Yup, I admit it. I'm a terrible blogger. I haven't written in almost 3 months...but things are about to pick up! Fall is my favorite time of year and I find that there are just too many things competing for my attention. The irony is that I've been writing blogs in my head and taking lots of pictures to share my journeys but haven't posted a single one. I've decided to remedy this with a bit of the end of summer and into fall rewind.
What exactly has been keeping me so busy you might ask? Well besides the pumpkin carving, seed roasting, candy handing out festivities...I've signed up to participate in a Craft Show this weekend. If you are anywhere near Oak Hills United Methodist Church on Bridgetown Road in Cincy this weekend then stop by between 9am and 3pm to see my crocheted goodies! There are simply too many to post all of them here but you can check out the mayhem virtually on Ravelry. You can find me under Rubida55 and possibly here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/Rubida55 .
Consider yourselves officially warned...the next time that we meet we will go back in time!!! MWHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And stuff.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Time for a Garden Update!
April and May are such busy months for me! I thought you were due for a brief run down. The diet went straight out the window and now I'm just making good choices on what to eat. The gym is still a go and I'm working hard on making that a habit. The garden is almost all planted but with all the rain we've had it makes it hard on some of the seeds. The seedlings on the other hand are flourishing! Here is a quick run down of what we've got starting with potatoes in their bags:
Curled leaf, oak leaf, red sail and romaine lettuce with some spinach on the far right:
The peppers with kale on both ends and you can see a couple of our rain barrels in the back:
Yellow and white onions:
The berry plot! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on the trellis:
Tomatoes in their colorful new cages:
From left to right we've got pole beans, peas, soy beans, carrots, cabbage and broccoli:
I know everything is small right now and kinda hard to see but I'll post some more pictures as the garden progresses. There are 13 beds total in our backyard so you've only seen a fraction of the goodness to come.
Also, I've made a new button so that you can follow the blog by email! Hope this helps give a few more options. Enjoy!
Curled leaf, oak leaf, red sail and romaine lettuce with some spinach on the far right:
The peppers with kale on both ends and you can see a couple of our rain barrels in the back:
Yellow and white onions:
The berry plot! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on the trellis:
Tomatoes in their colorful new cages:
From left to right we've got pole beans, peas, soy beans, carrots, cabbage and broccoli:
Also, I've made a new button so that you can follow the blog by email! Hope this helps give a few more options. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Garden Time!
There is just something so wonderful and amazing about walking into your backyard to collect dinner. Granted we can't completely make a meal with what we've got planted currently but as time goes by we have to supplement less and less. This year we decided to improve our design by building raised beds and adding a little order to the chaotic jungle that last years garden became. After assessing the ground space we had, what we wanted to grow and cost, we settled on making 12.5 of the 4' x 8' raised beds. We began with treated garden timbers (because they were only $1.50 each) and rebar. Stacked the timbers two high, cut the end pieces in half, drilled holds for the rebar and then simply hammered them into place. This turned out to be a pretty wobbly design so we switched tactics after the second bed. We started lincoln-log staggering the edges so they overlapped then nailed them in place with 9-inch barrier nails. Considerably more time in setting up the beds but sooo worth it in the end. Then simply fill with compost, top soil, manure, bagged soil (ours took six bags of whatnot) or whatever you have laying around. Here is the finished product currently holding my herb garden:
Back to the matter at hand which was dinner. Currently we only have winter crops planted long enough to bear rewards and they have been doing just that! Almost a month ago we planted four varieties of lettuce and some spinach. We like to shop the local nurseries and there are two small ones near our house luckily enough. We were able to get a 4" x 4" tray full of ~15-20 one inch tall seedlings for $2.50. We bought six of those, planted them and it looks something like this 3 weeks later:
We have already begun making incredibly yummy salads from this bed for our dinners. Of course I had to take a picture of that too since we are so proud that the spinach actually lived this year! Apparently our soil is just too full of clay to encourage proper spinach growth. Hooray for the raised beds!!
Back to the matter at hand which was dinner. Currently we only have winter crops planted long enough to bear rewards and they have been doing just that! Almost a month ago we planted four varieties of lettuce and some spinach. We like to shop the local nurseries and there are two small ones near our house luckily enough. We were able to get a 4" x 4" tray full of ~15-20 one inch tall seedlings for $2.50. We bought six of those, planted them and it looks something like this 3 weeks later:
We have already begun making incredibly yummy salads from this bed for our dinners. Of course I had to take a picture of that too since we are so proud that the spinach actually lived this year! Apparently our soil is just too full of clay to encourage proper spinach growth. Hooray for the raised beds!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
New and Improved!!
This month has been very special for me so far. I have done two things that I never thought I'd ever do. I joined a gym a couple of weeks ago and this morning I started a diet. Surprisingly, I feel pretty good about both and am ready to embrace a new me. I'm admitting that right now I need a little extra help in these areas. Professional help. The gym is one that I pass every day on my way to and from work. I get that extra added guilt of it's not out of my way so why not go? Plus they have a ton of options, two gyms, pools, water parks (with adult slides), every machine you can imagine and over 200 classes. Surely after all that I can find something to entertain myself and enough variety to keep me coming back. However, with all this gym going and traffic dodging to get home at a decent time I started missing my meal planning time and dinner prep. I like to have plans and menus to help keep me sane and organized. So that I didn't get overwhelmed with picking meals and charting what would be needed I thought it might be best to start a diet. After all, what good is they gym if I'm not reducing my calories as well? All the headway I've made at the gym could disappear on the way home if I stop at Wendy's for dinner. Introducing the Flat Belly Diet:
The Flat Belly Diet was appealing for several reasons. It was really cheap and on sale at Costco, my friend at work had started it and was already seeing results, it's only 28 days long (I can do anything for only one month, right?) and the food was already portioned and counted for me. All I have to do is read the book, pick the recipes that sound good and away I go. No counting calories (every meal is already 400 calories), no worries! Now I just make my menu at the beginning of the week, go grocery shopping and I'm all set. It's such a relief to have that weight off my shoulders. Now I go to the gym and enjoy my me time there.
It's only been two weeks since all this started and I haven't lost any weight yet but I already feel stronger and more confident. I'm actually having fun at the thought of accomplishing my personal goals. This is going to be my year! Check back in after a month to see how it goes!
The Flat Belly Diet was appealing for several reasons. It was really cheap and on sale at Costco, my friend at work had started it and was already seeing results, it's only 28 days long (I can do anything for only one month, right?) and the food was already portioned and counted for me. All I have to do is read the book, pick the recipes that sound good and away I go. No counting calories (every meal is already 400 calories), no worries! Now I just make my menu at the beginning of the week, go grocery shopping and I'm all set. It's such a relief to have that weight off my shoulders. Now I go to the gym and enjoy my me time there.
It's only been two weeks since all this started and I haven't lost any weight yet but I already feel stronger and more confident. I'm actually having fun at the thought of accomplishing my personal goals. This is going to be my year! Check back in after a month to see how it goes!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Weekend Getaway Part 2
Last weekend was the makeup trip for the botched surprise attempt to join Jorge's surprise party. I went to Maryland to visit and just hang out in general. We had a blast all weekend long eating all my favorite foods and catching up on all the latest news with my favorite people! My whirlwind round of things not to be missed in DC go a little something like this...
Friday afternoon Happy Hour at Ziki Japanese Steak House for $1.50 domestics and the freshest sushi. Then the Friday Night Contra dance at Glen Echo. (I missed this one this time around but it still makes my list). Saturday afternoon head to the Red Velvet Cupcakery for slightly expensive but totally worth it, mouth watering cupcakes. Then to Thai Tanium for drunken noodles or green curry. Throw in a metro ride to anywhere (if Cincy only had a metro I would proclaim it perfect, alas it does not) and visits with old friends to complete the journey.
That's me on the metro with Flat Stanley. I showed him around town and photographed our journey as a work project. (He's a character from a 60's children's book).
Yes, I do realize that a good half of my list consists of food items but I can't help it, I'm a foodie! Plus I think these places in particular are tied to happy memories of times past that seem like only yesterday when the site is revisited. It's kind of like when you were a child and your mother wore a certain scent of perfume. After you've grown up but smell that scent somewhere else, it will always make you feel warm and fuzzy because you think of your mother.
For everyone who was worried about the weather during my travels I wanted to let you know that you were right. It did snow on Friday night but it didn't start until 9pm and there was no accumulation. There was however an alarming amount of snow piled up in the parking lots leftover from the past couple of weeks. My favorite one is seen below, to help you with scale someone has convienently left a few shopping carts in the snow pile:
Friday afternoon Happy Hour at Ziki Japanese Steak House for $1.50 domestics and the freshest sushi. Then the Friday Night Contra dance at Glen Echo. (I missed this one this time around but it still makes my list). Saturday afternoon head to the Red Velvet Cupcakery for slightly expensive but totally worth it, mouth watering cupcakes. Then to Thai Tanium for drunken noodles or green curry. Throw in a metro ride to anywhere (if Cincy only had a metro I would proclaim it perfect, alas it does not) and visits with old friends to complete the journey.
That's me on the metro with Flat Stanley. I showed him around town and photographed our journey as a work project. (He's a character from a 60's children's book).
Yes, I do realize that a good half of my list consists of food items but I can't help it, I'm a foodie! Plus I think these places in particular are tied to happy memories of times past that seem like only yesterday when the site is revisited. It's kind of like when you were a child and your mother wore a certain scent of perfume. After you've grown up but smell that scent somewhere else, it will always make you feel warm and fuzzy because you think of your mother.
For everyone who was worried about the weather during my travels I wanted to let you know that you were right. It did snow on Friday night but it didn't start until 9pm and there was no accumulation. There was however an alarming amount of snow piled up in the parking lots leftover from the past couple of weeks. My favorite one is seen below, to help you with scale someone has convienently left a few shopping carts in the snow pile:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Weekend Getaway!
Max and I just got back from a weekend getaway with four other couples from Gatlinburg, TN. We stayed at a large chalet tucked away in the snow covered mountains where the temperature was a balmy 60 degrees and sunny all weekend.
The warm weather alone was enough to make me want to not go back to Cincy where it's currently dreary and cold. Not to mention that I'm dying to see the new bulbs come up that I planted in the fall and to put our seedlings in the ground. But I digress. Gatlinburg is a very touristy area but there are some nuggets of goodness if you know where to look. The Apple Barn is an awesome place to have breakfast with their amazing apple fritters and apple juleps that are free with every meal. WonderWorks, the upside down house with 120 interactive exhibits, was just the ticket for us kids at heart. We got to climb inside the Mercury lander replica like we were astronauts, stand in 65 mile an hour winds that simulated a hurricane at half speed and lay on an actual bed of nails. Then to top it all off we visited the buy 1 get 2 free boot store. Yes, you heard me. I am growing as a person and bought my first (and then my second the next day) pair of cowboy boots.
They are the most comfortable pair of shoes ever and not to mention very sassy! I think I might just love them. Aren't vacations wonderful? I should really take more of them...
The warm weather alone was enough to make me want to not go back to Cincy where it's currently dreary and cold. Not to mention that I'm dying to see the new bulbs come up that I planted in the fall and to put our seedlings in the ground. But I digress. Gatlinburg is a very touristy area but there are some nuggets of goodness if you know where to look. The Apple Barn is an awesome place to have breakfast with their amazing apple fritters and apple juleps that are free with every meal. WonderWorks, the upside down house with 120 interactive exhibits, was just the ticket for us kids at heart. We got to climb inside the Mercury lander replica like we were astronauts, stand in 65 mile an hour winds that simulated a hurricane at half speed and lay on an actual bed of nails. Then to top it all off we visited the buy 1 get 2 free boot store. Yes, you heard me. I am growing as a person and bought my first (and then my second the next day) pair of cowboy boots.
They are the most comfortable pair of shoes ever and not to mention very sassy! I think I might just love them. Aren't vacations wonderful? I should really take more of them...
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Introducing Me!
Hello all, my name is Kristin but you can just call me Red. At some point or another everyone does. I've gone by the moniker of Rubida ever since I learned in Latin class in the 7th grade that it meant "red-haired." This is only one of the things that defines me. I also love to talk, garden, throw parties, craft and play with animals. Everyone knows that when they travel with me and we pass a petting zoo...we are stopping. I don't care if the petting zoo consists of a pack of goats, a dog, or ducks. We are stopping. Of course the more exotic the animal the better which is how I ended up petting a kangaroo last year. Totally awesome!
I also have a few addictions. Nothing too terribly scary, the list pretty much goes like this: chapstick, tea, hobbies. Doesn't sound like a lot, right? Until you take into the account that these things are small and easily collected. There are lots of pieces and parts. I guess I should clarify that the hobbies I collect that produce crafts. For example I knit and crochet which means I get lots of different needle types and sizes plus all the various yarns needed for each project. I make jewelry which requires it's own set of tools, beads, connectors and such. Now I sound like a boarderline hoarder...which I am not as I constantly give away my finished crafts and donate gently used items to charity. Basically I like variety and quantity. I like to constantly reinvent, grow, change and learn. Learning new skills keeps me sharp and I like to learn the older crafts best. It makes me feel good to preserves some of my family knowledge when my mom teaches me how to can or my grandmother teaches me needlepoint. That's what I contribute to society, carrying on traditions.
I started this blog to share a snapshot of my adventures as I explore my world and new life in Cincinnati, OH. After this one I am going to cut down on saying I so much...but I thought it was only fair to introduce myslef before I jumped into other posts. Join me as I travel, garden and craft my way through my 30th year of life. I quilt, I grow plants from seed and I try to be green. It's nice to meet you.
I also have a few addictions. Nothing too terribly scary, the list pretty much goes like this: chapstick, tea, hobbies. Doesn't sound like a lot, right? Until you take into the account that these things are small and easily collected. There are lots of pieces and parts. I guess I should clarify that the hobbies I collect that produce crafts. For example I knit and crochet which means I get lots of different needle types and sizes plus all the various yarns needed for each project. I make jewelry which requires it's own set of tools, beads, connectors and such. Now I sound like a boarderline hoarder...which I am not as I constantly give away my finished crafts and donate gently used items to charity. Basically I like variety and quantity. I like to constantly reinvent, grow, change and learn. Learning new skills keeps me sharp and I like to learn the older crafts best. It makes me feel good to preserves some of my family knowledge when my mom teaches me how to can or my grandmother teaches me needlepoint. That's what I contribute to society, carrying on traditions.
I started this blog to share a snapshot of my adventures as I explore my world and new life in Cincinnati, OH. After this one I am going to cut down on saying I so much...but I thought it was only fair to introduce myslef before I jumped into other posts. Join me as I travel, garden and craft my way through my 30th year of life. I quilt, I grow plants from seed and I try to be green. It's nice to meet you.
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