Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Bear Hollow Visit

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We love visiting Bear Hollow Park here in Athens. They have many animals in their zoo, trails, pond, and did I say animals?

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We went earlier in January, when it was warm enough to not need a winter coat, so it was really nice.

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Our first stop on the trail was the beavers! Beavers! They are the newest mammals added to the park. They are so cute! The whole time they were carrying leaves and twigs into their little pond.

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Uh, is this leftover from Halloween or Christmas?

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The bobcats are one of my favorites to see at Bear Hollow. Sometimes they are hard to find in their home, but this day they were out and about, grooming one another.

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The bears were really active, too! This guy was chewing a branch.

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I still think the opossum is cute!

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And I think I am cute as an owl!

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Hope you enjoyed this trip to Bear Hollow!

Monday, January 28, 2013

My Weekend in Pictures: Pen Pals, Snowmen, and Knitting Edition

First pen pal letter of the year! Thanks @dearest_jen !
Last week was a doozy - Raoul and I both caught the same cold, only I still have mine. I managed to get some rest, drink lots of cough syrup, play with the pets, and go to a show. These are some pics from my weekend.

Second pen pal letter if the year! Thanks @lorimacsmif !
I got two pen pal letters in the same week, so that was awesome! I love getting mail and I love having pen pals.

Bunny buds.
Oreo and Jumbles are so close. They snuggle so close to each other all the time. SO close that their whiskers get in each other's eyes.

Traveling Imaginary! #e6 #elephant6
We got to see the Music Tapes under their custom made circus tent! It was so fun, but I had to eat cherry cough drops the entire time. The Music Tapes put on a fantastic performance! More pictures later...

Music Tapes drum with elephant. #e6 #elephant6

It snowed last night under the big top!

Fuzzy Nilla rolling in her box.
I played with Nilla and she jumped into her box. She loves to roll in this box.

Can you spot all of my pets?
Here is the view of all my pets! Love them!

My Bo Peep scarf so far.
I also had time to work on my knitting - I guess the one good thing about having a cold all week is that I actually had time to make some knitting progress!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

What's Your Project? Tea Towel Embroidery

Making a Nilla tea towel.
This year I have been trying to work on at least one project a month for myself. This month I have been doing some embroidery. My friend mailed me a Stitch Kit, which is great because it comes with everything you need to begin stitching. I did not use the provided patterns, so I just drew on my tea towel with a pencil.

Making a kitty tea towel.

Embroidering paws.
I used back stitch and got the hang of it really fast. I embroidered before, but not in a long time.

Making a kitty tea towel.
I used the split stitch on the paws. It was a little tricky going around the curves of my illustration.

Nilla on a tea towel.

Cat embroidery!
Then I added the features to my Nilla embroidery! I love the way the face looks.

My Nilla tea towel that I embroidered. Now I added stars.
Last I added some stars around Nilla for a little pop of color and the stars are fun to stitch!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Mochi Making

Ready to be chilled.
Raoul and I made a batch of daifuku mochi! It was very simple to make, and was really yummy to boot.

Recipe.
We used the recipe from my candy making book. We also read some recipes online before beginning.

Making mochi.

Mochi dough that I made so pink!
We added some pink food coloring to our mochi dough. Here are the pictures of how it looked when we removed the dough from the microwave. It looked like Play-doh!

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Making mochi!
We rolled and kneaded the dough after it cooled off some. Careful when it comes out of the microwave, this dough is like lava!

Adding the filling!
We added some strawberry jam to the center of the mochi, not the usual red bean paste. I was trying hard not to over fill the mochi, or else the jam would ooze out of the ball when I rolled it.

Little mochi.
Here is the rolled mochi!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Flying Trapeze

Thanks @tangerine_pixie for flying with me today.
My friend Allison and I are taking on trapeze lessons for this year! We are really excited to be doing this together. I took trapeze and silk aerials for 8 years, then I took a break. Allison wanted to get back into it, so we decided to start a class together.

Flyin' with @tangerine_pixie !❤

Go @tangerine_pixie !
Even though I have not been on the trapeze bar, I feel pretty good about remembering things. I do not feel as strong as I was before, but I am getting back onto the "swing" of things - haha.

Yay! @tangerine_pixie on the trapeze.
Here are some pictures I took of Allison as she was on the trapeze! Looking good!

Me and Allison.