& so it ends... [extremely long, picture heavy, post!]

and i'm back.

last week included: several trips to lowes, making yummy homemade dinners, trying to be productive and tidy, etc etc etc. i cant remember all of the details, but ill write about the ones i do. i really just needed a break from the internet world for a while. between being stressed about homework, work, getting sick, working on & selling mike's house, getting my macbook & belongings back from california, etc... i just wanted to crawl into bed each night with a movie and not even think about what was going on in cyberspace.

Wednesday or Thursday: we went to Lowe's to get organizing things and shelves and such to build up in the bathroom. then we came home and made the yummy wild rice tempeh stirfry, but this time we used PINEAPPLE [!!!] and Sweet & Sour sauce rather than Stir Fry sauce. it was so good. as usual.






Friday: regular ol' work day. i went to art history 2 in the morning, went to the gym with Merissa after, and then headed home to shower, run errands, etc. we had a good little work out and work was so-so. luckily it flew by pretty quickly.

Saturday: woke up super sore, tried to take care of some business, went up to Nashville to mike's house where he and his dad were working on it. Hung around with them for a bit and then left for work because I had to work for Angie. I had to be there at 5 so i sped the hour south and sat at the bar for about 3.5 hours before it started getting busy. my view:



Luckily i made really really good money for the weekend so that was helpful. I came home and it was raining up a storm. thats such an awful, long drive to take at 3am when its storming. we crawled into bed and woke up at a decent time on Sunday to go back to nashville. I was going to spend the day at Panera doing homework, but i felt like he could use my help painting and cleaning. We loaded up Baby G and headed that way. We stopped to get supplies and then we painted/cleaned and ate Blue Coast for dinner. We managed to make a bit of progress so we came back home.

Georgia has never experienced a backseat of a car [since my car is a 2 seater]. she was ecstatic to see that she could watch everything going on around the car.

She literally sat in the bathroom like this alllll night. it was sooooo funny!

Mike's 7th grade photo in the yearbook! eeep! he has no idea i took this picture hahahahahaha

Also, we have really really silly text conversations...

This is why i love him.

Yesterday was an optional-attendance day in Print 2... so most of us didnt go. 2 people did, poor guys! I went to the coffee shop to do some work, then I went to do errands and up to Nashville to keep Mike company. I took my sewing machine and junk so that I could sew up some little creations. I made Kayce an adorable bird for her birthday, and I made an apron.

It's nothing to really write home about, but i had fun making it [and more fun wearing it while we cooked last night!] and i was proud of the way it turned out. I'm thinking about adding suspender style straps with big white buttons to it so they can be put on or taken off. :) Someone suggested making them for my Etsy but I dont know if anyone would buy my silly aprons haha

Last night I noticed a ton of MTV trucks across teh street from my house, so my friend Caitlin came over and she, Mike, My roommate Kayla and I went snoopin... turns out John Mayer is doing CMT Crossroads with Keith Urban today. we snuck around and heard the rehearsal and such, doting around all the tour buses and what not. The plan is to go to the O'More space today and see if we cant get a peek. [I took 19 minutes worth of video of us going around there haha]

Right now i'm having to deal with a less-than-cooperative ex who is doing practically everything he can to make my life miserable. I hate how I still have ties with the past because he has something valuable of mine and pretty much just dangles it over my head just to keep me around in his life. I know Mike can sympathize, even though his situation is much more serious. But still... Its so frustrating to know that you spent 3 years of your life with someone and he/she can't manage to be an adult and help keep the stress level at a minimum. It also amazes me that just 3 months ago I was kissing this person goodbye at the San Francisco airport and the last we saw of each other, we had tears streaming down our faces. And now it's practically World War 3. Although now he "wants to see me" before he leaves town again. UGH.

I feel myself getting really sick. I was up most of the night coughing and sneezing and my throat was quite sore. I hate being congested and sick and I feel a fever coming on. Not the prime time for it because I have so much I need to do.

Okay.. I think i may go meet the girls at Sweet CeCe's for our weekly trip and then I may go to Nashville [yet again] if i dont go to the O'More space for the homework party. I NEED to do homework, but I feel so sick that I dont know if I should be around everyone. bleh!

Happy Tuesday! <3

and it's the weekend...

so yesterday we went and ate at genghis grill and had a nice little date day i suppose. then last night i called into work to find out if i needed to bother coming in... granted i'm not snowed in or anything but you mention the word 'flurries' and it sends everyone in tennessee into a tail spin. they told me to go ahead and come in so i did just that. got to work at 9pm and found out that they wanted to call me at 8:30 and say stay at home... but i leave for work at 8pm so i was already over halfway there. bleh. it was dead. dead dead dead. finally at midnight my boss man just told mde to head north and go home. i counted down my register, put out some glasses and headed home. much to my dismay, i had very very few bills in my pocket from the night. i talked to mike on the way home and finally got in at 12:45am. i practically coasted through downtown because it was so icy. i was determined to craft away last night so i did! i stayed up until 4am fighting with my sewing machine trying to make an iphone case. i hate how it came out but i guess its a step in the right direction.

we slept and slept and slept and slept. finally pulling ourselves from bed at 1:15pm. we made toast and headed out for daily errands. we went to JoAnn Fabric to get a new rotary cutter, a cutting mat, some snap clips, felt felt felt, sewing books, and a mini craft iron among other things. Then we got chips & salsa from Garcia's [our fave!] before heading home. We ate some chips and salsa, I listed a ton of stuff on my etsy and then we headed to Kroger to get a few groceries. we came home and made a vegan pizza with the new "cheese" i had talked about in the last post [btw, the brand is VEGAN GOURMET, not vegan alternative, my bad!]. but anywhoo, the pizza was fantastic. [i'll include the recipe below!]

this is what i wore today:



HOLY COW I'M WEARING JEANZZZZ! weird.

Outfit Details:
Shirt: Truly Madly Deeply for Urban Outfitters $28
Jeans: Charlotte Russe $30 [the flare jeans that a reader HATES, ha sorry!]
Flats: Walmart $9
Vegan Leather Jacket: Aryn K. for Therapy $100

The Pizza:

BEFORE it went in the oven

AFTER it came out. YUM!

This is the crust we used. You can buy it at Whole Foods.

How to make it:

• Preheat over to 425 degrees F. Take the crust out and drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil. Use a pastry brush to distribute it evenly. Apply a coat of pizza sauce [the amount to your liking]. Shred up Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese Alternative and distribute evenly over entire pizza. Cut up a zucchini and slice in halves. Place zucchini and mushroom slices on pizza. Add a little more sauce and "cheese" if you want the vegetables to bake IN the pizza. Place pizza directly on the oven and cook for roughly 8-10 minutes, or when it looks done. Then slice and enjoy!

Mike and i were both pretty ecstatic when we took our first bite of the pizza because it was phenomenal. Mike's favorite food is pizza and he could eat his weight in it in a single day, i'm sure. Now he can have it yet again! I'm not sure I'd even want regular pizza again. I liked this tofu cheese because its not as heavy so it doesnt leave you feeling bloated and gross like normal pizza does. Anyway, y'all should all try it because it will make you believers :)

Angie, the other bartender at work, just called to let me know that i'm not missing a thing. It's been dead all night and we're just praying that it picks up next weekend. I've missed practically a week and a half's worth of work because of this stupid slump. I can't afford to miss any more :(

Here are two funny pictures of Baby G today.. I felt like sharing!


and just to end things on a good note, here are some silly FlipCam videos!








oh oh oh, one more thing, i know i mentioned it in passing up above, but i FINALLY listed some things on MY ETSY so please click HERE to have a look! especially if you love owls or vintage brooches because i'm clearing out parts of my collections! *If you're interested in buying multiple things, i WILL cut you a deal! just speak to me before purchasing!

friday friday friday

First and foremost, I was the recipient of an awesome Blog Award from Lindsay the other day! so very flattered that I was one of 10 she chose and I hope I can find the time to hand out this award myself!

so i said i was going to get around to dying my hair last night but i definitely didnt. we had to run to walmart, do some stuff, and then we spent hours taking photos of clothes i'm getting rid of [read: i helped the first hour, then we came to a compromise and he worked on it for another 2 hours or so. what an awesome dude. we took a little break to cook dinner, and we made some really yummy nachos with this new "cheese" we got at whole foods.




granted i burnt a few but whatever. they were really yummy. we used Mission tortilla strips, picante sauce, refried beans and Vegan Alternative [i think thats the brand? i'll have to double check] nacho flavored "cheese" [i wasn't aware that its made out of tofu!] but it shredded really well, it melted, all the good things of cheese! the only real notable difference was that it was INSANELY soft when shredded, unlike real cheese. it was interesting :) but i'm glad we tried it. we definitely enjoyed it.

we finished working on getting some of the clothing up to sell [you can peruse the stuff uploaded thus far by clicking HERE] and then we settled into bed to watch "THE GOODS: Live Hard. Sell Hard" I was surprised at how funny it actually was. Typically i feel like movies like that have a tendency to flop but it was actually incredibly humorous. a lot of WTF moments haha

we woke up at 10 or 10:30 and he was out the door soon after to meet a friend for coffee in Nashville. he's on his way back now and i've just kinda been lazin' around. My car should be out of the shop today. with a new windshield and a newly painted hood! oh joy!

As for me, right now i'm going to continue to respond to emails and then legitimately go dye my hair haha my curling tutorial might have to wait until this weekend [my extensions are curled already and my new ones won't hold the curl sufficiently yet].

oh, another thing... apparently someone who reads my blog has a problem with me "portraying myself as though i live in new york city" when "in reality" i only did a "brief internship"... now, i dont know how long this person has been reading my blog, but i make it very known that i DO indeed live in tennessee currently.. of course i do.. i talk about franklin and nashville in almost every post. i came to gather after i answered this anonymous person [via formspring] that maybe it has to do with the fact my sidebar says "nashville native. calls new york city home"... well, for starters, that hasn't changed since i started my blog in may. this blog started as i packed my things and headed to NYC alone to DO my internship. this was a way for my family and friends to see/read what was going on in my day to day life up there. fast forward, i got really sick up there and i was always SO busy [interning 5 days a week rather than 3] so i didnt keep up with it. [hence the name HONEYBEE IN THE CITY . BLOGSPOT . COM] anywhoo, i picked it back up a few weeks later and here i am today. Do i live in new york city currently? No. Do I plan on returning to New York City soon? Absolutely. I'll be returning for 3 months starting in May [for the same internship AGAIN]. I'll come back to Nashville in August, finish my last semester of college, and go from there. Do I plan on moving there permanently post-graduation? You betcha. Mike and I both are working out savings strategies and we're trying to plan ahead for the permanent relocation that is going to happen. Have I ever tried to mislead any of my readers? Never. I'm all about positive attitude, preparation, and jumping at opportunities [see my sleeve tattoo: there are places and there are opportunities]. New york city gave me the biggest opportunity yet, and I fell IN LOVE with the publication I worked for. I WILL work and live in New York City after graduation. I'm not even leaving an inch of room for doubt to creep in. That will be the next chapter of my life. Would it appease this person if I removed the line from my 'about me'? Because when it was written, i was definitely calling NYC home... I worked, I ate, I slept, I played... I lived there. Anyway, i didnt mean for this to get THIS long, but I guess I felt as though I needed to somehow explain myself to the readers.

Off I go to dye my hair and be productive! Wish me luck!
PS; if you're interested in buying anything i'm getting rid of, CLICK HERE TO VIEW WHAT'S FOR SALE and then EMAIL ME at KAELAHSCLOSET @ GMAIL [dot] COM!

PPS; peep this ADORABLE picture of my two favorites!

a YUMMY vegan recipe!

okay okay! so i promised the recipe to the yummy vegan stirfry that mike and i make [read: i just cut the vegetables... he actually makes it haha]. and finally! my cardreader works so here you go! you guys should DEF try it! feel free to ask if something isnt described in enough detail, etc!


What you'll need:

• 1 pack Wild Rice Tempeh [can be purchased at Whole Foods]
• 1 pack Brown Rice
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 zucchini
• 1 pack of stir-fry veggies [snow peas, carrots, broccoli]
• Sliced mushrooms
• 1 bottle of Stir-fry sauce [any brand is fine, the kind we got has a ton of sodium... bleh!]

* Start by washing & slicing the vegetables in halves & then halves again [quarters, derrrr]. Then slice those up into smaller pieces for the stir-fry... As shown below:



* Boil a pot of water and cook as much rice as you think you'd like [typically 1-2 cups, depending on how many you're feeding]. Boil the rice for about 30 minutes. [The package says cook it with a certain amount of water, but really, cook it with less. You want it to remain a little firm.] Basically cook it at your own discretion.

* Gather together all of your vegetables.


* Take the tempeh out of the package and slice it long ways. Then cube it up in a similar manner that you did the vegetables.



* Boil a pot of water and cook the tempeh for about 7 minutes.

* Then strain the tempeh and stick it in the oven on a cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes [until it is golden brown.] at 450 degrees F.



* Fix up a pan and put a very thin coat of olive oil and heat it up until the oil is nice and hot, then put in the vegetables. Let the veggies simmer until most of the olive oil is gone and then put in the stir-fry sauce. [or whatever sauce you choose, we're going to try sweet & sour next!]. Put the sauce in by thirds. Let the veggies soak up the sauce a little. The best rule of thumb for timing this is to try a carrot. When the carrot is at a decent texture, add in the rice & the tempeh and cook them around a little more. Continually turn the veggies and tempeh so it allows them to soak up more of the sauce. The timing is completely at your discretion [don't be afraid to try it while it's on the stove. Only you will know when it's the right amount of "done".]



* Then TAH-DAH! it's done! and eat it upppp!



It's such a fantastic recipe and Mike is oh so good at making it! I could literally eat it almost every day! We're going to try it with different sauces until we find one that is perfect. The regular ol' stir-fry sauce is great, but it's highhhhh in sodium! If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you! It's a wonderful way to try something vegan if you're thinking about making the switch, and it's something that even meat-eaters can enjoy!

xo

ps; if you'd like to see the rest of the photos that go along with this recipe, click HERE to see the set on Flickr!

holy absentee batman!

so sorry for the whole 'not blogging' thing.. i suppose the end of the year brought a serious case of laziness... well, not so much laziness as just being a busy busy bee. oops, i should start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR! hello 2010! you're looking mighty fine thusfar! i've been avoiding reading any of the new year resolutions in the comments of the giveaways because i want to be totally impartial when we choose one in a couple of days. ill just have mike read them aloud to me and we'll choose the best without seeing who left it. no favoritism here, ya know what i mean?! anywhoo, i'll kind of just throw in bits of what my week has consisted of.

it's been a LOT of vegan cooking with mike. fantastic! he's such a wonderful cook and i'm grateful that he actually enjoys cooking for me so that i dont have to. peep the photo below...i was definitely perched up on the counter eating a pickle sickle while he cooked. haha supervising at its finest!
the other night he cooked vegan veggie stirfry with wild rice tempeh and then brown rice. we also had vegan spring rolls. mmmm. it was SERIOUSLY like the best thing i've ever put in my mouth. no lies. im guilty of not liking to try new things but this was worth it.


c'mon... who WOULDN'T eat that? okay okay.. i digress. we've been tinkering around with new yummy foods to make and i can already tell that being vegan with mike is definitely going to make things a LOT easier. win! we' ve been keeping up with our tradition of waking up late, eating lunch at roughly 3:30 or 4pm and then coming home after errands, ginormous bubble baths, cooking dinner at 10pm and then crashing in bed and watching a movie. it's fool proof and i love it. the other night we watched like 3 episodes of Ace Of Cakes while laying in bed. I definitely made my love for that show contagious. he's now definitely a fan!

the past 2 nights we've made yummy veggie burgers and all that jazz. we had a very very very late lunch at blue coast burrito the other day after running errands in columbia and nashville so we decided to make it a full on date night. we ate, got ice cream before his vegan-ness became official today, and headed over to the movie theater to see Did You Hear About The Morgans?... well, we FINALLY got in the theater and it was CRAMMMMMED full of people. seriously. you could barely move. so we bailed and said we'd do that another night. instead we drove over to walgreen's to the redbox to rent Funny People but instead of just getting the movie and going home, we sat in the parking lot, in the car, and had an intense 1.5 hour conversation about our pasts and what it was like when we dated each other the first time around. Then we went home, cooked, and definitely just sat and talked for 2 or 3 more hours... never even watchign the movie. i love when you can have indepth conversations like that.

i feel so incredibly blessed to be with someone so amazing and i'm so so so grateful for him.

yesterday we took it fairly easy, grabbed lunch at genghis grill and just hung around for a bit. i had to leave for work at 7pm so we didnt get to spend new years together. kind of a bummer but i know nothing that silly and trivial will really play a huge part in our relationship. he had fun at a mutual friend's house party deal and i worked from 8pm til 2am. i really really did NOT want to go to work but i'm so glad i did. i made bank. it was really needed, too. we were so so so incredibly slammed so it was good. i'm not sure if any of you know how strange it is to be a bartender on new years eve with several hundred people in your bar and to be the only person there that abstains from any alcohol consumption... but its definitely interesting haha my job is DEFINITELY easier if you're under the influence of said alcohol, however i really enjoy not partaking in that so it all works out. i have to work again tonight and tomorrow so hopefully 3 nights of bringing home lots of cash monieeezzz. we'll see, i reckon!

it was awesome waking up to someone on the new year that i adore. and i've really been racking my brain for my ~new years resolutions. [honestly, i'm just like everyone else in the world... aka i'm really really bad at keeping them.. but i try to make them more tangible so here they are...]

my 2010 resolutions:

• continue to be completely & totally open minded to what the future has in store for me.
• absolutely BUST BALLS to rock my 2nd internship at BUST mag in NYC this summer.
• save save save! starting this weekend, $500 a week into my savings. NO. EXCEPTIONS.
• keep up with my blog regularly
• practice what i preach [read: continue to be optimistic, work on my self-esteem and while its okay to be my own worst critic, i also need to learn to be my own biggest fan.]
• continue to keep up with my moleskine on the daily. [it has seriously been one of the biggest AWESOME factors in my life. i swear by it. y'all need one.]
• continue on my healthy stint [read: stay vegan, continue to abstain from any drugs or alcohol, continue to kick that soda habit, etc]

the reason i start many of these with "continue" is because i dont see the new year as being a "fresh start" like some people... i dont wait until the "end of a year" to kick nasty habits. the measurement of time is completely man-made and the universe has no concept of this. it's foolish to say "2009 was such a crappy year" and try to place all blame on the cosmic universe to what happened to you, or the habits you acquired, etc.. thats just silly! 2010 is not a tangible thing.. it's merely something that exists in our minds. now, its perfectly fine to try and use this as a tool to help trick/train yourself to do something, but don't rely on this measure of time as though it's a life line. anyway, sorry, that was my little sch-peal about it all. hope that wasn't offensive to anyone! i just get a little peeved when people rely on something like that to change their ways. :)

i can't wait to read all of your resolutions! post yours in a comment on the post prior to this so you can be eligible to win the awesome goody package that i've rounded up!

happy new year, again, all of you! and a huge huge HELLO to my new followers! if we haven't spoken, please introduce yourself in the comments or shoot me an email! i love getting messages from y'all! [kaelahbee at gmail dot com!]

happy 2010! xo