WHERE'S THERE 4 : PARIA CANYON-VERMILION CLIFFS, ARIZONA

I haven't really traveled about the USA as much as I'd have liked to but it amazes me that there is such beauty not to far away from me. You think glorious destinations afar but this photo about of Arizona just proves me wrong. There is amazing sights to be seen no matter where you may be if you only hunt around some. Now doesn't this place also know as "The Wave" in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona look amazing! I think so.

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SANDI DOODLES : PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM

Do you watch cartoons? I had to admit I love cartoons. There are only a few which I don't enjoy but for the most part I love them all. Last year, and yes I was last to the game, but I started watching Adventure Time. It's this great little series with some cute and yet funny characters. Now I'm not to sure which character is my favorite because they are all very different, but because I enjoy doodling female figures I thought I would take a stab at my rendition of PB aka Princess Bubblegum. I wanna doodle a few more renditions of them so you may see a couple more appear up here on the blog... and that's right, I used my child colored pencil to add a bit of color to this doodle. ;) Enjoy!


More Sandi Doodles via IG (Instgram) >> HERE
Doodles shared on my prior blog >> HERE

SANDI DOODLES : A SMOOTH SEA NEVER MADE A SKILLED SAILOR

I enjoy finding quotes that speak to me on more of a personal level. Then I'll doodle up a little hand lettered piece or illustration based around such. This one was interesting to me... more about taking risks, and voyaging past those calms uneven waters to figure out where I need to be... and realizing I'll never change if I stay put at that smooth spot out to sea. So here's to battling out the murky waters, and though it may be bumpy, I wish you (and myself too) much luck. Happy Tuesday!

More Sandi Doodles via IG (Instgram) >> HERE
Doodles shared on my prior blog >> HERE

FOOD : SPICED COUSCOUS AND CHICKEN

Sometimes I attempt to cook. An let's be honest, I am no chef, by any means, but I like the idea of food presentation... and also I want to eat a healthy meal every so often, so I try my hardest to hunt for recipes which I may enjoy and seem fairly straight forth for me to prepare. This one I made last week was pretty good, and I will surely make it again. Happy new week ahead!


INGREDIENTS 
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup couscous, preferably whole wheat
2 cups coarsely shredded rotisserie chicken
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup golden raisins
4 scallions, white and light green parts only, roughly chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for topping
Greek yogurt for topping

DIRECTIONS
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the ginger, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the carrots and cook until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the carrots, reserving the cooking liquid.

Put the couscous and chicken in a medium bowl; pour 1 cup of the hot cooking liquid on top. Stir, then cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds, raisins, scallions and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until the nuts are toasted, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro.

Divide the couscous and chicken among bowls. Top with the carrots and more of the cooking liquid. Sprinkle with the almond mixture and more cilantro. Top with yogurt and/or harissa.
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RECIPE INFO  Recipe from Food Network

COLOR PALETTE 52 : Swedish Illustrator Ylva Källström-Eklund

Other than the info which I found on this photo via Flickr (all info noted below) I'm not to familiar with this artist. I did a google hunt for Ylva Källström-Eklund and came up with a decent collection of other illustrative pieces. The color palette above is tone on tone which I really like the minimal palette. Happy almost mid week :)


Title:Felix Körlings bästa barnvisor
Direct translation to english: "Felix Körling's Best Childsong" 
Author: Felix Körlings 
Illustrator: Ylva Källström-Eklund 
Publisher: Gebers. 1965. Sweden

PHOTO & INFO >> HERE

DIY MAKESHIFT CLOSET IDEA

Over the Christmas holiday my daughter received a large collection of princess dresses, shoes, tiara's and other accessories. I love that she's wanting to dress herself and wanting to be unique with her style, I totally promote that, but I don't support, is the piles of tossed about stuff after she's done playign and moved on to something else... Up until now I had yet to find a good solution to store all of these pieces. But after I did a bit of digging about, I came across a few of these makeshift moveable closets which I'm thinking would prove itself beneficial for her situation. Something shorter, child size for her to access, that can house all items neatly in once place. I'm gathering info and size measurements to try my hand at building something similar. I'm not much of a builder, so wish me luck. Any projects on yrou weekend agenda? :)

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SANDI DOODLES : YOU MAKE ME SMILE

Hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you. Maybe one filled with a bit of sunshine (an warmer weather!) too. As pretty as Winter can be, an as much as I love layering on my clothes, I surely dislike being so cold. Hurry it up Spring ;)
 
More Sandi Doodles via IG (Instgram) >> HERE
Doodles shared on my prior blog >> HERE

DREAM KITCHENS VIA PINTEREST

So I spotted this photo via Pinterest and added it to my kitchen inspiration board. I love hunting for kitchen ideas to bank on for later. I had a pretty wonderful kitchen I designed at one time, but someday, I hope to redo another dream kitchen for myself, which will hopefully inspire me to cook an entertain a bit more than I am able to do now. Do you have a dream kitchen in mind? You can see a few more of my favorites over here. Enjoy :)
 

IMAGE CREDIT

SANDI DOODLES : A BIT RISQUE

Just a little doodle from very late the night past. It's obviously a bit more risque than I would normally share illustrative wise but I liked how it turned out. I also enjoy the look of ink on cardboard, and the pops of white ink which highlight the illustration an add a little extra depth to this piece. I hope you have a great weekend ahead. :)

More Sandi Doodles via IG (Instgram) >> HERE
Doodles shared on my prior blog >> HERE

WHERE'S THERE 3 : THE BEAN IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Cloud Gate, nicknamed "The Bean" is this amazing public sculpture located in Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois. I have seen many photos of this piece and it looks unreal. It's measurements alone I can't even fathom and the size of people standing near it for photographs, well, they just look like little ants, ha! I have never been to Chicago, but it just so happens I will be attending a wedding in the windy city in the next few weeks to come, and I have this sculpture on my "we must try to see that if we have time for it" list. I'm hoping our trip allots for such, so we can view it up close and personal, but if not, maybe another time… because I'm sure it's not going anywhere anytime soon. ;)


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SEEK.

It's interesting to me that all year long we have the chance to change things but not until when the New Year rolls around do people really kick it into high gear and start taking advantage of this. Why is this? What sparks that torch of change? It's it the idea of a new year so a new start... because isn't each day, a new day for that matter… An all in all, it's not that I'm any different from the next person. I have things I want to work towards an I know seeking adventures is on the list. I'm going to try to make it my point to create little mini adventures with my kiddos at least once a month, if it be exploring new places we haven't been before, to having a fresh view on somewhere we have already seen. Or maybe it's not even going somewhere, maybe it's even a new twist on playtime and fort building at home... it's something I'm hoping to do more of this year. Enjoying and seeking adventures. Whatever you may be seeking this year ahead, I hope you surely find it. :)


IMAGE CREDIT (edited by me)

DIY : A LITTLE WELCOME HOME PENDANT

I love how little hanging pendant looks. I also have a soft spot for bakers twine and I keep trying my best to figure out ways to incorporate it into every project I do. You can see I snuck it into the holiday gifts this year over here. The pendant though, a couple holidays ago I made a very simple DIY pendant (aka bunting) which you can view those instructions here. I have been seeing this very special guy who was away for a very long holiday break, and though I didn't want to go over the top on his arrival back home, I wanted to make it known that he was surely missed a great deal. Handmade gifts always seem more personal to me so I knew I wanted a little welcome home something or another and this pendant seemed like the perfect project to me... and it made him smile, an was very appreciated, so extra bonus point foe me, woohoo! If you decided to use my tutorial to make your own pendant, I'd love to see it, so link me in the comment section below. Happy crafting.


DIY PENDANT (view my tutorial for the DIY over on my prior blog AdaLou) 

COLOR PALETTE 51 : LORENA ALVAREZ GOMEZ

This color palette is brought to you by the fabulously talented illustrator Lorena Alvarez Gómez. To view more of her amazing work please click on the link below. Happy relaxing Sunday. Hope your weekends been great so far. 


IMAGE RESOURCE

MOVIES : THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

So over the Summer I saw a preview for a movie I was highly interested in seeing... You guessed it, the title above, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. You know when you see a preview for the first time and you just feel it will be a movie you'll really like. Well this is one of those movies. And though I'm patiently still waiting to see it, everyone around me who's already seen it, has said it's been great! Needless to say though, the actors first caught my attention, the cinematography looked amazing, an as I watched in awe because I already knew the storyline, I got that much more excited about it. In high school literature (an we won't say how long ago that was, but long ago) we read a great deal of fabulous short stories and this one of them, so after seeing the preview, I may have geeked out and reserved a book at the local library so I could reread the story again. If you haven't seen the movie just yet and have time to hit a library the book "21 Essential American Short Stories" was the one I grabbed and read it from, there were other great short stories in there too, I've linked it below. Now please don't give me any spoilers, but have you seen it and enjoyed it? I'm hoping it's all that I am making it out to be. Happy Friday an happy weekend ahead!

* Oh and random side note. The song in the trailer below, which I love, is by "Of Monsters and Men" and it's called "Dirty Paws". Just incase you're anything like me, an are curious and then question or try to figure out how do I find out who sang that ;)

 


READ THE SHORT STORY >> 21 ESSENTIAL AMERICAN SHORT STORIES

WINTER BOOTS

Winter, an snow, says boot season to me. An there are so many different styles of boots out there. Tall, ankle, laced, zipped, lined... the list goes on an on. Overall boots come in a variety of styles to suit any personal taste and here were a few that caught my attention. Do you see a similar pattern? I like laced, taller than ankle, laredo/roper style boots. What type of boots do you love?

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HAPPY 2014 + GOLD DIY IDEAS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

Yay it's 2014! Are you ready for a new year? I hope so. And I hope you had a great (and safe) night last night while you counted down the minutes leading up to today. Though the big party, with the confetti, and screaming friends, the ball drop, an cocktails, may have been last night... I can't help but think of ways to still celebrate the new year in style. This holiday always has me thinking gold, black and white, and as the years have gone by gold has grown on me greatly. Though you may not be throwing a party as crazy as last nights may have been, here are still a few fun DIY's that could be carried over into everyday events for the year ahead. Enjoy and have a happy 2014!!!

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