the making of the bed.

Happy Friday!  A big "thanks!"  to t & s hughes photography for this sweet mention and the lovely photos of some samples I sent over.  Also, wanted to share a video (terribly quality...sorry!) of my favorite daily ritual of Job's.  Enjoy :)
          

the final product:

caught.

hello Job.

:)

job (pronounced ˈdʒoʊb or "j-oh-b"?!).

I am obsessed with taking pictures of our dog, Job.  Sometimes, I feel like my obsession is inappropriate.  He's such a good subject though!  And, I'll just be honest right here and now...at this stage in my life, I think baby animals/animals are cuter than babies/humans.  I might always think this.  I really like animals.  Always have!  Also, while trying to figure out how to distinguish Job's name in the title so you didn't think this was about a job (profession), I discovered (via wikipedia) the IPA (international phonetic alphabet).  I totally don't get it and it seems incredibly complicated, which is why I included "Job" pronounced by the IPA in the title.  Which, doesn't really help explain his name in my opinion.  Um...yep, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Other news around here lately is that I have become completely obsessed with the show "Heroes" and am dreading the nearing end of our free trial of netflix because I'm not sure HOW I will finish the show!!  And they are really good at cliffhanging you.  Also, I may have already killed one of my air plants.  I'm really sad/upset/embarrassed about it.  I figured pruning is something you do for ALL plants.  But, I pruned one of my little guys so much that he literally broke into 2 separate pieces.  Not sure what's going to happen from here....no more pruning of my air plants!  EEk :(

Anywho, here's a little bit of the animal photo taking obsession today:

 thought he looked super cute/goofy here, laying on his paw.

this is after he made his bed!  it's so cute. he makes it by pulling 

& moving the blanket with his paws and mouth (every night/day!).

 this is a less common one...on top of both front arms!  he looks like a burrito :)

 yep.  too cute.

life lately.

Ohhh where to begin!  I am writing feeling a bit out of sorts (which is how I think I feel often/in general lately).  I feel like there have been many different personal and emotional developments and discoveries going on which at times overwhelm me.  Lately I sit down at our table in front of my computer to work and just feel unable to produce or give myself to my work. I am okay, most of the time, but I am certainly feeling stunted in a lot of areas right now.  Just...needing to share that today.  Hope you understand :) Here are some random photos and a video taken recently:

 happy puppy?  he has mad contortion skills.

 my favorite shoes.

                    

 a new job nightmare video.  makes me giggle.

a cincinnati weekend.

We have been overdue for a while with a visit to Cincinnati.  So, we headed back!  Spent some much needed time with family, by the pool (my skin is finally showing signs of summer....it took a while!), with friends, and eating our favorite foods.  Here's some evidence of it all:

Dan giving me sideballs on the drive down.

typical Job!

Jenny & baby Theo :)

tree frog :) :) :)

a bug.  a very strange, fuzzy, white bug.  that I accidentally killed :(

an AMAZING restaurant called Boca.  my in-laws treated us to a VERY special dinner!!

our friend Chase was our server & he sent a treat from the kitchen...

watermelon & avocado gazpacho!

my first course.  sweet corn & mascarpone filled house made pasta.

my pork.  so tender & juicy.

mama-in-law's sea bass....beautiful!

and my favorite part...DESSERT!  blueberry almond cake...

a lovely creme brulee!

my cheesecake.  SO creamy.  the best I've ever had!

and...this is how we hydrate Job on our road trips.  ice in a cup!

Can't wait to be back in Cinci a month from today to have our two worlds collide!!

THESE GUYS are playing at one of our favorite places in the Nati!  YAY :)

music monday: bon iver first listen (NPR) & a recipe!

Bon Iver's new album is coming out soooo soon!  It's good.  Real good.  Except for the last two songs (they get real Michael Bolton/old school Phil Collins!).  Anyway, the good songs certainly outweigh the bad ones.  Listen here through NPR! 

This isn't music or recipe related, but regardless, I think you should heed my advice.  Check this issue of sweet paul mag out!  NOW!  It is definitely one of the best online mag issues I've seen yet. Beautiful photos.  Fantastic recipes.  GO!

And, a recipe for spicy sweet potato fries!  I made them Saturday and they were soooo tasty.  I always skip steps like food processing seasonings, measuring seasoning and such.  I like easy cooking (and clean up!).  They were still super amazing (a tad too spicy though.  Oops.  Should've measured the pepper flakes!).

and...last but not least, a HELLO from Job!  Doing something weird with his paw...

super RANDOM (food/home video/desktop calendar).

Happy Friday!  Just had some fun and random things for you today.  First, a Dake home video starring Job and Dan!

Next, Shanna Murray's june desktop calendar(s) with Abby Try Again.  SO pretty!  And we have options!  I picked the lights for now...

And last....another home made pizza!  This one had potato, onion, broccoli, garlic, and mushroom.  We did NOT enjoy the broccoli.  NO more broccoli on pizza!  And, some homemade meatballs in the making for pasta & subs.

That's all.  Told you it was random.  Have a lovely weekend!!

mice & a recipe (no, not together).

DISCLAIMER: if the words "mouse" or "mice" are incredibly disturbing to you, you may not want to read further.  Or, you could just skip to the end where the delicious recipe is!

UGH.  I have been feeling quite overwhelmed and frustrated with this "little" situation we've been having since the end of February.  It's called....MICE in our apartment!  Ew!!  To this date we can count having seen 3 alive 3 dead (in a trap).  1 of those living ones was...caught alive. By: ME.  Yesterday!  ACK!  The exterminator came a week ago as of yesterday (why, you may ask, did the exterminator come just yesterday when you've had an issue since Feb?! Well, I suppose our management company didn't take me seriously enough.  They just gave us commercial traps that weren't supposed to be in an apartment unit.  Fun, right?!).  Also, I just want to say for the record that I feel like we are VERY clean!!  I clean the same day every week!  So I don't feel like it makes a ton of sense for them to be here.  I suppose we didn't have our food stored very well though.  That's taken care of now!!

Well here's yesterday's story:
Job started freaking out near my work closet (which contains my sewing machine, my stock of paper supplies, our hanging shirts and sweaters (since we don't have a closet in our bedroom), TONS of leftover fabric from school, and more!) and I was pretty sure he had seen something....I was hoping he was wrong.  He wasn't.  I had kept returning to the closet to see if maybe I could find the culprit.  One time, I did.  Job was on it!  He was sort of swatting and attempting to eat (or maybe just play with?) when I remembered that this mouse could have eaten rodenticide.  So I got nervous and yelled at Job.  Either way the mouse didn't look so hot.  No blood or anything, but he just looked...slow, and mice aren't slow!  Well, in Job's hesitation from my yelling the little mouse got away.  I figured he poked into a crevice (our molding doesn't touch the wood floor in our pantry or said closet.  This is a problem.  Our wonderful maintenance man will be taking care of that soon!) so I walked away and proceeded to text Dan and some friends in my anxious state (oh, and call the management company).  Well, a little while later I had somehow mustered up the courage to move the some things that were on the floor around to just see if he had actually stayed in the closet and not creeped into a crevice.  A squeal and big breath later...I realized he had stayed.  I called Dan.  Help!  I really didn't want to have to take care of the issue, but...so no way around it.  HOW was I going to get any work done if I didn't take care of it?!  Who else could take care of it for me?!  (No one is the answer to that).  So after talking with Dan I grabbed some plastic tupperware and stuck it at the exit.  He was trapped in the direction he was facing.  I used some foam core that was in the closet and scooted him into the tupperware. I put the lid on it.  I felt like a BIG, HUGE, AWFUL criminal.  I still sort of do...but, even though a part of me thought this little guy was cute I did NOT want him in my apartment. Oh it was a really terrible feeling taking him to the trash and seeing him sniffing around in the tupperware.  I thought through the fact that he probably has ingested poison, which could hurt other outdoor creatures.  And...if he had ingested poison, he would have just died elsewhere and become someone else's issue!!!  Oh how I tried to think through things. Ultimately though, he needed to leave our apartment.  This was all followed by a very thorough lysol cleaning.

Eh...I hope this problem stops soon.  They have been getting into our food and pooping in our pantry and closet for WAY too long.

On a good note, during this fiasco, I was making this:

roasted fall veggie & ricotta pizza (RECIPE HERE) from martha!

Thankfully, the mouse incident didn't upset my stomach.  At least not a couple of hours later.  Found out Whole Foods sells 22 oz. of freshly made pizza dough for $2.50!!  GENIUS!  I think we'll be having pizza weekly from now on.

Happy Friday!!  The weather is FINALLY nice here :)

a gift for job.

My parents were in town the 16th-20th.  It was wonderful to see them and spend time with them.  It had been since Christmas :( Unfortunately...I have zero pictures with them.  Silly, right?  I do, however, have pictures of a gift they brought for Job...

That bone is crazy, right?!?!  Well unfortunately it didn't last too long.  It's in a bag on top of a cabinet because it was loud and very messy.  He wouldn't stop going over by the cabinet and thrusting his neck and nose into the air to smell it.  Last time he had something like that our whole living room smelled like jerky (this one doesn't smell, thankfully) and the clean up was terrible!!  So, we're waiting for some nice days outside.  

Then he can chew it all he wants :)

quick FREE music alert!

I don't have much time to devote to this but I wanted to inform you of a new track from "seven swans: reimagined" that is available for free for a short (unspecified) amount of time!

Head HERE to download it!

Just thought I'd throw in a little Job lovin' for you :)

molly spent the night!

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, our friends got married this past weekend and that is a beautiful thing.  Last week, on Wednesday (my weekly laundry/cleaning day) these friends called and asked for a favor. They asked if we could keep a dog for a night!  I was hesitant. Because on Wednesdays (you know, my weekly laundry/cleaning day) I am a selfish jerk when it comes to anything that might reverse what I just spent time doing.  So...having another dog in our home did not sound fun.  Well, I quickly realized how foolish I was and tried to convince them that it would be no problem (which it really wouldn't be!  I just knew my hesitation hurt the situation).  Well, in the end, Molly spent the night!  Job was SO happy (of course).  They were really funny and cute together.  Although I think the whole time Molly really just wanted her real family back.  She slept at the back door all night!  It was so sad! But alas, all was well. Here are the two cuties:

valentine's day freebie reminder!

Daniel, Job and myself are headed to Cincinnati for the weekend.  His parents both have February birthdays so we're going to hang with them and celebrate those.  I just wanted to make sure you printed out some free valentine's day postcards/cards!  I suppose for this year it's sort of your last chance to use them...

I wanted to leave you with some reminiscent photos of smaller Job.  Ohhh my do I miss those days!  What a goober...

Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

the blizzard of '11!

Just wanted to share some photos from yesterday morning...I am quite sure I have never experienced this great of a snowstorm!  We live by the lake, so that makes things even more interesting ;)  It was pretty fun to watch Job sinking so deep...and of course, Dan was just thrilled to throw himself/Job/me into the snow.

 (the back alley)

 (our courtyard!  ah!)

 (people just...walking in the streets)

 (a stranded cab.  eek.)

 (a pig head on a dumpster.  WAIT.  WHAT?!  no idea why...sorry if this really grosses you out! it was just so odd and...fascinating!  a Lord of the Flies statement?!)

 (the lake!  whoah!)

 (more "lake")

 (Dan & Job :D)

 (the only time my hunter boots have really seemed

necessary in the 3+ years that I've owned them..ha!)

the rest are just neat textures!  I really liked the shape and form...

Thankfully our blizzard experience was a "fun" one for the most part.  We had food, warmth, and electricity, and I am able to post photos of the fun we had.  My heart goes out to those who were stranded in their cars, got in accidents, lost power, or didn't have a home during the storm.