This is it. This is me.

So, let's sum up the last few months...

Broke up with Ryan. Found myself. Got really poor. Worked stupid jobs. It was all worth it because I love my new job and everything is going to be okay! Hurrah!

Pictures, you ask? Here you go:

[Finally photos of my apartment, almost the way I always dreamed it would be.]

 The very first branch mobile. I love it so very much. If anyone is interested in one... please let me know. They will be very reasonably priced depending on size of mobile of course.

 This particular one is pretty large. I cut out strips of paper from the pages of an old yellowed book for a nice weathered look and decoupaged them on. This took the most time of course. Feathers, wooden beads, and hand carved and painted wooden birds. Wish I could say I made the beads and birds but I did not. 

 Clutter!!

 Same mobile sitting in a vase. 

 Winter time can be quite lovely. It makes me want to stay inside and enjoy my apartment more. Cozying up on the couch with the pups, reading Sylvia Plath, drinking coffee or tea... maybe a beer or glass of wine depending on my mood. What could be better than that?

This little section of my apartment in my dining room cheers me up.

 

Glass beads. Lovely!! (New line of mobiles. White painted branches and leaves.)

Just like this photo. 

DOGS!

 Coconut is such a lady!

Moonbeam pretends to be such a lady. This only translates well and fools you in photos... not so much IRL.

 Moonbeam likes to do this most of the time. Sitting on Coconut is the bees knees!

Wish this photo weren't so blurry. Coconut looks like a woodland creature with antlers!

This is my new neighbor, Luke, enjoying MB's company. Here he is wearing his favorite shirt. Luke likes music of all kinds, dance parties, playing my guitar, youtubes and updating his facebook.

Ju-Crys-mas! 

This year I spent Christmas with the lovely Julia and we had a Ju-Crys-mas. Here is Julia learning how to chop veggies. Good job, Julia. 

 We made a vegetarian dinner consisting of Nut Loaf, Baked Mac n Chz, broiled Asparagus. We drank Grasshopperz and Malbec. We devoured Razzleberry Pie with French Vanilla ice cream. 'Twas nothing but the very best time with a very best friend.

 Julia Facebooking, drinking a grasshopper, wearing my unicorn horn from Halloween.

Birds of a feather flock together.

A mobile I made Julia for Christmas. 

Christmasssssssssss.

I like making veggie dinners.

 This is the easiest most delicious salad on the planet. Vine ripe tomatoes, avocado, lemon juice, chives.

Malbec, Butter Thyme Butternut Squash, Rissotto Asparagus. 

Dead things.

 Dead birds at the field museum.

Taxidermist tools of the trade.

THE END.

Thanks for stopping by!!

-Fancy

Sorry for being M.I.A.

It has been so long and so many changes have occurred! A real post with updates on my life will come soon enough. I have new projects I am working on and will be photographing to show you all.

I miss my bedroom...

Click photo for full view.

Source

The days are short, the nights long.

(photo from pepography)

Things are a mess again but I can fix it. I will fix it.

Bicycle Rush Hour in Utrecht, Netherlands

Really loving this. Wish I would ride my bike more but I'm afraid of getting killed. Chicago has a lot of cyclists but there are still a lot of cars and not enough bike lanes. Also, the motorists are not very considerate of cyclists. It's terrifying.





Also... PEOPLE HOLDING UMBRELLAS AND RIDING BIKES!!?
I have been dying to see someone do this IRL and here it is. Amazing!

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot Cards!

I received my Fantastic Menagerie Tarot Deck in the mail this past Monday thanks to Ryan. Now I am well on my way to becoming a real gypsy with fortune telling abilities. :]

Here are some of the cards in the deck...

They are beautiful and strange. I love them.

So far I have learned how to do a reading with the Suit of Wands which represents the career aspect of our daily lives. The reading I learned is pretty simple and you may only ask a yes or no question having to do with the subject of career of course. I did a reading for myself today and it seemed to work. I tried with Ryan over the phone while he was at work and the reading did not come out right. I guess I can't have my own psychic hotline. Bummer.

Mary and Max

Just watched the cutest movie called Mary and Max. I highly recommend it. Apparently it is based on a true story.

I Miss Sun Showers and Rainbows.

I dream of living in a country setting, where the trees are my company and the sounds of rivers and critters are my music. I want to go for a bike ride on a country road where there are trees on both sides of the road and they hang over like a bridge. I want to eat homemade sandwiches by a lake... and maybe go swimming and catch some tadpoles. I want to live a simple life that is refreshing and lovely. Perhaps the city is no longer for me.

Yardsale!

This past weekend my friend Stephen and I had a yard sale on Sunday. Unfortunately it was raining for the beginning half of it but then the rain let up. We thought that business would pick up since the rain had passed but due to Lollapalooza being that weekend... we were wrong.

I ended up making $52. It was a lot of work for that kind of money but at least I was sitting down most of the time and hanging out with Stephen. I made the Rosemary Lemonade and no one bought any of it so Stephen and I drank it with a bottle of gin. I had a lot of fun. We are going to try to have another yardsale in a couple of weeks. I hope I can convince myself to get rid of even more stuff by then.

We got complemented on our classy yard sale. But people still didn't pay top dollars for our goods. Ho hum.

Stephen and I had baked goods for sale and I only sold one. He sold a few of his cookies. The funny thing is I spent $20 or more for what I made. Silly I know. Even sillier is that I was up until 3 in the morning making my little cake pops.

-Fancypants

What's on your bedside table?

This is mine currently.

Photos Long Over Due.

Origami water balloons I made for Ryan's birthday party.

I made over a 100 of these. They were fun to make but took hours of time. 

Here they are hanging on embroidery floss. So pretty.

The party was a mexican theme.

Moustaches.

Moonbeam was in full Mexican spirit.

What's a mexican party without Pin the Tail on the Donkey?

Ryan was close but I ended up winning. :]

The food was delicious and healthy.

This Mexican slaw was incredible and worth the time spent making it.

And everyone really enjoyed my famous mango guacamole that's simple to make. 

Mango Guacamole Recipe:

1 yellow onion (sweeter)

1 large tomato

1 bunch of cilantro

2-3 limes (depending on how tangy you want it)

2 avocados

1 large mango

1 jalapeno (optional)

Chop each indgredient. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Less mixing equals chunkier guacamole. I like to mush everything together until its blended well but with good sized pieces of avocado still visible.

Add salt, pepper and chili powder to taste.

Back to the photos...

We played some bags out in the courtyard and drank homemade margaritas made by yours truly.

Fresh squeezed limes, agave nectar, your favorite Tequila (mine is Don Julio because its sweeter than others) and a little water to taste. Salted rim and voila!

Ryan turned 27. Such a big boy. ha Unfortunately I didn't have time to make cupcakes so we had store bought cupcakes that were pretty but not very tasty. I did make my grandmother's 10 minute flan.

10 Minute Flan:
1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan, heat until sugar is melted into a brown sticky sauce. Pour into your desired microwave safe dish large enough for the flan. You will need to roll the melted sugar around to evenly coat the bottom and sides of the dish.

In a blender, mix 3 large eggs, 1 can condensed milk and one can of evaporated milk. Blend until frothy.   Pour over the melted sugar in the dish. The melted sugar should be cooled by now. Now cover the dish (you can also use plastic wrap) and put in microwave for 10 minutes. Once done let it cool in the fridge.

Hope you enjoyed this post.
-Fancypants