o, world.

Link Love {the schmancy edition}

Fancy.

{wonderfully} Busy.

So much happened this week{+end}. My afterschool art classes finally got into full swing. The kids painted, glued, drew, collaged, sculpted and built. I got a sticker that said 'I love you', more hugs than I can recall getting in the last several months, and two drawings of Wolverine.

I went to the thrift for the first time in awhile, where I bought several wonderful things: a cracked, kelly green coin purse that is essentially useless but un-pass-up-able, being practically perfect in every way (very green, very old, very tiny), an old, red leather bag with a very confusing strap, and...



...which quickly, excitedly became...



I made a necklace for a friend's wife...



...and something I can't show you quite yet with these Moo cards.



I spent Saturday wandering around Cincinnati, which kept my over-excited (Moo cards! Silverware to slice up! Tiny coin purses! *falls over*) brain from burning out, and made for some lovely photo ops.



The light was perfect, and I took more pictures than I had in a long time.



And now I'm here, catching up on emails, looking forward to tomorrow's dinner with my parents, and to next week's finishing of above-mentioned projects and the start, inevitably, of a few new ones.

The Frugal Foodie (Bean Soup Edition)

It's fall, so, obviously it's bean soup time. I love soup because it lasts forever and gets even better when it's sat for a day or two, making it ideal for leftovers. I can get about ten decent sized servings out of this recipe, which costs about $6. $3.49 for the beans and $1.69 for the tomato paste. A big bag of brown rice runs about $3 at Trader Joe's, and I use a cup, so I'm going with less than a dollar for that. Sometimes I'll add in carrots or celery, and this time I got some reduced price asparagus, as it was about to expire, but the soup is just fine without.

What you need

Big soup pot and various cooking implements
1 can of Randall's Northern Beans
1 can of tomato paste
1 cup of rice (I might go with wild rice next time, see how it turns out)

What you do

If you're adding veggies to the soup, slice them and saute them in the bottom of the soup pot with some olive oil for a few, then go on to the next step.
Dump the beans into the soup pot.
Fill up the empty bean jar with water, dump that in the soup pot.
Contents of the tomato paste can go into the soup pot as well.
Cup of rice? Into the pot!
Bring to a boil slowly, on medium high heat.
Turn down to medium low, let it cook for about an hour.

Easiest recipe ever, and so tasty. Hope you like it!

Dayton Does {The Free Coffee Edition}

I like coffee and I like free things. I might've peed myself a little Imagine my reaction when I found out that both of those things were coming together for one glorious event I'm calling Seriously, You Can Only Get One, It's Best For Everyone - No, Really, Do Not Go Back Through That Line, or, free small coffee day on Tuesday at In N Out Java in celebration of National Coffee Day. Visit them from 6am-6pm, and be sure to ask them about their new hours, which are changing as of October 1st.

Dayton Does (German Beer and Bicycles Edition)

I spent this afternoon at the school where I'll be teaching an after-school arts program, feeling overwhelmed (I could never be a teacher - all those schedules and rooms..owie.) and feeling very self conscious as the principal and art teacher stared at my tattoos. I left feeling slightly less overwhelmed but chastened in the way that only schoolteachers can make you feel. The school is by the Art Institute, and as I drove by I remembered that the Art Institute is hosting it's annual Oktoberfest this weekend. Why did I always think that admission was prohibitively expensive? I had it in my little brain that it was upwards of $20. It is not. It's only $6 at the door! You should go! There's beer, and brats, and all sorts of things that I, as a vegetarian, cannot eat but I imagine are very, very tasty. And german beer! And local artists selling their wares. I could and would justify it based on the availability of potato pancakes alone, but Iam actually full up both days this weekend: teaching and picking up friends from airports and eating ice cream in Columbus.

So, yes. I was driving. I decided, having mailed out two outstanding orders (your necklace is on it's waaaaayyy, Wendy, I can't wait for you to get it!), to dick around on the internet chill out at the coffee shop until it was time for me to meet up with Darren for our weekly studio sesh, and as I was waiting for my New York Light and Sweet I remembered that there was yet another event that I was going to have to miss (remind me to rant tell you how infuriating it is that Dayton packs all of it's fun events into approximately 4 weekends per year - I'm looking at you, Urban Nights/Oregon District Arts Festival/Greek Festival/Italian Festival) the 2nd annual BloodNDust fixed gear bike race this weekend. Okay, disclaimer: that link will give you epilepsy (again, address for hatemail is in the upper right corner of this blog). Don't click on it. Just email Martin: bloodndust@gmail.com. Seriously. Owie.

Anyway. It's a fixed gear, no brakes bike race starting at 8pm, with $600 for first place, second place being 1st loser and getting, um, lemme look, nothing. I'm a bit of a puss and realllly enjoy having 27 gears to choose from, though that's about to change when my friend Justin (who is going to be in the race!) finds me a new bike (which I will powdercoat a very slight, matte off white, mmm, oh, yes.), but I do like watching the fixies race. Rumor is there are tall bikes, which makes the big kid in me's eyes roll allll the way back in my head, but are fun to watch nonetheless, as long as the tall bike kids don't see me, which would just encourage them. I want to go, I want to see it, I cannot. You should.