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?

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?

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?

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.

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.