Spring in Colonial Williamsburg, Part I

Is spring really, finally here to stay? I certainly hope so. I am ready for it. Winter seems to have had a hold on everyone this year, but I think spring is starting to take over. I love seeing the tiny blooms peaking out of my twisted willows and Japanese maples.

I love Colonial Williamsburg in spring. We took a walk there recently and everything is still dormant or unplanted. But, I thought I'd share some pictures from a visit last May that I meant to share at that time, but never got around to. Hopefully this will get you in the springtime mood.

(all photos taken with a canon powershot 870 IS and edited in google+)

Red Buckeye

When we walked over to the "colonial garden" area on Duke of Gloucester Street we looked around to see if we could find the name of this tree above.

red buckeye

We're pretty sure this is it judging from it's label (above).

I love walking through all the gardens here. You can go from one manicured yard to the next down brick walkways and through little garden gates.

If you've never been to, or even heard of, Colonial Williamsburg, it used to be the capital of Virginia during colonial times. Basically, it's a living museum with ..... let me just copy and paste from wiki. So much easier:

Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The 301-acre (122 ha) Historic Area includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 (during which the city was the capital of Colonial Virginia), as well as Colonial Revival and more recent reconstructions. The Historic Area is an interpretation of a Colonial American city, with exhibits including dozens of authentic or re-created buildings related to colonial and American Revolutionary War history. -- read more at Colonial Williamsburg's Wikipedia page.

You need a ticket to get into many of the buildings, as it is a museum with costumed interpreters, but you can walk the streets, drink/eat in the taverns, enter many of the shops, and enjoy some of the gardens for free. If you haven't visited, I highly recommend it. It's a beautiful place.

I feel like I've visited it more in the past few years than I have my entire life, even though I've always lived within 30 minutes of it.

This is just kind of a tiny peek inside this living museum. Tomorrow I will show you some of it's more recognizable buildings and a bit of the colonial garden shop. More flowers!

Women's Circle Traveling Journal

I follow this wonderful blog called Introverted Art, and when Ana mentioned she wanted to start a Women's Circle Traveling Journal, I just jumped on it without thinking. I've been wanting to break out my paints and do something creative, so I felt this was the perfect opportunity, especially since there were no rules. Anything goes. 

Once I received the traveling art journal, I had one week with it before I had to send it on to the next participant in the group. I was so stumped for ideas at first. I sketched a few things (in a lovely sketchbook my sister gave me a few Christmases ago). Then, I just decided to take the paints out, dip my brush in, and just paint. I just grabbed some color and started painting with no idea where it would lead. 

I always hear people say that all the time about art journaling. Don't think about. Just do it. Well, I didn't know how amazing it would be until I actually took that advice. I now know why people love doing them. It was so darn fun and relaxing, and it really does feel like a release of pent-up creativity.  

I painted a few pages in my sketchbook of nothing in particular, just shapes and colors. (I even got my husband to play along. Love his sunset, which he first drew on his ipad and then translated it perfectly with paint.)

I let them dry overnight, and the next evening I opened the traveling journal and decided to take the same tact, and just start painting. I didn't go as crazy, because I wanted it to be a clear background. Then, I started cutting shapes out from one of the pages I painted the night before.

With still no plan, I just started gluing the pieces to my painted surface in the art journal. Is it just me or does it kind of remind you of the 1980's? Maybe I'm just reliving my childhood. 

I let it dry another night and the next day I took some black paint and brushed along some of the edges of the cut out pieces just to give a little more depth to them. 

And the lettering. Oh my. This is where I really need to be more intentional; with my lettering. I love typography, so you'd think I could have done a better job. Next time I will try to be more creative with my lettering. 

I mod-podged the entire surface to preserve it, and I let that dry overnight.

"None of my pleasures are guilty". A quote by a non-famous person. Me. ha. It's my motto in life.

This was a great exercise and I hope to do more of this art journaling in my own sketchbook. It really was very fun, relaxing and such a creative release. 

A big "thank you" to Ana at Introverted Art for allowing me to join in this traveling art journal.

Here is a list of the other participants in this Women's Circle Traveling Art Journal:

Artful Fairy Tales

The Marmelade Gypsy

Goodness Recycled

Middle Girl

Ophelia's Art

Christina Jackson

Lovely Reveries

Kyra Wilson's Studio

She Who Seeks

Words & Blooms

Free Spirit Scribblings

A North End Journal

Magic Love Crow

Bichinhos na Cabeça

Art of Nadia

Castles Crowns Cottages

Happy Valentine's Day

We do it up right. 

Easiest and Best Roasted Tomato Sauce

Every Wednesday night is pasta night in our house. We've followed a few different recipes, with one of our favorites being Lidia Bastianich's very simple and tasty marinara sauce. Recently, though, my husband found another recipe for roasted tomato sauce, which has moved to the top of our list. Sorry Lidia. We still love you.

Jason thinks he found the recipe on epicurious if that helps anyone who wants to find the original. But I am going to lay it out here for you in the way I was taught (just yesterday) to cook it, by Jason via google chat. Meaning, he was getting ready to make his way home from work yesterday and asked me to get the sauce started. So, he gave me the directions in a chat. 

Now, I'm not a bad cook, but I'm not Jason. 1) I don't really enjoy cooking, probably because 2) I can't do more than one thing at a time in the kitchen like he can. So, we've agreed that he is the cook, and I am his helper and cleaner-upper. Though he is a great cook, he is also messy, so I'm not let off the hook that easy. 

Jason's Roasted Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:
1 35 oz can peeled plum tomatoes
pinch of red pepper flakes to taste (some like it hot, be careful)
6-8 crushed garlic cloves
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 tablespoon oregano or Italian seasoning

9 x 13 glass casserole dish
immersion blender, optional

Optional variations:
fresh or crushed basil, or basil paste
red wine
ground beef, seasoned to your tastes
ground turkey, seasoned to your tastes
Italian sausage
peeled, uncooked shrimp

Directions, given via gchat:

Jason

dump the can of tomatoes into the large glass casserole dish

sprinkle in a good sized pinch of red pepper flakes

me

oh no. do I have to blend them?

    (I don't get along well with immersion blenders.)

Jason

no

me

whew

Jason

just use a fork to kinda cut/lightly mash them after you dump them in

 (I actually used an old potato masher to just squish them up a bit.)

me

k

Jason

crush 6-8 cloves of garlic...no need to chop them

put them in w/ the tomatoes and pepper flakes

distribute 1/2 stick of butter w/ the tomatoes

give a sprinkle of the Italian seasoning

cook at 375º until I take it out and mix w/ the browned ground turkey (which I will cook when I get home)

me

ok

Jason

you can give it a little stir after 30 min or so

me

ok

Jason

it's pretty easy

Yes, I am here to tell you that it is the easiest and best tomato sauce, and the fact that it is roasted in the oven probably has a lot to do with its wonderfulness. Oh, and the butter. Though, if you don't want to use butter, I'm sure it will be just as good. 

Additional directions:

When Jason got home, the sauce had been cooking for about 30 minutes or more. He then took it out of the oven and used an immersion blender to break up the tomatoes a bit more. Not necessary, though. You can have them as chunky or as blended as you like. He then added about a tablespoon of basil paste to the sauce. He browned some ground turkey and then deglazed that pan with red wine and added the sauce to the pan. 

We also change it up each week by using ground beef, ground turkey, shrimp, or my favorite, Italian Sausage. If you use shrimp you will put the peeled, uncooked shrimp in the sauce about 4 minutes before your pasta is done. Or, you don't have to use meat at all. It's a great marinara sauce as well. 

Cooking the pasta:

A very important step we learned from watching the amazing chef, JacquesPépin, is to cook your pasta in salted water until al dente and not to drain it. Rather, scoop the pasta out of the water and into the sauce to let it finish cooking for a couple minutes. If needed, you can scoop a bit of the salted pasta water into the sauce. 

Enjoy!

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year to you. I never make resolutions anymore, but sometimes in the back of my mind I might. I am kind of more laid back in my approach to the coming years. I just want to be happy and healthy, and for my family and friends to be happy and healthy. 

I'm pretty easy to please in that regard. 

Ok, that's not all true. I'd like to craft more, clean more, garden more, and lose a ton of weight.
There. We'll see how it goes. 

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2014, and that we can all stick to our resolutions. 

made with paper by 53

Christmas Delights 2013

Here is a little Christmas cheer that is going on around our house. 

Jason decorated Gingerbread house. I approved. =)

I spy a little village peeking in the mirror.

This year's Dickens Christmas Village setup. 

Jason made a starry night sky background that I am in love with. 

I love our tree, but I felt like something was missing. Something from my childhood.

Then it hit me. Tinsel! I love tinsel. 

Tinsel. Everywhere. 

I know I'm probably in the minority these days on the tinsel, but then I also love the big old fashioned colored lights on my tree, too. 

A sweet little Christmas handkerchief my sister included in her homemade Christmas card. 

I love poinsettias, and Jason found some at Lowe's last week for 0.62 cent a piece. 

There is nothing better than the smell of pumpkin pie. 

I don't even mind the cleanup. As long as Jason is doing the baking. =)

I hope everyone has a wonderful and peaceful Christmas this year. 

For those going through hard times, be it health, family, money; I pray for better times for you and yours. 

Brushed Nickel Knobs On My Newly Painted Laminate Cabinets

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I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was full of great food and wonderful family and friends. 

Today I wanted to show you my painted laminate cabinets with their finishing touches, the brushed nickel knobs. And, wow, what a difference this makes. 

(Read more info on the easiest painting process here.)

I thought the cabinets looked great before, but this just brings everything up a level and really makes the kitchen look complete. Unfortunately, I could not put knobs on the two doors on either side of the stove because they need to open completely to allow the small drawers inside to be pulled out. 

It really bothers me, but it is what it is. 

 

Kitchen before and after. 

We also painted both bathrooms with the same color as the kitchen (Eiffel Tower by Olympic) and installed the same brushed nickel knobs.

And here is our next project. The hall floor. If you've followed me long enough you might remember a little incident with my water heater going kaput and water everywhere. 

Of course, I learned after the fact, from my brother-in-law, that I really didn't need to pull up the carpet, and that it would have dried out just fine, but I'm glad I did anyway. This will be a nice little update to the condo. 

Happy Thanksgiving

made with paper by 53 app