Winter Wellness In A Jar Class at City Folk's Farm Shop

Last week I took a class at City Folk's Farm Shop in Clintonville. City Folk's Farm Shop is a store which sells tools and materials for growing and making your own food and other products. City Folk's also offers urban homesteading classes year round to teach Central Ohioans how to live off the land.

Ron Swanson at Whole Foods

I saw this awesome drawing of Mr. Ron Swanson at Whole Foods in Upper Arlington this afternoon. I think my camera was coming out of my purse before I realized I wanted to take a picture of it (which I didn't actually do with a polaroid camera, I was just playing around with some of the cool features on PicMonkey)! 

This Side Up

Always keep your kitty in the upright position.

Golden Imp

Another one of my fairy tale themed collages.

Snow Rollers!

I'm not a fan of winter, as I've stated previously on this blog. I do admit that snow can be pretty, but I hate being cold and dealing with winter driving. As I write this post, the current temperature in Columbus is 2°F and with the windchill it feels like -15°. I've spent a lot of time lately wondering why we don't hibernate during January and February, just to avoid these cold temperatures... I really hate winter.

Aab India - Grandview Heights

Aab India is a great Indian restaurant in Grandview Heights with a ton of gluten-free and vegetarian options! I went to Aab India with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, Cam, and Kenneth about a month ago. 

Cat Ball

Snuggle Buddy

Olivia has been keeping me company while I'm home sick with a nasty cold. She's such a sweetheart!

Accessories for a Cat Lady

I am a cat lady, obviously. I don't use the word crazy though - how can anyone be crazy for loving cats? These are some of my cool cat lady accessories, the sleep mask and magnet arrived the mail today!

Little Orchid

My mini orchid plus some bokeh sparkle!

More Bubbles

I've read online that if you blow bubbles when it's below freezing outside, the bubbles will freeze. I thought frozen bubbles would make a cool photo of the day and be a way to try and have fun with this cold winter weather. When I got home from work today I kept my winter clothes on, grabbed a bottle of bubbles and stepped out on our balcony. With cold fingers and high expectations I blew bubbles while wondering how crazy I might look to my neighbors. The bubbles floated around the balcony being pushed and pulled by a light breeze, but none froze. I tried for a few more minutes before turning to go back inside, cold and disappointed. Then I noticed that all three cats were sitting watching me with their noses practically glued to the window. They thought the bubbles were fascinating!

Beautiful Balms!

These are the tins of Skin Salve and Lip Balm I made last night in the Winter Wellness in a Jar class I took at City Folk's Farm Shop in Clintonville. I can't wait to use them and will be sharing a review of the class with you soon!

Frog Prince

Another one of my fairy tale themed collages.

Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

 
This year marked the 25th year of Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium! I visited the Zoo during the last week of Wildlights with Kenneth, my parents, my sister, Brittney, and her boyfriend, Cam. It was a wonderful evening full of gorgeous light displays and some adorable zoo animals!

Pixelated Olivia

Outstanding, OHIO

Yesterday Kenneth and I went to City Folk's Farm Shop in Clintonville, where we saw this cute tea towel! City Folk's is an urban homesteading store with tools and supplies for gardening, composting, canning, cheese and yogurt making, soap making, bee keeping and other DIY/homesteading adventures. In addition to their well supplied storefront, City Folk's also offers classes to teach you how to use these awesome tools. I will be taking Winter Wellness in a Jar this Tuesday and can't wait!

Wonderland Wall

Kenneth had a surprise for me for yesterday's photo of the day. He saw this amazing mural earlier this week and wanted to show it to me. It was such an awesome surprise! I love finding murals and other public art and Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite fairy tales! This gorgeous mural is a great example of some of the amazing public art to be found here in Columbus. 

Morning Rush

The Bigelow Covered Bridge

Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes

Bob's Red Mill has a great recipe for gluten-free chocolate cupcakes on their website (and the back of the bag of quinoa flour). The recipe is for Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes - they're so delicious they don't even need frosting! The only change I make to the recipe is that I add a half cup of mini chocolate chips. This is a great recipe to try out if you're new to baking with quinoa flour, it's the only flour in the recipe and it tastes great with chocolate.

Line of Geese

Saw these guys at the Prairie Oaks Metro Park. It was a really nice day for a hike!

Home

Public Art in Columbus

Author's Note: This post was originally written for the Columbus Emerging Museum Professionals blog, which you can read here.

When I drive through Columbus, I notice a lot of paintings, sculptures and other forms of public art. Most of them are murals. Some are bright and colorful, others are quirky and nonsensical. Some are at home on the brick walls of a store, others feel more ephemeral, their canvas being a large piece of plywood affixed to a building or fence. All of them add interest and life to the city landscape during my commute to work. I often find myself wondering how many paintings and sculptures are in Columbus and if anyone maps or tracks them. If I had more time, it’s a project I’d consider taking on myself, just to explore more of the city. As it turns out - I don’t have to as there are several groups (including the city of Columbus) already passionate about public art! 

Pumpkin Pie Panna Cotta

Last night I made Pumpkin Pie Panna Cotta after listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper talk about how easy it is to make on The Splendid Table. Panna cotta, which means 'cooked cream' in Italian is basically pudding made with milk, sugar and gelatin. The recipe was very simple and only took about ten minutes for me to make, it also used very few ingredients! Lynne's recipe is a bit different from other panna cotta recipes in that it uses sour cream - but the finished product is not sour! This panna cotta reminds me of a cross between pudding and Greek yogurt, it's very creamy and the pumpkin flavor is perfect! 

All Bundled Up

The temperature in Columbus today was -7°F! I hate being cold so I've been wrapped up in our electric blanket with Olivia for several hours. If you have pets, please bring them inside during this frigid weather - they get cold just like we do!

Stay warm and be safe! I can't wait for warmer weather to come our way!

Laser Beams Engaged

My sister and I share a journal called 642 Things to Draw. It's book full of prompts for you to draw, doodle or sketch. We pass it back and forth, each of us doing a few drawings before giving it back. Just to have something to work on when I don't have the book, I asked my sister to pick twenty random items from the book for me to draw. This is one of them, I believe the book just says "laser beams" but my sister insisted a cat be included, so I drew Olivia.

Winter Wonderland at the Zoo

We visited Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium tonight - it was lovely (and not too cold)! Full write up of our visit coming soon!

Amelia Collage

Morning Snow

This is was what greeted me as I walked to my car to leave for work this morning. For a brief moment, I was struck by the beauty of the mostly untouched snow. It was lovely, peacefully quiet... and sparkly. Magical almost. I managed to wrangle my camera out of its case (which was in my purse) without dropping my purse, lunch bag, or thermos of hot coffee, to take a picture of this brief magical moment.

Donatos - Grandview Heights

This is an ode to the best gluten-free crust I have ever eaten. Ever. Donatos has stolen my heart (er, stomach?) with their gluten-free pizzas. The crust is thin, but stable, with the right amount of crunchy and chewy with an almost buttery taste. It's wonderful! 

16-Bit Bar + Arcade - Downtown Columbus

Opening it's doors on August 30th of last year, 16-Bit Bar + Arcade is a new bar in downtown Columbus that offers great drinks and free arcade games. I checked it out with friends last month and had a great time! 16-Bit is located on 4th street, right next to Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace. Since 16-Bit does not serve food, we grabbed dinner at Dirty Frank's before checking out 16-Bit (you can also take your hot dog and fries over to 16-Bit!).

Gluten-Free Flour Stash

Happy 2014! I did not make any New Year's resolutions this year, but I do plan on doing some more baking in the coming year. I asked for gluten-free flours for Christmas and got quite a few (and this awesome basket - thanks Gerri!). I emptied the shelf in our cupboard where I usually keep my flours to make room for new bakeware (thanks again Gerri for the ramekins and glass loaf pans and my mom for the glass pie plates!) and put all of my gluten-free flours in the basket. It's really heavy!

Panera Bread - East Side

Before I went gluten-free, Panera Bread was one of my favorite restaurants. They serve two of my favorite things: bread and coffee! How awesome is a restaurant that gives you bread as a side item when you order a sandwich? Amazingly awesome! I enjoyed every sandwich, soup and coffee drink I had from Panera, and was pretty disappointed that I wouldn't be able to eat there anymore once I discovered my wheat intolerance.