Zebra Dress Picture!

Picture of Zebra dress. Thought I'd include it. The picture also shows off a function of my new Canon SD 790 IS camera- color focus. Sweeet.

Carrot-Tops Rock. So does my Sock Monkey

I have to say that the picture above is one of my favorites yet...

I've been working hard on becoming knowledgeable about the online world, and all of its communities, and rules, and little things that drive people crazy. But I feel pretty accomplished today, as I set up my own PayPal account. Now, you can buy items on my website with your credit card... convenient!

At least, I hope that I got it right.

I've also been busy updating items to my site. The skirt I am wearing above used to be an old pair of white jeans, a pair that I had scrounged from a clothing swap. One of the pianists for our dance program has the most outrageous outfits- leather pants with a fuzzy green hat, and knitted scarf... and high heeled shoes... I should have grabbed more of her items from the clothing exchange. If only I could have seen the potential for all of the clothing at the time...

The skirt will always remind me of her, sitting at the piano, pounding out some tune, sometimes commenting on our movement in modern or ballet class. I'll definitely miss her.

I have recently been working on some t-shirt designs and came up with a nice tube-top from an old t-shirt an ex-boyfriend had given me years ago. He's getting married tomorrow, incidentally, to a lovely girl who I used to dance with in my old-home town studio. So, it was only appropriate that I cut up his old t-shirt and use a bit of my fiance's old skater shirt to make my newest creation!

Man, I love having a kitchen...

New Wheat-Free Recipe, complements of SippitySup at sippitysup.com, with my own edits to make it cheaper, of course...
Bought green-top carrots, and don't want to waste the green tops? Here is a DELICIOUS soup. Seriously!

Tuscan Carrot-Top Soup with Rice

Olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup celery cut in 1/4" dice

1 1/2 cups onion cut in 1/4" dice

2 cups carrot cut in 1/4" dice

1/2 cup short grain rice, uncooked

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper

6 cups water (approximate)

1 1/2 cups lightly packed carrot top greens (feather ends only, no stems)

good olive oil

parmesan cheese as garnish

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium eat. Add the garlic. As soon as they get fragrant (do not let them color) add celery, onions and carrots.

2. Once the vegetables have softened somewhat add another tablespoon or so of olive oil and bring the heat up a bit. Once things start to sizzle add the rice to the pan.

3. Stir the rice into the mixture well. Keep stirring so nothing burns on the bottom. The goal is to infuse flavor into the rice. It will only take 2-3 minutes. Lower the heat again to medium.

4. In order to get the rice as flavorful as possible add about 1 1/2 cups chicken broth a little at a time in 3 or 4 additions. Keep stirring the mixture as you go. Wait until most of the liquid is absorbed before adding more. Taste the rice often at this point. We want to keep a kernel of crunch deep inside each grain of creamy rice. (yes, crunch!)

5. Once that is achieved add about 6 cups of water. Use your judgment as to how brothy you like it. Add salt & pepper to taste and let soup simmer at a medium temp.

6. Do not add the carrot tops and fennel fronds until right before you serve it. The bright green tastes and color are the real stars of the soup. Add all the greens at once and stir them in quickly. They will wilt and stay bright green if you serve the soup quickly.

7. Taste for seasoning ( a tiny bit of vinegar can be a nice addition here) and ladle it into bowls.

10 Garnish with a drizzle of good olive oil and some shaved parmeson cheese.

ENJOY.

New Fan Page for Rags by Sock Monkey!

Rags by Sock Monkey on Facebook

New Camera= Much fun to be had.

My lovely new camera. Oh how I love thee. I can take pictures again! Check out this sweet color setting. You pick the color you want to emphasize and the camera does it itself. Technology is amazing. Aaaamazing.

I was finally able to upload some items to my new Etsy account. Very exciting! I've been looking forward to sharing some of my work and now I've begun! Baby steps of course... only two items, a skirt made of my fiance's old skater tshirt and a heat/ice pack made from another tshirt from New Mexico. Brandon took pictures of me wearing the skirt with my new camera, and I'll have to say that I am pretty pleased with it all.

Funny story, I found the camera on craigslist at a great price... but wouldn't you know it, it happened to be the camera of a dance aquaintence, Sachiko, which made me even happier to buy it as I was not only helping her get rid of her camera but also getting my camera from a reliable and wonderful person and artist! Small world we live in.

Sock monkey was in the photo shoot as well. I'll post some pictures of Monkey's adventure later.
Sock Monkey also told me to let you know that her name is actually Ginny, but we usually just call her Sock Monkey. Sorry about being so thoughtless, Ginny.


I've been thinking alot about my soon-to-happen move to Chicago. I'm pretty nervous, because I have no job, no internship, and no scholarship yet. I suppose I should be a little more prepared or know what I am doing as I am the one who chose, no, who pushed for this move to happen. That is, push my fiance, Brandon. And I do feel excited. But I've never been in a position of so much uncertainty in my life before. Wellllll, maybe I have, but not that I remember too well...

At any rate, there is so much packing, organizing, saying goodbye, and tying up loose ends to do. But at the same time, I always have to be looking forward towards the new life that I'm beginning, in a new place.

I just hope that I can make it home in between moving out and moving in. My town was recently hit by a tornado that took out my cousin's house as well as hit my friend's house. I haven't been able to go home to help, and I haven't really spoken to anyone that has had to deal with the damage directly. I guess I just want to go home to see how things really are and how people are coping, and to see if anything's changed.


New Gluten-Free Desert (because you have to have chocolate sometimes)

Coconut-Almond Brittle

1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate squares, or 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (gluten-free brand)

Spread coconut and almonss on a pan and toast in oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 min. till nice and toasted.

Melt 6 oz of chocolate in microwavable bowl in the microwave for 2 min. stirring once at 1 min. Add in rest of chocolate and stir till melted all the way. If needed, you can place in the microwave again for 30 sec. or so till it is all melted together.

Mix into the coconut and almonds and spread out on the pan. Cool in the fridge till totally solid. Break into pieces.

Enjoy... that is, if you haven't eaten too much chocolate in the process of making this deliciousness.