Resolutions

How are people's New Year's resolutions goings?? Bet they can't be as bad (or as painful) as these people's!

Laughing,

-Kate

What I'm Loving Right Now

"How to be a Heartbreaker" by Marina and the Diamonds

This steamy little nugget is brought to you by my great friend Christina. She introduced it to me and I can't quite get it out of my head. I wish I was bold enough to tattoo a heart on my face. Thanks to this video I have now decided to wear ribbons in my hair like Marina more often due to my fiancee's request (he has a thing for ribbons--don't get it). Additionally, who doesn't love wet, almost naked dudes?! Oh, and it's a catchy little ditty. 

Enjoy,

Kate

All That Glitters...

If you're anything like me, you sometimes stop and wonder, "Where does that come from?" Or maybe you ask yourself, "How is that made?" If you're like me you also love glitter and anything that sparkles. And glitter just happens to be one of those curious things. So just in case you ever wondered, here are some glitter tid bits for you to stash away in the back of your mind. 

Glitter was thought to originally been made from mica that was flaked off and used for ceremonial purposes and festivals as well as cave paintings.

Mica--the original glitter

Apparently, around the 30's it was reported that women would use lead to cover their faces and make them glittery. Unfortunately this also led to deaths from lead poisoning.The downsides of glitter, folks!

 Henry Ruschmann found a way in 1934 to make glitter from ground up plastics. He then founded Meadowbrook Inventions, which is supposedly still a large glitter manufacturing company today.

Plastic sheets that have several layers and have been colored through a chemical process are then cut into tiny shapes. You can see some of the the differing shapes in the picture above. 

Color me sparkling!

-Kate

Childhood Nostalgia

Ever have those moments when you see something from your childhood that you had previously forgotten about until that moment? Had one of those today. I was watching "Friends" with Andy and sitting on a bureau in Chandler's room there was an abstract construction of Toobers and Zots. Toobers and Zots were one of my favorite toys as a child! I have such distinct memories of getting them for Christmas when we were in Door County as a family and make crowns and swords out of them with my dad. He was always the most creative with them. I never saw them anywhere else. I didn't know of any other kid who had them, but I love them. So to see them again today, even though it was technically some time ago in the '90s that they existed made me so happy! Check 'em out for yourself: Toobers and Zots!

Feast Your Eyes On This

Charley Harper

An artist who has influenced so many illustrators but remains relatively unknown.

Born August 4th, 1922 and lived until June 10th, 2007.

His agriculturally based upbringing heavily influenced his work.

He married Edie Mckee, and together they had only one child, Brett Harper.

His style is called minimal realism, and he tried to get to the essence of his subject with as few visual elements as possible.

"Wildlife art has been dominate by realism, but I have chosen to do it differently because I think flat, hard-edge, and simple."

He designed pamphlets and covers for the National Parks Service as seen above.

Charley Harper was unknown to me until a friend and fellow classmate did her Senior Seminar research project on Charley Harper and John James Audubon. However, I love his illustrations. The geometric, yet still whimsical quality of his work is the part that I love the most. I hope you enjoy him and his work as well! Here are some links to more info on Charley Harper:

https://charleyharperartstudio.com/

https://www.charleyharperprints.com/

Alarm-ing

Well first of all, good morning. And second of all, I wish I could say good night and crawl right back into bed. Today was one of those dreadful mornings where you curse your alarm for remembering to do its job. Why, oh why couldn't it just malfunction and let me sleep more? Why couldn't it magically add 2 more hours into the night? I found I have a tendency to rush through getting ready in the morning because once I'm totally ready to go, I'll hop back in bed for 20 more minutes and set my alarm for 5 minutes before I'm supposed to be out the door. That way I can get some extra ZZZs but I am ready to walk right out the door when my alarm goes off.

I tried once to make the whole alarm experience more pleasant by choosing a gentle, soothing ring tone for my alarm (I use my phone as my alarm). The tone I choose had a soft melody with water trickles and birds chirping in the background. Peaceful and calming. I was sure this would help me wake up and start my day in a positive way. It worked for about a day. Then even the water trickles and birds pissed me off. Funny how something so nice by itself, when put in the context of an alarm, can become grating.

I found some ways online to help people wake up feeling refreshed.

-Go to bed happy

-Splurge on a quality pillow

-Meditate or pray before bed, generally calm yourself down

-Don't eat right before bed

-Have a glass of water when you wake up

-Exercise in the morning

-Let natural light in

-Have something to look forward to when you wake up

These are just a few suggestions. You can find explanations for these at this website as well as this website. Or you can do your own Internet searches for ways to help you sleep better, wake up feeling refreshed, and generally be a morning person.

Best of luck.

Kate

Yummy Things To Make

Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes

Okay, so they are more like muffins than cupcakes, but they function quite well under the "dessert" category. I made these on Saturday morning, and was stunned by their fluffiness and perfection. I had to alter the recipe slightly because I was an airhead when I bought ingredients and forgot to get sour cream. So, I substituted a little bit extra softened cream cheese mixed with milk. I also omitted the almonds because nuts are damn expensive, we didn't have any on hand, and they tend to be a potential allergy problem for people. But they were delicious and fantastic and went fast! They are slightly time intensive, but oh so worth it! This fabulous recipe is brought to you by CookingLight! You can go online can find the recipe by clicking here, or else just follow the recipe below!

Bon Appetit!

Kate

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups), 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened 
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream 
• 1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 3/4 cup finely chopped Gala apple 
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• Streusel:
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, chilled
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
• Glaze:
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk

1. Preparation:
2. 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
3. 2. Place muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups; coat with cooking spray.
4. 3. Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 6.75 ounces flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add amaretto, vanilla, and egg to sugar mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until well blended. Combine apple and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl; toss well.
5. 4. Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended. Fold in apple mixture. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
6. 5. To prepare the streusel, combine 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal; stir in almonds. Sprinkle streusel evenly over cupcakes. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, and remove the cupcakes from pan.
7. 6. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over cupcakes.

Note:

If you don't want to use the amaretto, replace it with 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

Lorraine Fina Stevenski, Clearwater, Florida, Cooking Light
OCTOBER 2009

Waking Up Content

This morning was one of those morning where you wake up and things just feel right. You want to sleep more, but the baby is crying, so you pull yourself out of bed. But once you're up you feel quite awake. You make breakfast for the baby, pick up the kitchen and the few toys and things you didn't put away before you went to bed, so now you have a clean house. You turn on some good music. You look out the window at the such-a-pale-blue-sky-it's-almost-white, and you have a rush of feelings that give you a sense of gratitude to just be looking out the window at the morning. I watch cars drive by. Some stop for coffee at the coffee shop below our apartment. An ungendered person runs by wearing hunter orange gloves and a big scarf tied around their face (how do they breathe while running with that thing on?) A sweet looking old man toddles towards his car after meeting someone for breakfast at the little family diner a few storefronts down. Life happens, but it feels good. You feel good. I feel good. Happy. Content. I'm waking up content.

What I'm Loving Right Now

"Open Season" by High Highs

You know when you have one of those songs that you just keep playing on repeat, and it just sounds like how you are feelings. Kind of like it's your personal soundtrack for the day or the week? Well this is mine. There is just a relaxed and very mellow feel to this song, yet it's contemplative, a mixture of emotions. I originally heard this song on the movie "Pitch Perfect" (one of my favorite movies). It is played in the scene when Beca is DJing for the radion station over her Spring break. Anyways, this is my current obsession. Hope to bring you more soon. 

As always...

Peace,

Kate

Reading for a Rainy Day

Perhaps you are not as big of a Harry Potter fan as I am, but when I saw the link to this lil book on my friend's Facebook page, I snapped awake from my half-comatose Internet browsing session. It is called "James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing." It's by G. Norman Lippert. The link to read it online for free is right here.

 Little spin-offs like this make my heart happy because I am one of those people who is never satisfied with an ending. I always want to know what happens beyond. Do Lizzie and Darcy have children? What is life like for Katniss and Peeta? Therefore I was grateful to J.K. Rowling for giving us that blessed epilogue at the end of the seventh book because then at least we knew Harry and Ginny as well as Ron and Hermione made out alright. But then she goes ahead and introduces us to their sweet little children, who I, naturally, wanted to know more about. That is why I am so excited for this piece! Granted it is not written by J.K. Rowling, but I am optimistic that it will be well-written and in a similar style. Time will tell.

Bonus--It's raining here in sad ol' Ripon, Wisconsin (It's January--what the heck?!), so it's the perfect day and time to hunker down with my laptop (after Alex goes down for his second nap), and catch up on the life of young James Potter!

Ahh to be back at Hogwarts again...