Leucocoprinus Birnbaumii

The other day when I went to water my plants I had a fleeting thought upon catching first glimpse of the soil:

"Oh, man - some rotten kid has stuffed yellow Nerf darts in my pots' soil! How did they even get onto my patio?!"

(That's my beautiful bougainvillea, by the way. It is finally blooming after I gave it some fertilized soil this summer.)

So, anyway, upon further inspection, it turns out the little yellow things weren't Nerf paraphernalia. In actuality they were growths coming right out of the soil. I still wasn't sure what they were, but I'd find out.

After stumbling around searching online I finally discovered that these little yellow things are mushrooms! Specifically, these shrooms are Leucocoprinus Birnbaumii.

A professor from the University of Wisconsin had a nice, informative page about them:

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii (luke-o-kuh-PRY-niss burn-BAUM-eee-eye) is a common mushroom in house plants and greenhouses or any other place with organically rich soil where the temperature is warm . [...] It's a bright colorful mushroom that helps those of us in the far north get through the long, mostly mushroomlesss winter. It's also very common in the south in warmer climates, where it can grow outdoors, especially in mulched flower beds.

And now I know what those growths were. Some websites recommended letting them grow because they are so dastardly difficult to get rid of. Even if you replace the soil they can still come back. I've decided to try to remove them. So far I've plucked 4 or 5. They grow SO fast, I'm sure there are a couple waiting to be yanked today.

In other news, my newest flowers are starting to really get growing. No buds or blooms yet, but hopefully soon!

Thanksgiving Dinner Party

This Thanksgiving was the first that I've not spent with my immediate family in Indiana. In addition to the nostalgia of spending the holiday with close family, the weather in Florida is a bit bizarre for celebrating Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I had a lovely holiday with two celebrations.

First I hosted a dinner party where I made my first turkey. A big, fat, 20-pounder! Thumbs up for turkey!

I had some of my favorite people over for the evening. I asked each person to bring a dish. We had green bean caserole, Caprese salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, rolls, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and, of course, the turkey. When we were all seated we went around the table and said one thing for which we are thankful. I said that I was thankful my brother, Chucky, had survived Hell Week at NAVY BUD/S training. I am also thankful for my puppy, Heidi. Jessica brought champaigne so we toasted to the spirit of the holiday. Afterwards we played a few games of Mafia!

That was all on the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day I made pumpkin cake and took Heidi over to my second-cousin's house. I am so thankful to have Lori and her family nearby so I didn't have to spend the day without family. I appreciate how welcoming her and her family are to me and Heidi!

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely!

It's Officially Christmas Season!

It's Black Friday, and that means that Christmas Season is officially here! I have Ella Fitzgerald Holiday playing on my Pandora radio, and I just brought all the Christmas decorations in from my storage closet.

So, today is dedicated to getting my apartment all dec'd out for the holidays. I'm also going to work on my 2010 Christmas Letter and maybe wander out into the shopping madness for some Christmas cards. I'm also going to work on some blogs that I've been meaning to put together. Lots of photo work to be done, too. Lastly, I plan to end my evening with a cup of marshmallows with hot chocolate, a slice of pumpkin cake, and watching The Blindside and/or reading on my book.

Happy Black Friday!

Mom's Summer Visit

As you can see, I'm very behind in my blogging as of late. I'm catching up, so forgive the lack of stories, detail, etc. Hopefully that's okay because you're getting a straight feed of photos and captions - I think that's what folks like to see most. = )


Mom making us a delicious breakfast



At Cocoa Beach, PRE-thunderstorm, haha; here Mom is just before she transformed into the Sand Monster



Mom helped me give Raven a bath



Mom & I at The Lodge, downtown, for the 80s Bar Crawl; we had a rickshaw ride and met Yum Yum, haha!



Mom enjoying the porch for a little patio picnic we had one afternoon



Lounging around; she helped me furnish my apartment, yet again, with some throw pillows



Mom & I at Paradise Beach; it was a PERFECT beach day; we had so much fun in the waves!



Mom, Aunt Joan and I with a gorgeous, fire-y orange sunset after a lovely home-cooked meal in Melbourne



During Mom's visit Sam was in Fargo, ND for a wrestling tournament. Dad snapped this amazing photo of Sam perfectly executing a suplex!


-Amanda

Mom's Spring Break Visit

A few weeks ago my mom visited me! It was wonderful to see a member of the family! I'd missed her so much! We had a great week and a half together. We ate at Urban Flats (tradition), had make-overs at Merle Norman (also tradition), canoed with an alligator down a river in Wekiva, furnished my apartment, started a potted garden, ran a 5K, played at the beach and in the ocean and met up with Aunt Joan. I can't wait until she visits again this summer! Here are some photos of her stay:


the finished looks from the Merle Norman make-overs


about to begin our "adventure" canoe trip


the gator we canoed by while less than a meter away (seriously)


pre-race photo with the OWR at the Windermere Run Among the Lakes 5K


Mom looking hot in the cool ocean (5 more minutes, please!)


Great Aunt Joan Golden, Mom & I

-Amanda

Unstructured Post

It's time I catch up here with the random going-ons in my life. Currently I am enjoying a bottle of wine by myself for the very first time. It is a mark of fabulous independence. I'm drinking a 2008 Yellow Tail shiraz, a product of Australia! Obviously this makes me doubly happy. I'm listening to the soothing melodies of the Feist Pandora Internet radio station, and I'm having a delicious Greek salad. It reminds me of happy evenings during my final semester at Purdue.

I bought an iPhone a few weeks ago. As a Mac user it made a lot of sense for me to choose it over the BlackJack 2, which is Windows Mobile and basically identical to my old phone, the original BlackJack. Naturally, I love everything about the iPhone with a couple of exceptions. One, I can't get my Bluetooth headset to make a relationship with the iPhone; I think the iPhone only plays with a particular headset. I'm not sure. Two, no picture text messaging. Other than that I think it's genius. Apple knows how to please its customers. They create things that flow with the mind's train of thought. Their products just make so much sense.

Lately I've become obsessed with Pandora, the aforementioned Internet radio website. The best thing about the website is that you give it an artist or a song to work with and it plays songs similar to your request; makes for a great way to discover new artists and songs. I've been very keen on the Frou Frou and Feist radio stations. Look 'em up. At least check out Pandora. You can thank me later.

I recently received word on my high school's 5 year reunion. It's hard to believe that it was five years ago that I graduated from high school. It will always return to memory with a sense of pettiness. A couple months ago I had a discussion with an old friend about whether or not we would attend our high school reunions. We both agreed that we probably wouldn't: people only want to show off at these sorts of functions. However, I have been in touch with some old friends from school, and it may be a nice opportunity to meet up with them. Any way, I was originally set against attending, but I'm rethinking my decision. I doubt it, but it would make for a good reason to have a trip up to Indiana in the fall. I might go for that reason alone.

Orlando is treating me well. I'm making it a point to scoop out the interesting places to grab coffee, dine, and relax. Yelp has been a great aid in that endeavor. Yelp is a reviews website; a great source of information.

I officially start my mini-marathon (13.1 miles) training today. Since the new year I've been training several times a week, no slacking! I'm quite proud of myself. Now it's time to start upping the mileage! Speaking of races, Lockheed Martin is sponsoring me to run a corporate 5K race in downtown Orlando at Lake Euola. I'm excited for that one! As a side note for training, I've been doing a great amount of cross-training with cycling and swimming!

Great news: I'm going to be at Purdue on Saturday, 2 May! I'm running the Indy 500 Mini that morning, but the plan is that I'll be well trained and able to move my body later that night, haha. That's the current plan.

-Amanda

My Apartment

Here is the promised post of my apartment. Do enjoy! (They're a little outdated by now - sorry!)

When you walk in, to the immediate right is a closet and the utility room behind that, but in this shot you see the kitchen, which is to the non-immediate right. Follow?



My grandma gave me these lovely canisters. I was so proud of myself for filling them up: sugar, flower, powdered sugar (the most of what I'll surely use the least, haha) and the chai tea (my favorite) that my aunt made me for Christmas:



Jumping to the master bedroom (view from a bit inside the entryway), here is the assortment of things that now reside in my "night stand," which happens to be the beautiful green chest you'll see in another picture coming up:



The vanity/sink area of the huge master bathroom:



The empty but well organized linen closet:



Another view of the master bathroom (I love the flowers!):



I almost couldn't believe that all of my clothes fit in the walk-in closet! Thank goodness for all of that wonderful shelving:



The view of my bedroom from the bathroom doorway:



My lovely curtains (the photo doesn't do them justice):



The VERY spacious living room (the books are all now arranged in a fantastic bookcase - one in the living room and one in my bedroom where the green chest used to be; notice the awesome lamps - thanks Aunt Dawn!):



My lovely dining table - thanks Grandpa! (if this table put out a personals ad it would read "currently seeking four chairs"):



And last, but certainly not least, the computer nook; it is across from the utility room and kitchen (between those areas and my bedroom, that is - screw it: I'm going to upload a photo of the layout, haha!):



Here's the layout of the Biscayne apartment. This should help a bit:



And that's my apartment so far! Will post when I acquire some furniture or anything in addition to the ironing board that occupies the guest bedroom (it's too empty to bother posting an image of).

-Amanda

Settled & Online

This is a quick note to share my appreciation of all of the help I had during the Big Move. Thanks to Mom (Kick Start), Daddy (Omelet), Chuggy (Toot Snapper) and Grandpa (Mr. Snuggles)! I (Goldilocks) couldn't have done it without you!

We arrived on Friday, according to the plan, and the men got all of my stuff up to the third floor while Mom and I situated boxes in their appropriate rooms; we showered up and had "shushi" at Seito - I think everyone enjoyed it, and if not, I know they liked Cold Stone's afterwards! Saturday we took it easy, played some Putt Putt and had Bahama Breeze in lieu of a seafood buffet. Sunday morning the gang left dark and early - I was sad.

So now I'm officially on my own. It's kind of weird. I went half way around the world and that didn't get to me, but this move, it's so different.

I've stocked my pantry and fridge, unpacked everything and have just had my Internet hooked up (yay!). Time for a run, then dinner, and then I think I'm going to catch Twilight at the Regal Cinema. Don't worry, I'll post about the last week's going-on's in more detail and with photos (compliments of Chucky Bucky).

-Amanda

Book Ends

I'm quite excited to invest in a pair or two of book ends! Obviously I need to sort out my book shelf situation first, but I'm enjoying some online shopping here. = P

After surfing images of book ends I settled upon these six as favorites. Quotation marks are ever so befitting, and these ones have a contemporary look to them; I can see these on a shelf in the living room. I've been getting into chess lately, so I took well to the idea of a knight and castle as book ends. I really like the peacocks! They're pretty and unique and elegant. I could see these in the master bedroom. The a-z book ends are awesome. They are up there with the quotation marks. The Jefferson ones are really fancy; definitely guest room bound. (By the way, my guest room will eventually double as a study.) The ampersands are cool. I've always had a thing for ampersands, but I must admit these are my least favorite. On the contrary, the globe book ends are a favorite. They may clash with a real globe when I get my hands on one of those, though?

Shopping for apartment furnishings is lots of fun!

-Amanda

Blik Faves

I was surfing the Web for wall decorating ideas and stumbled across a website called Blik. It is an online store for all sorts of wall decor - I was mostly interested in the stickers:

Something modern with dots:



The birds are a favorite of mine. I think I might do white birds in my master bedroom. They would go nicely with the canvas photo of the Sydney Opera House my parents gave me. I'm thinking that I'll put it in a thick-bordered, white frame.



Some more dots. I'm not sure I'll have a use for them, but they are fun. I'll keep them in mind.






I really like the next two designs. Very classy and vintage. Perhaps the guest room or living room?





These bamboo decals would go perfectly with the guest bedroom decor - it's avocado green an bamboo-themed already!



I have always been a sucker for trees, especially silhouettes of trees such as these. I think I might put some of these decals in the entry way or maybe in the living room?



Let me know if you have insight on other wall decoration ideas! Your thoughts are welcomed.

-Amanda

Master Bedroom Plan

I've been getting excited about dressing up my new apartment, and I thought I'd share a little about my plans. This post will detail my master bedroom. The color theme is of shimmery blues and a little brown, too.

Here is a photo of the curtains I chose.



And here is the bed set I purchased. This set is the beige color theme, whereas mine is actually the blue color theme which better matches the curtains above.



I've decided to paint the bedroom, but I'm undecided on what color and shade. I'm thinking a faint blue or maybe a light creamy color? I just want something other than white. I'm very tired of white walls.

As for furniture, I have a ways to go. I will be buying a dresser, and a night stand. I'd also like a shelving unit of some sort, if space allows.

For the master bathroom, I'm not sure what theme to go with. I don't want to do anything typical (i.e., the beach, fish, etc.). And my current bath decor will be made into the guest bath decor - that means the master bath can't be avocado green-based. Hmm... I'm thinking grey. Grey and silver, maybe? I'll have to think on that a bit.

So that's my master bedroom plan.

-Amanda