Monday Musings: Floridian nights...

As I sit here listening to some old school pop music from when I was fresh out of high school and well into the end of my first year of university I wonder why at night my mind tends to wander through the events of the day, the news I've heard or read and my own thoughts of what we are currently living globally.

I don't think we all realize how interdependent on each other we are nowadays. I think that the gravity of these hard economic times we are facing, the mounting global pressures we face are very greatly misrepresented in the media and while everyone wonders about what Bernanke said or what Obama didn't say or do, no one bothers to ask the populace what they think of what is going on, how they've had to change the way they live, what new hardships they're facing---in short, we are all in kind of a daze and that is worrisome.

Sometimes I find myself wishing I were back in the mid 1990s when I was in high school and life wasn't so hard. I wonder if the choices I made would have been different if I had set my aims toward something different, instead of desperately wanting to become an actress I had desired to go into law or medicine...I'm sure that even then the outcome would have been the same.

Now more than ever we all need to pull together in solidarity with our fellow man and help each other as best we can.

Until tomorrow...

Monday Musings: Weekend Shopping Trip and more...

I love shopping and this past weekend I got a few things that were right up my alley...

Bird Cage w/hooks from Atticus, Candies from Bruttles Gourmet Treats,
Stationary from Atticus, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway,
and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Close up of candies and books (books I bought at Auntie's Bookstore)

More of the candies with stationary...

Flowers from Bloem- Chocolates, Flowers & Paperie
Hanging Mason Jar from the Pottery Barn

London Notebook by Cavallini from the Pottery Barn
Hardcover Journal with my original photo printed at
Snapfish.

4 lotions from Bath & Body Works
A real bargain for $22.50 plus a bag!

Eiffel Tower eraser from the Pottery Barn
(I also saw this in sortingwithstyle.com)

Now my next task is to place all my newly found items in their proper place!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: New things happening...

I finally have a moment to write to you all once again! I have missed blogging and was craving the right moment to do so. I have much news to share with you all! First, I just had my 29th birthday last week on August 12th which was really fun! I am really excited about this last year of my second decade on earth, beginning the third decade seems like a really exciting time for me! Here is a collage with some of my favorite photos from the actual day of my birthday:

I really enjoyed the day! It was very fun and full of love! Beyond having a new year added onto my life I also got a new look! The day before my birthday I was treated to a day at the beauty salon by my friend Mireya. Here are the results:

So, the other news is that in a week and a half I will be boarding a plane once again headed to Spokane, WA this time. Lord, it only took me about a half a year to get there which had been my original plan but I am glad it is finally coming to fruition and that I got to spend time here in Venezuela. Anyway, thought I would share with you just a bit of what's been going on in my life these days. Tomorrow I will write again!

Cheers!

PS: If you want to know more about my move and all that jazz visit the Notes section of the blog's page on facebook!

Monday Musings: Baking Enjoyment and New Projects

About a week and a half ago I'd bought some bananas and, as with almost everything else I tend to buy fruit-wise, I didn't eat them all in time and alas they started to get brown and mushy. Well, one of my favorite things to do with mushy bananas is make banana bread and that is what I did. I generally use the Betty Crocker recipe but this time I used a recipe that my grandmother likes which was included in a cookbook compiled by the Trinity Wives Club back in 1958-ish.

The recipe I used was the first one on the page pictured here, Banana Quick Bread. I have to say it was fairly easy to make and turned out quite good! I love the fact that instead of stating that nuts are optional it calls them nutmeats, isn't that cool? I love old cookbooks! While new ones are often beautiful and full of color, it's the older ones that hold interesting pearls of wisdom and anecdotes. This one in particular is full of Bible verses, poems, prayers, helpful hints and the like. I have decided to take on the task of retyping the book and later making it into a new book with pictures and all. I plan on making each recipe and adding photos to them, keeping the original text of each page. It's a labor of love really.

My beautiful retro style Banana Bread and it was good!!!

Home-made goodness...

Well, I will let you now how this project progresses over time! I leave you now with a funny picture I took of myself and a magnet I got in NYC with a food sample! Enjoy!

Monday Musings: Until we meet again...

{Dance Class at the Opera by Edgar Degas}

This afternoon my parents embarked on a journey back home and I hope to hear that their travels back to the States went well and were without strange occurrences. I was sad to see them go but have the hope of seeing them again in the not-so-distant future. It was nice to spend some time with them since before arriving here in Caracas on March 29th I hadn't seen them since the beginning of November. I miss them already and the room is emptier without them but I am at peace with being here and know that God has great and wonderful plans for me. So, tomorrow I hope to bring you a great tutorial in honor of keeping the old chin up and continuing on with life and hoping for better things to come!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Retro games and something more...

I have often said that my grandma's apartment here in Caracas is a house of relics and today I was able to once again prove that this is so. I have not seen so many retro things together under one roof in my life and while my father was helping clean out the large shelf in the living room we came across a few interesting things. Of course, I had to snap up a few photos for posterity's sake. First up, an old Sorry game from 1958:

Check out the retro styles of the board...

I'd never seen Sorry played with game cards before...

Being ever crafty I couldn't pass up these great finds: mounting tape and floral tape all from some time ago but still good enough to use:

Don't they look lovely on my bookshelf?

I think it is sometimes a great thing to explore the nooks and crannies of an old apartment. You never know what you will find. I have acquired, besides the old tapes, a few sheets of cardstock to make cards with, some old stamps for my collection, an entire collection of old matchbooks which I want to photograph and many other things.

Well, tomorrow I hope to have a super tutorial for you! Until then, au revoir!

Monday Musings: Favorite Crafting Supplies

When it comes to crafting there are some supplies that I really believe I could not live without and I long for the day when I can get my collection of supplies out of storage and back in my hands for proper use! A few years ago I bought a set of pens that I absolutely love and do not know how I ever got along without them! The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens are perfect for journaling which is why I originally bought them. The pack I got comes with 20 colors:

Their fine point is great for detailed doodles as well. Also from Staedtler, the ergosoft coloured pencil set is a great choice for coloring in doodles or small embellishments for scrapbooking or journaling. This is the set I bought at Arte Real in Venezuela:

I use pretty much whatever I can get my hands on when crafting and since I am environmentally conscious I try to reuse as many things as possible, from yogurt cups to cereal boxes and right down to the empty toilet paper rolls (I once used toilet paper rolls to wrap loose strands of ribbon on them to keep them from getting tangled). Another thing I love to use when crafting is wrapping paper. Some papers have such gorgeous designs that are perfect for embellishing.

Stickers are of course part of my supply list as is ribbon, cardstock, glues, other adhesives, paints, and much more! I use old expired catalogs for inspiration and sometimes even to cut things out from. A simple gum wrapper to me has much potential. Another of my favorite supplies is Mod Podge:

I absolultey love that stuff! When I am in the US that is what I use, when in Venezuela the equivalent is OroColor's OroPeg:

Another thing I often use for crafting is tissue paper and whenever I get a gift which has tissue paper in the wrapping I save that stuff for later use! It is handy in so many ways! What are some of your favorite crafting supplies?

Monday Musings: All Things Irish

from Why Ireland?

St. Patrick's Day is soon upon us and PBS has been bringing out the Irish wonders left and right. I just finished watching Out of Ireland with Patricia O'Reilly and after watching the news from RTE she showcased PBS' latest documentary the Music of Ireland: Welcome Home. The two part documentary airs this month across the country and centers on the history of contemporary Irish music. It features music and interviews from some of Irelands best and most well-known artists as well as some lesser known artists but just as great, including: The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers, U2, The Dubliners, Riverdance, Bob Geldof, Ronan Tynan, and Sinead O'Connor.

I am eager to see this documentary as one of my favorite bands, U2, is mentioned and there is even a great interview with Bono! I can't wait! My 2009 Christmas gift to myself was U2's latest album! I am also excited to see more of Ireland's best. I love celtic music and I think it has had a huge influence in contemporary music even beyond Ireland so it should be a great series. If you go to the Music of Ireland homepage there is a tab entitled Broadcast where you can see if and when it will be aired in your area!

U2 photo from billboard.com

I hope to be able to make my traditional Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day this year! If you haven't already, check out the Spotted Dog I made last September, similar to Irish Soda Bread, it is an Irish version of the British Spotted Dick. Check it out in my post The Things I've Made. A few Irish goodies I found on Etsy in preparation for St. Patrick's Day, check them out:

Cute little Irish Boy hat by daisymaehats $12

Gorgeous Lucky Shamrock Scarf by Ayca, $35

Kiss Me I'm Irish Shamrock Cookies from Holiday Candy Lane, $29

I leave you with some beautiful photos of Ireland:

from the dailygreen.com

from grouptraveldiscounts

Glendalough, Ireland

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Literature Inspiration

As I watched Little Women last night with my nieces I began to think of all the beautiful crafts described in the book made my the March sisters and the ones pictured in the 1994 film version. I love the late 19th century arts and crafts, the Victorian ones in particular are my favorites. Today I decided to see if there were any arts and crafts inspired by Louisa May Alcott's wonderful book and found a listing for a book called The Little Women Book: Games, Recipes, Crafts and Other Homemade Pleasures. I have decided to purchase the book from Powell's Books. It should be here in 4-9 days.

I am very eager and excited to do crafts from that time period. Inspired by the idea of the Little Women book, I decided to find crafts inspired by other favorites such as Anne of Green Gables and found this blog: Steph's Cup of Tea. Steph featured the Anne of Green Gables Christmas Treasury on her post which is full of wonderful crafts and recipes inspired by that series of books as well as the films. I think I may wait on getting that one but it is definitely one to collect as well. I love old-fashioned Christmas traditions and would like to make some of those wonderful crafts in that book. Just looking at the cover makes me want to get cozy in a nice room full of wonderful supplies or keep warm by the oven in the kitchen while whipping up something delicious to eat!

Steph also mentioned another blogger who loved this treasury and had posted a few tutorials on her own site of Anne-inspired crafts: Christmas with Anne of Green Gables. The post makes me want it to be Christmas again! Looking back at the Victorian era, of which Little Women in a part, Victoriana magazine has wonderful craft links and tidbits for all to use. I found this tutorial for making your own Victorian ABC Dishes for children with printable alphabet illustrations:

Here is an article on Perforated Paper Needlework which, by the way, has made a comeback and has led this curious crafter to do some extra researching for possibly making a few adornments for the home using this antique craft style. Further research brought me to "bluing" which was a form of whitening clothing in the Victorian era. You can read all about it here at the Victorian Passage.

Another great find that has more to do with crafting and less to do with laundry which I found on A Victorian Passage is a set of Victorian e-papers designed by Edenshale Cottage. These are available for download here. The link directs you to the post on A Victorian Passage and allows you to access the gorgeous papers as I did! I cannot wait to use them!

{from A Vintage Passage}

I have enjoyed sharing these antique craft books and sites with you! I hope this week is beautiful and filled with the promises of Spring!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Beautiful Eye Candy

I don't have much to say today as I was quite busy and was not able to really think about a lot but I wanted to share with you some of the gorgeous things I've been seeing while I blog surf! So, today it's all about images, gorgeous and wonderful, and sharing some sites with you that make me feel like I do not know how I lived without them! Enjoy!

{photo by: artlovejoy, from blog post "Mellow Yellow"}

{inspiration board, photo by artlovejoy at artygirlsblog}

{Image from decor8, as seen on artygirlsblog}

{Images from decor8}

The two images above I just fell in love with! They're fabulous! I love the first one for its uniqueness and the second one because I love to knit!

I want a room like this for my crafting pleasure:

{Images from decor8}

I leave you with the following, my favorite Alicia Bock photo:

{Photo by: Alicia Bock Photography: I Love Paris in the Springtime}

Monday Musings: It's a preschool world!

I spend a lot of time with an infant and a preschooler so it's no surprise that the things that often call my attention have to do with their age group! My nieces are my two biggest loves and with a nephew on the way (hopefully by tonight he'll be born or at the latest Tuesday morning) you can hardly expect me to not see the world through auntie-eyes! Earlier this morning, during a quiet moment, I checked out one of my favorite websites which I'd not visited in a while and found the cutest little dress that made me think how much I wanted to get it for Alyssa (she's the 4 year old). It's from Preloved, a store from Canada that specializes in using vintage fabrics to create one of a kind pieces! The Melody dress is gorgeous!

Melody Dress by Preloved

The garments on Preloved's site are so beautifully crafted that I could spend hours looking at them over and over and never tire of them. The fact that they are reusing vintage fabrics makes the clothes all the more appealing as sustainability in what we wear is something that I value highly and want to teach my nieces about as well. I learned at an early age that taking care of our environment meant taking care of ourselves in the long-run and having a posterity which will also enjoy our beautiful planet.

I am not a huge fan of television, there are very few things that I truly enjoy watching and anyone who knows me will tell you that. However, being around a preschool age niece has brought me into a preschool world and Nick Jr is suddenly a part of my life! Nick Jr is now a whole channel! When I was a kid Nick Jr was in the morning hours of Nickelodeon and featured shows such as The Elephant Show, Maya the Bee and others. Having a channel that is like being in preschool all day long is interesting yet quite a bit of fun as well. My favorite Nick Jr show is Yo Gabba Gabba! I have to admit that when I first saw this retro-style song and dance show I thought someone was tripping off of something but when I started to pay attention to the message and the great active play I began to like it! It's fun and quirky and teaches great lessons about taking care of the environment, friendship and so much more. Yo Gabba Gabba is a true delight!

DJ Lance Rock and the Yo Gabba Gabba gang

Here are a few scenes from my favorite episode of the show in which Jack Black appeared:

Performing with Muno

Wearing a DJ Lance outfit, courtesy of People Magazine

Jack and Brobee's tummy party!

My niece loves singing "there's a party in my tummy! So, yummy! So, yummy!" When I first heard her singing that I had no idea where she'd gotten it from until one day...Yo Gabba Gabba really is a great show.

So, this week is Winter Break week here in Central NY and that means that Alyssa is home all day.☺ We watched some Nick Jr and all that good stuff but the best part was coloring in the Hello Kitty Coloring book I bought her a while back! We had a blast! Yes, I said we! I love to color! It's quite theraputic for me! Here is the page Alyssa asked me to color for her:

Hello Space Kitty!

So, yes, it's a preschool world and I love it! It's so much fun to be able to play, color, and learn with children!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Blogs, Music and other things I love...

How lovely the sound of the Emma soundtrack is, particularly since I now own it because I caved and bought it at iTunes. I couldn't resist! It will not be long before I cave in and buy the actual film on DVD. Today, after re-inflating my bed and folding laundry, I set out to do a little "computer organizing" and began working on getting all of the blogs I follow on my Feeds list rather than the Favourites. It is much easier to manage them. I also re-arranged my Favourites and created new folders for different websites. As I got the blog feeds in order I was able to peruse some of my faves and that was a lot of fun. One of my favourite crafting blogs is called Things We Make and is managed by Amy Palanjian. This blog showcases the crafts of many and is a great source of inspiration.

Not only does Amy post about the crafts of those who inspire her, she also posts great recipes and other enjoyable things! You must check out her skillet cornbread, I think I will soon be trying to make some myself! Her latest Weekend Project post, Learning to Crochet got me thinking that I really ought to start learning myself and use that little kit and yarn I bought! The box is still sitting near my bed, not at all looked at since I first bought it at Tuesday Morning in Princeton, NJ. I have no idea when I became so side-tracked. Anyway, it did inspire me to take it up and also to finish knitting the scarf I began two years ago (hopefully I can finish it before winter is out!).

There are so many blogs I follow that this blog post could become eternal if I tried to mention them all so I have decided that every Monday I will mention one in the hopes of sharing with my readers a bit about the other great blogs and ideas that are out there. Things We Make is quite visually pleasing and also a great read. I hope you take the time to visit it! Expect a change in the way my blog looks this month! I've decided that with it being a new year I want a fresh new look! Also, I have been thinking that while my blog looks pretty the background makes it a bit difficult to properly see links that I post so in order to remedy that I have decided to go with a new look!

Until tomorrow!

Nadia