Cocker Spaniel Doodle

(Semi) Daily Animal Doodle


Proper little Mr. C. Spaniel.

Waiting patiently for his Thanksgiving dinner.




November Doodles: Sparrow, Badger, Poodle, Wolf, Narwhal
Want to see more doodles? Check out June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here, and October's here.

Christmas Twinkles

I had a nice weekend.

After a ca-razy week, I packed up Saturday morning with my friend Jorgen and we trekked up north a couple hours to Duluth to visit our dear friend Beebs.

Like I said, it was a nice weekend.

What's better or more relaxing than HOURS upon HOURS of girl talk and delicious food and more girl talk? Or wandering around near Lake Superior in a free Christmas light city called Bentleyville?

That served complimentary cookies, hot chocolate, and marshmallows to roast?

Now. Normally our (the hubs and I's) rule is that there shall no Christmas spirit until the day after Thanksgiving. But...as I wandered through this fabulous twinkle town, I felt all the warm Christmas-y feelings welling up in my chest.

And how can you fend back the Christmas spirit when you are sitting next to Mrs. Claus? (Who unfortunately was not handing out warm cinnamon rolls but only small candy canes.)

Or when Jorgen and Beebs are standing together inside a magic Christmas tunnel?

So as it turns out the Christmas spirit has arrived a wee bit early this year. BUT. Don't worry hubsy, I'm still refusing to turn the radio dial anywhere near the Christmas station until we are safely on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner. The foot is down.

And THANK YOU. Ladies. For the very lovely weekend.

Food for Fall

As Thanksgiving approaches the hubs gets more and more excited about all things pumpkin, asking me frequently if I will make him a pumpkin pie.


Now. Pumpkin pie is just fine and everything, but one or two slices a year is enough for me. And when I know there are going to be opportunities for pumpkin pie right and left during the Thanksgiving season, I try to appease the hubs' monstrous pumpkin appetite with other pumpkin treats.


Cue these pumpkin cream cheese muffins.

When I make these the hubs tells me over and over how much he loves them. Which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and wife-like, since I don't spend as much time as I would want to making him his favorite foods.

The recipe is from the always wonderful Annie's Eats. It makes 24 muffins but I only ended up with 22 1/2 because I apparently ate a muffin and a half's worth of batter. Why is batter so good????


AND I've got another pumpkin surprise for the hubsy up my sleeve as well! But because of my crazy frazzled week it may not happen until after Thanksgiving. Which is ok. Pumpkin lovin' can be for any time of the year. 


SO. IF you like pumpkin, you should definitely try these out.


.......................................................................................


Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (24 muffins)


Filling:
8 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup powdered sugar


Muffins:
3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1 tbspn + 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil


Topping: (I had lots of this leftover and probably could've halved it)
1/2 cups sugar
5 tbspn flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbspn butter cut in pieces




Filling: Combine cream cheese and sugar in bowl, mix well until smooth. Cover bowl and refrigerate until needed.


Muffins: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners. In bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl combine eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin puree. Add in dry ingredients after combined. 


Topping: Mix all ingredients together until coarse and crumbly.


Assembly: Fill each muffin liner with a small amount of batter (1-2 tbspns). Add a spoonful of filling. Cover filling with more batter (I filled to just about the top of the liner.) Sprinkle topping on each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Narwhal Doodle

(Semi) Daily Animal Doodle


*Edit 1/8/13 - This narwhal is available as a fine art print or as a notecard in my shop!

Large unicorn fish.

So, do Narwhals just spear things when they need to eat, or when they need protection?

And is it just me, or a Narwhals getting popular now?


Anyway. You know that saying, "when it rains it pours?" Surely you do. I'm having one of those weeks. Two hot design projects, trying to plan my students' recital, practicing for my friend's cd release concert that I'm playing violin for on Friday night, plus my part time jobs, and getting ready for Thanksgiving travels. I'm trying my best not to become a frazzled and stressed freak-a-zoid of nature. I think I'm doing pretty well.


I mean. I've definitely had my moments. Just ask the hubs.


But for the most part pretty well.


Anyway. If things get a little bit quiet around here for about a week or so...you'll know why. I'm probably lost and frazzled somewhere and you'll need to come help.

November Doodles: Sparrow, Badger, Poodle, Wolf
Want to see more doodles? Check out June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here, and October's here.

Things that happened this weekend.

The hubs surprised me on Friday by taking the day off work and bringing me to the Walker Art Center in order to check out their new exhibit "Graphic Design: Now in Production." 

It was great fun especially since I hadn't been to the Walker for quite awhile. I was in designer's heaven as we explored film, posters, typography, magazine production, logos, and lots of unique books.

I loved this TV poster series created by Albert Exergian - which included a few of my favorite shows!

After the design exhibit we explored the rest of the museum where we encountered a rude talking computer dolphin, and a brown spiky thing that was on display under a staircase. Then we climbed some random stairs and took pictures of ourselves in this window. 

It was very much a good time.


Back home after dinner I headed out shopping with a couple of friends in search of new skinny jeans but instead came back with a couple shirts and some candles. Mission not quite successful. But nice.


Then that night I stayed up for far too late doing stupid useless things which included wandering around the house at about 1am looking for a mysterious "beeping" noise which turned out to be the hubs squeaking his nose in his sleep.


THEN on Saturday I doodled a wolf and did some other stuff that I already wrote about. And Sunday I made some delicious cream cheese pumpkin muffins - delish!!! I will post the recipe soon.


So all in all. Quite the nice little weekend there. And how was yours?

Wolf Doodle

(Semi) Daily Animal Doodle


Saturdays are nice. 


A little bit of sleeping in. 


A little bit of cookie dough for breakfast. 


A little bit of thrifting with a pretty red headed friend. 


A little bit of finding a super cool $6 floor lamp with a compartment to keep things in!! while thrifting.  


A little bit of thinking how much I like things with compartments to keep things in. 


A little bit of watching The Italian Job with the hubs and the kitties. 


A little bit of wolf doodling.

And soon I'm heading to my grandma's house for a little bit of family dinner and celebrating my uncles birthday.


Yep, Saturdays are nice. How's your weekend coming along?




November Doodles: Sparrow, Badger, Poodle
Want to see more doodles? Check out June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here, and October's here.

Let's be honest here.

SOMETIMES. I look for self worth in the wrong places.


I've only been doing this blogging stuff for about six months, but it immediately opened up new avenues for me to judge my overall success as a human being. Blogging, tweeting, followers, etsy, favorites, comments, stats. All have become ways to make or break my day.


And that's silly. Right?!?! Ridiculous, actually. It's a good thing that the hubs doesn't love me any better or worse on a given day depending on how many people read my blog.


And it's also a good thing that my mom doesn't love me any more or less depending on how many people favorite the new item in my shop.


And it's pretty nice that my sister still wants to go thrifting with me even when she sees how many followers I have on twitter.


And my friends still like me too! Let's be honest, lots of them don't even READ this blog!


And really, life already has enough obstacles without allowing my computer to tell me that I'm not as good as so and so over there. I mean, doesn't it??


So. After pondering this problem to the root, the long and the short of it is really just this: it's time for ME to start being nicer to little ol' ME.




"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." - Psalm 139: 13-14