Subjectively Simple

New Art Challenge

2012-07-26T12:08:00.000-04:00

My attempt at EDM Challenge #1 (click on photo to learn more)

If you've browsed my blog then you know that I love art: looking at it, making it, talking about it, etc! I've gotten a lot of art inspiration from Danny Gregory since I read his book, "The Creative License". There are very active groups on Facebook, Flickr, and Yahoo that have been inspired by his book, "Everyday Matters" which I haven't read yet. Also as a result of this book, there was an Everyday Matters Challenge that was started several years ago by artist Karen Winters.

Basically, the EDM Challenge is a list of random things (currently 328 things) that could be drawn on a daily basis to help artists to get in the habit of daily drawing. You can start the list with item #1 and go in order or you can skip around. EDM challenge drawings can be shared with the groups I mentioned earlier for constructive feedback and I've discovered that its a very friendly little community!

So, I'm going to take the challenge! My plan is to go in order through the list because I'm a little OCD like that. ;) My goal is to sketch one challenge everyday but I'm not sure how realistic that will be...the most important thing is to keep going even if I miss a day! So, we'll see how it goes. I'll share my results here either as a post or on the artwork page of my blog. You can also see all of my sketches on my Flickr photo stream.

What's your favorite pair of shoes? Has your taste in shoes changed since you were younger?

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

2012-07-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

No words, just images. A look at the world through my eyes.

Click on the photo to learn more about it!

I would love it if you would join me for Wordless Wednesdays! Add your link below by midnight on Tuesday, July 31st to participate in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Be sure to visit the participating blogs and give them lots of love!

P.S. - Grab the Wordless Wednesday Blog Button from the sidebar to let others know that you participate!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop (Better Late Than Never!)

2012-07-19T18:51:00.001-04:00

No words, just images. A look at the world through my eyes.

I would love it if you would join me for Wordless Wednesdays! Add your link below by midnight on Tuesday, July 24th to participate in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Be sure to visit the participating blogs and give them lots of love!

P.S. - Grab the Wordless Wednesday Blog Button from the sidebar to let others know that you participate!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

How To Tuesday

2012-07-17T21:32:00.000-04:00

How to...dice an onion! (The quick, easy, & hopefully tear free way!)

Step #1:

Step #2:

Hopefully this is pretty self explanatory, but let me know if you have questions! I also have to give credit to my husband for showing me this trick!

So, I know what you're thinking...this post seems way too simple for a how-to post (even despite the name of my blog)! But, who said a how-to post has to be super long and complicated? Joy, over at the blog Joy the Baker, shared her insight on making simple how-to posts in her post about blog post ideas. Its a great post that would be helpful for any blogger! (I think I just exceeded my daily quota for using the word "post"...sorry for the annoying repetition)...

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Weekly Inspiration

2012-07-15T21:18:00.000-04:00

Here are a few things that inspired me lately. Enjoy!

Have you discovered Spoonflower yet? Its a really cool website where you can make your own original fabric designs! On the Spoonflower blog guest author Emma Jeffery from the Hello Beautiful blog shared how to turn handwritten recipes into tea towels. Read the post here. I would love to do this with some of our family recipes that have been passed down through the generations.

Brooklyn artist Shantell Martin illustrated her entire bedroom! How cool is that?! I have a feeling that my husband wouldn't be too keen on this style of home decor. ;) Read the article from The New York Times here.

I absolutely love reading! As a teacher, sometimes its a struggle to find time during the school year for leisure reading so I usually try to make up for it in the summer. Its been a little while since I've gotten immersed in a really good book but I've had a hard time putting this one down! You might recognize the title from the movie version that came out in 2009. This book really is excellent! Great plot told from an unusual viewpoint, great characters, and great life lessons. It has also given me a new perspective about my dad who I miss so much as he watches over me from heaven.

Did you come across something that inspired you this week? Share in the comments below!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Fresh Food Friday: Shrimp & Herb Penne

2012-07-13T11:57:00.000-04:00

I'm going to start devoting Friday posts to topics related to fresh food (recipes for home cooked meals, nutritional tips, farmer's market finds, etc). So, this week I decided to share a recipe for Shrimp & Herb Penne that we enjoyed for dinner recently.

I illustrated the recipe!

This recipe is super simple! Just follow the directions in my illustrated recipe above. The only thing I forgot to mention is that I also tossed the cooked penne in olive oil. After reading this post on the blog "100 Days of Real Food", we try to buy block cheese and grate it ourselves whenever possible.

Saute the shrimp, onions, and herbs in olive oil.

Mmmmmm!

Let me know if you try this recipe and if you like it!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Garden Update

2012-07-12T17:52:00.000-04:00

Look what we found in the garden after returning from vacation!

Its hard to tell in this photo, but this summer squash is actually about 15 inches long and has about a 10 inch circumference! Hmmm...I wonder if they're supposed to get this big before you pick them?

The garden has definitely been a challenge so far! Needless to say the weeds are atrocious and have become too overwhelming for us to manage with our busy schedules. However, there is still quite a bit of produce growing well despite the harsh conditions!

Do you have any gardening updates to share?

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

2012-07-11T19:27:00.002-04:00

No words, just images. A look at the world through my eyes.

Sorry for the major lack of posts lately! We were out of town on vacation for the past week which made it difficult to keep up with posting. Hopefully, now that we're home, I can get back on track!

I would love it if you would join me for Wordless Wednesdays! Add your link below by midnight on Tuesday, July 17th to participate in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Be sure to visit the participating blogs and give them lots of love!

P.S. - Grab the Wordless Wednesday Blog Button from the sidebar to let others know that you participate!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

2012-07-05T00:19:00.000-04:00

No words, just images. A look at the world through my eyes.

Sorry for the delay on getting this post out! We're on vacation in Kentucky right now for my husband's family reunion so it might be a little challenging to stay in touch with the blogosphere this week.

I would love it if you would join me for Wordless Wednesdays! Add your link below by midnight on Tuesday, July 10th to participate in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Be sure to visit the participating blogs and give them lots of love!

P.S. - Grab the Wordless Wednesday Blog Button from the sidebar to let others know that you participate!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Weekly Inspiration

2012-07-01T12:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry for being MIA the last few days. We had a terrible storm sweep through our area on Friday which knocked out our power for a while.

Every Sunday I'm planning to make a weekly inspiration post that highlights various things that have inspired me throughout the week. I hope that you will find them to be beneficial for you too!

One of my goals this summer is to get in the habit of sketching in my illustrated journal more frequently. So, a lot of my inspiration this week has been related to art.

Check out Jenny Frith's blog and Flickr photo stream. I love her art tips!

Eduardo Salavisa, a professor, shares the benefits of sketching daily.

Kristen from Living Bittersweetly posted about this project from Kickstarter. I am amazed at the imaginations of people like Dan Schreiner.

I am so intrigued by The Sketchbook Project. I'm trying to work up the nerve to participate.

Suzanne's words are so inspiring, especially this post about the up's and down's of life. Check out her blog Privet and Holly.

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Flying Solo to the Vet

2012-06-28T16:55:00.000-04:00

Eva at the vet office

Siqua feeling betrayed

So, I had actually intended to take the day off from blogging today but I decided that I had to share my experience of taking our pets to the vet by myself this morning. Preparing for the visit to the vet office is always very tricky especially when I'm by myself. I try not to elude to the fact that we're going to the vet since the pets typically aren't too excited about it. Here's how it went down before we left the house:

Eva: I found her napping in her cat bed and proceeded to put her inside the cat carrier before her grogginess wore off.

Fact: Eva absolutely despises the cat carrier. The first few times I attempted to put her in the carrier she would splay all of her legs out and squirm as much as possible to avoid going inside. Luckily I've mastered this skill by holding her by the scruff of her neck as I lower her into the carrier. For some reason cats go into a trance whenever you grab the scruff of their neck...weird.

As soon as I closed her inside she began the pitiful meowing...and she meowed every two seconds (making sure to vary the length and pitch of the meows as if that would help)...all the way to the vet office despite my efforts to calm her down.

Siqua: He was curiously watching the fiasco of me putting Eva into the carrier wondering what was going on. As soon as I pulled his leash out of the secret hiding spot in our junk drawer he went into a frenzy.

A glimpse inside Siqua's mind: "YYYYAAAAYYYY!! She got my leash out!! We're going somewhere...I don't know where, but we're going somewhere! Are we walking or going in the car?! Who cares, let's go!!"

Then, imagine if you will, me trying to get both of them in the car as Siqua is nearly pulling my arm out of its socket all the way down the driveway.

Once we got to the vet office we checked in and had to wait in the lobby for a few minutes during which time Eva continued with her distressed meows and Siqua paced nervously.

They took us back to "the room" (what are those little rooms called anyway?) and Eva was up first for the exam and vaccines. She handled it like a pro as she surprisingly always does. She snuggled against the vet as he checked her over and didn't even flinch when she got her shots. After getting the all-clear from the vet she even willingly went straight back into her carrier without a struggle and was quiet! (I think maybe the medicine chilled her out a little...)

Siqua, however, was a different story. Since he's pretty big the vet was going to do his exam and vaccines at floor level but Siqua just would not cooperate. He was squirming and wriggling all over the place. So, the vet called in an assistant and they lifted all 71 pounds of him up onto the little examination table. Well, let me tell you that did the trick! He hunkered down, gripped the front edge of the table for dear life with his little paws, and didn't move a muscle.

He tolerated the shots well but we had a surprising discovery during his examination...he has a fractured tooth! Its one of the molars in the very back of his mouth and the vet said he probably got ahold of something that was too hard for him to chew. I was shocked since he hasn't shown any signs of pain or discomfort recently. We have to take him back to have the tooth surgically removed and then everything should be fine.

Needless to say, all three of us were glad to return home and the pets seem pretty worn out from the experience. I think they're also a little upset with me that our joy ride turned out to be a trip to the vet!

Do you have any interesting vet visit stories to share? Leave a comment below!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

2012-06-27T07:52:00.001-04:00

No words, just images. A look at the world through my eyes.

How fun would it be if we could all share our Wordless Wednesday images with each other? Now we can! Add your link below by midnight on Tuesday, July 3rd to participate in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Be sure to visit the participating blogs and give them lots of love!

P.S. - Grab the Wordless Wednesday Blog Button from the sidebar to let others know that you participate!

Mom's Granola Recipe

2012-06-26T12:58:00.000-04:00

This is a super simple recipe from my mom for delicious and healthy homemade granola. I love the fact that only honey is used as a sweetener! She has spent a lot of time perfecting this recipe and she frequently sells out of this granola when she sells it at farmer's markets.

Drizzling in the sweet honey goodness!

The bowl of finished granola I enjoyed for breakfast this morning!

This turned out to be a pretty big batch of granola. It filled a gallon size plastic bag and that was after I gave my mom a small tupperware container full of it to take home with her!

Let me know if you try it! Personalize the recipe and try adding different types of nuts, fruit, etc. Do you have a favorite granola variation to share? Leave a comment below!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

Amateur Gardening Adventures

2012-06-25T22:45:00.001-04:00

As part of our fresh food lifestyle change we decided to put in a garden for the first time this year so we could have direct access to fresh produce. It has definitely been an adventure so far, but one that we've really enjoyed. Here's a glimpse into our little suburban garden!

Before: Soil tilled, seeds planted, ready to grow!

During: Lots of stuff growing including unwanted grass and weeds!

Peppers

Cucumbers

Summer Squash

Broccoli

Beans

Swiss Chard

Arugula

Butterhead Lettuce Mix

Cilantro

Corsican Gourd

We also have tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, luffa gourds, and onions growing in the garden. So far our biggest challenges have been the immortality of our grass and weeds and the lack of rain.

What do you have growing in your garden this year? Do you have any tips to share for amateur gardeners? Leave a comment below!

Keep it Simple,

- Jamie

DIY Wine Bottle Vase

2012-06-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

Have you been trying to think of a creative way to use your empty wine bottles around the house? I hope you enjoy this quick, cheap, and easy way to turn your favorite wine bottle into a flower vase!

A few months ago my husband and I embarked on a journey to change our lifestyle in order to improve our health and nutrition (which I'll write about frequently on this blog). There have been some up's and down's along the way but we are determined to never return to our old nutritional habits. Our manual for this lifestyle change has been Michael Pollan's book titled, "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual". After spending my entire life as a strict teetotaler, rule #43 in the book, "Have a glass of wine with dinner", was a challenge for me at first. However, I cannot deny the health benefits related to this rule and have embraced semi-sweet red wine. So, needless to say we have started to accumulate empty wine bottles and since many of the bottles are pretty cool looking I wanted to find ways to repurpose them around the house.

Steps to make a DIY Wine Bottle Vase:

WARNING: This DIY is so simple it might seem too good to be true!

Rinse out an empty wine bottle
Cut or buy some fresh flowers
Fill the wine bottle with fresh water
Arrange the flowers in the wine bottle and ensure that the stems are submerged in the water
Voila! You have a super simple flower vase!

- Wine Bottle: Free; husband's Christmas gift from work

- Flowers: Free; cut from my front yard flower beds

*NOTE: I chose to keep the wine label on the bottle because I liked the way that the label looked and I wanted to keep it simple. However, here are some other ideas of how you could dress up the bottle: paint it, tie decorative ribbons around it, decoupage it with decorative paper, fabric, etc.

Do you have any other ideas for wine bottle vases? Try making one and leave a comment below to let everyone know how it turned out! Feel free to leave links to your wine bottle vase posts and/or photos.

Keep it simple,

- Jamie

Coming Soon!

2012-06-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

Hi and thanks for visiting! This is a brand new blog and it's still a work in progress. I will be posting very soon, I promise! In the meantime, while I'm putting some finishing touches on the layout, feel free to explore the "About" page or check out my Flickr and Pinterest pages.