Cocosicle

I love the building I work in. It is a beautiful, turn-of-the 20th Century building in downtown Nashville. It has gorgeous brickwork and mouldings, and tall arched original windows. Seriously how many people can say they work in a bulding with a secret passage way? It is awesome I tells ya.

As I said earlier we have tall original windows. So tall that it would cost a blue ton of money to replace all of them, and hoo boy do we need new ones. These windows are single pane with practically no caulking. They are hella drafty, and I have one of these huge windows in my area.

Now usually I bear the winter rather well in my work world. With a cuppa tea by my side, and a space heater, I function okay.

Not today y'all. I got off the elevator and realized our heater was out. I think the reason our heater is out is because every other thing in our building is working well. Last week we had drama with our fax lines being down, but this morning we received word that they are now up and running. The reason for the loss of heat is obvious.

We have angered the building gremlins. I like to think they look like the gremlin above picture, because this little fella is from my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon, and he has such jaunty hedgear on. I usually blame him when the computers are down, or if there is a sliver of paper in the nether regions of the copier, making it impossible to use, of course when I am running a deadline. So today the gremlin has struck our heating system. There is a technician here making a valiant effort to repair said unit, but without some offering to our gremlins, I am dubious his attempt will work.

So here I am, with my coat and scarf still on, a cuppa tea by my side, and my space heater working overtime to keep the blood circulating in my legs.

I have discovered that I have wonderful glove typing skills.

Dang I knew I should have brought soup for lunch. Alas.

Bad bad Coco

Coco has been in a bit of a slump y'all. My most humble apologies for not posting more frequently. I guess my mood can be summed up with the following word:

ppppffffftttt

I'm just been sorta bored with everything recently. I don't know what's going on inside of me folks. I did something I swore I would never do last weekend.

I organized my closet and the overflow closet. Yep that's right, the most dreaded chore in my world was done last week. I tossed everything that was tired, worn out, or just plain tragic. All clothing items that I thought someone would like (that I would not be caught dead in) were boxed up for charity. There were already some things still in boxes, and I went through them. I found all of my gorgeous tailored suits that are two sizes too small. So, now that the overflow closet was purged of items I wanted to forget about, I put those suits on hangers, placed them in the overflow closet, and now have a purpose.

By golly I'm gonna fit into those suits. They will move into my main closet once I look great in them. Mine is a realistic goal. Two sizes is not a trip to the moon. I just need to get my posterior in gear. Since I am a total weiner when it comes to cold weather, the dreadmill is being converted from its present use as my husband's clothing hanger, and I have also bought a yoga DVD. I did it the other night, and it was great. The next day I felt muscles that thought I had forgotten about them. Oh hi hello muscles - long time no feel.

My wonderful place of employment's benefit package includes an annual physical, so I have made an appointment with a general practitioner that has been highly recommended. I haven't had a physical in forever, so this is an extremely good thing for me to do.

Y'all I'm just trying to get my shit together.

This weekend, in the spirit of trying to get my shit together, Saturday will be spent doing more organizing. I have boxes filled with random papers in my closet and bedstand. Said papers will be gone through. I will not be idle in front of TV on Saturday, but tonight I will be.

Tonight I will prepare a lovely salmon dinner, with a green veggie to torture Dear Husband and a starch that he will probably eat too much of, with wine. We will watch a strange French movie that Dear Husband put in my Netflix queue, and relax. Saturday night we have been invited to a party (FUN!), and then Sunday we will go to church.

I know this was random and long, but it was fun for me to type. So there.

Bastard Guacamole

Super Bowl parties will happen shortly, and the mind goes to snacks (oh yeah and BEER) for the event. I am well known for something I call "avocado salsa." It can't really be called guacamole, because it is not mushed up like the traditional guacamole. This morning I came across a horrid recipe. I am not going to post the recipe. It disturbs me that it exists on the intertubes, and I shall not be a party to spreading it further. I shall simply put the ingredients below:

1-1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 avocado
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped pickled jalapeño
1/2 teaspoon salt

Do y'all see what the first ingredient is? Peas.....friggin peas in guacamole. HELL NO. Peas are from the devil - they are what evil tastes like, and should be avoided at all costs. And now these little boogers are trying to sneak into guacamole? I am sure that the nutritionist freak/sadist that developed this recipe thought he/she had the best intentions, but this is just so not right. Yes, avocado is high in fat, but it is a good fat, and if you pair the dish with freshly baked wheat tortilla wedges (as I do) rather than greasy bagged tortilla chips, then you should not have to mess with the holy trinity of avocado, cilantro and lime (yes I know there are other ingredients - step off).

If you can't easily tell, I hate peas. It is the only vegetable I will not eat under any circumstances. A few months after I married my Dear Husband, he made split pea soup in my crock pot. HE FOULED MY CROCK POT WITH THE EVIL LEGUME. It was a bad scene when I came home from work and found out what he did. He hasn't made that mistake again, and we will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary this year.

Anyhoo here's my recipe for avocado salsa. It is super easy, and I promise you it is always a big hit when it is served in my house:

1 chopped, seeded roma tomato
2 chopped semi-ripe avocado
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in small bowl.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Coco Makes Jewelry

Yep, I have changed mediums again. I am now into making jewelry, after not making much of anything for a couple of years. Here are some pictures of some jewelry I recently made.

Necklace:

Detail of necklace:

Here's the bracelet that goes with it:

I love how this turned out. The colors are warm and sparkly. I made the bracelet free form with the hope that it would sorta look like rock candy. It pairs well with the necklace, since one of the strands in the necklace is made with the same seed bead colors, so it goes without looking too "matchy matchy." Wearing the same design on your neck and wrist is tragic and boring. Don't be that person!

Although you can't see it, the necklace is nicely finished with a spring clasp just as the bracelet is. Send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing!

My paintings in a store!

As my readers know, a dear friend of mine put my paintings in her faboo store The Natural Home, in Asheville, North Carolina. Here's a picture of the gorgeous display she created.


I absolutely adore the way that she placed them. I hope they all go to happy homes!

Buh bye 2007

I had all sorts of time off during this holiday season, thanks to the super awesome, generous place where I work. When I am off, I rarely touch the computer, since I stare at one every single work day, so that is the excuse I am using for the lack of posting.

I know alot of bloggers are doing their "Wow - 2007 blah blah" retrospective posts, but I will not bore you with that. There was some goodness for me last year, and there were things that sucked. 2007 is done, and we are now in 2008. Resolutions blow, so I'm not going to make any.

I had a fantastic holiday break. It consisted of me and Dear Husband, mostly in the house, being vegetables. I cooked, I painted, I did seriously useful things around the house, and most importantly I decompressed. It seems like my life is always jam-packed with things to do. My vacations are spent mostly traveling to out-of-town weddings to shoot with Dear Husband, so having time lounging around the house is an extreme luxury.

I enjoyed lazy afternoons with Scooter doing her best impression of a purring hot water bottle on my lap.

New Year's Eve was spent with our friends Tim and Carla. Carla made us a fantastic Mexican dinner, and really strong Margaritas. Then we played dominoes (FUN!!!) until the ball dropped, and of course Carla and I were wearing our tiaras the entire time.

We got home around 2:00 in the morning, and were awakened mid-morning by some other friends inviting us out to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. There's not better hangover cure than a fried breakfast, so Dear Husband and I got ready in lightning speed, and we had a super nummy breakfast with good friends. Upon returning to the house I did laundry (or I was going to have to go commando the next day) and started working on my next painting. I am really digging the idea of doing funky roosters - lots of color and motion, but we shall see.

Last night we dined at my brother-in-law's house. The food was delicious (especially since I did not have to cook - YAY) and then we watched the most dreadful movie I have seen ever. For serious I am ashamed to even mention what movie it was, but alas it was the movie that was offered, so there I sat. Granted, I did laugh a few times, but mostly because the bad taste represented on screen was beyond comprehension, and the only thing that I coud do was laugh.

And now I am back in the swing of things. Today feels weird. The calendar says it is a Wednesday but I am having a hard time believing that fact, since it totally feels like a Monday, but I am happy that it is another short week, and look forward to another lovely weekend.

p.s. I finished my last work in my flower vase series. This is a bigger piece - I think 12 x 14. I've decided to keep this one. Dear Husband wired the back for hanging, and then did so in our bedroom. I absolutely love it.