August 27, 2011

What's in My Purse?


1. Work/home keys 2. Hand lotion: My hands get very dry because I constantly wash my hands at work. 3. Skull coin purse from Target with a perler beads skull key chain that my friend made me. 4. Pocket calendar 5. Hair ties 6. Pepper spray: Don’t mess with me! 7. Cell phone. 8. Wallet

The bigger the purse the more items I have.

August 24, 2011

Riding the Banana Boat


My hubby, brother-in-law, my brother-in-law’s girl friend, and I went up to Big Bear on Sunday, August 21. We went kayaking, hence the title, “Riding the Banana Boat;” plus our boat was yellow. My hubby and I have never been kayaking before and it so much fun! I was scared at first since I don’t know how to swim and I was afraid of the kayak flipping over. We all had our life vests on and my hubby double-checked that my vest was tight and well secured on me. Just in case we did flip over my brother-in-law’s girl friend is a great swimmer, which gave me some peace of mind.

We had so much fun kayaking that my fear of flipping over had disappeared. Being my first time kayaking, I had no sense of direction. My hubby kept telling me “you want to turn right, you paddle left” “you want to turn left, you paddle right.” He had to take over a few times because I didn’t know what I was doing. While kayaking the big dork in me kept saying, “I’m riding a banana boat!” As we walked out of the rental shop after returning our kayak and getting our $50 deposit back, I jumped up and down and yelled, “That was so cool!” I enjoy sharing new experiences with my hubby. We plan to buy a kayak now.

After kayaking we went hiking. It was quiet as we hiked. Hubby and I love nice, quiet, and peaceful walks among nature. Hubby took the picture shown above. Hubby and I can’t believe we never visited Big Bear before especially since it is only an hour away from home. You better believe we will be visiting Big Bear more often. Like always, I got a pin souvenir to remember our adventure for my shadow box.


August 20, 2011

DIY: Mini Dog Party Invites


I’m throwing Belle her first birthday paw-ty at the park and I made these cute invitations. They’re easy to make and they work as greeting cards too. Supplies I used: card stock, printer, paint brush, tacky glue, scissors, exacto knife, white mailing envelopes, dog paw stamp and ink. Ready, lets go! 1. Cut your card stock in half. 2. Print out the images you would like for the front and inside of your invites. I used Photoshop to design my images but you use a regular photo and a word program for the inside text. 3. Cut your images. 4. Use the paintbrush to put glue on the back of your text cutout and it glue down onto the inside of your invite. 5. Position your photo cutout the way you would like it to look on the front of your invite. Mark the card stock with your exacto knife on the outer corners of the photo to see where you will be making your insert slits. 6. Remove photo cutout and make your insert slits by connecting each corner marked with your exacto knife. Insert photo. 7. Grab your envelopes, stamp, and ink and stamp away on your envelopes!

I decided on mini invites when I realized I didn’t have enough cards for all my guests. It worked out because the mini invites are adorable, different, and I saved on ink.

August 16, 2011

Vacation Series: Japanese Tea Garden


The first place my brother took me in San Francisco to see was the Japanese Tea Garden. You would never think such beauty was hidden in such a busy city. Admission was only $7.00, a cheap admission price for a quiet, relaxing, and peaceful experience. I enjoyed every second in the Japanese Tea Garden. The landscape, architecture, Buddha statue, and the arched bridge all breath taking. My favorite part was the $3.00 Japanese tea with free fills! One of many great experiences I got to share with my brother. Thanks Chuy!

August 15, 2011

Last Week’s Project: Owl Pouch


Since I enjoy doing swaps online I decided to do one at work titled, “Talent Swap.” I told my employees they would get paired up with a partner, they would have to talk to their partner to know what he/she likes and they would have to make something for their partner using their talent/skill.

Last week I was busy working on my partner’s (Amanda) gift. She loves owls and with my recent cross-stitching obsession I knew I wanted to cross-stitch an owl design. I cross-stitched an owl from my “Miss Woolly’s Mini Cross-Stitch” kit. At first I was just going to frame the design onto an embroidery circle but thought that was too easy and wanted to incorporated the owl into something she could carry around. I decided on a crochet pouch. I made the pouch look like a tree with the owl looking out from the tree’s tree hole. I covered the owl with a piece of plastic to protect it from getting dirty. I’m a self-taught crocheter and if I say so myself I think it the pouch came out looking pretty awesome!


What fun craft projects have you been working on lately?

August 13, 2011

The Resurrection of the Bananas


Yesterday night I decided to make some banana bread. Currently, I’m on a quest to find the best banana bread recipe. I used FoodNetwork.com’s banana bread recipe to make my bread and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a ½ cup of walnuts from the rating and reviews recommendations I read. I love walnuts in my banana bread. The banana bread tasted delicious! I was so thrilled when I took the bread out of the oven and the top was all puffed out. That has never happened to me the few times I have made banana bread. Next time, I will be trying a banana bread recipe that includes sour cream from allrecipes.com.

I want to find the best banana bread recipe because I plan to make some for family for Christmas and I can use all those old bananas that seem to be multiplying in the freezer since my hubby and I can’t eat them fast enough before they get old.

What’s your favorite banana bread recipe?





August 11, 2011

Vacation Series: Souvenirs


Shot glasses, magnets, key chains, postcards, pins are some of many souvenirs people get as a small token to remember their trip. My favorite souvenirs to collect are pins with the sharp little point behind it. I use to collect shot glasses but had no place to display them. I decided to collect pins of my trips instead, which was better since I’m not a big drinker. Not only are pins small but also very inexpensive, usually under $10.

I have collected pins from my museum trips (Getty and The Museum of Tolerance), from cities I have visited (San Diego and San Francisco), from plays I have gone to see (Mary Poppins and Wicked), and others have sentimental attachments (Navy pins for my siblings). Some pins are also from trips family and friends have taken and they were nice to help add to my collection.

The best part of collecting pin as souvenirs is that I can display them in a shadow box. I love using shadow boxes because they have many functions. I like how nice and organized they look behind the glass of the shadow box. They’re almost like badges of honor from my trips.

What types of souvenirs do you collect from your trips?

August 8, 2011

Vacation Series: Downtown Brentwood and Me


The day after my arrival to San Francisco my friend dropped me off at Downtown Brentwood as she headed to work. I really enjoyed this time with myself, 8 hours, as I had no obligations to rush home like I usually do when shopping and to worry about not having enough time to do what I wanted.


My first stop was Savers thrift store, which was the only place opened at 8 in the morning other than the coffee shops. I’ve never enjoyed thrift store shopping like I did that day. I was in there for at least 4 hours, trying on vintage clothing, looking at shoes, fabric, everything! I was in thrift store heaven! I sent a good $60 and probably would have send more if I weren’t thinking about how it was all going to fit in my luggage. I felt kind of guilt spending that much but soon realized that the heck with it, it’s my vacation and I deserve to enjoy myself.


For breakfast/lunch since I didn’t have breakfast I had pupusas at Amelia’s Mexican Restaurant, which my friend recommended for having good pupusas. Other than pig skin tostadas (tostadas de cueritos in Spanish) pupusas are my second favorite Mexican food dish. The beans and rice weren’t great but the pupusas were!

With a content belly, I got a pedicure and manicure at Donna’s Salon. I hadn’t had a pedicure in over a year and never had a manicure. That was another nice, relaxing and enjoyable experience.


I also went to Century Theater, a sister theater of the one at home, and watched a “Captain America” for free! I ended up watching 3 movies on my vacation, which is more than I watch at home and I work at a movie theater.

August 7, 2011

I’m back!


I was gone for a week up north on my much-needed vacation. I visited my brother and my college friend.  I saw four places from About.com's Top Ten Attraction in San Francisco. Everyday was an adventure!

Places I saw:
- Downtown Brentwood
- Stanford University
- The Japanese Tea Garden
- The California Academy of Sciences
- Fisherman’s Wharf Pier 39
- The Winchester Mystery House
- Movie on the Beach, Santa Cruz

I missed my hubby and my dog Belle very much during my vacation but I had a great time! I will be posting on each of the places I visited and the delicious places I ate.
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