Archive for February 2012
This hotel room is larger than my old apartment.
In case you didn’t figure it out from my copious amounts of tweets or Facebook comments, I’m in Vegas for work this week.
I’m going to be honest with you; I don’t like this city. The gambling and the smell of cigarette smoke permeates all the hotels and restaurants. The feeling is that of a much grittier, dirtier, and less tropical Miami. And the cost of food is insane – even to me, even compared to DC or Miami prices. I just don’t get the hype with this town.
Regardless, I’m in a pretty “suite” hotel room at Mandalay Bay. It’s probably not that swanky by Las Vegas standards, but to me it is ridiculously large. Technically I think it’s 750 square feet. That’s bigger than some of my past apartments, people.
When you enter there is an entryway, then an office area and, of course, a minibar. I’m loving the uber-organized fridge, with the little dividers for each bottle. How awesome would that feature be in a home fridge? Not that you normally need to store a dozen mini liquor bottles at home . . . . or maybe you do?
From the windows I have a view of the entire strip. While I suppose this is pretty cool, I’d rather have a view of just the mountains. I like to sleep with the curtains open, but there’s so much light pollution that I had to cinch them tight last night.
Here’s a peek at the room, starting at the entryway.
The bed is crazy comfy. No complaints there! Same for the big jacuzzi tub. That sure hit the spot last night after a long walk on the strip.
At first I thought the size of the room was ridiculous; but knowing that I’m stuck here for a week – I kind of appreciate it. It won’t have me feeling as claustrophobic as some traditional sized hotel rooms could do. Ok, so the size is still ridiculous. But I’m not complaining. :)
So what’s your take on Vegas – love it or hate it? I want to know!
As for me – well, it’s 10 pm here, which is 1 am East Coast time. I worked from 7 am – 9 pm today, and I’m beat. Goodnight!
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Almost Sugar-and-Carb-Free Chocolate Cake
This past weekend was Ryan’s birthday, and Monday was Ryan’s Birthday: Observed. Or so he claimed. ;)
He was back home with his family for most of the weekend, and I was sewing to catch up on all the orders (still) from when food poisoning kicked my butt two weeks ago. But before Ryan came home I attempted to do a little festive decorating & cooking.
I put together a super quick and easy banner, using scrap booking paper, ribbon, and letters printed off the computer. I simply chopped the colorful papers into squares, pasted the printed-out black-and-white letters over them, and then strung it together with ribbon. I hung it on the wall in our living room that is STILL blank after all this time. Sometimes it comes in handy – for Christmas cards & stockings or apparently for birthday banners. It’s like a “special occasion” wall. :)
I also snagged some balloons during my run to the grocery store. Not the most environmentally-friendly decoration, I know, but they sure are fun and give you a lot of celebratory bang for your buck at only $5.95 a 1/2 dozen.
And after the birthday boy has been surprised, the balloons are fun for annoying your pets. Or tying them around the dog.
But I digress. Let’s talk about CAKE!
Because Ryan and I both love chocolate, but we are trying to do a low-carb and low-sugar diet to slim down for the wedding, I experimented with an almost guilt-free dessert. It turned out really well (if you love dark chocolate), so I wanted to share the recipe with you.
I based the recipe on the chocolate torte (Reine de Saba) recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Chocolate cookbook.
Ingredients for Jane’s Almost Sugar and Carb Free Chocolate Torte
*5 oz Unsweetened Ghirardelli baking chocolate, 100% cacao (don’t get the cheap stuff)
*3 oz Bittersweet Chocolate (I like Scharffen Berger, don’t skimp on quality)
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, (room temp)
**1/4 Cup Sugar or Splenda
6 Large Eggs, Separated (room temp)
1 1/2 Cups Ground Almonds (use a food processor)
*Instead of 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, I did part unsweetened, to help cut down on the sugar.
**Instead of 3/4 cups sugar, I only did 1/4, and I did a mixture of Splenda and Real sugar for that 1/4 cup. I hate Splenda but Ryan swears by it. So this was a compromise.
To make ground nuts, use your food processor. I used my coffee grinder, and it gunked it all up. Huge mistake.
Directions!
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Butter and flour a round cake pan, spring form is ideal. (I used a cheap aluminum foil cake pan.)
3. Break the chocolate into small chunks (if not already chopped). To melt the chocolate, use a double boiler (or a pot of water with a heat-safe mixing bowl on top of it. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. The chocolate should cool slightly.
4. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Use an electric mixer if you have one. Add the egg yolks gradually, mixing well after each is added.
5. Mix in the chocolate and the ground almonds.
6. Beat the egg whites until glossy and stiff but not dry. (This was hard for me because we don’t have an electric beater or mixer.)
7. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate cake mixture. Be gentle.
8. Pour the mix into the cake pan, smooth out with spatula on top.
9. Bake at 350 for around 50 minutes. When the top puffs and forms a crust, the torte should be done.
10. Remove from oven. Cool in pan for around 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to continue cooling.
Serve it up:
We like it with Frozen Raspberries & Unsweetened Whipped Cream.
The original recipe recommends that you serve this baby dripping in chocolate ganache. But because we’re trying to make dessert healthier, I made a simple raspberry sauce. Simmer a bag of frozen raspberries in a pan, stirring and mashing occasionally until they just become saucy. Like a puree, only less work.
Take heavy whipping cream, add a few drops of pure Vanilla Extract, and whip – well whip it until you’ve got whipped cream. The unsweetened cream is so naturally sweet that you don’t need to add the sugar. And it’s SO much tastier than that stuff that comes out of cans.
I drizzled a very generous spoonful of raspberry sauce over the torte, then added a huge dollop of whipped cream. Garnish with orange zest for a natural sprinkle look. :)
The verdict? Ryan and I both loved this very chocolatey, only-slightly-sweet cake. However, we realized that it’s best if served in small slices, smaller than the one pictured above. It’s so dense that a little bit goes a long way. And you know what? That’s fine with me!!
PS: Want to see what happens when we tie balloons around the dog and then ask her “Do you want to go for a walk?” She gets so excited she has to run in circles, even if there are balloons tied to her collar. And then our other pup thinks he should play-attack her. Don’t mind the disheveled state of the room. It was a busy weekend. :)
Renters Beware: A newer type of scam
Update: As of this afternoon (2/22/2012) I was contacted by the real owner of the rental home pictured below. It is legitimately for rent, but for a higher price than the one pictured in the ad below. Here is the link to the legit rental ad: http://washingtondc.
Ryan and I both absolutely love our current rental home. It’s so clean, warm, modern, and full of happy vibes. But I’m not going to lie, the monthly rent takes a pretty big chunk of change – normal for the DC suburbs, but scary when you think about it too much.
Technically, the house is in our budget, and we’re both able to set aside a good bit of our paychecks for savings. However, Ryan and I were discussing the fact that sometime after we get married we’ll want to have kids. And I’ll stay home with them for a while. I.e. – we’ll be a one income family. We’re not ready to move, not by a long shot. But because I’m a nut, I looked at rental homes on Craigslist “just for fun.”
I spied a few decent houses that cost significantly less than we pay now, so I contacted them just to find out more. I really don’t want to move. But for the difference in price, it seemed foolish not to consider the option.
One house in particular caught our attention. A funky Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired modern home, near a lake and only 2 miles from where we live now. Ryan and I actually got really excited about it, because the only thing cooler than staying where we are now would be living in a funky mid-mod house with serious quirks and character. What a fun adventure!
After work Ryan and I checked it out on Zillow, because we were eager to know more about it. After we looked at all the photos and fell head over heels for the place, we we got confused. Zillow said the place was $2800 a month, not $1500. We figured it was a typo.
Then I heard back from another property that we’d inquired about. The grammar was poor, like English was their second language, but the note was personal and seemed legit to both of us. We followed up, requesting a tour of the place. The response?
Hello Dear,
Sorry for the late response!!!!I can see you are interested in the ad I have posted, I am currently in Nigeria with my family where we work as a volunteer with the Missionary. We spent less time in the States so we could not get a hold on any Realtor to handle this rent issue, although it was when we knew how long we are going to stay in Nigeria that we decided to rent out the house. However, the initial plan was to sell out the house. which we tried, but sometimes the agents inflates the price and it takes longer to sell we are telling you this in case you find the house on another website, that is the old advert. So we need a tenant to take care of it but since we are out of the state now, we have received some proposals regarding the rent because it is located in a very good area, but we still have to make sure it is rented out to someone who can take good care of it.The keys to the House are right here with me and i could send it to you after all necessary agreement has be accepted by my family,We also want you to let us have trust in you as we always stand on our word.So if you know you are capable of the task,It is available for a long lease.The monthly rental fee is $1300 per month including the utilities and the security deposit is $900 which is refundable back to you at the end of your stay if nothing is damaged from my properties . . .
The email continued and had a rental application asking for personal info, but I won’t waste any more space on the blog with their bullshit. Obviously Ryan and I realized it was a scam. Note what I highlighted in bold: sure enough, the house is for sale, by a legit real estate agent.
I turned to Google and learned the Nigerian email scam thing has now expanded its scope to include rental homes on Craigslist and Zillow. They grab info and photos from the MLS or other realty sites. In one horrifying scam instance, the potential tenants fell for the scam, got the locks changed, and were moved in when the real homeowner arrived. That’s awful!
But back to that funky modern house we’d fallen for: Sure enough, we received another email from Nigeria, similar to the one above. They said not to worry about the fact that it may appear to cost more other places, and to ignore the real estate agent.
As of this morning, all of the houses that we inquired about, all of which seemed reasonably but not cheaply priced ($1500 – $1800 a month) turned out to be scam postings.
I’ve reported them all, and I think we’ll just stay put in our wonderful home that we love. This has reminded us just how scarce affordable single family home rentals are in the DC area.
Please, don’t ever agree to send or accept money for overseas. NEVER. If it seems too good to be true, it is. I promise you.
What’s your inspiration?
Greetings from Austin, TX.
Source: flickr.com via Liza on Pinterest
I wish I had some personal photos to share with you, but I do not. For when I travel alone to a new city, I’m reluctant to snap many photos for risk of standing out as a “tourist.” It’s a little safety concern I have. But on to the topic at hand:
I find that whenever I travel, even for business, I am inspired and my creativity is re-invigorated. Does this happen to you?
It doesn’t take much but a change of scenery, a new town or new terrain, to get my creative juices flowing. And usually within hours of hitting the ground in a new town, the ideas are flowing almost faster than I can jot them down.
It happened today when I landed in Austin. I’m here for work, but I had a few hours before my business dinner this evening. I stopped at a little cafe with a lovely outdoor patio, and just grabbed a snack so that I could sit outside and enjoy the lovely 80-degree weather before heading to the hotel. By the time I left the cafe, my notebook was chock-full of new ideas for my shop that I not only thought of, but was really able to plan in detail, during that brief time.
What is it about traveling that makes my creative brain feel like someone opened the flood gates? In Texas I know I’m digging the scenery, the smell of the semi-desert air, and the different terrain. It feels very southern and arid, from the dry soil to the scrubby little trees the likes of which you’d never see back home on the East coast.
Then there’s the fact that Austin is unlike any other city I’ve found in the US. It’s bizarre. There are food trucks everywhere, selling any and every type of food you can imagine. There are also Tex-Mex restaurants and cantinas everywhere. The town seems a little rough around the edges, and the nicer parts seem to lack that glitz and glam that the East coast cities have. That’s a-ok with me! Oh, and I’m pretty sure many of the young people here don’t realize it’s not 1995 anymore. :)
Source: austinmoversblog.com via Mark on Pinterest
But this inspiration isn’t happening just because Austin is weird. It happens wherever I go. . . and when I’m alone I find that I relish the opportunity to be away from my sewing machine and house full of projects. Maybe that’s the key.
Does this happen to you? If not, when do you find you get the most inspiration?
Save the Date! {The Proposed Abode}
Just like with the blog, I’m totally behind on wedding planning. Better late than never, I finally got {most} of our Save the Dates in the mail at the end of January. Considering that the wedding is in June, and we’ve been engaged since August, that’s totally behind schedule.
There were so many beautiful save the date designs on Etsy, from modern graphic photo cards to catchy and unique boarding-pass packages that cost a pretty (but deserving) penny. I had a heck of a time deciding.
Finally, though, I found a design in the shop of PalmettoMama that totally fit the bill: A tropical palm tree design, customizable in colors that suited our wedding, and with the option of buying either the printed cards, or just the digital printable file.
Dawn, the woman behind the Etsy shop, was wonderful to work with. She was great at communicating, totally understood my requests, and was quick to respond. Even though I was “only” buying the download file, I felt that she treated me just as well as she would a customer who was buying printed invitations.
Dawn tweaked the file so that I could print 4 of the save-the-dates on one standard sheet of paper. We printed the sheets on a friend’s color printer, and then I cu them apart and glued the paper invites to pieces of coordinating card stock. This not only added a bright, colorful border, it also beefed up the strength of the paper cards.
On each save the date that went out, I wrote a short personal note to the people it was being addressed to. It took a little bit of extra time, but I liked adding that personal touch, which I know we won’t have time to do when the real invites roll around.
Thanks to Ryan, we were able to kick things up one more notch when it came time to address the envelopes. Here’s how it happened:
Me: We need to go to the craft store after our dinner date.
Ryan: Ok.
. . . we get to the craft store, where I inform Ryan that we need to pick out “fun” paper cardstock to back the printed save-the-dates. Ryan looks bored and wanders off.
Me: I thought you’d be excited about this! We’re doing our save-the-dates tonight!
Ryan: How did you think that I’d be excited to go to the craft store?
Me: Um. . . now that you mention it, I have no idea why. I could have done this alone. *giggle*
Anyway, after we determined that I was either drunk or crazy when I thought a trip to pick out “fun paper” would be a good part of date night, Ryan wandered off. Again. But then he suggested I get an awesome palm tree stamp, and his manly indifference towards colored cardstock was forgiven.
I stamped a green palm tree on the front of each envelope, and wrote the addresses in orange ink. I created return address labels in our wedding colors too (Caribbean green, orange, pink) and voila – a totally coordinated, “fun” (if you’re a girl) save-the-date.
But wait, it gets better. After seeing the save-the-dates, I asked Dawn if I could purchase a modified version of the design as a website header for our wedding website. She was totally able to accommodate me. The website is primarily going to be for our guests to get information, RSVP for things, etc. But I love that it looks awesome in the process!
And speaking of wedding websites, that’s the next project I need to tackle.
Before & After: A Mid-Century Modern Entryway
Remember that sneak peek I gave you of a mid-century modern style table I was building? It was our solution for our entry way, which was still struggling to find its perfect style after one and a half years.
We designed the table to blend with our existing mid-century style furnishings, as well as to fit the space just so. The bottom area needed to be open to allow maximum air flow, since the heating comes out of the vent in the wall. Also, we wanted it to be scaled large enough to help anchor the wall. Scale is super important, as I learned with previous, low-budget attempts at decorating that wall.
Let’s take a look back in time:
The first attempt, which consisted of a home-built book shelf, was unsuccessful because I didn’t tape it out on the wall and build it to proper scale. Also, the blocky bookshelf design just didn’t mesh with the rest of the space.
My second attempt was an improvement over the first – and it was free, because I used things I had on hand. It didn’t make a lot of sense for the space because it held my scrapbooking supplies. It also blocked the heating vent. No bueno!
So sometime last summer I started looking for a tall and wide sofa table that I could buy. I found some great ones, but they were all so freakin’ espensive. And that’s when the little rusty gears in my head started turning. :)
I designed the table in the fall, I think. . . and then procrastinated on actually buying the wood and building it. I was worried it would be difficult. This is a common theme in my DIY projects, actually – and one I hope to kick to the curb this year. Finally I got the supplies at Christmas. And it was so easy to build that I found myself wondering – Why didn’t I tackle this sooner?!
The red oak boards that I splurged on turned out beautifully. I will most likely never build with cheap pine again, unless I’m painting the end result. Also, I didn’t use any screws, so I didn’t have to fill any holes at the end. So exciting. I can’t wait to tell you all about the trick for that later.
I’ll be back later this week with a detailed tutorial so that you, too can build something like this if you want to. Trust me, it really was easy.
My first official “blogger meetup”
This past weekend was a really stressful one for me, work-wise. There were some pressing issues at the office that just couldn’t be left alone after 5 pm Friday, and ended up consuming most of my Saturday.
It couldn’t have happened at a worse time, I thought, as Saturday afternoon was the very first DC-area blogger meetup that I’d organized with my blog buddy Christina. I’m not sure I let on to anyone just how much I was looking forward to this, but I really was. While last year I was focused and introverted as I launched my business, this year I really want to focus on building community both online and here in my area. Going out on a limb to schedule a gathering like this was the first step towards that goal.
Because I’d gone out on that limb, I was really nervous! What if people didn’t like each other? (or didn’t like me?) What if everyone thought it was lame? What if – heaven forbid – no one showed up?? Yes, I know, I worry too much. Add on the stress of work, and the fear that work may not be concluded in time to attend my very own gathering – and I was just a mess.
But Saturday afternoon I did manage to tie things up with work long enough to escape to Caffe Amouri for meetup. I’m so glad it worked out, because it injected a much-needed dose of happiness, laughter, energy, and inspiration into my otherwise dreary and stressful weekend. I returned home super, super happy and excited.
*Edit: Toya is not pictured. She's a party pooper and left early. (Just kidding, she had a prior commitment.)
I often see happy posts from multiple bloggers, all rambling on about how awesome their latest blogger get-together was. And while it was exciting, I have a broader message for all of you who didn’t live close enough to attend. I’d like to challenge and encourage you to initiate a meetup of your own in your town.
If you do plan a meetup:
*Partner with another blog or twitter buddy, or even a non-blogging friend. That way, in the worst case event that no one else shows, you’ve got each other to hang out with. :)
*Pick a neutral, safe place for the first meetup. You don’t want to invite strangers into your home.
*Finally, I’d encourage you to do what we did – open it up to bloggers, twitter followers, and facebook fans. In my opinion, at least, blog readers are just as important a part of your blogging community as blog writers are.
There’s something awesome that happens when you get a group of blogging ladies together. I’m not really sure how it works, because we don’t all blog in the same niche, but you put us around a table and the conversation and laughter flows. It’s something I hope to enjoy again, and something that I truly wish all of you could join me for.
But in the mean time, as we wait for teleportation to become a reality, I encourage you: go forth and create your own blogging community!
Finally, here’s a list of all the awesome ladies who gathered, and where you can find them. I really encourage you to check them all out!
Michelle has just started a blog as she prepares to own her own home (show her some love, guys!) at Two Streets Over, and she tweets.
Christina blogs at The Scrappy Housewife (and she & her husband just launched a cooking blog as well), and she tweets.
Kimberly (who is the first twitter friend I’ve ever made, awesome!) blogs when she’s not busy wrangling her two little boys, and tweets like a fiend!
Rachel sells her art in an awesome Etsy shop, blogs at Funnelcloud, and tweets.
Steffanie sells awesomely eco-friendly laundry soap on Etsy, blogs, and tweets.
Lauren (who recently got engaged!) blogs at Laurenchanting, and tweets.
Sarah (who was the first local blogger I ever met) blogs at Sunny Side Up, and tweets.
Toya (who makes ah-MAZING healthy snacks) blogs and runs New Family Naturals, and is being encouraged to tweet more.
A Thorough Review & Tips on Decorating With Tempaper
Yesterday, I got an awesome comment from Meghan, letting me know that Nate Berkus featured “my” Tempaper on his show. Not only did her comment crack me up, it reminded me that I owed you guys an official review of this temporary wallpaper that I applied to my guest room wall.
Tempaper is a temporary, removable wallpaper that is made in the USA – yeehaw! It’s potentially a great temporary wallcover option for renters, or people who just don’t want to go to the effort of stenciling a wall (or two) for dramatic effect.
When I opened the roll, I was pleased by the rich color and sheen of the design.
