things i love right now

1. My new canvas.
I save the best for first. Because I love this and I can't wait to share it. My sister painted this for me...

Isn't it so cool? Just in case some of you don't see "it"...it's this picture in red and black:

See? Told you it was awesome. I la-la-la-la-love it. So don't ask Julie for one, cause then I'll be mad at you for stealing my cool gift.

2. Pretty new-to-me jewelry.

The colorful gem brooch was a gift from my parents, my mom picked it out when they were at a flea market/antique mall something or other...thanks Mom and Dad!!
[I'm just rakin' in the awesome gifts, I know.]

3. My cowboy (girl?) boots.

 I got these as my big Christmas present in 2006. I've always loved them, but I never quite knew how to pull them off. And then one time I had the confidence to wear them and a certain someone's brother made fun of me and I was scared off of wearing them for a while. Well, now I'm really really loving them and want to wear them all the time. With skinny jeans. With tights. With skirts. With everything. I love them.
Also I'm pretty much in love with that picture. It's a little blurry, but still. I love it.

4. My Polaroid Camera

When my Grandpa passed away, everyone in the family made a list of the things we really wanted, in order of priority. This polaroid camera? Number one on my list. That probs [probably, to those who are unfamiliar with my shortening of the word] sounds really bad. Like I was really selfish and didn't care about getting things that had meaning but:

a. You don't know anything.

and b. This camera holds many memories for me.

Moving on...I'm SO HAPPY that I put this camera as number one. I absolutely love it! If only Polaroid film weren't so expensive I could use it much more often. Birthday idea. Wink, wink. [Except it's seriously over $100 for film for this camera, so...it'd cover birthday gifts for the next 15 years or so.]

5.Fantastic new-to-me shoes.

Oh. And Drake's paws, not because I'm particularly loving them right now but because he has to be right next to me as much as physically possible.

6. People who bring their puppies to the dog park.
I'm pretty sure everyone loves them actually.

 So first we saw a boston terrier puppy. He was probably a couple of months old. And so cute.
And then we saw a little bull terrier puppy. I know, a lot of people think bull terriers are ugly, but I kind of like them. And as puppies? Duh. They're cute. AND THEN...this past Sunday...there were 2, 8-week old American Bulldog mix puppies. AND THEY WERE PRECIOUS. And I pet one, and it did it's little puppy whine and I died.
Hi. Come home with me.

7. My computer.
Which has crashed on me 4 times today...and counting.
Oh wait. Wrong list.

8. And most importantly...friends who take pictures of "my kids" on the other side of the world while in Uganda.
This week I received photos of David and Patience from some fellow volunteers who were kind enough to get pictures of them for me on their recent trip back to Uganda. I can't share the new pictures with you (because of their child protection rules) but I can share photos of them that I've already put on this blog.

Patience has got an awesome 'fro goin' on now. And apparently David is growing into quite the gentleman. Watch out ladies of Uganda. He'll steal your heart.

NYC with the seester

Ahhh, it's been a few days since I've even picked up my computer. Let alone, gotten around to updating my blog. And for this post, we're goin' back a few weeks. When my sister was here, we took a day trip to New York.
New York, sigh...how I love thee.
I've only been there twice, but maybe I fall in love quickly, okay?! Leave me alone.

And both times coming home from the Big Apple, Philadelphia just looks disgusting to me. And I'm all, "Ugh. I hate you, Philadelphia."
You see, I see New York like this:

 It's all bright and shiny. And fantastic. And full of life.

And this...this is how I see Philadelphia:

Dirty buildings, abandoned buildings, litter and Phillies Fans. And ya'll already know how I feel about SEPTA and their excellent services. And on top of that, people here are straight up mean. City of Brotherly Love? Yeah right.

Anyways, moving on.
Julie and I had a fantastic time in NYC. The weather was pretty lousy, but we crammed in as much as possible and pushed through the mist and cold weather.
Our first stop was Battery Park (to see the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island from a distance) and Ground Zero (which like I said before, is a construction site now)

That little darker-grey thing in the distance? That's the Statue of Liberty. Like I said, we had lovely weather.

 

Funny story, we took the subway down to this part of the city. As we were swiping our cards the subway pulled up, so naturally I ran to catch it, and well, Julie...Julie didn't. So as the doors are closing I'm on the subway and I see Julie's face in the windows of the doors. And utter panic took over that face. This will sound mean, but it was hysterical. And she was freaking out and I was like mouthing/yelling "Get on the next one!" And then this guy says to Julie, "Uh, you can still get on this car." (the doors were still open there)
I laughed the entire trip. And I was just by myself in that subway car, and I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy.

Next we headed uptown and stopped at Papaya King for lunch and then hit up Central Park. Where we proceeded to get semi-lost and walked in the rain for a really long time. But then we ended up going to "Strawberry Fields" so that was okay. And it's me we're talking about here, of course we got lost! I'm just glad it was me and Julie and not me and Ryan...cause heaven knows we'd still be in that mess.

"Am I in this picture?"

Yes. Yes you are.

 

Then we went to Greenwich Village. Which is only the cutest little village ever. I want to live there right. now.
We went there to see the building they show in Friends, where Monica/Rachel and Joey/Chandler supposedly live. And we went to see "Waverly Place." Because yes, as a matter of fact, my life has become so horrible that I've stooped to watching "Wizards of Waverly Place" and guess what? I kind of like it. Oh, the humiliation!

"And cue the appppplause!"

AND THEN...we walked all the way to the Empire State building to see our friend Elisabeth. Because she's a doll and we love her. We had a fantastic 18 minutes with her (she's a busy girl, and it was mid-terms week.)

Oh, and when I say we walked to the Empire State Building to see our friend...I totally mean we went INSIDE the Empire State Building. And had Starbucks there. And took the elevators there. And I'm being silly, I know. But it was cool.

And then we walked to Times Square. And went to Forever 21, which was crazy overwhelming. 5 floors of pure chaos, packed to the max with racks and racks of clothes.
And we passed Bryant Park and the Public Library on the way...very pretty.
At this point it was pouring rain. And we were sopping wet and cold. Which is why my descriptions are getting more and more sparse.

Then we ate dinner. And took really awful pictures of ourselves. Which I would rather not share, thanks.
Then we left to catch the bus.
The End.

mock thin mints

Like everyone and their mom, I love thin mints. But we didn't get girl scout cookies this year. And my craving for thin mints has been getting worse and worse.
So I did something about it.
I whipped up what I affectionately call, "mock thin mints"

They're ridiculously easy, and I'm sure there are better "recipes" out there for a thin mint taste-alike, but I wanted something easy. And something fast. (I don't classify this as a recipe because they're that easy)
Here's what I did:
1. You'll need graham crackers (I wanted the chocolate graham crackers, but the store didn't have those), semi-sweet chocolate chips, PEPPERMINT extract and chocolate frosting. The frosting is optional. But I've learned that if frosting is ever optional, the right option is to use it.

2. Spread a thin layer of frosting on the graham crackers. Lick the knife afterwards. Duh.
I broke our crackers into quarters, you could do it smaller if you want to get more of a thin mint size.

3. Melt a small amount of the chocolate chips. I only had one full graham cracker (so 4 little cookies) to cover. Don't melt too much, or else you'll have a lot left over. And then you'll have to just lick that sucker clean. I know, life is tough sometimes.

3b. Look at this little guy and tell him he's the cutest puppy you ever did see. Because he is. And also because he has low self esteem and needs to be told that every hour or so.
I made that last part up.
He just happens to be by my side 24/7 so he hears it often.

Hahaha, loooove those ears.

4. Add a few drops of peppermint extract. Be sure to use peppermint. Not mint.
[One time Ryan and I made ice cream with mint extract and it tasted like frozen toothpaste. It was nasty. Actually, it's probably still in our freezer.]
If you add too much extract, the chocolate gets all bumpy and un-spreadable. That's what I did. And that's why my cookies look like crap (you'll see)

5. Spread that chocolate all over the graham crackers. Top. Bottom. Sides. Yum.

See. My cookies look terrible. I added too much extract, so my chocolate became really thick and I had a hard time spreading it evenly.

6. Place them in the freezer for a bit.

7. Enjoy. With a cold glass of milk.

inspired by 500 days of summer

I am in no way a fashion blogger.
I have very little desire to ever be a fashion blogger.
But some of you had so little faith in my vintage clothing, so I want to start showing you how I'm wearing the pieces I buy.

Member that ivory vest I bought at the Sazz Vintage sale a couple of months ago? I included a picture of it in this post.  Here's how I've been wearing it lately:

Pay no attention to my unruly hair. Thanks. [I hate long hair]

I was inspired by the karaoke scene from 500 Days of Summer, where Summer wears this:

Obviously Zooey Deschanel is waaaay cuter than me, but whatever. I've accepted it.
The vest and brooch are both vintage, and the scarf (worn as a belt because it's too long to wear in my hair) was thrifted. It has no tags on it, so I'm not sure if it would be classified as vintage or not.

If you still haven't seen 500 Days of Summer, get on that. Now. I'm giving you one month to see it or else... (open ended threats still work, even over the internet, right?)

homemade dresses

Julie and I made these dresses.
Super easy.
Super cute.
Pretty cheap.

I'm pretty much in love with mine.
And I already have plans to make another.

Oh, you love them too? And you want one for yourself? Okay. I'll make you one for $45.
Gosh, I'm such a savvy business woman, no wonder everyone wants to hire me here.

what we did in philly: sister edition

Hi, my name is Nancy and I sometimes neglect my blog.

There. Now that that is out of the way, we can move onto more important things.

My younger sister, Julie, is visiting for the week for her spring break. The week is already half over, but we've had so much fun and done a lot of things.

We went to the Art Museum...

View of the city from the entrance to the museum (the clouds were very low, we couldn't even see the tops of some of the buildings)

I painted a picture in 5th grade, with this Van Gough as my inspiration, which my Grandpa treasured and hung in his kitchen for years. Oh and also, I really liked my outfit.

...and forgot an umbrella. So we arrived back home looking like we had jumped into a pool fully clothed.

Attractive. We know.

We went to Rittenhouse Square and then did some shopping.

Dear Anthropologie, I would very much appreciate it if you would lower your prices by, say, I don't know, 75%. Also, it'd be nice to live in one of your stores. Rent free.

We took the typical tourist pictures at Love Park. And admired the beauty of City Hall (have I mentioned how much I love City Hall?)

I took her to see the Liberty Bell (or as the Chamberlin clan refers to it: Llliiiiiiiibbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrttttttteeeeeee Bbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllll), Independence Hall, Christ Church (where Ben Franklin is buried), Elfreth's Alley, Betsy Ross' house, the first post office, and my favorite vintage stores.

We went to the U.S. Mint to watch coins being made.
And that was a waste of time.
Then we rushed through the Federal Reserve money exhibit to get a free bag of shredded money.
Why? Because it's in our blood to want free and useless things.

We had Philly Cheesesteaks (wid onions) at Jim's.

Annnnnd, that's been our week so far! Typical sights of Philly. Except for my favorite vintage stores, that's a personal touch added by me.

A note to future visitors: my sister was our first visitor, and therefore got the pleasure of having a personal tour with me as her guide. Don't expect to get as good of a tour, because we've seen the city enough times now and it's gets pretty expensive, pretty fast.