More Yellow

I brought these tulips home from the market today. I had to.

I miss having easy access to fresh flowers. Buying them from the shop will never be as satisfying as opening my back door, pair of scissors in hand. Nonetheless, I needed something fresh in my apartment after two days of feeling sickly.

Other fresh items include the new layout on my travel blog. I hope you'll check it out!

A Simple Meal

I'm pretty sure quinoa was invented for me. I don't think you can pack anymore protein in a carb. Which is perfect considering I love carbs and hate the "vegetarians can't get enough protein" fallacy.

My last Hump Day dinner I cooked up this easy recipe from Vegetarian Times and served it over quinoa. I liked it so much I made it again a few days later. Broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts and quinoa... a delicious and simple combination.

[Goat cheese does not suit me so I used feta instead.]

Lucky Lady [part 2]

The birthday fun continued with a very yellow birthday picnic extravaganza.

I was delighted with all the special touches Molly and Frances put on the day.

Delicious food spread across a blanket, sweet music, and two great friends... it couldn't have been any better.

My only sadness is the absence of Molly in the photos! (How did we let that happen???) She's the one to thank for these very pretty images.

Other birthday highlights included my door at work, dinner on the Corniche, a Kiva loan, fancy Vietnamese, the best stop motion movie ever, and getting my family on the phone.

26, you've got a lot to live up to.

Lucky Lady [part 1]

I recently entered the realm of being 26. This year I was lucky enough to have several fantastic birthday celebrations. Being away from family at these special moments is definitely the downside to living abroad, but the efforts of my friends here did a lot to take my mind off that sadness and focus me on the fun!

First up was a very purple Hump Day Dinner Tea Party Birthday Edition! The girls did such an amazing job of preparing decorations and food that I didn't even mind being made to wait in the hallway while the final touches were being done.

How awesome/hilarious is this banner? It's a potato, tomato, cheese, carrot, and banana.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves but as you can see, every detail was perfect. Right down to the raspberry ice cubes and the sugared grapes.

More birthday celebrations next!

(Thanks to Hannah for the photos)

Tissue? I hardly know you.

Something unexpected about moving to a new place last year was the frequency of getting sick. When you combine new germs with being in the classroom... you end up with a lot of sniffles. The bright side? Tissue sachets.

Behold my valentines this year:

After cutting the fabric, each pouch only took a few minutes to sew. A very quick and easy project I found here.

I hope everyone enjoyed their V-Day!

Happy V-Day

Happy V-Day!

Heartstrings

With Valentine's Day just around the corner and my sewing machine out for other reasons... I couldn't resist a quick little project.

I scrounged through my craft box for pink and red paper, cut out a few hearts, and sewed them together randomly.

Let it be said: I can't sew on paper without thinking of this girl.

Camera Bag

A while back I promised to make a friend a soft case for her camera. It took a few months... but it's finally done.

She picked out the fabric from my stockpile and I did the rest (using this tutorial).