lion... zebra?, and bear? oh my.

i'm not fully certain as to how this started, but this summer i've been making animal hats for a few of my friends.
it all started with my friend tatiana. i dont fully remember what it was that made me want to make a hat for her, but whatever it was, it started everything.

all i know, is that i knew that tat loves orange, and loves africa. i also knew that she's the kind of person who loves to do random, silly, and sometimes even awkward things.
so i combined all of this knowledge into my plan to make her this hat. it's a lion.

then i remembered that lish had mentioned once how someday she'd love to have a panda hat. so i made her one.

when i put pictures of this hat on facebook, my friend michelle said that she'd like an animal hat too. we talked about different options, and she decided she'd like a zebra hat. so here it is:

i love to crochet. i especially love trying to figure out how to crochet different things like this and making my own crochet patterns (i made the patterns for each of these hats).
if you'd like a copy of the pattern for any of these, just leave a comment and i'll post it.
if you'd like me to make you a hat, be it animal or normal, leave a comment. i often give them as gifts, but if you dont want to wait, u can buy one for like $5-$15 (depending on the yarn and whether i have to ship it).

Novel Novel Idea

the other day, i had a fantastic idea.
this idea springs from my thinking it'd be super cool if there was a book character based off of me. slightly egotistical, i know, but i still think it'd be cool.
then i started wondering if other people thought the same thing about themselves. for the sake of speculation, i assumed that they did. and from my speculation, a beautiful baby idea was born.
this is my idea:
what if all the main characters in a fiction book were real?
each main character was a real person whose dialogues and actions were all based on what they would say or do given a certain situation.
this is how it would work:
1-get together a group of super fun or interesting people. the kind of people who make you feel like they could be from a book. it'll help if they're already friends.
2- once the people are gathered, one person from the group will act as the narrator. this narrator would decide what the basic plot is, where the scenes are originally set, etc. the narrator is basically in charge of directing the group and keeping the group on track.
3- all the other people will be themselves. and when presented with a certain scenario, they say what they'd do and what they'd say. so basically, this is just like acting, only without a script and without pretending to be someone else.
4- every time the group meets, everything is recorded. that way, people wont have to try to remember what they said.
5- after it's been taped, one or more people type it out. and, wah-la! a book is written :)

at first glance, i think the best kind of book to be written this way is a book that has a team in it working towards a goal. that way, characters wont have to pretend to not be in the same room with eachother. also, the more minds working on a problem, the more creative and unexpected solutions there will be. it'll also make the dialogue very realistic.

well, that's my novel novel idea. i hope you like it. and i especially hope that someone will use it to make an awesome story someday. if anyone does, i expect a free copy! :)

Vegetarian Fast Food :)

oh yes, my friends. such a thing really does exist :)
in fact, it exists right by the intersection of army trail rd. and bloomingdale rd. in bloomingdale, IL.

i found out about this place when i noticed it while driving to the 711 on army trail. the sign made me extremely curious as to what "vegetarian fast food" could possibly mean (as in what kind of veggie food do they sell). the sign also made me immediately think of my friend lish. she's my friend who "don't eat no meat". and so i resolved to take lish there someday.

that day ended up being this past friday :)
as we were walking up to it, an extremely nice indian lady walked out and we had her take our picture. after all, it's not every day that i get to take a vegetarian out to a vegetarian fast food place :)
here we are:

i guess i had some preconceptions as to what this place would be like, because when we walked in i found it was the exact opposite of everything i had subconciously imagined. not gunna lie, i was very intimidated and wanted nothing more than to run right out of there.
i was thinking it was going to be similar to other fast food places, like subway, or burger king.
nope.
definitely not.

luckily, i realized that 1- if i briskly walked out of there with my eyes wide and my tail between my legs, i'd be both a coward and extremely impolite, and 2- lish was still walking towards the counter and didnt seem to be phased at all. (as a side note, i really do need to express that this place probably isnt as scary as i'm remembering it. i think the only reason why i freaked out was because it wasnt what i expected and it wasnt like any place ive ever been to before.)

i am so glad that i had lish there with me. otherwise, i would've totally missed out on some amazing indian food and an incredible experience.

once we reached the counter, we were greeted by a fantastic indian man. he was one of the nicest people i've ever met, and he totally didn't mind the fact that neither of us knew what any of the items on the menu were, or how to accurately pronounce them. here's a shot of their menu, so you can understand just what we were up against.

there were no pictures. we would have been totally lost without him. especially since lish and i are extremely indecisive whenever we're around eachother. more so than usual.

but this nice indian man totally saved the day. it was like he could read our minds about what we'd like and he made suggestions for us and brought us free samples. all of which were insanely delicious. we had so much fun trying different things and learning what they're called and how to pronounce them and what was in them.

 it was the perfect way to end our time together. the food was incredible. the people were fantastic. the price was really good. we walked out of there with a feast of deliciousness and it only cost us like $10. we were so inspired by our awesome experience, that we rocked out to slumdog millionare on our way home and listened to bollywood music on pandora as we ate. all this combined to make it one of the most enjoyable meals i've ever eaten.

i honestly couldn't be happier that i didn't chicken out. in fact, lish and i had such a good time, that we decided we need to make it a tradition to go there whenever she's in town.

i guess the moral of this story is that you shouldn't be afraid to go into new places and try new things. and who knows, you just might find that the things which initially scare you, are really just treasures waiting to be recognized. just be sure to bring a friend. it's a lot easier with moral support :)

(lol, the moral of this story is to bring moral support! totally unintentional)

Vermiculture

at this very moment, i'm supposed to be writing a paper for my first aid class on the common causes of childhood poisonings and how to prevent them. but instead, i'm going to blog. sorry little poisoned children. i care about you, but not enough to not procrastinate in writing a paper about you.

actually, i've already started writing it. but i only have one sentence down and wasn't focusing. so i decided to go eat an apple in the hopes that it would focus me.

mistake. after learning about isaac newtons experience with apples, i really shouldve known better than to think that an apple wouldn't inspire me. in fact, that apple is the sole reason why i'm writing this post.

you see, the other day i decided to research composting. dont ask me why. i just have random fits of nerdy pioneer person-ness. during my research, i learned that there are two different kinds of composting. there's the normal kind where bacteria break down organic material and then there's the kind where worms do the composting. this second kind is called vermiculture. so there's composting, and then there's vermicomposting.

and vermiculture is actually pretty cool. you either buy or build a special box home for the worms. then you fill it with some "bedding" (which is basically just shredded damp newspaper, sawdust, and some other things). and then you get red worms and put them in there. i know it doesnt sound very cool, but my mind likes to look at things differently.

vermiculture bin

so the way i see it, these worms are sort of like awesome pets. for one, they like to be at the same temperatures that we like to be at, so their box can be inside. kinda like an indoor dog house. and you can feed them your table scraps almost like you would a dog. plus, you only need to feed them like once a week! (and clean their box only twice a year!!)

but back to the apple.

you see, as i was peeling that apple, i started thinking about vermiculture.

i saw the apple peels and core and started having a conversation with myself (something i often do when nobody's around). it went a little something like this:

"what a waste. these apple peels could be going to good use. but nooo, they're just gunna be thrown in the trash and get put into a land fill. if only i had some red worms. (yes, i seriously think these things)

who knows, i bet there's a little ol' red worm family right now who are cold and hungry and thinking, 'oh, if only someone would come and take care of us! is there no one who will love us? no one who will feed us and keep us safe? i know we seem rather gross, but ohhh, how we long for friendship. we could make your garden the most beautiful in the land! and all we ask for in return is safe haven and your scraps.'

and to think, right now i could be making my little worm friends apple peel smoothies and they would love me. and i could give them names, and decorate their box real prettily, and they'd be so happy.

but i go off to college in a month, and my mom would never want to keep them (she would consider them bugs and refuses to have bugs in the house. even though, technically, a bug isnt a bug unless it has 6 legs, a certain kind of mouth, and a triangle on it's back). and i doubt i could bring them with me because the administration would either call them pests or pets. neither of which are allowed.

oh well. maybe one day, when i have my own house, i can adopt a little red worm family (or someone can give them to me as a house warming present. hint, hint.). then i can feed them all the table scrap smoothies i want. and i can water some of my plants with the "tea" i drain from their box and fertilize my garden with their castings. i'd never have to buy fertilizer or miracle grow or any other synthetic plant growth stimulants.

i realize this is a very strange dream. but please, try not to judge me. because this whole thing boils down to me wanting to be kind to some lesser creatures while having the healthiest and lush-est garden around. and kindness and beauty are always good things to have around :)

if you want to learn more about vermiculture, here's a link: http://www.composting101.com/worm-composting.html it also talks about regular composting on that site. you know, in case you want to find out about regular composting too ;)

ps- sorry this post is so long. i guess i got a little passionate. but hey, it's hard not to when you find something interesting, practical, and all around awesome in an abnormal way.

Miracle Mug Cake

Today i was trying to find a fast and easy recipe that i could use for the demonstration speech i need to give soon for my summer speech class. And i had heard of mug cakes before (where you have the batter in a mug and then microwave it), but i had never seen any recipe like this before. i really dont understand how it works, but somehow, by some probably miraculous force, this thing actually tastes good. once you see this recipe, you'll understand.

Recipe:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tb. cocoa powder
1 egg
(there's not even any flour!!!!! that's it for ingredients!!!!!!! well... unless you put chocolate chips on top. as someone i know might have done...)

so you put all those things in a normal sized mug and mix it all up with a fork and pop it in the microwave for 50-60 seconds. (be careful not to put it in too long)

when it comes out it's really hot, puffed up in the middle, kind of fluffy, and moist (unless you overcook it). add chocolate chips right away so they'll melt (highly recommended. also, i hear some cool whip on top is awesome).

this mug cake has a lot of things going for it.
since there's no flour in it, it's gluten free. it's also pretty cheap to make and relatively low in calories because of how few ingredients there are. there's also very little clean up, and you dont even need an oven or a pan or some friends to help you eat it!

also, it's a great recipe for people who aren't on a diet, but have someone in their house who is on a diet. this is because this recipe only makes 1 serving, and the raw ingredients aren't anything that even a desperate dieter would eat by the spoonful.

now that i'm done singing this recipe's praises, i'd like to give a small warning. yes, this cake is good. but please don't compare it to your great grandma's secret family recipe chocolate cake. it's good, but nothing can really compare to that. i will say this though. if all cakes were judged by quickness and ease of preparing, how fast it cooked, how few ingredients it had, how easy it was to clean up, and how good it tasted, this cake would be the best cake ever.

i think it took me less than 5 minutes to make this cake. it's well worth your time, and i definitely encourage you to try it :)

oh, and i should probably say where i found it since i didn't make this one up myself.  i found it here: http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/08/02/3-ingredients-60-seconds-gooey-chocolate-mug-cake/    

Will it Blend???

i dont know if you guys have heard of this before, but apparently there's a show called "will it blend?". basically, it's a bunch of videos where a guy puts different things into the world's strongest blender.
it's an awesome show. and an awesome blender. but i must say, i am a little scared by how much i enjoy watching things get distroyed inside a blender :)
maybe you'll see why.

that beast can blend anything... well... almost anything.

Patty-cake Cats

i found this on stumbleupon and thought it was too funny not to post here :)