I paint

... by number.  This guy took me well over a year.  I honestly don't remember when I started it.  I'm working on finding a frame and a spot for it, since all of our walls are already covered in art made by real artists.

Each paint has a number on it and the cardboard came white with tons of areas with numbers on it.  I also had to mix paints to get some mixed shades.  Pretty easy!

Cakes

I am dying to try out a few of these mouth-watering recipes and fun decorating ideas I found on Pinterest.  I might have to whip one of these up for my birthday treat next week! 

Cute cupcake decorating idea.  Source.

Chocolate Mouse cake!  Yes please!  Source,

Red Velvet?  Sure!  Source.

Red velvet CHEESECAKE?  OKAY!  Source

And maybe some strawberry champagne to top it off.  Source.

I'm thinking birthday plans will include Nepalese food, desserts, fun drinks, good friends, maybe some snow shoeing, and maybe even a hair cut and a trip to the spa.  I'll make it a weekend-long celebration!    

Fun Photos with the New Camera

Christmas was the perfect time to invest in a new toy, a DSLR camera!  With the help of a photographer friend, I finally decided on the Sony A55 and thus far, I am extremely pleased!  Once I figured out how to set it on automatic+ and which lens to use for what, I just can't seem to take a bad picture.  I know I have a lot to learn and some experience to gain, but I am convinced that this new toy will be perfect for a new photography hobby for both of us as well as improved food pictures for my blog.  The camera also has an awesome panoramic feature and it takes movies.  Here's a few from playing around just the last few days.

Dave took this one from our backyard where he ran into a very famous meteorologist who just happens to be our neighbor while he's on sabbatical this year.  Should I have him autograph my books?

Dave's again-- a female Flicker.  Her boyfriend came by later and we got some great pics of him eating our suet.

Just after Wednesday's snowstorm, the sun came out right before it set.  This is taken from our backyard.  I almost missed the photo op because my battery was charging inside and I went out with an empty camera.  I got back just in time.

National Center for Atmospheric Research plus the Flatirons in the distance on our hike.

Dave's shot, a little tree-framing.

We had a little fun with Lightroom, removing a blemish, then playing with the different effects.

Devil's Thumb-- one of many. 

Heading home.  We saw more dogs than people on this hike.  None of them were on a leash even though it is required by law.  Most strange dogs hate Dave for some reason and one of these days he's going to come home with a bite out of him, I swear!

Looking southeast off the ridge.

Peppermint tea, my favorite!  Grandma got me these cute measuring spoons last year.

Enchilada night!

Christmas decorations I made last year from a terracotta pot, burlap, gold spray paint, and pine cones from Dave's Grand-dad's old land, and a wooden star.

We still had two pumpkins left to make into puree.  This one was a long island cheese pumpkin.  (Dave's photo)

Check out my cute new apron, a xmas gift from some of my favorite people!  How thoughtful!  It is reversible and on the other side are cupcakes!!!!!

Okay, who wants some pumpkin puree?  I ended up with about a gallon and I still have some left from the last batch!

Books and their movies

This week I watched the movies of three books I read this last year:  The Help, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Water for Elephants.  Here are my reviews without any spoilers.

The Help was a fabulous book.  In fact, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning on a school night when I finished it.  I just couldn't put it down!  The movie was also great, but the motivation behind many things wasn't entirely explained in the movie.  I recommend the book first, then the movie.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a really hard book to get into because the story is so complex and there are just so many characters.  I got through 2.5 of the 3 books before giving up on them.  It seemed like a lot of back story for a few insanely huge action points in the plot.  I watched the Swedish movies and they weren't bad.  Now we have the American version of the first book in theaters now.  My cousin and I read the books together and we thought it would be fun to catch this movie in the theater last week.  The movie was really great with one huge problem:  I'm not sure I'd understand the movie without having read the book, in fact one of the main conclusions in the movie was completely anti-climactic and we had no idea what had happened.  There is one other warning on this book/movie, the whole thing is about rape.  Keep this in consideration before choosing your movie-going partner!

Water for Elephants was a really short book.  I read the whole thing in a week on my brand new Kindle Touch.  The book was great!  The movie was similar to The Help in that the motivation for things was not explained in the movie.  I'm not sure seeing the movie without having read the book would be that great of an experience.  I think this movie gets the lowest ratings of the three from me.

On an unrelated note, I also watched Remember Me and Friends with Benefits, both of which were worth seeing.

What do you think?   Any book/movie combos that you particularly liked?

2012 Resolutions

My new years resolution is to be young.  I turn 30 this year and I'm hoping to make the change-over to my 30's feeling young and acting in ways that are mature, but fun.  It's a year to say "yes" to fun things, plan adventures, work hard, and play harder.  It's a year to take care of myself, be active on a regular basis, and refine my gluten free diet to look good and feel good.  It's a year to live it up and do the things I've always wanted to do, make big plans, and enjoy life.  I can't imagine a time when I'll have any less responsibilities financially or care-taking-wise.  Why not take advantage? 

Here's to a fabulous trip around the sun! 

What have you resolved to do this year? 

29th birthday in 2011, which means 30 is a month away!