Friday Five

1. Once again, my favorite thing for the week was spending the evening with my favorite 4 year old.  The best Natalie-isms of today were her informing me that her grandparents "have already arrived on vacation" and after complete silence in the car while playing with the iPad, randomly yelling (while scaring me half to death) "Oh!  I am winning this game!."  Seriously?  What 4 year old says "arrived"?  How is she so darn cute!?

2. Best news I've read all week!  It's Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry AND Shakespeare, all rolled up into one awesome event!  How could it possibly go wrong!?

3. Etsy: I've ordered 2 fairly nifty items this week and I cannot wait to receive them.  I happen to love that we live in a world where Etsy exists.  There are so many cute things on this darn sight that it's slightly overwhelming.  But whenever you need an idea, or just something different, you will always find something perfect!

4. I think that this video has been out for a year, but I saw the real trailer earlier this evening at the movies and it made me think of this one.  As much as I want to see the actual movie, I think this little teaser may be even funnier than the first and second films put together.  Love these little yellow guys!

5. Another BuzzFeed Special but it's officially the only place I read about this story.  If it were up to me it would be written about in all the major newspapers.  This is a fantabulous (so cool I had to make up a word!) idea.  I'm in love with whomever finally realized that making Chemo a little more bearable for kids was a good thing.  Next stop: bringing it here!

My New Toy

This is my new toy.  The Canon Rebel T3.  Ain't it pretty? ; )

 

With this super-cool, light-weight little baby I have high hopes of one day being paid to take pictures like this:

Though, until I master all the bells and whistles (way more buttons than my old stand-by point and shoot1) or install the drivers and all the other technological like stuff that comes with it AND I purchase Photoshop (which I'm sure comes in handy when selling amazing shots), I suppose I'll settle for shots like this:

Visually Interesting, though not nearly as impressive

 

Can't wait to get going and start learning - I have some very specific plans to get on with! 



Warning: Geek Out!

I read a lot of British newspapers and watch a lot of British television, so if you don't know anything about what I'm about to say, I'm not surprised since no normal person really cares.  But it was announced last week that Matt Smith (aka the 11th Doctor) would be regenerating at Christmas of this year.  As a fan of Doctor Who, it's always fun to guess who the next doctor will be though I'm sure that fans of 11 are heartbroken over his decision to leave. 

I must say that I've never really been a fan.  All of his episodes are too dark and (to be honest) a little too confusing for me to wrap my non-time-traveler-y brain around.  However, in the past few days, as I've seen more and more online, I must admit that I will  be missing him as well. I catch myself quoting him a bit which is just slightly freaky...not to mention useless since no one I really care about knows what the heck I'm quoting.

But the best part of this new regeneration is all the speculation of who's next.  Who will be the 12th doctor?  I've seen arguments on whether or not they can bring back 10 (which I'd be all for however, I'm just not thinking it's going to happen) or turn one of the companions into 12.  They've even gone philosophical in their debates, trying to decide if the doctor can be a woman or should he continue to be white.  I'm not sure what the best answer would be, though I know he's (or she's I suppose) going to have some very large trainers and a bow tie to fill coming after David Tennant and Matt Smith.  But just for fun, and since every other Who fan is throwing their 2 cents in, my choices are below:

If it's going to be a girl - Miranda Hart (mostly because I find her hilarious!)

 

Rupert Grint (then he'd finally be ginger)

 



Stubborn

I have a bit of a stubborn streak in me.  When someone tells me one thing, I have a tendency to try (most often not succeed) to disprove it.  I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just saying it's a thing.   The stubbornness is stewing a bit as we speak and I can't decide if, in this instance, it's a good thing or just its usual annoying thing. 

I may have said this before but I'm not such a fan of hair in general.  If it were up to me we'd all go Sinead O'Connor so we wouldn't have to fight with it on a daily basis.  Because of this, I've most often kept my hair on the short side, even when I was little.  Not Sinead O'Connor short but never past my shoulders.  It is currently a bit past my shoulders which is driving me mental because of all the crazy things that long hair does..(knots, get stuck in your glasses, get stuck in your collar, get stuck in your necklace, blows in your face when driving - I can't be the only one that feels this way!)

In discussions today at work about hair (strange topic of convo I know), when I mentioned that I wanted to chop it all off again,  I was jumped all over.  The work friends, who I like quite a lot, told me that I should never have short hair because "guys don't like short hair and it's just no way to get a guy." 

A normal person would have let it drop there, but because of this stubbornness, I've been thinking of nothing else but chopping it all off again all afternoon.  In my head (because on top of the stubbornness, I'm also a bit spineless) I'm arguing that if a guy doesn't like me because of my hair length, he's not the kind of guy I want.  I'm also arguing (silently with myself you see) what the heck do they care?  I would never tell someone not to do something unless it was harmful or really stupid.  A haircut (in my book) does not justify them butting in. 

Most likely, I'll just shut up the next time hair comes up and will eventually just chop it off to show them.  But then of course I'll have to hear them complain again, which just leads to more internal arguments.  Seriously?! What has short hair ever done to them!?

Creativity Is...

A few weeks ago I decided to sign up for this Creativity class on a whim, through Coursera.  As far as I know the darn thing doesn't start until September but all 5000 of us participants have been getting weekly email "assignments" to gear up for what seems slightly intense/over the top for an online free class.  But I suppose it's summer and I don't really have much else to do, so I'm game.  Tonight's "assignment" was to think up 5 words that described creativity and they would include them all in a word cloud this weekend.  After a bit of deliberation my words were:

1. Necessary - The world would be so boring without creatives in our lives!

2. Contagious - I don't know about you, but I feel a whole lot more creative after spending a few hours browsing Pinterest.

3. Un-teachable - Though I'm not sure this is a real word, I'm sticking by it.  I think it's next to impossible to teach someone how to be creative.  You can teach them how to do creative things like art projects or preparing a 4 course meal but you can't change their thought patterns.  They have to discover the hidden potential on their own.

4. Innate - Like I said, it's a thought process thing.  We're all creative in our own ways, it's just the expression of that creativity that differs.  Don't let anyone ever say that they're not creative.  They just haven't discovered how to be yet.

5. Awesome! - Seeing a beautifully performed scene in a television show, hearing a stirring new song on the radio, reading a well-crafted novel, viewing a gorgeous photo, and about thousands of other things we all do on a daily basis: what could be better!?  The world is actually a pretty boring place, it's all of us creating our own little pieces of it, that makes it so awe-inspiring!

PS: Since I couldn't find a single picture that spoke the word "creativity" to me, I improvised...hence the rainbow font : )

Scottish Shortbread

 

I'm not even entirely sure where I got the crazy idea to give shortbread a try.  I've never had it before and never had any desire to make something that needs to be rolled out, but nonetheless I found myself baking it this evening.  With only 3 ingredients it's WAY easier than the macarons I still haven't mastered.  They're not quite pretty (quite wonky actually) however they taste fairly yummy.  I'm not sure if they're the correct consistency and I'm not sure if they're my new favorites but they're worth giving another shot.  And now that they're finally cool, I'm going to try a few with some tea.  Tea makes everything better!

A Taste of Two Cities

The second annual Taste of Two Cities took place today in Baltimore - a full review to come later - but oh how I love this event!  You smash together food trucks from all over the Baltimore-DC area, throw in some live music and some serious foodies, and you have the perfect way to spend a Saturday.  Aside from the fact it was un-godly hot (though since it's the first summer weekend and it was chilly last weekend, I promise not to complain!), it was fantastic as always. 

My only nit-pick is the lack of tasters.  I would think the perfect way to make it through one of these events is to have tiny portions so foodies can try stuff from all the trucks.  But no one seems to agree with me, so we just stuff ourselves and hope for the best. Honestly, I really don't think I can look at another morsel of food...ever again...