happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I hope you have a happy and safe holiday with family and friends.

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : vacuum

via google.com

It's been two months since we moved to our cozy little apartment.  We only have carpet in our bedroom and because of the moving expenses we opted to wait to buy a vacu-um ("Enchanted," anyone?!) a little later.  But a little later ended up being two months later (I know, gross).  We actually might have waited longer if Mark's allergies hadn't gotten so bad LOL.   Mark has pretty bad allergies so we had to do some research to get a good one.  We ended up getting the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Vacuum Pro.  It's a really easy to use vacuum and we were both impressed by it's suction power.  One con is that it's attachements need to be stored separately but so far that's the only bad thing.  We bought ours from Bed, Bath, and Beyond with a 20% off coupon and paid about $160.

how i fold t-shirts

So a while back I watched a Japanese video on YouTube that demonstrated how to fold a shirt and I was so amazed by the sorcery that time to time I would yield its magic to fold my shirts.  Nowadays I use a method that's based on that video but is less confusing for my brain.  I will share my method with you today.  In hind sight I should've used my Lakers t-shirt for this but whatever.  Happy laundry folding!

Step 1: 

Holding the top of the t-shirt with your right hand and the bottom hem with your left fold back the right sleeve.  Notice that the fold is not directly on the collar but like 2 inches away.  Adjust this distance to your preference.  

Step 2: 
Take your left hand holding the bottom hem to your right hand and fold the t-shirt in half bringing the bottom hem up to the top of the t-shirt.

Step 3:
Next, fold back the left sleeve to match what you've done up til now.  Notice that the distance from the collar on either side is somewhat even.  I know, it's kind of anal but if you're actually following this post you're probably a somewhat anal person.  You're in good company, friend.

Step 4:
Fold the whole thing in half again so that it looks like the picture below.  You did it!

Ok, so if you're like me at this point you'd want to see a demonstration.  So using the timer setting on my point and shoot I have tried to do the steps again but including my hands.  This was a very awkward process to shoot.  Imagine me setting up the camera and hunching in front of it with the shirt above my ducked head.  All in my PJs.  

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:
This is a shot of what Step 3 looks like from the back of the t-shirt.

g-ear up for the holidays

Sorry I've been MIA.  I just got back home from a WONDERFUL week-long trip back to home home in CA (woot woot!) and then I got sick.  :/  It's it always like that?  It was like IL was punishing me for coming back.  :P  Just kidding, I probably over did it when I was home.  Anyhow, this fabulously unemployed person (Target rejected me!) is dreaming of Christmas and beautiful holiday parties with sparkling pink champagne ("An Affair to Remember", anyone?!).  Here are some dazzling earrings from Charm & Chain that I would wear to such a soirée.  

[1] Esmerelda Earrings, $58

[2] Navette Earrings, $62

[3] Carly Earrings, sold out :(

[4] Double Teardrop Earrings, $148

[5] Small Pearl Rhinestone Studs, $120

[6] Somerset Disc Earrings, $70

book review : little old lady recipes

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Meg Favreau's new book published by Quirk Books, "Little Old Lady Recipes" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

Once again, thanks to Eric at Quirk Books for letting me review so many awesome books.  

I really wanted to review this book because in my experience the best tasting dishes have been made by people who are "little old ladies" and I always find myself asking them for their recipes.  This pocket-sized book is packed with everything from everyday recipes (like pancakes) to dishes you'll want to take to your next potluck (like tuna surprise casserole).  You won't find the latest and greatest in gourmet food here but you'll find the oldies but goodies that you'd find from your grandma's kitchen.  Well...not MY grandma since she's a 1st generation Korean woman but you know what I mean. 

The recipe I decided to tackle was the one for frosted cinnamon rolls.  I've never made cinnamon buns before and to be honest I was a little nervous about making it.  Any time I work with yeast I feel a little nervous.  I always feel like I'm going to 'hurt' them or kill them somehow and nothing will rise.

So the way the recipes are written are very much in the voice of a little old lady.  As in, there are specific measurements but there are also generalities written in to the recipe.  For example, the recipe calls for the first resting period of the dough to last "until doubled."  So basically what I did was what an episode of Castle on On Demand and guess when it looked like it had doubled.  I kind of wished it had given me some kind of timeline like an hour or whatever but in the end the buns came out fine and it wasn't a big deal.

So the cinnamon buns came together pretty easily and I have to say that they weren't the loveliest of all cinnamon buns that I have seen but they were yummy just the same.  Mark had one after work and he said they were "delicious" so I guess my first time with these babies went a-okay.  One bonus of making these is that they made the apartment smell divine.  :P

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : straws

via thesugardiva.com

So for my wedding we couldn't serve alcohol and we didn't want to just serve water either so we went the trendy route and had bottles of colorful soda that we got at Restaurant Depot (what a wonderful place to buy stuff).  And since we were already being trendy I thought I'd by those cute striped straws that you see everywhere nowadays.  Unfortunately something got lost in the measurements (either I measured wrong or didn't measure at all or maybe the bottel change, who can tell....) and the straw was about the same height as the bottle itself.  Which isn't an issue when there's soda in the bottle because the fizz makes the straw float a bit but the funny thing with soda is that you tend to want to drink it in which case the straw would sink and become useless INSIDE the bottle.  Anywhoo...I returned the straws and we served the bottles as-is because I couldn't find longer straws but I thought I should share this cautionary tale in case you decide to buy those cute straws for your wedding or your next party.  Measure, measure, measure.  Most cute straws are 7 3/4" or somewhere around there.

HOWEVER, in my recent research (5 min ago I googled 'stripped straw') I discovered that The Sugar Diva now sells LONG 10 1/2" striped straws, here.  Not in every color sadly but they do come in hot pink, aqua, and grey.  Yay!

via thesugardiva.com

belated happy halloween!

Here are some point and shoot shots on our walk yesterday.  Technically it was Monday but it's considered our Saturday because Mark has been working Wednesday–Sunday lately.  I'm going to press some fall leaves to take home to give to my mom.  She loves ginko leaves.