Recipes of December

For my recipe goal last month I made 1 of my 3 goal meals. So I'm adding one of my January ones to this post to make it more substantial. I made veggie soup and apple cinnamon pork chops. The first was a pinterest find of course, and could be made vegan(depending on the broth, but I had chicken so…), It was super simple, just involved a lot of prep i.e. cutting a ton of vegetables, and it made a lot! Such delicious comfort food.
 The second was also a pinterest find and was pretty easy to make. Mom helped with that one thankfully because I was a little nervous to cook the pork alone for some reason. The recipe just sounded so good I didn’t want to mess it up, haha. It turned out awesome though, and we loved it. Here are my humble cell phone photos of my creations.

Steve by the Water

Global warming gave us an awesome December, I’m not gonna lie. Wearing a denim jacket and a scarf in 60-something degree weather ruled. I took Steve to the dog park downtown one of those warm days, and after wards we explored a bike path down by the river. As we got close to the dam, Steve got really nervous. I think the loudness of the water freaked him out. It was impossible to get him to sit so I could take a nice photo of him so I got this silly one which I posted to instagram and captioned it what I imagined he was thinking, which was “Mom, I don’t very much want to sit here” haha. It was nice to get some of his endless energy out by playing outside! It’s so much colder now, I don’t ever want to leave the house unless I have to haha.

Terrier Time

My coworker Brenden has an awesome pitbull named Burnie who he occasionally brings to the shop on his days off. For the longest time we’d been talking about meeting at the dog park and letting him frolic with Steve and we finally got around to it a couple weeks ago!

Steve did pretty well I was proud of him. He is a little skittish around other dogs sometimes and tends to not do well with dominant dogs. I think it’s due to whatever rough beginnings he had before he wandered into my life. But he mostly just played with a tennis ball and behaved himself. Burnie wanted to play with him so bad, and they had a tug of war moment which was funny. It was clear neither side was willing to let go though so Brenden intervened. Here’s some shots of terrier time!

Two pooped pups after their adventure together!

A trip to Cincinnati

Crying Heart Tattoo in Cincinnati. Love how they decorated, I felt right at home.

 I’ve been following Mike Adams for a few years since photos of his tattoos floated across my tumblr dashboard. He’s only a few states away but I’m usually too scared to drive too far for fear something bad will happen to my car. Lucky for me he’s befriended some fellow tattoo artists in Cincinnati which is not a far drive at all. Even luckier I happened to be scrolling through Instagram when he posted that he was doing a guest spot there. I instantly emailed him and put down a deposit and got super excited! I was finally going to get a tattoo from Mike!

The day came and I was so anxious. I got to the city early hoping to get Holtman’s donuts, but they just happened to have a kitchen fire the day I came and had to shut down the OTR location for a week. SUPER BUMMER. So I got some coffee from 1215 Coffee bar and a raspberry danish, and walked around some shops because I had a lot of time to kill. This was on December 7th so I picked up some Christmas gifts and also some macarons from Marconi Bar because that’s something I can never pass up. I ate them all that night, haha.

I got a little worried when I couldn’t find the shop, but I was looking on the wrong side of the street. When I turned and looked the other way it was right in front of me, so I headed in half an hour early thinking that was good itquette or something haha. Mike had just arrived and was setting up so I flipped through his book of drawings and sat on some pew like benches. Nothing in the book was what I had in mind, so when he asked I explained what I wanted and he remembered my email and went back to draw.

Right in the thick of the action.

 Not too much longer later as I nervously scrolled through my phone and checked every app and live tweeted my life, he came out with a drawing and I was instantly smitten. The nerves went away(because how can you tell someone you don’t like their drawing? That would be so awkward, and then you have to live with it on your skin forever??), and he set up, applied the stencil to my arm after my deliberation of placement in the mirror, and got to work. I was so determined to impress all the guys in the shop because I figured they’d see my blonde smiley face walk in and assume the worst of me. So I didn’t grimace or wince or anything. I even smiled haha. Bare in mind I was also on my period so I think I'm pretty damn tough, haha. Everyone was very nice there, and Mike and I definitely have a love of Dogs and staying home in common. His work was quick and precise, and oh so beautiful. I was so pleased with the outcome and overjoyed I had the opportunity to get tattooed by him. If and when he comes again I will most likely book an appointment again!

 On my way home I saw a car painted to look like the catbus from My Neighbor Totoro. Of course I had to pull over and photograph it. Look how cute it is, I wish it was mine! It even had some plushies on the dashboard.

Here's his photo of my arm and instagram handle if ya'll want to follow him!

A beautiful and delicious rainbow of french cookies!

I got groceries, knowing under all my layers of clothes I had a little secret on my arm that felt like a burn wound haha. That night I peeled off wrappings and revealed my raw little arm with my awesome new tattoo! I felt so proud of myself, despite being anxious I went and planned out the day, set up the appointment, paid for and got my tattoo alone. There’s something very liberating about getting a tattoo, you’re in charge of your body and deciding to decorate it in a beautiful and permanent way. Its an awesome experience.

What I Wore - Stay Home Club

Me and my blurry baby!

Always blinking :)

Gratuitous hair photo.

 

Shirt - Stay Home Club
Flannel - Target (little boy's section)

Legging's - Forever 21
Sock - Thrifted
Converse shoes - Urban Outfitters
Pin - Monsters Outside

This shirt is a lifestyle, man. Haha I love pretty much everything Stay Home Club makes, but nothing is more me than this shirt. I love to stay home with Steve and snuggle :)

The flannel was lucky because they men's style was sold out in my size and the largest little boy's happened to fit!

The pin was an instant purchase as soon as I laid eyes on it. I adore all dogs, not much makes me happier than dogs.

These were all taken in my room! It's been a while since I've been able to blog but I'm still taking photos like I'm able to, so these are almost a month old shots, but its still a pretty relevant outfit, haha. I've gotten a haircut since then and rearranged some photos. Well I hope everyone is doing well, I hope to get the internet at my place soon so I can get back to blogging regularly! 

Here's a little out-take to make you smile :)

Fall Nails!

 I got the urge to paint my nails the other day, and decided on a nice subtle nude shade, and some simple leaf designs I poked in with a pin(dipping a pin in a blob of paint and using it like a teenie tiny paint brush). I really liked how the turned out!

Here are the colors I used... looks like someone chewed on my "wicked" one.

Pumpkin Apple Dog Treats

In keeping with my goal to make at least three new recipes a month(which I've already surpassed by a few!), I decided to try to make this dog treat one for Steve. It was fairly simple, and after seaching multiple locations for a dog bone shaped cookie cutter and coming up empty handed I warped in old heart shaped one and went to town. In hindsight I should have diced the apples a bit smaller but ah well, what can you do. Steve loved them anyway!

Those eyes say "Wow, thanks Mom!!" haha