2012/10/22

Miller Bird Refuge

For a class, a group of friends and I hopped on a bus and went to the Harvard Yale neighborhood. We got lost trying to find it (and then as we came out of the Refuge we found out that the spot where we got off was the true entrance of the park). However, it was a beautiful place! Especially since it was all decked out in fall colors and the leaves blanketed the paths.


We were right next to Red Butte Creek, and the stream gurgled very happily the entire time. 

You know, despite being called the Miller Bird Refuge, we only heard birds the last fourth of our walk. A friend speculated it was because the birds had all gone south, if they knew what was good for them.

I took a ton of pictures. My mind was actively working the entire time we were there. I'm writing a story, and this seems like a perfect place to draw inspiration from. I think I'll come back here at one point and take some time to write. This is an absolutely gorgeous place in the fall. I want to see it in winter, spring, and summer. I also want to go back with my boyfriend, N. It seems like the perfect little retreat, and, because I know that he enjoys nature as much as I do, he will appreciate the beauty of this place. 

A place I'd like to sit and write.

There were very few animals. Only in the last half or so of the walk did we hear birds chirping or see a snake. A snake! My roommate screamed and ran forward, but when we saw the snake, it was this little thing, not a cobra. He was such a cutie, but the only guy in the group went to grab it (probably to see what kind of snake it was), and the poor thing freaked out and tumbled down the hill. I've never seen a snake tumble down a hill. It was a little sad.


Near the actual 'entrance', there was a random lamp post. I immediately yelled "NARNIA!" and decided I should come back in winter (after it snows) to see how the lamp post looks. I'll definitely take a picture of it then. 

The Harvard Yale neighborhood is actually on the class list for the next walkabout, and I really want to go to this neighborhood. It has gorgeous architecture, and I'm honestly in love with the style. I've always imagined my future to be in a house of a similar design. Brick, quaint, and cute, with ivy on the sides and a nice enough yard to have a garden. Some of the houses were one story, some were two. They all had the same style, but the design was just different enough from house to house that it didn't seem cookie cutter at all! Much different from my neighborhood in Nevada. 





Aren't they beautiful? Someone did bring up a good point, though. She loves these houses, but she probably wouldn't be able to live in them because they're so small. In my opinion, I'd stay in the smaller houses initially, but when my family grows, a slightly larger house (like the first two) would be best. But having to clean a two story house sounds like a lot of work... Let's see, shall we? These is the kind of house I see myself in, living with my husband, two dogs, and my kids, while gardening and being very peaceful. I'm idealizing my life, I know. But what a life that would be.










2012/10/21

Egg Drop Soup

I've recently had sore... Whatever, I'm not quite sure what. It's at the little depression where your collarbone meets. It hurt like hell last night and my boyfriend recommended drinking tea. That helped, so I decided that tonight would be the perfect night to make egg drop soup! I used this Easy Egg Drop Soup recipe!

When I opened up the recipe, though, I found right away that I got the wrong sized can of chicken broth. My can was 10 ounces- already a problem. I decided to use the recipe as a list of what I needed and created my own egg drop soup! It tasted fantastic. 

Egg Drop Soup
One serving

Ingredients:
  • 1 can (approx. 10.5oz) Campbell's Chicken Broth
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 2 teaspoons+ a few dashes of soy sauce (I used Kroger's low sodium soy sauce)
  • 1/4 teaspoon+four or five pinches of white sugar 
  • 1 tablespoon+2 pinches of cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons cold water 
  • An egg
  • 2 teaspoons cold water
Utensils:
  • A small pot
  • A bowl
  • A whisk or fork to mix everything together
  • Measuring cups
Directions:
  1. Chop up the green onions and open your can of Campbell's Chicken Broth. Pour both into a small pan and heat on medium. Bring that to a boil.
  2. Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl until smooth. Mix into the pot and heat that up for 1-2 minutes. It'll start bubbling again. Don't worry about it.
  3. Crack an egg into a bowl and add the 2 teaspoons of cold water. Mix together, then pour into soup. Use a fork to mix up the egg. Leave it for 2 minutes, or until the egg is cooked. Pour into a bowl and eat while hot!
This had a strong hint of soy sauce at the beginning, but as I drank more, the soy sauce taste went away. If it tastes too strong because of the soy sauce, add more cornstarch, sugar, and/or water. It'll take care of the problem.

The soup really took care of my throat. It doesn't hurt as badly as it did this morning. I still feel it when I swallow normally or swallow water, but it's definitely not a distracting pain. I really wonder what it could be... I'm thinking it's a cold. But if this doesn't get any better by tomorrow, I'm going to set an appointment with the student health clinic to check it out. I really hope it's just a cold.



2012/10/20

Nightmare on 13th

Today, a group of friends and I went to Nightmare on 13th, a haunted house on 1300 S and (I think) 300 E. It was super fun! Except I don't scare easily, so I ended up being 'protector' to the ones who were easily scared.

Nightmare on 13th was very entertaining, and much better than Las Vegas' Fright Dome. Admittedly, both of them relied on jump-scares, but the Nightmare actors were much more well hidden, so it was more difficult to see them. In addition, they employed all sorts of lighting and different techniques to provide scares. One of the places had a red light, and it was impossible to see the sides of the room. Hidden at the sides were actors who went up and down, only to pop out at random places to scare the person. Then there were mazes, with actors in the mazes who would scare people if they came by. It was really, really, good. Fright Dome used strobe lights as their main scare factor, but all it succeeded in doing (for me) was giving me an eyeache and headache. 

Overall, it was enjoyable haunted house! Much better than Fright Dome. I enjoyed it very much.

I'm back!

It's been a very long time, I'm sorry. I'll definitely keep up with this one now, though. I've entered a new stage in life, and as fun as it is to go on another site and complain about college life, I don't write much on it. It's mainly based on reblogging anyway. Blah. :{ The new, fantastic blog that this will become will be full of crochet and knit projects, recipes, and my college life in general. This will be a fun experience!

Also! I used to have another blog on blogger, but I deleted it. It was for my mom, but now I think I'll do it on this one.  My mother doesn't bead as often as she used to, but I'll post up what I can get from her here.

2011/06/19

Completed Sakutaro and WIPs?

I finished the Sakutaro from a few months ago. Here we are!


There are several things that could be fixed, but I can't go back and fix it now. D: I haven't given it to Jen... She hasn't been on dA where I've posted it. 

My current WIP is a Ravenclaw scarf for my boyfriend.  This is it from forever ago. It's much longer now- almost finished!


He's a proud Ravenclaw like I am. I can't give it to him in time for the final movie- I'm an ocean away. Chilling in Hawaii, that's where I am~

I've got such a huge list of projects I have to work on. Most of them are thankfully tiny, but I've been given another project where I have to guess the pattern- a heartless from Kingdom hearts! :D I'm excited to get to work on this one.

2011/02/06

What is this Umineko? + Persona 3!

Two years ago, my friend Jen asked me to make her a Sakutaro. She realized I did not know what Sakutaro was, so she sent me a link. It wasn't the below picture, but she sent me a picture of an already crocheted one.  I looked up pictures of Sakutaro, and I found several pictures of him in a human form, but not the lion form she wanted! So I used the crocheted picture as a beginning. 


Two years later, and I finally started on him. XD I've so far only completed his head and body... I need to do just about everything else. It's hard trying to figure out how to make an amigurumi from just a picture. It's turning out well, I think. I'm working hard!

Nate introduced me to a new game called "Persona 3". He let me borrow his PSP (one of his PSPs) and the game, and now I'm playing through it. I love the story, and the voice acting helps lend to the character's being believable. The most recent event I played through was the 10/4 operation. I'm playing as Minako, FYI, so (SPOILER ALERT) when Shinjiro got shot by Takaya and fell into a coma (/END SPOILER 8D), I'm sitting here saying, "I know he isn't dead, but this is so bad!" When talking to the others in the dorm, Mitsuru said, "I want to visit him, but the doctors won't allow visitors. They said his heart could stop at any second." I sat there and said, "That just made this so much worse. ;_;"

Thanks to playing this game, I've been inspired to make two items some characters wear- Minako's winter scarf, which I can use for my Minako winter cosplay, and Shinjiro's hat, which I just want. There's not particular reason for making it besides the fact I want it. XD 

I'm excited to cosplay Minako and Mitsuru for the anime convention this year. Nate is cosplaying Minato, so we get two Persona characters. XD Mitsuru's outfit is very easy... I just need a wig. ^_^;; And for Minako, I need to make her school jacket. I can't wait until it comes around! Now if only they'd update the site for the con. >.>

2011/01/14

Busy busy

Exams are next week, and I said I'd study, but I found out the exams I should be concentrating on the most
are the ones whose study guides I do not care to do. Namely, pre-calc. I've got a D (69.3%... So close to a C and the safe zone that it makes me cry). I know my dad will give me shit about it once he sees my grades... He expects me to be the perfect straight-A student, and I know I can get A's in everything but MATH. It just doesn't click. I'm not a very number oriented person. I'm sure I'll be fine with every other exam, but I'm worrying the most over precal. My semester grade will definitely be a C.... Two C's in my high school career.

I've definitely been knitting and crocheting more. I'm part of the Harry Potter club at my school, and I said I'd make them an owl, due to the lack of decent owlerys in the area. My current crochet project consists of making baby items for my aunt. :3 She's going to have a baby next month, and I'm going to have a nephew~ Even though she really isn't my aunt, I'm still calling her my aunt, her husband my uncle, and her baby my nephew. I WILL DO SO. XD