Foxy Roxie

Today, I became a little girl all over again when I bought a PINK Schwinn roxie (the name as read on the bike) beach cruiser! Thats right, I walked the aisles of target pushing a shiny pink bike around, and with the help from my Mom, squeezed it in her car to bring roxie home! I was so excited, everyone who passed us smiled and we even overheard a few "wow! she got a pretty pink bike!" comments from fellow shoppers.

I will say riding a bike wasn't as easy as I remembered! Of course I never forgot HOW to ride a bike its just my body went limp after a few peddles around the block. Can anyone say "JELLO?" Oh, but what fun I had riding this precious pink cruiser around with my very fashionable helmet...sike! I think pink bikes just make people happy, because every person I rode by smiled and waved with extra enthusiasm!

So, if you can't find me... I'll be riding Roxie!

Not So Great Time For A Great Dane

I have been tracking "Ella" the great dane I so very much wanted to adopt, but tonight found out some bad news. She was adopted, meaning off the market for me. My brother jokingly said to me just last week, that I better snatch her up while she was available. Well Daniel, you are getting the last laugh here. I will not for the sake of the dog and my parents, adopt a Great Dane until I have graduated college (May 14), gotten a full time job, and moved out of my parents house. These minor set backs are what is keeping my pack from growing. To curb my envies for a Great Dane, I will in fact start to volunteer for the local Great Dane rescue. This will most likely begin sometime after Easter or maybe even after graduation seeing that I am fairly busy right now. Wish me luck, and patients. Also, to the lucky person/family who adopted Ella, congratulations she is one BEAUTIFUL dog!

Tennis Anyone?

With the weather warming up (even if today was a little chilly) its officially tennis season. AHH CRUD! This means our neighborhood tennis courts are occupied from about 3pm to 9pm EVERYDAY. This is a problem only because tennis helps my wild pup unwind and release the pent up energy from the day. Our long walks are much more pleasant after she's run around off the leash chasing tennis balls I've thrown all around the FENCED in courts. As many of you know, puppies or adolescent dogs are in their wild and rebellious stage so coming back to owners isn't ALWAYS top on the list. We work on this with fetch in the tennis courts at least two times a week.

Today however we got all ready to go on our long walk with the tennis courts first on the list. I pack a small bag with tennis balls, her foldable water bowl, a bottle of water, training treats, and of course poop bags (there is no nice way to put that). We took off and what to our surprise did we find but, FULL TO THE MAX TENNIS COURTS, WHAT?! HOW DARE THEY BE PLAYING TENNIS?! This was fine (I guess) we just went around the park and continued our walk. I had to fight the wild pup only part of the way, but it sure was enough for me to declare my dislike for tennis right now!

Happy Spring! For those tennis players out there, I hope you break your racket!

Sweet Doggie's Deserve Sweet Treats

One of our family pups has a food allergy, so this makes buying treats difficult or rather expensive! Recently, we did find sweet potato treats that both pups just LOVE and we went through the bag in two weeks. We have tried many treats that would be good for allergies, but the salmon treats just smelled so bad, we vowed never to buy another bag. The sweet potato treats are great for Beignet, who has an allergy to the meat protein found in just about EVERY dog treat. Since both dogs love the sweet potato treats, my mom had the idea of making our own!

So I washed five sweet potatoes, you can do as many as you'd like. I say the more potatoes, the less frequently you'll be making batches. 

Next, you cut the raw potatoes into strips, or for training treats you can dice a few strips. 

Bake on a cookie sheet for three to four hours in a 250 degree oven. 

Finally, store them in an air tight container! The pups have absolutely loved having the treats in their Kong's! I'm not sure how dogs can tell if they are home made or not, but they've especially loved the home made treats more so than the store bought treats. 

Healthy pups are happy pups! 

You say Tomato, I say Sun Dried Tomato!

For many of you who know me, know that I have disliked tomato's probably from birth. So to ya'll this may come as a surprise, but I believe my taste buds are changing. I now like/love sun dried tomatoes and most forms that they come in. I have recently become a HUGE fan of the Bruegger's sun dried tomato spread. My ideal bagel sandwich from Bruegger's, is an everything bagel with turkey, lettuce, and their sun dried tomato spread.

 I thought it would be a fun Sunday task to make my own sun dried tomato spread. Which of course meant a trip to one of my favorite grocery stores, Trader Joe's. I read online that they sold a sun dried tomato pesto spread of some sorts and figured it would be worth a try. I also thought it would be the best place to buy ingredients to my own spread if I could not find the pre-made stuff. Well, I just couldn't find the pre-made stuff so it was time to break out the recipe and buy my ingredients.Below, is an adapted recipe from my google search.

 Sun Dried Tomato Spread

1 6oz. can of organic tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 jar sun dried tomato's (drained)

a couple fresh basil leaves (chiffonade)

a dash of salt

1 clove garlic sliced or chopped

Combine in food processor, and Viola!

I enjoyed my FABULOUS spread on a Thomas' 110 calorie everything bagel with turkey and lettuce... this beats the 310 calorie Bruegger's bagel with the 69 calorie spread. I figured the amount of calories for the entire portion of spread I made to be around 220 calories. Such a healthy alternative and of course cost friendly! Next thing you know I'll be eating Tomato sandwiches... just kidding I'm not there yet. :)

Salvation Army [SELECT]

So over the weekend, I was scanning photos of past projects I have worked on in design school. I came across a friends blog who documented some of my work in our retail design studio. As a class we worked with the Salvation Army to coordinate, design, market, and merchandise an upscale thrift boutique. The week of the store opening, I was assigned the task of finding outfits for both female and male manikins. Once the outfits were selected I worked closely with professor Patrick Lucas to arrange the end cap display's, female and male section table display's, and the store front window display. This was a wonderful opportunity to bond with a professor and have him applaud my design ideas. The Salvation Army [SELECT] prototype is now open in Greensboro, in the Lake Jeanette shopping center on North Elm Street. Here are a few photo's of the display's Patrick and I worked on, enjoy!

Men's end cap display

Women's end cap display

Men's section display

Women's section display

Frontal view women manikin's 

Front window display at night

Front window display at night

Front window display in daylight

Lily [love] Bug

This weekend I got the privilege of babysitting my ADORABLE niece Lily. Oh the irony of getting to spend Valentines day with such a heart warming love bug. We played and took lots of pictures and even took a nap together [well at the same time since she fell asleep in the crib]. I swear my nephews and niece are the most lovable and good natured babies I know. Happy babies make spending time with them so endearing and make me miss them even more when I'm not in town. My favorite thing Lily did while we spent the day together is ... oh darn I thought it was one but really they all came back to me once I typed this line. Well, one of my favorites would be how she puts her tiny little hands on your face to feel your face. It is so loving and soft but definitely a curious activity. 

I jumped at the chance to give her a cute shirt that she can sport year round [until she grows out of it] that reads "I LOVE AUNTIE" hehe. This goes hand in hand with what her parents call me, "Aunt E" since Lily is not yet talking they have adapted my name accordingly. Here are a few pictures of the precious blue eyed baby doll,  Lily. 

I love you Lily! XOXO Aunt E

p.s. Tell your parents how much fun we have when I babysit, so we can do it again soon! ;)

Oh baby love!