So, remember my eggs? Well alongside my eggs were some pretty impressive pinatas and my teacher posted pictures of them on our class blog. Some of them are weird, or one of them in particular (to be clear I'll just tell you... umm one girl made a cross, with a wax jesus hanging on it, that was filled with tampons. The relationship being feminism vs. anti-feminism because Christians are anti-feminism didn't you know? She supported this argument by saying "you know, the whole, 'man is head of house thing.'" umm... yeah... and she destroyed it by burning it.) So anyways, you will also see a police officer filled with donuts, a pig filled with hot dogs, a whale filled with plastic bags, a moon filled with cheese, eyeballs filled with sunglasses, a robot filled with wires, oh- a cancer cell filled with the words "fuck-cancer", a dragon filled with bell peppers and a UFO filled with little green aliens which we all catapulted off of Sky Bridge (a bridge on campus). Awesome! I tryed to upload the images straight to our blog but it didn't work. So I posted a direct link to the pictures below. Enjoy! They are quite interesting...
Check out these Crazy Pinatas!
Love,
Katie
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
My personal thoughts on Valentine's Day (and Wes agrees with me) is that it is kind of overrated. While I think that chocolate hearts and making valentines are all good fun, sometimes...the reds, pinks and purples can be a little overbearing when walking through the grocery store. However, I will gladly accept any holiday that provides an excuse to celebrate love and so we did the cheesiest thing we could think of yesterday and went and saw New Moon (of the twilight saga) at the Kennedy school. We will be going out to dinner sometime this week. Honestly, after this I completely forgot about Valentines day. I woke up this morning with out a thought of what today was, quietly tip-toed out of the room as to disturb Wes as little as possible (he worked last night, sleeps during the day on sundays) shut the door, turn around, only to find a trail of hearts leading to our coffee table. We aren't the type of people to buy things for each other on Vday. Going on a date is how we celebrate and sometimes we write letters. Wes has been known to make some of the craziest tri-fold-cards with secret compartments and flip down notes I've ever seen. So, seeing hand-cut hearts, and a big paper sign was completely Wes' style. I followed the hearts to the table to see a huge heart cake. Pink cake. Pink frosting. Pink sprinkles. And next to it a sign: "follow these directions." I follow the directions that lead me to a message on his phone singing "you are my sunshine." Yes folks, I am a lucky girl. So on this note, I am sending you all big heart cake love on this Valentines day. Oh and chocolate doughnuts with chocolate frosting too! Wes has one of these sitting at his spot at the table for when he wakes up. Shhh! Don't tell! :)
Have a great sunday!
Love,
Katie
Please ignore the overflowing laundry basket that inched its way into the picture.
Have a great sunday!
Love,
Katie
Please ignore the overflowing laundry basket that inched its way into the picture.
Friday, February 12, 2010
A Day in the Life of a Nanny...
My day:
8:15a- I let myself in to a gorgeous two-story house and am greeted by a barking dog running down the stairs to greet me. "Hi Otis, Hi, hi, hi hi, hi, ok.... down Otis. Otis! down!" wash hands? check!
and the day goes by with:
-frizzy haired two yr old girl in her jammies.
-Make valentine heart cookies with two year old girl.
-observe the weather and make notes of weather on "weather chart" with two year old girl.
-Dance to the jungle book elephant march: "march 2, 3, 4, keep it up 2, 3, 4" oh and of course: "I'm the King of the Swingers, Oh! The Jungle V. I. P" (B. I. P in two year old girl language)
-Feed 3 month old while reading books for nap time.
-Two hours of peace and house cleaning, spit ups, and a massive blow out in the diaper later and we all eat lunch.
- We go to the market to get more "Nola Much" which is really "Granola Munch"
-The lucky girl also gets to go to the coffee shop down the street for special treat of chocolate milk.
-Thoughts of "Do I look like I'm a 16 year old mother of two?" go by like they always do, as people open doors for my wide load of stroller + diaper bag + baby carrier + blanket.
-Make it home before it rains and while I take notes in my nanny log two year old girl must take notes in her "book" too.
-Feed baby 3 month old while two year old "reads" to us.
-Yet another outfit change for 3 month old due to poopy explosion.
-Spit-ups ensue while playing "Doctor" with 2 yr. old and every patient (i.e. stuffed animal she can produce) comes to get a check up (not a shot because a shot would be too scary!) me the doctor:
eyes healthy? Check! ears healthy? Check! mouth healthy? check!
-Mom and Dad come home and of course they need check ups too. What a relief, *sigh* Mom AND Dad both have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. 2 year old, is relieved.
- Bye, Bye to Katie! and I am out the door with a shirt that smells like baby formula.
This is my first nanny job with two tiny-tots, first nanny job with a child under the age of 2, and the days certainly go by fast. I am loving being a part of this family and no matter how hard its been for me recently I can't help but look at my day and be thankful for the job I have. I could be serving coffee at Borders, greeting & serving each customer in the 5 minute time slot and wiping off tables. That would probably be easier. But then I would be missing out on these little tiny people who laugh for no reason and run around with frizzy hair. Wes will laugh when he reads this because the job/work combo has been really overwhelming for me lately. But hey, atleast I keep you all on your toes right??? hmm... will Katie be sad today? happy? upset? tired? I don't even know most of the time. :)
Love to you all,
Katie
8:15a- I let myself in to a gorgeous two-story house and am greeted by a barking dog running down the stairs to greet me. "Hi Otis, Hi, hi, hi hi, hi, ok.... down Otis. Otis! down!" wash hands? check!
and the day goes by with:
-frizzy haired two yr old girl in her jammies.
-Make valentine heart cookies with two year old girl.
-observe the weather and make notes of weather on "weather chart" with two year old girl.
-Dance to the jungle book elephant march: "march 2, 3, 4, keep it up 2, 3, 4" oh and of course: "I'm the King of the Swingers, Oh! The Jungle V. I. P" (B. I. P in two year old girl language)
-Feed 3 month old while reading books for nap time.
-Two hours of peace and house cleaning, spit ups, and a massive blow out in the diaper later and we all eat lunch.
- We go to the market to get more "Nola Much" which is really "Granola Munch"
-The lucky girl also gets to go to the coffee shop down the street for special treat of chocolate milk.
-Thoughts of "Do I look like I'm a 16 year old mother of two?" go by like they always do, as people open doors for my wide load of stroller + diaper bag + baby carrier + blanket.
-Make it home before it rains and while I take notes in my nanny log two year old girl must take notes in her "book" too.
-Feed baby 3 month old while two year old "reads" to us.
-Yet another outfit change for 3 month old due to poopy explosion.
-Spit-ups ensue while playing "Doctor" with 2 yr. old and every patient (i.e. stuffed animal she can produce) comes to get a check up (not a shot because a shot would be too scary!) me the doctor:
eyes healthy? Check! ears healthy? Check! mouth healthy? check!
-Mom and Dad come home and of course they need check ups too. What a relief, *sigh* Mom AND Dad both have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. 2 year old, is relieved.
- Bye, Bye to Katie! and I am out the door with a shirt that smells like baby formula.
This is my first nanny job with two tiny-tots, first nanny job with a child under the age of 2, and the days certainly go by fast. I am loving being a part of this family and no matter how hard its been for me recently I can't help but look at my day and be thankful for the job I have. I could be serving coffee at Borders, greeting & serving each customer in the 5 minute time slot and wiping off tables. That would probably be easier. But then I would be missing out on these little tiny people who laugh for no reason and run around with frizzy hair. Wes will laugh when he reads this because the job/work combo has been really overwhelming for me lately. But hey, atleast I keep you all on your toes right??? hmm... will Katie be sad today? happy? upset? tired? I don't even know most of the time. :)
Love to you all,
Katie
Monday, February 8, 2010
My Pinata Project...
So, my first 3D assignment? balsa wood.
2nd? wire.
3rd? eggs.
eggs?? excuse me???
come again???
Let me explain.
my most recent assignment in 3D design was to make a pinata. Now you are thinking:
"Pinata? and Eggs? In the same sentence? whaa?"
Teacher gives assignment and these are the rules:
1. the pinata has to have a relationship between content and form. [Meaning, what you stuff it with has to be related to what it is.]
2. consider placement, where will your pinata best be viewed. [Hanging like a traditional pinata? on the ground? outside? inside? above the stairs? hanging from a tree? options are pretty much endless]
3. How will you break open the pinata? [hammer? bat? golf club?] Will you break it open or will the class?
4. think about what a pinata is. How do you define pinata? [guaranteed at least one person in every art class I have will try to redefine something. At the beginning of this course a student got frustrated with the teacher and declared "ahhh, man. Music IS sculpture." He stopped showing up after 2 classes.]
So, this project sent me home on the bus thinking of creative pinatas. I knew every single person would go along the path of paper mache' and there was a part of me that wanted to do some re-defining. At first I was down the path of gross things like:
- I could make little ants and each one could have a cherry tomato in it and each person could have one to step on. [Katie, what are you thinking??? that's so gross!]
then I thought....
- I could make a big rain drop and fill it with lemon drops and gum drops. [oh the nanny in me. Isn't that a barnie song??? "if allllll the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops oh what a rain that would be!]
....I can't think of the other things I was thinking of at the time but none of them were great. But then I thought of things that were breakable. And down the path of redefining I went.
I some how thought of my family's tradition to crack easter eggs over each other's heads. Eggs. hmm... eggs are breakable. And certainly not paper mache'. I presented this idea to my teacher the following class. She was in support of anything that would stretch the conversation of "What is a pinata?" I told her of my family's tradition and in the midst of our excitement we talked of having an easter egg hunt in the classroom and actually doing it the way my family does. After thinking about this I stopped myself.
I am no longer redefining pinata. This is just an easter egg hunt. and So I stepped back and said. "hmm..... if I hung the eggs, that could be justifiable." and so I hung them. And I wrote each person's name on an egg to give them each their own pinata.
So, today was presenting day.
I arrived to school early and hung them on the lowest ceiling I could find which just so happened to be in front of the classroom door. As students arrived they walked through the little hallway of eggs I made. And since I got there early, I was able to take a picture for you all... Here is my little pinata adventure at a glance, taking all the steps my family does only instead of hiding the eggs, I hung them.
[look mom and dad, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Sue! I dumped 3 eggs with out breaking the yokes! Used these ones for the cookies! :) ]
Class picture....
The Lady behind the older lady with the long hair on the left, the one looking proud with the big smile on her face? is my teacher. I know, she looks like a student, and well, she kind of is. She is a grad student at PSU or was recently... not quite sure. But I really like her!
Fweeewwwwh... so, that was a long one. But I hope you enjoyed. Never a dull day in the life of this lady. :) Hope you are all doing well. Enjoy your eggs!
Love,
Katie
2nd? wire.
3rd? eggs.
eggs?? excuse me???
come again???
Let me explain.
my most recent assignment in 3D design was to make a pinata. Now you are thinking:
"Pinata? and Eggs? In the same sentence? whaa?"
Teacher gives assignment and these are the rules:
1. the pinata has to have a relationship between content and form. [Meaning, what you stuff it with has to be related to what it is.]
2. consider placement, where will your pinata best be viewed. [Hanging like a traditional pinata? on the ground? outside? inside? above the stairs? hanging from a tree? options are pretty much endless]
3. How will you break open the pinata? [hammer? bat? golf club?] Will you break it open or will the class?
4. think about what a pinata is. How do you define pinata? [guaranteed at least one person in every art class I have will try to redefine something. At the beginning of this course a student got frustrated with the teacher and declared "ahhh, man. Music IS sculpture." He stopped showing up after 2 classes.]
So, this project sent me home on the bus thinking of creative pinatas. I knew every single person would go along the path of paper mache' and there was a part of me that wanted to do some re-defining. At first I was down the path of gross things like:
- I could make little ants and each one could have a cherry tomato in it and each person could have one to step on. [Katie, what are you thinking??? that's so gross!]
then I thought....
- I could make a big rain drop and fill it with lemon drops and gum drops. [oh the nanny in me. Isn't that a barnie song??? "if allllll the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops oh what a rain that would be!]
....I can't think of the other things I was thinking of at the time but none of them were great. But then I thought of things that were breakable. And down the path of redefining I went.
I some how thought of my family's tradition to crack easter eggs over each other's heads. Eggs. hmm... eggs are breakable. And certainly not paper mache'. I presented this idea to my teacher the following class. She was in support of anything that would stretch the conversation of "What is a pinata?" I told her of my family's tradition and in the midst of our excitement we talked of having an easter egg hunt in the classroom and actually doing it the way my family does. After thinking about this I stopped myself.
I am no longer redefining pinata. This is just an easter egg hunt. and So I stepped back and said. "hmm..... if I hung the eggs, that could be justifiable." and so I hung them. And I wrote each person's name on an egg to give them each their own pinata.
So, today was presenting day.
I arrived to school early and hung them on the lowest ceiling I could find which just so happened to be in front of the classroom door. As students arrived they walked through the little hallway of eggs I made. And since I got there early, I was able to take a picture for you all... Here is my little pinata adventure at a glance, taking all the steps my family does only instead of hiding the eggs, I hung them.
[look mom and dad, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Sue! I dumped 3 eggs with out breaking the yokes! Used these ones for the cookies! :) ]
Class picture....
The Lady behind the older lady with the long hair on the left, the one looking proud with the big smile on her face? is my teacher. I know, she looks like a student, and well, she kind of is. She is a grad student at PSU or was recently... not quite sure. But I really like her!
Fweeewwwwh... so, that was a long one. But I hope you enjoyed. Never a dull day in the life of this lady. :) Hope you are all doing well. Enjoy your eggs!
Love,
Katie
Kale and Chickpea Soup
Add a little bit of this.....
and a little bit of that.....
and a little bit more of this....
and some other things....
and you get.....
this.
This is Kale and Chickpea soup. Hearty, delicious, nutritious, and comforting Kale and Chickpea soup. Recently, I had a crazy desire to cook meals with a) Kale and b) swiss chard. These desires arose after tasting them for the first time at a restaurant and we were provided with the prefect opportunity to cross"Kale" off the list a couple of weeks ago when New Seasons did a tasting of Leafy Greens. This tasting of Leafy Greens consisted of meals containing spinach or kale. We tasted this soup and grabbed the recipe and went home and made it. We thought we'd share the recipe just in case if you too were just waiting for an opportunity to make something yummy with Kale. Even better, this soup has red potatoes in it. My favorite!!! Enjoy, and please do tell us if you decide to make it. :) Oh and be prepared for leftovers because, it makes A LOT!
Love,
Katie & Wes....
Here's the recipe!
You will need:
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 small red potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
8 cups vegetable broth
6 cups water
2 bunches kale
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2 14 oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
In a large soup pot over med. low heat, saute' onion and garlic in olive oil, about six minutes or until onions are soft. Add potatoes, kale, broth, water, tomatoes and curry powder and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in chickpeas and continue to simmer, uncovered, an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. serve warm.
and a little bit of that.....
and a little bit more of this....
and some other things....
and you get.....
this.This is Kale and Chickpea soup. Hearty, delicious, nutritious, and comforting Kale and Chickpea soup. Recently, I had a crazy desire to cook meals with a) Kale and b) swiss chard. These desires arose after tasting them for the first time at a restaurant and we were provided with the prefect opportunity to cross"Kale" off the list a couple of weeks ago when New Seasons did a tasting of Leafy Greens. This tasting of Leafy Greens consisted of meals containing spinach or kale. We tasted this soup and grabbed the recipe and went home and made it. We thought we'd share the recipe just in case if you too were just waiting for an opportunity to make something yummy with Kale. Even better, this soup has red potatoes in it. My favorite!!! Enjoy, and please do tell us if you decide to make it. :) Oh and be prepared for leftovers because, it makes A LOT!
Love,
Katie & Wes....
Here's the recipe!
You will need:
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 small red potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
8 cups vegetable broth
6 cups water
2 bunches kale
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2 14 oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
In a large soup pot over med. low heat, saute' onion and garlic in olive oil, about six minutes or until onions are soft. Add potatoes, kale, broth, water, tomatoes and curry powder and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in chickpeas and continue to simmer, uncovered, an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. serve warm.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
awwhhhhh, Saturday!
Weekends have a whole new meaning for me: The weekend. It has been a long looong time where Saturday and sunday meant days off. Last quarter I had school on saturdays. And it seems that as you grow older "weekends" become far and few between, or, they aren't always saturdays and sundays. When I was little Saturdays and sundays were my days off. No school. And cartoons on "One Saturday Morning" were all the rage. Although there is still homework to be taken care of, and house chores to be done, saturdays and sundays are sleep-in days and re-charge days and it feels so, so good.
Today went by quickly but I:
slept in.
made blueberry muffins.
washed dishes.
took a long shower.
blow dried my hair. (this is rare now that I have to wake up before 7 everyday ha ha)
picked out a nice outfit. (again, rare now that I am working with a 3 month old who spits up on everything I wear.)
walked to coffee with my husband.
Got a Free Large Mocha. = a nice treat. (Due to enough stamps on my Palios-regular-customer-card.)
and am writing a blog between researching easter egg traditions (for my next 3D design project) and reading about Gothic architecture.
awwwhhhhhhh, Saturday, I needed you! Thanks for the re-charge!
[not from this morning, but it might as well have been. tousled hair. comfy clothes. BIG cup of tea. Yep that was me today.]
Love,
Katie
Today went by quickly but I:
slept in.
made blueberry muffins.
washed dishes.
took a long shower.
blow dried my hair. (this is rare now that I have to wake up before 7 everyday ha ha)
picked out a nice outfit. (again, rare now that I am working with a 3 month old who spits up on everything I wear.)
walked to coffee with my husband.
Got a Free Large Mocha. = a nice treat. (Due to enough stamps on my Palios-regular-customer-card.)
and am writing a blog between researching easter egg traditions (for my next 3D design project) and reading about Gothic architecture.
awwwhhhhhhh, Saturday, I needed you! Thanks for the re-charge!
[not from this morning, but it might as well have been. tousled hair. comfy clothes. BIG cup of tea. Yep that was me today.]
Love,
Katie
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
My first 3D project
So this project is less interesting, and less worthy of a blog.... but it was my first 3D project... basically.... ever. (outside of any ceramics or what have you I did in elementary school, I can't think of any others) The assignment was about Modularity: creating a sculpture out of many of the same module out of balsa wood. We had to make a shape out of the wood and make atleast 20 replicas and put them all together to make a 3D sculpture. This was my finished result:
TADA!!! I know... pretty exciting, huh? ;) The coolest part about how all of the projects turned out (the balsa wood projects) was how they all reminded me of kid jungle gym models. All of them looked like little models to be made into great big metal structures like they have on the old-school playgrounds (the ones without all the plastic). oh art.... How I love thee...
TADA!!! I know... pretty exciting, huh? ;) The coolest part about how all of the projects turned out (the balsa wood projects) was how they all reminded me of kid jungle gym models. All of them looked like little models to be made into great big metal structures like they have on the old-school playgrounds (the ones without all the plastic). oh art.... How I love thee...
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