Journey to the Point

This entry is a little late...it has been waiting in my draft box for about two weeks not.  But better late than never. ;)



Point Reyes



Here we are in week 2 of the 2011 and I'm proud to say that I'm still in my creative state of mind.  Meaning, and I am still being creative everyday.  Now even though it has only been 11 days into the year I've already encountered an obstacle that upset my piece of mind one night.  But the next day I realized it was a blessing in disguise...

Here it was Tuesday, January 4th and I decided I was going to make Faustino's mom a draft dodger for her door.  And what to my surprise happens... my sewing machine isn't working.  I thought it was user error, so I took out the useless stitches, tried to figure out the issue and tried again.  Only to encounter that it still wasn't working.  Finally after 3-4 times of using my seam ripper and trying again I gave up.  Now the reason this was a blessing in disguise: the sewing machine in its brilliance was telling me I needed to finish other projects that I had started but never got around to completing.  This makes me laugh because: I'm exactly like my grandmother and I am the first to admit it.  Now I love my grandmother and she was a great woman but she, like everyone else, had her faults:

1. Starting projects but never fully completing all of them (75% of them yes, but to this day my mom and I find projects she started and never finished - that's a lot for the amount of space she had to be creative).
2. She was a pack-rat.

I posses both of these qualities.  I have started many projects but never fully completed them.  And I love to keep everything and anything.  For example - my mom and I are in the process of cleaning my grandmother's craft room and what do I decide to do...take material and anything else that I might (big MIGHT) use and store it until Faustino tells me its time for me to go through my stuff and reorganize or toss. Though I hate to do it he's right.

But enough about the background, I want to talk about the fun stuff.  I have a few projects on my list (to once and for all complete):

1. Scarf for Faustino
2. Scrapbook of the year I spent in studying and exploring Spain (5 long years overdue)
3. Old sewing projects

During the week, I have diligently worked on the first item.  I'm expecting to be done by the end of the month.  Yay!  But of course, I'll keep you updated.  On the weekend, I try to explore my other creative activities such as photography...

The need to explore this area we call home (Bay Area) took Faustino and I took Point Reyes on Saturday.  I had heard on the news that we would be able to catch glimpses of the grey whales migrating south.  And I was not disappointed.  After a two hour drive we made it to shuttle bus that would take us to the Lighthouse where the whales would be waiting.  Unfortunately we were not able to see the whales' bodies because contrary to my hopes the whales didn't jump out of the water upon my arrival. We did however see spouts and fins.  And let me tell you, it was enough to make the drive worth it.  After 15-20 minutes of spout watching we decided we would make the trek back up the 302 steps to the path.

After the long trek (even though it was only 302 steps it was still long), we decided to go on a 3-mile hike.  And what we found was great scenery, a peaceful walk and a fantastic day together.  With photos to document. :)

What would a day trip be without me insisting that we take a photo together on our hike.  He says he puts up with it, but I think he secretly enjoys all the photos I take of us.


Faustino and I on our hike

And of course I learned something new...Seals are called cows, bulls and pups.

Cows, bulls and pups down in the middle

And what would the day be without some fog?  I loved every bit of the fog, even the cool weather.  And, I enjoyed photographing it.

Fog along the coast

Finally, after 5 hours at Point Reyes we decided to head home.  We had a great time but we were exhausted.  I got some good shots in, enjoyed a nice hike, learned something new and went whale watching.  What an exhilarating Saturday it was.

And the creativity starts...Adventures in making Coffee Cake

January 2, 2011 - Adventures in making Coffee Cake

I will start by admitting that I'm not a cook.  A couple of years ago I would have even went so far as to say that I hated cooking.  Besides Faustino is good at cooking so who am I to stand in his way.  But as time would go by he started complaining more and more informing me that he wanted me to try my hand at making dinner.  And since then, I have and I've even improved my cooking skills.

But that is cooking and we're now talking about baking!  I've always liked baking, but was never great at it.  Then some how in the past couple of years I decided to take up baking again here and there.  And by Christmas 2009 I was even confident enough to bake massive amounts of goodies and hand them out as presents to my family (they were awesome by the way).  It was definitely a step up from my thought of never stepping foot into a kitchen to make any kind of food for someone other than myself.

Anyhoo, I had planned on starting 2011 by making Country Living's Crunchy Coffee Cake.  Haha that didn't happen.  I was too tired and of course I needed milk and my kitchen was dry.  Moving forward one day...January 2, 2011.  I rested all day before so I didn't have an excuse to postpone my planned breakfast that I had promised Faustino and Megan.

Everything was going great until I had to start making the crumble that goes on top...Cake Flour?!?  What the hell is cake flour and where do I get it?  Store.  No way, I wasn't going back there, I was in my pjs and I intended to stay that way.  Looking like a raggamuffin and all.  Screw it.  I'm using regular flour.  And you're supposed to cut the butter in the mixture, but that was too much work for me.  I had the mixer out from cake portion so I decided to be lazy and mix in the butter and thought nothing more of it.

Until I laid the topping on the cake and thought that doesn't look right.  Oh well, into bake it goes.  20 minutes later and this is what comes out...

Now I'm not an expert but I know this doesn't look right.  Megan took one look at it and then the recipe and knew that I didn't cut the butter in like I was supposed to.  Whoops.  Well, I guess that's what I get for cutting corners and not following directions: ugly coffee cake.  We ate it anyway, because I had promised coffee cake.  And you know what?  It tasted great.  Maybe next time I'll follow the recipe a little closer and I'll have a better looking meal and thus a better photo op. 



Coffee & Cake :)

Here's to a Fruitful 2011

Here's to a great 2011 with the one and only

What would life be without my two big brothers?

Megan and I
getting ready to head out on the town

After spending a great New Years Eve with my family (my brothers Nick and Justin, my one and only Faustino, and my irreplaceable Megan), I'm starting to look forward again.  And as I said last year, I'll say it again this year...I'm excited about the New Year and whats coming.  Last year I had plans, and while some of them fanned out others fell short...very short.  This year, however is going to be different.  For one thing, as of yesterday around 2 we unplugged our cable.  Not only did we cancel the cable (actually we cancelled it in August they just continued streaming it to us for free) we actually unplugged the cable cord.  This means that if we turn on the tv we see static/white noise.  Yay!  This is a new step for me and I'm stoked with what this will mean for me.  That being said this is what it will mean...

More creativity:

A week ago I decided I wanted a challenge.  I wasn't sure what kind of challenge I wanted but I knew that I needed something where I would be held accountable.  Accountable to myself.  And what did I find but...Creative Every Day Challenge.  Now this seemed PERFECT.  I had wanted to be more creative for months but hadn't had the drive to do anything after a long day of work...especially since the tv was right there waiting for me to turn it on.  With the tv turned off, it will give me more incentive to find other things to do with my spare time.  Like finishing the scrapbook I started last year for my year abroad or sewing projects I had started in my teens and recently.  So among other small "resolutions" for the year, this is my goal.  I want to be creative every day whether it be finishing my knitting projects, completing new sewing ideas or taking pictures.  This year will be a year of putting my creativity to the test.  I'm putting myself to the test.  And I'm looking forward to the challenge.  And of course, I'm going to try to maintain my blog along the way, blogging about the adventures in creativity I'm having.

Keep coming back for a great year of great creativity.