Henry the Hobo

WARNING: If you are freaked out by spiders, DO NOT READ THIS POST!!! Instead, focus on this...

Cute picture of a chipmunk from icanhascheezburger.com and click "back."

...so I'm now under the assumption that if you're still here, you don't mind seeing close of pictures of creepy spiders? Ok...last chance!

Meet Henry. He is our Hobo Spider (at least we think he is...he might not be!) He terrorized us last night. David found him under the air hockey table and we pretty much all freaked out (I had to leave the room.) He tried to squash it but little Henry wouldn't die, so David caught him instead. After a little bit I was brave enough to come and take pictures. This one is kind of cute...but honestly they're still giving me creeps!

Poor Henry. Stuck in our jar!

David caught a moth and stuck it in the jar with Henry and he caught it and started eating it! It was super gross.

He was a pretty big spider...I know straight pins aren't all that big but when I saw him on the floor I screamed and ran away.

Did you know that spiders can turn into comets?? Wooshing through the sky in a flaming ball! (Ok, I just thought the shadows were cool.)

"Please let me out!! Don't let David leave the lid on all night and let me suffocate!"

Don't name something unless you want to get attached to it!

I couldn't let David kill him, so I made him let the poor thing go. It was quite the late night adventure!

Art Museums

Oops! I didn't even realize I hadn't posted about this! I've been getting really caught up with my craft blog that I guess I've been neglecting this one. Or maybe because I don't really post crafts here anymore there isn't anything to post about. :P

Anyway! This last weekend I spent with my parents and we watched chick flicks, went to art museums, and had a Big Bang Theory marathon. The first and last items don't really produce pictures, so I'll primarily be talking about the art museums!

A huge perk of living near D.C. is that there are an endless (or so it seems) amount of museums that you can spend your afternoon in. This particular trip was geared toward the Littlest Brother for a project he was working on for school. We spent most of the afternoon perusing around the museums and taking pictures.

I tried to improve my photography skills, but alas, my mother is much more gifted in the photography department than I am.

I took A LOT of pictures of my favorite works or art, but I'll try not to bore you and give you the feeling that you are in a museum too. So I'll only share a few of them. This was "Dishes with Oyster, Fruit, and Wine" by Osias Beert the Elder. The detail is absolutely amazing, I spent a lot of time just staring at the brush strokes.

This is the only Da Vinci in the United States, it's called "Ginevra de 'Benci." Once you get over the eeriness of it, it's actually quite a beautiful painting. I guess with pale skin and an unsmiling face it's not too hard to look a little eerie.This was David's favorite painting.

I was in awe with this beautiful magnolia painting, "Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth" by Martin Johnson Heade. (I think more titles of paintings should be this straightforward!) The velvet backdrop looks real enough to touch and I could almost smell the flowers.

It was a beautiful day so we spent some time outside enjoying D.C...

And creating our own art. :)

I had a little more difficulty really appreciated the pieces in the modern art museum. Call me a jerk, but I really don't see how pencil and chalk scribbles on a bare white wall is art. To really appreciate I like to see that real work went into it and/or the artist is really trying to convey a powerful message. To me, a perfectly white canvas just doesn't do that. However, there were some pretty cool pieces that I did enjoy. This one was "Jasper" by Chuck Close. Get a little closer...

Now that is cool. I wish I had that kind of talent and eye for color.

I never really thought of light as art, but this one helped me see otherwise. It was mesmerizing to watch the patterns and lights change. This one is "Round Rainbow" by Olafur Eliasson.

This one I just thought was funny. That's pollen. Yes, all of that yellow stuff is pollen. On the floor. And it's art! Who knew? :) "Pollen from Hazelnut" but Wolfgang Laib.

This was my dad's favorite from the sculpture garden. This is "Needle Tower" by Kenneth Snelson. I wanted to stand under it and look u just like he did when he ws a kid, but we didn't think they would let us get that close to the art. Bummer. :(

I took so many more pictures, but like I said, I won't bore you with them. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting things happen in life soon to share. But until then, happy Friday! :D

I painted today!

It's true!! :D The seafood festival really go to me! It is the most gorgeous day today and I knew I had to be outside doing SOMETHING. I looked through my inspiration notebook to see what I've sketched in there and tried to figured out which one I could actually do outside (I'll give you a hint, sewing and working with tiny beads didn't make the cut.) Then a thought struck me. Painting. I haven't painted in months and months, mostly because I'm too scared, I don't wanna screw up. After a little arguing with myself I sucked it up, grabbed my paints, easel, and a new canvas and set up camp outside. After two hours of dabbling, this is the final product.

It's going to go in my kitchen. :) Why do you ask? Ha, if you ask you are obviously not from Maryland. Because Maryland blue crabs are the most delicious things to eat!

"But...your crab isn't blue." That's because it's already cooked and ready for me to eat!

Cooked blue crabs. (source)

Live blue crab! (source)

It's been so long since I've painted that it was hard to remember everything I've learned.

But for not painting in forever, I think it turned out really well. I can't wait for it to dry fully so I can frame it and stick it in the kitchen!

Happy hump day!

Maryland Seafood Festival

I can't believe it's been 9 years...9 years ago I was a wimpy freshman in high school sitting in 3rd period U.S. history when I heard the news. It was a crazy day, with ironically gorgeous weather. I was freaking out all day, but ended the day with a calming trip to the temple. I hope you took a minute to remember today too.

Thanks to Groupon, David and I (and his sister and a friend) got to go to the Maryland Seafood Festival! So. Much. Fun! There were crafts, children's books, live music, the Chesapeake Bay, and of course, seafood!! I'm a huge seafood lover, remember my giant lobster? Yeah, love me some seafood! It was like my happy place on a beach.

We saw so many cool things, this is what happens to a bottle when you put it in a kiln!

Isn't this sand castle amazing?

Since it was Maryland, obviously there were tons of crab-themed things! Oh if only I was a millionaire, I could have a crab themed room and be happy forever.

My birthday's in April! I want these!!

Even just one of these would be good. :) There were so many amazing crab things, I wish I could have taken pictures of everything!

Can you tell that I love crabs? I thought I was going to end the summer without getting to eat some delicious blue crabs but I didn't. :) Thank you Boy Scouts, for having a steamed crab booth!

This was Elisa's first crab, and she did such a good job! I was very impressed with her crab eating skills.

You don't even know how happy it made me to be able to eat a few crabs. I mean, I was giddy, giggling like a little girl! I love, love, love love, LOVE eating crabs.

David prefers to play with them....

I get right in! (I don't know what David was thinking, maybe smashing crab claws is funny?)

He wasn't brave enough to dig into a whole crab (*cough* *cough* WIMP!!!) But he was brave enough to smash away at a claw. Teehee.

Oh! I also played a game where I got to pick up oyster shells with a rake and fill a basket. It was so fun, and I even won a prize!

We finished off the festival by going to the Bay!

We saw a lot of baygulls! (Like seagulls...but we were at the bay? Get it?? Baygulls...bagels...ok not funny.)

Played with jellyfish and spent way too long looking for rocks a seashells. :) I have a plan for my rocks and shells and I can't wait to try it out!

Rave!

You know what I like? Avatar. Not the one with the blue people, the Nickelodeon cartoon. American anime! Yeah, it's a great little show. David and I have been watching it together on Netflix and we've been plowing right through it, we're already done with book two!

source

I feel like such a dork. My favorite character (I think) is Appa, the giant flying bison. He is so cute. I want to make Appa related crafts, and other Avatar related crafts! I feel like I'm in 7th grade again, when I was utterly obsessed with Sailor Moon.

Labor Day weekend!

David and I met at the BWI exactly 3 years ago today. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great day off, I know I did! I was with my family most of the day and we got to see a lot of things.

We saw my grandma.

We saw my little brother march in a parade (he's the handsome blonde one.)

We saw the fattest dog in the world.

And we saw pirates! All leading up to a great family BBQ here at David's parents house (no pics of that though, sorry.)

And in honor of the 3 year anniversary of out meeting, we got delicious fish tacos.

Mmmmmm. :) What did you do this weekend?