My Mom Will Be So Proud

| randie.hov

I came from a very gloomy workplace to a far more upbeat job where I get to interact with many different people and hear a lot of inspiring stories, so I take things to heart very easily. I had to share this nice email that I received today from a student, since I was so touched by the gesture! It is here on my blog forever for me to look at and be reminded of how much my last job sucked how great it is to work on a university campus with such a diverse community of unique students that are willing to take a moment of their day to express gratitude to others.

If you’re reading this, you should send someone a nice email today. If they are like me it will make them totally nerd out in a heartfelt way and share it on all of their social media accounts. Sorry (not sorry), Antoine!

Another little brick for my house in heaven. 😛

The Horner Family

| randie.hov

This photo of my grandmother’s family, the Horners, was highly damaged after a careless relative decided to store it in a leaky shed.  As a surprise Christmas gift for my non-internet surfing grandmother, I decided to try and restore it.  This is the most challenging photo that I have worked on yet.  There were many moldy spots and one person’s face was almost completely missing!  I don’t think I will ever know what this person truly looked like, but since everyone in the photo is related and shared many common facial features, I gave it my best approximation.

The original photo, moldy and damaged.
The 10×8″ version after some retouching.
For the final copy I set the tone to black and white and cropped the image to 7×5″ so that the composition would fit more neatly around the family.

Sharon and Bill

| randie.hov

Here’s a photo I patched up of my mom, Sharon, and her father, Bill Truitt. She still makes that same expression in photos to this day.

My mom and grandfather in a photobooth on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.
My mom and grandfather in a photobooth on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.

Saga of the Cornhole Boards

| randie.hov

This Saturday is my fourth anniversary of my 21st birthday.  For my third anniversary of my 21st birthday, my roommate and boyfriend teamed up to make me a killer set of unfinished cornhole boards for me to paint and decorate.  Something that you need to know about me is that when I am intimidated by a project it can take months.  This project took 11 months and 3 weeks, to be specific.

For once my birthday is not on or immediately around Thanksgiving, so I am having my first-ever birthday house party… and I REFUSE to throw a party without fully decorated cornhole boards, dammit! Don’t worry, I did not forget the bean bags; I ordered them in my university’s colors from this seller on Etsy.

First I painted Sammy the Seagull. The little “S” on his sweater was a pain in the ass.
The lettering here is based on a font called “Reklame” from Dafont.com.
Throw down a little white paint.
Outline it all in black…
Cornhole is fully operational.

Campfire Stew

| randie.hov

I camped in West Virginia with friends this weekend and for dinner we made the most incredible beef and vegetable stew.  After a long day of climbing and hiking it really hit the spot.  I think this recipe works best if you are site camping and have access to a cooler, since the raw meat needs to be kept until you’re ready for dinner. We didn’t have much of a problem since the temperature outside hovered around 30-40 degrees all weekend!

You Will Need:
steak (we used stew steak)
cubed potatoes
diced onions
chopped celery
diced bell peppers
chopped carrots
water
salt and pepper
tin foil
a campfire
a means to time out 30 minutes
a fork (seems obvious but people forget)
Optional: red wine, other sauces or seasonings

You will notice that I did not list any measurements for the ingredients.  This is because each camper makes their own masterpiece.  Mine was light on the steak and heavy on the potatoes, others decided to take the meatless route.  For simplicity’s sake be sure that all of your meat and veggie pieces are bite sized. Additionally, if you don’t want to chop hard carrots and potatoes with your multi-tool in the dark you can prep the food at home before you head out camping.

How To:
All you need to do is take a piece or three of tinfoil and tightly wrap whatever mixture of delicious ingredients your heart desires.  I just happened to have brought a bottle of pinot noir and decided to add it in for some extra flavor.  Once you have wrapped your meat, veggies and a small amount of water (about 2-3 tablespoons worth, plus your wine if you choose) in the tinfoil you can put it right into your campfire. Make sure the foil is tight; the liquid needs to stay in there so that the potatoes will cook through. We flipped ours after 15 minutes for even cooking, they stayed in the fire for 30 minutes total.

Iron Chef: West Virginia. You might be wise to cut up your beef and veggies before you leave the house to go camping. Also since everyone keeps asking- Yes, the belt is part of my coat.
Chopping away at the picnic table.
Wrap the tinfoil tightly so the water doesn’t leak out, you need it in there to tenderize those hard-ass potatoes.
I might be delusional since all I ate yesterday prior to this was fruit and a Sonic burrito, but this is the greatest thing I have ever tasted. Notice that I wrapped mine in more than one piece of foil to prevent the juice from leaking out.

I’m Thankful

| randie.hov
November 1. I am thankful that I don’t work at my old job anymore. It was eating my soul.
November 2. Work appropriate skinny leg pants from The Limited.
November 3. My sweet Marc. Always there to hold my hand when it hits the fan.
November 4. Wildfire Adventures Fitness Boot(y) Camp! The toughest class you’ll ever love.
November 6. MY PARENTS GOT A POOL. Sure, they waited until after I moved 2.5 hours away, but did they think that would deter me? Even my bf Rebecca took the Megabus down from New York for this.
November 7. Whomever made this glorious painting.
November 8. Friday lunches out with my co-workers. AND today is payday!
November 9. I love nature, especially when I am camping in it. This weekend I am camping with friends from my college Outdoor Club. I can’t wait to relive the memories and spend the night sleeping outside in -30 degree weather. Really, I mean it!
November 10. My parents. Putting up with my B.S. for nearly 25 years now. That is longer than most people stay at a paying gig.
November 11. Thank a Veteran. Happy Veterans Day!
November 12. COFFEE. It makes my brain feel like rainbows. (Photo Credit: Deviant Art, LynnTattoos)
November 13. I’m glad to be a woman with a modern, career-oriented lifestyle. The pictured quote from Marina Abramovic pretty much sums up how I feel. I think the word “feminist” has come to have a negative connotation. Can’t I just be a strong and independent human being? What should my successes and failures have to do with being a woman?
November 14. The “Thrift Shop” song by Macklemore. Now I don’t have to live in shame anymore (Just kidding, I have no shame)! Thrift shopping is fun and it helps the community, not to mention that is satisfies my need to own cool things without paying full price.
November 15. I am reluctantly thankful for the Intercounty Connector. I have the same love-hate relationship with this road as most PG-MC commuters. The idiotically low speed limit and disproportionately high toll work together to quickly get me to work and separate me from my paycheck. Others may choose to rip their hair out on the Beltway for free, but I like to have a chance of making it to my 8:30 am job before noon. Intercounty Connector- Raping your EZ-Pass since 2011.
November 16. This is my ride-or-die 2007 Honda Civic. I paid for it all on my own and it was worth the struggle! I don’t know where I would be without my “mobile office.”
November 17. ART. Art, art, art, all day every day. Did you know that my parents never discouraged me from growing up to become a graphic artist? And here I am, all in one piece with food and shelter. What a world.
November 18. Yes, the people are snooty and the traffic patterns are monumentally asinine (see what I did there), but I am happy to live near a cultural capital with so many incredible museums and fun events. The town I grew up in has less than 5 traffic lights, so you can imagine my excitement.
November 19. I’m thankful for all of the time I have ever spent at the beach. I worked in Ocean City, Maryland for five years and it seems like such a lifetime ago since graduating and getting an office job. Here is a picture of my friend Nicole and I in the Assawoman Bay, digging for clams and getting dodged by passing boats. The cooler is tethered to a surfboard, in case you were wondering. This was in 2009 but I remember almost getting run over by the “Judith M” tourism boat like it happened this morning.
November 20. This sweet record player-inside-of-a-suitcase that my friends Susan and Kara gave me for my birthday last year. Shown here also is the greatest Christmas album of all time: the original “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” tv special soundtrack, found at Sal’s Army for two bucks!
November 21. Susan and Kara! Here we are on a cheesesteak run in Atlantic City during Susan’s birthday weekend. These are my Chick Fil A-working, lawn-forking, Plaza Tapatia-eating bitches.
November 22. Via Ferrata. I am the speck in the pink raincoat in the middle of the bridge of death. Unfortunately this Via Ferrata has changed hands and become super expensive, but I’ll never forget the way our group challenged ourselves to climb that course and how we all succeeded and celebrated together. Via Ferrata means “iron way,” and this course is literally a series of rungs and rope bridges winding around a mountain in Nelson Rocks, WV. How come every time I do something terrifying, I am in West Virginia?
November 23. I had the most amazing birthday party today! Lots of people turned out, and I debuted my new fire pit. As you can see here, the fire was about six feet tall and sideways.
November 24. Oh, Photoshop. Many people use Photoshop to perpetuate a standard of unattainable beauty. However, my favorite use of Photoshop is to restore old family photos and to correct documents where other people have misspelled my name.
November 25. Today is Monday. Thankfully, like all Mondays before it, it presumably will end.
November 26. This is overdue, but I am very, very, extremely glad that the finale of Breaking Bad did not suck. It would have ruined my year and probably my boyfriend Marc’s, as well.
November 27. Today I got to leave work early, travel to my parents’ house and have birthday part 2 with friends and family. Everything about today was awesome.
November 28. Happy Thanksgiving! My aunt and uncle deep fried the turkey again this year. YES.
November 29. My pet Uromastyx, Liz Lemon.
November 30. Today I am glad that I got to spend some time with my grandmother, Betty. We hit all of the hot spots around town: Denny’s, Hobby Lobby and the mall. Here’s a picture of Betty chillin with my grandfather in the 70’s. Rent is due tomorrow and I spent all my money on Hobbit-themed breakfasts for us at Denny’s, but that’s the life of an OG.

Mardela High School Prom, 1954

| randie.hov

Here is a photo of my maternal grandmother Betty Ann Truitt, and some friends of hers at the 1954 Mardela High School prom in the small town of Mardela, Maryland.  Parts of our original print had faded into total whiteness, so I had to use a little bit of imagination. Overall I am pleased with the result. If for no other reason, I am glad to know Photoshop so that I can restore and preserve my family’s memories. I can’t wait to show this to Betty!

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“Art Work” is not an Oxymoron

| randie.hov

Because I like having money but not too much of it, I went to college and majored in Graphic Design.  On a scale of One to Miracle this puts me at “Unicorn,” because not only am I one of fewer than 6% of college grads under the age of 25 to have full-time work, but I am actually employed as a graphic designer.  If you’re in the process of considering art as a career path, remember that I didn’t fall into my awesome job right off the bat.  I had a full-time job as a designer prior to this, but I quit because my paychecks didn’t always clear and certain people in my close proximity were surfing the personality disorder wave. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of shit to get to the golden rope, as my brother likes to say.

If art is what you really crave and you think you can achieve full time employment, you must first ask yourself: Could I tolerate 18 months of mental abuse from a short man who shaves his arms before I can level up to a job that includes dignity and retirement options? If you answered “Yes” then congratulations, you are tough enough to be an artist.

—

“I know it looks like I am drawing a snowman, but this is work.”

– said while designing this year’s company holiday card.

photo

Career results not typical.