half ago. 


Brian and I decided 3 things were super important for our wedding: an awesome live band, a great and beautiful location and an amazing photographer. We were SO LUCKY to find Steph Carson. It was like hanging out with a great friend all day. We had so much fun laughing and taking pictures and just experiencing our day and knowing we would be able to relive it when we got home from our honeymoon, and then for the rest of our lives. 


You have to pay money for great photography. If someone is just giving away their talents for free all the time...how good can they really be? I just feel like if you're good and you know you're worth it, then you charge the money your artistry is worth. (I have this issue when pricing my cards--I have to remember that I think my stuff is worth something, as well as the time I took to make them!) You can't skimp on this. You have this one day to get married--make sure it's documented to the best of your ability. What would you expect to get for $250? Probably not much right? Then why sell yourselves short and even consider that option? I discuss money because weddings are so budget-driven. Everything has a dollar value when you're planning a wedding. And it's easy to see bigger numbers and panic. The important things with your wedding photos is you have to think long term. 


Anyways, here is everything you need to know about Steph. She recently redesigned her brand. It looks just wonderful. Shows off her photos even better if that's possible--they stand so well on their own in any context. Her blog is a great place to get a feel for Steph. You get to see previews of what she's working on and keep up with her life vicariously through the blog. (This woman has some cool experiences--believe me it's not a boring read!) :) 


Her professional site has galleries you can get lost in for hours. You get a real sense of her style and what you can expect. [A good side note my friend Mary has mentioned before: you have to make sure the style you want matches what your photographer does. You won't be happy with modern or more edgy photos if you are really a more traditional person. And your photographer might not do their best work or enjoy THEIR day if you make them shoot in a style way outside their specialty.]


Something that is very exciting? Steph's work is at the Cincinnati Art Museum right now for an exhibit called "Wedded Perfection: Two Centuries of Wedding Gowns." Brian and I can't wait to check it out. 


And finally, here's two more of our favorite photos of Steph's from our wedding. :) You can find our whole gallery on her website. It's under "Megan and Brian" and well, you know our last name for the password. ;-) 

We're hoping to get some "just because" photos done soon with the kittehs. It's time the babies got the Steph treatment. :) See--Finny is so good at posing. He's ready for his closeup. ;-) 

Finny says it looks like he's got Viv in a choke hold, but it's really a "hug."

My New Atlas 150

I know it sounds like I got a Harry Potter broom, but the Atlas 150 is, in fact, a pasta maker. :) My dad got it for me for my birthday. We spent a lovely hour or so at The Learning Kitchen while I picked out a pasta maker (took about 3 minutes to find it) and Dad made life-long friends with the women working there (took about 45 minutes) and copied recipes and got cooking tips on using a Dutch Oven (which he also bought). It was a lot of fun. Their shop has some of the neatest things in it. And their cooking classes are so  wonderful. That's how I learned how to make pasta in the first place! Here's a picture of my new beauty: 

The goal is to not buy pasta or ravioli again. I know that sounds insane. It worries me a bit myself. Because just over a year ago I decided we were no longer buying bread from the store. And I have not bought a loaf of bread since I made that decision. And that means sometimes we don't have bread for a week (or two...). But it also means we save a ton of money, and we're eating something so much tastier and better for you than anything you'd find in the store (my bread rises with yeast--what a novel idea!!). 

The problem with doing this for pasta is that we eat a LOT of pasta. It's cheap and easy. But the great thing is that you can freeze homemade pasta for 6 months. It's tastes delicious and cooks in 5 minutes or less once the water is boiling. So if I can take the time every couple months to have a pasta-making bonanza for an evening or afternoon, we should be set for awhile. :) The first pasta item I will be making (hopefully next week?) will be Chicken Noodle Soup made with my homemade organic chicken stock and homemade noodles. Cannot wait! Check out the right side--see how there's larger grooves for linguini noodles, and smaller grooves on the far right for spaghetti? 

What else should I make with this thing? Ravioli is a must. I'm thinking a butternut squash ravioli with some kind of brown sugar sauce. And I bet I could make some little apple tart type raviolis and fry them up for dessert with some kind of caramel sauce for dipping. Leave me suggestions if you think of any--I'm very excited!

You Won't Believe This is Paper

WOW. Wow wow wow. I cannot believe these are made with PAPER. 

(Photos from www.artyulia.com. I first learned of this amazing lady from the blog Paper and Stitch.)

I'll wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor. I thought I paid attention to detail, but it is clearly evident I was wrong. Very wrong. These are done by artist Yulia Brodskaya. You must check out her website for many, many more examples of her stunning work. I have a ton of questions about these things. Looks like it's research time. Another interesting thing I noticed on her site: she often combines photos of her paper work with graphic design. It creates such a unique, seamless feel. BRILLIANT. 

And I also can't help wondering...how many paper cuts would one receive making art like this? 

PLAY

So the most recent series at church has been about PLAY (they had it in all caps so I feel compelled to do the same). And the last week was about how a day of rest was created for a purpose. And sometimes we just need to sit around and relax for our overall well-being. If you know me even a little bit you know that's incredibly hard for me to do, but I figured I'd give it a shot.


And I think I took it a bit too far. All our fall shows have started in the past two weeks or so, I've been pretty tired, and my business has been feeling a little overwhelming (lots of work + not so much sales = discouragement) and band season is well under way (etc. etc. insert more excuses here). And the moral of the story is I haven't been on my Etsy shop in a week. A whole week. Not a good feeling. So now I really need to get to work and nose to the grindstone and all that good stuff and get some items made and my name back in the rotation of new items on Etsy searches. When you value normal sleeping hours it's really hard to juggle so many jobs. But one thing is for sure--there will be much less tv watching in my future from here on out.


And speaking of the Etsy shop, there are so many things that one should do to fully promote one's store. It's exhausting. It's all such good advice but I simply do not have hours every day to dedicate to researching blogs and making connections and getting my name and products out on other people's blogs. It's such an important aspect but I don't know how to fit it in on top of actually making products to sell. I'll figure it out eventually.


In other news, did not get the job I applied for at my current company. I said from the start if I didn't get it then that means I'm supposed to stay where I am and pay off my student loans more quickly with the promotion/extremely generous raise I just got. But when you've been secretly hoping you got the job more than you've let on, and then you don't get it, it's very hard to put that in to practice and truly believe it. But, once those loan totals start slowly going down even more, I'll understand how exciting that can be--possibly even more exciting than starting a job that you would have loved and that could have propelled you on to other jobs you would have loved.


Everything happens for a reason and I'm sure there's lots for this one. Hope you all have had good weeks....it's almost Friday!!! LaSalle has their band invitational all day Saturday so I'll be the "Timing Judge" for that. (Sounds official...in reality not so much) :)

Birth. Day.

So today was perhaps the most unclimactic, uneventful birthday I've ever had--and I turned 25! I should have thrown a party of something but life is so busy (and that would be weird to throw my own party, right?) I did take the day off work, which was nice. But it flew by. And since it's nearly impossible for me to STOP WORKING AND DOING THINGS I had a list of about 10 to-do's made by noon. And then did exactly none of them which makes me feel all jittery and anxious.


Instead of doing productive things I layed on the couch and finished a book Mary loaned me (Mennonite in a Little Black Dress--amazingly funny memoir. Laugh out loud funny). And then went out to lunch with Ashley to Arthur's in Hyde Park Square for the first time (fantastic cod sandwich). And then came home and layed on the couch with the kittehs some more and watched DVR'd shows. 


Here's photos from my day: 

It's freezing in the house. Vivienne is so happy it's blanket weather again! I think she's spent the last 24 hours under covers. 

Could this little doll be any cuter!?!?! I mean honestly. He looks like a little angel.

They like to have us all connected. one will often reach out and just "hold hands" with the other or twist their tails together, etc. This was Vivy making sure she was still connected with little Finny. :)

Now, off to finish my wine, have some homemade hot chocolate, watch DWTS (Dancing with the Stars for you weirdos who don't watch...) and wait for my lovely husband to get home who bought me beautiful flowers today. :)