cake balls!

strawberry cake ball

No, it’s not a confectionary expletive… it’s just my current craving.  My mom made these for my cousin Jodi’s wedding shower back in May and I’ve been dreaming about them ever since.

sunday

In the spirit of trying to blog more, I suppose I’ll grace the blogosphere with another riveting account of the Most Exciting Weekend Ever.

TV.  Gym.  Central Market.  Home.  Sushi.  Movies.  Shower.  Dishes.  Tilapia.  Dempsey.

Yup, that about covers it.  Will saw Snoop Dogg today.  And Neko Case.  He texted around 8:30 to say that he missed me and that they were stuck in traffic trying to get out of the 700 acre farm/festival site/camping ground.  I hope it didn’t take them as long to get out as it took to get in (8 hours).

I’m kind of boring myself now.  Terri, glad your blog is back up and running!  I know what you mean about the too much twittering thing.  I’m following @lancearmstrong now and he’s a pretty frequent twitterer.  Apparently he has a twitter account for each of his 4 kids.  The baby’s account is pretty active.  The other three kids’ accounts are protected.  I don’t think I could blog/twitter as my child.  Dempsey maybe, but he doesn’t have thumbs and cannot type so he has to rely on me to be his voice.  He can, however, throw his stuffed sheep buddy up in the air and catch it.  He’s a talented little guy.

Just finished watching The Duchess.  It was better than the other movie I watched this afternoon about a strong, influential female English royal (Elizabeth: The Golden Age).  Where Elizabeth was triumphant, this movie was just tragic.  The theme of the movie didn’t really seem to be about a woman ahead of her time… it was more like a woman imprisoned in the restrictive ideas of the time in which she was born and was just… sad.  I was looking for her to be heroic and she disappointed.  In the end, she settled for doing her duty and putting on a pretty face.  Many comparisons have been made between her and Princess Diana, who is a direct descendant.  The difference was that Diana was able to leave her horrible marriage and keep her title, her children, and her reputation.  Georgiana of Devonshire would have lost everything if she had left and still lost her husband to his mistress and was not allowed to keep her daughter born out of wedlock.  Even though in the present day divorce and kids out of wedlock are all too common, at least now the law allows women the right to choose how their life turns out, to a degree.

Sorry for the rambling… that’s what you get when I have nothing to do but type.

flying solo

You would think I would be enjoying this weekend.  This is really the last weekend I have free for a while.  Next weekend my parents and Tracy and Ted are staying with us for Jodi’s wedding.  The weekend after that we’ll be getting ready for Italy and then Tracy and Ted are again going to be staying with us for a night in the middle of their cross-country move.  Then, there’s Italy!  The weekend after we get back will probably be used for sleeping, doing laundry, editing photos, grocery shopping and loving on Dempsey.  Then I believe the weekend after that we’re going to Austin for my high school reunion.

It’s not like this is the worst weekend ever… I’m just realizing how dependent on Will I am for entertainment.  Weekends with him always seem too short.  This one is just going on forever.  Last night was loooong.  I ended up watching some special features from the Knocked Up DVD, editing some photos, then passing out on the couch.  Not too exciting.  Not that Friday nights with Will are all that different as far as activities, but I feel like they’re more fun.

Today I woke up at 8am, contemplated going to the gym for a minute then flipped on the TV and ate cereal in bed.  Then I got out and cleaned up the debris in the front yard that was left from the crazy storms we had this week.  Thankfully it seems like we came through this one without much damage at all, just the debris and a small broken branch.  I was really afraid that our cottonwood tree would fall on Jeff’s car that he left in front of our house, but thank goodness it didn’t fall.  Many people in our neighborhood were not so lucky.  Our neighbors lost trees and some have roof damage.  It doesn’t look like our roof was damaged, but we’re going to call our roof guy to come check up on it just in case.  Don’t want another leak to appear months later.  So I only got the front yard done before I retreated back into the cool house, drenched in sweat.  I edited another set of photos while I cooled off.  This set was from my day off back in March.  I loved taking a day off for no reason other than I felt like it and it turned out to be a gorgeous Spring day.  I got to go to parts of DFW that I hadn’t been to before (Main Street in Grapevine, the Dallas Arboretum) and got to work on my photography.  Also, Will was on his Spring Break so we got to enjoy it together.  After I uploaded that set to flikr, went out to run some errands.  Picked up some stuff at Kinkos for Jodi’s wedding (programs, maps), made a return, bought a cute new bikini, then got a craving for the roasted veggie tart at Cafe Express so drove all the way to Mockingbird Station for a late lunch/early dinner.  I poked around the area for a little while at west elm and urban outfitters.  I was tempted to go see “Away We Go” at the Angelika but that’s something I really wanted to see with Will so I passed and decided to come back home.

Now Dempsey and I are chillin.  Watching random stuff that has been on our DVR for a while.  Will probably edit more photos later tonight (next up: my birthday).  Yup, exciting things happening here at the Bolin household.

trying

I’m going to try to keep up with this blog more.  I expect others to update their blogs for my reading pleasure, yet I’ve been horrible about updating my own.  Hopefully that stops now.  Not gonna lie, I’m not updating this thing every day, but I’ll try to be better.

I’m also trying to get through editing the photos I’ve taken this year with the new camera.  I’m caught up to Eugene and Cheryl’s wedding from February.  My photos have gotten better and more consistent as I’ve used the camera more.  I still have issues with auto-focus though.  I auto-focus every time, but still so many photos turn out soft.  I think it’s really mainly a motion blur because I use such a slow shutter speed since my kit lens (the 18-135mm one) is not all that fast.  The images I’ve taken with my dad’s 50mm 1.8 have been quite a bit better overall.  Anyway, I’m trying to sort through them all, pick the best ones, and upload to my flikr account before we go to Italy.  Because I intend on taking a LOT of photos in Italy and if I don’t get caught up now, I probably never will.  If you’re not one of my contacts on flikr yet, my name is bab736 there.

Speaking of Italy, I’m trying to get as much work done as possible before we leave.  So far I’ve done a pretty good job of getting ahead so I’ll try to keep up that pace as much as I can.  By the way, if you haven’t signed up for BG emails yet, you’re missing out on my art directing and design genius coming to your inbox (almost) every day!

I’m trying to do some fun stuff while Will is at Bonaroo.  So far, that really just consists of eating stuff he doesn’t eat anymore (like Caprese salad… mmmm, fresh mozz), watching movies he doesn’t really want to watch (Knocked up, Parent Trap, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and The Duchess), as well as TV shows (Gilmore Girls, What Not To Wear).  So yeah, Dempsey and I are pretty bored.  I’m glad I’m not at Bonaroo though.  It was an all-day drive, then an all-day wait in line to get in, plus rain (accompanied by mud) and sleeping in a tent then being outside all day going to shows.  Kind of sounds like my hell, except of course that Will is there.  But yeah, I’d rather be at work in my air-conditioned cubicle, thank you.

I really need to try to go to the gym more this summer.  Since Will hasn’t been going early in the morning anymore, I’ve only made it to the gym once and even then it was not a good workout.  I’ve got my 10 year high school reunion coming up so it’d be nice if I could be in good shape for that.  I’ve also got to stop eating badly.  It’s really not helping.

Last, they weren’t exactly trying, but I’m so excited for my friends Jessica and Nick who are expecting their first baby!  Since the baby fever has been creeping up on me lately, it’ll be fun to live vicariously though them.  That baby is going to be so lucky to have them as parents!  Not to mention he/she will have the most pimped out crib EVAR.

first class all the way, baby

It’s Saturday evening and I’m on my way home from new york. This will be my last trip for a while since I have vacation days coming up the next few months (Jodi’s wedding! Italy!). I traded in some of my upgrade credits to fly first class in the return today. Not sure if it was worth it though because the plane is practically empty so I could have had a whole coach row to myself. Oh well, it’s fun up here. Had some ok tortellini and a Caesar salad. Oh, and warm nuts, can’t forget those. I think the best part us the leg room and the actual seat. I’m not even reclined and it’s pretty comfy.

In the interest of not chatting too much about work, I’ll just say that I had a GREAT week and that I’m pretty happy about how things turned out. Everyone worked so hard and it really showed in the shots. So…yay! I got to town early so I was able to catch a show of a new musical that was supposed to be amazing. It was great, but I wasn’t super-impressed. It’s called Next to Normal. Up for 11 Tonys but I doubt they’ll win that many. I also went to bergdorf and wandered around. Was going to try to go to the met for the model as muse exhibit but I wouldn’t have made it in time and then the moma was also closed on Tuesdays. I had dinner with my good friend and former coworker Katie. She was one of my best friends in Dallas before she moved to Nashville to be closer to her famliy and I hadn’t seen her in almost two years so it was so fun to meet up with her in the city and catch up. Had dinner with my photographer another night and that was fun. Then the last night I met up with Tracy and Ted in brooklyn for the last time before they move to LA. We went to applewood which was delicious. I’m sad that I won’t get to see them as much from now on. I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to swing a shoot in LA sometime!

Alright, going to try to sleep a little now…

sigh of relief

Status: Brett is breathing a huge sigh of relief.

The past week and a half has been insane. So much has happened at work that I don’t think I could possibly type it all out (particularly with just two thumbs on a 2.5″ keyboard) if I wanted to or felt like I was allowed to. I will say that I feel guilty for even complaining about work because I’m just lucky to have a job right now, not to mention a job that I love. It’s been a roller coaster so far and though things haven’t settled down yet, I think the worst is behind us for now. Don’t forget to check out the site for my first video! All things considered, I think it was a big hit.

I’m in NYC now, at the soho grand hotel. I was hoping it was still a celeb hangout but I haven’t seen anyone famous… Unless you count the chick with the shaved head on the treadmill next to me yesterday who I swore was Kanye West’s girlfriend (she wasn’t). Or Janelle Monae, who was in the studio next door to us yesterday but I never got a glimpse of her. Anyway I’ve had a great trip so far… Which I wasn’t so sure would happen not long ago. And I love staying in soho. Def my favorite manhattan hood to stay in so far. It’s so nice and quiet and free of traffic in the mornings when I’ve walked to the studio (pretending I live here).

Home tomorrow evening and hoping to catch an earlier flight. Any hints for successfully flying standby?

en route

I just had a can of pepsi dropped on my foot. Hopefully that will be the last not-good thing that happens on this trip. I did fly out of terminal D (mmm Blue Mesa) so that was a good start. I tried to request an upgrade for the first time, but I’m not so sure I did it right. My name didn’t show up on the upgrade list when I got to the gate.

Let’s back up a bit. My birthday was the weekend before last and I pretty much had the best weekend ever. The celebration started at the office on Friday with cake and ice cream. Some of my coworkers in the other building around the corner came to wish me happy birthday so I felt pretty special. I had lunch with Kelly that day and then Will and I met up with Jenna at Fireside Pies for pizza that evening.

Then on Saturday (my actual birthday) I slept in a little then I got my present from Dempsey (five boxes of caramel delite Girl Scout cookies… Yum). After that we went to get breakfast at our new favorite spot, Main Street Bread. I love their pastries and their coffee is delicious. I got the strawberry romanoff crepes this time and they were ok. If they had nutella in them instead of preserves, they would have been perfect. After that we got in the car and headed toads Southlake. Will totally surprised me by taking me to the AT&T store to get an iPhone! He kept saying that I knew what was coming but I really had no clue. I thought we’d wait to get them when our Verizon contract was up but I guess he thought I had waited long enough. OMG I was so excited I could barely keep still as the sales girl started up our accounts. Finally I had an iPhone of my very own! I still bring it out sometimes just to look at how pretty it is . Will actually got a pretty nice discount on all of it since he’s a teacher. Score. Afterwards we went to the Apple store to look at cases etc since the AT&T store’s selection sucked. I got a lovely sleek white case to go with my white phone. So pretty. We were there for quite a while deciding which cases to get (Will got a phone too, using his allowance) and then having them put this anti-glare film on the screen for a little extra protection. Luckily the phones had a pretty good charge already so I was able to use it all day. And I definitely did. Next we went to the Fort Worth zoo! I used maps first to find the nearest Compass bank–was pretty proud of myself. The zoo was so much fun. I was really impressed by how it was set up and how close we were able to get to the animals though a lot of the cages and pens seemed way too small. The poor bobcat was pacing on the floor of a cage no bigger than my closet. But it was still really cool and I took a lot of pictures. Toward the end we started to fade so we went to dinner in ft worth at this place called Fuego. I wasn’t so sure about it when we walked in because some musicians were setting up and you never know how that will turn out. They ended up being really good though. The service and food was great too, except for Will’s boar chops. Then we Went home to play with Dempsey and have strawberry cake. Perfect day.

Sunday Jessica and Nick took us out for an amazing brunch at Screen Door in Dallas. It was so sweet of them and so much fun. They’re fun to go on double dates with. After that we picked up Dempsey and took him out by the lake to run around and play with matt and julie’s dog. He had the best time and was so good. I was a little nervous a about letting him off the leash in a non-fenced area, even with no cars or roads for miles. But he listened to us and came when he was called (which he never does at the dog park). So much fun.

Ok, going to put the phone up now. Starting to get a headache.

testing

Just testing the wordpress app from my birthday present, my iPhone! Will have a real update later…

my day

Will likes to give me days.  As in “whatever you want, it’s your day.”  This past Friday I decided to give myself a day so I used some vacation time to take off from work and spent pretty much the whole day doing stuff I wanted to do.  I loved it!  And it was even better that it wasn’t a holiday or my birthday or any other special occasion other than it was gorgeous outside and it was Friday and Will was off too.

The day started off with my alarm going off at 7am.  I was going to hit the DPS at 8 sharp to renew my license but of course I hit snooze for an hour and then I took my time getting ready since I’d have to live with the new picture for the next who knows how many years.  I was disappointed to find out I had to do a new picture because the one I got after I changed my name in 2006 was so cute.  Anyway, I finally got that done around 10:30.  I had wanted to head straight over to the Dallas Arboretum so I could practice my photography with some pretty morning light, but Will wasn’t even close to being ready yet so I stopped by the Post Office to get my passport picture taken.  Highway robbery, by the way ($15).  I should have had Ted “International Fashion Photographer” take my photo when I was in NY last month instead.  I went home and finished up my application while Will was getting ready to go out with me, grabbed my photo gear and we were on our way!

I had planned on “swinging by” Main Street Bread in Grapevine to pick up pastries and coffee, but once we saw how cute the place was (the bakery and the actual Main Street), we decided to stay a while.  We split a delicious almond croissant, a cup of fresh fruit, and a plate of luxuriously decadent Nutella french toast with strawberries.  And two coffees of course.  Wow, it was to die for.  I can’t believe I didn’t know this place existed.  We ate outside the bakery and enjoyed the cool morning sunshine as passers-by gawked at our yummy, sinful meal.  Afterwards we walked up and down the street then went on about our day.

After brunch we headed toward Dallas.  First we tried to find the Crate&Barrel Outlet, which was not near Oak Lawn and Industrial like we thought.  Closer to Inwood and 35 actually.  Thank goodness for GOOGL.  They didn’t really have anything anyway… the C&BO in San Marcos is much better, especially for furniture.  Next we went to Again & Again (the furniture consignment boutique) and Again Studio (where they show pieces they’ve redone).  We’re looking for a pair of chairs from there to have them totally reupholstered/rehabbed to go in our living room.  I haven’t found a new chair that I love yet, so I figure why not “recycle” an old one and give it new life and also get exactly what I want since I can choose the fabric, finishes, even change design details on the chair if I want.  I’ve also found some that I love at Mercury (on 2nd street) in Austin… they were on sale AND they matched our dining room rug!  Still a little pricey for us though so if any of you Austinites go by there and see the brown/white chairs in the front on sale, let me know.

Anyway, we didn’t find anything too inspiring at A&A so we went to Whole Earth Provision Co and looked at backpacks for our Europe trip for a while.  It’s a lot harder than I thought to find the perfect pack.  It has to be the right size, not too heavy but sturdy enough, has to fit my torso, has to be balanced when packed, needs to be comfy to walk with and a good distibution of weight on hips/shoulders/back, and has to be baggage-handler-friendly so not too many straps hanging off that can get caught or broken.  I think I like the Lowe Alpine Travel Trekker ND60 but I want to see it in person because 60L might be huge.  The Osprey Porter 45 was perfect in theory and it’d actually work as a carry-on, but was not that comfortable when I tried it.  And I don’t want anything with a daypack because I will not use it and that seems like a huge waste of $ and it can make the pack off-balance to me.  Maybe we’ll go check REI, but I want to go back and look at Whole Earth again because I think they carry Lowe Alpine but I didn’t try any of those while we were there.

After that we finally went to the Arboretum.  It was really pretty!  Definitely more “Dallas” than the Austin Botanical Gardens.  Lots of tulips and bulb-type-flowers everywhere.  Perfectly manicured green grass.  Playhouses probably designed by architecture/design firms.  But still very pretty.  It was an incredibly gorgeous day and I took a lot of photos.  The light wasn’t quite the best, but they close at 5 so it would have to do.  Maybe next time I’ll try to go when they open.  It was so busy there though.  Lots of kids running around and lots of people taking portraits.  Morning should be quieter I would think.

Will was starting to get fussy and I was pretty hungry myself so we went in search of non-meat (Lent), sort-of healthy food.  Will was going to take me to Luby’s (I’d been begging him to take me there for a while) but I wasn’t in the mood for it that day so we ended up at Gloria’s on Greenville.  Quite good.  Nice little patio for being on a busy street.

Okay, wordpress ate the rest of my post but it wasn’t much anyway.  So I’ll stop there.  But it was a very lovely day!

mental health day

I’m taking a vacation day on Friday, just for kicks.  And because Will is on his Spring Break.  And because the weather is supposed to be beautiful.  And because I’m over my supposed cap on vacation hours and I need to use or lose.  Whatever the reason I’m excited!  Help me think of stuff to do on my day off (or vote on the below)…

• renew my drivers license (a must-do)
• work out
• go to the Dallas Arboretum to take photos
• go antiquing along Industrial Blvd (and take photos)
• find somewhere to lay out and get some sun (where does one do this in DFW? I wish I lived in Austin so we could go to Barton Springs.)
• Go to NM and take advantage of 30/30 (with what money though?)
• sleep in
• do yardwork
• take Dempsey to the doggie park
• finish Jodi’s shower invitations
• eat gelato
• paint my nails
• go to that cute furniture consignment place on Henderson
• edit photos I’ve taken with the D80
• email Marcus my picks for our wedding album (after almost 3 years, geez)
• read in the hammock