Announcing: My Etsy Shop!

I have taken so many pictures over the past year and a half that I thought it would be a good experiment to try to sell some of them, so I have started my own Etsy shop where a selection of my photos are for sale (at a very reasonable price I might add).

I'd love your support and your business! Please take a gander at Paripassu (the name of my shop) and let me know what you think. I'll be adding more photos as I get them edited. Also, please forward this along to friends who love affordable art!

I Give Up and I Give Flowers

Ok. I hate to admit it, but I'm going to be a quitter. You may have noticed that I have lost some enthusiasm for my "picture of the day" resolution. Well. I am officially announcing that I quit. It's not that much fun. You know why? Because most days I sit at home and work at my desk. Then I go to the gym. Then I come home and after work it's already dark (plus it's literally below freezing outside) and I can only take so many pictures of my scarves, book shelf, and poorly lit dinners.

I hope you'll understand. I doubt it's breaking your heart too much, but if it is...here are some flowers to cheer your day. They're my favorite. They've got a light, sweet scent (I hope you have smell-o-screen), a plethora of delicate petals, and they're the elderly person's flower of China: peonies! And these ones have been freshly Aperture[d] so they'll be good for a long time.

Notice there are only two...that's because it takes me a very long time to edit photos on my fancy new program.

 This one is all vintaged up for my elderly Chinese readers.

And this one is so striking that the background has gone silent.

Who needs roses when you can have peonies?

Aperture eyes

I just got Aperture (a photo editing program) on Monday and after watching a few of the videos I attempted to edit a picture I really like but which I thought was a little drab...just the leaf actually. I can tell photo editing (which is not my new hobby only a compliment to my hobby) gets more confusing the more you look at what you're editing.

The differences are subtle (esp on two of them)...Which ones is the best balance of color?

 

 

Flynneous Wordle

Wordles use the most frequently used words on a website and turn them into colorful clouds with the size of the words based on how many times they occur. The Flynneous Wordle isn't that great, I have to say, but it does somehow show an unnatural obsession with Christmas and the number one.

Two Week Foodie Cleanse

 

I'm not much of a "New Year, New You" resolutionist, but I really like trying new recipes and eating good, guilt-free food. I saw this two week Food Lover's Cleanse on Bon Appetit's website and thought it would be a great way to do both. 

Rather than start on Sunday, I kicked off my cleanse today and on meal two I'm really enjoying it (not to get too far ahead of myself).  One thing to note, if you're interested in trying it is that they allow for substitutions. Thank goodness because I can't find endives anywhere! The site also has a list of good cleansing foods to focus on with more recipes if you don't like some of the ones they picked as well as a short list of guidelines to keep you on the path to a healthy two weeks.

I'm planning to repeat some meals since I have just spent a ton on the first week's ingredients and also because, as usual when cooking for oneself, the leftovers are out of control! Anywho.  View the complete the meal plan here. 

And here are photos of my first two meals!

2-egg Omelet with Caramelized Onion and Mushroom: Added some ketchup too. Couldn't help myself.

Avocado Tartine and Vanilla Date Smoothie: 1-Don't let the word tartine scare you. It's mashed up avocado with lemon juice! And go make this smoothie even though it's freezing cold outside. You won't regret it I used kefir yogurt (had a culture) and almond milk (which the authors say to substitute so you can cut down on dairy). Plus Chinese dates which are very dry (and I had to cut around the seeds) but worked really well.