These are a few of my favorite blogs

I never was really into reading blogs before I started blogging myself. Slowly I've been finding blogs that I love to read written by women I either know and love or would love to know. These seven seem to be the ones I like the most. They are the ones I notice when they don't post on any given day or week. I highly recommend them and here they are, in no particular order:

Staci at Reyn on Fashion. Staci is that girl friend who knows how to pronounce all those crazy designer names but still buys some products at the drugstore. She's fun and funky and a little daring when it comes to fashion. Her blog is mostly fashion and products, but she puts enough of herself into it that the blog is interesting and easy to read. Thanks, Staci!

Andrea the Kitchen Witch is new to the blogging world and has stormed in with great recipes and beautiful photos. She's the girl who attempts (or invents) the crazy recipes you're too scared to try - until she gives you step-by-step instructions with great photos. What she does in the kitchen is truly magical. Her three guarantees make every recipe family friendly: 1. NO HFCS - high fructose corn syrup 2. NO PHO's - partially hydrogenated oils 3. It will be delicious. Thanks, Andrea!

Jen at Vietti View is one of the most bubbly, upbeat bloggers I've found (but not in that sickening fake sweet way.) Her blog is mostly about her and her family and their adventures. Her kids are so cute they look like they should be on stage. She's crafty and creative and her pictures always make me smile. This is a great blog to read when you're feeling grinchy - like I am today. Thanks, Jen!

Nichole at Little Brown Pen. She's who I want to be when I grow up. She is so creative, an amazing photographer and travels the world. She writes about a lot of different topics, but my favorite is her photos. She has an eye for seeing beauty in things the rest of us have a tendency not to even notice. Thanks, Nichole!

Sweet Harvey Letterpress is another favorite. They are also in Des Moines and its fun to have someone local. The designs are simple and sweet and always beautiful but a little quirky. Right up my alley. This is where I got the recipe for the filled red velvet cupcakes. Mmmm. Thanks, Sweet Harvey!

Valerie at Cabin + Cub is another creative, unique woman who writes a very interesting blog. She lives in Vancouver, somewhere I'd love to visit - in the summer. Her blog includes her designs and Etsy items, recipes and posts about her family. Thanks, Valerie!

Maya at Maya*Made is an eco-friendly artist and mother who inspires me to be less wasteful and more creative. She is so original and can make cute things out of things we all throw out or recycle like toilet paper rolls. She uses burlap coffee sacks to make beautiful things like baskets, stockings and holiday decorations. Maya is also a printmaker who carves her own gorgeous designs and you'll be amazed at the things she makes from security envelopes.


Check out these fun, creative ladies and their blogs. I'm sure you'll find at least a couple you'll want to bookmark.

White Christmas

Two weeks ago we got dumped on with a foot and a half of snow, guaranteeing a white Christmas. That was plenty for the entire winter in my opinion. Looks like we're in for it again right in time for the holidays only this time we're getting ice too. Boo.

The weather lady is saying just rain during the day tomorrow, so that will be the best time to travel, before it freezes to ice and gets covered in snow. The problem is that we are trying to make it to my parents' house as well as my in-laws' home, which requires driving on Christmas Day. We are now debating on whether to just stay home and get stuck here or to go to my parents house tomorrow with the hopes of being able to make it to my in-laws on Friday and possibly get stuck there. Personally, I'd rather be in Jamaica. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and my in-laws very much, but I really, really hate winter and the snow and ice that comes along with it. Can't we just move Christmas to next week? No? Darn. I guess we'll figure it out and hopefully not spend Christmas day in a ditch.

Last year we had a lot of ice right after Christmas. On our way home, we ended up spending over 5 hours stuck on a closed interstate with a sick cat in the car. Thankfully Winston is amazingly tolerant and relaxed. We set up the litter box in the back seat and put cat food in a cup holder and he was just fine. I think having the cat in the car actually calmed us down and we spent most of the time laughing instead of angry about the situation. Thanks, Winston.

Now I will attempt to stop being a grinch. 

1st peek at Christmas gifts

When I first started making totes for Etsy, my best friend commented on multiple occasions that she'd like totes for either Christmas or her birthday, which is in December. She's fun and cute and a little crazy - in a good way - so I wanted to make her totes that reflected that. I gave her them yesterday so I can finally post them here!

This one is made from Ikea's Annamoa fabric. I love the hot pink pears.

Lindsay's favorite color is pink so I made her one of these hot pink totes with yellow leaves.

These are the back and front of the same tote, also made from Ikea fabric.

I filled them with fun groceries from World Market like chocolate lace cookies, Italian soda and pocky sticks. I think she really liked them. I am giving three more gifts on Wednesday night that I am excited to post here too - finally!

Seeing red

I'm a red head. Again. Over the years I've had about every color of hair there is to have. I really like red, especially in the fall and winter. What do you think?

Along the red hair topic, I went to see Annie at the Des Moines Playhouse last night. I took a friend for her birthday. We both have loved the movie version since we were little girls and can sing every song and say every line. I've been wanting to see it on stage for a long time, but I was very skeptical that I'd like it as much as the movie. I know no one could ever play Miss Hannigan as well as Carol Burnett or Daddy Warbucks better than Albert Finney so I was afraid I'd be disappointed in the stage production. I wasn't at all. It was very good. The girls that played Annie and the other orphans were fantastic.

Before going to the musical, we went to dinner at Le Jardin, a fairly new french restaurant near the Playhouse. It was delicious. I wasn't very impressed with my wine, but I had a mushroom omlet for dinner and it was amazing. Here's the menu description: A folded omlet made with Sheeder Farm organic eggs stuffed with a wild mushroom blend of procini, oyster, ivory portabella and crimini mushrooms, topped with white truffle oil and parmesan served with a petite salad mesclun. Yum. We had pound cake with a pear sauce for dessert, also very good. I would recomment Le Jardin for sure.

So goat cheesy

I finally got around to trying out my Urban Cheesecraft goat cheese kit. Most of the hold up was that I couldn't find goat milk that hadn't been ULTRA-pasteurized, but I finally found Poplar Hill milk at Campbell's Nutrition. I'd say the cheese turned out pretty well for a first try. Here's what I did last night:

Boiling the utensils before use.

My makeshift double boiler filled with milk, cheese salt and citric acid. 

Reaching the necessary 180 degrees.

Cooling. The curds and whey have started to separate. You can see the whey in the upper left of the picture. It's sort of yellowish. 

Straining the cheese.

Seasoning the cheese. I just used cracked black pepper and Hawaiian sea salt so I could still really taste the cheese to see if I need to change anything for next time. 

Scooping the cheese into the molds. 

One final draining before putting them in the fridge.

Not so pretty, but very tasty. I think I didn't let them sit in the molds long enough. 

It was really fun and I was so proud of myself when I finished. I can't wait to try again. Next time I am going to make a firmer cheese that is more like feta. Mmmm.

Merry Christmas to me

As I believe you are aware, I have a shoe fetish. I love them. The brighter and crazier the better. Overstock is having sales like crazy and free shipping so I couldn't pass these Liliana Patent Pointed-tow Stillettos by Adi up. They were the last pair in 6.5 - telling people how many are in stock is a gimmick that sucks me in.

You ask, what will I wear bright cobalt blue snake skin pointed stillettos with? I have no idea! I'll probably have to buy a new sweater, which is really ok with me. They are guaranteed to be here by Christmas eve so I have decided they are a Christmas present - in the words of Alvin the Chipmunk - "to me, from me."

I cannot believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away, but I am ready to begin the gift giving so I can finally post my purchases for you to see!

Tiny bits of heaven

I found a recipe for filled red velvet cupcakes on Sweet Harvey's blog. I don't get much into baking - my attention span usually isn't long enough to deal with more than one pan of cookies. But these looked amazing and I really wanted to give them a try. She said she thought they would be a mini indulgence, which apparently made me think they were mini cupcakes. So I bought all the ingredients and made the batter, expecting to make 24 mini cupcakes. My mini-muffin pan has 24 spots, so that would have been perfect. One pan in, bake and done.

75 mini red velvet cupcakes later, I was rather tired of baking. But they turned out so cute and they taste amazing. I took some pictures along the way:

Millions of mini cupcakes lined the counters.

I used the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes to put in the filling. 

Put the frosting in a Ziplock baggie to fill the centers.

Swirl on a mountain of frosting. I put a ton on and still had some left over. 

So pretty and delicate. 

But more importantly, so tasty!

Here's the recipe: (Makes 24 regular sized cupcakes or 75 mini cupcakes.)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 pkg. (2-layer size) red velvet cake mix

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)

1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1 square BAKER'S White Chocolate, shaved into curl

1. Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes, blending dry pudding mix into batter before spooning into prepared muffin cups. Cool.
2. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Whisk in COOL WHIP. Spoon 1-1/2 cups into small freezer-weight resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Cut small corner off bottom of bag. Insert tip of bag into top of each cupcake to pipe about 1 Tbsp. frosting into center of cupcake.
3. FROST cupcakes with remaining frosting. Top with chocolate curls. Keep refrigerated.

I put the frosting I wasn't using in the piping bag in the fridge because it was starting to get runny. Worked much better - and the cupcakes looked much nicer - when the frosting was chilled.