Card Organization

I started Kalynn a baby box the day she was born. I kept her little tiny hospital bracelet and her discharge papers from Long Beach Memorial. I kept her miniature pink octopus slippers that she wore every day around the time she first started crawling. I kept a couple of decorations from her 1st birthday. I kept her flower girl basket from our wedding (It's ok to skip the math here). I kept her "Baby's 1st Christmas" stocking and her unbelievably small Alice In Wonderland Halloween costume. I just wanted to keep a few things that she may want when she's older so she can look back and know that her birth was, and that her life still is, such an exciting, welcoming, and special time for me and for her daddy as well.
With Kalynn's 2nd birthday coming on Thursday, I started getting a bit sad at how fast time has gone by. So while she was napping, I sat down and went through her baby box just to reminisce. (Maybe also to give myself a good cry, but mainly to reminisce.)  Regardless, I found all the cards I got from our baby shower that my amazing sister threw for us. They were all in a pile stacked at the bottom of the box and I just knew there had to be a better way to keep them together so they didn't get mixed up with all the other cards I've kept for her.
I took some loose leaf rings that I got at an office supply store, punched holes in the cards, and looped them all together. That's it. And it really got me thinking that I could most likely do this for all the cards I get throughout the year that I can't bring myself to throw away. It's the simplest thing in the world to do, I cut and labeled a cover out of one of my sturdier pieces of pretty scrapbook paper so I know what the occasion was, but other than that it really took zero effort. Now I have an easy way to look back at that special day and remember who was there, re-read the supporting words from my friends, and have something to hand to Kalynn when she has her own baby shower some day. Some day far, far, FAR into the future.



Baby Cakes

I'm going to a baby shower today and in addition to my baby registry bought gift, I wanted to bring something extra. These were a big hit especially because the mommy-to-be was able to have a few extra pacifiers to add to her repertoire.
These would also be great for a gender reveal party!

Easy Crock Pot Lasagna

First, let me preface this by saying I have never made lasagna, crock pot or not, ever in my entire life. No particular reason really, I just never have. So this was my first experience all together and it was amazing. Just like Oprah said it would be. I even dare to say better than regular lasagna because the noodles soften in the sauce instead of a bowl of boiling water so the flavor is outstanding. It took me a total of 15 minutes to prepare. I didn't actually use the recipe on her website, just the idea. I didn't have time to make my own spaghetti sauce, I just used the kind from a jar, and I left out the layer of spinach. But it was fantastic anyway.

Ingredients:
Meat
Spaghetti Sauce
Lasagna noodles
15oz ricotta cheese
8oz mozzarella

1. Cook your meat of choice. Most people use ground chuck, but I don't care for eating anything called "chuck." I used Jennie-O ground turkey and seasoned it with onion powder, minced garlic, and italian mixed seasoning.
2.  Lightly grease your crock pot. Does that sound dirty to anyone else?
3. Place a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, they don't need to be the boil-free kind, just any regular kind will do.
4. In a separate bowl, mix a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce with 1/3 cup water.
5. Layer on top of the dry noodles half of your meat, sauce, ricotta and mozzarella.
6. Repeat layers.
7. Cook on high for 1 hour, then on low for an additional 3 1/2

I also used reduced fat mozzarella and part skim ricotta. No one knew the difference. My husband even went back for seconds.

Old Vinyl Record Revival

I have a pretty sizable stack of old vinyl records that I picked up throughout college at rummage sales and from my parents.  The majority of them are still in great condition but a handful of them are super scratched, warped, or both. Some of them have a lot of sentimental value and I'm not willing to dump them off at our local Salvation Army so the only other option I have is to keep them in a box in the attic to collect dust or revive them in some sort of crafty way and bring them back to life.

A few glass bowls with a couple of records made an awesome serving platter at my retro 50's themed bridal shower:

(I had fancy-pants cupcakes made for my shower but for this picture all I could find around the house were banana nut muffins)

One added tip, make sure your food cools before you try putting them on the wax if you want to spare your records any more warping!

I also discovered that if you put a record in the oven at 200° for 10 minutes you can pretty much bend it into whatever shape you choose. Molding the vinyl over a glass or metal bowl you can shape it into an awesome dish to keep your spare change, serve fruit, or whatever else. We use ours as a popcorn bowl on movie night.

This last craft, record bookends, is a bit more tricky. After you boil a pot of water, pour it into a plugged up sink and quickly dip the edge of your record in while bending it into the shape you want. 

The most difficult part is to transfer it as quickly as possible onto a hard surface to flatten the bottom. The vinyl hardens extremely quickly and you have to have something heavy enough to press the waves in the  record down. I used a box with rocks in it, but a heavy book or something like that would work. 

After you dry it off, it works great! I used double Pink Floyd "The Wall" LP's just so they were matching at both ends, but mixing and matching always works just as well!

I think it's time to search the garage and see what else I can dig up to revive. If anyone else has great ideas for old vinyl, please post it in the comments and let me know!

 Find me now on Instagram at TheBrighterWriter !

Hiking to the Hollywood sign!

Happy 2012 to everyone!
I decided to start off the New Year with posting one of my very favorite memories from last year which was hiking to the historic, culturally iconic Hollywood sign. It had been on my bucket list forever so when my husband asked what I wanted to do for my 31st birthday last August, it was my top choice. I did a ton of research on it before hand and found a website that had everything we needed to know including pictures of every turn which saved us from getting lost in the morning fog numerous times.

These security features which overlook the entire mountain are more protected than the President. Violations for crossing the fence are Hollywood-paycheck pricey due to the risks of being on the side of this extremely steep slope. Not to mention the fact that this sign has survived a heap-ton of vandalism throughout the years and that there are giant residential neighborhoods that don't want random people tromping though their back yard. Beforwarned that you'll not only have a tall perimeter fence with razor wire protecting it, but also 24 hour electronic surveillance by City of Los Angeles authorities infrared lights and cameras that can see equally as well in the day and on a moonless night, monitoring microphones and bullhorns, web cameras, motion sensors, and regular patrol visits by city police and park ranger helicopters.

They aren't joking around.

We hung out up there for quite a while, had a picnic and checked out the insanely gorgeous view.

The front view on our way back down:

Since we were basically next door to it anyway, we drove over to the Griffith Observatory. Even though it was closed, walking around the grounds was so well worth it. The view from the behind the building was another that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

HIGHLY recommended for anyone in Southern California that has the chance to do it. Best birthday EVER!!

Strawberry Cheesecake Santas

My husband and I had friends over for a bit of pre-holiday celebration which made me want to whip up some sort of holiday treat. I found a version of these Santa strawberries that I thought were just ok looking on a website but they were definitely missing something. The Santa's I found were made just from whip cream, which is boring. So it was my duty, really, to bring to life more excitement in these little holiday fat guys. Here are mine:

After I cut the strawberries I switched the whip cream filling with no-bake cheese cake filling. I sat them on a bed of graham cracker, and I decided the whip cream could stay but only for dipping and only if it was homemade. The cheese cake was easy enough right out of the no-bake box which conveniently had the graham cracker crust already included. I used chopped chocolate chips for the eyes. The whip cream is 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 table spoon powered sugar, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 cup whipping or heavy cream whipped together at high speed until fluffy enough to look like whip cream. Perfect holiday bite sized strawberry cheesecake Santa snacks.

PBS Sprout TV Birthday Card

Kalynn and I get up every morning, have our milk (coffee) while we watch the Sunny Side Up Show in the Sunshine Barn with Chica on PBS Sprout TV.

Chica, the little stuffed chicken puppet, and whoever the host is that week, sing a happy birthday song and open a very few, hand selected, homemade birthday cards sent in from viewers. This year Kalynn is old enough to submit a card, so we did! There are requirements, such as certain colors that show up best on television, PBS character placements, and a picture of the birthday kid. So we followed the rules, got a little creative, and made a card that looks just like the Sunshine Barn! Tune in January 12th on the Sunny Side Up Show to see if our card was chosen and wish us luck!