A Wintery Mix I Can Actually Enjoy

Usually you hear ” Wintery Mix” and you think freezing rain, snow, sleet, hail and all around yuckiness…but this Wintery Mix is of the musical kind. It took me a while, but I finally completed it. I am in love I put hearts next to my absolute faves, but honestly I just love the whole mix. It has a good flow and good mixture of sounds. It almost makes me glad its winter… almost.

Winter 2012 Mix

1. C’mon- Ke$ha♥
2. Love Song- Featuring Holly Colan Golden State
3. Do Do Do-Fire Through The Window ♥
4. Maybe- Ingrid Michaelson
5. Winter Song – Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
6. Queen of Everything- Haley Bonar ♥
7. You Make the Cold Disappear- Amy Stroup ♥
8. Without The One I Love- Bellflower
9. Shoes laces- The Submarines ♥
10. Sparkle- No Doubt
11. Every Little Thing- Soft Swells
12. Lisztomania- Phoenix
13. Call the Police- This Good Robot ♥
14. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark- Fall Out Boy
15. Kinda Outta Luck- Lana Del Ray ♥
16. Glorious- The Pierces ♥
17. Bones- Ms Mr
18. Alibi- The Stranger Familiar
19. Waking Dream- Natalie Walker
20. Roll with the Punches-Lenka ♥
21. Easy to Love- The Jezabels
22. The Funeral- Band of Horses

A Productive Weekend

Sometimes I get down and there seems to be no real reason for it. I actually had a great week. I lost 4 lbs on a cleansing diet I was trying. Monday I made an all vegan meal. I was way proud! I made some yummy smoothies that I plan to post here. I didn’t have pop (soda for you non Clevelanders) for a week… of course I totally had some yesterday and today…but it’s a start. I also attended an awesome lecture at the Art Museum  on “Public Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Prostitutes in Nineteenth Century Paris.” By Friday I was ready for the weekend.

Friday night me and the bff went to an art show at the Beck Center. The artist was Mary Deutschman. Beautifully bright paintings by a Cleveland based artist.

After we perused the paintings we grabbed a yummy latte at Gypsy Bean. They have a yummy caramel apple latte which is to die for.

Saturday morning the hub woke up with major tummy ache and later that morning had the full on plague. I the went in to full on productive mode. I cleaned the kitchen and organized almost every area of it.

I had Murder She Wrote on the tv all day. In the evening I started watching Pushing Daisies. Both of them are shows that make me so happy. I think that is why I kept them on all weekend… to keep the blues at bay. I could feel the blues creeping  up. I managed to check off a lot of stuff of my to do list. I did laundry, put away some stuff from the boxes in the basement, worked on my little nook in my living room.

Before:

nook..in progress

My final bit of productivity was to bake chocolate chip cookies…which was my first successful cookie baking in the new house.

I only had 1/2 cup of butter so I used 1/2 cup of coconut oil. It made for some yummy cookies. I also used dark chocolate… delicious.

So here I am typing this watching Pushing Daisies and wrapping up my productive weekend. Jimi is feeling better now. I am still feeling a little blue, but I do have a sense of accomplishment and feeling inspired…I’m hoping that makes for another nice week.

D.I.Y Beard Oil

For Christmas I made Jimi a batch of beard oil. I saw a bottle of it on Urban Outfitter’s website. What is beard oil you ask? It’s a type of beard conditioner. Using it regularly can help growth, tame unruly beard, soften the beard hair and condition skin to prevent itching and dry skin. I tried to find a recipe online and to my surprise there wasn’t one…Seriously I was shocked! So I came up with my own recipe.

What you will need:

♥ 5 oz Hemp Oil- raw, organic

♥ 1 oz Essential oils- I used patchouli, sandalwood and amber

♥ 2 oz Jojoba oil

♥ Glass bottle 8oz

Take 5 oz of Hemp oil, 2 oz Jojoba oil, and 1oz essential oils and pour the ingredients  directly into the 8oz bottle and shake. So simple! The jojoba oil actually mimics the natural oils our skin produces. The hemp oil is a great skin conditioner and it has a nutty smell that compliments the patchouli, sandalwood and amber scents. I chose those essential oils because they are my favorite and they have a woodsy and clean smell. Any essential oil would work. Rosemary, cedar wood, vanilla, or lime are possible suggestions.

2012 in pictures

January- I got dolled up in my best 1920′s look and headed over to the Beachland Ballroom for the Pretty Things Peepshow.

February- I made these rings for the Cleveland Craft Coalition Valentine’s craft show… it was the last one I did this year… I might get back into it… I have not decided yet.

March- In February I changed jobs. Same company, but different job.  I put up this cute “cubicle bunting” in my new cube and took this picture in March. This job changed proved to be a fantastic decision.

April- Spring began. I made this awesome felt flower crown. This is the month we started the process for buying a house. We got pre-approved for a loan… it proved to be a huge under taking that took up all my time.

May- Lindsay, the hub and I went to the Bal Ingenieux. The 1st annual mascaraed ball/ fundraiser for Ingenuity Fest. It was a throw back to Cleveland’s Kokoon Arts Club from the 1920′s. Jimi went as the Mask of the Red Death from the Edgar Allan Poe story and I used it as an excuse to make these awesome bunny ears

June- Another Parade the Circle success. I was Paul Klee’s Error on Green

July- At the end of July we left Apt 103 and moved in with my mom for a month while paperwork was going through on the house… It was actually kind of nice to  stay with my mom for a while.

August- In August we signed the papers and moved in to our brand new house. It was a hard process. Lots of looking, lots of phone calls, lots of stress, two moving days ( We had to put our stuff in storage for a month), last night moving… but it was ALL worth it. I love my little house.

September – This might be my favorite picture from this year. My two kitties soaking up some rays on the couch.

October- Jimi was asked to read Poetry at the Cleveland Museum of Art first Mix Event. The Mix events are a monthly party on the first Friday of the month. Can’t wait to attend more of these. So proud of the hub!

November- A couple days after Thanksgiving we headed downtown for the lightening ceremony and I snapped this picture of the Terminal Tower. Another favorite

December- First Christmas in our new house. It was great! My dad, step mom, sister and my mom came over and had dinner. My mom helped me prepare dinner and we made a fire in our fire place. It was great.

2012 was a great year for us. Here’s to hoping 2013 is even better.

xoxoxox,

Kat

Lanterns, funky beats and food turcks

Last night  Linzi and I went to go pick up the hub from work at the Cleveland Museum of Art and watch the Winter Lights Lantern Festival procession. It was awesome…and free! We are so lucky to live in a city with an awesome art museum that is free! They always have great events! I video taped a couple a little bit of it. you can view it here.

A couple of my favorite CLE food trucks were there. I got Plantains from Jibaro  and some yummy curry from Umami moto. It was DELICIOUS!!!

When we came home I made one of the items on my holiday craft list. This is my first craft I’ve done in MONTHS! Not since at least June! I can’t wait to get my craft room/office/studio unpacked and ready for action

So far this holiday season is pretty awesome. Tomorrow evening we are going to see our favorite band Patent Pending at Peabodys! Christmas has come early

Ringing in the 2012 Holiday season

Yesterday I had a jam-packed day full of fun with the hub (Jimi). For the past couple months I have been in rehearsals for the show I am in “Wonder of the World” by David Lindsay-Abaire over at River Street Playhouse. This Sunday marks the beginning of Hell week… otherwise known as Tech week. I will be at work from 7-5 and then in rehearsals from 7-10…so my days will hectic and not filled with much time for relaxation and fun time with the hub. So I we packed as much fun into one day that we possible could.

We hoped on the Rapid and went downtown to the lighting ceremony. IT WAS COLD. All the yummy food trucks were there. We had some yummy Mac & cheese from Streat Mobile.  Mine had bacon on it and Jimi got pulled pork. We got tacos from Fired Up Taco truck. Jimi got beef and I got chicken… but to be truthful we took turns eating both.

 

my awesome picture of Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland

This year the lights used down town are LED lights donated by General Electric. LED lights will reduce the energy used by 80% which means the city will save lots of money and it’s environmentally friendly. The first 100 minutes of the lightning were powered by energy harnessed from GE employees riding bicycles.  They started at 5:00am yesterday morning and pedaled until 6:30pm last evening. If they had used regular bulbs, they would have had to pedal for 180 hours to get enough energy to power the lights for 100 minutes. That’s pretty crazy! Once they lit up Public Square and we headed  back on the Rapid to our car.

The next stop was BuckBuck. BuckBuck is a new gallery in town. I had been expecting a gallery opening with art on the walls, but apparently they are between shows. The event we stumbled on to was called Lake Eerie Blues. The first 20 minutes was a demonstration of sound art by Wesley Friedrich. The next 30 minutes was a poetry reading by Keith J Varadi. It wasn’t what we expected, but it was fun none the less. I love seeing people creating art. I love new experiences and meeting new people.

After BuckBuck we went to Parnell’s Pub and got our Holiday ales on. I had 12 Dogs of Christmas ale by Thirsty Dog. I had one. It kinda kicked my ass…. I’m a light weight. Jimi had a Southern Tier 2Xmas ale. I tried it. It was STRONG. I preferred my 12 Dogs. Afterward we went home and I smashed the left over green bean casserole I made for Thanksgiving and the left over stuffing.

Then we snuggled in bed. We were exhausted. I slept a very nice and comfy 8 hours. And now I have to get ready for the first of many evenings locked in side of a theatre. It’s going to be a tough week, but I love the process and I can’t wait for opening night!

How did you ring in the holiday season?

Art Crush: Work No. 965 Half the Air in a Given Space by Martin Creed

A few weeks ago my sister in law came to Cleveland. While she was in town the hub did a poetry reading for the Cleveland Museum of Art for their first Mix First Friday of the Month event. The Mix event was a first look at the new Martin Creed exhibition,  “Work No. 965: Half the Air in a Given Space.” The glass gallery that usually houses the Rodin sculptures was emptied out and filled with purple ballons. Patrons go into the room and walk around. It was super cool. I decided to film my adventure. I suggest that if you find yourself in Cleveland for the next month that you make your way to the Cleveland Museum of Art. For more information go here.