For the proverbial "water cooler"

I love youtube. It's quick, entertaining, and full of really interesting videos (after you filter through the cat videos).

So with that said here are a couple of my favorites for the week in the style of a youtube favorite Tobuscus and  Cute, Win, Fail.

I would consider this first one a fail but a really cute one for sure.

I love rants and furthermore I love people making fun of politicians. So everyone I would like you to meet Sarah Palin..I mean Jenna Marbles.

This is definitely A win in my opinion.

Annika exudes cute, I actually think she has to restrain herself to make sure she is socially acceptable. So it's hard to live up to her expectations and do this blog justice in the realm of cute.

So here is the cutest thing that is still relevant and completely avoids a kitten playing with string. 

Enjoy the videos! I'm off to work, and don't worry Annika landed safely in Oregon I'm sure i'll be getting an update or two to share with everyone.

Oh one more for the nerd in all of us. Remember Marty McFlys hover board that levitates above the street and all that fun stuff...Well we're one step closer now, this technology is awesome and I can finally say I saw Quantum Mechanics in motion!

Thursdays Takeover

I'll start off with the obvious, Annika is way better at this than I am.....

My loving girlfriend has posts ready for days ahead of time at points and baby composition books filled with ideas that will be great for the little blog of "ours".

It's 1 am Thursday morning right now, I just got off work am starving and still have to do homework after this.

With that said I hope to do this blog a little bit of justice in the meantime, so be nice, humor me, and hopefully i'll post something at least somewhat entertaining.

I'm going to go ahead and run with the theme though that I am dead tired and need a major dose of coffee right now. I'm an addict always have been, I'm one of those kids who at 10 wanted coffee because I wasn't supposed to. Therefore, at 18 and through the majority of my college career I took haven in my local indie coffee shop. The people were nice, the music was good, and they served me beer before I was 21 (HEAVEN). Eventually I got too comfortable there though, somehow I ended up behind the counter, I had never poured a cup of coffee and never worked retail (remember I'm the guy that pets dogs and cats for a living) so this was a little...strange. Anyways, I learned more about coffee, learned how to roast beans, pull an awesome espresso, and eventually learned how to make neat little frivolous pictures on the top of latte's (the people waiting the extra two minutes for their drink were never quite as amused as I was with the cute cat on top their cappuccino).

There are few moments that made me happier in that cafe than the jam sessions, SO much talent!


So I appreciate coffee, caffeine is the most addicting drug in America and we LOVE it. So much so we will happily pay $5.00 for a cup of kinda, sorta, really sub-par coffee at a national coffee chain on a daily basis. Lets face it Starbucks is like the Wal-mart for coffee we know there are better options out their but i'll be damned if I want to drive more than 2 minutes in the morning to the better option (plus nobody judges me in my jammies).

I hang my head in shame at this point..The coffee snob in me has given way to the neccessity driven addict. I received my gold card from starbucks yesterday. It's their polite way of saying thanks for damn near 1/5 of your paycheck every couple weeks! Oh well benefits are benefits, free soy and sugar free caramel and a free drink after I spend $5 a piece on 15 drinks...THANKS GUYS. Consumerism is alive and well I'm afraid.

Anyways that's my confession I am now a proud member of the thousands of elite "Starbuckians" in the world. And with that said I leave you with a couple treats.

My favorite fall time drink (thanks to my old co-worker Kara):
The KaraChai (get it)
-Dirty chai latte with soy and sugar free caramel. SOO good and so much better than pumpkin spice in my opinion.

Cool video of a latte art teddy bear!

And to my loving girlfriend hopefully you'll have a good cup of coffee yourself when you land, enjoy the jet lag!!

Cleaning And Crafting And Becoming A Red Head

My one and only day off this week and how did I spend it?

Doing. EVERYTHING.

I have never been the type that can just sit around and 'relax.' What other people call relaxing, I call boring. My ADHD doesn't like boring. So, I slept in a bit then woke up and hit the ground running. Well, kind of running. Coffee and then running. I don't know about you but I'm useless before some morning chill time and a good cup of coffee. First, the house got a much needed deep cleaning and I attempted to hang up some prints I received recently. I say attempted because the ADHD kicked in again when Nick woke up and expressed interest in a couple of the craft projects I had mentioned to him.

A few days ago I spotted an amazing tutorial over at Deer In A Bottle and just had to try it. Especially when I already had all the materials needed! How often does a craft project not require a single trip to Hobby Lobby? My book however was a little too small to do follow the tutorial exactly so we had to improvise.

Here's what you'll need:

Any sort of all glass lamp (I used this one)
Mod Podge
An old book (Preferably one you dont mind destroying)
Lighter
Scissors
Sponge brush

1. Burn the edges of some of the pages little by little (length wise) and quickly put the fire out. This is just for effect, dont want anyone burning their house down!
2. Cut the strips to size so that they cover the edges left exposed.

3. Cover the entire lamp in a thing layer on Mod Podge and slowly wrap the paper around.

4. Once you have covered the whole thing in paper, cover the lamp with another thin layer of Mod Podge and let the whole thing dry.

Your final product should look something like this - 

Pssst!! Look! Day 10! Something I made!! (Yea... I know I went out of order...)

I can't wait for these little darlings to dry so I can stick them back and better than ever on my bed side table!! We also did a little fancy foot work and did a project to convert the book we cut pages out into a clock.

But that's for another day! Just like pictures of the red hair. Though that's mostly because it's still wet so I can't decide if it looks alright enough to share with the world yet or not.

After that we went and saw The Help with some friends. Wow. What a great movie! I really can't remember the last time I cried that many times in the theater. It got me thinking a lot about our current culture and the movement for LGBT equality. Oh how history always seems to repeat itself. Did any of you see it? What were your thoughts?

The A-B-C's of She & He!

I discovered this adorable post over through Caitlin at To Make Love Stay and just couldn't resist! Then I decided it would be fun to have Nick do it as well!

A. Age: 24
B. Bed size: A wonderful wonderful Queen. A King one day would be nice but for now I like having at least some extra space in my room.
C. Chore that you hate: Folding/putting away laundry. I will sort the laundry, I will wash it, I will do just about any OTHER chore to avoiding putting it away though.
D. Dogs: LOVE! But, I prefer big dogs. We have a rescued Greyhound right now and call me crazy, but my dream dog would be either a Pitbull or a German Shepherd!
E. Essential start to your day: Coffee. Please, for your sake and mine, don't try and have a conversation with me before this. Luckily, Nick, my family and my roommates are all well aware of this rule.
F. Favorite color: Changes constantly. Right now I'm infatuated with mint green but over the summer it was salmon pink.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver.
H. Height: 5’11" Yup. I'm one tall drink of water.
I. Instruments you play: Clarinet and French Horn well and Piano badly.
J. Job title: Production Assistant or Expeditor, depending on the job.
K. Kids: One day. I like to mess with Nick and tell him all the names I like for our kids but in truth, I want to wait until I finish my PhD. Caroline and Oliva, for the record.
L. Live: Central Florida
M. Mother’s name: Debbie
N. Nicknames: My family and old friends call me Niki. Co-workers have referred to me as Honeybee. Gay bestie calls me Anni. Boyfriend calls me Girlfriend (we're very creative).
O. Overnight hospital stays: Never for myself. The closest I ever got was staying with Nick when he had to stay for a few days.
P. Pet peeves: People who don't understand that there are times to be vocal and there are times to be quiet and respectful.
Q. Quote from a movie: "While we are waiting for the Messiah, while we are waiting for Mahavir... your eyes will suffice to give tired men hope." New York, I Love You
R. Right or left handed: Right hand to write but I use my left hand for just about everything else.
S. Siblings: None growing up but I have recently acquired 2 young step sisters that I adore!
U. Underwear: I have more than any normal human being should. I have an unhealthy love for Victoria's Secret Pink.
V. Vegetable you hate: Brussel sprouts.
W. What makes you run late: Nothing. I'm so anal retentive that even when I say "I'm late" I'm probably late for being extremely early.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Hand and teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: Buffalo Mac and Cheese
Z. Zoo animal: Apes, otters and anything from Australia

A. Age: 24
B. Bed size: Queen thank god, being 6'5'' and sleeping on a twin until I was 18 definitely showed up as back problems later in life
C. Chore that you hate: Laundry, like Annika I dont mind washing it or even drying it but putting it away just feels like such a waste if I'll be wearing it in a day.
D. Dogs: Want...More...Dogs! Love our Greyhound and my shepherd that has permanent residence at my parents house, and all the other countless ones I meet every day at work...except chihuahuas...
E. Essential start to your day: Insulin..being diabetic sucks
F. Favorite color: Forest green or slate blue
G. Gold or Silver: Leather
H. Height: 6'5'' yeah I don't like the backseat of cars much
I. Instruments you play: Played Bass for a fleeting moment in high school
J. Job title: Animal Services Officer and never will I have to say waiter again!
K. Kids: Annika thinks that she's the one with the ticking biological clock but at the same time yells at me when I make funny faces to toddlers in Lowes. Sebastian btw
L. Live: Central Florida
M. Mother’s name: Lora (or Bombie until I went to speech therapy)
N. Nicknames: Lippy, the origin is still a mystery but it has followed me since freshman year in high school.
O. Overnight hospital stays: 3 days after finding out I was diabetic, we put a man on the moon but hospital food still sucks.
P. Pet peeves: Hypocrits and people that are afraid to tell the truth about themselves.
Q. Quote from a movie: "Today for you Tomorrow for me" ( I know its from a play but the first time I saw RENT it was a movie, THEN I saw it 3 times on stage..dont judge me)
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: None that I know of, being adopted I might have a few bio bros floating around but my cousins are as close as it gets.
U. Underwear: Yea I have some
V. Vegetable you hate: Cauliflower, albino vegetables gross me out
W. What makes you run late: If i'm late im probably being chased by a crazed serial killer so it might be smart to check if I'm ok, other than that I'll be there before you leave the house.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Everything, blown knee, back problems, and braces (I should probably glow in the dark)
Y. Yummy food that you make: Meatloaf!
Z. Zoo animal: Elephants!

                                                       

Food truck bazaar

Yesterday was one heck of a day! Antiquing in the morning and the Orlando Food Truck Bazaar with the boyfriend at night!

All in all it was quite a fantastic experience! Usually when I previously thought of food trucks, I thought of those yucky little roach coaches you see outside of bars sometimes. You know, the kind your mom warns you not to eat from? Well apparently, the food truck craze has taken every major city by storm in the past few years with everything from fancy, decked out trucks to there very own show on the Food Network (Great American Food Truck Race anyone?)! So we found out about this little gathering because of my discovery (and subsequent fascination with) of one particular truck called the Yum Yum Cupcake Truck. Which of course, was the first truck I headed to when we got there!

Those are Hootnany Harvest Apple and S'more Please and they were both amazingly worth hunting down, incase you were wondering. I got to try pastrami for the first time (much to Nick's dismay)! 

Had some of the best peach cobbler ever and topped it all off with some ahi tuna sliders. 

The moral of the story? Forget what your mom told you, food trucks are fantastic!! What city are you from? Have you checked out your local food trucks yet? You might be pleasantly surprised!

(PS) I also completed Day 3 a day late. But, it's a pretty awesome take on the subject of clouds so I'm not too upset with myself!

And with my Day 4 - favorite color, I'm all caught up! ... For now.

As Promised...

Here are some of my favorites from the photo shoot Nick and I did last weekend in downtown Orlando. It was so hard to choose but I tried to limit myself to just posting a few! Thanks Vivid I Photography!!

I'm not going to lie... I was really feeling the idea of being lazy today and making this count for Day 2 of my photo challenge. Then I realized that maybe coping out on only the second day of a CHALLENGE was really silly of me. Day 2's assignment was "What I Wore" so I took this myself (I should invest in a tripod)

Just to meet the requirements of taking one of the photos myself. Then I had Nick take a more explanatory shot of what the outfit actually looked like!

Dress and Shoes from Urban Outfitters, Cardigan from Target and Belt from H&M

Please be so kind as to ignore the lack of makeup and I-don't-want-my-picture-taken stink face.

Notes from the Boyfriend..

Alright, I can't let lil' miss Annika have all of the fun now can I! All of this posting about cute things and jewelry that I have to buy for future Christmas presents. I'll tell you this though, as a boyfriend I am quickly learning that a blog is probably the most efficient wish list I have ever seen someone compile. Birthdays have just gotten so much simpler!

Anyways, I thought I would start off my first post with combining a couple of my favorite things. Documentaries and the random ways I keep myself entertained on 8 hour car rides from one tourist trap to another.

Rewind now to Annika and I again going comatose in front of the television late in the evening, me still smelling slightly like a wet cat since I just got off work and being bombarded by the curious noses of cats and dogs. It was then we stumbled upon probably one of the more interesting art based documentaries we have seen in some time.

"Between the Folds" a PBS documentary that revolves around the evolving world of paper folding (Origami).

This film goes so far beyond the paper crane that I learned how to make in elementary school it is astonishing. It chronicles 10 different paper folding artists and their pasts. It also looks back at the traditional methods and the master that inspired what seems to be all serious paper folding artists of today.

It's not about cranes and pretty flowers in this documentary, it's about dragons, characters so detailed they seem to move, and abstract figures that are so organic they blend in with the landscape (all of which by the way come from just 1 square of paper, never cut, never taped, never stapled, just folded).

Watch this trailer!

Oh by the way even the thought of attempting some of those creations about made my head pop, it did though inspire me to make a couple folds of my own. So here is the fun D.I.Y. portion. I've always appreciated flowers in origami, I also never liked the idea of actually buying flowers (it's seems depressing to give something to a loved one that will shortly wither away and die) so with that said I like to give origami flowers.

My favorite, the lotus flower. It's a beginners flower but looks difficult and always pleases.

I was going to do a tutorial myself but...youtube is just so much better at that than I am.

Plus I like the accents.