Crystal Madrilejos

Design & Creative

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Commenting

So I haven’t had a minute to try to figure out the “Read More” thing. BUT yesterday, in my Blogger frenzy I forgot to mention that I changed some comment setting so now anyone can comment and also you can link back to any posts you want with the little “Links to this post” link (too many “links” in this sentence) at the bottom of every post. If you’re confused by what I just said, just look below this post and you’ll figure it out.

Since I haven’t figured out how to do the “Read More” thing, I’m going to have to post many Amish Country photos in a row. So here goes:

I’m going to work backwards in our trip, because I think it makes for a better starting point and ending.

These are some kids hanging out next to the country store. There was one little girl, who was probably about 7 or 8 years old, shopping for groceries with another little girl (about 2 years old) on her hip. She looked like an adult! I don’t have a good picture of them so this will do instead.

Ashery Country Store was our last stop on the trip and it, as you can see, has bulk foods. I’m not sure if they make all these goods, but the hot cocoa mix looked suspiciously like Swiss Miss. Guess we’ll never know. I got a bag of chocolate covered almonds and some raw sugar. Andrew stocked up on “special” flour and such.

This is the parking lot of the Ashery Country Store. Special parking for the horse drawn carriages. I don’t know a whole lot about the Amish other than what I’ve observed, and that isn’t much. So if I’m misrepresenting anything in anyway, please feel free to set me right. But I swear I saw more than a few buggies driven by Amish men drinking Mountain Dew or Canada Dry or coffee out of a styrofoam cup. Is this allowed? I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, but it sort of makes you do a double-take.

Speaking of carriages, we rode in this one. (In this photo it looks like the horse is about to take a mad dash and the carriage is teetering on two wheels!) Andy is the horse’s name and the driver is Lester. Seems like it should be the other way around (no offense to anyone named Lester!). I felt a little weird riding in the carriage because I wasn’t sure how the horse was treated. The driver seemed nice enough and there are horses EVERYWHERE in Amish Country pulling carriages. But the fact that we were tourists of sorts felt like maybe it was more carnival ride and less necessity for transportation.

Last but not least is Lehman’s. This is a huge Amish Department store. Even though I did see a few Amish people browsing and probably buying, I have a feeling it’s not where they would go to get a bargain. Lots of cool stuff, for sure. I mean, it’s famous! People come from all over the place to shop at Lehman’s.

Abigail weighing herself at Lehman’s and below is a really neato display of yard sticks.


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“Read more”

So, I just spent many minutes trying to figure out, in Blogger, how to have a post with a jump page so the post isn’t so long. However, I was unsuccessful. My brain hurts and I’m tired so if anyone knows how to do this and can help me, please, feel free!

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"Read more"

So, I just spent many minutes trying to figure out, in Blogger, how to have a post with a jump page so the post isn’t so long. However, I was unsuccessful. My brain hurts and I’m tired so if anyone knows how to do this and can help me, please, feel free!

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Amish Country…

was amazing! I’ll post more when I have a minute between working and cleaning.

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Oh, hell yes!

We’re going to the Amish Country tomorrow!!! I haven’t been there in years. Seriously, I haven’t been there since I was in elementary school and all I remember is eating bulk candy and wishing I could dress like a little Amish girl in a blue dress with a black apron and matching black bonnet. Oh, and Holly Hobbie boots.

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Tap Tap Tap



I just got back from my first tap class! Dancing has always been a dream of mine and I’ve finally gotten around to actually doing it. I wish I could dance like Gene Kelly. Holy smokes, that would be amazing.

Truly,
Crystal

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Wondering

I realized that I never posted about Pastel Stories. This is the website of the creator of The Submachine Series and Daymare Town.These are two of my favorite flash point-and-click adventure games. Absolutely amazing. The graphics are out of this world and the stories will have you completely addicted. If you’ve never delved into the world of adventure/escape games, these are a good place to start.

According to the site, The Submachine Series is described asan ongoing series of point and click flash games. It’s all about puzzle solving and escaping from closed installations of the submerged machines (hence the title sub-machines). With each game You explore deeper into the dark world of the submachines.” I highly recommend it.

On a completly different note, last week Andrew and I were on our way to dinner and I asked him when he was going to get around to posting on this thing. We sort of came to the conclusion that he may never grace you all with his written presence and I think it’s a shame because I know he has a lot of wonderful and thoughtful things going on in his life and in his mind. For now, he will remain the elusive character that I will continue reference in my posts. He’s always been sort of a mystery, even to me and I’m pretty sure I know him better than anyone.

So, speaking of Andrew. Yesterday, I had to break smelling salts under his nose while my dad was cutting open Andrew’s foot in an impromptu foot procedure! This was totally unexpected on mine and Andrew’s part (the smelling salts and the foot precedure.) I’ve never had to do that before, and the really weird thing is that 10 minutes before I administered the smelling salts, Andrew and I were wondering what it smelled like. It’s got kick, for sure!

xo Crystal

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City



These Ork posters aren’t anything new, but I wanted to post about them because I’ve been considering getting one for awhile now.
Jenny Beorkrem, a designer based in Chicago, created these city neigborhood posters “whilst searching for a Chicago neighborhood poster that wouldn’t cramp my style.” Love it.

Even though I no longer live in the NYC area I still want the Brooklyn one. If only there were a Cleveland one…HA!

Check them out on the Ork Poster site.

Truly,
Crystal

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I know, I know

It’s been awhile, yes I know.

Summer is coming to an end and fall is creeping up, slowly but surely. Extreme weather seems to be all the rage lately, and that’s never a good thing. Two days ago we had big storms here in northern Ohio and yesterday Andrew and I spent a good many minutes clearing up branches in our yard. One of the pitfalls of having one. Andrew is currently next door at his parents house, in a pair of chainsaw pants, helping his dad clear a tree that was felled by the storm. Ah, the joys of country living!

Speaking of! One of the Towne’s alpacas, Meggy, gave birth to her first cria (baby alpaca)! Unfortunately, I was at work when she popped him out but Andrew was there to document the birth in it’s full glory. It took all of 30 minutes and the babe was up and walking. 4 hours later when I came to see it, the cria was up to full run and was being cute and stuff. Here are picture of the birth (nothing too graphic because there were some photos that were, like, whoa)

The Towne’s shear their alpacas once a year in the spring. I witnessed my first shearing this year and it was pretty neat to see. Currently, there are garbage bags full of wool in the Towne’s garage. I would love to learn how to clean and spin the wool. I’ll just tack that onto my never ending list of things I would like to learn. HA!

And pictures of the shearing! Enjoy!

Fondly,
Crystal

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Photobooth

I imagine we’ll be posting a lot about our wedding. Another HUGE thing that’s happened in the past 7 months that we haven’t posted anything about. We put so much work into trying to make it a wonderful and amazing day. For the most part, we succeeded. There were definitely somethings I would have changed, but I’m not going to think about them. Instead, I’m going to start off with the Photobooth that we rented. One of the best ideas we had!! It was a splurge for us, but in the end it was worth it. So many great memories are captured in those strips of black and white photos. We definitely suggest it to anyone who wants to try something different than a traditional wedding album.

Here are photos that my roommate from college, Rachel, took from the outside: (click for bigger image)

And ones of my brother and his girlfriend on the inside: