lovelies

ive been collecting pretty much any glass jar ive used for whatever.[one of those is a spaghetti jar]. ive started using them firstly to put my necklaces in! i really like the way the pearls look in them.

crafts are consuming me right now...
and anything pretty. or pretty and vintage. and handmade things!!!
so ive been trying to prettify the living space.

i painted a water color picture yesterday and worked on a chalk drawing today.

ive been making lots of like macrame bracelets since i got back from camp. one of the leaders brought a ton of hemp and string and i made like 3 bracelets there!

i plan to mod podge a vase pretty soon. i also eventually want to do some sewing and embroidery projects.

also, i want to buy everything on anthropologie? haha and ive seen so many other cute stuff in other places. heres some cute stores:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6048711
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6801310&order=§ion_id=&page=2 [theres an adorable salt and pepper shaker set here...]

i cant wait until i have a place of my own to furnish!
but heres some things ive added recently to where i live now:

heres a photo of a chalkboard my dad gave me a while back that he got from a thrift store. point is it doesnt work as a chalkboard and that really sucks cause i wanted a chalkboard so i just stuck some polaroids on it and im gonna hang it up.


heres a photo of my dying lavender plant....im trying to keep it from dying, right now its kind anot reviving or getting worse...


heres a photo of my new basil plant :)


and lastly heres a photo of a US map I got form cracker barrel a while back. i loovee the way maps look and i could stare at them for hours. i hung it above my bed :)

FOOD!!

the other day i bought a bowl of TJ's Vegan Pad Thai[it comes frozen then you microwave it][and actually my mom bought it for me..just thought id give her credit lol].
it takes about 5 minutes in the microwave.
while i waited i did squats....haha

basically it was tasty and good if you dont have much time!....or if your feeling lazy.
i was happy to see nothing weird although there is kinda a bit much sugar.
one thing i was kinda sad to see was that it had 600 calories!! 600!!! and ok....this is crazy. 118 CARBS! one serving!
my original plan was to eat half but i ate the whole thing. it certainly didnt feel like 600 calories. it was relatively low fat though i guess.

heres a photo; i dont know how to link it to make it bigger and my bros bugging me to get off so sorry!


second up we have pancakes i made this morning...actually it was more afternoony since i woke at twelve....heheh
in the spirit of Chocolate Covered Katie's Pancake bonanza i decided to venture out and make some pancakes i never had before. i had great success previously using a WW recipe i found on the 'net a while back but im not gonna link cause right now i dont know where it is!!! maybe ill show you later or something.
anyways here it is beofore i devored them:

Double Chocolate Blackberry Banana Pancakes.
i used the recipe i had[a great one nice a fluffy] but i supped one of the TBSP's of flour for some cocoa powder[you should/could probably use more] and i added a few choc chips to the 'cakes. voila double choc pancakes. then i made a sauce like substance to top it off.
to do this i used half a banana mashed, some blackberries, some molasses[maybe like a TBSP, you could probably use somehting else if you dont like molasses, but i do], and water. i nuked it [microwaved] for a bit then dumped it on the pancakes. it was good!!
im trying to cut down on added sugar[really doesnt sound like it, huh? haha] and sweets/desserts. but that doesnt include fruit!! so basically if i wanted to kick down the sugar on this i could have probably left out the molasses in the sauce[berries are wonderfully naturaly sweet&amazing] and for the actual pancakes i could probably take out the sugar[the recipes calls for 1 TBSP of brown sugar] and just made regular ones without the chocolate chips and cocoa powder i guess.

ok im almost done. as you can tell my blog is kinda a myriad of things. things i like of course[hence the title..i know, uncreative]. and since im all about organization, ive been thinking if i start blogging more ill do like speical days dedicated to certain topics. like food thursdays or something. so well see!

ok thats all or now, possibly nonexistant readers! haha ;D

camp camp camp!

in a week i leave for summer camp with my youth group!
we leave on monday and return on saturday!
its going to be held at Biola University.
ive been there before in 2007 and to the same camp but at a different location in 06.
both were wonderful experiences and are helpful in growing as a chirstian. :)
the university provides the food sooo my plan is this:
when i went before the cafeteria had many different things to choose from.
i cant remember completely but i think they had a pretty good selection of veggies in their salad bar. it was a big station for making your own sandwhiches too.
i beleive oatmeals available in the morning.
so my plan is to bring a few packages of silken tofu to eat raw with dinner perhaps, a jar of peanut butter for maybe things like oatmeal and sandwhiches, and a package of some sort of bread/wraps. im thinking it might be a good idea to also bring some type of bars or trail mix as well.
at first when i went vegan i wasnt even sure how long id do it. and i was convinced for this week of camp i wouldnt be vegan.
its amazing though how much ive realized how great it is!
when im with family and their eating their cookies and meat and cheese im glad to not be eating the same thing! haha. i know this is a good thing im doing for the enviorment and MYSELF and its lovely! it has also helped me appreciate food and desserts. im striving to be a healthy happy me!
ok thats about it.
heres a self portrait back in april in L.A.
hehe

ps i have a flickr(here) and a tumblr(here)
where i post more of my photography!

kindness and truth, kindness and mercy, love and loyalty, mercy and truth, love and faithfulness

i find translations of the bible very interesting. i love when pastors talk about the origins or verses and how it pertains to whats being said. like when the original hebrew words or greek words cant be expressed fully in english and how that effects the translation.
so i came accros this verse today in the Message and i really liked it.
then i ran upstairs to get my regular bible that had the NCV translation.

heres the message translation:
"Dont lose your grip on love and loyalty.[same as CEV]
Tie them around your neck, carve their initials on your heart.

and the NCV:
"Don’t ever forget kindness and truth. [same as ASV]
Wear them like a necklace.
Write them on your heart as if on a tablet."

the NLT:
"Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart."

and heres the KJ version:
"Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart."

the NIV:
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart."

Amplified:
"Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart."

I wonder in this particular case what made the authors of each translation choose the words they did.

either way i like them all. and i want to make a necklace with those words on it. :)
so i have love, loyalty, kindness, truth, faithfulness and mercy hanging around me wherever i am.

i also while looking for the NCV translation[not THAT popular] found this website:
http://www.youversion.com/

pretty cool!
they have a little parallel feautre too so you can view two versions at the same time! i think im gonna sign up right now....

dont ya

just love my new header :)
hehe. im happy i put the photo uup. its a crop of a photo i took a while back with my film camera.

i just took the vegnews contest poll thing and it made me realize i really need to branch out! haha
i only answered like 5 of the questions because i really couldnt answer them all. :(
well its not like im made of money and can go on huge natural food store shopping sprees and go to other towns and eat awesome food! haha
one day.....
i guess i still have a whole life time ahead of me :)

have a great night/day!

a whole cluster of things

hello to anyone reading!
i guess im just gonna talk about stuff.
i had my very first ballet recital this weekend[awww]
it went very well except for one thing!
my foot has been really hurting the last[im estimating here] few weeks. ive stoping going running/jogging because it hurt to much. i think i might have twisted/fractured/sprained it..i have no clue and dont even remember when it started hurting exactly. but anyways, while i was on stage i hurt it even more. i finished the dance and no one even noticed[so said my mom & grandma
& some stranger] which is good except that i cant fully walk on it! :(
so im going to the doctor for that on wed...maybe they can check out my knees 'cus those dont seem to always feel so great since i crashed a bike over a year and a half ago.....yeah i havent been to the doc in quite some time. if they ask about how i eat[have no clue if they will] im gonna proudly state im a healthy vegan :D

about food....
last week i made some of ppk's chai tea latte cupcakes but modified it to make it taste more ginger-y but using like ginger tea and more ginger than called for.
then for a topping i took the juice of canned pear plus a few pears plus powdered sugar to make like a glaze. i kind of pan-fried the remaining pears to decorate on top.
the verdict: it was good but i was really dissappointed sorta with the cake. i baked it for the called time and temp but it ended up more dense and mushy than i wanted. im not sur eit baking them longer would have helped, but i guess i should have tried. this was also my first time baking with soy yogurt as a binder. it seems isa does that alot? i dont know but im gonna try flax next time because so every time ive used that its worked perfectly!

and today i made mexican "gingerbread pigs".
i used the recipe above but adapted it in the way im posting below. As you can see these dont even contain ginger!! They should really be called molasses pigs. :)

Ingredients:
a little less that 3/4 cups brown sugar
2 TBSP earth balance[it calls for shortening but all we have is hydrogenated so i used EB]
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons cinnamon [i ommited this]
3/4 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
1/2 flax "egg"
about 1/8 cup milk [i used soy]
3 cups flour*
*I used 2/3 Whole Wheat and 1/3 All purpose and while i was eating totally didnt notice! I totally forgot it was ww. So im sure you could do all whole wheat!

and i used soymilk for an "egg wash"

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together brown sugar, shortening, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla until the mixture forms a firm paste.
3. Add, mixing after each addition until blended, the molasses, egg and milk.
4. Gradually add the flour, mixing to form a dough; Roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thick; cut with a large pig-shaped cutter; Place each marranito on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. [i did have paper so i just used nonstick cooking spray]
5. Brush tops with milk.
6. Bake for 12-15 , or until desired. The original recipes calls for 15-17 minutes. I found that 15 minutes made them too hard around the edges for me, but thats MAY be because mine were smaller than the normal pig cutout[although one review said the same]. And I like mine soft! :) Although the ones that were crispier were still yummy too!


**as you can see if you look at the other recipe, i halved it. halved this made about 16 pretty big sized cookies[although STILL not as large as the mexican bakeries sell them]. i didnt shape them in pigs either, cause i dont have one of those cookie cutters! :(

So im posting this recipre because theyre real good!! Like addicting!!!
Man i loved these before going vegan and i still do now that i can have my own :)
I remember a few years ago for Christmas I asked for 10 gingerbread pigs in my stocking. LOL My mom only got me three, but i was happy :)

Well im wrapping this up because its getting long. The photo, if you didnt realize, is of the cupcakes i made. :) BTW i know i need some white bowls and plates for photos instead of these cherry ones...lol
See ya!

baking

i have a ridiculous amount of tabs open right now and im just praying the windows not gonna close on me.
..yeah thats how i do.

so member when i said i was off to bake something yummy?
i did. i made two little loaves of lemon poppyseed bread from "wednesday food blogging". it was sooo scrumdiddlyumtious. i wrapped one up from my cool gma as a thankyou gift. the original plan was to take it to her house but somehow my mom ending up bringing her to me and her friend. so i took out the very little bit we had left of the other loaf[it was mini and delicious and we gobbled it up in no time] and i gave some to my gma's friend to try. she seemed to like it alot. then i told her it was vegan...hehehe ive actually been pretty lucky with this whole vegan thing. almost everyone i know has been pretty helpful [even though every now and then my mom tries to get me to break it over something small and therefore "unimportant" haha]. anyways so my gmas friend obviously really liked it so next time i saw my gma she told me they wanted to buy some! lol
so that got me really thinking. i kinda want to start selling some baked goods locally. so now ive been dreaming up cookies and loaf breads and flavor combos like no other. its all so exciting!! all i want to do is bake. what im not looking forward to is figuring out prices. i have to calculate how much i wanna charge while making sure i break even with some profit at a resonable price. :( boriinggg. lol

oh so anyways while searching for cookie ideas i went to martha stewart's site and saw this:
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/chocolate-faux-bois-cupcake?lnc=98d20356c0041210VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&pgType=intro&rsc=howTo_tab_intro#menu_container
that martha. shes crazy but you gotta hand it to her for stuff like that.
im not really planning on doing that soon but i think its pretty neato.

so question time!!
whats your very favorite dessert?

ps i know its cool to have photos in posts, haha, but im on my moms notebook so i nothing