pin-a-holic

It is inevitable that every year in december, almost everyone has the habit of looking back at what they have achieved (or what has gone down swinging). This year, I proudly want to say that I have become a DIY geek, and have loved every minute of it.

This year I learned to make the best dip ever. I learned what the word ganache means and made some finger-licking tarts. I bought my first measuring cups. I learned to master my patience to work with yeast and made these. I learned that Julia Child started cooking when she was 36! I was reminded that if you only do what  you know how to do, you will never do very much. I learned about a zillion different ways to wrap a gift. I learned how to sew and how felt and food can come together. I also learned how to sew ruffles (my personal everest).

The best part, is that I learned how to make all of these and other great ideas on Pinterest. Forget youtube tutorials. I'm a pin-a-holic. Ever since I logged on to Pinterest for the first time this past may, I haven't been able to stop pinning. Facebook is no longer my number one procrastination source, now it's Pinterest. In fact, I love it more than Facebook and Twitter combined.

This is what a pin used to mean to me

In a nutshell, Pinterest is a social bookmarking sight, i.e. if you see something you like while browsing, with the click of a button you can save it for future reference and share it with your friends. It's like tumblr and twitter rolled into one, in a very user friendly way. I love that it's so easy to use but what I love the most about Pinterest, is that I have found things to do here, that no amount of googling would have helped me find. The food, the crafting and diy-ing, the style, and the random and awesome... they just make me smile. Did I tell you that I am addicted to love Pinterest?

Follow me on Pinterest here!

glass or bust!

Tasty mugshot

Last night I went to a party, had a little bit too much to drink and inevitably woke up a smidge hungoever. I have a fool-proof ritual everytime this happens: ibuprofen + a damn's worth of water + carbs. This time around though, water just wouldn't do and I craved something else: an ice-cold-make-your-eyes-water-fizzy coke... from a glass bottle. No, not a coke from a can nor a plastic bottle, it had to be its more elusive relative coke in a glass bottle. In my mind, fizzy drinks that come from a glass container always taste better. The best example I can think of besides coke, is beer. Since my brain couldn't concentrate on anything work related, I turned to trusty Google for an answer to my brainfart: does soda taste different from a bottle than a can?

"I'm not crying, there's just soda bubbles in my eyes"

Apparently it does! It all comes down to how long it's been sitting around in its container. The Coca Cola Company would set my pants on fire and call me a liar, but I still think otherwise. The reason is quite simple: all soda going into a container has the same amount of bubbles, but winds up "tasting" differently because the fizz leaks out easier from plastic and aluminium than from glass. And another thing which had never occurred to me, but my geek mind found fascinating, is that you can't "taste" the fizz. Your tongue feels the carbonation, the same way it feels pain when you bite it. This is why you still feel the fizz tingling on your tongue even after you swallow it. So go ahead and raise your glass not your can! Your taste buds will throw a party. 

A nerdier more scientific explanation of the taste-dilemma can be found here.

If you agree to disagree with my superaccurate googling skills and still think cans rule the soda universe, read this.

if you shock them, will they buy?

I read this question today on the WSJ website about the new Benetton Unhate ad campaign. I first noticed the images on my facebook feed this morning and thought they were a prank from some photoshopper with too much time in his hands. The images are supposed to "stimulate reflection on how faith, ideas and politics, even when they are divergent, must still lead to dialogue or meditation". I doubt I will be buying anything from the brand (or any other brand for that matter) just because of a racy ad campaign, but I've got to hand it to them for making this comeback. Whether you hate or praise the idea, benetton sure knows there is no such thing as bad publicity. I'm pretty sure I'll have nightmares tonight about Obama kissing a bunch of people. Please, no tongue Mr. President.

Check out the rest of the campaign here.

greatest hits

The past always seems to be better when you look back on it, than it did at the time. The past is filled with all of my personal greatest hits: graduated college, kissed the guy, bought a car, lived abroad. In my mind, the past holds only the best version of myself and of what has happened to me. All of the sleepless nights studying, the crying over the guy, the penny pinching? Who cares, because my memories surely don't! 

I think it's safe to say that we all, at one point or another, put on our rose tinted glasses and fall into a haze of romanticizing the past, not only about our personal lives, but about how life used to be so much simpler, the world was a better place to live in, music was so much better and the only small orange beings I could recall were oompa loompas and not this woman. 

Hands down, tv shows come off the worst if you take a trip down memory lane. Remember when MTV used to be about music? Remember Carson, Daria and Cornholio? Team Dawson or team Pacey? Was it really cheating if Ross and Rachel were on a break? Were you a Carrie, a Miranda, a Samantha or a Charlotte? And when I think about a "spiderman kiss", I don't think of Kirsten and Tobey, but of Summer and Seth. Of course TV back then had it's terrible things, like the whole Marissa Cooper downward spiral, but I think tv lately has gone the way of Felicity's hair. 

Feeling a little bit nostalgic? Check this out.

my favorite month of the year

Liver, I really hope that you're ready...

iSad

My first apple product was a second generation ipod. I've always been a music freak and I loved the massive amounts of music I could take along with me, instead of being stuck with only 18 songs from a cd. To this day, every time I listen to a Jet song, images of black people dancing to neon backgrounds always come to mind. But I truly became an apple convert when I got my first macbook. Once I got past the learning curve, I stopped being a PC and have never looked back. Not that PCs are bad, it's just that in my opinion, they lack the passion apple has. So thanks Steve, for never giving up and raising the bar on products that make technology exciting. 

douchebag

Today I got yelled at by someone at work, by this man I had never met before. He's head of the Accounting department and decided to scream at me and one of my coworkers because he was mad at our boss. No, it wasn't even our mistake. Just because you're the boss, it doesn't mean you can be disrespectful. It never gets old, that a true man's character will show by how he treats the waiter. Douchebag.

fall tv review

I just love Zooey Deschanel. She's the kind of celebrity I would love to hang out with because they look like so much fun. I think we would probably go vintage dress shopping, since that seems to be her uniform of choice, and then meet up Katy Perry and play a game of whether or not I can tell them appart. When I heard that Zooey was going to be on a TV show, I had my doubts. She's the poster girl for indie hipsters on movies, and the roles she's played tend to suit her well (from Almost Famous to 500 Days of Summer). It's a good thing that New Girl borrows this hipster image, on crack. 

I think this is a show people will either love or will hate, because Zooey's character is very kooky. She plays a girl called Jess Day, who moves in with three guys after she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Among the things that made me cringe a little about the character, were the fact that she sings to herself constantly, she does victory dances when she's happy, and the constant crying. She cried over Dirty Dancing, and she cried when her roomates helped her out after she got stood up on a date. I can't stand people who cry a lot, I just wanted to tell her to put on her big girl panties and deal with her shit. However, I love her character's quirk because she reminds me a lot of Phoebe Buffay from Friends, the kind of character that you love because of their quirk, and not despite it.

Veredict: will watch again!

"I've fallen and I can't get up. My loubs will not let me walk while wearing heinous overalls!"

don't worry...

...everything is going to be amazing...

Waste - Foster The People

My favorite time of year

Us salvadorans tend to be more on the religious side. Our country is even named after Jesus. So in August , we celebrate our fiestas de agosto after our patron saint El Salvador del Mundo, which literally means the saviour of the world, formerly known as God. 

Like all good christians, during fiestas de agosto we flock to the beach to get wasted. 

I blame the view for going so well with beer.

This weeklong break marks the start of my favorite time of year:

1. Birthday season: 

My birthday's in october and celebration's last for about a month. Also, most of my friends have birthday's starting in September, which means a lot of partying.

2. Christmas time: 

Remember about us being a bunch of christians? Well christmas is especially huge around here, it is after all the birthday of little baby Jesus. But this time of the year is more than just religion. Christmas prep these days starts as early as October (we're not big on Halloween), and I love everything about it. The weather get's chilly and windy, a couple of notches down from our usually scorching 30celsius; I get to decorate the house with ornaments, a lot of crafting and dyi-ng involved; and the best part: parties. You can't help but find perfect excuses for stuffing your belly with food and drinking a little too much, and since everyone's doing it you don't feel guilty about your expanding waistline. Around christmas time, I also get to over-indulge in practicing my favorite sport: shopping. I think this time of year is to blame for about 90% of my New Year's resolutions.

After Christmas dinner you get to have leftovers the next day in your pijamas +1000

3. The start of fall TV:

I hate TV's summer break. All you get stuck with is a bunch reality shows. I don't have anything against reality, Top Chef is great, but the rule tends to be that these kinds of shows are the equivalent of having a supersized Big Mac meal: you enjoy it while you're eating it, but later you feel guiltier than making out with your ex. Even Project Runway sucks these days, not even Tim Gunn can make it work anymore. Don't even get me started on Jersey Shore. I also get withdrawal symptoms from a lack of my usual TV lineup, most of all from not getting my fix of The Greatest Show of Our Time. The only other reason why I love September so much, aside from all the free donuts*, is that it brings with it a brand new fall TV lineup and all of my other usual suspects. This year I'm especially eager to watch  New Girl, Terra Nova, Pan Am and Ringer. I'll be posting reviews on these shows as they premiere!

Amen, and therefore I plea guilty of killing a coulple of books

*I couldn't find anything about this in English, Google has failed me, sorry!

#RichPeopleProblems

Disclaimer: I know this isn't twitter, but I love hashtags. Though, never more than three for every 140 characters.

Speaking about twitter, the inspiration for today's post comes from the account @whitegrlproblem. It's an endless stream of useless funny twits about an anonymous girl's problems with boyfriends, diets and shopping. Sample tweet: Rehab is all about the spa. It's hard to heal if your skin is in a bad place ...So it's borderline obnoxious, but I need my funny every once in a while and I used to be a fan of The Hills. Of course, these kinds of problems do not bother only those light of skin, it all comes down to how deep your pockets are.

To be white, rich and full of problems

This will probably never happen to me though I secretly wish it did: too many clothes, not enough space to put them in. Too many evening gowns? Have Manolo's overfilling your closet? Can't find your bed because it's hidden under next season's collections? Have no fear, Vault Couture is here! The company is a luxury and secretive wardrobe organisation service, which will store your Chanel for a fee. It's a secret because you must be invited to join, and all of the members are given aliases to make it harder for other's who might try to steal your couture. It's an actual shopping secret society:

The company was founded by Mounissa Chodieva, a London-based Kazakh who is also head of investor relations at a multinational corporation, after she realised she was overwhelmed by her own wardrobe. It’s not exactly a universal problem, but one that seriously wealthy, jet-setting individuals need a solution to. She says: “My family has several homes, I have a lot of clothes, I work, I travel and I came to a point where I didn’t know where anything was or what I owned.

Most female clients, however, focus on wardrobe rationalisation in their own home. “Vault organised my Hermès bags in London from every colour to every date of purchase,” says Mary, an American with homes in New York and London. “They sent someone to organise my New York closet, too. My evening gowns are stored in the vault, and recently I was in the south of France and had a last-minute benefit to attend in Monaco. So they flew out my dress: I had given them a deadline of 5pm and it arrived at 3pm.”

Please give me a minute while I pick my jaw up from the floor. You keep shopping rich ladies, I've heard it's good for the economy... 

You can read the whole article from the Financial Times here.

if you're happy and you know it...

clap your hands!!! *clap clap* I haven't been in the best of moods lately (work stuff), so inevitably, I've turned to music to help slow down my brain. Earlier this week I did a post on songs with whistling in them,  which got me thinking about other kinds of beats that make up a catchy song. I think these songs are great because unlike whistling, anyone can keep up with clapping! Even those of us who like music, but don't have an ounce of musical talent.

Shown here: no musical talent. 

(But proof that a pretty face and the right connections will get you far)

Lately I've been listening a lot to Faster by Matt Nathanson. It's not my favourite clapping song, but it's the newest one on my ipod, so enjoy!

Honorable mentions: The Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine, Buddy Holly - Weezer, More Than a Feeling - Boston, Eight Days a Week and Ob-la-di Ob-la-da by The Beatles. I almost forgot that last one, shame on me.

childhood is short, maturity is forever

When you're a kid, you just can't wait to grow up. The staying up late, the doing whatever you want, the not eating poached eggs for breakfast (to this day I still can't stand eggs.) It all looks like so much fun, except that being a grown up is no Jennifer Garner movie. I can't help but cherish my school days, the long ass holidays, the not going to school if I didn't feel like it, the getting an allowance without having to really work for it... *sigh* But just because your ID says you're not in your something-teen years anymore, it doesn't mean you can't ever feel like a kid again...sort of. Ice cream cones on hot days, playing video games, going to the movies and watching a Pixar anything, will do the trick on any given day. But there's also the WTF-I'm-too-old-for-this-shit things. Like Katie Perry video drinking on a Friday night.

The same goes for the way I dress. I know there are things I just can't pull off anymore (if I want my dignity to stay intact). Mini skirts, t-shirts with "witty" messages on them, scrunchies yuck. I stumbled upon this clutch by Christopher Kane and didn't know what to make of it. It sure looks childish with the bright colors and the gel filling, like the love-child of a lava lamp and a Barbie accesory. I'm sure my little cousins would love it, but for $750?! Nostalgia sure as hell doesn't come cheap.

Christopher Kane Aqua Gel Clutch. Or the I'm-a-filthy-rich-woman-child-and-bought-this bag

home is wherever I'm with you

I must confess: I'm a sucker for songs with whistling in them. Some of my faves are Young Folks,  Peter Bjorn & John; Golden Years, David Bowie; The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding and more recently Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5 (I think I would like anything with Adam Levine in it, but I'll save that for later). 9 times out of 10 these songs will get stuck in my head no matter what other songs I listen to after. Out of the bunch, my favourite whistling song would have to be Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. It's just so damn catchy it makes me want to fart rainbows and sunshine. 

I would imagine the farting would go down more like tasting the rainbow on a Skittle's ad 

and NOT like hungover Bozo

If you're having a bad day, I promise you this song will cheer you up. Now, go ahead and annoy some people while you whistle!

A bunch of hippies looking happier than a bird with a french fry

sparkly quirk

Her desk is pink. Her chair is furry. She has a never-ending moodboard. Forget green, call me *pink* with envy.

I love Jenna Lyons. She has style, talent, success, and according to NY Magazine she's also very nice. I loved the profile they did on her for their latest issue, The J in J.Crew. Most of all, because it highlights Jenna's quirk so much. It's like she's the antithesis of Martha Stewart. When I think of people like Martha, though I adore her, I also think it must be a lot of work to be them. All of this DIY-ing, decoupaging and sewing. I love to love her because Martha portrays the image of this perfect old school lifestyle, which I love to gawk at, but not necessarily want for myself. In comes Jenna. She was tall, lanky had skin problems as a child, but grew up to become one of the most beautiful women in fashion. The thing about her, is that she's not obviously pretty. She's freakishly tall, wears huge glasses, she even has bald spots, doesn't tuck in her shirts and wears loud colors. I bet that she doesn't fold her fitted sheets at home. Unlike Martha, Jenna makes everything seem efortless, from the way she dresses to her work ethic and personal life, and that in my opinion, is something to aspire to. 

Jenna with her boss Mickey Drexler, rocking sparkly green and red without making it look like christmas.

Jenna's picks in my inbox are one of the highlights of my monthly emails. My wallet shakes in fear.

moving

I hadn't noticed until someone pointed this out to me, but lately I've been having a hard time making up my mind about things. Even little, trivial things like what to have for dinner. So when I got a call this week that I had got the job I wanted, the time came to decide whether to stay where I currently work or to leave for the new job, but taking a pay cut. I was scared. So scared I even had nightmares that night. The next morning I called the job scout , without even an inkling of what my answer might be, but I figured that there's nothing like last minute panic to whip a butt into action. Drumroll............... I'm moving! *fingers crossed*

hoarder

A peeve of mine is that you can't get some of the brands I love where I live. No color-happy Kate Spade store to drool over. No anthropologie windows I wish I could DIY. And certainly no Tory Burch or Marc Jacobs to day dream about. So when I travel and do get a chance to buy something, if the bag has an interesting print or design, I usually save it! Back home all of them end up either in the trash or just stashed away in my closet, but a great idea for saving them and remembering your purchase is to frame them! Some people frame posters and photographs, but I just might frame my shopping bags. Yes, sometimes I get emotional when I buy something I've been coveting for a long time........

image via made by girl

"mischief managed"

Today, I watched the last Potter movie and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with nostalgia... Few things have made me feel as passionate for such a long time. To me, they are more than just books and movies.

Mind Reader

There's something about saturday mornings at the office. From monday through friday my brain works just fine, but on saturdays it's like it gives up. I have to make a conscious effort to think about work and concentrate. *think brain think* Luckily, my personal email inbox is very entertaining during the weekends and it gives me the necessary ten minute break to power through my morning. This is how I found out about Gojee, which claims to be the Pandora for foodies. Once you've signed in, you can find recipes writing either an ingredient you crave or an ingredient you have available to cook with. I took it for a spin with my favorite ingredient: chocolate. The selection of recipes Gojee came up with was HUGE: from chocolate chip cookies, to truffles, cake, muffins... A little bit of something for any craving and any skill. You can narrow down your choice by providing more ingredients along the way. Once you've found what you crave, you follow a link to an external website which has the recipe (I found that it's mostly blogs). 

"Eat Me"

Gojee also sends you weekly suggestions of recipes it thinks you would like, based on the ingredients you search for frequently and the ingredients you list that you don't like. So the more you use it, the better the recipes get! 

If you are hungry, this will only make it worse

An added bonus: the website is visually stunning. Pictures of the food take up most of the screen space, letting it be the obvious center of attention. It's simple, and it makes you want to lick your screen! As if I needed more excuses to eat or surf the web... I definitely need a faster metabolism. 

Steve Jobs should come up with a mac that let's you eat what you see on screen

Now licking the screen

perspective

Optimists, rejoice!

brainfarting

Sunday mornings how I love you and all the time to do all the nothing that I want. When I have nothing to do, brainfart important questions always pop into my head. Today my neurons can't stop pondering why can't toes move individually?! At least mine can't, believe me I've tried and the best I've been able to do is move my big toe and my pinky toe, but not without a great deal of concentration. Not that I need to move my toes individually, it's just that damn it, it's my body and I want to move it the way I want to! 

And so I googled. Turns out that evolution is to blame for toe movement. Humans are tipically not wired to be able to move toes separately, with the exception of our big toe. Go ahead and try, this is the only toe you should be able to move independently without a lot of effort. It is of no use for us right now, but humans used to use their feet for grasping. Since I have you looking at your feet, check out how your big toe is even built differently than the rest (it has one less joint than the others, I wasn't talking about its size Captain Obvious). Our big toe also has more nerves and muscles dedicated to it, making it possible for it to move independently. The rest of our toes move together because they share flexor tendons, unlike our hands. 

However, if you're stubborn (like me), it is possible to learn how to move your pinky toe individually. You can do that here. You can now laugh maniacally in the face of evolution! Happy Sunday!

hay comes before Chanel, before everything

"I love hay"

I was browsing my usual blogs and read a story about Elle Fanning's first runway show: Chanel Haute Couture. Did you know she's only thirteen? Cue jealousy... When a Vogue reporter asked her what had most struck her about the show, she mentioned a "really really old lady" she met backstage, who helps make the incredible couture gowns. In my mind I pictured someone entirely different than the old lady pictured above. Her name is Mademoiselle Pouzieux, and she makes braids by hand. She is the ONLY one who can make the braids Chanel uses in their couture. She doesn't have any fancy schooling, nor a fancy studio. It's just her on her farm with her horses, her hay and her loom. Many have tried to learn her craft but so far, no one has succeeded. It's interesting to see the story behind the making of clothes so beautiful, the effort and pain the seamstresses have to go through to make these works of art come alive (M. Pouzieux's  hands are full of arthritis and her back is hunched from braiding). She is an example of why I love fashion so much: it goes beyond the utility of the clothes and high prices, it's about the heart and passion so many people put into each garment. 

Chanel Haute Couture Fall 2011

You can watch M. Pouzieux and all of the effort that goes into making couture gowns on the french documentary Signe Chanel, a behind-the-scenes of the making of a Chanel Couture Fall '04 Collection (link here).

dark chocolate truffles

So, I'm still sick. Stayed home from work today because I felt so bad, and to cheer myself up I decided to daydream about my favorite things Sound of Music style. Chocolate inevitably made it into my thoughts, and I remembered these dark chocolate truffles they sell at a bakery nearby. I love them, but don't eat them often because they are so expensive, almost a $1 a pop. This IS the third world, so that's way too much money to pay for a tiny piece of chocolate. What to do? I've decided to make my own (once I'm no longer a walking death source), and with a little help from Google, I think I have found the perfect Dark Chocolate Truffle recipe. To make the ones pictured above, click here! I think I might coat mine with coffee powder and walnuts. 

the queen of hi-lo

I just LOVE Olivia Palermo, she has the best style, catch a video of her below.

cheesecake in a jar

I can't stop craving sweets. Ever. No matter how full I am, even if I just had an entire cow for dinner, there is ALWAYS room for dessert. Today, it's one of those days I can't stop craving sweets. The problem is that I'm home with the flu, and sweets make my throat itch too much. Since I can't eat anything sweet, I decided to look up a recipe to try once I'm better... something to look forward to. 

I stumbled upon this recipe for cheesecakes in a jar and have decided to make it sometime during the weekend if I'm feeling better. I love cheesecake, especially the soft kind that melts in your mouth and has a tartiness to it to offset the sweetness from the toppings. Cheesecake also tends to be hard to mess up, and the jar presentation just looks adorable.

CHEESECAKE IN A JAR

yield | 4-6 servings depending on size of jars used

Ingredients
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
zest of one lemon
2 packages cream cheese, 8 oz each; room temperature
2 large eggs; room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Topping
1 cup fresh berries

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
3. Combine the sugar and lemon zest and mix until the sugar is moistened. Add in the cream cheese andcream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream and vanilla and mix until smooth.
4. Pour batter into canning jars until about ¾ of the way full. Place jars into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the sides of the jars.
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, the edges will appear to be set, but the center will still have a little jiggle to it.
6. Carefully remove the cheesecake jars from the water bath and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Once the cheesecakes are completely cooled, place them into the fridge for at least 5 hours. Top will fresh berries and serve.

Recipe taken from www.mybakingaddiction.com

true that

I don't know if I qualify as a "mature human", but I can surely relate to these... except the mapquest one because we still don't have that here.

my first pancake

Ever heard about The First Pancake Theory? It's about how the first one never turns out quite right or as good as the rest. Well, this is my first blog ever and quite honestly I never thought I'd have one, but after toying with the idea for a while I decided to have a spot where I could share any interesting things I'd read/seen on any given day. So with a little optimism I leave you with my first pancake! I hope it's not so bad, enjoy! 

Damn, now I want to eat actual pancakes...