Weekly Summary 3

No new posts this week. Boo. But... I did get a new car! So instead, here are ten reasons I like my new car.

1. Sun visor (my old one looked like Swiss cheese)

2. Defrost and heat that work quickly

3. That awesome blinker clicky sound

4. New car smell

5. A non-disintegrated steering wheel

6. Automatic lock remote

7. I can fit a cup in my cup holder while the car is in park

8. Air conditioning that works

9. Decent sound system (no more cassette tapes!)

10. It's sparkly!

This week's new products:

Anything peach mango is amazing. And now there's peach mango softlips - which is my favorite chapstick. I usually own about four or five so that I always have access to one when I need it. (Chapstick seems to go missing and reappear at the oddest times and places.)

Lion Brand Hometown USA Yarn. Super thick, super soft and warm. (And not made of wool.) I used this to make an awesome mobius strip/infinity scarf, which I will hopefully feature on Friday. I've also used in the past to make this scarf.

Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel. Yum! I had to stay in town for Thanksgiving since I had to work, but I still had a ridiculously fantastic meal. And for only $9 too!

New Etsy Listings

Mobius Strip Scarf

Apparently I can't post any pictures because I've run out of storage... interesting.

Have a wonderful week!

Weekly Summary 2

This week's blog posts:

Grilled Pepper Onion and Sausage Calzones

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

This week's products that I tried for the first time, and liked enough I would buy again:

This week I was feeling the "yogurt and granola" vibe. And it was a good decision! This is the vanilla yogurt I used (a huge tub!) and boy, was it delicious. Unfortunately, the granola I tried wasn't that great.

Um, yum! This has almost a teriyaki flavor to them. They have a tad bit of spice, but not so much that it bothers me, the wimp of spicy foods.

And lastly, (with no picture, sadly), Fantastic Sam's "Fantastic Ten Style Prep". This is a spray leave-in conditioner that works fantastically! (Like my choice of words? =D) It works as a detangler on semi-wet hair, makes and keeps my hair super soft and has prevented a lot of split ends - normally my split ends would have split ends by now after a hair cut.

New Etsy Listings:

Beanie with Flower and Vintage Button

St. Patrick Rosary

Also, sorry for the lack of posting lately! I apparently have bronchitis... so I've been trying to get healthy. =) Have a great Thanksgiving week!

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

I picked this book up at Walmart from their "bargain books" bin. I read it in almost a day, thanks to the fact that my ride from Phoenix to Flagstaff had to clean her car (or something like that). I basically ended up in a random car place in Phoenix that had two benches and a TV playing a Spanish soap opera. It was an amazing book! Turns out it is a sequel (to the book Wings), but it was still fantastic. I've already ordered the prequel, Wings, and sequel, Illusions, to this book on Amazon. Here's to hoping they get here soon!

*Spoilers, for those who haven't read Wings*

This book is about a girl who struggles to balance her life in the fairy world and the human world. She grew up adopted by humans and only recently discovered that she is a fairy. She must train to protect her family (and the fairies as well) from the trolls.

Grilled Pepper, Onion and Sausage Calzones

So I made this recipe back in August, but I haven't had a chance to share it with you. My parents got me a George Foreman grill for my birthday, and this was a great way to use it.

The original recipe is from myrecipes.com.

Grilled Pepper, Onion and Sausage Calzones
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 cups flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water, let stand five minutes. In another bowl combine cold water, oil, sugar and salt.
2. Combine yeast water, cold water mixture and 5 1/4 flour in large mixing bowl. Mix with hands or on low with a stand mixer until dough begins to form. Knead bread until "smooth and elastic", or about two minutes. Add last 1/4 of flour to dough as you are kneading it to prevent it from sticking.
3. Divide dough in half and place in ziploc bag or tupperware. Seal and chill overnight up to two days.

Calzones
Ingredients:
Homemade pizza dough
1 sweet onion
2 bell peppers
1 pound Italian sausage links
1 can pizza sauce
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1.Remove pizza dough from fridge and let stand at room temperature for an hour.
2. Warm up grill.
3. Cut onions into flat slices and bell peppers into eights or so. Grill vegetables until browned.
4. Grill sausages about eight minutes or until done, making sure they are brown on all sides.
5. Cut onions into smaller slices (two inch long strips) and cut bell peppers into half-inch strips. Cut sausages into diagonal slices.
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Divide each ball of dough into four equal portions. Roll each portion into a 9x5 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Spread pizza sauce on rectangle; add sausage over half of rectangle. Top with onions and bell peppers and then about 1/3 cup cheese. Fold dough over, press edges together to seal. (You need less ingredients than you think!)
8. Put the calzones on a cookie sheet. Coat them with cooking spray (or brush them with oil). Bake for fifteen minutes.
9. Wait until they are cool and then enjoy! These can also be frozen for later snacks.

Ooey Gooey Deliciousness

Weekly Summary

Here's where I would like to sum up my week in blog posts - but unfortunately, I didn't post at all this week! Instead, I worked, traveled to Phoenix to observe a classroom, recorded a CD with NAU's choir and got sick. Bleh.

This week's products that I tried for the first time, and liked enough that I would buy them again.

I was headed to an event and didn't have much time to prepare, so I spent five bucks on a 2 pound bag of sliced apples and then grabbed some caramel to dip them in. I got sick and didn't end up going to the event, but I loved the convenience of having a health snack readily available. They were delicious, just sweet enough and crisp, and convenient. Although they did cost five dollars, I would definitely buy this again.

Okay, so I really bought these earlier than this week, but I loved them! I've been trying to make healthier choices when eating, and these live up to my standards. They're super sweet and don't taste like cardboard like other products might. I'm starting to fall in love with Sunbelt Bakery's products.

Another great granola bar - this time with protein! This is a great way to start the day, since the protein prevents you from getting hungry too soon. Plus, it's sweet and almost like a candy bar

Sippin' Saturday

Happy sippin' Saturday! Here are a couple of new drinks I've tried and enjoyed.

Sweet tea - this stuff is amazing! I went through two gallons of it in like a week. Oops.

Peace Tea, Sweet Lemon Tea - I've had so many of these. They have the perfect balance of sweetness, tea and lemon. I've also tried the raspberry Peace Tea, which was pretty good, but not my favorite flavor, and the green tea Peace Tea, which wasn't sweet enough for me. (But I like sugar a lot, so don't not try it just because of me)

Zeigler's Autumn Harvest Apple Cider - Yum! What a perfect autumn drink.

Homeade Rosaries

A couple of weeks ago, while deciding what to make as gifts for my family and friends, I pondered upon the idea of making a rosary. I loved the idea - making them is almost as soothing as praying them. I originally got my inspiration from about.com, since I had no idea where to start. Here's how I've made them.

Materials needed:
Wire cutters
Needle nose pliers
Crucifix
Rosary center piece (available cheap online)
Eye pins
53 Smooth beads
6 slightly larger or different colored accent beads

Here's the basic directions.

Place your bead on the eye-pin.

Use the wire cutters to cut excess wire off of the eye-pin about a centimeter away from your bead. This will get easier to eyeball as you go.

Use your needle nose pliers to create a loop at the top of the bead. Simply use the pliers to pinch the top and then roll them down - the pliers will do the shaping for you.

Make sure not to close the loop yet.

Attach the current beads to your previous bead. Use your pliers to close the loop

Continue in this fashion until you are done

The order for your beads is: Crucifix, one large bead, three small beads, one large bead, rosary center, ten small beads, one large bead, ten small beads, one large bead, ten small beads, one large bead, ten small beads, one large bead, ten small beads. You then want to connect the last of the ten small beads onto the rosary center by opening the eye-pin with your pliers. Then you should have a complete rosary.

Here are pictures of finished rosaries. All should be listed in my etsy shop within the week.

This is a St. Patrick rosary I made for a friend. Green beads, Celtic crucifix, St. Patrick center

This one is made with glass pearls

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Fashion Copy-Cat

I have a habit of pinning a lot of stuff on Pinterest. So I'm trying to make it useful. And hence - fashion copy cats. This copy cat comes from this pin:

(Source)

From my Fashion Pinterest board.

Here's my version (pardon the angle, it's hard to take pictures of myself!):

The breakdown:

Jeans, $30 Kohls (The most I've ever paid, but worth it!)

Camisole, $7 JcPennys

Tank top, $7.50 Rue 21

Camisole, $10 JcPennys

Scarf, $14 JcPennys

Shoes, ?? at Payless (I used to have a discount)

I figured it'd be fun to use a patterned top instead of a plain white top. Plus that meant I got to wear a tank top in the fall. =) Oh, and everything above was already in my closet, I just wanted to experiment with making different fashion combinations. The only accessory used above was a lime green bracelet, which I don't own, so I used my own accessories:

Pearl earrings!

Cute peacock ring (also, candy corn nails!)

Linked at