Sketching through the smoke

Published on January 5th, 2009 Join the conversation »

I’ve been doing several sketches lately and the visual design process is giving me a lot of joy. I haven’t flexed my ‘ideation’ muscles much over the years but art was always my first love. Art is also a source of intense frustration for me as the things in my head are often locked behind a foggy mental curtain and it’s like chopping through smoke to try to get to them. Writing is like this as well. I have always felt both doomed and fortunate to have these passions.

In keeping with my vow to open an ETSY shop, I’m chopping through as much smoke as I can. I’ll have some good stuff to share soon.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, art, design, illustration, regularjen

Posted in creative stuff, tout le fromage | No Comments »

Learning and ignoring what I’ve learned before

Published on January 4th, 2009 Join the conversation »

This lovely bottle of La Fee Absinthe XS Suisse 53abv 70cl is waiting for the right evening to be sampled. I was trying to use a set of studio lamps given to me by Neil, but my ‘have a stab at it without reading up on them’ approach failed me. I’m certain we’ve got something on our bookshelf that will give me some direction. And Neil has promised to give me a lesson in lighting. It would be so much nicer if I could just instantly do things correctly without all that pesky learning and struggling stuff.
Unrelated to the lovely subject of the above photo, I’m nursing a little hangover this morning. I know, I should know better. I’ve had worse, and this one is not without its gnawing charm. I made the poor decision to drain that last glass of red wine out of the box rather than to leave it for another day. That was a mistake, let me tell you. I think that if the box wines were see-through and I could tell how much is left without putting it into a glass, yeah, that could be helpful. They already do that though- in bottles… * sigh * Time for a headache pill and more water.

Technorati Tags: absinthe, photography, regularjen, wine

Posted in photos, regular, tout le fromage | No Comments »

Happy New Year!

Published on January 1st, 2009 Leave your comment (4 so far) »

Let’s make 2009 awesome, shall we?

Things I’m going to do this year:

Take more photos.
Write even more than last year.
Visit Spain again.
Read more.
Create more art.
Have a ‘master plan’ before April 1, 2009.
Open an Etsy store.

Technorati Tags: regularjen, transition

Posted in photos, regular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments »

A cold walk

Published on December 31st, 2008 Leave your comment (2 so far) »

Taken in our garden after a cold walk to the post box up the road.
See more photos from the brief outing on my flickr page.

Technorati Tags: regularjen, weather, winter

Posted in photos, tout le fromage | 2 Comments »

COFFEE!

Published on December 30th, 2008 Leave your comment (2 so far) »

Any package to cross our doorstep is worthy of celebration, but today we got a box full of COFFEE!
Marvel at one hundred and twenty cups of COFFEE!

This box should keep us buzzing for awhile, don’t you think?

I decided to try to find the special ESE pods that go with the espresso feature of our coffee machine and found a company online that supplies a nice selection of pods. I haven’t been particularly impressed by the Senseo pods we’ve been using (or the Tesco Finest ones either for that matter) so an alternative was in order anyway. Just so happens that my cost per cup is now cut in half as well. Hooray!

I’m typing this with the darting eyes and finger jitters of someone who has just had a cup of espresso, and although it’s not the best one I’ve had, (you’ll always get better in a high street coffee shop), the brew was easy, tasty enough, and very effective. It is, however, the best tasting espresso I’ve made at home. I can’t wait to try the flavoured coffees and a basic Italian crema as well, but I think I need to come down a bit from the current level of caffeine first; Neil is threatening to record me to prove that the speed of my speech doubles after I’ve had an espresso.

Technorati Tags: coffee, regularjen

Posted in regular, tout le fromage | 2 Comments »

In touch with my inner slob and smacking it one

Published on December 28th, 2008 Leave your comment (6 so far) »

I’ve been really busy over the past few days, mostly with assembling a variety of IKEA furnishings. I am covered in strange little bruises from the ordeal, but it has been worth it. My office and the living room have been the targets of my improvements, and I thought you’d appreciate the weight of the word ‘improvement’ all the more if I confessed my most atrocious home office mess…

Yup, that’s what a November of NaNoWriMo and almost three weeks of illness, combined with Christmas work in retail can do to a person’s office environment. See this shot on flickr for the mouse-over notes, but suffice it to say that I achieved situation critical with this unbelievable mess. Setting it all on fire was looking oddly reasonable. Thank goodness Neil promised a trip to IKEA on Boxing Day or else I might be sifting through the charred remains by now! Ah, the motivational power of reasonably-priced, well-designed solutions for modern living. Bliss.

On a side note: there’s a certain subtle irony in that you only need to be able to read pictographs to assemble Billy bookcases…

Technorati Tags: confession, IKEA, regularjen

Posted in regular, tout le fromage | 6 Comments »

corrupting him with my food

Published on December 23rd, 2008 Leave your comment (9 so far) »

Later today, if we’re lucky and the ParcelForce gods are smiling down upon us, we will have a box of American breakfast treats. Specifically, Aunt Jemima stuff, grits, and buttermilk biscuits. Oh, and a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, but that’s less a breakfast food than the rest really.

In the over four years I’ve lived in England, I have not once ordered American foods from a specialist importer. I have brought a few things over (Hidden Valley Ranch packets and Oreos), and friends and family have sent comfort food care packages in the past, but overall, what I haven’t had I haven’t much missed. But the other day, as I was preparing a grocery list of what we’ll be serving to his family for Christmas breakfast, Neil mentioned his love of grits.

Unfortunately, grits are not a food that anyone outside of the southern states of America seems to take very seriously. You can get them throughout the US, but they are a distinctly southern dish. Neil fell for them a few years ago and then again the last time we were in the US visiting family. Buttermilk biscuits and grits. Neil’s unexplainable connection with the US south is undeniable.

I found, what I think, is the most reasonable place to get them, and a wealth of other American goodies, based on unit price, delivery charges, and range diversity: The Stateside Candy Company. I’m sure I won’t order often, as these things are a luxury to have, but for a few tubs of grits and cheap(er) maple syrup, ordering a couple of times a year won’t hurt the bank balance much.

Fingers crossed we get our package today; I’d love to make up some grits for the in-laws on Christmas morning!

Technorati Tags: America, food, Neil Dixon, regularjen, USA

Posted in expat, regular, tout le fromage | 9 Comments »