Jul

31

Sketch Crawl, Part II

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I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks since the Orlando Sketch Crawl put together by Tom Thorspecken (go here for Part I post – http://imperrfections.blogspot.com/2009/07/sketch-crawl-part-i.html).

I met up with the group at 10am at Panera Bread on the corner of Eola and Robinson. I felt a bit out of place as I was the only one without a sketch book, but I had gone with the specific purpose of documenting a bit of the event in photographs. Everyone was extremely friendly and it was really great to just get out and meet some new people.

There were artists of all levels and everyone sat around drinking coffee and showing off the work in their sketch books.

(Oh, and I’ve really been in a sepia mood so that’s what you’re getting) ;)

(after sitting at te table for awhile, Tom moved ot across the room to sketch the group)

Kristen Pauline and her constant sketching

(Ricardo, the Orlando Sentinel photographer sent to cover the event)

the sketch

I DO have more pictures from after leaving the restaurant and following some artists around the lake, but those will be in Part III :)

P.S. Ok, one color photo. Mr. Pigeon by the lake.

Jul

28

La cucaracha

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So, my plans of settling in for reading with a nice cup of tea didn’t work out last night.

Instead, immediately after shutting my computer and climbing into bed, I found A FREAKING COCKROACH RUNNING AROUND UNDER THE SHEETS!

After jumping out of bed with an intense urge to hurl…I freaked out. Then Matthew (who is more scared of them than me) really freaked out.

You know how it looks in a cartoon when two people get scared, start running in mid air, go around in circles then smack into each other and fall on the floor? That was pretty much us.

I didn’t think we’d be able to sleep in the apartment. It was after midnight but I was ready to call my parents and tell them we were driving over to sleep on the sofas.

Mathew then had a clear moment of thought, turned to me with the most intense facial expression of his life and said, “It’s O.K. We can do this. We’ll get through this.”

If I wasn’t so utterly terrified I would have laughed at how dramatic it was. You would have thought we’d just been in a horrific car accident and one of us was facing amputation of a limb for how serious the whole scene was.

We ended up shaking out all the blankets, all the pillow cases, taking off the mattress, taking off the box springs, and cleaning EVERYTHING out from under the bed (which is when I discovered multiple scratches on the hardwood floor under the wheels of the bed from some sort of “mysterious” *coughcough* repetitive motion. I’m hoping those buff out…or something).

We vacuumed the entire room, placed the bed in the middle of the floor, and took the comforter off – so that absolutely nothing was touching the walls or the floor except the bed wheels – and finally fell asleep sometime around 3am.

We’ve put out some roach traps and I haven’t seen any today, but we have the bed (sans comforter) in the middle of the room again tonight. You know, just to be safe.

P.S. Because a few people have asked, here is the underside of the blue creamer/sugar bowl set from the last post:

Jul

27

i forgot to blog today

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It’s nearly midnight and the day has escaped me. I’m ready for a cup of tea, a chapter of my book, and some good sound sleep.

I spent today folding all the laundry, baking cookies, editing wedding photos, and taking pictures of pretty vintage things that my mom dropped off so she can sel them online.

She always finds the coolest stuff.

Like these vintage cups

Or this sugar bowl and creamer set

And these (for various reasons) were three of my favorite wedding photos I finished up this afternoon:

Alright. Now time for hibiscus tea, a cookie, and The Goblet of Fire :)

Jul

26

oh, the pressure

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There’s a whole bunch of text ahead, so here’s a big fat picture for those opposed to reading it all.

the courtyard where I photographed the wedding in Amelia Island

clocktower

I’ve had this blog 8 1/2 years (!!) and since getting a regular following (which I know is there despite the lack of comments most of the time. Come out of hiding everyone! I promise I’ll be nice at least three weeks out of the month) I started feeling pressure to entertain on a regular basis. You know, bring some laughs, tickle your eyes with pretty colors, educate you on useless facts about myself you’ll never need to know, etc.

Because of this, I’ve totally overwhelmed myself lately and basically gotten “blog fright”. This is the instance in which someone becomes so mind melted, word jumbled, and photo saturated, that they simply freeze, shut the computer, and immerse themselves in the world of J.K. Rowling.

I would like to say though, that I have many many posts in my head planned for this week. Whether I will actually get them all done, however, is another matter.

For example, I have photos waiting to be editing for:

- 4th of July
- the sketch crawl
- a recipe my family will not believe I made.
- the new downtown Plaza Cinema
- sketches from mom and Vicki
- and whatever else I photograph this week

By the way, I cleaned out all my book shelves last week. I sadly realized I have read approximately 2% of the books I own. Over the years I’ve collected all the classics you’re supposed to know about. Name a book and I probably have it on my shelf. I even shelled out 25 bucks when I was 15 so I could add The Library of Shakespeare to my stash (only my copy from Costo turned out to be printed in Croatia and is titled “The Library Shakspeare”)

Am I the only one that does this? I feel like a book fraud. I’m making a concerted effort to actually READ some of these literary gems. Just turn off the tv, set aside at least an hour a day, and read.

Of course, this endeavor will have to wait until after I finish re-reading the Harry Potter series. I don’t care of they’re kid books. They are awesome.

P.S. I’m so thankful for this guy I married. Who else would bust out in a british/australian/southern combo accent in the middle of a prayer?

Jul

24

Pho 88

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730 N Mills Ave Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 897-3488



Last Monday our friend Shirlee was making the eight hour drive from Miami to Tallahassee and, lucky for us, she decided to break the trip up into two parts and stay with us for a night (which I managed to turn into TWO nights when I convinced her the next day that she must go with us to the midnight opening of the new Harry Potter movie – more on the new theater we visited in one of my next posts).

Matthew was at work when she arrived to our apartment completely ravenous for Vietnamese food. We decided to walk to one of the closest restaurants to my house; Pho 88.

We were seated immediately, served drinks right away, and had one of the most eager and friendliest waiters I’ve ever seen. We were slow to look over the menu and were approached no less than four times to see if we were ready to order (and each time given smiles and reassurances to take our time).

Perusing the menu….oh, decisions, decisions.






I wasn’t very hungry and quickly decided on a constant favorite: Summer Rolls ($2.75) (which are oddly called “Spring Rolls” on the menu, despite always being a fried version when called by that name at every other Vietnamese restaurant I’ve visited). Noodles, herbs, shrimp, and pork wrapped in rice paper with peanut sauce for dipping.




I was happy from the first bite when I could tell that these had been freshly rolled. I’ve been so disappointed the past two or three visits at Little Saigon down the road when I was served old summer rolls. The wrappers were dried out and so tough you could barely chew through them – and there had been no herbs inside!

The rolls at Pho 88, however, had soft delicate wrappers and were full of crunchy bean sprouts and fresh mint. Perfect!






Shirlee decided on two dishes, the first of which was a light soup of rice noodles, vegetables, and tofu ($6.95).




Absolutely bursting with bright green veggies, onions, baby corn, and tofu. The broth was faintly sweet and very mellow with a slight hint if mushrooms and just a bit of saltiness (which is great considering most restaurants spoon in your daily recommended amount of sodium into a single bite)






I love that they serve “bonuses” to add to your soup, such as sprouts, limes, and a bowl of salt & pepper to season to your liking.

I would say this soup is a winner if you’re looking for something simple and comforting. Shirlee described it as eating “a bowl full of hugs”. I think that sums it up nicely.






Her second dish was the roasted quail ($4.95). These things are so teeny tiny! I’d never tried quail before but it was surprisingly good. What little meat that was there was very tender, slightly gamey, and had a crunchy sweetness from the crispy basted skin.






I thinks she was pondering every which way she could get that meat off the bone without swallowing it whole.






Full-on attack was the answer!






I was very happy with our meal, but the one big complaint I have about this restaurant is the inconsistency in service and food.



This most recent trip was a definite success, but just six months ago Matthew and I had an incredibly slow waiter that sat down to watch ESPN, never refilled our water glasses, and served bland meals that were different from their menu description (I blogged a little about our disappointing experience here http://imperrfections.blogspot.com/2009/01/saturday-night-matthew-and-i-decided-to.html).

So with that said, I’m rating solely on this visit.

Food: 3.5/5
Service: 4/5
Attitude: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5





Phó 88 on Urbanspoon



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