Putting up

Tomatoes! Picked up a large bag of tomatoes at the West End Farmers Market and diced them. They are now all in my chest freezer for when I decide to make chili this winter.

My Memories giveaway

I was recently contacted by My Memories asking if I was interested in doing a giveaway on my blog. Of course I am!

The software allows you to make scrapbook layouts, photo books, cards, videos, you name it!  Visit their site www.MyMemories.com, blog, Facebook page, YouTube page, or Twitter feed to check them out. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment telling me what you think. Simple!

Winner will be chosen randomly on Tuesday, October 25 - just in time for Halloween! [cue spooky music]

Thumb sucker

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Bayshore Woods: A BABY'S CRIB - FINAL

My Dad made a crib for my niece Chloe and it's beautiful!

Bayshore Woods: A BABY'S CRIB - FINAL: It seemed like such a long journey to get to the point where all the parts of the crib were completed. Although it took a tremendous amount ...

Look at that cute face!

Love my niece Chloe! She's getting bigger, smiling, blowing bubbles... and starting to suck her thumb. Any advice on how to get her to stop for my sister?

The West End Farmers Market invites you to the Halloween Costume Contest (Oct 31, 2011)

		Hello! You are invited to the following event: Halloween Costume Contest at the West End Farmers Market Event to be held at the following time, date, and location: Oct 31, 2011 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM West End Farmers Market Ben Brenman Park Alexandria, VA 22304 View Map Wear your best costume to the Farmers Market - kids, pets and adults! Prizes will be awarded for the following categories: 1) Best farmer costume 2) Best fruit costume 3) Best vegetable costume 4) Best use of recycled materials 5) Best family costume 6) Best pet costume Read More Share this event on Facebook and Twitter

This email was sent by Eventbrite. Anyone can use Eventbrite to spread the word, collect money, and track RSVPs for an event. you can too

Cuisinart Food Processor

Having grown up using my Mom's Cuisinart food processor, I've always wanted one myself. And although that's what I put on my wedding registry oh so many moons ago, I got something else instead.*

It has been fine all these years but still I've been waiting patiently for the day when I could buy a Cuisinart food processor. The time is now! There are two that I'm looking at:

DFP-14BCN features:

• 14-Cup Work Bowl with Handle
• Work Bowl Cover with Extra Large Feed Tube
• Large Pusher and Sleeve Assembly
• Small Feed Tube and Pusher
• Stainless Steel Standard Slicing Disc (4mm) and Medium Shredding Disc
• Stainless Steel Chopping/Mixing Blade and Dough Blade
• Detachable Disc Stem
• Spatula
• Full 5-year Motor Warranty
• Limited 3-year Warranty on Entire Unit

DLC-10S features

• 7-cup Lexan® work bowl
• Extra-large feed tube holds whole fruits and vegetables
• Powerful enough to knead bread dough with ease
• Additional accessories included for even more versatility
• Stainless steel medium slicing disc (4 mm)
• Stainless steel shredding disc
• Chopping/mixing blade
• Dough blade
• Small and large pushers
• Detachable disc stem
• Compact flat cover
• Spatula
• Full 5-year motor warranty
• Limited 3-year warranty on entire unit

Which one would you get and why?

*If someone takes the time to put together a registry, shouldn't you assume that the items on it are the ones that they really want? Specifically?

Trash the dress

I have this fascination with "Trash the Dress" photos. So many of them are specifically for wedding dresses but it doesn't have to be that way! What if (for example) you have a gorgeous gala dress with a cigarette burn in a really obvious spot? You'll never wear it again and having it sit in your closet is a waste of space. Trash the Dress would be an awesome way to let go of it!

What do you think? Would you do it?

Public parks are endangered

Due to budget crises at every level of government, public parks are at serious risk of deferred maintenance, commercial exploitation or permanent shutdown. But who really wants that kind of “savings”? 


In fact, the benefits that parks produce far outweigh their costs. And yet, parks are typically the first and easiest target of budget cutters. A single park can cause a ripple effect throughout the community. An ill-maintained park becomes vulnerable to vandalism and crime. A playground covered in graffiti invites more and so does a field scattered with trash. Reduced property values are the inevitable results.


I say that's wrong and it needs to stop. Our parks represent the best of our community and they must be protected.

Orange cotton scarf

My first new knitting project in ages! The soft cotton is a pleasure to work with and the linen stitch makes the project easy. Who care if the air conditioning is still on?

3 months

My niece Chloe is 3 months old!

DC Taxicab Commission response to complaint

On September 5, I took a taxicab from DC to Alexandria. When I got in the car, it was SO obvious that the driver had been smoking. I had to keep the windows rolled down the entire ride. I sent in this to the DC Taxicab Commission via email:

Taxi clearly smelled like smoke when I got in. No smoking sign on the window. 

Four days later I got this response:

DCMR title 31 section 807.1 prohibits smoking in District licensed taxicabs while transporting passengers in the District. Since the car only smelled like smoke and the driver was not actually smoking while a passenger was in the car there is no violation that he can be charged with.

Is it just me, or is this totally lame?? Can you say letter of the law much?? If you think so too, feel free to send an email to Renee Hevor of DCTC at renee.hevor@dc.gov and let them know what you think. 

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance

What happens when 620,000 lenders fund 615,000 entrepreneurs, students, and other microfinance borrowers around the world? Prepare to be WOWED!



Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.

Five+ years of Kiva loan activity, in full color. Thanks to all the lenders, borrowers, partners, and team members who brightened this map - and helped to change lives in the process.

Farmers Markets in Virginia

Did you know that the state of Virginia has been losing more than 30 acres of farmland per day? You have the power to help save our farms and farmland.

Labor Day in NYC

Took the train up on Friday morning. We went for a walk in Hoboken and saw Carlos' Bakery from Cake Boss. There was a line to get in - I think people were probably waiting for 45 minutes. We decided to pass. But I did take a picture of the store front. For dinner, we had pizza.

Saturday we had lunch at Friend of a Farmer and then went to the Union Square Farmers Market. It's so huge and sells everything! We bought some heirloom tomatoes, corn on the cob, lemon cucumbers, cheese, a baguette, a bottle of wine, and a chocolate mint plant. After a nap, we went to see The Weepies in concert at Irving Plaza. I had such a great time! Their music is so relaxing and feel good.

On Sunday, we walked around the city and did some window shopping. Went to Blooming Nails to get a mani-pedi. Max opted for an extra long leg massage instead of getting a manicure - and then fell asleep!  :) In the afternoon I went with a friend to Yi Pak Spa. It's a Korean spa - a totally new experience for me! It included a 10 minutes in the steam room (at 102 degrees), a REALLY VIGOROUS full body scrub (thought my tan was going to come off but actually didn't), a full body massage, a facial, shampooing for hair, a milk bath rinse, and a time in the sauna to dry off. I'm pretty sure we were there for about 2 hours. For dinner we had Korean BBQ at Muk Eun Ji. Since it was still early, we went to Chinatown to get moon cakes.

Chloe via Skype

A better way butter your bagel

Get a stick of butter and scrape across a toasted bagel. No knife to make gouging holes in your perfected toasted bagel!

West End Farmers Market in Alexandria, Virginia

West End Farmers' Market on Real Time Farms

Chloe at 2 montha

Weighing in at 11lbs, 7oz.

Love my little niece! She's such a cutie.

West End Farmers’ Market (Alexandria) - Adult entry

West End Farmers’ Market (Alexandria) - Adult entry, a photo by Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services on Flickr.

I submitted this photo for the 2011 Virginia Farmers’ Market Photo Contest

About.me

Sign up for an @aboutdotme page today and receive a free pack of @aboutdotme business cards from MOO #imabzzagent http://u.bzz.com/b2wad

Happiness

I wrote this post Happiness for Paper to Pearls.

Meeting my niece

West End Farmer's Market

Wonder what goes on before the market opens? Here's a peek into the setup that started at 7 a.m.

Currently reading

I won an author signed copy of Fair Food by Oran Hesterman from Real Time Farms recently and I retrieved it from my mailbox over the weekend.

Really "digging" it so far! (Pun TOTALLY intended.) It's the next step to take after you've read Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma. And ties in really well with all the work I've been doing with the West End Farmers Market, focussing on local, seasonal produce, living a healthy lifestyle, appreciating the homemade, handmade and DIY.

According to the Fair Food website:

Dr. Hesterman’s menu for change offers the reader questions to ask at farmers’ markets, tools for starting buy-fresh/buy-local campaigns; advice for forming buyer’s clubs that purchase food directly from farmers and fishermen, and guidance about the legislation to support at the local, state, and federal levels. The time for systemic, practical, and widespread action is at hand, and FAIR FOOD is the ideal resource and guide for readers who want to be a part of the fair food revolution.

Midnight in Paris

Just went to the movies with a friend to see Midnight in Paris. It was wonderful. The scenery, the music, the language... all so Paris. Can't believe it's been almost 9 years since Max and I were there. Keep wishing we would go back, tonight more than ever!

So many writers and artists from the 20s came to life... the Fitzgeralds, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, Dali, T.S. Eliot - along with the costumes and scenes of that time - it was exciting!

Owen Wilson was funny but still believable. And I love how they point out (again and again) that though people are never happy in the present, the past is no more creative, easy or perfect than the present.

I'm not really a fan of Woody Allen so this is EASILY my favorite of all his movies. Watch it for yourself and let me know what you think.

One of my most favorite summer foods

War Dance

A movie about a group of school children from Northern Uganda who competed at a National Music and Dance Competition in Kampala. Although I was expecting it to be sad, and it was in parts, it was actually quite joyful - showing how these children from a war zone could be more... that music and dance were an opportunity to be great.

The music and dance was great. I love all the big smiles and the bright teeth!



If you want to watch it, War Dance is available on Amazon. It's free for Amazon Prime members. Only $2.99 to rent.

One splash page to rule them all

At least, that's what it seems like to me. A place where you can list all the places you're listed. Scan this QR code with your QR Reader to see mine:



p.s. I'm a BzzAgent

One day in the life of Virginia's libraries

Read my blog in Google Reader!

Do you have a Gmail account? Are you using your Reader?

Google Reader allows you to subscribe to my blog using the RSS feed. You can easily share individual blog posts with others by simply emailing the post to them right from Google Reader!

Adding our RSS feed is easy. Here's a step-by-step how-to:

1. Log into your Gmail account
2. At the very top left of the page, there are several links. "Reader" is the fifth one. When you click on that, you will be taken to your Google Reader.
3. At the top left, three rows down, there is a button "Add a subscription." When you click on this, a box will open asking you to "Enter a search term to find feeds or paste a feed url."
4. Copy in our feed url: http://knerq.blogspot.com/atom.xml

"Knerq" should now show up in the left column. When you click on that link, the blog posts should appear on the right and you can read them from there!

At the bottom of each post there are several links. The fifth one is "Email." When you click on that, an email message opens up with the entire blog post in the body of your email. From here, you can share it with anyone!

I'm an aunt!

My niece was born today, weighing in at 6.6lbs. Please welcome Chloe Madeline Toste!

Your wife is hot

My day lilies

Vote for the West End Farmers Market