A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Hi everyone!

Wow, what a wild ride I've been on for the past month...  A lot has been going on and I've gotten a bit backed up when it comes to blogging about it.  First off, thanks again to Tiny Devotions for sponsoring Inspire Bohemia's first giveaway.  I hope Michelle from Glow Green Girl enjoys her beautiful Amazonite Mala Bad Necklace!  I have received a bunch of wonderful comments and e-mails from new readers ever since the giveaway and I want to thank you all so so much - welcome!

I've been preoccupied with school since January, however the past month has been particularly nerve-wracking because I've been focused on passing my math class.  I was also taking a Sociology course, but those are my favorite and my specialty - I do well in them because I have a passion for social issues and learning about the history of humanity and social interaction. In contrast, I have no such passion for math - the very thought of it makes my eyes roll and my toes curl.

So, at the helm of my semester was a nail-bitingly stressful third math exam, followed by the final exam just two weeks later!  EEEK!  If you read my post Math Blues, you'll know that I am terrible at math and that I can't seem to pass the most basic college math class.  For me, math has always brought a feeling of hopeless misery, anything beyond the basics and the fairly engaging x and y equations really splits my brain cells!  Remembering the formulas and excessive steps for solving various probability and other problems is like someone telling me I have to memorize an entire book word for word - it seems impossible to me! So that's my main problem in math, that and the fact that my mind is rebellious because it knows that I am not likely to use much of this nonsense in my life.  We'll see, I'll let you know if I'm wrong.  Anyway, I've had a rough semester, I've cried lots of tears of frustration and self-pity, had a few college-oriented existential meltdowns, and done a ton of this crap....

...so that's why I am literally beaming like the sun :D with happiness to tell you that I PASSED!  Oh yeeeeeah!  I can hardly believe that I finally passed, through all of the mindless studying and freak-outs I managed to pull through with a C.  Sure, I wish I had gotten a B or an A, but let's face it folks, at this point I'm tired and just happy to pass (after all, I've failed this class twice!).  For those of you who don't know, there is a cruel college rule called The Gordon Rule, which says that all classes deemed "Gordon Rule courses" (usually Math and English) can only be passed with a grade of C or better.  That's right, a C-minus will not cut it!  The first time around I got a C-, then a D... this time I got a C.  Ugh.  Bad news is, I still have one more basic math class to go, Social Choice Math, bah.  For now, I am grateful to the universe, and to my father (who I sent my urgent wishes for strength), for granting me the focus to get through this ridonkulous class a third and final time.

Throughout the two weeks that I was stressing over math, I also had to focus on a group project analyzing development and environmental issues in China/Jarred Diamond's argument in Collapse vs. Pomeranz's opposing argument in Questioning Collapse for my Sociology class - Societies in the World.  Let me not get into the hassle of a group project, not to mention one in college - a time when everyone has their life, their agenda, other classes, work, friends, family, children, etc ad infinitum!  It was a real brain melting extravaganza, but we got it done and had a great presentation evaluation, landing a 94% on the project!

All in all, I'm so glad it's over because now I can enjoy my summer, you know, like a kid!  Yay, haha.  Of course, I'll also be blogging (more than ever is my goal), gardening, taking lots of photos, doing lots of arts and crafts projects, garage sale/Goodwill hunting, exercising, hopefully traveling and more!  Oh yes, and baking as well...  

You see, my boyfriend and I have been brewing a little home business... We've been experimenting for a while and have developed a few great cookie, pie, and pastry recipes so far.  We had some business cards printed and ordered pretty pastry boxes as well.  Just yesterday we prepared a variety of delicious goodies for Ivan's mother, who is a nurse, to take to work, and she says everything was gone by 9am!  By the end of the day, she had 24 orders for a box of a dozen of one or another cook or pie, particularly the Rugelach!  That's twenty-four dozen!!  Wowzers!  We have our work cut out for us...  

As seen in my Easter post, Ivan's Rugelach really are something special.  To see better photos and other flavors, check out this post.

But lately, we have I have been practically obsessed with Key Lime Pies!  I really love them, I make mine nice and tart with a thick graham cracker crust!  And when the pie is done, I let it cool and then pop it int he freezer!  Ooooooh, that's the best, it's firm but not frozen solid, the crust holds together better and it's deliciously cold....

UPDATE: I just did a post with my recipe for homemade Key Lime Pie!


We've made a shameful amount of Key Lime Pies recently, and I've eaten a shameful majority of those pies! :D  We made them without meringue and with meringue....

...and we also made Lemon Meringue Pie for my mother and Carrot Cake for Easter (as seen here).  

I've taken a few trips to home depot for cactus soil, and with Ivan to plan a vegetable garden, but I also did some browsing...

...there were lots of beautiful flowers blooming...

These Cala Lilies were looking especially amazing in vibrant shades of cranberry and plum...

...there were also some darker ones, they look almost black in this photo but they're actually more of an eggplant color...

And then there were these beautiful outdoor patio chairs by Martha Stewart!  I don't really care for the table, or even the loveseat, but the chairs - I would LOVE to have a few of those!

Aren't they great?  The lines and the faux cane back and sides are awesome for an outdoor chair....

  

...they're made of metal and I'm not sure if they come in any other colors, this set is an off-white creamy color.  At $999 for the set, it's not cheap (at least to me), and I looked on Home Depot's website to see if the chairs can be purchased separately and isn't find this set at all - it might be in-store only.  Anyway, despite price, well done Martha.  Beautiful outdoor furniture!

I've also been to Barnes and Noble and Michaels recently.  I've been to Michael a bunch of times, but I didn't take any photos while there because I was too busy hunting down tons of stuff for my ongoing craft projects and ideas.  I'll fill you in on that stuff in future posts.  I had not been to Barnes and Noble in a long time, and it was pretty much the same as I remembered it:  noisy, messy, and nowhere to sit other than the crowded noisy cafe table area.  Ivan and I went to check out a few books, while we were there I did some browsing in the goodies section, you know, the area with all the journals and gifts... Low and behold, there was some pretty darn cute overpriced stuff to ogle...

I love this garden take on the Keep Calm and Carry On expression!

Garden tools and note pads...

  

Pretty glass plates/trays that could be used for organizing keys, phones, iPods, change, etc on desks and entry tables!

...some charming signs... an ode to The Beatles, and chocolate...

Keep Calm and Carry On is everywhere! 

Some glass owls that could be a lot cuter (more like the image on the card around its neck!), but they made it into this post because I love owls...and maybe because one of 'em is sitting on a little chair... :)

These desk organizing accessories are made from recycled materials, I especially liked this ruffled fabric dish...

And of course, a visit to Barnes and Noble would never be complete without drooling over some expensive journals.... right?...

  

Awesome Elephants and again, Keep Calm and ________ is everywhere!  Keep Calm and Recycle is a good one :)

Ooooh, the most expensive of them a lllll, the leather-bound and embossed/jewel-encrusted journals.  How I love thee.  And, pretty paisley embroidered fabric covered journals and a very lovely recipe book that I almost splurged on.  Almost, but no cigar.  I'm cheap....err frugal.  

  

Of all things, what did I come home with from B&N??  A wacky, but gorgeous, B&N Special Edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!  It's weird that this is what I bought, I mean  do like Alice in Wonderland, but I'm not obsessed with it like others I've known.  BUT, who can resist this awesome looking book!?  Not me...

I absolutely love the illustration on the front, back and spine....

  

...and the illustrations throughout the book as well...

Sweet!

I haven't spent as much time in the garden as I've wanted, mainly because I've bunkered down at Ivan's house to focus and study, and my garden is at my mother's house.  But I do have a bunch of photos of new planters, blooming flowers, Cactus Corner, and an overall garden update to share with you in upcoming posts.  I've been told be a few people that I should start watermarking my photos, that is why I have held back posting many garden posts.  To be honest, I really hate the thought of having to watermark my images, I don't think I would like the annoying repetition of seeing it as I scroll through my blog, but perhaps it might be necessary in the near future, we'll see.  Do any of you have any advice or suggestions about watermarking photos?  I've been looking at iWatermark and wondered if I should buy it, anyone have a review on it?

Our sweet Kimbo follows me wherever I go in our backyard, here he is sniffing the little yellow flowers on my mother's Lantana...

To me, this stuff looks like weeds and it gets overgrown, but she always says "Nooo, that's my Lantana" LOL!  It smells nice, and up close the yellow flowers are quite charming, but from afar it's a bit of a scrappy eye sore...

I've said it before and I'll say it again... nature is awesome!...

And I've also done some more walking, though if I want to be completely honest with you I'd say it hasn't been much.  We started off strong and motivated, and then for one reason or another (day after day) we just stopped.  I like to blame it on my final exams, but the truth is we're lazy... happy lazy.  Enough is enough though, we really need to get back up and start again.  After all, there is this wonderful HUGE park just blocks from his house...

We walk there and around a few times and then walk back to his house and it totals just over 4 miles!  Once around the park on the track is nearly a mile, so it's a great place to go walk.  There's also a bunch of these amazing trees!

I've seen flaky bark, even weird flaky foam-like bark, but nothing like this....

  

Lots of colors!  It looks as though the whole tree has ben stripped and some areas are shades of grey, brown, green, orange, and red.  Does anyone out there know what the name of this tree is?  I love it! 

Nature is pretty incredible, it never ceases to amaze me!  

(All images in this post are my personal photographs, please do not use them without my written permission. I can be contacted at InspireBohemia(at)gmail.com - thank you!)