I LOVE Pinterest!

I have fallen in love with Pinterest. It has become my new obsession. I actually spend more time on there than Facebook these days. Gasp! Shocker, I know. While Pinterest has been dubbed the place where women go to dress children they don't have, design houses they can't afford, and plan weddings they'll never have, I use the site for ideas. Ideas for our new house (keeping in mind, that my wants need to match the available funds), ideas for craft projects, ideas for gifts, and ideas for dinner (and breakfast, lunch, appetizers, parties, etc.)

I have actually made several recipes I found on Pinterest. All have been delicious, but not all have been successful. I define success as it looks just like the recipe picture. I know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Here are the recipes I have made (and where you can download/print the recipe yourself.)

Breakfast

• Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
• Pineapple Orange Smoothie (I've made these twice, the second time I added fresh strawberries.)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal (this was DELICIOUS!)

Dinner

• Artichoke Crusted Chicken
• Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken

What I love about Pinterest as a way to find recipes is that I get to see pictures of the food, and then decide if I am interested in reading the recipe. Prior to finding Pinterest, I had to know what I was interested in finding, and search by name or ingredients. I have discovered so many recipes that I never would have even thought to look for, like Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes! Can you even imagine such a thing existed? Thank you Pinterest for introducing me to such a treat!

Here are some other recipes I am looking forward to making, thanks to Pinterest.

• Oatmeal Creme Pies (like Little Debbie's!)
• Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
• Homemade Pot Stickers
• Brownie Batter Pancakes
• Spiced Apple Sangria

Here are some pictures I took of the recipes I made.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Pineapple Orange Smoothie

Scrapbooking Tips

One thing I love as much as travel and food is taking pictures of my travels and new foods I try (and even the food I make) and putting together scrapbooks. I just wish it wasn't so expensive (embellishments and albums, cost a lot of money, not to mention the cost of printing the pictures!) and didn't take up such a huge space. I can sure sprawl out while scrapbooking!

Here are some recent pages I completed:

For each of the Walt Disney World Parks

Magic Kingdom

Disney Animal Kingdom

Epcot

Disney's Hollywood Studios

For these pages, I used the park maps to start off the section (or in my case, each album). I find that using brochures, fliers, and even magazines are a good way to beef up an album. It gives a bigger picture to add to the story you are telling.

Magic Kingdom's Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It! Parade

For the parade pictures, I used colorful paper with movement to convey fun and celebration.

Recent Trip to Europe

For my scrapbook from our trip to Europe, I added boarding passes and tickets to the pages. This is a great way to display mementos from the trip. I am also not a fan of my handwriting, so I printed my captions using the Feltpoint Font. I love that there are so many free downloadable fonts on the Internet. You can find just about anything to correspond with your pictures.

What are your favorite cost saving tips for scrapbooking?

Happy New Year!

It's funny how traditions get started. Early this morning, about 12:05AM, I got a call from my mom wondering why I hadn't called her yet. I HAD sent her a text, but I had completely forgotten about a tradition I started years ago.

The year was 1989, and while sitting in my Dad's den, something occurred to me. Although I had only just turned 8 in October, I realized that the next year (1990) I would turn 10! I turned to my mom, and said "Guess what? Next year I will be 10!" and a tradition was born. Every year since, I have called my mom at midnight wherever I was, and told her "Guess what? I will be [insert age] next year!" My little sister has been doing the same thing for years now, too.

A couple years ago, my mom asked me when I was going to be too old to keep calling her, so I asked if she wanted me to stop. I don't think she ever answered, but now I know. I think she looks forward to that call as much as I enjoy making it. So hello world, guess what? Next year I will be 33!

Happy 2012 to all! I hope it is a prosperous and wonderful year!




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