Germany, Part 1

Here's my first update from Germany! I've been here since Sunday and so far it's pretty awesome. My trip over went very smoothly (even getting through the JFK airport!). Window Seat :)

The food is so delicious! This is Kartoffeln, or potatoes.

All of the buildings look cool, and most of the houses have extensive flower gardens. These pictures are all from the first town we have visited, Neustrelitz. It's a little town by most people's standards, but it is very nice.

There is a big traffic circle at the town center and a lake and a small park. Over the couple of days we have been here we've gotten to walk around the entire town. I can't wait to see the next town! More posts to come soon, hopefully :)

Ciao!

Food Making

Lately I've been trying to summon up my Home Ec. skills and experiment with cooking. So far so good. Here's a picture of my manicotti. Supposedly the recipe comes from my great grandmother who came from Sicily, but it's suspiciously similar to the recipe on the noodle box. Coincidence? I think not. Obviously, Barilla stole my great-grandmother's recipe for their own. Regardless, it was delicioso.

Before the oven:

After the oven: Golden brown and yummy!

The End

On the way to the eye doctor today, I saw the Tree again. It has been cut down, reduced to an unimpressive pile of limbs and brush.

One more time

There is a tree that I found driving to school. I don't know what kind of tree, I'm not really into that, but it is beautiful and old. It is all by itself on the side of a country road, next to some rural farmland and across the way from a county jail. In high school I took many pictures of it for various photography projects. I'd stop on the side of the road on the way to/from school, and on a few occasions drove out to see it just to take a picture in the right weather, like when it snowed one year.

I have winter, spring, and summer pictures, but I never managed to get a fall picture. I don't generally get sentimental about things, but I really should have gotten that fall picture.
April 27, 2011, the tree was destroyed by the half mile wide tornado that tore through Limestone and Harvest. Yesterday I drove through the area on my way to Athens, and for old-time's sake I stopped and took a picture.



I saw many trees larger than this one torn out of the ground, roots and everything. But this one is resilient. It's battered, but alive; sad instead of beautiful. Seeing this kind of destruction all around me for the past 2 months has reminded me of how lucky I really am.
R.I.P. Tree.

DIY Vintage Vest

With the help of my mother, who's crafty enough to make her own clothes when she feels like it, I put this casual vest together. It's made from actual vintage fabric my mother had from the 70's and a pattern (which I altered a bit...) circa I'm guessing the 80's. I think it turned out to be a cute and simple way to dress up a tank top without adding too many layers for the summer heat. Not too bad for my first clothing project, if I may say so myself!



Next sewing project: retro A-line skirt!

Diamonds and Lace

This is my first airbrush project! Small square canvases arranged in a diamond pattern, done with acrylic paint. I used lace as a stencil and layered yellow and green paint to get the lime color. It was super easy and cheap, plus pretty fun and good practice using the airbrush (which I'm currently being taught how to use by my awesome boyfriend). Hopefully more to come!

The Zombie Apocolypse is Upon Us, and It Never Sounded Better

Not completely unrelated to the last post, Social Jet Lag has released a video for their song "Where did they Hyde Dr. Jekyl?" off of their recently released album The Monster Inside...Music and zombies, what's not to love?