Photoblog

Muddy Red High Heels

I love these shoes,
I love them so much that i bought an extra pair

“I’m surrounded by weirdos,” said Tim.
“I’m not a weirdo,” said Brittany. “You’re the weirdo.”
“Brittany, you are so a weirdo. You’re the girl who sometimes cleans horse stalls in high heels because you can’t be bothered to change your shoes.” said Lisa.
And she was right.

Muddy high heels. It’s kind of a metaphor for how I go about life. There’s so much to do and experience. I can’t be bothered to take care of a little thing like changing my shoes. So sometimes things get a little ragged around the edges and I’m kind of OK with that.

This particular muddiness was caused not by horse stall cleaning but by photo taking. All winter I’ve been itching to take photos of this particular barn and schoolhouse but never remembered to take my camera when going out that direction. But the other day, I finally did.

3 people are sharing the comment love - Say Something »

Computing, Jezebelle

Horse vs. iPod

Almost exactly a month ago, on February 6, I lost my beloved iPod Touch. I had been out in the yard doing my weekly Saturday chores of stall-cleaning and barn tidying, and about halfway through the process, the iPod’s battery died. So I put it back into my pocket and kept working.

It wasn’t until 2 days later, on Monday, that I realized it was missing (Saturday night/Sunday aren’t peak iPod usage times for me.) I frantically searched my room for 1/2 hour before work and when it didn’t turn up there, I realized it must have slid out of my pocket while I was still out doing chores and it could be anywhere between the hay room, the stall I was cleaning, and the manure pile.

Mom searched the yard that day while I was at work. When I got home I spent half an hour picking through Jezebelle’s stall. No iPod. I mourned the loss of my little electronic buddy. And went out and bought a replacement at the Apple Store the next night.

Well, guess what I found last night while doing barn chores?

Yup. That’s right. It was in Jezebelle’s stall. I don’t know how I didn’t find it when I looked the first time, because I thought I raked through the bedding thoroughly. But I did bed the stall pretty deep that night because there were more snowstorms on the way. So the iPod must have been at the very bottom.

Yes, that’s horse manure all over the back. And that’s after I cleaned it up a bit.

My heart was sad when I realized it had been stepped on at least once. But I wasn’t surprised. Surely, after a month in a horse stall, in the winter, it wouldn’t work. That would be too much to ask. The headphone jack and the USB plug were stuffed with dirty shavings/manure. There was no way.

But when I plugged it in, it showed the low battery indicator for about 10 seconds, and then it booted right up. The touchscreen works as long as you’re careful not to get glass slivers in your fingers. But the real question was, would it still play tunes, after having the headphone jack stuffed with manure for a month?

Yes. Yes, it does. Unbelievable.

Apple products FTW.

7 people are sharing the comment love - Say Something »

Kitchen Adventures

Kitchen Adventures: My Veggie Burrito Recipe

It’s March.

I’m not so much a fan of March. January in Michigan is generally sparkly and white and it’s a new year and all that jazz. February is just a cute half-pint of a month that tends to fly by while I’m not looking. But March and I never get along all that well. March tends to alternate between two-foot snowdrifts and knee-deep mud and slush. March teases us with balmy 50 degree temps and a few hours of sun, and then plunges us back in to darkness and dank, wet coldness as if to say, “Haha, Michigander! You can’t have spring yet, but you can’t have winter anymore either!”

March is a meanie.

And food is my #1 coping mechanism. So last night, when it was my turn to cook for the Sunday dinner/wine night my friends and I typically share, I said goodbye to February and greeted March by raiding the produce section and making the freshest most healthful and hopeful and zingy meal I could come up with, a south-of-the-border inspired feast of vegetable burritos with salsa and guacamole and fresh fruit on the side.

I made up the recipe myself (taking inspiration from a similar entree I had a couple of weeks ago at Hopcat.) Here it is, in case anybody is interested.

Vegetarian Burritos

Ingredients:

1 Box spanish rice mix
1 can black beans
1 can yellow corn
2 green peppers
1/2 vidalia onion
3 cloves garlic
2-3 roma tomatoes
1 small zucchini
olive oil
12 burrito-sized tortilla wraps
2 bags taco cheese
1 jar salsa, plus extra
3 avacados, or some ready-made guacamole
1 tsp black pepper
1/2-1 tsp red pepper (to taste)
Cilantro–fresh or dried

Directions

Prepare spanish rice according to directions. While it is cooking, chop up onion and peppers. Mince garlic. Dice tomatoes. Pour enough olive oil into a large skillet to coat the bottom (be generous, olive oil is a wonderful thing). Saute your veggies and garlic in it, over medium-high heat, until onions are translucent. Add black pepper, red pepper, and cilantro, and give it another stir. Drain the excess liquid from the canned corn and black beans, and dump those into your rice. To assemble the burritos, place a scoop of rice mixture, a scoop of the sauteed veggies, and a generous pinch of cheese in a tortilla. Fold up or roll up (however you like it) and place the burritos in a 9×13 pan. When you’ve got your entire pan assembled, smother burritos in cheese and pour entire jar of salsa over the top. Bake in oven at 375 for 15-30 minutes — until cheese is melted and things are looking nice and warm and possibly a little crispy.

Serve burritos on a bed of lettuce. Top with sliced avacado or guacamole, with more salsa and sour cream on the side.

Growing up in a big family I’m used to lots and lots of food, so this recipe makes enough for about 6 people to eat until they are stuffed. If you half the recipe it should fit nicely in a 9×9 pan and still feed 4.

2 people are sharing the comment love - Say Something »

Kitchen Adventures, The Daily Blah

This Happy Night.

I have worked many, many hours this week, and tonight I’m
taking
it
eeeeeeaaaaasy.

I’m hangin’ out at home with my 3 youngest siblings. Mom, Dad, and the highschoolers are at the church Valentines’ day youth fundraiser banquet.

I’m cooking because I love to cook now. It’s something I’ve been slowly figuring out how to do since late summer. I never cooked before that. But I’ve discovered that there’s a freedom in it, room for creativity and experimentation and guesstimation (as opposed to the more exact science of baking). I cook like I live–with chaotic abandon.

The acts of chopping, stirring, sauteing, boiling, they comfort and relax me. I’m dealing with particularly strong onions tonight. My eyes watered like crazy. I’m making a huge pot of lentil soup. (some for company tomorrow, and the leftover for my lunch next week) and a dish of baked lima beans (also for lunch next week).

Jamison (2.5 years) is keeping me company while the other two watch a movie. ‘Wiwo’ [willow] the dog follows me back and forth and licks my feet when she’s not busy sniffing for things I’ve dropped. Jamison is snitching carrots and onions from my cutting board. He begged for some garlic (freshly minced) and when I gave him a piece he licked it and then pinched his tongue with his fingers and looked at me with a shocked face. So funny.

Then while I was busy sorting lentils and not paying attention, he unwrapped a dozen hershey’s special dark candy bars that he found in the cabinet and lined them up like a choo-choo train. “dugga dugga dugga dugga, woo woo!” he said, as he moved them back and forth on the edge of the counter.

Ador-able! I would have taken a photo but my camera’s battery is inexplicably dead. Lame.

I just had to chase him out from under the sink. I think he wanted to drink some Windex. Now he’s weeping bitterly. Sorry, kid.

So my soup boils and the cabinet doors all hang open and here I sit on the floor blogging. T-shirt and yoga pants…so comfy. My soup boils on the stove. I just tasted it. Burned my tongue of course (i always do that). The carrots are soft and tender; the lentils and rice still need a bit. Think I’ll add more oregano. And I’ll set the red wine vinegar out on the counter so I don’t forget to add it later, when all is said and done. Jamison is getting over his sadness and attempting to load the dishwasher for me. There’s a huge pile of vegetable carnage on the counter. I should go take care of that.

I really love quiet evenings at home.

Nobody's said anyting yet - be the first

Horses, Jezebelle, Life here in Farmland, Photoblog

My Goofy Little Doofus

…and my two mares. This photo captures their personalities so well. Max, my lovable little screwball, is being his doofusy self and terrorizing Jezebelle, which is what he does all. day. long. especially in the winter. Jezebelle, my lovely longsuffering mare, is standing there with a sweet, impassive expression, like she does most of the time. And Starr, my little diva mare, looking just slightly ticked off on Jezebelle’s behalf, but mostly sweet.

And I love this. I love Jezebelle’s extremely short, extremely fuzzy neck. I love Max’s little hooky white marking. I love how the three of them are arranged in order of their appearance (but not their importance) in my life. I love how they are standing in roughly but not exactly the same way, and my wild, spirited mare isn’t quite peeking out all the way from behind my in-your-face boy. It’s my herd.

1 Comment - Add Yours »

The Daily Blah

This is my wintersong to you

1 Comment - Add Yours »

Life here in Farmland, Photoblog

Willow. Blankie. Sunday Afternoon Beautifulness.

This is Willow.

She is about four months old.

“This is my house.”

“Rawr. don’t come near my house. k?”

“Is my house too.”

Starr ripped her pink blankie, so I got her a new one. aww.

Breakfast is her favorite time of day. Except maybe, dinner.

munchie munch.

munch. Doesn’t that hay look tasty?

he definitely thinks so.

this is ice.

this is a broken fence. Fence-fixing is my second-least-favorite farm chore.

This is a pretty horse.

this is snowy field beautifulness.

This is pine forest beautifulness.

<3

And those are photos of my weekend.

5 people are sharing the comment love - Say Something »

The Daily Blah

So Weird to be Back Here

Today I was on the Allendale campus to talk to ~20 unit heads (department heads) about effective ways to get students to use departmental websites. I was definitely scared silly beforehand. Little me? Talk to like 20 professors? for reals? no way. But I did it and it went great. Because I am a web diva.

It was the first time I’ve been out to Allendale since getting hired by GVSU, and only the second time I’ve been back since school. It was a really weird feeling. This is Au Sable Hall, where I had a good 80% of my classes.

This is Lake Huron Hall, home to GVSU Classics, where I spent most of my not-in-class time.

All of the familiar places, the same but also vaguely different. It was good to check in with my professors. They’re still bustin’ their buttons over the fact that I’m a real Classics graduate thriving in a normal (read: non-academic) career. I’m like, poster child for Classics being a useful and beneficial course of study in the 21st century. That’s kind of funny to me. But I’m ok with it because it’s also true…while I haven’t sat down and translated Ciceronian prose since I graduated in April 08 (thankfully!), every day I use the skills I learned in those four years.

But that’s another post for another day. Mostly, being grown up is just weird. I’m going to go listen to some Ben Folds now.

2 people are sharing the comment love - Say Something »

The Daily Blah

Today was a productivity win.

Ran Errands. Did my Saturday barn chores. Made lentil soup & cornbread for tomorrow night’s dinner. Finished a website I’ve been working on for months and sent it off to the client.

I feel like I’m one step closer to being in charge of my life, instead of it being the other way around.

1 Comment - Add Yours »

The Daily Blah

my camera and i are best buddies again

for the better part of two weeks after Colin & Lisa’s wedding, I spent most of my free time culling through and processing those photos. so after that, my camera and i needed to take a break from one another…ok actually, I had no real desire to ever shoot or process another photo. but my muse is back now, and my camera and I are joyfully reunited as constant companions once more.

Here’s what we’ve been doing lately.

Yesterday it was very cold. I wanted to go out and take photos at lunch, but I got about this far outside of my building (~40 feet), snapped a few photos, realized my face and fingers were starting to lose feeling, and went back inside, my desire to photograph things still unsatiated.
But i like this picture. Funny story: The little dark man way at the end of the bridge is actually a friend of mine (which I did not know as I was taking the picture.) I was about to head inside when he ran past me, yelling “Hey Britnizzle!” I said hey back, and I was a little bit weirded out, but then he yelled over his shoulder, “I gotta catch the bus!” and it made more sense.

Aaron, thank you for being slightly late for the bus. My photo wouldn’t be awesome without little dark you at the end of it.

Self-portrait….this is what I do a lot right now. work. and this is where I do it–my chair in the corner. or sometimes, my bed. (but lately that has resulted in falling asleep mid-project, and that’s not a good thing)
work is a winter thing.
in summer, i’ll get to play with the horses all evening instead. and sip wine on the back deck while the sun sets. yay.

Got more hay this week. My barn is full to the tippy-top. Hay, lights, and rafters make me happy. If it wasn’t so darn cold out I’d take a good book and spend an evening sitting on top of my hay pile reading. Hay bales are actually quite comfy you know–moderately firm with just the right amount of sproinginess.

Artistic? Ridiculous? You decide.

Isn’t he handsome? He’s such a good dog.

He can be handsome when he wants to, but these days he just wants to be weird and annoying. That’s mostly my fault because I don’t spend enough quality time with him.
We’ll spend quality time in the summer. When it’s not -2 out.

This is how it goes all winter: Max eats Jezebelle, who stands there and ignores him.

But then she gets annoyed and strikes back.

And this mare mostly just watches.

She thinks they are silly.
{but she is silly too}

goodnight, moon.

1 Comment - Add Yours »