Magic Fortune Cookies

If magic fortune cookies existed I'm pretty sure they would look and feel exactly like these porcelain fortune cookies. I could use a very magical fortune cookie right now, one with a simple note that read "your three wishes will come true."

Currently my three wishes are

1 // That Enzo will get into the school we want him to go to. School starts on Wednesday and we still don't know what school he'll be attending. Stressful much?

2 // That I'll get the health insurance I need. I'm having a baby in 10 weeks and I still haven't been able to get on health insurance.

3 // That Maria will get into preschool at the park. We found the perfect 2 day a week half-day preschool for her. The location is perfect, the price is right, and we hear the teachers are amazing. Only problem is that she needs to turn three before school starts and she turns three 9 days after school starts. Will they make an exception for us?

If you were cracking open a magic fortune cookie this very second what little note would you find inside?

Here is me wishing you a very lucky week!
xoxo

Farm to Table Fabrics

There are three things I always want to hoard, summer (yes, the season), pretty fabric, and pretty paper. I figured if I can make a dress out of these farm to table fabrics by Elizabeth Olwen I will have succeeded in hoarding two out of the three things I love. 

But I don't sew. I've tried it a couple of times and I don't particularly enjoy it. In fact I don't enjoy it at all. I do love the idea of it. I love the idea of it so much that religiously I read and bookmark, I mean Pin, projects from MADE. Do you have that kind of love too, where you love the idea of something more than you love doing it?

Maybe I'll make napkins instead. Do you know of any no-sew napkin projects?

SJC - JFK for Alt

I'm on a plane (viva Wi-Fi on planes!) flying to NYC.

You know how some things just comes together? This trip was like that. I'll spare you the details but lucky for me tomorrow I get to hang out all day at the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Tomorrow is Alt Summit NYC! I've been to many blogging conferences but never to Alt and I'm just thrilled. The creator of my favorite magazine, Sweet Paul, will be there manning a craft table. In fact the coolest cats in design blogs will be there and I'm excited to to learn, not just new crafts but new tricks of the trade, the blogging trade.

I'm planning on taking lots of notes and I'll be happy to share. Just leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send you a link to my notes online.

P.S- I'm going for work and am excited to represent Tend. Normally I go to these conferences for myself but tomorrow instead of having my normal blogger cap on I'll also have my editor cap on. I'll be instagraming and tweeting along the way, follow me @tendbyglam. 

image source: USA Gastronomy

Soap Clouds

Soap clouds in the bath beats store bought bubble baths any day. All you need is Ivory soap, a microwave, some food coloring (actually the food coloring is optional), and a Ph.D in science to explain to your kids how this actually works.

Seriously, how do you go from this

 to this?

I mean, I know you just nuke it for 30 seconds but what's the science behind it?

I'm calling this a craft instead of a science project because I can't explain to the kids the chemical properties inside an Ivory soap bar that makes this even possible.

So, HORRAY[!] for kitchen crafts.

Back in April Our Best Bites posted a massive soap cloud on their blog which I bookmarked for future projects. Back in April I was living in the jungle without Ivory soap and definitely without a microwave. We also didn't have a bath tub.

Now we have all of those things again so soap cloud making is possible.

I love the look of the plain white cloud, but my kids wanted color. Also, I didn't want our soap cloud to be as big as the one from Our Best Bites so I cut up the Ivory soap into 4 pieces and made 4 different clouds.

Then I mixed 2 drops of blue food coloring in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of water.

Enzo dyed the outside of his soap in the food coloring mixture

and then we nuked it in the microwave, on top of a paper towel, for 30 seconds.

And a pretty white cloud tinted with blue was born.

Maria on the other hand wanted more colors on her cloud. So I microwaved her cloud for 10 seconds, added a drop of food coloring, then microwaved for another 10 seconds, added another drop of food coloring, and kept on doing this until we had a cloud with 5 different colors on it.

Which one do you like best, the all white, the blue, or the colorful one?

Some questions I had before making soap clouds,

What is the texture like? 
I know it looks all soft and fluffy but it's not. It's solid but also crumbly, so unless you're planning on playing with these in the bath or in a kiddie pool I wouldn't recommend making it.

When it comes out of the microwave is it super hot?
I was worried about this because I knew the kids (and I) would be impatient wanting to touch it right away, but it was fine. It was warm for a couple of seconds but not hot. Granted my microwave isn't that powerful so if you try this at home touch it first before your kids grab it so you can make sure it's not hot.

Will your food taste like Ivory soap when you microwave it?
No. I thought it would but it was fine. The microwave smelled like Ivory soap for a little while but right after I gave the kids a bath we went back up to the kitchen to have dinner and I microwaved some food and it did not taste like Ivory soap. *sigh of relief*

So then what do you do with it?

Oh you know, you play! You put your kids in the bath and you let then go at it. The food coloring in the soap makes the bath water colorful and pretty. And because your kids are playing with soap it's hard to go wrong.

Edible Flower Lollipops

Baby Maria had a fever last night. It's hard for me to let go of her nickname "neném" (baby in Portuguese) because even though she's almost three she is still a baby in so many ways. I especially feel like this when she's sick and she needs so much comforting.

I remember when I was a kid how I found comfort in lollipops and special treats when I was sick. I'm thinking about making some special lollipops for my sickies. Of course these beautiful edible flower lollipops got my thinking of other edible flowers and concoctions I can turn into lollipops.

Doesn't a honey and lime based lollipop with a camomile flower inside sound soothing? How about a honey based lollipop with a small mint leef inside? Or hibiscus tea based with a hibiscus flower? So many possibilities, I might have to buy a lollipop mold.

Take Out Flowers

One of the bestest things about being back in California are the flowers. We did not have one single flower shop where we lived in Bahia. That was sad, though we did get to see a lot of green since we lived in the middle of the Atlantic Rain Forest so don't pity me too much.

But flowers, man I love flowers. I try to have fresh flowers in my home all the time.

These take out flowers makes me all kinds of happy. I'm now getting ideas for picnics and future birthday parties, for baby shower decorations and gifts my kids can make. I love how flowers have that special power to inspire new ideas.

Do you like having fresh flowers at home?

random fact: Christian wanted to be a Botanist for a long time. He also really likes flowers, he never complains when I buy fresh flowers and buys me flowers often, not just on special occasions. We're thinking of botanical names for our next baby. Do you have any suggestions?

Breakfast Cake

We had breakfast today, in our new apartment.
It felt good.
And it tasted good too.

We moved in 1 week and 1 day ago. Moving is the worst, in case you didn't already know that.

Having things put away is the best.

Also, having late morning church is pretty awesome too. It gives us time to enjoy a real breakfast and some peaceful Sunday time.

We still don't have a dinning room table that we like. We have one that's functional, so that will have to do for now. We also don't really have a full set of adequate chairs. We do have 2 o.k chairs and 2 office chairs. We have high ceilings and a wall that is begging for art. We have a bathroom with an awesome shower, but we still need to get more towels. We have 2 bedrooms both of which are 90% set up, if you don't include my projects to repaint a bunch of furniture. If you do include the projects than it's really only 50% set up.  Granted, I have been wanting to paint our bed ever since 2007 so realistically it will probably never get done.

We did find a pretty cool bookcase for the kids' room, and we have already opened up and put away all  the contents of our many boxes. We're feeling pretty good about that. So now Enzo and Maria are sharing a full sized loft bed and a bunch of books.

They are stoked on their books and they like sleeping together. Pretty soon we'll have to squeeze another child into that room. No biggie.

Moving is a test of faith in every way shape and form. I think it helped that Christian was home all day with the kids during the week. He gets way more done than I do. It's not even fair to say that I unpacked because really I just unpacked my clothes and even then he helped. It's really hard for me to unpack and see (once again) that indeed I have too much stuff.

We were talking about how we just lived in Brazil with 1/10th of everything we have in our house now. Yes, it is possible to live with a lot less. I'm making a real effort to not accumulate. Basically, I'm turning into my mom - the ultimate minimalist. Though I still have a long ways to go. For one thing I really enjoy having my kitchen appliances back.

Hello KitchenAid!

Also hello a bunch of food we didn't get to eat while we were gone. Blueberries, we've missed you like crazy.

I'm resisting the urge to buy a bunch of food. Good thing we have lots of Mormon friends because if a natural disaster struck we'd be out of food in a week. Is that silly? Normally my fridge and pantry is more than full, but I'm trying to make simple the new normal and not overstock.

Speaking of simple, this cake is pretty simple. Plus it's cake, cake is always a win. Add some plain yogurt and blueberries and you're good to call it breakfast. A simple yet delicious breakfast.

So how was your weekend?

(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. 
3. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. 
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
5. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.
6. For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble.
7. Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a spatula. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. 
8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
9. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. 
10. Serve with plain yogurt and fruit (optional).