First of all I can’t believe its already half way through December. Only 15 days until I turn 3o and 10 days until Christmas!

Today is also the DERBY CHRISTMAS PARTY!!! Which I’m helping Lo host. I’m camped out and Lo’s house while she’s at class stealing her internet and snuggling with her dog. Once Lo gets home from Western Bum-F%@k we’re going to run all the errands in preparation for the party.

Also when picking the pictures I wanted to share since the beginning of October, I realized just how much I’ve done in the last few months. Wow! Lots of fun stuff.

NYC traffic on the way to Philly

Derby love

WoRD at the WFTDA champs

My bingo card! I was really hoping to see Jammer Eats the Baby and jammers both have same number. Alas!

Their shirts say “Derby Wives. No. Literally. We’re married”

Kat got her Bonnie Thunders shirt signed by Bonnie Thunders!!!

Nat stretching it out before our journey back to Mass

My parents being sweet

First time at Loving Hut, now I live like 5 minutes away and am obsessed.

Double cat snuggs courtesy of Natalie’s house

First day in my new place, getting to know my roommates!

Sunny perching on my hip

“Start your day with a parking lot egg”

Sunny, a happy cat

Lo getting in on the cat snugs

My Gran hanging with kids on Thanksgiving

Decorated wall in my new room.

Blackbird is getting around!

Afternoons in Hudson

Barbara the kitten

Sk8n4S8n

Some shit is discounted!

Tattoos

Put the lime in the coconut toilet

After emo night we were a mess

My tat

When you hate getting your hands dirty

Pumpkin carving!

Meow!

Lo channeling Daria

House party at Lo’s prep time

When derby girls party push up contests happen.

At Target with Lo, a favorite past time of ours!

stART at the Station!

Sunny and his mittens

Chomping some snow

My very gay scarf.

Christmas tree

Snuggling with CATrina

Displaying all my snacks on top of Sunny

Summers End

Pale shadows

under the speckled leaves

Wavy roots

Wavy hair

Wavy body

and smooth rocks

skipping over calm water

Sun shines

Sun glows

Sun’s heat

The harvest moon

rising full over dark tree lines

Darkness falls

Darkness fades

But don’t forget what darkness was

So it’s only been 1.5 months since my last post. But a lot of fun has happened so get ready for a ton of photos.

Work has been going really well. I didn’t realize it was possible to love a job as much as I love this job. I still feel pretty inept and like I’ve got a lot of learning to do, but it’s been a great experience so far! Life outside of work has also been really good. Weekends are a total whirlwind of fun things and the only complaint I have is there’s too much fun stuff to choose from! I try to pack as much in though and by Sunday I’m ready to relax and take care of things like laundry and food shopping.

Oh also THE MOST EXCITING THING: Fall is pretty much here! Pumpkin spice as far as the eye can see, apples in the orchards ready to be picked, leaves starting to turn around the edges, and best of all cool nights!

Malden macarons that I got for Amanda but ended up accidentally squishing on the way home and forgetting to bring to her until I gave up and ate them myself.

The view at Ralph’s…

SUCH A GOOD GAME!!!! <3

Fireworks weekend, tubing with Natalie and fam

Happy me!

Sambert on the trampoline ride at the fireworks

Painting with kiddos in Noho

I was so confused by these readings and thought the cards were going wacko. Then a few days later it all made sense.

Bachelorette party!!!! And look at how garnished the water is at Nick’s

I love how excited Liz is about the doggos

You’ve been warned!

Amanda blowing smoke up a dragons butt

Lo was so excited that she was Mookie’s chosen human

Beautiful tea at the bean counter

Tengo: Top Dog

The joys of apartment hunting. *Shudders*

Babysitting brought to you by: Snapchat

Selfie with John attempt 1

Selfie with John attempt 2

Selfie with John attempt 3 (I was laughing uncontrollably at this point.)

Alyssa’s mug (That I didn’t steal)

John wanted to play D+D too

WEDDING DAY! Look how cute the tables were

AND THE BRIDES!!!! (So many happy tears)

(:

Mary finishing her ice cream cone

Petting all the goats

A little blue leaf jumper

Dumplings were *outta this world*

Fulfilling my basic needs

Snugs with Bailey!

Shoes match dress <3

Summer, summer, summer. So great yet I’m already sick of the heat and ready for some fall days. (This is pathetic it’s not even August yet!) But I’m suffering through, some how… just barely. The following pictures are all out of order and also make it look like the only thing I ever do it bake. While that’s not completely true, I have been baking more than usual just because when you know how to make a decent pie crust, well you just gotta keep your skills sharp. Most of the pies I’ve made so far are in the freezer and any that aren’t eaten between now and September are being donated to my mom’s church’s bake sale. Though right now the freezer is at capacity so I need to find an auxiliary freezer.

In other exciting news shifting career gears has been going well. I’m super excited about my current job (which is temporary for the summer) and then in a couple weeks I’m starting a permanent position at a different school. In the fall I’m going to cautiously dip a toe into the college waters. All in all things feel almost *too* good. I keep looking around me for signs that things are actually really terrible, but other than the political news which is constant and terrible, I can’t find any sign of upset. Everything seems really good for good reason. I think part of this is I didn’t realize how deeply I was being affected by the mundane of the call center. It was such a weight, and now to have that swapped out for work that excites me, work that I see a viable future in, work that has meaning for me beyond just a paycheck. It’s pretty cool.

But enough of this blather-fest. On to the pictures!

This was a few weeks ago, to the beach with Natalie and her kids who I buried in the sand.

My first ever cherry pie from fresh tart cherries! (1 of 3)

These are the fresh cherries (15 cups of them!)

Blueberries and tiny tiny pie pans for bite sized pies.

These came out cute but were *so much* work. I don’t like making cookies because of the repetitive tedium and this was like cookie making on steroids. But if you want to taste one come to All 8 On the Floor! Worcester Roller Derby’s tournament for B teams all around New England! (Shameless plug)

This was the rest of the blueberries in pie form

Mazzy has a flat tire and it’s just making it clear I really need to sell this damn car. I’m still sometimes terrified but getting much better at driving Blackbird (As that metal song goes “standard is an initial D” and “you’re not metal til you have a clutch pedal”)

This pie was the first of the season, with an experimental herringbone crust

I love going to Airspray but sometimes a queer dance party is a little much when you’d rather have a queer beer with some friends.

And last but not least Ebbie was in town! With Hannah his girlfriend. We had a blast, here he is about to jump into the water for me and Hannah to take pictures of him in mid air.

I’ve been painting up a storm this week. (And ruining all of my clothes because of it…) Today I spent a solid chunk of time at the studio and managed to finish my little Lake Monomonac painting finally! (Refer to this post to see the progress shot) I’m very pleased with how it came out. Now if only the sun would come back so I can do some more outdoor painting! I’m trying to think of a good place to go, I’ve been fond of painting bodies of water so far and, for now at least, want to continue on that theme. I’ll have to brainstorm a list: Lakes in New England to Paint. Or maybe a waterfall? I’ll have to go on a day trip this weekend and find a spot!

View of Lake Monomonac: Rindge, NH

Below is my most recent work in progress, this is a view from the Sterling rail trail. There’s a little path off the main trail that leads down to the water, and there’s a convenient bench right by the edge. I’ve been walking the trail almost every day and a few days ago I finally took a moment to explore the little path that leads to this spot. This painting still needs a lot of work but I am really excited with how it’s coming out so far. I made a lot of progress on it, when I started today it was just the lightest of underpainting.

Sterling Rail Trail: Sterling, MA (Progress)

And lastly, I wanted to show off a picture of my studio space. It’s a shared space and I have plenty of room for painting. Here you can see my set up and the rail trail painting. It’s in an old factory or mill building of some sort, but it’s been really nicely updated and made into artist spaces.

My studio space

Hi Friends!

Happy mid-January 2017. I am excited to say that my transition to eating vegan has been smooth and rewarding. I’ve had more energy and have been eating a more balanced diet than I ever have before. Not to mention I feel a lot better about my part in supporting animal rights and the environment. It’s all good! I have literally yet to find a downside.

I’ve also been eating a lot of really delicious and extra tasty foods (pictured below!) and am slowly working on getting better at photographing them. (That is proving to be a challenging process though!)

There’s a lot of pre planning that goes into my days worth of food. Especially Wednesday’s when I leave the house around 8am and don’t get home until almost 11pm. (Or well after midnight like last night…) So I know I have to have a full days worth of food ready and waiting in the fridge Tuesday night. Also on most days I work until 7:30 and get home at 8pm. I find doing things like chopping a bunch of extra onions when I only need one is useful to save in the fridge to then throw into various other recipes during the week. I also try to cook something large on Sunday so I can use it as lunches for the rest of the week.

I have to say I really love the way my body feels after so far a half month of this. I feel energetic and strong! (And getting even stronger with the help of derby bootcamp!)

Now on to my favorite part! Pictures!

This is my first recipe try: Seitan Piccata from Veginomicon. I made the seitan myself which was semi successful, though it looked a lot like brains which I think means I boiled it too much. SO I took to calling this recipe “devil brains” because whenever I pronounce seitan outloud it just sounds like satan to me.

This is a vegan and creamy version of a recipe my family calls “ziti boc.” It was a Friday night and I was stressed about work in general and also stressing about going into work Saturday morning. I needed a pile of carbs. Enter the linguini. I sautéed some diced tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, I added some plain almond milk until it looked creamy enough and thickened it with a slurry. As you can see the lighting sucks but at the time I was too hungry to fuss.

Baked butternut squash mac n “cheese”

This was a cheat. I spent the whole day at work day dreaming about stuffing my face with appetizers from TGI Friday’s or where ever. When I got home instead I tried a really easy recipe for chickpea cutlets, steamed some green beans, and reheated some pasta. I decided to sprinkle some cheese on my pasta because this is a process and I would enjoy the pasta so much more with a little parmesan. The chickpea cutlets (also from Veginomicon) were AMAZING and I’ve made them more than once since.

Here we have a plethora of yum. Veggie burgers from the Oh She Glows cookbook, eggplant from the grill, roasted onions and sweet potatoes, and a leafy green salad. A+

 The other night I had high hopes of doing a large chunk of meal prep. Sadly I only made it to the grocery store. Although necessary, I was hoping to accomplish more. I was exhausted and the idea of chopping vegetables with no tasty meal in return was not appealing. So instead I gathered all my energy to make some hot coco (which the recipe was very complex, having you blend all the ingredients in a blender before heating them.) All I needed to do was picture the clean up of the blender, pot, and whisk to decide to cut the unnecessary out. I just whisked everything in the pot while it was heating. I also sliced some banana bread made earlier in the week for a really nice little comfort food snack.

The other morning I made a tofu scramble. Very simple, quick, easy and, yum… All my favorite things! I dumped in a handful of leftover peas and added some capers for additional flavor + pizzaz. With a side of toasted pita, well I was on cloud nine. Also if you make up the whole brick of tofu then you have enough for a snack and tomorrow’s breakfast too! (It reheats well!)

This was a creamy broccoli and potato casserole. I also added thin sliced tofu because I wanted some extra oomf to make it a more filling dinner. It was tasty, and reheats very nicely. For some reason today I’ve had ketchup on the brain and have been adding a dollop of that to these leftovers.

Well thanks for reading, if you’ve made it this far!

Hello, 2017 (and friends!)

I should probably add one more 2017 resolution to the mix… like maybe updating this damn blog on a regular basis???

Let’s not get too carried away though!

I just got home from traveling today and I feel like I’m on a boat still (even though I wasn’t even traveling by boat!) I think I suffer from post-motion sickness or prolonged motion sickness (does that exist?) because whenever I spend a long time in a boat, car, or roller coasters I usually feel weird for the rest of the day. I opted for driving the second leg of the journey since driving seems to feel better than passengering.

Anyway! I’m very glad to be home sweet home. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, lots of cooking, buying a new pair of shoes, and picking up a precious hooded scarf from dear DomiNat.

While I was away I did a lot of drawing and writing in my little notebook/workbook (?) You can see my progress below. The drawings span from 12/20/16 – 01/01/17

i JUST realized that (by chance) the two stickers i stuck to the front of my journal reference atoms (Atomic Books and Atom Skates) that’s a pretty cool coincidence!

Ok so the year is coming to a close.

Well not just yet.

Still a solid month left, but we’re rounding the bend into the end of the year. I am already preparing some goals for the new year. I figure if I get a head start on mental preparation for new years resolutions I’ll be a step ahead.

2016 was truly the best year I’ve had to date. I’ve met so many new, amazing, and inspiring friends. I’ve done things that are way out of my comfort zone like they were just another walk in the park. I’ve learned skills I thought were way beyond my capabilities. I’ve pushed myself hard and have had so much fun doing it!

That said, here’s to 2017 being EVEN BETTER! I kind of feel like it’s impossible. Like, what if it’s all down hill from here? “2016, the year I peaked”

But I know that’s a bunch of rubbish.

My progress is building and I want to spend the end of 2016 and into 2017 really focusing on the basics and bringing that to a new level. Skate-wise I want to completely master the basics of skating. Which means going to the gym and doing more strength training. I also have been working towards a vegan diet and low on the carbs. Which it is very much a process but I’m hoping by the time 1/1/17 rolls around I’ll be well on my way.

ANYWAY, I’ll spare you anymore blathering! ON TO PICTURES!

Me and my festive pop of color! On my way to Symphony Hall.

City Sights/Sites

Concert time!

Collagemas tree progress

Close up

My lovely wardrobe: cue “Paint it Black” by the Stones

FESTIVE is the featured word for #holiday2016. Brought to you by this tart I made for Thanksgiving.

Scripture Sculpture

I call this “Still Life of a Strap and a Black Lace”

I call this one “Working in a Call Center is not very much like Workaholics”

Worcester Warriors!!!!!!! My heros! <3

Halloween Costume – Tuxedo Cat!

“Taking Glen Burnie by Storm” – Crab Town USA!

Nat and the reverse cowgirl.

“Baby’s first martini, dirty as my hair”

Selfie ft. Ebbie’s room, my earrings that I was extremely allergic to, and my nose ring which is RIP since I can’t handle facial piercings. (They are cumbersome and test my patience)

Shadow play at AVAM

“I’m so tired, please carry me to dreamland my noble steed.”

Natalie being a water fountain!

Another selfie. What am I selfie MACHINE?

I call this one “Snapchat at Brunch”

The Ebbie-creature in his natural habitat. Notice how the bright colors attract the unsuspecting records

Brunch culture is near and dear to my heart. Especially when having slept till 1pm after being up for almost 24 hours.

Spew it, man.

This is where the people who are not afraid of heights stand.

So I’ll take selfies instead.

Aww it was so AMAZING to see my oldest pal!

Flying high

The Oklahoma dive bar in MA. Home of WoRD

FALL THINGS! With the derby wives

LATE NIGHT SKATE NIGHT in noho.

PVRD has really sweet warehouse diggs… I was getting warehouse envy.

Lo-Mean and I at the all night skate

Megz and Lo-Mean ready to duke it out with the opposing team!

We got to see Harlot and Dread! (I’ll admit, I got a little sentimental seeing Harlot, Megz, and T. Flex together again)

That’s all for now, folks.

I *probably* won’t post until the new year just because I’m bad at upkeeping this. Also if you comment on my post and I don’t respond, I’m very sorry! I’m bad at checking this thing! But I will see the comment eventually and eventually respond!

Till next year! xoxo

Ok so I’ve seriously neglected my website…for MONTHS.

Here is me making up for lost time.

Some things that have happened since my last post:

Passed level 1s for roller derby. I am now cleared for contact but not yet eligible to scrimmage against other teams. I’ve been to one contact practice so far since leveling up and I’m just a little addicted now.

New job. Making better money than I’ve ever made working in a call center for a company that rents porta potties. Now I know more about portable toilets than I ever thought there was to know. It’s pretty aight.

My wardrobe is starting to truly reflect my soul. As in: I now wear only black everything. Occasionally I’ll let some tiny white stripes slip in…mainly because I have that one shirt that looks nice with my black skirt. I’ve also mastered the “by all standards dressed up business casual but I won’t have to change when I get to practice” outfits.

I’ve begun to realize how deeply I appreciate being single. It’s more than just “have some fun till I find the right person” it’s getting serious and I can’t imagine sharing my life with another person again like I have in the past. Now that I’m over that stage in my life I can see how stifling long term relationships were for me. I’d be really hesitant to go down that road again!

Now on to the juicy good stuff… PICTURES!

These boots are beautiful and amazing. Also very hard to get on and off.

Probably not cold enough to be this bundled yet…but FALL

Working on beautiful days be like…

Dinner with my Derby Wives and Travis, Nicole’s actual spouse.

Car wash with WoRD and FBW. It was a blast!

Festive Pie

Went to the arcade and literally threw my paycheck at the crane games. Then found out the photo booths are actually where it’s at.

Hampton Beach with my other derby wives… I SWAM IN THE REAL ACTUAL OCEAN. First time since maybe ever. I had a blast 🙂

My room coming together

Hershel and Baxter going to the blessing of the pets at Ariel’s church.

New class starts this week! And I’m going to help with training.

More room progress

New toe guards that I made for myself.

Nothing has given me more confidence lately than skating in Worcester’s pride parade. It was a blast and I was so proud of my skating abilities!

Decorating the check at the Abbey

Can you see the desperation in my face. That is the face of someone chilled to the bone, dampened around the edges from raw freezing cold rain, and working an 8 hour shift running a food tent for absolutely free. I was proud that we did such a damn good job running the tent, but extremely happy to high tail it out of there the second our shift was over. Also there’s like no pride or warm fuzzy feelings that come from volunteering at an event that doesn’t directly help other people. We were volunteering our time to sell over priced crappy food to people who had paid to be at the event. 0/10 would not recommend.

Things always get wild when FBW is involved…

Look at me now. Oyster loving scum!

My first time watching a scrimmage. It was AMAZING!

Rendezvous at Dunkin Donuts with skate friends and of course this is what happens.

This is going to be a long an winding post. Buyer beware. (I won’t be offended if you just scroll through and look at the pretty pictures)

Ok so first of all I have spent now…2 hours trying to get these damn photos to upload! It’s really been a struggle. And when I did finally get them uploaded they were completely out of order and WordPress has a sucky post editor so they’re staying out of order!

2016 has been a trip so far. Definitely one of my favorite years yet! After cutting some dead weight out of my life I feel like a new person. I lost myself over the past 5 years, like really and truly misplaced who I am. It feels so good to be the person that I love again! I’m so grateful for this gift! Anyway sap, sap, sop. Enough of that! Here ya go:

This is Antony, he’s a bald eagle. Cleopatra was sitting on their eggs in their GIANT nest and so Antony kept a close eye on the surroundings. At one point they chirped to each other! The whole thing was breath taking! We stood there forever hoping he’d fly!

This is Jett, he was such a friendly little guy!

I forget this owl’s name, but hey! A real live owl!

I actually took this picture on my Florida vacation, not Valentine’s day. A questionable valentine.

Here’s my room after tidying, can’t wait to get it all painted!

I’ve got a really ambitious project in the works. Stay tuned in like a year I might be done…!

Goth night in Cambridge, it was SUCH a blast! Danced my butt off! And we totally got hit on in the best way possible on the train ride home. A+

Waiting for Worcester’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade to start with my derby girls!

Oh my god the little ones were just so precious!!

They really didn’t know what to think of the bear!

This movie was really out there!

Tarot Spreads:

Work Spread: 2/8/16    The World – The Sun (Reversed) – The Moon (Reversed)

Relationship Spread 2/7/16      The Devil – The Magician – Death (Reversed)

Love Spread 2/10/16     The Pope (Reversed) – Justice – Strength (Reversed)

@Kade

My nice and sticky new wheels!

This gum was NASTY! I was not surprised but still disappointed.

Painting in New Hampshire!

Kade’s deck of tarot cards is awesome! I loved this card especially!

I made these for Valentine’s Day, they were gross, but also very cute! I had a really special Valentine’s this year!

This was given to me by My Favorite Nun. It’s been blessed by the pope!

As Ritzy put it: “You tried to pretend your straight… A for effort…” It’s really true though, been livin’ the lie…

Jess and Amanda!

This was my efficient packing on the way to Florida!

Seagulls / Beach walks

Travis and I met up with some of my derby friends to watch a bunch of 90’s cover bands play. Though the songs were mostly from 2000 on sooo…??? It was still fun and we didn’t sleep ever. And I had skate practice the next day (that was ouch!).

If you’ve made it this far…you get a GOLD STAR! If you only looked at the pictures that’s ok, you still get a small copper star!

Love you all!

Today was a great day! Good food and the good company of my parents, my Gran, Dave, and Beth.

Heaven must be missing a gravy boat.

The table dressed and ready.

Turkey feast.

Carving the turkey.

Hard at work, in the zone!

Gravy beginnings.

Gravy progress.

Mom transferring cranberries, Beth looking concerned.

Birdie

De-stuffing

Various infused liquors made by Beth.

…that bloom in May! (Almost there!!)
And might I add, this side of April has been pretty decent weather-wise. No complaints from me.

Anyhoo here is another chunk of photos taken from my phone. It has occurred to me that maybe I should start using a *real camera again for all these pictures instead of my phone. Then the excuses come pouring in: boo hoo convenience, wah wah portability, whine whine instantaneous. But you know what. These photos are throw aways compared to what I would have if I used a real camera and now all I have to remember all the fun stuff that happened in April are some cheepo pix. (And I’m omitting the picture of Alyssa at Happy Jacks from the record, that’s a good pic) I need to get into the “everyday photographer” mind set with a real camera in my hand.

*Real camera referring to a 35mm film camera.

Now, on to April’s photos.

*Wink wink*

AQT

My best pizza-friend…until I ate it… So long, friend.

Alyssa at Happy Jacks

My drink

Some greenery

Selfie

  ***SKATE PRINCESS***

BONUS RAMBLE:

If I were to bring a camera with me everywhere what camera would it be? I could go the plastic route or the more technical route. Or I could alternate. (Really that’s probably what would happen) I’ll probably alternate between the LCA and Canon FTb. Those are my tried and true favorite cameras. The canon needs a new battery for the light meter but that’s easy enough to remedy. Also Rainy lent me a cool camera years ago. (Hi Rainy!) I still have it and it also needs a new battery.

To do list for the weekend:

– Look into getting a battery for Rainy’s camera, and the canon.

– Rearrange the bedroom furniture

– Maybe go to Battleship Cove??

– Maybe bake a pie??

When I posted this on facebook I captioned it “this will be me someday only on quads” now I take that back. Scratch the quads I’m going to master inline skates. I was always better at rollerblading than rollerskating in the first place and I want to do all kinds of sweet tricks. Can’t grind on quads. 

My interest in quads originally stemmed from my desire to do roller derby but honestly I just don’t have the free time in my life for derby. Also I thought the rollerskates looked cooler. But really I don’t care (that much) about what my skates look like. I just want to have fun rolling around, jumping in the air, and all that good stuff. 

So this weekend if I’m brave enough to go all by myself or if I can find a buddy to accompany me I’m going to check out a skate shop in Brookline and possibly invest in some badass skates. 

Until then one more day of work until it’s the WEEKEND!

Which brings us to the list portion of this post:

Hannah’s Weekend To-Do List:

1. Rearrange bedroom furniture 

2. Look into getting skates

3. Clean car

4. Bake a cherry pie (probably won’t)

5. Laundry

And on that note!

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.