the schmalice palace.

happy 100th birthday, great grandma!

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:11:00 +0000

My family threw a huge birthday party this past weekend for my great grandmother who turns 100 years old today! It is so cool to be able to say that she’s had the most amazing longevity of anyone I’ve ever known.

My great grandmother, Rosaria Bianchi Proia, was born in Fontana Liri, Italy on July 26th, 1910. She was one of ten children and immigrated to the United States when she was 20 years old. She has 4 children, 10 grandchildren, dozens of great grandchildren and TWO great-great grandchildren! If that’s not awesome - I’m not sure what is!

She was honored twice with the declaration of her own day - “Rosaria Bianchi Proia Day” which now falls on the 26th of July in the city of Chili, NY as well as in the entire county of Monroe. :) Pope Benedict XVI himself cordially imparted the requested Apostolic Blessing on the occasion of her 100th birthday involving abundant graces. She was bestowed with a plaque from the Pope, honoring and celebrating her life, along with a blessed American flag that was flown over the United States capitol on July 7th by the request of the members of Congress.

It’s difficult to find the words that properly express the excitement and happiness that I share with my entire family that such a wonderful, caring woman has been able to experience a life far longer than most will ever have. My great grandmother has seen places, met people and been apart of adventures that have shaped her into one of the most brilliant people I know.

I wish her all of the love, health and prosperity from here on and look forward to being apart of more of her birthdays in years to come. I love you, great grandma. Happy 100th birthday!!

tumblr.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:41:00 +0000

Hi all! Just checking in to let everyone know that I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Tumblr, and that my Tumblelog has some fantastic goodies to look at. You should all check it out! :D

http://rochellemilke.tumblr.com

all things cute.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:01:00 +0000

Some adorable pictures I've come across today.

Photo by Daily Bunny

Photo by Kawaii Not

yes please for indoor teepees!

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Photo By: Moozlehome

Who in their RIGHT mind wouldn't want an indoor Teepee?! The designers over at Moozlehome bring a child's (and in my case, an "adult's") dream to life. Rock on with these things! Not to mention, they make some awesome little plush cyclopses called Moozles that have fantastic heart-shaped eyes. Pure genius, I say. You can purchase their crafts through their website (linked above) or on their Etsy homepage.

little bit of gold and an iphone.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Photo By: Yubz

Talk about accessory necessity! Love your new iPhone but miss the old school feel? You can purchase one of these flashy, gold retro handheld phones here through Yubz for 50 Euro, about $70.

morning dew.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:57:00 +0000

Courty of Daily Mail

Stunning photograph of a sleeping blue dragonfly, covered with droplets of morning dew. Click here to see more.

chumbuddy.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:57:00 +0000

By Patch Together

Yes. Please. I'm getting one.

serengeti noms!

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:20:00 +0000

Photo By: National Geographic; Courtesy of Cory

"This photo was taken in the Serengeti. A leopard was enjoying his kill high in a tree when a lion spotted it. With the outmost of confidence the lion sauntered over to the tree, sat for a few minutes and then leaped, in one graceful movement, up to where the leopard was. The leopard took flight, into the air, landing on the top of the tree. The lion, then unable to climb down the tree with the kill was stuck, as was the leopard that could not come down until the lion was gone."

bouncy castle & the coolest people ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Video By: LiveEveryLitre

They have become my favorite people in the world. The end.

definition: flower cart.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Photo By: H. Studio

I am so in love with pretty much every creation that comes from Shlomi Haziza over in H. Studio. This is just another example of one of his funky, bright art pieces that I wish I had a front yard for. Ya know, what I think is even better is the fact that these colorful flowers are in the middle of what looks to be a desert. Great photo contradiction there.

my best friend's wedding.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:23:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted a new blog. I guess I've been particularly busy lately. I've be honored with the privilege of being my best friend Lisa's Maid of Honor in her wedding that's coming up this August. Her and her fiancé Nathan, another great friend of mine, have been together since we were in 11th grade of high school. I commend them for having such a carefree, easy-going and amiable relationship and couldn't be any happier for two wonderful people like them.

The first order of business was to set up everything for a bridal shower. I've planned to host it at my grandma's house, out in her backyard in Ontario which should be a perfect setting. The backyard is very large, and has a patio that's gorgeously landscaped by my father which sits adjacent to their pristine, peanut-shaped, in-ground pool. Here's to hoping and praying for nice weather! The details of the menu for the shower haven't been officially decided on quite yet, but us bridesmaids have settled that we're going to stick with sandwiches and hors d'eouvres. We'll keep with some delicious, light food that's most suitable for a warm, sunny summer day.

What I've been most occupied with as of late are the bridal shower invitations. Considering that all of us bridesmaids live in different regions, I immediately assumed it to be difficult having us all create the invitations together and still have them come out looking uniformed. I volunteered to take on the task of creating and sending out the invitations on my own. There's nothing wrong with getting a bit crafty here and there!

Since Lisa wants her wedding to encompass the main colors seen in a peacock feather (brown, teal and purple), I tried to stick to the same color palette for the shower invitations. The ribbon bows that I placed at the top of each invite took the most time to make... My fingers near fell off after trying to pierce those rivets through 6 layers of material. After I printed them all up and secured the ribbon and rivets, I stamped an embossed, gold feather on each one for a bit of glitz. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out and I'm really hoping that Lisa likes them.

I really just can't wait for this wedding. I haven't been to many in my life, and I'm sure I'll be attending a ton more in my future, but I know this one is going to be on the very, very top of my favorites list.

simply scribbled.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:54:00 +0000

I was strolling through some websites and came across an artist by the name of Marc Johns who's work I really, really appreciate. The simplicity of it all is a characteristic that I'm sure a lot of people don't "get", but I've always been much more of a MoMA fan than a MET fan anyway. The one image that captivated me the most from his website wasn't even of one of his drawings, but rather a picture that depicts the length to which one of his enthusiasts took and interpreted his work. According to Marc Johns' website, the girl shown above is Luciana from Brazil, who admired his "world famous drawing" piece enough to get a version tattooed on her shoulder. Pretty freaking awesome, if you ask me.

horned kiwano melon.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:31:00 +0000

I had the privilege of trying a really weird fruit last night called the Horned Kiwano Melon. Miss LG saw it at the supermarket, noticed it was $7 and was immediately interested in trying it out. I just so happened to be around when she cut into the little sucker, and boy was it interesting. The texture was exactly that of slime and the seeds were a bit annoying to separate and spit out (think of it like a Pomegranate), but the taste was citrusy as expected and rather delicious. I'm not sure that I'd ever feel the desire to spend $7 on one piece of fruit, but I'm glad LG's curiosity got the better of her. :)

chocolate lovers and iphones.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:12:00 +0000

Photo By: bitterSWEET12

I've been shopping around for a new iPhone case lately, and after having such a great purchase through Etsy and Samantha with my Rochester Skyline Bracelet, I had to at least look to see if these crafty artists had made some covers. I shouldn't have been surprised when 178 pages of search results came up and there were iPhone/iPod cases designed for every personality you could possibly imagine. And then I came across this one.

This Chocoholic iPhone case is made by the Etsy artist named bitterSWEET12 and I think that it's absolutely phenomenal. Maybe it's because I'm a chocoholic myself or that I'm obsessed with ice cream or that my sweet tooth is the size of Mount Rushmore, but this is freakin' adorable! I can't imagine how much time it takes to handcraft just one of these cases, so I have to give my props to the maker. You can purchase one by clicking here. :)

einstein, the world's smallest horse.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:08:00 +0000

Video by: CNN

Two words: In. Love.

the twitwee cuckoo clock.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:09:00 +0000

Social networking may have just jumped to an all-new level. I don't know about any of you, but personally I'm rather obsessed with this aesthetically old-fashioned, yet functionally modern timepiece called the Twitwee Cuckoo Clock. Interface and interaction designer Haroon Baig created this intriguing device that can search Twitter's API for specific updates, mentions, streams and/or search results by connecting wirelessly to the Internet. There is a built-in, near real-time monitor that displays the matching tweet found while coincided with the alert call of a conventional cuckoo clock.

The only factor that I could find a bit obtrusive would be the frequency at which this cuckoo would sound off. I suppose that would ultimately depend on what search you've linked up between your Twitwee Clock and Twitter API, but I doubt anyone could handle listening to the sound of a cuckoo clock every time someone that they're following has tweeted. Regardless, I think this invention is brilliant and I'd love to have one. See more pictures and the video below and you can also follow: @TwitweeClock.

Twitwee Clock from Haroon Baig on Vimeo.

Photos: Haroon Baig

i don't take losing lightly.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:22:00 +0000

Blame it on my stubbornness, if you will, but I am always up and ready to involve myself in a nice bet. I was presented with one in the afternoon of yesterday over the headline-hungry, jesus freak Tim Tebow. Now, I really don't care what you say to me when it comes to his athleticism and talent as a QB, there's something that seriously irks me about the guy. And I'm an avid Buffalo Bills fan (yeah, Spiller!), so it has nothing to do with state/school rivalries. Maybe it's his obsession with religion and my opposing views in that regard, or maybe it's because he acts so prim and proper and perfect ALL the damn time. It probably also has to do with the fact that he's "such a nice guy." I say screw that. He sucks.

Therefore, when it came down to some bickering and disagreement between my dear friend and coworker Elliott, who has some sort of hard-on for the Floridian football player, I had to be as spiteful and argumentative as possible. To me, when you put all of the QB's in this year's NFL Draft side-by-side, Tebow simply does NOT measure up to Bradford, Clausen, or even McCoy (who I can't stand either - he's a crying sissy with a loser name). His passing technique and fundamentals are built for the college game, and I wholeheartedly feel they won't transpose to the NFL. I'm not taking away that he was an amazing college QB, but Denver - you just f*!&ed up.

With that said, I was certain that mister T-Blow would be picked up later than round 1. I didn't care what round he went, as long as it was post-first round picks. All because Josh McDaniels has a bigger hard-on for the QB than my coworker Elliott does, he went as the 25th pick in the 1st round to the Denver Broncos who released their 2nd, 3rd AND 4th round picks JUST to get him! I'm know this isn't Twitter and it's my blog, but #thatsbeyondstupid. So, as the loser, I reluctantly agreed to sport good ol' Timmy's Florida jersey that I should have known Elliott would have lying around (see picture above). I wasn't pleased. My pride might be hurt and my ego a bit furrowed, but I must keep in mind one thing... At least he's not on the Bills (yeah, Spiller!).

my younger years.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:09:00 +0000

I'm more than proud to be able to say that my great grandmother's 100th birthday is coming up this year in July! I mean, how cool is that?! We're so excited for her and so impressed that still to this day, she's a complete firecracker and standing strong. :) This party is going to be one that means a lot to our family (and hopefully we can get her on the Today Show's Smuckers Jar 100th birthday shout-out with Willard Scott!). My grandma was looking through some older pictures in her attic so she could put together a collage for the party and came across a handful of me and my twin sister Christina from when we were little. I think they're entirely amusing, so I thought I'd share a few.

Apparently my grandfather thought it'd be funny to set us up with some alcoholic beverages for a "drunken" photoshoot while my Mom was at work. My turn with drunk face.

My sister's turn with drunk face.

Time for cute faces. :)

One of our favorite places to be when we were younger.

Best Halloween costume ever! These were handmade by my Mom. She was crafty enough to make our costumes every year. Hopefully we'll scrounge up a picture of our unicorn costumes, 'cause those were fantastic as well.

We Milke's make our own homemade maple syrup and mine and my twin's favorite thing to do was drink the maple sap straight from the tree. It tastes like sugar water and it's delicious!

My sister's turn with the tap.

And last but not least, this is the way my grandfather used to lug the two of us around... By the back of our pants. Hey, whatever works, right? :) Love you, grandpa.

my new furniture. :)

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Finally, the last of my living room furniture has been delivered! My coffee table and end tables were the last of the collection to arrive on Saturday as they've been on back-order since I bought all of it in the beginning of March. Have I yet mentioned how much I dislike back-orders? They're such a tease! Regardless, my apartment is finally coming together and it looks great. I'm keeping my end tables as night stands for now, until I can get rid of my old futon and make some room. Speaking of... Anyone interested in a free futon? :D

finger lakes wine festival.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:07:00 +0000

It seems as though this year is the year that I'm going to be [finally] attending the Finger Lakes Wine Festival! My best friend Lisa Bo Bisa has been going with Knate for a handful of years now, which is especially festive for her, since it falls on/around her birthday. I've never focused enough on the idea of actually going myself, but a) I love traveling, b) I love camping, c) I love wine, d) I LOVE Lisa - seems like all signs point to let's do this!

shwood sunglasses.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:39:00 +0000

These Shwood Sunglasses have got to be one of the coolest, most obscure and really fashionable items that I've seen in a long time. The non-polarized shades cost around $95 per pair, whereas the polarized lenses will cost you a bit more, around $115-$125. They really are way worth their price, and I'm working on getting my own. Available for purchase on the online Shwood Shop and apparently some small boutiques that I believe are mainly located in Oregon.

dragon guinea pigs & silly goldfish.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:53:00 +0000

that is all.

iphone 4.0 os... multitasking?!

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:20:00 +0000

Photo: Softpedia

Tomorrow is the release date for the new iPhone OS software, version 4.0. I always get all giddy and happy like a kid with candy when new OS versions are about to be released. I can't stop thinking about all of the possibilities of the updates they're going to come up with.

Luckily, this version is rumoured to include multitasking functions (my most desired update as of present), a global inbox, homescreen contacts, direct printing (which would also be unbelievably fantastic), and possibly even an exposé-like feature so that you can toggle between your third-party apps with a quick flick. The thought of my iPhone owning these functions as early as tomorrow makes me melt with joy.

boat basin café, nyc.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Photo: Boat Basin

I'm going to be meeting up with my friends Sam and Cory tomorrow night after work at the Boat Basin in NYC. They've frequented the place a few times themselves, but I've yet to make it down there to try it out. From what I've heard and what I've read in reviews, the happy hour specials are just as fantastic as the view over the Hudson River. Considering our weather is supposed to be brilliant during this entire week, I can't stomach the idea of going home just to watch TV all evening - even if it means I'm not spending every evening with Schmalice.

By the way, took the most adorable picture of my little girl last night. :D ♥

the girl with the dragon tattoo.

noreply@blogger.com (Rochelle) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:47:00 +0000

Photo: Amazon

I just recently got back into reading, thanks to the Kindle app for iPhone. My first purchase was "Serial" by Jack Kilborn for two reasons - it was a mystery/thriller, & the Kindle version from Amazon was free. After a few chapters I realized that the book wasn't quite for me. It was a bit too raunchy for my taste (no offense to those who enjoyed it, of course).

At that point, I realized that it might suit me better to spend a couple bucks on a "better" book in order to fully enjoy the Amazon's Kindle app (after all, the app itself was free).

Upon that decision & knowing I still wanted a mystery/thriller genre, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson caught my eye.

I'm about 6 chapters in & I'm captivated! It's absolutely fantastic. The "mystery" part isn't overdone or too complicated to follow & the "thriller" portion is modest so as to keep it believable & not over-the-top.

In closing, I give 2 thumbs up; to Amazon for the Kindle app & Stieg Larsson for his brilliance.