Peep Preventer

Do you know the name of that front bit that hangs underneath many desks? Well, I didn't either. Until today....

(source.)

Yes, that little piece of wood (or in the above case, metal) is called a "modesty panel". It is named as such, I would suspect, because its sole purpose in life is to keep people from peeping up your skirt. 

I learned this little fact in an interesting conversation I had at work this morning. My desk will, hopefully, soon be the proud owner of one such modesty panel. I would like to think that people weren't peeping up my skirts in the first place, but in situations like this, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

It will also be a welcome addition to my life as it will allow me to use my new favorite, antiquated-sounding term, "modesty panel". 

Twosday!

Today, finally, I have been inspired by the cheesiest idea, ever - Twosday! So from here on out, expect two random things every Tuesday, forever to be known as Twosday.

For the inaugural edition, I present a double two Tuesday...Two pictures from Two Egg, FL!

Yes, you read that right - Two Egg, FL. It's a small town in northern Florida that we visited on the way home from the panhandle. And when I say "small town", I mean it. Basically the town is the sign picture above, the field behind this sign, a couple of houses, and two abandoned stores.

This amazing grocery store still had merchandise inside. It closed a mere couple of months before we visited. What bad timing! I think we would've spent a ton of money there on Two Egg memorabilia. 

We also took pictures with Brian's SLR while we were there, but we're notoriously terrible at developing film. I'm letting this vacation linger on forever in the blog world! Our amazing thrift store finds will be coming soon!

Spirographics

Hooray! I finally managed to make a header that I like for my blog!

I've already tweaked it a dozen or so times, so don't be surprised if you see some modifications in the near future. But I am happy with it (for now).


I certainly owe thanks to my fellow students in Indie Business 2.0 for helping me find Inkskape. I'm hooked. I'm excited to basically have a Spirograph without all of the wasted paper!

You're Getting Very Sleepy...

Seriously, it's unfair. The cats always make me so tired! They're always curled up all comfy-looking and it makes me want to run and jump into bed.
Of course, a few minutes afterwards, they always get into some kind of kitty cat shenanigans. That usually makes me snap out of it.

Spring!

That's it! Right there! That tiny little spec of yellow - Spring!!!!

My first day of spring on Saturday didn't turn out so well, with my ridiculous fall on the sidewalk. But this flower really means it's spring! I love this tree, so I'm very excited to know it will be pretty again soon. The weather has also been really nice (aka, about 10 degrees cooler than average) recently. I'm trying to soak it all in now before the thermometers start exploding with the heat.

Shopping in DeLand

Brian had to pick up something in DeLand today, so we went shopping downtown for a bit. We found an amazing store, Carasells Collectibles. I think between the two of us, we wanted just about everything in there. We managed to show a bit of restraint. Here's what I came away with.

These really awesome Girl Scout badges. (A bit of research tells me one is for manners. I haven't yet found the other).  I found a bag of old ones last week that I had forgotten about. Now I just need to find something to do with all of them!

These fruit magnets are amazing. I really like the lemon. He's like, "Yeah, whatever. I'm a lemon."

This Chiclets tin was a great find. That little banner says, "on everybody's tongue."

I also got this a little later, courtesy of my clumsiness and the brick sidewalk.

It's way more painful than it looks. Or I'm a wuss. Or both. And I was even dressed all cute and spring-like! Those little pink things on that dress are bunnies!!! Brian said he wasn't going to make fun of me. And then he said: "You're supposed to spring into spring, not fall into spring." Nice.

Obviously I'm working backwards with my thrift store finds. Vacation finds coming soon.

The Beach!

As promised...Beach pictures!!! And here's where the caveat comes - I don't really have a lot of beach pictures. The weather wasn't so nice while we were there. It was overcast and much colder than your typical March in Florida.

We did go to a small beach park right on the gulf beside these natural dunes. It was gorgeous!

Of course, having seen the weather forecast, I thought it would be rainy and cold the whole time. So, I brought attire to match such conditions. Lesson learned: boots + sand = bad combination.

After this short trip to the beach, we went to this ridiculous marine park, the Gulfarium. It's been open since the 50's, and it looks like the last time they remodeled anything was in the 70's. But it is, as you would expect from the name, on the gulf, so it was a least enjoyable.

Our favorite was the otter exhibit. I love otters! I mean, look at that face! I didn't get a very good picture of the other awesome thing we saw: a seal that climbed a ladder to have a dolphin eat a fish out of its mouth. Who thinks up this stuff?!?

I have some pretty good pictures from the other part of our travels, so I'll share those soon. Plus, I need to take pictures of the amazing things we picked up on our thrifting adventures! Wait till you see this stuff!!!

Snack Time

Once again, I'm postponing my beach post (post-ponig, get it?!)...And in it's place, I would like to share a snack with you.

I've been trying to eat more seasonal fruits & veggies for the last few months (which I'll admit was a learning process since we don't really have seasons). This means I've been eating lots of apples - and loving it! I found that I kept taking them (whole) to work and then not eating them (forgetting floss = apple stuck in my teeth all day - no good). 

So one morning I had the brilliant idea to bring sliced apples. Only, without lemon juice or some substance typically used to prevent browning, I thought I couldn't bring my brilliant idea to life. Then I saw the orange juice and decided to give it a whirl.

Tada! Orange juice not only has enough acidity to prevent browning, but it also adds an extra bit of yumminess to an already tasty snack. And you don't need much - just enough to cover the apples - so it's not even messy. I've only tried this trick with Gala, Pink Lady, and Red Delicious apples, so I can't attest to its tastiness with yellow or green apples.

Simple, I know, but tasty! Try it!

Random Florida

We're now more than halfway through the work-week! Maybe these pictures from our road trip to the panhandle will get me (and you) through to the weekend!

We found this awesome bench while wander the streets of High Springs, FL. After making Brian sit awkwardly on this bench right beside the main road, we ate at this awesome diner.

It's called Fleetwood Diner. There is one in Lansing, MI and one in High Springs, FL. It was such a random thing to find in the middle of nowhere. Even more odd - they had a ton of vegetarian food! Including a tempeh reuben and this super yummy stuff called Hippie Hash: hash browns + feta + broccoli + other veggies + (optional) tempeh. It was cheap & we had enough leftover for breakfast the next morning (to replace the "breakfast" at the inn that we used as snacks). Bonus: I (unintentionally) sat facing that awesome Speed Racer sign on the wall.

I wish I could remember where I found this next one. It was at a Goodwill somewhere between Gainesville and Destin...they all started to blur together after a while.

Why??!?!?!? No stalls, no divider, just two (functional) toilets in the same bathroom. Oh, Florida, you continue to amaze me.

I still have the pretty pictures left. I swear I really will get to them eventually.

How I Feel This Morning...

www.nataliedee.com




Seven is the number of attempts it takes most people to insert a single contact lens, right? 

I have no idea why I even bother.

What Did You Do After Work?

Oh, me? I Wii Fit-icized, cooked dinner, and made more than half of a skirt.




And there's still time left before bed! 


I love you, Daylight Saving Time! Can't you just stick around all year?

Happy (Pot) Pi(e) Day!!!

In honor of 3.14, I decided to make pot pie for dinner! The recipe is a modified version of the Winter Vegetable Potpie recipe from Vegan Planet. The "pie" is filled with potatoes, carrots, onion, veggie broth (with other additions), peas, and Morningstar crumbles. The crust turned out a bit "rustic" (aka "a crumbly mess"), but it was still yummy.

Panda Room!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present...the Panda Room!

Clockwise from top left: Breakfast table with panda wallpaper border & Panda wall-hanging; Me, on the panda comforter; The panda comforter in all its glory; View of the bathroom from the bed - note the panda picture, the bamboo wallpaper & the two stuffed pandas

The Panda Room is (in my opinion) the best room at the Rustic Inn Bed & Breakfast in High Springs, FL. There are a couple of things in the room that you can't see from the pictures: a coffee table book about pandas and a VHS copy of The Amazing Panda Adventure!

The Inn is just barely a bed and breakfast, in the sense that there is a bed and you get breakfast. The rooms are separated from each other and the main house, and each has its own bathroom. The breakfast is basically a continental breakfast delivered to your room the night before, enhanced by a personal fridge with milk and juice, and, my favorite, a coffee pot. The guy that ran the Inn was so super-nice. He knew everything there is to know about High Springs and offered his services, but stayed out of our hair. We were the only guests, so it was pretty amazing. 

When we first arrived, he told us that deer hung out on the property, as well as a (nice) skunk. I didn't see the skunk, but a deer was probably 25 feet away from us when we retrieved our stuff from the car. It's like the deer had been paid to greet us.

I very highly recommend the Rustic Inn if you are for any reason in the middle of FL and looking for a place to stay. They don't only cater to panda-lovers, but also have a cat room, a zebra room, a marine mammal room, an everglades room, and a tropical room. (Plus, there are several antique malls & thrift stores in High Springs...more on that later!)

Bye-Bye Beach

I at least had to dig my toes in the sand once!

Good Morning, Beach!

This was the view from our balcony when I woke up this morning. Of course, we also woke up earlier than usual this morning- crazy Central time zone!

It's supposed to rain the rest of the trip, so this might be the only good picture I get...we'll see!

Breakfast at the Panda Room

This morning I drank my coffee and read a book on a rocking chair on the front porch of the Panda Room. What an amazing way to spend the morning!

More to come on our adventures! (And more on the Panda Room, of course!)

The Devil Must Hate Me

...Or else his millhopper would be open on Monday!!!

Well, I suppose he had nothing to do with it. But the Geological State Park with his name on it is closed. I guess I'll have to walk down a 120 ft deep sinkhole some other day.

Oh well...Vacation, go!

Desert Critters

We've been trying to finding a large picture to hang above our bed for a long time. Today, we finally found this masterpiece at Community Thrift:

The picture really doesn't do it justice. The colors are obviously amazing, but it's hard to see all of the awesome "critters": a turtle, a porcupine, a rabbit, an owl, and a bunch of weird birds.

I wonder what kind of effects this will have on our sleep.

Panda Room!!!?!!?!

We are forgoing camping on the first day of our vacation in order to spend the night here:

Yes, that is a room covered in pandas! I stumbled upon this bed & breakfast via the AAA website today. I can't believe there has been a panda room four hours away all this time and I didn't know about it. I can't wait.

I'm officially on Spring Break now. I like having Spring Break.

Proud Kitten

Last night, Oops discovered that she could climb to the top of the closet. She was so proud and so destroyed everything.

Pinball Palooza!

On the way to Miami over the weekend, we made a quick stop in Delray Beach to see the "Pinball Palooaza" exhibit at the Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture. They had a lot of old games, with some of my favorites shown above.

Still, nothing was as good as the Dolphin pinball game that Brian and I saw at a video game auction last year. We need Dolphin pinball.

But anyway...There was also a Barbie exhibit at the museum while we were there. I don't normally care at all about Barbie, but I am afraid that I need this:

What's Next to Your Work?

It's fun to watch a carnival grow while I'm at work every day this week.

And yes, that is the same carnival (the same Sea o' Ray, even) that I attended with some pals a few years ago.