Is it summer already?

I've been on a blogging hiatus! I'm starting to feel stressed out again. Time to step back and re-focus.

I realize how difficult it is to simultaneously sell at craft fairs/venues and also work on online sales at home + keep up with a full time job. While I do have fun at fairs, I've decided that I really need to vet which venues to accept. While both have it's advantages (it's fun to meet customers and see their reaction. Immediate sales are gratifying too) it's very hard to do both well and maintain a somewhat sane life. I'm constantly worried about forgetting things and making sure I have enough time...etc.

So I'm feeling pretty good that I haven't signed up for anything in the next two months. It'll give me some time to figure out what to do. I already have some goals in mind in no particular order.

1. Eat healthier (more whole grains, greens & less sweets like cupcakes!)
2. Work out consistently
3. Push husband to do the same for the above
4. Declutter our home and organize better
5. Hang out with friends (I'm horrible in this department)
6. Take Sam(dog) out more
7. Work on increasing Etsy shop sales and custom orders at home
8. Learn to live more meagerly (only buy what we need; not what we want)
9. Be a better food shopper
10. Save money

On other news... My latest custom order. I spent roughly 1.5 months making 250+ of these wedding favors. I normally would have required more time but this came to me kind of late; so I worked my butt off every night and weekend to make it happen in time for the bride's wedding. The bride was quite pleased and made all the cutting, gluing and painting worth it. I hope to do more of these in the near future.


I believe her wedding just past so I wish her a happy happy marriage!

I love how the photos came out. It's amazing what a fancy SLR camera can do.

Busy busy busy...

Been busy working on a large wedding order... 275 favor tins to be exact. I'm also prepping for two large events. The Spring Cavalcade - May 9th & 10th and Renegade - June 6th & 7th!

I recently wrote a post for {theNewNew} "A Thrifty Way to Spend the Afternoon" featuring my dog Samantha. Check it out while I get back to work...

Valentine's Dinner

Hubs surprised me with dinner this year at home! I was shocked. Making dinner is a huge ordeal for him because he doesn't know how to cook!

Tomatoes + Fresh Mozzarella + Basil = Yum!

Plated..

Lasagna!

Mini Red velvet Cake from Martha's Country Bakery - It's good but much heavier than most Red Velvet's I've sampled. Hubs loves the cream cheese frosting. I found it to be a bit heavy. My favorite is still at Sugar Sweet Sunshine!


He really earned his brownie points. The house was clean and dinner was home made. I don't ask for a lot (well sometimes I do) but it's the simple things that make me feel loved.

And there's more! The next morning, Hubs made us Banana Bread. It was made with whole wheat flour + he substituted Splenda instead of using sugar. Not too bad healthwise eh? The bread was super moist and really good, perfect with my cup of home brewed coffee!

Banana Bread Recipe (adapted from a blogger who I forgot to jot down and now I feel awful, sorry!)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup Splenda
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 large bananas)
2 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional - no nuts for us)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease one 8 1/4 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan and dust with flour.

In a bowl stir together: flour, baking soda, salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat together: butter and splenda until blended. Beat in the banana (just drop it into the mixer, you don't have to pre-mash), then beat in the eggs until completely mixed. Don't worry if the mixture looks lumpy and curdled. Stir in the nuts.

Add the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Pour into pan and bake until a toothpick (or chopstick as I always use) inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

Food for the Gods

Santa (aka hubs) was very good to me this year. He gifted me a bunch of great things but amongst the loot of goods, he spoiled me with fancy schmancy gourmet chocolate & Dark Chocolate Drink from Marie Belle. I've never had really good Hot Chocolate before. It's so thick and delicious - too decadent to have everyday though. The chocolates are so good - it melts in your mouth. I have a month to eat it before it spoils and unlike most Chocolate lovers who usually gobble it up in one sitting, I like to savor mine. Life is good.

A New Year!

How quickly a year has gone by. 2008 has been a fun ride and I look forward to what the New Year will bring. I haven't really thought about any resolutions for '09 but I can happily say that the ones I made last year was a success! Forward and onward - wishing you and your family a Happy, Safe & Prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is here!!! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

I almost didn't make any Christmas cards this year; but here they are! Unfortunately, I sent the cards out a bit late so it might not reach its destination in time. Ah well...

A Musical & Fine Dining

Our Anniversary was spent dining at Jean Georges Perry St. followed by one of the hottest Broadway shows, In the Heights. The food was yummy and the show was spectacular! We really enjoyed it. Even though we live in NYC, we don't venture out much to all those things that all the tourist flock to NY to do. Yet when we travel, we do everything a tourist would and more! I guess we really do take it for granted; that everything is within reach so we often push it off. We really shouldn't think that way. We miss out on so much this great city has to offer. I hope we can indulge a bit more in the New Year and enjoy all the shows, art galleries and museums.

3:39 am

It's 3:39am and I ought to be asleep but I just spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out how to do something. I got my hubs to help me and finally got it to work; to learn immediately after that there was a much faster shortcut. At times like these, I feel like such a flake. Ugh!

Ah well whatever. Tomorrow will be a better day because the hubs and I will be celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary! That's a freakin' decade my friends! We're very excited. I'll update more after our Anniversary Date.

Guilty as Charged!

To my delight, I received a wonderful free Blackberry Lip Balm from Etsy Seller, dennisanderson last week along with my purchase. It smelled so yummy and often times, I don't care too much when I receive free stuff because I usually get things I don't need/want. (I have a clutter phobia - constantly throwing things away..) Anyway, to my horror, I came home to this after doing some Black Friday shopping this morning.

Looks like Sam thinks the lip balm was yummy too because she devoured half the tube, plastic and all!
A closer look... bye bye lip balm!
*25% off is happening now in my shop!

Love Paris

I have very fond memories of Paris because my DH proposed to me along the Seine River by Notre Dame. From proposal, engagement, wedding planning and finally married to our honeymoon... our first year of marriage is nearly complete... but not without another adventure. Tomorrow we'll be travelling to Costa Rica to celebrate our 1st Year Anniversary.

Sunday Dinner

My wonderful pots have been de-virginized. (if that is a proper word) Thank you for the suggestions; I finally decided on Pot Roast; perfect for a Sunday night dinner.

10 minutes of prep work; 3.5 hours of braising on slow heat and a bit of praying..and the outcome?

Absolutely fantastic! As Tyler Florence's recipe suggested, I went back to the stove every 1/2 hour to baste. I was really hoping that this would be good, and it definitely surpassed my expectations! Most of the main ingredients were bought at Whole Foods. It's more expensive, but we feel it's important to eat organic so we try to do it as often as we can. I also threw in some potatoes to round out the dish & I used rosemary that I've been growing from an herb pot I keep at the back.

This is what Mike came home to after a session of biking with Stan. Stan decided to stop for dinner too and this pot yielded generous portions so there was more than enough to pass around.

Next Sunday, we're having a few boys over and I think I'll be making another pot recipe. Hmm, what to make?

You know you're old when...

...You get excited over getting kitchen stuff for your birthday! For my birthday, Mike got me Le Creuset pots!! For those who know what it is, I'm sure you'd be just as excited as I am... Oh look at the possibilities of what I could make with these babies. Any suggestions or recommendations? I'm a Le Creuset virgin, lol!

Mike took me out to Momofuku Bar for dinner and it was interesting, in a good way. As a surprise, Mike also invited a couple of close friends that were into Asian Fusion and I was quite thrilled to have companions to share the food. I'm not a food critic so I won't go into too much details, but I'm not shy when it comes to food, so we ordered a whole bunch of side dishes to try. Some of it included their special for the night; pig tails, fatty pork buns, fluke and veal sweetbreads. Of course, we also got ramen. I wasn't a big fan of the broth base for the pork ramen, but the ramen definitely had a good chewy bite to it. It's slightly different from the traditional ramen I'm used to but good in it's own way.

Though I was beyond stuffed, Mike also planned to take me to the newly opened Chocolate bar in the Village and of course, I obliged. I got an iced mocha & indulged in a piece of salty dark chocolate caramel. The caramel was not chewy at all and surprisingly soft. I didn't taste the salt too much though. I also bought a Dark Chocolate - Strawberry Jam graffiti bar for later.

Finally at home finishing up the night with my best friend, Sam... Life doesn't get any better than this (okay it does) but so far I feel great to be a year older.

His & Her - Hobbies

We all know what I do for my hobby. Now, husband has a hobby too! He recently purchased a spankin' new mountain bike. I think it's so cute how in love he is with his new sport. I just hope that this isn't another one of his toys that he plays with for a while and then forgets in a few weeks. We can only hope!

Do you ever notice the many different types of clubs you end up joining without actually joining? Owning a dog automatically put us in the dog club. People find it so easy to approach us with Sam and we find it much easier to start a conversation with other dog owners. Upon meeting so many different crafters lately, I feel like I entered the craft/business oriented club. Of course, now that we're married, we're also in the Marriage club. Mike already feels like he's in the bike club and is already planning his next adventure with his biking buddies. It's really interesting how easily we can fit in based on our interests and status.

So my thought for the day: if you want to make new friends; find a new hobby, change your status, adopt a dog and you're automatically in.

I'm always trying to sneak in a photo with Sam in it. Hehe.

Snapshots with Sam

When taking photos with Sam, well any dog for that matter, don't be surprised to take a ton of snapshots just to get a few good ones.
I think this one below is my favorite.
An eventful weekend ahead, have a good one!

Happy Engage-versary

A brief background: My husband Mike & I are college sweethearts. We met through one of my best friends, whom at the time was trying to find me a boyfriend. She didn't however, push Mike towards me because he didn't seem to be my type. I think she was right, he wasn't my type, but lo and behold, he was the One I was going to marry 9 years later.

The proposal happened in the beautiful city of Paris on May 13th. It was right after a horrible dinner at a tourist oriented French bistro. Mike suggested we take a stroll to Notre Dame. We spent some time inside and then Mike lured me towards the garden. Sadly for him, the "gated" garden was closed for the evening! He seemed very disappointed and at the time I didn't understand why.(We came here on the first day of arrival.) We proceeded to loiter in front of the Notre Dame for a good 15 minutes. At this time, I started to wonder if something fishy was going on.After 7.5 years of being with him, I knew this day would come, but I really didn't expect it to happen in Paris (then again, why not Paris?) so I was a bit delusional trying to figure out if he really was planning on proposing or was I really just imagining things. It took Mike another 15 minutes to finally find a spot on a bridge behind the Notre Dame. Unfortunately, by the time he actually proposed, I was in a bit of a daze. (The dude made me wait ½ an hour!) He did go down on one knee, but I made him get up right away (I get embarrassed easily.) The last thing I saw was my rock, I eventually said "yes" and that was that. It was truly perfect.In retrospect, he almost had to propose at the Eurostar rail station 2 days prior(en route from London to Paris) because he hid my ring in his back pack. The security guard thoroughly searched his bags and almost pulled out the ring (stored in a PSP plastic holder) while I was there standing next to him. So.. although I had to wait ½ hour, I'm glad it didn't happen at a rail station!

Oh how I wish I could be in Paris right now.

I've got mail!

Remember my post, The Magic of Snail Mail? In response to my post, I received a surprise letter in the mail today, all the way from Australia!

Nga, you're awesome for not only reading my post, but acting upon it. I have friends who live right nearby who rarely call to catch up, but you reaching out made such a huge difference!

Not only did she write me a heartfelt letter, she even included a surprise of paper stuff.

I am almost tempted to jump on a plane, return to Sydney just to give you a hug for being so sweet!

The Magic of Snail Mail

When I was younger, say 8 or so, I had a penpal that was arranged for me from my elementary school. We exchanged letters every other month. During that same time, a good friend of mine who lived in my building moved to California. It was the saddest day of my life in my childhood, but we promised to keep in touch through letters. Indeed, we did. Then in Junior High School, my best friend and I also had the habit of sending each other letters despite the fact that we only lived 6-8 blocks away from each other.

20 years ago, I didn't have a computer at home so mailing letters were the best way to go. I always looked forward to mailing out my letters because I knew that soon enough, I would get one back, sometimes covered with stickers on the envelopes too. I devoured each letter, sometimes reading it twice and then putting it away in a safe box so that no one else would find it.Nowadays, I no longer mail out letters. Instead we use e-mail. It's just so much quicker and my hands tend to cramp when I write too long. I still look forward to the e-mails. The content is still intriquing to read but the excitement has slowly dissipated with the end of the snail mail era.

Perhaps that's why I make handmade greeting cards. I hope that people remember how great it feels to receive a handwritten note. It doesn't have to happen every month, but if you can manage to send one on birthdays or on occasion, I'm certain it will bring a bit of happiness to the receiver.

Last month, one of my friends turned 28. I didn't text him or e-mail him. Instead, I wrote him a card and mailed it. He called me to tell me he received it and how he appreciated it. It was a simple gesture, but I think I did my job. Snail mail may be old-school but the magic of the handwritten can be powerful. Try it. Next time it's your loved one's birthday, avoid the emails and texts; and send it snail mail.

Phrase of the Day

"Forget the past. The future is now. My plan - just roll with it."

Do you have goals? I certainly do. In fact, I have several at the moment.

1. Be healthy
Plan: Weight Watchers

I've never been on a diet. I don't believe in diets because I love eating too much and to be constrained not to eat something.. well forget it, just kill me now. But I realize that whatever I've been doing has not been working and I need a change. This is my change. It's been 3 weeks and I've lost 4 pounds. I haven't really gone all fat free because I don't think that's the way to live either, but I have certainly decreased my portions significantly and have chosen to eat more low calorie foods. How do I feel? Eh. I find it hard not always feeling full but only satisfied, but then again it feels good not to have the 'itis.

2. Sell my stuff in person
Plan: Get involved.

If you don't know me, you would probably never guess that I'm very introverted and typically a shy gal. I don't jump up and down for joy when I get party invitations. I'm not a fan of hanging out at the bar to shoot the breeze. I'm just not very socially active. My perfect day is to wake up bright and early, have a nutritious breakfast that hopefully includes coffee/tea, fresh pancakes/french toast & eggs; followed by a few hours of crafting; an hour of excercise; time in front of the tube or engrossed in a book and a hearty dinner. By myself. You get the point. I digress. The reason I say you would never know that I have such a personality is because I'm a very different person once I get out of my comfort zone that is, my home. Once I'm out there, I can be very socialable and engaging. Weird right? Call it the Jekyll/Hyde Complex. So anyway, this year, I want to join one craft show at the least. I want to see how it's like to sell in person and to meet the buyers who support us.

3. Be a good wife
Plan: Don't get upset over the nitty gritty & Do things myself.

It doesn't matter how many years you've been in a relationship with someone. There are always new things to learn about your significant other that you never noticed before. Time changes and so do people. I know that we have a very solid marriage. Life is pretty good but on occasion we still argue about stupid things. And I know it's normal. But, I admit, sometimes it's my fault and not always necessary.

I am also very dependent on my husband. When I'm home, I'm pretty helpless. I make him do everything. Case in point. I've never ever thrown out the trash. The first time he was away, the trash got full and I waited for my sister to come over and asked her to throw it out. The second weekend he went away, I promised myself that I would finally throw out the trash! And I did it. He came home & noticed that the bag was not as nicely fitted into the garbage can as it normally should be and asked me about it. My response, "at least I threw out the trash!"

What are your goals and what's the plan?

Word of the Day - Busy

My husband was away this weekend watching baseball with a bunch of his buddies. Although I sorely missed him, I accomplished quite a bit in two days. First off, I dragged my good friend to a Home Show in Brooklyn that showcased 6-7 uber talented Etsy Sellers. Despite the heavy rain and cold weather, we made the trip and are so glad we did. Not only did I get to see the beautiful work in person, I also met a few great sellers too. Perhaps, one day I can be selling some of my work in person too. Hmm, that's a thought.

Oh and to show my support, I bought a shirt. If I had it my way, I would have bought from everyone but a thing called "budget" prevented me from doing so. The lovely Kim from kimmchi.etsy.com designed this.

My friend bought a shirt as well and a gorgeous necklace from joannetracydesigns.etsy.com. Her shop is very lovely and this is by far my favorite.

Anyway, I've been getting quite a bit of custom order inquiries lately. Not only do I have to keep my head on straight as an executive assistant by day, but I'm also multitasking between different custom orders at home now too. It's been challenging but most definitely fun.

Here's a project that I just finished. A client of mine is a photographer. He wanted me to customize a altered tin favor for him to give out to his own clients as his "Thank You." I thought that was very sweet of him and also a great idea too. His requirements: anything that matched Chocolate Brown. I added some sweet candy and tied it with a string and tag. Voila!

Here are the results.

Well it's Monday. Back to the daily grind and one more day until my husband comes home.

Sam loves Snow

It snowed in NYC yesterday. The snow is so pretty when it falls, that is until it's ruined by cars and people. Sam loves romping in the snow. Her full thick fur keeps her very warm. If she had a choice, she'd even sleep in it.

Awe a smidgen of snow fell on her nose, too cute. She's not sure how to react to this. Snow on ground, okay, snow on nose, not so much.

I seriously love my dog. I feel so grateful everyday to have her in my life. She follows me around everywhere. She is loyal and she is so darn cute. Oh, I love my husband too of course, but seriously I am in love with dog!

If you're a dog owner, you know how difficult it is to capture a photo with your pet. See my examples. None came out too well, Sam wasn't in the mood to pose with me yesterday. Hrmph!