New York Times-Joe Pernice

This was in the New York Times today:

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/living-with-music-joe-pernice/

The new book comes out tomorrow.

changing my location: in a few hours I'll be changing my location. www.kamiellis-yaskophotography.blogspot.com

take note and change it on your sidebar if you will.

Summer.

I love summer. I love color. I especially love all the colors of summer :) Anyway, not much to say just a few pictures. Enjoy.

Hydrangeas

Daisies

Dandelion

More Hydrangeas

Heavy Heart...

I'm not very good with words. I speak more eloquently than I write (strange, I know.) I tend to capture my emotions with pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have any right now...but soon I will. For now, I'll just have to try to write it.

Yesterday, I was at work when my mom called. I could tell, immediately, that something was wrong. Through her tears she informed that she and my Dad were on their way to the Dr. Larry (the vet) for a task that had been weighing on their minds and hearts for a long time. Our family Dog, Frazier, after 17+ years, just wasn't able to enjoy life as a dog anymore, and it was time.

I cried, because....well, I cry. At (cough) 27 (cough) I've only ever had four dogs, two of which currently live with me. I'm a dog person. My dogs are apart of my family and when one of them dies...it hurts. Before I moved out of the house, he was my dog. He slept in my room every night and could recognize my voice over the phone. He HATED every single boyfriend until I started dating James, no LIE! He loved James. He love me because I gave him cinnamon roles on Sunday morning. He hated water. He loved to bark at boats. He didn't bite, but he wasn't a licky dog either (which is good, because he liked to drink out of the toilet) He was a the definition of a lap dog. He loved to be petted (?). He loved watermelon. He was one of the best natured dogs, ever.

So, my heart is heavy today. It'll probably be heavy for a while. Dogs are such a blessing and Frazier Dog will be missed.

ALIVE!

Yes, as a matter of fact I AM! my deepest apologies for my hiatus. It wasn't my fault though, I've been without a computer until this past Saturday. When I returned home, to Nashville, I found out that mine AND James' computers had both met their end. SO, I sold a kidney on the black market, and got a new one. A lot has happened since the last time I blogged. I have a NEW NEPHEW!!!! Cohen Thomas was born a little over three weeks ago. I haven't seen him in person yet, but hope to VERY soon! I talk to Aaron often and he says everyone is doing GREAT!


I don't have a lot more to say, since I'm about to have to go yell at some rowdy children (I'm currently working about 55 hours a weeks as a nanny) but I do have a lot of pictures to show you. Some cakes, lot of Noah, and maybe a few others. Enjoy!



I promise it won't be this long before my next post!!

I love this one.

Miss Savannah and Mr. Noah playing (the reason you can't see S's arm is because i'm about to get blasted with stuffed animals! )

So cute

Cupcakes for Allison's Shower (before Cohen was here)

Cake

Cake I did for a lady here in Nashville.

Noah and his Papa.

See you soon!

With all the talk about Swine Flu, H1N1, or R2D2..whatever it's called...I figured I offer a helpful hint for avoiding it. Don't do this:




Happy Thursday, y'all!
Oh, i still haven't gotten my computer fixed so that's why I hijacked this picture from my dad's blog. As soon as I get my computer up and running again, I will be blogging more regularly since all my pictures are on there!

Cheers!

Storms and Puppies

I thought I would post some of the pictures I've taken lately. Nashville has been great, James and I have really adjusted to life near...well, everything! We've already been to several concerts and even had the pleasure of hearing David McCoullough speak at Bellmont University. (he's the author of The Great Bridge, 1776, and many others). Anyway, we've really enjoyed it. It's been a change for me to go from constant work to having to establish myself again, but such is the job. Actually, I've been commissioned to do some work for at James' work. Hopefully, i'll be doing a lot more freelance work for them.
Something I've really enjoyed is Nashville in the spring. I love storms and we've got 'em. Anyway, here are some pictures I have taken lately.
Gunther posing like a groundhog (he does this all the time)

Happy little Gunther

Happy Little Angus



Angus posing, trying to look dapper

This is just the sidewalk after the storm

Earth Hour was a few weeks ago. During that hour James and I turned off everything for almost two hours and played guitar and sang by candle light. it was awesome.

Another sidewalk shot.

This was right before the storm. It was almost dark except for the light coming through the clouds. I think its awesome that you can see the two fronts coming to together

This is a crack in the sidewalk after the storm.

for thought.

Sorry I've been away. I've had plenty to blog about, but for almost a month I had no computer. My battery totally died and I finally received the new one last week. We've had a lot going on and even more to come. Anyway, I promise to update with pictures soon, but for now here is a post card from one of my favorite websites: postsecret.
see you soon! :)

back again.

At long last, I am back. I know you have all been heart-broken in my absence, but now that we are settled I am fully prepared to be a semi-active blogger. (semi because claiming to be "active" can give false hope :). Anyway, as of this very moment I am officially a Tennessean...well- not card-carrying, but you know- born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas, experimented with Yankeeism (didn't take) and have now ventured back below the Mason/Dixon line. Anyway, the move went well, very few broken bones, even fewer broken objects, two dogs, a brother and four rearrangements later....we are now somewhat settled in Nashville. We are currently living with our good friends David and Kristin Sessions. It's kind of cool actually, we werent' really sure what area of Nashville we wanted to live in, if we wanted to buy a house, rent, etc. so they graciously offered to let us live with them for the time being. It won't be forever, but is a definite benefit to all parties involved. Since I work from home and love to cook, Kristin said it's like having a personal chef, which is good by me. They have a dog, Abby, which is great because she keeps the boys entertained. As for Nashville, I love it. James started work yesterday and I'm sure he will be filling you in on the happenings, so check out his blog for an update. As for me, things are starting to take off as well, I've only been here a week and I already have several cake orders. Here are a few pictures of some cakes I've done in the last week This is my first Nashville cake, it was for Kristin's boss. He told her he really liked almond cake and blackberries. okay, I had never made anything like that, but no fear I spent the morning coming up with a recipe. I must say, I impressed my self with this one. This is a "white chocolate almond cake filled with a blackberry (with a hint of lemon) filling and an Almond cream cheese frosting". It may not sound good, but it WAS.

This is for one of my good friends in Cooperstown. I made this the week we left.

This was James' birthday cake. I made a little 6 inch cake for him to enjoy and cupcakes for him to take to work.

See you soon!

.

the Pretenders

Last Thursday James and I got to go see the Pretenders kick off their tour in Albany! James and I are HUGE Pernice Bros Fans and their guitar player James Walbourne (incredible) is touring right now with them!

It was a pretty sweet deal! We sat 6th row dead center! It was a great concert, but we were definitely in a weird crowd! Walbourne was incredible, as was the rest of the band! I love live music and it was especially cool to see them that close up. (we also got to hang around after and talk to the band! Of course, we had to wait in line with a few crazies who wanted autographs . We're not big on autographs, having been through 3 Inductions and seeing grown men trample children for an autographs...it's not really our gig, just nice to be able to tell them we appreciate what they do!)

This security guy, who looked like my father-in-law with BANGS and a 3 foot PONY TAIL, yelled at me to put my camera away and told me there was "no photography rule" I didn't let that stop me, but some of them are kind of blurry since I had to take them super fast and couldn't use a flash! Anyway, here are some of the pics from the show.

OH YEA, and the opening band American Bang...was great! They are from Nashville and have an album coming out pretty soon that I can't wait to get hear. I hope these guys stick around for a while..they will either be around for years or all be in rehab in 2. So here are some pics from the concert! Enjoy!

Guitar player for American Bang

Lead Singer for American bang

Drummer-obviously



Chrissie Hynde

these guys were awesome!

this isn't a great shot-but like I said...I had to be fast and sneaky :)

Nashville!

There ain't nothinnnnn, nothing wrong with Nashville!

Sorry, I was singing that song. Why? Because I AIN'T GONNA BE NO YANKEE NO MORE!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? James was offered, and accepted, a job as the Director of Education for the Hermitage in Nashville. The Hermitage is Andrew Jackson's Presidential home and museum. We are both incredibly excited to be moving, but didnt realize just how hard it would be to tell everyone we're leaving. We leave exactly 4 weeks from this Thursday! One month isn't very long, and we have a lot to do. Luckily, my brother Jared will be coming to help do some heavy lifting since I can't lift the heavy stuff yet. Anyway, in honor of this, here are some pictures that I took today. ( my computer is being stupid again so it's only 3) Enjoy!

There is a lot going on around here, but I can't blog about it just yet. However, I do have a question. Well....two questions really. When you were growing up did your family eat at the table or in front of the T.V.? AND those of you who are married with or w/o kids, have a roommate, or are living with someone. Where do you eat now? at the table? Just wondering. James and I are weird, (shocking, i know) but, sometimes we eat at the table, and sometimes we eat in front of the boob-tube and there's no rhyme or reason. When we were growing up we all at the table with the T.V. off! It was a big deal and still is to me. Have a good day! Another post coming VERY soon!

The picture is a groom's cake that I did a few months ago. Obviously, he was a huge Michigan fan!

Conversation

James- Are you interested in dozing?

Me- You mean do I want to take a nap?

James- yea

Me- It's almost 4 o'clock. I don't sleep after 4 o'clock, only vampires sleep after 4 and vampires don't sleep.

James- So...no, then.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a little better. Not great. But James says If I am coming up with things like that, I must be feeling better.

Hope you have a good week!

New Year

I'm a little frustrated. I've been trying to upload pictures from our NYC trip for almost 2 weeks and for some reason, blogger does not like them. So I've decided to blog about something that means a lot to me. GREEN. Not the color. Well-sort of.

As many of you know I'm a hippie. I am a tree hugger. Don't worry, I'm not going to preach to you about how every thing you're doing is killing mother earth. (It is..but im not going to preach about it :) Here's the thing, in an effort to save money and be more environmentally conscious, James and I have made several adjustments to our diet and how we live. (and a little note -before you start jumping on my case about being a vegetarian, I ate a cheeseburger two days ago. That's for another blog) And before you start thinking that going green mean you have to give up something...it doesn't. Most of the time it will actually save you money, save the environment, improve your health, and your lifespan. I think 15 second of effort is worth that.

These are all things that we have done:

1. Buy organic milk-okay, I know that it's expensive, however, it's worth it. This is one that is a big deal for me because I have asthma. After several weeks of switching to organic milk, my symptoms decreased significantly. ALSO, I dont' really drink that much milk anymore, in an effort to be healthier I switched my cereal for oatmeal,( plain with berries, or shaved apple for sweetner) eggs, or some other form of protein in the morning (we go through about a half gallon a week now, not bad)

2. Try to eat locally- Farmers markets are the greatest thing. EVEN ABILENE has one. Seriously people, eating locally does several things: guarantees that your not eating something that was shipped from Guatemala, who knows how long ago, ensuring that you are eating something that is better for your body, and it supports local farmers. Most farmers markets offer organically or almost organically grown produce, free-range meats, local cheese, eggs, and all sort of other things. TRUST me, it's worth the trip. Just for the satisfaction of knowing that you are putting something good into you and your kids and supporting local business. It also forces us to eat healthier. If you live in a place where winter exists (like I do) Then buy locally in the summer and freeze fruits and veggies for use later in the year. (free them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and after they are frozen put the in bags.) That way you can eat good stuff all year round.

3. Reusable bags- This is a big deal for me and it's not that hard to do. The bags generally cost about 99 cents. I just picked one up a few times when I only had a few items to get. If you don't want to spend the money on those at least do the brown paper bag thing, those can be recycled and used for crafts or whatever. Keep a few of the reusable bags in your care that way if you just need to go to the store on the way home you have one already there! ( It can take at least 300 years for a plastic bag to decompose)

4. Get a water filter- AGAIN plastic take up to 300 years to decompose. Not to mention the fact that buying a filter vs v bottled water can save HUNDREDS of dollars a year. The standards for filters is improving constantly and they work! Buy a reusable water bottle and fill it instead of a landfill.

5. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs- they do cost more than regular bulbs, but they last up to 5 years! If every American switched green house gases equivalent to 800,000 cars a year.

6. Want to save gas? Carpool and Turn off the car instead of idling when waiting in the car. When a car idles for more than 30 seconds, it's actually using more gas, therefore putting more greenhouse gas pollution into the air then if it was turned off.

7. Get rid of paper products-We don't use paper towels, napkins or plates anymore and haven't for almost a year. It was an adjustment. But a stack of kitchen towels is about 5 bucks are completely reusable. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.

8. Say no to receipts-unless you're need them for tax purposes. It's a waste of paper. Make a note on your phone, blackberry, iphone, or keep a dry erase board in your car if you need to. If everyone in the U.S. said "no thanks" to just ATM receipts, it would save a roll of paper so long it could circle the equator fifteen times.

9. Unplug your unused appliances-okay I know this sounds crazy, but after you use the toaster-uplug it. What we do is plug a bunch of appliances in to a power-strip and unplug that at night, that way its just one cord. Even though they might not be on, it they are plugged in, they are still using small amounts of electricity. Just so you know our electric bill went from $85 a month to around $36.

10. Open your windows, blinds, etc.- fresh air is good for you and sun light is FREE!

I know it sounds like a lot. But it really isn't. It just take a little extra effort and before long you'll be doing it without thinking about it. They are little things that really do save money and the environment. I know a lot of you are list maker so add it to the list! Anyway, cheers to a greener New Year!