It's Planner Time!

HiHi!

I don't know if any of you know this, but I love planners. Well, actually, I love notebooks in general. (I have an unhealthy obsession with paper. I tend to buy notebooks and then never use them. LoL) The planner I blogged about a few months ago (this one) was meant to be my personal planner, but as my to-do lists for work got more and more complicated and I was using more and more post-its all over my desk to keep track of it all, I realized that something needed to be done. So, I turned my planner into my work planner (which I can't show you unfortunately, because of some confidential stuff that's been written in it) and then started my hunt for a new planner.

I originally was going to make a new one, just like I made the other one. It took me about a week and I set up a new planner (with the same formatting, taking inspiration from the Erin Condren Life Planners) except that I was using an 8.5x11 paper size. Then I went to print it. Because of all the color pages, I realized that it was going to be quite on the pricey side to print it out as I wanted it. So I started to print the month-at-a-glance pages in color and the weekly pages in black and white since I was planning to use stickers to decorate anyway. So...taking into consideration the number of pages (there were well over 100 pages total) plus the cover, plus binding, plus the paper (since I had used almost all of my cardstock stash on the last planner), and the ink...it was still going to be pricey. I think I had it estimated at almost $45. Way closer to the price of a Life Planner than I wanted.

Back to the drawing board!

I then started to look at other planners. The Plum Planner...DayRunner Planners...planners I found at Wal-Mart and Target...I looked at a ton of them. I even considered giving in and getting a Life Planner. But then I saw this post on the Ben Franklin Crafts blog about custom planner inserts for the Happy Planner and realized that the planner I wanted could possibly be closer than I thought.

Because I live in Hawaii, shipping is always relatively crazy. Not only the cost, but also the shipping time. I had come across the Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI) several months ago and had always thought that maybe it may be a good alternative to the Life Planner. But the price still made me take a moment to think. When I came across the blog post, I immediately wondered if my local HouseMart Ben Franklin Crafts store carried it. I commented asking if it was available in the stores and to my surprise, I was told that yes, the stores were now carrying the Happy Planner. A few days later, off I went to see if the location nearest to me had it in stock.

And they did!

While I was trying to decide which one I wanted (they don't carry all of the different designs, just a few...I think there were four when I was there) one of my former co-workers (I used to work at BFC a few years ago...if I hadn't mentioned that before) said that they were going to be having a 20% off sale on Sunday with a coupon. Coupon? 20% Off? I like Sales! She went to get a coupon for me and I happily went off, deciding that I was going to get the planner.

And...

(Photo credit:  Me & My Big Ideas)

This is the one I settled on...after contemplating for three days at home and then another 45 minutes at the store. (Hey, I'm relatively indecisive.) Although I loved all of the other ones, this is the one that had the most copies left, which to me meant that it was the one that the least amount of other people already had. Regular price was $33.95...slightly more than on the MAMBI website, but still pretty reasonably. And I got 20% off. Can't really tell you how much I paid because I bought a bunch of other stuff (not planner related) that day as well. 

I've had it for about a week now and I love it. No, I haven't written much in it yet (I need to get used to having a personal planner again) but I have decided that stickers are needed to spice it up a bit. However, I'm completely a cheapskate (must be the stereotypical Chinese blood in me) and I don't want to spend a lot of money on stickers. Some of those stickers in shops on Etsy are pricey! (I totally get that it takes a lot of time to design the stickers and then to print them and cut them out, but $5 for a half sheet of stickers?) There also weren't a lot of downloadable stickers that I really cared for. The majority of the stickers are designed for the Life Planner. The Happy Planner boxes are slightly longer. 

So I decided to design my own. 

Ta-Da! These are just experimental stickers. I have another sheet of little boxes with New England Patriots helmets on them so I can mark game days as well as full boxes to write down the bills I paid that month, but I cut them all up before I could take a picture. The sheets on the left are washi-type strips that are in three different sizes (the smallest being header size and the largest being full box size) and the ones on the right are full box checklists and a few more washi-type stickers. I was worried that they weren't going to fit right, so I decided to try them out in one of the months that I wasn't going to be using:

Pretty good, if I say so myself. I showed these to some friends who have the Happy Planner and they asked if I'd be able to design other washi-type sheets with additional sizes along with game day stickers for other teams. Sure. Why not? I'm slowly working on those designs for them and want to also have them available to other people when they're done. (I tend to work on sticker design late at night when I'm not playing Tsum Tsum on my phone, haha.) But I'm also looking for other ideas for stickers. There's going to be a separate post on my whole sticker journey and what I'm planning to do with them (how I'm going to offer them to others and things like that) because this post is getting a little long. I just wanted to let you know what I've been up to. If you have any ideas for stickers, please leave them below!

I have a few other posts that I'm planning on doing soon. Honestly, though, I'm a little surprised I found enough time to sit down and write this long of a post for this. I have NaNoWriMo that I haven't started yet (great...I'm already a day behind) and I need to work tomorrow but this is something that I told myself I needed to do. (I should have written it in my planner. Haha.)

See you soon!!!

~Jeni

So That Didn't Happen...

I was hoping to start posting on a regular basis this past Monday, but things came up and that just didn't happen. I ended up needing to work a little longer on Monday and by the time I was done at work, I wasn't feeling the posting thing (not when I had just spent most of the day trying to work on three different websites for work...) and Tuesday I went to Kona with my brother because he had a job interview and on and on.

I am making some design changes on this blog, though. First, I changed the template. (I'm kind of disappointed that there are WAY less options than on Wordpress, but I'll just deal with it until I have time to create my own layout and design.) I'm adding pages for various things (I just added an About Me page...which has a very long list of things about me...I got a little wordy) and things are still coming.

Hopefully some other things will start happening as well. I'm currently working on making things for an Etsy shop that's been in the works for a while. (Sticky notes...page flags...decorative tape...index dividers...it's a lot of paper-based stuff...for really inexpensive...) I'm hoping to get that up by next weekend. I'm also cleaning out my craft room and crossing my fingers that my sewing machine still works (if it does, I need to get it serviced, if it doesn't...I should probably look into getting a new one...)

Plus, my mom and I are going to be doing the Ben Franklin Craft Fair this year for the first time since I left for grad school in 2013. She's planning on doing the familiar (cookies, loaf cakes, mochi, party mix...) but I'm also hoping to include some items that are gluten free or sugar free. (Maybe gluten free...) A friend is thinking of making some pet treats as well. We'll see what happens. I need to experiment with recipes first.

Busy busy busy. But I love my job so far (and if you're not getting the Discount Fabric Warehouse VIC E-blast and you live in Hawaii, you're missing out! It's more of my rambling!) and I think once all of the websites are up and all of the social media pages are put together, things won't be as hectic.

But thanks for sticking around!! I really appreciate it!!!

See you soon!!

Love,

Jeni

Oops. I Went Away Again Didn't I?

Hi Guys!

I'm so sorry about my disappearing act again. I started a new job and honestly, I wanted to make sure this thing was updated so my new (at that time, potential) boss could see that I know how to update content on blogs and stuff.

However! Starting next Monday, not today Monday, but Monday, August 17, I'm going to start posting again on a regular basis. I have some things for a journal article I was working on for school (yes, I know that I graduated, but I'm still working on an article that some classmates and I are trying to get published) that I need to finish by August 15, and then after that, it's back to this blog.

I have some content that's being put together (some Try-It Tuesday stuff, some recipes that I made that I wanted to post, things like that) so it's just a matter of me sitting down and actually posting it all.

If there's anything that you'd like to see, something you'd like me to try, an update on anything I've posted previously, please leave it down in the comments.

I'll see you soon! I promise!

(And, if you're in Hilo, come by Discount Fabric Warehouse to say Hi! I'm actually in a little office in the back of the warehouse across from the store, but still...they can always give me a call to let me know someone's here to see me. :) )

<3,

Jeni

Work-In-Progress Wednesday: My Planner

Hi Guys!

So I've decided to rename Wednesdays to Work-in-Progress Wednesday where I'll just share with you a project that I'm working on. This week is something that I've been working on for a while now (since I moved back a little more than a month ago) and is always going to be a work in progress.

This week's WIP is my planner. I've used a planner to keep track of what I'm doing for the past few years and typically I just purchase one already made or make one using a composition tablet, a ruler, and a few pens. Unfortunately, I had inadvertently put the planner I had been  using into the container with all of my stuff from my apartment and I really couldn't find one that I really liked for a reasonable price. I wanted one of the Erin Condren Life Planners but I couldn't see shelling out $50+ for a planner. So I decided to make my own. Using the images of the Life Planner that I found online, I based my planner pages on the Erin Condren ones. The planner is approximately 8"x10" and printed on a lightweight cardstock (I'm not positive of the exact weight because I had an unwrapped stack in one of my paper drawers in my craft room) using my ink jet printer. The covers are laminated with just my little personal laminator and then I had it coil bound at OfficeMax for around $4. It took about 2 weeks for me to set up June through December (I'll set up January through May later) and a couple of hours to print it out. Right now there really isn't anything fancy about it. I'm going to add some tabs for the months later but for now it works.

 I use just a regular ball point pen to write basic things, like birthdays, important things I need to remember, and things like that. If it's something I really need to remember, I'll color the box in with colored pencils. The image above has a birthday party, my brother's birthday, and the day I pay my bills colored in. Fun stuff that I wanted to remember, like lunch dates or things that I need to be aware of, are written in with a marker. The container with all of my stuff arrived this month so I had to make sure I was home for that.
Unfortunately, I was in a little bit of a rush when I set up the months, so the boxes aren't completely even, but it doesn't make too much of a difference.

 

Each week is on two pages. This is just one side. Each day is separated into three sections:  To-Do, Work, and Other. When I was working, I found that having a separate area to put my work tasks for the day helped when I was looking at my planner. I highlight things in different colors, like personal stuff (laundry, etc.) in blue, errands in pink, and blog posts in green. Sometimes I use transparent tape in different colors to highlight things I want to make sure catch my eye. Most days, if I'm running errands, I'll use a sticky note to make a list for myself to make sure I don't forget anything. 

 And that's about it. I think the total cost was around $20 only because I had to buy a new color ink cartridge in the middle of printing. I love it because it's completely customized to what I wanted and what I need. There are a few note pages in the back if I need them but I don't know if I will since I always carry a separate notebook for just random ideas. 

If you have any questions or comments about this planner or how I made it, feel free to ask. I know it's not as fancy as some others, but it works for me. I wanted something simple and I like it. 

See you tomorrow!

~Jeni

Try-It Tuesday: Torie & Howard Organic Hard Candy - Blood Orange & Honey

Hi Guys!!

This week's Try-It Tuesday product is the Torie & Howard Organic Hard Candies in Blood Orange & Honey. I found them at Longs (CVS) for $3.89 but you can also find them at natural food stores or online at various places like this one.

So the candies come in a cute little tin and there are 15 per container. The tins are sturdy and close really well. The candies themselves are small, maybe slightly around the diameter of a dime, but they're just enough if you just want a tiny sweet treat.

The Good:  They're super yummy. Not too sweet and overly sugary. It's also slightly tart, which was unusually good because I typically don't go for tart candies. They're also not horrible for your health. The candies are gluten-free, no corn syrup, and have no artificial dyes. Plus they're only 12 calories each piece. The blood orange flavor isn't overpowering and neither is the honey. They are well balanced and complement each other very nicely. Also, they last a long time. I think I had one in my mouth for almost 20 minutes before it completely dissolved. Yum.

The Bad:  They're a little on the sticky side. I opened one just as I was walking out of the store and already it was a little gooey and sticking to the paper. But that's just a minor irritation. There wasn't anything majorly bad about the product.

The Unfortunate:  They're a little on the pricy side. There are only 15 in the container and it was just under $4. But it's okay. It's not like I was planning to eat a ton of them at once. They should last me a while because it's just a little treat every so often.

The Organic Hard Candies also come in other flavors, including pink grapefruit & Tupelo honey and Myer lemon & raspberry.  According to their website, there are 5 flavors all together.

These are the two I currently have in my bag. I have the pomegranate & nectarine along with the blood orange & honey. I saw one other flavor in the store and may order the rest from online. Would I suggest these to others? Definitely. If they weren't so on the pricey side, I'd always keep them in my bag.

See you tomorrow!!

~Jeni

Polish Pick of the Week: Sinful Colors Morning Star

Hi Guys!

I'm here with my first Polish Pick of the Week post! Yay!

This week's polish pick is Morning Star by Sinful Colors. It's this really pretty light blue color with a slight shimmer to it that does not really show up in pictures I'm afraid. To me it looks like a Cinderella blue.

The Good:  It's a really pretty color. I'm not quite ready for the bright summer colors yet (especially since I'm currently job hunting) so I'm sticking to lighter colors right now. It'll just be spring all the time. Also, contrary to what other reviews have said about this polish, I did not find it hard to work with. Yes, it was slightly streaky, but I didn't find it to be as goopy as some other reviewers have noted.

The Bad:  I had to use three coats to get it to even out and be as opaque as I wanted it. From what I understand, this was from a sheer collection and I definitely found it to be sheer. And, like I said before, it was streaky. But not so much so that I wasn't able to get it to smooth out with additional coats. I'm just an impatient person who wasn't thrilled with having to wait to finish my nails. :)

The Unfortunate:  I was hoping to be able to link where you can buy this polish. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anywhere online that still sells it. From what I was able to tell, it was a part of a collection a few years ago and it's not even listed on the Sinful Colors website anymore. But you never know if it'll pop up somewhere.

For a nail polish that was $1.99, I'm happy with it. I only put it on a day ago, though, and I have some cleaning and moving things to do. The jury is still out about how it'll hold up. I'll let you know.

See you tomorrow!!

~Jeni

New Posting Schedule...Let's Go!

Hey Guys!

Wow, only a few days into this new posting thing and already I'm behind. LoL. Nah, I just wanted to start at the beginning of the week instead of in the middle. So I wanted to take a minute to kind of explain the new posting schedule and talk about some changes that might be happening in the near future.

So the posting schedule can always be found on the left hand side of the screen. I'm working on trying to find categories and general topics that I can actually stick to so I'll be posting more often. I think this may work, so I'm going to try it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Sunday:  Sundays are Week in Review posts. I like to think of my weeks as Monday thru Sunday. I know some people consider Sunday the beginning of the week, but I think it's the end of the week. So on Sundays I'll do a little summary of what I did during the week, if there's anything interesting going on, that sort of thing. (And I know this current post looks nothing like a Week in Review post but I didn't take any pictures of anything this past week so I'm doing this instead.)
Monday:  Mondays are my Nail Polish Pick of the Week posts. I'm going to switch the day I paint my nails (it used to be Wednesdays for some reason) and move it to Sunday afternoon/nights so I can get the post up on Mondays.
Tuesday:  Try-It Tuesdays. I like to try new things and share them with people. So this is like a product review day. If you have anything you'd like me to try (like food, products, etc.) let me know and I'll look into it. That being said...there's a whole bunch of new Chips Ahoy cookies that I got a glimpse of at KTA the other day...

So those may be experimented with. Haha.
Wednesday:  What's Going On Wednesdays. Okay, so I haven't completely figured out what to do on Wednesdays yet. This one is definitely a work in progress. (Work in Progress Wednesday?) We'll see what happens.
Thursday:  Random Post. Who knows what could happen? It may be observations of the world, it may be a recipe, it may be something completely off the wall that I'm not even sure what it's about. Only time will tell.
Friday:  Friday Five! This was something that I used to do with some of my friends. We used to e-mail each other five random things about some topic. Most of the time it was just five questions that we used to determine at the beginning of the week and answer on Fridays or just five random things about ourselves. Any questions you want answered?
Saturday:  I decided to give myself Saturdays off. Usually if I have any plans, they take place on Saturdays and I didn't want to miss a post because I had something else I needed to do. So it's the one day you won't see anything from me. Well...right now anyway. LoL. I may post anyway.

So that's the new posting schedule. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm hoping I'll be able to stick to it. You may be wondering where the craft posts are going to go. I'm thinking they may be on Wednesdays. Possibly Thursdays. Maybe both. We'll see.

One of the changes that I wanted to bring up is that I'm thinking of moving this blog over to WordPress. I haven't decided yet. I think I need to think about it some more. 

I will see you tomorrow (okay, okay, later today) for the first post of this new schedule. Take care!!!

~Jeni

Back Home, Revamped Blog!

Hi Guys!!

So, last you heard from me, it was February. And now it's July. Where did the time go?!?

Well, the first thing is...

This Happened...

Yep, the people at UNLV decided to give me my degree. I'm not sure if I ever specifically mentioned what degree program I was in. I received my Master of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies. LoL. The bulk of my time from February through the end of April was basically writing my thesis (entitled:  The End of the World Scientist and the Framing of Science in Science Fiction Films:  1950 - 2010) then defending and making all of the necessary edits. That was on top of working 30 hours a week and taking three other classes. But that's life! 

The next thing is, like the title of this entry says, I'm back home. It's a long story, but after I came home for summer last year, I started thinking about whether or not I really wanted to stay in Las Vegas after graduation. As much as I loved the people around me, I wasn't happy in my apartment complex, and there were two things I knew that would happen at the end of the Spring 2015 semester:  I would be losing my job since it was only a student position and the majority of my classmates were going to be leaving after graduation. I missed my family and my friends and just Hawaii in general and always looked forward to coming home for breaks. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that I need to come home. I haven't learned how to teleport yet and flying back to Hilo every few months was just too expensive. 

So I'm here. Now what? Who knows? Job hunting, unpacking, cleaning, and working on the revisions for a journal article I'm hoping to publish with some people from my program have been taking up most of my time. I'm enjoying being home and hoping to get back into crafting again soon. 

However, I've decided to revamp this blog a little. Looking back through my old entries, you have to admit that it hasn't been very craft-centric. I've mainly been just writing about my life and things that interest me. So that's what I'm going to continue doing. A separate post will be coming to outline the changes that I've decided to make, but crafting will definitely be a part of it. 

But until then, take care and I'll see you soon!!

<3,

Jeni

Oh! And in case you were wondering, I did get a full-sized Nature Box the following month. Sad to say, it was okay, but it wasn't amazing. I may try something else. :/

Nature Box Trial Box

Last week I was sitting around my apartment trying to think of what snacks I had in the kitchen without having to get up and go look when I saw an ad on FaceBook for Nature Box. I had heard about the company from some YouTube videos and randomly while I was walking through the library one day, but hadn't bothered to check it out before. But somehow my brain went Food = Good so I clicked on the link.

There was a free trial offer, so I kind of went "why not?" and clicked on the link to sign up. Not exactly a free trial, you do need to pay just under $2 for shipping, but you get....

All of this!!

With the free trial, you get four single serving snack-sized...well, snacks, and one full size snack. It was awesome. And it arrived in less than a week, which impressed me because the site said 5 - 10 business days. It took four. (You do need to agree to sign up for the monthly auto-subscription, but eh, no big deal. You can always cancel because they tell you exactly when you'll be billed for your next box.) 

So...I decided to taste each and every one of the snacks in the box so I could come to a conclusion about whether or not I want to try the "real" box. 

Snack #1:  Jalapeno Cashews

These were  quite yummy, to be honest. I'm not a big fan of jalapenos, but it gave the cashews a nice little spicy kick. It's not an overwhelming spicy flavor, just a little one. 

Snack #2:  Cranberry Medley

I loved this. I was a little hesitant because I'm not always a big dried fruit fan...sometimes dried fruit can be a little tough...but these were soft, chewy, and yummy. I couldn't think what they reminded me of until I realized that they kind of taste like fruit roll-ups. I think either the strawberry or the grape. And then I wanted a fruit roll-up, but whatever. Success #2. 

Snack #3:  Garden Tomato Crunchies

So, apparently I should read the bag before eating. I opened the bag and looked inside and went "I wonder if they sent me the wrong thing. Where are the crunchies?" Total face-palm moment. I read the bag and realized that the "crunchies" were almonds. Cautiously (because I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes...) I shook a few out and tasted them. Hmmm...not bad. Not real tomato-y, but pretty good. I'll take 'em. Don't know if they'd be something I'd choose on my own, but if you give 'em to me, I'll eat 'em. 

Snack #4:  Parmesan Garlic Pop Pops

Unfortunately, there needs to be one that's slightly a dud in the box, doesn't there? This is probably it. I guess I should have expected it from reading that it says "popcorn kernels" on the bag, but I honestly thought it was going to be like crunchy popcorn. Nope. Most of it was actual popcorn kernels. So they were a little hard for my tastes. The flavor was great and I liked the popcorn pieces that were in there, but was not a big fan of the kernels. I'd have to say no thanks to this one. 

Full-Size Snack:  Greek Yogurt Pretzels

Sorry the first picture is sideways. I forgot to rotate it. 

But yogurt covered pretzels are yogurt covered pretzels. They were yummy and given the chance I'd probably have sat here and eaten the whole bag. They were a little melty and stuck together because I guess it was a little sunny when the mail man came, but I ate 'em anyway. LoL. 

The bag was a pretty good size and I think I can probably get at least 3 snacks out of it. 

So what's the verdict?  

I think I'll try the "real" box next month and see what happens. If I don't like it, I can always cancel before the next box goes through. I like the variety of snacks and they're surprisingly delicious. I thought I'd like one maybe out of all of them but in the end I ended up liking four out of the five. Not bad, Nature Box, not bad. 

So the "deluxe" box (which is their actual Nature Box, not the trial size) is $19.95 per month with $2.00 shipping if it's being shipped out of the 48 contiguous United States (yay for temporarily living in America! XD...I may rethink this when I move home...). You get 5 full size snacks and the best part is:  you get to choose what you get! So it's totally unlike the other subscription-type boxes where you get what they want to send you. There are hundreds of different choices and you make a pantry where you add all of the different snacks that you'd want to get. They take the first five and that's what's in your box. Then the next month you get the next five. And so on. There are fruit snacks and crunchy snacks and nut snacks and granolas and cookies and all kinds of stuff. 

There are also different box size options. You could get 3 snacks, 5 snacks, 10 snacks, or 20 snacks. It goes from $13.95 for 3 snacks to $49.95 for 20 snacks. And you can also choose when you want your box to ship. All kinds of different options. 

 

If you're interested in giving it a whirl, just head on over to Naturebox.com and sign up for a free trial! (And this is not a sponsored post in any way. I just wanted to share.)

I'll probably do a post on the full box when it comes in March, just so you can see what it looks like and I can decide if I want to continue it or not. We shall see. 

Until then, I think I'll just go eat the rest of those cashews....LoL. 

Take care!!

<3,

Jeni

Super Simple Cakey Cookies!

Hi! Long time no see! LoL. I'll update you all in the next post, but first I wanted to share these super simple cookies that I made for a meeting tonight.

I know this isn't the most awesome picture, but I almost forgot to take a picture of the finished product before I packed them up and went to bed. I'm making these again probably this weekend sometime so I'll post a new picture when that happens.

So! Here's what you'll need:

1 box of cake mix (any kind you want. I have French Vanilla in this picture but chocolate is super yummy too!)

1/3 c. oil

2 eggs

And that's it! Ignore the peanut butter in the background. I didn't clean off my counter before taking pictures. LoL. 

First of all, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 

Next comes the hard part...are you ready?...you sure?...

Dump everything into a bowl. 

Everybody in the pool!

Then you mix it all together until it looks like cookie batter. 

Yum. 

Scoop the batter onto your cookie sheets. I use a cookie scoop, but the instructions I followed said that you can just use two spoons. 

Cookie scoop.

I placed them about an inch apart. They don't spread much, just a little. But I wanted to give them room to get comfy. :)

Slide the cookie sheets into the oven and bake for about 7 - 9 minutes, just until they turn brown on the edges. I left mine in for about 9 minutes and I think it might have been slightly too long. 7 or 8 may have done the trick. 

When they're done, just let them cool on a paper towel.

Using my cookie scoop, I was able to get about 24 cookies out of one recipe. And then one accidentally fell into my mouth. So now I have 23 to take to my meeting tonight. Oops. I wonder if anyone will notice. 

In total, it took less than half an hour from start to finish. 

If you're using chocolate cake or any dark colored cake, you can also roll your little cookie dough balls in powdered sugar before baking. Then they get this crackly looking top to them. I tried making those before but I didn't get a picture. Maybe this weekend...

I love making these when I'm pressed for time because they were so quick and so yummy. And because you only need 3 ingredients, and those are ingredients I almost always have on hand, it's a great recipe to keep on file for those times where you need to make something for a potluck or another event and you just don't have any idea what to make and are too lazy to go to the store. (Yay! That's me all the time!)

I don't remember where I originally got this recipe unfortunately. It was in my recipe book that I brought from home and I had written it in. :/ But I think you can find variations by just Google-ing 3 ingredient cake cookies or something like that. 

Okay bye!!!

Love,

Jeni

My Introduction to the Academic World...Sorta

You know, I should probably change the name of this blog. Not the post, the entire blog. :) I haven't posted anything crafty in forever. But I am posting something. And not just a throw-it-all-in-there update post.

This past weekend, I presented at the Far West Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference here in Las Vegas. It's an academic conference for a different sort than the traditional ones I've heard about. For one, it's a lot more laid back. The sessions were relatively small, and more informal than I've heard about from friends. But maybe I should start from the beginning....

Back in October or so, one of my professors started telling us about this conference and how it would be a good experience for us to submit abstracts of papers we've written or would like to work on, and possibly present at the conference. So, right before the deadline in December, after much prodding and reminding from said professor, I submitted two individual paper abstracts (one on the First Amendment and Virtual Worlds and the other on Social Media in Higher Education (I'm thinking of writing my thesis on the second one since I've already done almost the first three chapters for various classes last semester)) and one panel (I did a foodporn panel with three classmates...yes, foodporn. But I looked at the Got Milk? ads and there wasn't much foodporn-ish stuff to look at.) Little did I know, as long as you submit an abstract, you get accepted to present. I didn't find this out until I came back to Vegas after Christmas break. And by then I was kind of stuck.

If you know me, I'm not too good at public speaking. Sure, I'm okay with one-on-one or maybe a few people, but put me in front of a group, I get flustered and ramble. And talk with my hands. A lot. I have no Potagee blood in me, but the hands start flying anyway. But since I had to do all three presentations because my professor wouldn't let me out of it, I resigned myself to doing them. 15 minutes each isn't bad, right? WRONG!!

I realized that I had three papers, but had no idea how to present them. Should I be "academic" and all serious and professional (which I'm not, by nature,) or could I be a little goofy and more casual? I decided in the end to do a little of both. (And cramming a 40+ page paper into a 15 minute presentation is not easy.)

After weeks of freaking out and indecisiveness about how to go about the presentations and what handouts should I give the people who come (do I give the whole paper so I can get feedback? do I just give an abstract so they know vaguely what I'm talking about? do I give a copy of the presentation? do I give nothing? what?!?!) it finally came to this past Friday. I took the day off from work so I could make sure my presentations were ready and it's a good thing I did. By Friday morning, I was still scrambling to finish the presentation for Saturday (I had one on Saturday and two on Sunday). Not the best thing. So I worked all day on two of the presentations and then went to the reception that night.

Food at the reception. Mostly appetizer stuff. But there were mini desserts. And a MASHED POTATO MARTINI BAR!!! So yummy.

So the next day I was at the conference from 7:30 in the morning, even if I didn't present until 4:30 that afternoon. It was a long day. I ended up giving the people who attended my presentation the abstract for the paper. There was no way I was going to print out 10 copies of a 12 page paper if I didn't know how many people were actually going to show up. And it's a good thing I didn't. There were only like 6 people, and most of them were from my program. But the presentation went well. I think. I was myself and talked with my hands, and got flustered, and read a little too much from the powerpoint and my notes, but I think it went okay for my first academic conference presentation. I got some pretty good feedback from not only the people who attended but also the professor who moderated the session and I knew what to work on. Unfortunately there are no pictures because I forgot to give someone my camera to take any for me. But I did take one of the screen before the session started:

Oh, and my nametag:

because you just have to, right? So you know who you are. And prove that you were there. LoL.


Sunday was an early day. I got to the conference at 8:15 even if the session didn't start until 9. I didn't expect anyone to be there because Hello? There were only two sessions that day anyway and oh yeah, it's Las Vegas. But, the first panel was the foodporn panel. The room ended up being full. And the conversation afterwards lasted almost the entire hour we had after the presentations. (Well, when you're talking about sex and food, what do you expect?)

 The sign in front of the room for both my panels. Yes, the first one was called Eat Me. 

 Our panel.

 Getting ready to present. No one told me they were taking a picture. LoL

Presenting. And people walked in late.

The final presentation I did went well too. By that time I was so glad it was almost over, I wasn't very nervous. Still, I talked with my hands, but I wasn't as flustered. And I knew the material because I had rewritten and edited the paper more than 5 times last semester. The room wasn't as full, but there was still a decent amount of people there. More than I expected.

 Presenting. Yep. 

I'm done! Time to let down my hair!!

And so ends my introduction to the academic world. I presented my first three papers at a conference as a graduate student and got pretty good feedback for all of them. One conference attendee even stopped me on my way out of the conference on Sunday (I was heading to Johnny Rocket's to get a hamburger, fries, and a milkshake to celebrate with some classmates) and told me that she enjoyed my presentation the day before and that it was well-done and I spoke well. That made me happy, that someone liked it. I don't know if I'll do the conference again next year, but we'll see. But it was a good experience and I'm actually glad I did it. (But shhhhhh....don't tell my professor. I still like to grumble about being tricked into presenting three papers.)

If you want to read about the conference, you can visit the UNLV online newspaper, the Virtual Rebel,  here. Yes, I know they got my name mixed up with someone else in the photo caption. I'm having that fixed. :) I was quoted!

See you later!!

~Jeni

Uh...yeah...so...I'm Alive?

Yep. I'm really bad at keeping up with this thing. LoL. I can't believe the entire semester passed before I realized that I didn't post anything since just after I got here.

I survived my first semester of graduate school (and did a lot better grade-wise than I thought I ever would do. If we're FB friends then you'll know.) We're about a month into the Spring semester and it's going pretty well. I'm only taking three classes this time, but two of them are a lot of work. Lots of reading and making sense of what the professors are trying to teach us. LoL.
I'm currently putting together three presentations for an academic conference that I'm presenting at this weekend (AHHHH!!!!). One of the presentations is almost complete (because I already presented this paper during the class and just need to make a few changes to the presentation to shorten it), one is half complete (I just need to reorganize a little and add the images), and the third I haven't started yet. Oops. But I have until Friday to get them put together and finalized since I don't present until Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Mom says that this is a good experience and I should take advantage of it. All I can tell is that I have to present these papers in front of large groups of academic people. Freakout will commence on Thursday, I'm telling you that.

I did go home for the Winter break. I was home for about a month but didn't get any crafting done whatsoever. Pretty much the entire break was spent being a bum around the house and making my way through my bookshelf. LoL. But I did make sure to pack two boxes of craft stuff this time and one already came. My mom is going to mail the other one eventually, but this one has all of my tape in it so I'm good. (You can't find any of the Merikan d/s tape here. I looked EVERYWHERE!) Once the other box with my stamps and other stuff arrives, I'll be able to start working on stuff.

Let's see...what else is there to tell you? Oh, I got a job. It's an on campus job at the enrollment services center so I only work three days a week for a total of 20 hours. When we're busy, we're busy, and the rest of the time we're talking or online. LoL. But the people there are awesome and I'm having a great time.

I guess there really isn't anything else to write about. If anyone's coming to Vegas any time soon, let me know. I love seeing people I haven't seen in forever.

I'll post again soon when there's finally something to post about. LoL.

Take care!!

~Jeni

So...I'm Here....

I've arrived!
Okay, so I actually arrived two weeks ago, today. But still...

I'm finally pretty much settled into my apartment in Las Vegas. I've resigned myself to knowing that I have to stay for at least a year and a half. I'm hoping that I can stick to the 2 year program that I want to and that my thesis committee chair will allow me to work on the bulk of my thesis from home and I can move back to Hawaii next December. But that's probably wishful thinking at this point and I shouldn't be thinking about moving home right now anyway since I just got here.

Anywho, if you haven't been following me on Facebook or Instagram, a lot has been happening over the past couple of weeks. Here are some highlights:
* I didn't even turn my computer on from the time I left Hilo on August 12 until last night. (I know, SHOCKER!)
* I bought my first new car (a 2014 Nissan Versa)
* I freaked out when I realized that I had really signed the papers for said car and will be paying it off for the next 10 billion years. (Okay, only 60-something months, but that's like forever!)
* Realized that I never budgeted for all these little things that have been coming up recently. (Like car registration, who knew?)
* Started school yesterday and hunted for parking all over campus for OVER AN HOUR! How ridiculous is that? Completely. And I still had to park across campus from my last class and it took like almost half an hour for me to walk back to my car. Crazy.

I also realized that I never finished packing my craft box at home for my mom to send up. I guess I'll have to make do with whatever they have at Michael's. When I get my happy butt over there to go look. Once I get a job so I have the money to go over there and go look. *sigh* Technicalities.

I've only gone to three of my classes. I still have one more on Thursday. But I've come to realize that I may not have as much downtime as I think I will. All of the classes I've gone to so far will require papers that are around 15 - 30 pages done by the end of the semester. And I'm thinking that the last one will be the same. Plus the content of these classes are completely crazy. Why am I taking a class on the First Amendment and Society again? Oh yeah, because it's the only 600-level class that was open that I was even remotely interested in.

Anyway, I guess I should go read for class tomorrow. I need to read the Constitution and be ready to have suggestions for changing it ready by class tomorrow afternoon. Great. Since I have no crafty stuff with me, I may be gone for a while again. We'll see. If you don't hear from me in a month, send a search party. Grad school may have killed me.

~Jeni

It's (Almost) Time to Say Goodbye

Apparently I'm not so good at this keeping up with blogging thing. LoL. And, no, I'm not deleting my blog or anything drastic like that. I'm actually relocating in a few months. Back in January, I took the GRE while I was on Oahu (I think I mentioned that) and got my scores a few weeks later. Just like I thought, I didn't do very well in the math portion, but on the verbal and composition portions, I did better than expected. I applied to the American Studies graduate program at UH Manoa, but unfortunately I didn't get in. I thought that was going to be the end of my graduate school applying season for this year, but I remembered that I had asked the two professors from UH Hilo that were writing my recommendation letters to write me one for UNLV as well. I seriously debated about whether or not to apply and almost wasn't going to, but decided to chance it since they wrote the letters for me. After weeks of finger crossing and hoping and wondering, I checked online (since they don't mail you an actual decision letter) and...nothing. Then I get this e-mail from the Journalism and Media Studies graduate program at UNLV saying that they look forward to seeing me in the fall. WHAT?! I originally thought it was fake because my last name was spelled wrong, but after waiting 24 hours and checking the status of my application again, I realized that it wasn't a fake.
So what does that mean? In August, I'm heading to Vegas. I debated whether or not to accept the admission, but in the end, my mom made a good point. What if I don't accept it and later on decide to apply again because I change my mind and want to go. And what if because I declined it they don't want to accept me again? So I might as well go. It's only 2 years.
It's strange knowing that I'm going to be leaving a job that I've had practically since I moved back from my one year at UNLV seven years ago. My last day of availability at work is July 25 even if I don't leave until August. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be done before I go.
I'm taking some of my crafting stuff with me (quite a bit actually if my estimates are anything to go by) but I'm also going to be selling quite a bit of stuff. Mostly paper and things that may become damaged or not usable within 2 years of not being touched. My off-line friends are going to get first crack at the stuff but after that I'll be taking pictures and posting them on here to see if anyone wants anything.
So I might not be around much until after the move. There are a few things I still want to blog about, but I'm not going to be crafting much between now and then. But if you want to find me, you know where I'll be. :)

See you soon!

~Jeni

Vacation Time!!

HI!!!! 

Okay, I know it's been like forever since I last blogged. But things have been a little crazy and I haven't really even had time to go into my craft room and do anything. (Well, especially since it's kind of a mess. Okay, not kind of a mess. Really a mess. It looks like a bomb exploded in there or something. I really do need to go clean.) 

January was fun and I'm sad it's over. I went to Honolulu for a weekend and had an amazing time. I haven't been on a decent trip in over a year. Sure, the hotel wasn't amazing (I stayed at the Pagoda Hotel. Should have spent the extra $15 a night and stayed at the Ala Moana Hotel.) But I got to see some friends, took my GRE (it's like the SATs for Graduate School), and, the best part, got to see Wicked!!! 

But the trip began when I flew to Maui. LoL. Yes, Maui. There was a flight with a stopover on Maui and I decided that I wanted to do that instead of flying straight to Honolulu. Wasn't the best choice. The flight from Maui to Honolulu was delayed for almost an hour. But, I did get Maui Cookies!

But then I finally got to Honolulu and got to the hotel. Took a taxi to Ala Moana to do a quick little bit of shopping because I had some downtime before my aunty came to pick me up for dinner and then to see Wicked. There were already a ton of people in front of the theater when we got there so we couldn't take a picture in front of the big banner thing, but we took a picture in front of the smaller poster. XD

I did some damage to my shopping funds (they had some cute stuff that I wanted to get, but everything was so expensive!) and then went in to find my aunty because she had already gone to our seats. OMG I was SO happy with the seats we had! Picture of the dragon and the screen on the stage from where I was sitting. 

The show was amazing! It went by SO fast. I was disappointed when it was over. I wish I could have gone again, but I went on the Thursday before the run ended. And tickets were sold out for the remainder of the shows so it didn't happen. I've been listening to the soundtrack almost constantly since I got back to the hotel from the show. (Yay for friends giving me the soundtrack and me putting it on my iPod but never listening to it!) If anyone gets a chance to see it, GO! 

I took the test the following morning at 8a.m. Yes. 8a.m.. Thought it was a total fail but it turns out only the math portion was a total fail. LoL. But I'm not a math person anyway. Totally did not get that Asian gene that gives you super math skills apparently. But oh well. 

The rest of the weekend was pretty much spent shopping. I blew the rest of my money in Waikiki (where I went to karaoke with a couple of friends for a couple of hours and then went went to lunch and then I did more shopping) and at Ala Moana. 

Went to this tea place at Ala Moana and bought macarons. I think the red one was red velvet and the pink one was strawberry guava. They weren't bad. The ones I made before were crunchy on the outside and squishy on the inside. These for some reason were squishy all the way through. Not very crunchy. But they were yummy. 

I kinda forgot to take pictures from the rest of my trip. But I did buy yummy cake at Shirokiya. It was from this little place called Kulu Kulu on the second floor. It was really light cake and I wish I had bought it on the first day so I could have gone back and bought more. LoL. 

But now I'm home and back at work and school. Things are back to normal. I finally put my UH Manoa Graduate School application in and now it's a waiting game. And work on my UNLV application. But I'm hoping to get my craft room cleaned up on my next day off and get back to working on stuff.
Okie dokie, back to my homework that I've been procrastinating about for the past 45 minutes while I wrote this blog post. ^.^. It's not due until Sunday, so I still have time.
See you later!!!

~Jeni

Duct Tape Bag!!

Hi!!! Look who's back!!!! I know I haven't blogged in like months, but between work and school and work I just didn't have any motivation to do much crafting at all. I didn't even experiment with new cupcake recipes. :*(  But I was at Target a couple of weeks ago and was browsing through their Back to School section and came across the cutest duct tape! It has monsters on it! So of course I bought it. And it was sitting in my room until this past Friday night when I realized that I needed to learn how to make a duct tape bow for Saturday and fast (since we had the Hello Kitty day make & takes at Ben Franklin)!! So I hunted for duct tape and just grabbed my roll of monsters since I didn't want to use the fast food duct tape I also bought.
ANYWAY, yesterday I decided to take the roll of tape to work with me, hoping that I'd be able to work on a bag that I had been hoping to make. I did get a bag done...it took me all morning but I did get it done. I also got a bag done made of pink, red, and Hello Kitty duct tape that you can see if you visit the store. (It's by the TV display with all the duct tape by Make a Memory.) I ended up not liking the first bag very much, so today I worked on a second one once I got all the work stuff done. So...here it is!!:

The inside is red duct tape and the outside is monster. It's not a very big bag. I wasn't even able to put both rolls of tape into it. But I think it'd be cute for a small gift bag or something. All in all it took me about 2 hours total to finish it. I had to stop and go while I was working on it at work and when I got home I finished it. It only took a while because I kept taping my fingers and making air bubbles.

I think I may have to buy more duct tape and make a few more of these. I'm going to try some other bags too. Just probably not at work because I think I've played with the duct tape enough there. :)

See you later!!!

~Jeni

Please Donate to Relay For Life!

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with crafting, but something more personal.

The University of Hawaii at Hilo hosts their own Relay for Life each spring and I've participated in it for the past three years (well, with the exception of last year...it was the three years before that.)

If you don't know what Relay for Life is, it's a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The event is held all over the country on different dates. It's an overnight event with teams of people walking around a track or a specific route. For more information on Relay for Life, you can visit this site.

This year we got a little late of a start because our team didn't know if we were going to actually have a team.

I've participated because cancer has affected my family as well as hundreds of families all over the country and the world. My dad is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2008. Thank goodness it was only in the early stages when the doctors caught it and he has been in remission since. But I always think of what could have happened. We didn't need the services that the American Cancer Society offers, but there are many families and individuals who do.

Please donate if you can. Relay for Life is this coming weekend but the ACS can use donations any time of the year. My personal donation page is here if you'd like to help my team reach its goal.

Thanks for reading!

Oreo Cupcakes!

Am I sure I didn't post this already? I guess not. I wonder if I closed the screen instead of scheduling this to post last night. LoL. Completely possible with me. XD


Anyway, we had a meeting at work this past Sunday and I always like to make something for the meetings.  (I like to, but it doesn't mean I always do. Usually it depends on what time I finish work on Saturday...) I hadn't made cupcakes in a while so I asked a co-worker what kind of cupcakes I should make. She said chocolate but I'm not completely happy with the chocolate recipe I have (and the really good one I used to make I can't find the recipe for....) so I needed to think of something to add to it. I've already done chocolate cherry so I wanted to do something different. Then I remembered seeing a recipe for Oreo cupcakes online a couple of months ago. I decided to go searching for it and see if it was easy enough to make for the meeting. Unfortunately, that recipe had way too may steps and I didn't want to spend that much time baking so I went Googling for another recipe. Anyway, long story short, I found one that I thought sounded interesting, although I was a little skeptical because I've never made a chocolate cupcake without butter before. 


The resulting cupcake:

It turned out a lot better than I had originally expected. Especially since I used the generic Oreo-like cookies from Safeway because the real Oreos were like $5 a bag. (The generic ones were $2.50 or something like that.) A co-worker gave me some mint Oreos so I used those too. 

Here's the recipe (as I usually do, copied and pasted from the site I got it on, with my notes added (with the **)...):

Oreo Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour (**I used one cup cake flour and one cup AP flour. I wanted to use my cake flour.)

3/4 cups cocoa (**Cocoa Powder...unsweetened)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (**Rounded)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package instant chocolate pudding

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream (**=one small container)

1/2 cup oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water 

24 Oreo cookies, with one side twisted off and reserved (**Approximately...I actually think I used more. More like 36)

*Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans.

*In a large bowl whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pudding mix. Add oil, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes) Continue beating while slowly adding in the boiling water. Beat about 30 seconds after adding the water.

Put the Oreo with one side twisted off cream side up and fill cupcake liners about 1/2 way. (**I did some this way but I found out afterwards that the cookie did not stick to the cake when you took the wrapper off. I ended up filling the liner a little, putting the cookie in, and then adding more batter. Worked a lot better that way.) Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. (In my oven it took more like half an hour. LoL) Let them cool completely on cooling rack.

The frosting was just a canned vanilla frosting mixed with a container of marshmallow fluff. Only because I only bought one container of frosting and I'm a girl who likes a lot of frosting. XD So I added the marshmallow fluff to make it stretch more. I frosted the cupcakes and then put the top cookie from the Oreo on the very top. Like a little hat. ^.^

I'm thinking of making these cupcakes again this weekend. I have everything except the pudding and the sour cream. And the frosting. Market tomorrow! Or maybe Friday since I work all day tomorrow. 

Okie dokie. I think this post is long enough. LoL. I'll see you later!!

~Jen