Looking Forward to Recovery

So I'm still sick, but much better today than yesterday!
I have to go do some blood tests tomorrow and I'm very nervous.
I just want my sickness to go away so I can be back to normal.
I don't want to find out I have some sort of serious disease.
BUT BACK TO POSITIVE THINKING!

I think I have cake on the brain.
And what's more positive than that?
I can't wait to start feeling better so I can be baking more.
This is currently on my to-bake-list:

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE



(Did I mention I'm also looking forward to feeling better so I can drink beer again?)

Here's where you can find the recipe:
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/10/in-the-kitchen-with-katie-quinn-davies-guinness-cake.html

I also finally put the finishing touches on my vagina pillow.
I added a rhinestone on the pom-pom ball clit.
Because why the hell not?



I'm also working on marking hanging yarn balls.
During one of my best friends (8th? 9th? when did The Lion King come out?) birthday parties, her mom had us do this craft, but I think it was with string. We put string on a balloon and took it home until the balloon was deflated, then we were left with a ball of thread that we could hang somewhere in our bedrooms. Let's see if yarn works.



That's it for today!

Sick Inspiration

Being sick really has really inspired me this week.
I think a person is bound to be inspired when they are
left all alone, sick in bed, with their thoughts.

I've realized big things like what matters in life,
who matters in life, and what a true friend really means.

I've also realized small things, like what small goals
I want to accomplish.
And how I want to spend more time on my baking, crafting,
and homework, rather than catching up on TV shows that
I've missed out on.

I don't have a lot of new ideas and pictures for this blog
but I do want to say, that I can not wait to feel better
and bake a cake. These cute cakes by Miette (miette.com)
totally inspire me. LOOK HOW FREAKING CUTE THEY ARE!








Now look how cute I am! It's snowing!



Also, I have dropped 6 pounds because I wasn't
keeping any food down. I can not wait to get better
and eat!

Celebrations of Life!

Today is the day of two celebrations of life for me.

1. My Grandma Joe (Josephine Giffard/Robles) passed away this afternoon. She had a good run, and I am thankful for having her in my life and grateful that she passed on many creative talents to her children and grandchildren.



2. My friend Jay is turning 28 today so I got him a few things.

Here's a tip: For those of you in college that get tons and tons of paper that you keep from class, recycle the paper by using it as gift wrap!

I like to save the funnier/uncomfortable/unusual/really cool papers and pamphlets. You get a lot of those in women's studies and counseling.

So first of all, he has a dog which he is quite attached to.
Quite attached to.
Anyway, I decided to be an enabler and give him cute dog treats.
I would've baked some myself but this way my feelings won't be
hurt if the dog decides he doesn't like them.
I added a pipe cleaner bow and two pom poms as decorations



Next I wrapped his next gift (a zen sandtray thing) in a pamphlet on "Why AA works (sometimes)". Three different types of yarn as string with pom pom accents



And lastly I got him some buddhist beading kit (you can make yogi rosaries and bracelets and whatnot). I don't know if he's into MAKING things, but I bet if I made them for it he'd take them. I wrapped this one up in LGBTQ resource centers in the LA and Orange County Area. Pipe cleaner center bow, rhinestone and pom pom accents.



They don't look like works of art but they look fun!

If you have the time, have fun!

Cheeseballs, Children, and Coochies

There are three things I wanted to cover in my post for tonight.

1. I'm still obsessed with Amy Sedaris and baking, cooking, and being a hoot of a host. Honestly, after watching some of her appearances on Letterman, I find myself being more quirky, relaxed, and confident, which works pretty well on dates.



I've become particularly in love with her cheeseball recipe, and will be making more once I start hosting parties (aka getting a dinner table and bar stools)



Amy Sedaris' Li'l Smokey Cheeseball

2 cups of shredded smoked Gouda cheese
16 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 cup of butter
2 1/2 tablespoons of milk
2 1/2 teaspoons of Steak Sauce
1 cupped of chopped nuts

Bring all ingredients to room temp. Add milk and steak sauce and beat until completely blended. Chill over night. Turn it into a ball the next morning. Roll it in the nut mixture. Serve it room temp, spread on a Ritz cracker.



It's delish. I even had a few friends sample it and they all loved it. They were all drunk and high at the time, so it could've tasted horrible and they would've eaten it all up anyway, but they claimed it was very good.

2. I was eating some cheeseball and crackers on my way to class today and I'm learning a lot from my child therapy class. If you don't know this about me already, I do not get along with children. Even growing up, I wanted to play with older kids. I never babysat. And for the most part, if a baby looks at me, they will probably start screaming. I'm just not good with kids!

I started noticing lately how men interact with kids. A few weeks ago my mother and I were watching this HUGE BEEFY CUT military babe on the beach with his wife and 3 girls all under the age of 6. When they packed up the beach gear the father squatted down to the girls' eye levels and proceeded to tell them that as they walk back to the hotel, they need to make sure not to walk carefully and not kick any sand on anyone or anyones blanket. Almost every time he talked to one of them, he squatted down to their level. I learned today how important it is for kids to have something on their level, because the world was built for much taller people...

I can still relate since I constantly have to jump and hit something to knock it down off of a cabinet.

3. And since I'm in a crafter mood, I've decided for the holidays and v-day, I'm going to start working on vagina projects. Making felt vagina dog and cat toys and vagina pillows. I hope one day to come up with a great vagina print apron. I think I'm going to start and see if I can sell these products on etsy. So far I've only seen a few shitty felt vaginas on there and some pendants and necklaces.



The uterus pillow is pretty cool though



I'm so inspired! Lots of things on my mind!

Role Models

Everyone needs a good role model.
Someone to look up to
Relate to
Aspire to be

I have many female role models. My mother, my friends, and comedians such as Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, maybe even a little Sarah Silverman. I love talented, funny, witty, beautiful, smart, women. That's what I aspire to be.

One woman that is making a big influence on my life right now is Amy Sedaris.
You may remember her from Strangers with Candy (she played the lead role).
But if you're like me and enjoy baking, getting creative, and my new love, hosting, you'd like her book I Like You: hospitality under the influence.



She's always crafting.
She's an avid rabbit lover.
She likes to entertain guests
And she wears big beautiful outrageous dresses and outfits.
And as we know, I go most days wearing dresses.
I love it.
I love her.
And watching her on youtube or tv always gets me in a good mood!

If you like to craft, which I do (but not always very good at), you might be interested in her new book Simple Times: crafting for poor people. I already pre-ordered it at my local Borders.



Anyway, I think we can all learn from others.
Pick a fun role model and see what you can learn!

midnight snack

I am not proud of this, but over the summer, I gained quite a few pounds.
Normal people do this in winter time.
I do this in summer time.

I'm going to blame it on the lack of running around
at my old job (the store closed in May and
no job offers since) and also the summertime boozing.

So I gave up some of my bad habits to make room for healthier ones (running, drinking more water, being the designated driver).

But I couldn't help it.
Today I was way too healthy.
I ran.
I walked to church and all around the farmers market.
I ate fresh fruits and vegetables all day
Cut down my portion sizes....

So naturally at 11pm my stomach can't take it anymore.
And I had the most delicious midnight snack!

I forgot how wonderful these things go together

I grilled peaches my pops gave me from his orchard
and dipped them in a little brown sugar with honey on top
and whipped cream.

Delicious!

Dinner in the Backyard

Last night I had an amazing meal with some friends and new friends down the block. The host was nice enough to make vegetarian food and non-vege food for the meat eaters as long as the guests brought either a bottle of wine or dessert.

There were a lot of guests there.
Which meant there was a LOT of wine there.
Which meant the topic of conversation turned to
sex every 15 minutes or so.

Two of my girl friends mentioned they would never
be able to make love to R&B music.
I could not believe my ears.
After watching d'angelos music video "How does it feel",
I do not see how anyone would not want to make love.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU
Sneak peak here:



On these warm summer nights I've been wearing
more skirts paired with a tank top and bright
sweater.






I love dresses, and normally if I wear skirts, they
are high wasted and fitted, but lately i've been
bringing out the ballerina in me and have been
wearing more floral skirts. I'm going to get the
most out of my summer...even if I am REALLY looking
forward to fall. I wore the floral forever 21 blue
skirt last night.

And one of my favorite parts of the night was trying
limoncello for the first time. It was amazing, and the
host homemade it, which made it so good.



I found a pretty cool recipe for it right here
(soaked lemon peels in everclear for a week, then
add water and sugar).

http://www.italylogue.com/food-drink/limoncello-recipe-in-pictures.html


Enjoy!

Summer Time

It's been pretty hot out lately in Long Beach.
I don't think summer officially came until last week.
Luckily I only own 1 pair of pants so I'm enjoying
dress season.

Sometimes it's hard to accessorize when it's so hot
because you don't want so many things on your body.
So up-dos are a good way to add variety.
I've started wearing really high twisted buns.










Try it out!

Lady Gaga At The Gay Coffee Shop

Although I've been trying to cut down on my caffeine, I do enjoy the local entertainment at coffee shops in my community. Tonight I walked down to The Library Coffee Shop and they've been playing Lady Gaga,Ke$ha, and now Beyonce. It's way too cliche. I'm at a coffee shop, not a club or drag show... (I do need to go to a good drag show soon).

But for those of you who love free indie music like I do,
the Urban Outfitters blog is giving away 24 free
songs on iTunes here:
http://lstn.urbanoutfitters.com/11/

Enjoy