Currently Reading

I recently ordered a few books on freelancing from Amazon, Creative Inc by Joy Cho & Meg Mateo Ilasco, Craft Inc Business Planner by Meg Mateo Ilasco, and the Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.




Creative Inc. seems to be both helpful and inspiring, featuring lots of Q&A with freelancers in variety of creative fields. I haven't finished reading it, but so far I am enjoying it! Craft Inc. Business Planner is mostly what it's name implies, a planner to help you go through the steps of starting your own crafty (or in my case design) business while keeping you organized and on track. The Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines is mostly for reference. It covers all the bases of various design and illustrator roles, from pricing to sample contracts.

Linda & Harriett

Yesterday when I got home two packages were waiting at my door. I only expected one package, so the other left me stumped.



The package I was expecting was stationery from Linda & Harriett. I ordered a bunch of stationery, some for myself and some to hang on to for when I need a cute gift item (I didn't photograph these!). Everything is letterpressed and adorable. I love the boxes and personalized pink pencils. When someone puts effort into packaging and adds something extra (or simply includes a personal note) it makes me want to buy more things from them (I should remember this for my own items)! Linda & Harriett still have some Outlet items available, you should definitely check them out!


The mystery package was a WUNC/NPR mug! Last Fall I enrolled in the "Sustaining Donor" program and requested a mug as my gift. Finally, about 5 months later, it arrived! WUNC had some sort of mix-up at the time of my donation and basically my request was in internet limbo for awhile. I'm just happy it arrived finally :) I love NPR!

Eye Candy

Sometimes you just need to look at adorable movie stars. All images from here.

Currently Reading: Eating Animals

If you enjoy eating meat, and don’t want to think about the conditions animals face in factory farms, don’t read this book.

I resisted buying this book for two years because I was disappointed that one of my favorite authors hadn’t written another fiction novel. I finally bought it last week at the bookstore on campus (it was 9$!) after UNC and Duke both announced it as their summer reading selections.

I like to read the reviews at the beginning of books and honestly, when I read Natalie Portman’s review in the front I chuckled. So what if a celebrity was moved to give this book to all of her loved ones?

Currently, I’m 75% of the way through, and I feel guilty for chuckling. I find myself questioning whether or not I should eat meat. I’ve even discussed it with Gannon, asking him to read it after me. After we both read it, we’ll talk about how and if we should change our eating habits.

This book is very hard for me to read, because it makes me feel guilty and a little hopeless. I think he has very powerful and personal messages throughout, and I don’t think I will be able to finish it and not change the way I eat.

Chocolate Caramel Torte (Happy Birthday to Me!)

One of the great things about life post-college is having time and funds to pursue hobbies. I say pursue because I'm kind of infamous (okay, maybe only among my family) for picking up new "hobbies" and not following through. One hobby I've stuck with so far is baking.

Recent baking adventures include a monthly devotional to matcha. I made matcha cupcakes in January (for the boyfriend's birthday) and matcha sugar cookies in February. I postponed matcha bakings in March for my birthday (I plan to resume in April by trying to make a matcha pie crust!).

I originally wanted to make cupcakes, something chocolate-y. When scouring recipes on the internet, I found this recipe. I've never made a torte, but this one was similar to a pie, minus baking the filling.



Obviously from my pictures I left off the salt. FOR BACON. If you're a fan of bacon and a fan of chocolate yet still wrinkling up your nose, fear not. The combination is incredible, and I'm sadly not the first to discover it. The first time I had chocolate + bacon was at a local German restaurant, J.Beski's. They serve an amazing chocolate cake topped with crumbled bacon. The other time I've had it was a Mo's Bacon Bar. Yum!

It was a fairly easy process, minus a little dough mishap. In the past, with making pies, I've only used one recipe, from this book. It always turns out beautifully. When making the torte dough, I remember thinking "this can't be enough liquid." For me, the crust was too dry, and when it came time to roll it out, it broke apart. No worries though, I just rubbed some more butter and a little water into the cracks, and patched it back up :) Next time (if I ever make it again) I'd like to add cocoa to Alice Waters' dough recipe to see the difference.

The torte was amazing (still is, I have leftovers!), maybe the best thing I've made thus far. Definitely tastes yummy paired with some of Gannon's homebrewed Hefeweizen!

Zoo Times

Here are some pictures from this past weekend: