I saw this scrawled on the sidewalk in chalk over the weekend in Princeton, New Jersey. I can’t stop wondering who wrote it, if the author really meant it, if he/she ever got an answer, was it yes, was it no? And I also keep hearing Andie Walsh screaming in my head, “What about PROM, Blaine? WHAT ABOUT PROM!”

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This weekend, the ladies and I visited the indoor displays at Duke Gardens in Hillsborough, NJ. You all know I’m kind of a Doris Duke freak. I’d heard about the display gardens for years, but had never seen them. Then I read in the paper that, as part of a “new vision” for Duke Estates, they will be dismantled forever in less than a month. So we made plans to visit. It took Ms. Duke more than six years to build these gardens — Italian, Colonial, Edwardian, French, English, Chinese, Japanese and Indo-Persian designs juxtaposed near desert, tropical and semi-tropical environments.

The foundation says that the gardens no longer fit into Duke Estates’ goals for being a green organization, but I don’t think this is what Doris would have wanted. Go here to find out more and if you can, please send a letter.

Photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Wandered around the house and the yard and took a few photos. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, photos of little Mattie. Read the rest of this entry »

So, I strolled into the hair salon today for a trim. My hairdresser was appalled at the state of my hair, and I don’t blame her one bit. I’ve colored it from a box too much and it’s all dried out and has no life. It was too long and I couldn’t do anything with it, really. So she asked me if she could please, please, please fix the color because it was driving her insane. I figured why not, and told her to cut off a bunch of it while she was at it. Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »

So, the NYC Comic-Con was pretty fun. It had its problems (Saturday’s panels were ridiculously crowded and woefully unorganized) but we did enjoy ourselves and saw a lot of stuff and bought a lot of crap and all that. We grabbed some extra swag and once I get everything organized, I’ll be giving it away here on freakgirl.com. The geekboy’s recap is here.

A few photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Another weekend, another batch of cupcakes. Read the rest of this entry »

I just can’t help myself. They’re so small — I want to remember them this tiny.

It’s weird; in the photos, Ben & Matt look so similar, but IRL they are completely different in color. Read the rest of this entry »

Um, I took a trip to the animal shelter today. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a few photos from my trip to Florida. You can click through to read more descriptions or see more. Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

On deck for tonight - pajama party, popcorn, Enchanted on DVD.

Did everyone have a nice weekend? Ours was full of food and fun - my two favorite things. Saturday night the geekboy and I decided to do something different and went ice-skating. A hockey rink recently opened about a mile away and they offer public skating when the ice isn’t being used. So we went! I’d only been skating once (about three years ago) and the geekboy hadn’t been since he was a young kid. Didn’t stop us, though. The rink was nearly empty; probably due to the fact that people don’t know it’s there and being the holiday weekend. So we had a lot of room to make mistakes and flail about. It took me a few laps around to find my footing, although as soon as I let my guard down I took a hard fall right on my ass. It still hurts today. The geekboy didn’t fall at all, yay. It was really fun and I hope to return often and become more comfortable on the ice.
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I managed to get a couple of not-sucky photos from the Blackout Sabbath event the other night. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night’s dinner came out great. I used this recipe from the Food Network to make a shepherd’s pie - I used ground turkey, though, so I understand that’s a cottage pie, right? My cupcakes this year were flavored with creme de menthe, and I attempted a swiss meringue buttercream, something I’ve tried several times previously with no success. It came out fine, but I think I don’t really care for smbc all that much. It tastes like sweet butter. Don’t get me wrong, though - the cupcakes were delish. Food porn after the jump, with a bonus picture of Freakgirl and her hair. Read the rest of this entry »

Taken on my cellphone in the front yard.

The sun is out today.

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That’s right. I said, “Jelly. Donut. Cupcakes.”

I made these for Kirsten’s birthday. I was skeptical that a cupcake could taste of donut, but I shouldn’t have worried. These taste a lot like my favorite donuts from my youth. The recipe is from Veganomicon and was really easy to make (except for the batch I had to throw away because I forgot to add baking soda, grrrrrrrrrr). The filling in mine fell to the bottom of the cupcake, though, but I believe that’s because I used preserves and not the grocery store jelly that the recipe calls for. No matter; they still tasted great. I totally did not have one of these for breakfast. What?

Our birdfeeder is so busy today. I counted about five different kinds of birds this afternoon, including this guy. What kind is he?

This weekend I made two more felted bowls.

They are made with yarn from Dyed in the Wool Handmade. Both bowls came out a bit flimsy, which is my own fault — I should have double-stranded the yarn but I wanted to see how they would stand up with a single strand. And now I know. The small one would be excellent for something like cotton balls or paper clips, etc.

Saturday we had dinner with my parents and brother, which was nice. My dad made these delicious scallops that involved Grand Marnier…seriously yum. We also played two rounds of Trivial Pursuit - the first time was FreakDad/Geekboy against FreakMom/Freakgirl. The second round was Geekboy/Freakgirl against FreakDad/FreakMom. Here’s how that turned out:

Yesterday the geekboy and I went over to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival, which was more fun that I thought it might be. We picked up some rustic pottery soup bowls, a great selection of soup, a couple gifts, and met some really interesting artists.

And you?

Yesterday I had an overwhelming urge to bake something, so I made whoopie pies. Although not technically cupcakes, they’re close enough, don’t you think? Also, I really like to say “whoopie pie.” WHOOPIE PIE.

Seriously, you guys. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s what our weekend looked like. Click photos to see larger versions.
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Too cool. Geekboy! Here’s your weekend project. Enjoy!