Mmm baby!

Cupcakes! For Easter, my friend and I attempted to make Bakerella's super sweet cake balls. We failed pretty miserably (baking + drinking = ugly baked goods). They were still tasty, but not cute by any stretch of the imagination. A couple of weeks ago, I got ambitious again and decided to try cupcake bites instead. They basically consist of cake & icing, mashed up and then covered in chocolate, to look like miniature cupcakes. Sugary, sweet and yummy! Four hours of baking, melting, decorating, swearing, and washing my fingers after licking them later, I wound up with these little guys...

Tiny!

Next time, I will buy more chocolate molds (I had to make 11 at a time!) and, for sure, I'm enlisting help!

Mother's Day

I made a couple of bracelets for Mother's Day. I also exceeded my Flickr account with Nantucket photos... sooo... here are the two pictures I managed to squeeze in there!


Blue rose bracelet and earrings for Nick's momma


For Grandma McG, "Inspire" bracelet


"Wish" bracelet for Grandma S

Landscapes

Because my friend Rach is a science nerd, and because she's led camps and participated in research and is apparently a sponge for knowledge, she was able to give me a very comprehensive tour of the island of Nantucket. On the afternoon that I arrived, the sun was trying to shine through the clouds and the weather wasn't terrible, so we dropped my bags off at the house (more on that later), and headed out to see some sights.

It's kind of hard to tell in the pictures that I took - looking back at them it seems like the entire landscape is brown, gray and occasionally blue - but as we were driving around, it felt like every direction I looked, something different was taking place.



This is the view toward town, from the site of the "Oldest House" - the longest inhabited home (now owned by the Nantucket Historical Society)


And, here is the Oldest House. I guess they give tours in the summer, but I had to make due with peeking in the windows.


Here are some of the homes? Hotels? Places to stay on the island. I had a hard time telling buildings apart, as the majority of them are finished in those cedar shingles.


I was anxious to get down to the beach, but this was too pretty not to snap.

We walked along the beach on the west side of the island. There, the water was pretty still and the sand was littered with shells. Rachel gave me a guide to the shells of the island and I filled my pockets with a few (I should probably bleach those soon... my carry on bag probably smells pretty bad). Next, she drove me to the eastern facing side of the island, where the beach was soft sand and the waves were very choppy. It was also considerably colder. I found it amazing that such a short distance could yield such different climates.

Rachel explained to me that the island is always changing. It was created by the glaciers and is essentially a big pile of sand and rock. She said that a couple of years ago, two homes on this beach were washed away after a big storm.

To round out my tour of the island, we headed out to Siasconset so that I could see the pretty homes and beaches there.


Pretty, beach facing homes that may or may not still be there in a couple of years.


"Evil cliff" that is threatening homes in previous image (interesting politics).


We stopped off to see the Sankaty Lighthouse before heading back to the house to get ready for dinner.

A long-winded preface to my Nantucket adventure

One of the few things I hate about traveling is returning home, only to feel like I didn't make the most of my trip. Two years ago, when I visited Boston with a friend, we walked by the library twice but never went in. We spent more time in shopping malls than in museums. We rode the subway in every direction, but found ourselves getting off at mostly the same stops each time. While it was a fun trip and certainly whet my appetite for the East Coast, I wasn't completely satisfied. The same goes for a trip to Vegas, where there are so many things to see and do, I spent most of the time feeling overwhelmed. All I really wanted to see were the places Sinatra hung out, but we just never made it to Old Vegas.

I cannot think of one thing I wish I had seen or done during my trip to Nantucket last weekend. Now, this could have something to do with the fact that the island is only 13.5 miles long and 3 miles wide, but I think it is more likely attributed to my fantastic tour guide. Not only is Rachel one of my favorite people, she's also a kick ass cook, gracious hostess and one of the biggest nature nerds I've ever known (that's a high complement, coming from me).

Rach and me in our pokey-dotted dresses, sometime around three years ago.
This trip was kind of a big deal for me. When Rachel moved to the island after college, she offered up the chance to visit, but I didn't want to impose/didn't have the money/knew nothing about Nantucket. After our friend Caitlin made her way out there last fall and then told me how awesome it was, I started thinking of ways to go out to see Rach. I told my mom that I thought I might want to make the trip and that I'd like to go alone - it would be a good test of my self confidence and give me a chance to spent time one on one with my friend. So, for my 26th birthday, my parents agreed to pay for my airline ticket so that I could fly to Boston and then make my way over to visit Rachel.

Nantucket does have its own airport, but it's pretty pricey and flights to Boston were running cheap, so I decided I'd take the roundabout way. That means I had to fly to Boston (2 hours), catch a bus to Hyannis (2 hours), and then take the ferry to Nantucket (1 hour). I was a little worried about all of the connections, but Rachel helped me navigate the transportation system, with back up plans included.

Everything went fairly well from Columbus to Hyannis, and I was eager to stretch my legs once I got off the bus. I made my way over to a breakfast/lunch place called Persy's Place and ordered a cup of chowder and a salad. Then, I thought to look at the time and realized I'd better gulp down my soup and get my rear to the boat dock if I wanted to make my ferry. I hustled out and found a cab, but in my disheveled state I said, "Take me to the fast ferry, please." I ended up at the Hy Line, when I needed to be at the Steamship Authority. Freaked out, and with 5 minutes til the boat left, I called Rachel. She guided me to the correct place and I made it with little time to spare. On the boat, I dozed off listening to Ella Fitzgerald and awoke as we were pulling in to the port.

I once had a friend in Nantucket...

I booked my plane tickets this morning and I'll be off to visit Rachel at the end of April. I'm very excited.

I've been wanting to write for a while about the fact that nearly all of my college friends have fled this city... off to Philadelphia, DC, New York, New England... I think Anish and Nick Snow are my only college friends who've remained in town. Sometimes I wish I could leave too. Not forever, just for a while. I try not to think about it too much. I had the opportunity to move right after college and maybe if the destination had not been Cleveland (or if I'd had a solid job opportunity), I'd have taken it. Dreaming about moving away is one thing, but then the reality of my family's attachment and expectations hit me and I wonder if I could even do it.

At any rate, I'm glad that I can finally take advantage of the fact that I have a friend in another city, especially since she also happens to be one of my very favorite people. I'm also looking forward to traveling alone. It's kind of a challenge to my independence. I've traveled with Steph and with my parents and other friends, and I've flown alone to visit Ryan but I've never taken off like this. I almost lost my nerve and asked Nick to join me, but to be honest, I have no idea when I'll have another chance to travel alone and he and I have many trips together yet to come!

So, Rach is about the coolest and best planner and she sent me a whole trip-tic with recommended sites and restaurants to check out on Nantucket. She'll be working on Friday, while I explore. We're planning to spend some time together in Boston as well. I want to go back and actually ENTER the library, rather than walk by longingly as I did when I went with Steph. Rach said there are some nice museums and of course I intend to do some Geocaching and eat plenty of seafood. I hope the weather is nice, but even it it's not, I intend to have a great time!

My new toy

I was very excited to receive an awesome birthday gift from my sweetie - the Amazon Kindle 2. Before I could take it to work and show it off though, I had to make a cozy for it!



Isn't it nifty?? (The Kindle, not the cozy)


My friend Jess also got her sweetie a Kindle (copycat!), so I made hers a cozy too...


I've been sticking with quick and easy projects lately. I hit another wall with my sock knitting when my crazy kitty jumped on my knitting bag and somehow snapped two of my harmony needles in half! The pieces even flew across the room! I ordered a new set, along with some yarn which should arrive any day now. Darn cat.

Here's another short, sweet project, another pair of wrist warmers for my cold handed aunt.

Now, I just have to get them to her before it gets too warm to wear them!

What's cooking?

I've been on a bit of a culinary tear lately. Can't say that I've been doing much cooking myself, but I have been bookmarking, daydreaming and salivating over many a good cooking blog.

We've had a house guest since the 21st of January and I did make a pretty mean meatloaf one night, chicken parmesan another (but forgot the spaghetti!), and I tried these Spicy Chicken Nuggets on Monday night. They were yum! I think the marinade (1/4 c. dark rum, 1/4 c. lime juice, 1/4 c. soy sauce and 2 tbs. sugar would be awesome on steak or grilled chicken).

Lately, I've found it's easier to avoid conversation if I bury my nose in a book or my laptop, than to try and knit in my free time and so I am getting behind on productivity. I need to get on it though, my aunt has requested another pair of wrist warmers and they won't be so useful if I wait til June to make them!

As for my creative outlet, my wonderful and very missed friend Rach sent me a set of LOLmagnetz and so I've been spending my down time at work futzing with those. Yay magnetic LOLpoetry!