Finally a 'Real' Website!

visit me @ www.meghanhawkes.com
see you there!

Paper Giveaway!!!

The Paper Place is giving awaythe an ultimate Chiyogami sample pack, an 8.5x11” sheet of every Chiyogami paper they offer in their online store– 637 patterns in total (retail value $1911.00). All you have to do is comment on their page for a chance to win. Deadline is December 31st at midnight. Visit their website for more details and of course a chance to WIN!

Recycle and Save this Christmas. project 1

Christmas Card Gift Tags -- great for all ages but little kids will need some help. Fun to do with family and share stories!

Supplies:
-Front of old Christmas Cards (make sure the back is blank)
-Scissors- fancy and/or regular
-Ribbon
-Hole puncher
-Pen
-Optional: Glitter and Glue

*Cut around desired image on the card. ex: star, snowman, writing
*Punch hole near any corner.
*Cut ribbon about 4 or 5 inches long and tie through the hole with loose ends. Later tie on a bow or ribbon on a wrapped package or on the handle of a bag.
*Write a message on the back and be sure to write who the gift is for and who it is from!!
*Add glitter if you wish, if not on the front then on the back.
*Most of all HAVE FUN!

Dresser Dressing

Before: green walls, purple trim, and silver dresser with blue/silver fabric over the drawers.













After: pale blue walls, cream trim, and white canvas covered dresser.















Supplies: spray adhesive, un-primed canvas (drop cloth will work), primer, polyurethane, scissors, and paint brush.

How to:
spray the surface with adhesive and the back of strips of canvas-- small portions at a time. Adhere the canvas to the dresser. Once the dresser is covered prime the canvas. After everything is dry coat the dresser with polyurethane and maybe two coats on top. I used a liquid but you can also use a spray and the color may not be quite as yellow.

Cost: $0 for me but very low if you don't already have all of the supplies.

2009

I just bought my 2009 calendar... well one of the 2009 calendars. I tend to have more than one. It was featured in an email I got from Paper Source today. I instantly fell in love with the beautiful letterpressed designs. Seems a little early to be buying calendars for next year especially since time seems to go by so fast anyway there isn't much of a need to speed it up, but I couldn't wait until December. I might break a rule and glance at each image before next year but then save them after that for their specific month. Enjoy.

Apples

Some of you may know about my love (obsession) for apples, well, I just bit in to my first apple of the fall. And it was FABULOUS! I actually can't remember the last time I ate and apple which is about to upset me, but since they are in season again I won't worry about it too much. I don't know exactly where my love of apples came from.. it could have been picking them in the orchards in Michigan when I was little, the apple pies and apple butter that came afterwards, the sticky mess of caramel apples at the fair, the stories my grandfather told about being dropped off at college with a basket of apples to make friends, or my own stories of making friends because of apples. Most of all the flavor is probably what I love most but the memories of everything else makes them so much better. My favorite time to eat an apple would have to be on a cool crisp day with the warmth from the sun beaming down through the colorful fall leaves while walking down the sidewalk through the crunchy leaves that have already fallen. Perfect.

Website

It has been a while since I have actually 'done' something to post considering the blog is called 'what I do'. Anyway, I couldn't sleep last night (or apparently tonight either) and I made a new website. This one will do for the mean time since I am still waiting for the one from Italy to be completed. Hope you enjoy... (click the image to take you there)

p.s. tell your friends

I Hope This Will Do...

This I sent to my loving mother earlier today (she has also been upset that I haven't posted much lately so I hope this will do):

so I have arrived upon a conclusion. You are ignoring me. how you might ask have I decided this. Well I will let you know that it was through much thought and problem solving. Here we go...

When I was younger my mom told me that she knew everything...'I'm the mom I know all'

well if my mom knows everything then she knows I am trying to talk to her

if she isn't there to talk to me and knows that I am trying to talk to her and isn't doing much about it then the only conclusion available is that she is ignoring me

Photos Are Up!

I'm not too sure if anyone still reads this but I did put up a bunch of photos from the past few months.  Go to my flickr page to see them.  The link is to the left.

Roma

A few pictures I took while in one of the most wonderful cities I've ever been to.  I hope you enjoy them.  They haven't been edited b/c I've been busy learning Italian so you will have to forgive me for that.  I might write more later but for now you can just look.

A Little Book Review

As I was searching the shelves of a bookstore that I frequently go to for an Italian verb book I saw a small pocket sized book that listed that it would explain the Mafia. Oh my goodness... not the Mafia. Yes, the Mafia indeed. I have been a little interested in this organization (not in a scary I am going to become part of the team kind of way) since I saw 'The Godfather' the first time. Also the Italian history in the family made me kind of wish my that my Grandpa was part of it, however Erin and I realized that his name didn't fit so well and it just couldn't be. 'Mafia Explained to Tourists' by Augusto Cavadi, let me know upon reading the second sentence that 'The Godfather' is a :highly romanticized, fictional view of the phenomenon makes for excellent entertainment.: Apparently the real Mafia is more complex. Suddenly I was relieved that my grandfather had nothing to do with the Mafia. This 55 page pocket book does a brief overview of the Mafia and answers questions that I am sure we have all asked. Cavadi also lists a bibliography in case you are wanting to do more in depth reading on the topic. It was interesting to read that this 150 year old establishment will eventually end as all things human do. When??? thats what no one knows. But for now the streets of Palermo are probably safer than the streets of London, New York, or Madrid since it is less likely to be killed there (in Palermo) than in a terrorist attack elsewhere. Also good news since I have been wanting to visit Sicily for a few years now.

Firenze

Florence is wonderful as it should be. I skipped class once but with good reason... my roommates and I took a nice walk from Piazza Michelangelo down through the countryside and then back home. Piazza Michelangelo is one of the best places in Florence to go and get pictures of the city. I think the entire walk was supposed to take an hour but we took a bus to the piazza from our apartment which was nice and then the walk back to the Ponte Vecchio took maybe 3 hours. We stopped a lot to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. The first half of the walk was along a semi-busy street but with beautiful views, and the second part was a wonderful curvy cobblestone road lined with brightly painted old houses that made you forget that you were in the city at all.

The Run Down

Little Rock to Chicago and a hot dog
Chicago to Heathrow--- London and meat pies
Extended stay
Felt up by security in London
London to Barcelona several hours later
plane to bus to train to metro to hotel
walk on around town
food market, juice, chocolate, Picasso, soap, chocolate, Gaudi building, tapas, icebarcelona, catwalk, bed
antique market, food market, juice, sandwich, chocolate, british boys 'CHALLENGE', Gaudi park, olympic park, Gaudi building, chicago pizza....
Two taxis, empty ferry dock, walk in the rain, two taxies, ferry check in, no bus, security car and broken van to ferry, Antonino, A Room With A View, 20 hours at sea, Livorno, big taxi in the rain, taxi to Florence, circle Florence, wrong apartment, another taxi in Florence, right apartment no key, new taxi, GE represnitive's apartment, doner kabab, sleep, school, taxi to apartment, move in!

When I Leave

I wasn't planning on posting again before I left town. I didn't really have much to say, and figured the posts after getting to Europe would be much more entertaining. Turns out I was wrong. Last time I left for Italy was in August of 2005 and that week the Beehive (a little shop in town) burned down... first up and then down. The whole strip of businesses had smoke damage and a partner business moved across the street. This partner is a wonderful little restaurant called the Honeycomb. Get it... beehive and honeycomb. Yeah anyway, Mom and I went to the Honeycomb yesterday for lunch and had a nice little time, the power went out but it was really windy out so no one really thought anything of it. Shortly after we left the the roof on the Honeycomb blew off. Talk about a windy day... apparently there was cold front coming through. Heaven forbid I ever leave town for good. I really don't think either of these events had anything to do with me leaving but it is rather amusing that they both happened right before my departure.

Wine Tasting

Last night I had the most wonderful going away party with wonderful friends, food, and wine. Bruce Cochran who lives here in Arkansas came to the party to share 6 fantastic wines from different regions in Italy. Since I just started to really like wine in the past two years (thanks to spending some time in Italy two years ago), I usually like to stick with white wines... a Pinot Grigio or while in Italy just the white house wine. I was happily surprised that each wine I tried I enjoyed. Traditionally in tasting you need to start with the lighter wines and get darker... the reds are more complex in flavor, and then end with a dessert wine of some kind. The wines we tried in order:Pinot Grigio from Trentino. Ferra & Perini (white)
Malvasia from Emilia-Romagna. Giannelli de Maris, Vigna Case Rotti 2005 (white)
Barbera from Piedmont. Ferra & Perini (red)
Chianti Classico from Tuscany. Ruffino Aziano 2005 (red)
Nero D'Avola from Sicilia. Nu Har, tentua rapitala (red)
Malvasia Dolce Frizzante from Emilia-Romagna. Rosa di Bianca (white semi-sparkling dessert)
It wasn't a wine tasting where you sip the wine, find all of the flavors and spit it out. It was relaxed and as we sipped our wine, Bruce shared with us the region the wine came from, the grapes, and the difference between a $100.00 bottle of wine and a $10.00 bottle of wine. As much as I love to spit good wine into a jar, I really would rather just sit in good company, drink good wine, and have good conversation. And because of that, last night was perfect.

(the picture is of each wine in order that it was tasted)

I Have A Home

Most of you know that I will be leaving for Italy in a couple of weeks and live there for 6 months while I study. While I am living/traveling in Europe my blog will be mostly about that experience but will of course include really neat things that I find. I will share shops, restaurants, and sites to see.
The best news is-- I finally got the information about where I am going to be spending those 6 months. I am in Florence (which was the plan) and in the residential area but only a 20 min walk from school. I'm so excited to learn about a new area in town. Last time I was there I was living in the historical center I had the most amazing view of the Duomo from my bedroom window, and was so close to everything. This time I will be in an area that will have more residents than tourists, yet everything that people come to Florence for is just a walk away. I will get to walk along the Arno River everyday on my way to class and see the hills surrounding the city. Another perk-- I have my own bathroom. I was planning on my own room along with 2 others for the two friends I am living with, but a shared bathroom. First floor apartment so less stairs than last time and really my own space!