snow day

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we get pretty excited about snow here in the south. giddy like screaming kids excited. we see a forecast stating a mere 20% chance of light flurries, and we make a beeline for the grocery store. bread and milk rations for dayyys. transplanted northerners living in the south, you may roll your eyes now.

yesterday was a snow day for me, and i was that giddy screaming kid. i didn't buy bread and milk, but i did make sure i had enough wine and coffee and dark chocolate peanut butter cups on hand.

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currently

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reading : just finished house by michael ruhlman. excellent memoir about a house built in the very early 20th century that he and his family moved into and completely renovated. sounds rather dull, but he writes with such interesting detail and includes historical facts about the house itself and the city of cleveland which is where they live. can't wait to read some of his other books.

listening to : boy & bear

snacking on : new age wine (a christmas gift from chelsea's mom). so, more drinking than snacking, but i think it falls under both categories.

thinking about : my roommate moves to england for two months on friday. SO excited for her, but i will miss her terribly. thank goodness for facetime.

wearing : sock monkey slippers. comfort is key.

playing with : new app notegraphy. make favorite quotes, lyrics and sayings into typographical works of art. (see above.)

remembering : all of the songs from once. my friend alex invited me to go with him to see the musical on sunday evening at the DPAC. the movie was good, but seeing it live was amazing. go listen to the song "falling slowly". people got talent, ya'll.

cards lately

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happy monday! how was everyone's weekend? i don't know about you, but it was haaard to get up this morning. i always set at least four alarms for myself. seems a little excessive, but experience has taught me that i can't get away with less. ("experience" in this case means WAKING UP at the time that i should be walking into work.) this morning i reset the fourth alarm three times. no wakey, more sleepy. it is mornings like these that i rejoice in the fact that coffee exists. oh, how thankful i am for that stuff.

i've mentioned in some previous posts that i sell my goods at various brick and mortar shops. it's the best thing in the world to sit down at my craft table and put together a new necklace style or series of greeting cards. and when i get to bring fresh inventory to places like swank coffee, saxapahaw mercantile and blue horse market? pure bliss.

i thought i'd share with you guys some of the valentine's day cards that i've been working on lately. i am a huge supporter of february 14th. all that pink and red and oversized stuffed animal crap just does it for me. i'm a great big softie, and i don't care who knows it.

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and now i have a serious question. would these styles and types of card be something you would like to see in my etsy shop? i have only ever sold jewelry on hum right along, but i'm interested in expanding my offerings. just curious! any feedback would be appreciated. (right now it is bare bones empty, but i've been working all weekend on listing lots of new items. be on the lookout!)

hope you guys have a great monday. if you're having a difficult time getting into the swing of things like i was this morning, pour yourself a big cup of coffee/tea/chai and listen to a favorite song. seems to help me. (right now, i'm digging great american canyon band.)

under the weather

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i've been feeling a little puny this week. nothing major, just a head cold. i haven't been sick in a long, long time so i guess it was just my time to get hit with something. honestly, it's been nice. i've taken the week off from the gym and instead i've been crafting my little heart away. my work table is filled with brass chain and bits of baking twine and paper scraps.

the only thing i have done after work besides craft was attend triangle restaurant week with my roommate and my friend alex. we tried out g2b gastro pub in durham and ordered from their prix fixe menu. the food was decent enough but the best part of the evening, hands down, was the giant wii projection screen in the bar area. after dinner, we played each other in mario kart. if awards had been given out based on ranking status, yours truly would have won a participation ribbon.

but back to my head cold because i really just want to talk about that again. anyone have top-notch cold remedies? something to sucker punch this congestion in the head? pun intended.

nutella ravioli

{photo credit: me}

if there is a recipe out there involving nutella, i WILL find it. that creamy, chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness is good straight out of the jar, no doubt. but imagine pairing it with peanut butter, cream cheese and chocolate chips and wrapping it up in a little wonton blanket. IMAGINE IT. that's exactly what we're doing today. it's one of the easiest recipes out there. so easy that i'm not even sure it counts as a recipe.

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fill wonton wrappers with your ingredient combo of preference. i made some with just nutella, some with nutella and cream cheese, and some with the works-nutella, cream cheese, peanut butter, chocolate chips.

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wet the edges of the wrapper with water and seal shut with the help of a fork. spray the tops of the raviolis with pam spray.

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into the oven they go! bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

let the ravs cool for a minute and sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

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eat! i didn't think of this, but adding a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream would be really delicious.

the inside was perfection. the flavors baked together nicely and created the most delicious combo. my only complaint was that the wonton edges baked up too hard. try filling your raviolis with more nutella and baking them for less time (6 minutes or so). find the full recipe here.

do you have a recipe that's so easy to make that you kind of feel like you're cheating, but cheating in a good way?

golden birthday

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today is my younger brother riley's golden birthday. 20 years on the 20th. (cute kid in the middle.) yesterday, my family drove to his college town to celebrate with him. we treated him to mexican food, chocolate cupcakes and a huge cartoon balloon bouquet.

he's a trip, this one is. he is one of the funniest people i know. i don't even know how he comes up with the things that he says. i try really hard to be funny and i'm not in the slightest, but riley will make a comment off the cuff and have me rolling. i need to take lessons. maybe they offer a class in this somewhere. "how to be hilarious 101". see what i mean? that wasn't even funny. good lord.

happy birthday, riles! love you much.

internet gems. part four.

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monday. your face? i don't like it. i much prefer friday's, saturday's and sunday's faces. so, let's talk about them. how was your weekend, lovelies? did you get into anything fun? i had a great one. planned activities and lots of relaxing time. that combo works well for me. if i have too much going on during my weekend, i feel tired going into the new week. too much down time and i go crazy. gotta balance it out. this weekend i grabbed sushi dinner with friends, crafted and painted (see above), made progress in my current book, tried a new church, coffee date with peters, spent money i should have saved and had friends over to our apartment for sunday evening dinner. time well spent.

i've been finding some fun gems around the web and collecting them to share with you guys. now seems as good a time as any. internet links! you know how this works!

how to take pictures at parties.

emma kate's 10 things i love

life has big plans. get ready because they include YOU.

ok. this is my first official announcement, but I GOT AN IPHONE, AND NOW I CAN BE ON THE LINE ALL DAY. naturally, i'm interested in what cool apps i need. this is a good starter list. do you guys have any suggestions?

flippant wood burned plaques.

make way for ducklings tour. a precious video based on the robert mccloskey children's book. (found this gem via anna's awesome blog.)

just found courtney's blog, and i'm totally jazzed. especially about this DIY.

why i read.

this new online mag produced by natalie from thoughts by natalie. her blog is just wonderful, and i can only assume her magazine will be the same. 

a longish read, but her words are important and thoughtful.

my friend liz got me an espro press for christmas. i feel fancy.

skillet dinner that i will be making for dinner one night this week.

brrrrr it's cold in california.

what are you digging around the internet? do share!