Nothing too out of the ordinary happened this morning…
I woke up.
I ate a pre-workout snack while gushing about yeast.
I did some job searching.
I did some soul searching.
I watched Ina and Ellen do their thang…while pondering how I could one day make it MY thang.
I ate more breakfasty snacks while staring at the gloomy sky, wondering if my workout motivation would ever come around.
Frothy coffee and an Eat Natural Bar. See the fresh snow outside the window?
Brown rice cereal + almond milk + a banana. See the smiley face I made?
Since the sun was hibernating today and our 14 (going on 15) year old car was covered in ice, I set out to workout my fingers instead of my body.
I made a new dog house…err I mean, a new LIGHTBOX.
Not as haphazardly built this time.
I found a super sturdy box made with extra thick cardboard (from a previous Costco shopping trip).
I cut out windows that left a wider border so my lightbox wouldn’t waver around and fall apart (like the old one).
This box is a lot smaller in size than my first lightbox. Ideally, I wanted a big square box that I could fit my whole body inside. BUT I figured a smaller box would be less of an eyesore and appease my mother. A compromise.
[Edited to add: My mom just said, "now the old one can GO!" haha]
Instead of tissue paper, I covered the sides with an old white Hanes t-shirt.
I have about 20 of these shirts and some have endured workouts for over 3 years now (lovely, huh?). Despite choosing an old one I probably never wear anymore, it was SO weird for me to cut it up!
R.I.P. dear old shirt.
I still need to get a piece of poster board for the inside but for now, I’m using parchment paper.
The parchment paper was the perfect width for my box.
To celebrate, I had some “crack cookies.“ I took comparison photos to show daylight vs. lightbox.
Photo taken by the window.
Photo using my new lightbox. While there was less of a reflection on the plate, I still thought the cookies looked better in real daylight. The camera angle may have affected that too though.
What do you think?
I think my mom will be happier with the smaller sized light box.
Now we just have a little puppy instead of big dog.
My appetite was raging this morning despite being rather sedentary. I attributed it to my low-protein breakfast. Thus, I had a bowl of Greek yogurt and a giant orange.
…and some miscellaneous snacks and veggies.
I planned on going to the gym to watch the Duke Basketball game tonight…and then I found out I got the day wrong! It’s actually tomorrow. Oops. I may do another short at-home workout so I can avoid slipping and sliding on the icy streets outside.
***
Tell Me: If you only had 24 more hours left to live, what would you EAT?
Sushi, a banana & Nutella crepe and carrot cake with cream cheese icing
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Sushi & the best dark chocolate I could find. and pomegranate seeds covered in chocolate.
I am so sad I didn’t see these crack cookies yesterday at TJ’s!
They look and sound so good.
This is the second lightbox I’ve seen in the blogosphere. Very cool!
Love your lightbox!
If I only had 24 my hours to live, I would have the cheesiest mac’n'cheese I could find, nachos from Hose 22 (a restaurant here in Rochester, NY), and chocolate milk!
Thats a pretty intense question you threw in at the end there
I would probably eat a ton of junk food, including my favorite dessert: pizookies!
So glad you made a new dog house, for a puppy and not a big dog, your mom is happy now ! so funny!
I dont know if I can tell a difference, I guess the reflection point you said, i notice that : )
Ummmmmmmmm If only 24 hours to live, SUSHI and MINT CHOCOLATE ICECREAM CAKE from COLDSTONE!! Oh and a bottle of some damn expensive wine ; ) I would want to roll out with a great buzz ; 0 )
Steak, pasta, and ice cream. Over and over again!
oooh great question!! A “French toast sandwich” made with two giant oatmeal raisin cookies as the bread, peanut butter and banana in the middle, smothered with maple syrup and chocolate (cacao nibs perhaps). That’s ALL the goods right in one little meal
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Love the new light box!
What would I eat? Ice cream! Chocolate! Salted caramels! French Onion Soup! And I would drink as much wine as possible…
Oh I would definitely have carrot cake…the whole cake too, not just a piece!
The light box works SO well! It might not be perfect but it’s better than nothing for sure!
i would eat CHEESE!
If I only had 24 hours left to live, I wouldn’t stop eating for the entire period of time! No joke – I’d eat EVERYTHING!
Spaghetti…garlic bread dunked in the biggest pile of sauce….and then a zillion cupcakes….and then cold leftover spaghetti and garlic bread!
Um, that’s easy. Potato chips!
Love the cute little Ikea vases – we have the same ones
your lightbox rocks! I wish i could pay you to make one for me and ship it. I love arts n crafts but right now, I would gladly pay you! I am slammed with work!
I will honestly say that yes your photo by the natural light does look a tiny bit better, but if you had never said anything and said the 2nd photo was taken with real light, i never would have batted an eye.
I want a lightbox!
Andddd I need to make a lightbox!!
I think I’ll set up a light box this weekend. My photos desperately need it.
Hmmm..24 hours to live..I’d eat that one fish that’s deadly if cut incorrectly. It’s the most dangerous sushi of your life!
The new lightbox looks great! Unfortunately, if I made one of those at my house, my mom (the compulsive cleaner and de-clutterer) would throw it out within hours. Until I have my own place some day its day light and ugly flash lighting. My last meal would also be sushi, sweet potato, salad with guacamole dressing and sorbet with dark chocolate sauce
I think the lack of reflection is nice in the last one. Both seem good, though.
Hooray new light box! and RIP t-shirt! lol
i’ve been toying with the idea of a light box but i’m not sure yet, natural light is quite different to artificial light.
24 hours hmmmm, avocado, prawns & dark chocolate dreams. not together
Do you find the hanes t shirts to work better than the paper? If so that would be fabulous. I have some of those shirts that are long past their retired date. Perfect for arts and crafts time!!
Great looking light box! I want to make a light box but have yet to do so. Maybe this weekend.
Dang that’s a hard question. Probably lots of chocolate, carrots, and hummus.
I need to make a sturdier light box too. Good idea about using the white shirts – my tissue paper is starting to tear.
And I would eaattt….chocolate cake. Vanilla ice cream. And…yep that. Over and over.
I think I need those crack cookies NOW.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and cookie dough icecream!
I think I would eat everything right up until the very last second (good thing I have a long, healthy life ahead of me;)
ahah i have thought about this too many times.. i would take a whole jar of almond butter and a whole choc chip cookie dough cheesecake from cheesecake factory.. and dip cheesecake in almond butter until ive eaten it ALL!. hey, doesnt matter if im full- since ill be dead…
24 hours left to live? Well, I’d probably die with a stomachache, but I’d have donuts, pasta with Alfredo sauce, meatloaf, candy, more candy, sushi, seaweed salad, even more candy, CAKE, sharp cheddar cheese….really, I’d keep eating until the timer when *ding!*
A yogurt mess, sushi, triple chocolate cheesecake, and a baguette with brie cheese!
Chocolate trifle.
Your lightbox looks great, by the way! You make it sound so simple to make. I really need to try making one as well.
Hey Allie! I have been following your blog since I started blogging and recently I have been researching how to drive more traffic to my blog. A lot of the articles said it is all about the pictures. I have a digital camera but nothing fancy. I can certainly make a light box to make my pics pop a little more but is it worth it to invest in a nice camera?
I totally thought it was on tonight as well! Except I will be cheering for NC State…sorry! Either way I love ACC basketball!
Just kidding last night*
These are great tips! Thanks so much for sharing… I have a lot to learn when it comes to baking bread.
That’s such a tough question, because I’d have to pace myself. First I’d probably eat an entire bar of dark chocolate, followed by a few slices of Godiva chocolate cheesecake. Then I’d move onto a good cup or so of buttercream, some fresh-from-the-oven chewy chocolate chip cookies, and a few Crumbs cupcakes.
And then I’d probably be ready to die
Mcvities are great
Do they sell English biscuits in the US at all? Cadburys chcolate and Mcvities are a plus point for being English!
Hmm, I might have to try the t-shirt thing since in the last two days, I’ve ripped two out of the 3 pieces of tissue paper on mine! I’ve been fooling around with my lightbox the past couple of days to see what angles the lights need to be at and which backgrounds look the best. I think the picture came out really well for faking daylight. I mean, you get more detail of the actual cookie by the window, but like you said there is less reflection from the plate in the lightbox.
Hmm, 24 hours?
Cocoa roasted sweet potatoes, sushi with seaweed salad, CHEESE, and Newman O’s dipped in TJ’s Valencia PB (my newest addiction!)
I think the question should be- what WOULDN’T I eat?
i still have a box sitting, waiting to be made into a light box. my hangup is the lamps. i love how you are using a 2 headed one! i think i should look for one of those. thanks for the idea. RIP hanes shirt.
Im with you on the carrott cake—also, tons of different kinds of sushi and plenty of desserts after!!!
- A 32 oz. tub of Greek yogurt with a 16 oz. bag of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Granola
- A whole container of Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger Oat Muffins with cream cheese generously smeared on two and Almond butter spread on the other two (best of both worlds!)
- Any kind of Dark Chocolate with Ginger candy bar
- Any kind of pastry from Ferrara’s in NYC
- Torrone’s (loooove them!)
- A whole bag of Ranch flavored Doritos ( I gave them up 2 years ago, but they are my all time absolute favorite chip)
If I only had 24 hours to live, I would be too depressed to eat
Hello there! I just stumbled upon your blog through Pinterest! I want to go home and make a lightbox right now! Thank you for sharing. I will definitely be a follower!
Hi Alicia!
Welcome! Thanks for reading.
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