cold weather & cold candy

daily melody: Coconut Records "West Coast"

Today could be summed up with a "brrrrrrrr!" Sometimes I forget I live in New York State and it can get really really cold! Style sometimes replaces practicality and sometimes those boots you are wearing are not the warmest for your toes. I'm sitting in my room with a lovely little mug of hot cocoa and a Valentine's Day York peppermint pattie...which is shaped in a heart!

image found here

I also want to mention a big thanks to my lovey Shanna, who is not only a fantastic photo girl but also a wonderful travel companion! She tolerated my antics and what not while we were oversees in Canterbury, England of Fall 2008.

She bid on and won two of my paintings at a charitable art auction my friends and I put together in this past December to benefit Two Smiles One Hope. It made me really happy that she was soooo excited for them! I plan to adhering them to some stable foamcore so they retain some sort of professionalism and stay in tact.

Some photos via Shanna in her suite.
Check out her other lovely photos and blog Panic Later!

They look darling and I'm happy to spread my art!

sleepingbag style

daily melody: The Shins "Phantom Limb"

I moved back into the dormitory in college again. It would have been yesterday, but I delayed my plans.

As I unpacked, through the course of the night because I don't like to do it all in one shot like a practical individual, I realized I forgot to wash my comforter at the laundromat. In fact, to even better the epiphany that I had, I realized my blanket is actually in the back of my merc (my Mercury Grand Marquis) covering the seat to protect it from two large televisions that I picked up!

For any of those who do know me, this seems like a normal occurrence. I do take quite an enjoyment of scouring curbside to see what lovely treasures I can find! In this case, I have been diligently searching for televisions for my senior exhibition, which I will be posting preliminary bits and pieces along the way. I intend to work with discarded televisions sets and outdated technology as an installation touching on consumerism and American icons.

To get back to the point...because of my lack of thinking ahead with bringing along an extra blanket I will be sleeping "camping" style in my bed with my sleeping bag.
So, as I finish watching "The Royal Tenebaums" for the night, I will be drifting off to sleep reminiscent of sleeping like a Girl Scout on camping trips with old mattresses in screen cabins.



note: This isn't the first time I've been a goof and forgotten things like this. I will still be cozy and warm, and at least it beats an experience I had in London, piling clothes on myself in a friend of a friend's livingroom.

little joys

daily melody: Harlem Shakes "Technicolor Health"

Here are some little things that are bringing me some little joy today!

1. Crunchy Cheetos
I have them in a small tupperware bowl so I don't eat more than I need to! They get so tempting after trying to be so healthy

2. Bully Hill Growers Red wine
(in the recyclable eco-friendly box!)
I'm warming up to red wine and Bully Hill is mighty tasty

3. hot boots
I bought these little cuties at Forever 21. I realize they are not the best place to buy fantastic footwear, but they caught my eye and were oh-so kickin'

They look really rad with skinny jeans, and I'm sure with a dress and tights!
I'm itching to wear these beauts out so I will post again with an outfit.

4. a vegan cookbook
(I'm not vegan, but if was a thoughtful xmas gift from my dad)

They have sooo many tasty recipes! Since I'm back in school now, I won't be cooking as much which is quite sad, but I will have the weekends in Syracuse to try out some great recipes!


These are some some things in my life that bring me a tidbit of joy.
I hope you have some that do you the same!

recipe: 7-layer meatless tortilla pie

daily melody: Crystal Castles "Air War"

I decided to come home this weekend before starting my spring (and last semester of undergrad ever!) Can you tell I'm a little excited?

The rest of my family are still strong omnivores, so when I come home I usually volunteer to make a dish with supper. Either way I really enjoy cooking and always get excited to try out a new interesting recipe!

I decided to try this(from allrecipes.com)...a 7-layer meatless tortilla pie!

While I was grocery shopping for some fresh veggies, and the beans I forgot to pick up the picante sauce needed in this recipe....(yep...again) so I just substituted some salsa we had, which turned out just fine! I only used as much tortillas as I had which made two tortilla pies that were 5 layers tall. I baked them for about 25 minutes in the oven on a cookie tray. You can also re-hear this dish when you want another go in the oven again too!

It was a very simple, easy, and straightforward recipe...which seems to be a reoccurring theme lately. The dish was delish when I was all finished! My whole family and I polished through one whole pie with a side of some curry rice with veggies that I cooked up as well. Sometimes it gets a little tricky trying to get my dad to eat a no-meat meal, but even he was satisfied with the outcome.

When I remake this lovely little crowd pleaser I intend to add some chopped up onions, red peppers,corn, and mushrooms too. Because it was so easy and pretty quick to make it would be a great dish for parties, Daytona 500, or for the Super Bowl. And it was yummy to have a bit of sour cream with it too!

Sadly, I don't have any photos of my dish because I am still hunting for a cheap digital camera via eBay. The camera I use now and then is only because my roommate graciously lends it to me. I will be getting another one of my own....hopefully sooner rather than later!


I seem to be creating more "food art" than sellable art...but that will soon change.

In the meantime....happy cooking!!

happy as a bird

daily melody: Santogold ft. Drake & Lil' Wayne "Unstoppable"

I stumbled upon this little lovely.

It absolutely brightened me up!

image found here.

I have worked in the fast food industry longed than I intended. But seeing this makes me laugh a little thinking about the seagulls and birds squawking about free french fries.

hope it brings you some joy as well!

blog how-to [third column]

daily melody: Uffie ft. Justice "The Party"

I'm slowly reconstructing my blog as I retrace my steps, and make new ones, in creating my new blog.

I really enjoy the freedom of have three columns in my blogs instead of the regular two columns. I searched on the internet, like any modern individual who is searching for something they do not have prior knowledge to. I stumbled on this lovely link.

In three words, it was simple, easy, and straightforward.

Ms. Amanda, who create this fantastic tutorial was a lifesaver! I, personally, only had to do all of this once which is a major! Normally I would have to attempt to re-do the html in my blog at least three times before I got the results I desired. It also doesn't help too much that I'm pretty un-knowledgeable when it comes to html and all detailed computer know-how.

I recommend this to all my bloggin' friends!

photo found here

It's because of lovelies like you, Amanda, that people like me can still create great blogs with wonderful how-to's!

modern day artistic drought

daily melody: Busy P "Rainbow Man"

I have had a severe drought of creativity and motivation for the past months with my artwork. Life, anxiety, depression, and just my lack of motivation have all put their own into the mixed concoction that is me...along with a dash or two of my own faults for the lack of creation for the fall months.

I want to change this.

As an artist, creativity is all I have. And without it, I feel like a dried up sharpie marker ready for the waste bin. (side note: for any of you who personally know my work...I do love my sharpies).This is a brand new year, and I am begining down a path of finding myself again and developing into a better, more aware, more mature yet equally creative and spunky Caroline.

I have my senior exhibition breathing down my back coming up in early spring that I have high expectations for. From this point on, I will continue to make significant headway with it as I work to making it live up to the ideas in my head and in my sketchbook.

These are the significant themes that I am working with for my exhibition:

consumerism
modern day society
televisions
icons
discarded technology
America
Pop Art

This is a recent untitled piece I have created on cardboard.
It's a start and something I will be going with to keep things moving forward.

I am very much inspired by the artist Nam June Paik and his work with televisions, culture and consumerism.

"Hello Elephant" Nam June Paik 2000
compliments of Wood Street Galleries

more work to come!
more inspiration welcome!

recipe: quiche cupcakes

daily melody: Passion Pit "Sleepyhead"

I finally had a day off from work (Pier 1 Imports) and was itching to cook something I new. I decided on making some tasty spinach quiche!

I love quiche and yet, I find myself not eating too much of it. As of today, I will certainly be making it more often because the recipes for quiche were more simplistic than I thought they would be. The recipe I used,found on the handy-dandy interwebs can be found here.

I don't own a pie dish so I improvised with a cupcake tin. If Texas can make some huge toast...I'm sure they make huge cupcakes as well and it makes me believe that is where this tin originated from. It would make giant cupcakes!
I used my giant coffee mug as a circle template to cute the pie crust (I used premade) to mold into the cupcake tin.I was very excited to see the finished product! Even though I forgot a key ingredient they still turned out delish and will be equally satisfying for breakfast tomorrow with a big mug of coffee!

I completely forgot to add the feta cheese that goes in the recipe, but it still turned out great! Nick and I just ate the crumbles with the quiche cupcakes anyway. I substituted fresh baby spinach, which I wilted before adding it to the mix, instead of frozen to make it a little more fresh and healthy. I also topped the little guys with a fresh slice of tomato that went so well!

Bottom line, these little spinach quiche cupcakes were a great veggie supper with a tall glass of organic milk with my love! And they looked just darling once we got them out of their tins.

I'm hoping to try other veggie quiches as well. The more vegetables the merrier!

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I also bought two new fish today! I forget their exact species names...one is a calico goldfish breed and the other is a black breed. They're in a temporary home in our room on the old vintage dorm desk Nick found on the side of the road.

But they'll get their own separate post to come!

So Fresh !!

daily melody: Temper Trap "Sweet Disposition"

New blog.

I suppose that sentence in itself could sum up all of this post in the most simplistic form. I was growing tired of my old blog, and as a gemini, I needed a fresh change!


I'm still in the process of a clever title, and as for now that cute little smoking quail will be my representative into a new year, a better more collected life, and of course new adventures!