Good News!


Yesterday I started an Etsy shop. If you're unfamiliar with Etsy, it's an online store where you can buy and sell anything handmade, as well as vintage items.


I've started my shop with a few photographs I've taken around NYC. I will be adding more items once I complete a few artistic projects I've been working on, so please check in periodically.


If you're interested, here's the link to my personal Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/applepieandcheddar.

I made a change to how I update the Personal Library Challenge; if you want to see where I'm at in my challenge, just click the link to the right. The page will show my up-to-date progress as well as some commentary along the way.

Happy Reading!
*Amyk

I think it's a common misconception that all people from Wisconsin love cheese; I can't tell you how often I get, "Oh! A Cheesehead!" when I tell people I'm from Wisconsin. Although I'm sure they're referring to the Packer/Cheesehead connection, the name had to have come from somewhere. For instance, when my Dad was growing up he was a Grateful Dead fan and he told us they were called, "Dead Heads." And when my sister and I were kids we were HUGE fans of The New Kids On The Block so my Dad thought it'd be funny to call us, "Block Heads." Of course, not so funny to an 8-year-old, but you get my point:
If Wisconsin=Dairy State, then
Dairy State=Cheese, and
Residents of Wisconsin=Cheese Heads.
Makes sense.

In my case it is completely true. I'm not afraid to say it,

I'm so enamored with it that when I go to the grocery store I will come back with a plethora of different types. A little example of how strong my love affair is, my friend was changing her eating habits to that of a Vegan Diet and I exclaimed, "what about cheese?!" I was so shocked that someone could give up something that I couldn't live without. Imagine. I couldn't. I still can't, I'd die! Well, not actually but I'd be upset. There goes almost half of my dietary intake.

Cheese is a staple in my diet and I'll eat it pretty much everyday, with sharp cheddar being my favorite. And I love it with a lot of different foods, foods that most people wouldn't dream of using. Elvis has been known to love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but have you ever tried peanut butter and cheese sandwiches? It's surprisingly good, and sometimes I'll ignore the sandwich part and just dip hunks of sharp (always sharp) cheddar into a jar of creamy peanut butter. Cheese pairings such as that one have been known to gross out the people around me, but I always offer up a sample, and on the rare time someone actually accepts they learn that it really isn't so bad. Really. That's no exaggeration, I have met other people who like peanut butter and cheese. I'm not the only one, believe it or not.

One pairing in particular that usually gets the biggest grossed out look is warm apple pie with cheddar. Forget about ala mode, serve mine with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. Growing up my grandparents always served their homemade apple pie with a hunk of cheese on the side. You take a bite of pie, then a bite of cheese, a bite of pie, a bite of cheese... it's amazing. My grandma always used to say, "apple pie without cheese is like a hug without a squeeze." You know this is true if you've ever hugged someone and it was like hugging a lamp post; it's the same thing with apple pie sans cheese, somethings just missing.

Why am I rambling about cheese? (I could go on, but have decided to spare all my cheesy obsessions.)

I wanted to give a little back story to my website address, www.applepieandcheddar.com. It's not just a quirky website name, but rather a little part of my cheese infatuation. I was changing my email address one day and, with the help of my friends, we came up with applepieandcheddar. My friend always thought it was so weird that I loved that combination, so naturally why not make it my email address.

So there you have it, your previously unanswered questions about the history of www.applepieandcheddar.com. You may rest easy now, dreaming of peanut butter clouds and a cheesy moon, and I bet you'll go out and try a piece of apple pie with a slice of cheese. You will, and you'll probably love it.



"'Why did you yell, 'Cheese'?' And The Man would tell him mockingly, 'Because I felt like it, you stupid machine of poo." -Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut

P.S. I was eating cheese while I wrote this post.

Screw Groundhog Day, I'm celebrating Craft Day.

Last night I decided that I would deem today, February 3rd, 2010, Craft Day. I planned a list of things I had been meaning to do, like hem a few skirts and sew up some pillows, and also of things a little more creative.

Here's one of the projects I did in honor of Craft Day.


Lying around the apartment I had a large black picture frame that had no glass. It was still in good shape, but I didn't want to put a picture in it since there was no glass to protect it. So I got a bright idea and decided to create a mural for my bedroom. I've never done one before but I had a vision in my head, and the vision looked amazing (they always do). I believe most good craft projects come from a really great vision you have, whether or not the end result is akin to what you imagined.

The first step in this process was to make the frame match the other frames in my bedroom, and since I use brown and rust-colored frames I needed this one to be the same. Just by mixing acrylic red and yellow paint I formed a color that suited the room perfectly.

NOTE: I kept in mind that whatever color I mixed was going to change a little once applied to the black frame.



Once the frame was painted I started to look for the materials I needed to make the actual mural. My vision included images of birds, different typefaces, yellow ribbons, buttons, and lace.

I basically dug through my craft bins and found pictures, ribbons, fabrics, and buttons that I thought would work well for my mural.

There are few times in life where I'm proud of being a pack rat, this is one of them--- I didn't have to go out and buy any materials for this project. Since I didn't spend any money on this project and I already had all the materials I needed, I decided to call this my Found Objects Mural.

And here it is in it's finished form...


And it fits perfectly with the decor in my bedroom...


Overall I'm really happy with the result. I took something I had that I didn't know what to do with and made into a little piece of artwork. Artwork that, most importantly, didn't cost me anything.

I had some left over materials I didn't use, so back in the craft bin they go, until the next Craft Day

I finished the first book in my challenge yesterday, The Catcher in the Rye, and moving full speed ahead to the next, Animal Farm by George Orwell. I don't want to jinx myself but it seems I'm moving at a pretty decent pace, 1 book in 3 days is good. I know, however, that I'll have times where I won't be so motivated and 1 book will take 2 weeks so I'll take these 3 days and use them to my advantage.

Happy Reading!