When Life Gives You Lemons...

Two days since my last post-- what a lazy blogger I have become!

I spent last Saturday in North Kingstown at the 47th annual Wickford Art Festival. (Wickford Village is a small part of North Kingstown.) It turned out to be another gorgeous day! Beautiful sunshine and a slight breeze helped to make the day that much more enjoyable. I'm not exactly a huge art fan, but I do love to attend these kinds of events. It is amazing to me how many incredibly talented people there are out there! Some individuals just have the eye for photography, the creativity for mixed media, the touch for watercolors. To go along with the variety of types of art, everyone appreciates different types of artistic styles. Maybe I'm shallow, but there are some things that I just don't see as art. It reminds me of the time Nick and I visited the Guggenheim Museum in New York City last winter. There was a display by a photographer, Catherine Opie, that featured very graphic pictures, from self-mutilation to cultural and sexual identity. Needless to say, the entire exhibit made us both uncomfortable. I would much rather stick to Van Gogh, thank you very much! (We did get to go to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam- so wonderful.... I promise the pictures from Europe are coming! I am definitely not having as much free time as anticipated!)

My favorite booth at the art show featured Can Do Planes, a business staffed by a husband and wife team that transforms aluminum cans into ornaments and model planes, helicopters, boats, and tanks. Sompit and Shao were kind and entertaining, and I was amazed at the precision of their creations. Here are a few of my favorites below:

I would love to learn how to make the Diet Coke stars I got for my love fern! (Yes, I know it isn't a fern, but I just adore the name love fern.)

I also saw some very interesting "sculptures..." combination plant holders and birdhouses made from South American river roots.

Another notch for my year of firsts... My very first Del's Lemonade. If you look around Rhode Island, you'll see these large green and white RV/vans, similar to what you'd see a vendor use at a carnival. The formula they use is an original family recipe passed down from Grandfather Franco DeLucia, who brought his lemonade recipe to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. I wish it was just a little more on the tart side, but it was delicious.

And for apartment updates... I finally finished putting together the bookcase that holds all of my crafts! I was having some trouble finding the right type of screwdriver to use for the large, finishing screw that hold the frame together. So, instead of really taking a look at the screw, I just tried harder. Turns out that I should have used one of the "z-shaped" metal turners (an allen wrench, maybe? Sorry to disappoint you, Dad!). So, four of the screws (the ones on the top of the bookcase) each stick out about 1/4" farther than they should because I mauled the holes so badly that I couldn't get anything to make them turn. It's not too noticeable from farther away, so I decided to just go with it. I debated on whether or not I should ask to borrow an electric drill from someone at work, but I would probably get myself into more trouble! Figured out how to work the DVD player, but still having issues with the DVR, Bose soundock, and alarm clock- all on the list for this week (behind studying for boards, of course!). Below are my new kitchen accessories from Debbie and Jerry- in my favorite colors, too!

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you!