Thursday, February 2, 2012

Really Random, 2/2/12

February? Already? What happened to the first month of the new year?

Back to January...I decided to participate in Project 365. Every day there is a prompt to use for taking a picture. Here are the prompts.
Here are my pics for the month:
So the funniest thing happened on Instagram today. If you are addicted occasionally check out pictures on Instagram, then you already know what a time robber how social it is. You can "like" pictures, you can leave comments, you follow certain people, they follow you back.

I always enjoy Amanda (heyporkchop). Today she was going to make some cookies if she got her shipment of chocolate in the mail. She lives in a small town in California. So trying to leave a smart/funny comment, here is what I wrote:


First madamecupcake sent me a comment. Then queenbee965.

Maybe we'll meet each other and eat cookies. And then take a road trip to see Amanda.


The other night, our book club met. I was kind of a flaky member last year, reading the books and not attending many of the meetings. Resolution: to be a faithful member in 2012. There. I actually put that in print. Hold me accountable. Anyway... We had just finished reading Little Bee, about a Nigerian girl who ends up in a refugee detention center in England.

The regular attendees try  to tie the bookclub meal to the book in some way. We ate at a local Ethiopian restaurant (I don't think there is a Nigerian restaurant in Fresno). The food was really good. It is served family style. You order several items off the menu, it arrives on a platter, you break off pieces of the burrito-looking thing and scoop it up. No utensils. No plates, just a napkin. Think of all the time you could save by not having to wash dishes at home if you ate like this at home.
For the discussion part of the evening, we ended up at our house for dessert, both of which were made with honey--the honey bee connection. Whatever. It worked. Jamie brought two bottles of Unruly Red.
I thought that was a really fun name. Being the label reader that I am, I turned the bottle around. Now discerning wine drinkers can probably pick up the subtleties of all the wines they drink. Not me. So of course the fact that Unruly Red had "massive red fruit aromas with colossal flavors of plum, black cherry and blackberry with a generous helping of oak" was totally lost on me.

Come on. I normally drink $2.49 Foxbrook chardonnay. So I don't care if I'm drinking white with a hearty beef stew and a red with chicken. But this is good information to tuck away somewhere: "not just for the weekend warrior, relish during the week with a juicy ostrich burger, zesty buffalo back ribs, venison steaks, or wild boar sausage." Um... I don't think I have EVER had any of those things during the week. OR on the weekend.

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway of Jeni's cool pattern, which has practically gone "viral," as far as patterns go. The winner is Kathy, who said:

I sort my fabric by type first: Christmas, Halloween, etc. then type such as 1930s and then colors that go together within that set so I can pick up a group without too much thought. I tie a bit of selvage around it to keep it together. I do organize my clothes in the closet by color too. Type and then color within the type. 


Congratulations, Kathy. I'll be emailing you with Jeni's contact information.

Thanks for all your comments about how you organize fabric and other things in your life. A couple of you mentioned Fiestaware, so I thought I would show you my collection. It does NOT look this normally. I organized it "in color order" just for this picture.

During all the years we had college kids over for dinner during Monday Night Football it was always very interesting to me that some people always chose the same color, week after week. Some would change it up, depending on what they were wearing that night. Of course, in both instances those were always the girls. The boys didn't care what color the plate was as long as it was heaped with food.

These are my three favorites, so they are usually near the top of the stack on the shelf.

And I want to end all this randomness with a couple of pictures that I don't think are random at all. Elizabeth from Occasional Piece and I have been corresponding back and forth for probably a year. She is an excellent writer and quilter. We realized that it would be possible for us to meet when I went to the Road2California quilt show a couple of weeks ago. I'm not even going to attempt a review of the show. Elizabeth did a most excellent job and I highly recommend reading her thoughts and enjoying all her pictures.

Have you ever met one of your blogging friends in real life? I highly recommend it. I felt instantly bonded with Elizabeth and have already invited myself down to her house for a weekend of sewing.

Anyway, here we are:

And then we got a cool picture with Sandy Klop of American Jane fame.
Oh, those amazing quilts in Sandy's booth...And the start of what I hope will be a long and wonderful friendship with Elizabeth.

14 comments:

05 08
Unknown said... #

Its so cool that you found some locals on instagram. I'm equally addicted, but, alas, there are no locals to be found near me!

randi--i have to say said... #

i really liked reading little bee. a book group would be great! alas, as far as i know there is nothing like that around here. :(

i have had ethiopian food before and i really liked it, except for those soft pancakes. the texture was kind of odd.

Krista Schneider said... #

I too am totally obsessed with instagram, you can find me @kristastitched, lets be instabuddies! We also have Elizabeth in common! I'm so glad you guys got to meet up and play, how much fun is that :D

Lucy | Charm About You said... #

Great pictures and how funny!! Congratulations to Kathy on winning - if she'd like to come and organise my house she's more than welcome!! - and if she lives in Manchester that would be SO weird ;)

Wacky Woman said... #

What a great idea. A photo a day. Is there a February challenge? BTW, I grew up in Fresno. Been gone a long time now.

Archie The Wonder Dog said... #

Love your colourful plates - I'd be one of the people that chose the same plate week after week! Hope you get to meet up with the instaFresno people soon!

Unknown said... #

Would you recommend this book? It sounds great!
And I love the dishes! We use longaberger pottery in the tomato color, but I wish I had a whole rainbow. :)

Mrs Flying Blind... said... #

Hurray for local friends!
Love the sound of the wine recommendations, not so much the wine!!

Poppyprint said... #

That was a very fun post. So, when are you all going to start the Fresno MQG chapter? Chocolate cloud cookies to be served at first meeting!

Letterpress said... #

You can't get rid of me now! I also closed my latest post with our picture, as well as a blurb about how fun it was to meet you.

And now it looks like you'll be doing that with your Fresno group, too. (I want the recipe for the cookies, when you do all meet up.)

Great post, as usual. It was a great day at Road--thanks for coming down, and yes--come to sew!

Elizabeth E.
opquilt.com

CitricSugar said... #

I actually have eaten ostrich. It was in steak form and all I can say is "meh". I found it a little on the sweet side. I should have gone for the bison filet but instead I thought, "hey, I've never had ostrich before.." You're so not missing out. Wild boar sausage however? Get some. Soon.

Mama Pea said... #

I love your fiestaware! Yes, I have met one of my blogging friends IRL...Shelly, Em, Caroll, Linda (and all you gals from July, but I knew you IRL before I knew you through blogging really). It is so awesome and so weird how we can feel like we know each other so well!

felicity said... #

Oh mah gah j'adore Ethiopian food. Mmmm....

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