Metamorphosis Art Show: Full Success!!

The art show on Sunday at Willow Restaurant in Ballston, VA, was a delightful experience, in which I met some talented local artists, ate an amazing meal, and sold a few of my framed prints! In total, the artists made about $9,100 from art sales! 10% is being donated to Arlington ArtWorks. Thank you to everyone who came out to the event!

See below for photos of my setup:

Details:

On the Ride Home...

I had to stop and photograph these amazing signs next to each other on rt. 15, in Dillsburg, PA.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

It happened faster than I could snap my fingers: Summer has come and gone. Labor Day weekend has arrived and is quickly slipping away, especially for those of us who don't have Monday off. As I sit here and reflect on the last three months, I am abundantly satisfied. I was back at home in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, spending hundreds of hours of quality time with my family. I reunited with some long-time friends (though not as many as I would have liked) and I made some new friends along the way. I had a wonderful internship with the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, where I wrote several posts for The Bigger Picture.

I volunteered with the Fauquier Community Farm, pulling weeds in the hot sun and picking green beans until the clouds broke into a refreshing summer storm.
I traveled to Sewanee,Tennessee to see friends get married, then traveled an hour southeast to Chattanooga for a brief, but rejuvenating visit (including a delicious breakfast). I picked raspberries at Whittier Fruit Farm in Rochester, NY, and peaches and blackberries at Hollin Farm in Delaplane, VA. My mom and I toured Polyface Farm.And last but not least, this evening, I witnessed the spectacular 28th Annual Dansville Festival of Balloons.
Over the course of the summer, I watched some fabulous films including Food, Inc. and Julie and Julia. And I read some great books including Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible, Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. I've learned a great deal this summer and am looking forward to working on my thesis in this next year of grad school.

Fresh From the Oven...

For those who don't already know, I began baking my own bread last fall, after a friend gave me a little lesson on the time consuming, but incredibly rewarding custom. Since then, I've experimented with different recipes, all found on the web. And while tasty, my whole wheat loaves were always too crumbly and never quite rose to perfection. Last week on my birthday, my kind friends presented me with Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book of "innovative techniques and exacting scientific explanations." The very next day I got to work on the first recipe: the 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. Thanks to the "delayed fermentation method," the result, as seen above, was a delicious loaf with a hint of sourdough flavor, perfect for making sandwiches!