dreams in color

Just a wee nail polish haul from this week. My mom picked out the yellow and the lavender. I love having a rainbow at my fingertips. Off for Thanksgiving break. Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

pumpkin coffee cake

Fall is here, though you might not know it by the ridiculously warm weather we are having in SoCal. But fall means pumpkin time! I finally got to make something with pumpkin this past weekend. I decided to make a tasty looking coffee cake that I saw at Recipe Girl. It was pretty tasty (and my co-workers decimated it). It wasn't my favorite though. I think I wanted something more like a pumpkin cake and this is like a coffee cake with a layer of pumpkin pie filling in the middle. Delicious but not what I had been craving. I think pumpkin donuts or pumpkin cupcakes are going to be next on my list. 

What are some of you favorite fall recipes?

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

adapted from recipegirl.com

Yield: 12 servings
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 50 min

CAKE:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
One (16 ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

STREUSEL TOPPING:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened slightly
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick spray.

2. Prepare cake: Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl; add eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix dry ingredients into the butter mixture half at a time, alternating with half of the sour cream. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, egg, 1/3 cup sugar, and pie spice. Keep separate.

3. Prepare topping: Mix the topping ingredients together with fork or hands until crumbly. Set aside.

4. Spoon half of the batter mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel topping over the batter. Spread the pumpkin mixture over the streusel. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle remaining streusel on top.

5. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

weekend update: trick or treat

we had 3x this much candy and gave it all away

I can't believe that Halloween is over already. I feel like I look forward to it so much each year and then it goes by so fast. I had a really fun timing hanging with my friends and their baby while handing out candy. Then we watched Shaun of the Dead and Halloween while eating copious amounts of candy. I really can't think of a better way to spend the evening.

iris as a gnome

she is walking now so always in motion

I also went to a taping of Ellen this week, which was a lot of fun. They don't make you wait too long and the show goes by quickly. Ellen is always so positive and funny as well. I don't have any huge plans this week except for a knit night on Friday and a book signing on Saturday. The signing is for Jon Klassen at Gallery Nuceleus and that's on Saturday evening. I am a big fan of his so it should be really fun.

I am hoping to start a new book this weekend, too. I haven't decided which book just yet. I love it when I can start a new book though. There are always so many possibilities.  I hope you all had a great Halloween. Does anyone else have any good plans this weekend?

I'll leave you with the book trailer for Jon Klassen's newest book, This Is Not My Hat. Happy weekend!

happy halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is my favorite holiday. I don't have a costume really this year but plan on wearing my Minnie Mouse ears to work. In the evening I am going trick or treating with my friend and her baby before settling in for junk food and horror movies. I hope everyone has a safe holiday. Sending positive thoughts out to everyone on the east coast. I have lots of friends and colleagues over there and we're thinking good thoughts for them.

*my nails are the sally hansen nail strips. i bought this design last year on sale after halloween. they were kinda tricky to put on but they are super cute.

disneyland adventure

Hello! I hope everyone is having a good week. A couple of weeks ago I went to Disneyland for the first time in maybe 25 years. I went once when I was a kid and I have the pictures to prove it, but almost no memory of it. One of my lovely friends works for Disney and was able to get us in for free. So I took a day off of work (which I never do for fun stuff) to go.

We started off with a delicious pancake breakfast at The Original Pancake House. Almost every entree comes with side of pancakes and there's nothing wrong with that. I got pumpkin pancakes as my sides and they were quite delish.

Our first stop at Disneyland was the new Cars Land. I have to say that Cars Land looked awesome. It looked just like the movie and the Radiator Springs ride looked just like Arizona or some other desert town. It was really cool. The wait for Radiator Springs was the longest of all the rides we went one (1.5 hours) but it was a really fun ride and I am glad we waited for it. 

doesn't this look awesome?

Next up was The Haunted Mansion, which was done up with The Nightmare Before Christmas. The house looked fantastic! OMG it was my favorite and we went on it twice. I think it should be like this all year long and not just at Halloween.

i want this wreath

it's jack!

We did a bunch of other rides, including Pirates, Monsters Inc., Roger Rabbit, Toy Story and the river rafting ride whose name I can't remember right now. 

day of the dead decorations

still pretty magical looking

i love roger rabbit and toon town looked great.

really cool pumpkin tree

YUM

We finished off the long day with ice cream sundaes from Ghiradelli and the World of Color water show. We were actually behind the water show but it was still good. Next time we want to get fast passes for it so we can see it from a front row seat.

Needless to say, I had a great time. There were lots of lines and it was crowded but it was a decent trade off. Not to mention that I went with some pretty awesome people. The day was a big win and I can't wait to go back. Anyone else out there like Disneyland? Do you go often or only once in awhile? It's so expensive that I doubt I could go more than once every few years. But I want to go more. :)

weekend update

Hi, everyone. I can't believe the weekend is practically over. I don't know where it went but it really flew by. I spent most of the weekend wedding dress shopping with a friend (her wedding, not mine). Shopping for wedding dresses is a very interesting experience. That took up a lot of my time so I didn't get to do much for myself. I did pick up an old knitting project again, which I hope to be able to finish soon. I'll post an update on it in the next week or so.  

Even though I am sad the weekend is over, I am very excited for Halloween this week. I'll definitely take some pics of my baby friend all dolled up for her first trick or treating outing.  I am going to leave you now with a few pics from the weekend. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

ryan gosling greeted us at a bridal shop

pretty paper decor

creepy cute animal display at a gift shop

loved this masked doll

total eclipse

I know I always come here saying that I need to post more and then disappear for months. Looks like this time is no exception. I actually found this post while trying to clean up some of my tags. It looks like I might never have posted it. Since the pics were already here, I figured I would finally put it up.

This is a hat I made awhile back. It's called Wurm (cute name) and I made this with a skein of Sunshine Yarns sport in the Vampire colorway. This is probably one of my favorite Sunshine colorways and I loved working with it. Not much to say about this except that I like it and I liked the hemmed brim I got to make. Also had some nails that matched it one day. I don't remember the color name but it was from the Goth polish set that Ulta had a couple of years back. 

If you're interested, the project details are here on my Rav page.

I have been doing some crafting lately, including some sewing and pattern stashing that I want to share. Hopefully I will find some time to update again soon. Bye for now!

beat the heat

It is stupid hot here in Southern California. It's been going on for about a week now. If it lasts much longer I think I really am going to go crazy. Fortunately I think it's supposed to get better by next week. Until then though, I am hiding out in spaces with really strong AC.

Last weekend my parents came for a visit. It was a bit last minute and they haven't been down here to visit in a long time. Of course they always choose the hottest weekend of the year to come. In order not to kill them with the weather, I decided to take them up to Santa Barbara last Saturday. Here are a few pics from our day. Enjoy!

at the sb botanic garden - look at the mountains!

not sure what this is but it looks cool.

i love the way cactus looks.

my favorite part - the redwoods

mission santa barbara

cool chalk drawing on the ground by the mission

weekend update

This is what my weekend looks like so far. Yup, couch potato island. Actually I do have plans with people that include a steak dinner and possibly seeing The Dark Knight. But I got some fun, romantic flicks to keep me busy in the meantime. I plan on doing lots of reading and knitting and hopefully a lot of sleeping as well. I was sick yesterday and I still don't feel 100%. My friend is also letting me borrow her sewing machine for a bit and I hope to play with that this week as well. Maybe I'll get to use some of those fabrics that I bought a few weeks ago.

What are your weekend plans?

what i did on my summer vacation - part 1

Hello again! I know the stats on this blog are totally off because it says that 8 people read my last post and I am pretty sure only two people might read this blog regularly. And I don't blame anyone because I update so rarely and randomly. Anyway, I am back again in the same month (woo!) with some fun stuffs. I am on vacation right now though it's almost over. I've just been hanging out with my family doing way too much shopping and eating and visiting with my new niece.

Last weekend I took a little trip with my parents up to Santa Cruz. Love that place and it always reminds me of when I used to go as a kid. This time I did a little Yelp-ing beforehand to see if there were any fun crafting or yarn stores in the area. I found Hart's Fabrics, which had excellent reviews. We drove up on found the shop easily. It's a little ways away from downtown to parking was plentiful. And the store = AWESOME.  Tons of really new, hip fabrics as well as tons of notions, books, patterns, and buttons, lots of lovely buttons. They sell a wee bit of yarn, though not a lot. They do carry Madelinetosh though if you like that (and who doesn't?).  Check out the pics below!

omg look at all the buttons!

gobs of oilcloth

i really want this chair in my house

this was only about 1/3 of the ribbon

some madtosh for the knitters

one of the fabric aisles

<3

Hart's has a really great selection of new and hip fabrics. I wanted buy pretty much everything in the store! I managed to come away with a good selection of fat quarters as well as some buttons for a baby sweater. I haven't yet managed to take a pic of my fabric haul but I'll try to do it soon and post it for you all. In the meantime, definitely check out Hart's if you are in the area.

Hart's Fabrics
1620 Seabright Avenue
Santa Cruz, California
831-423-5434.
http://www.hartsfabric.com/

a little vacation

Happy Independence Day, everyone. I know it was technically yesterday but hey, I'll take what I can get. Right now I am on a little vacation up at my parents's place. My brother just had the most adorable baby girl a couple of weeks ago and I took the whole week off to just chill out and visit with my niece a lot. I've visited a lot of crafty stores since I've been back. There are some really great yarn and fabric stores not too far from where we are and I am hoping to post about them soon.

Life's been a bit of a whirlwind lately. Last month I went to a ton of book events (for those that don't know, I am a big reader). After my July 4th vacation I will head back home for 2 days and promptly take off again for San Diego Comic Con. I am super excited about Comic Con! It's one of the events I really look forward to every year. I'll try to be good and update again soon. I am leaving you with a picture of my adorable new niece. Have a wonderful weekend!

i like to call this her zoolander face.

susie cakes

Last weekend when I made out a trip to Manhattan Beach, I also stopped by Susie Cakes. Susie Cakes is an adorable and delicious bakery that my friends and I make a point of going to any time we are in the area. I've been to Susie's several times now and I can say that I've never been disappointed. Cupcakes, cakes, cookies and whoopie pies are the main staples of the store. I usually try a variety of items when I am there - whatever happens to look good. I am partial to the lemon bars and my friend loves their butterscotch pudding.

This was the hand pie that I got. It was a strawberry, blueberry flavor and it's cute as heck. Unfortunately I didn't love this as much as I was hoping. It was still tasty but I felt like the filling was a bit bland. The crust was flaky but wasn't as buttery as I like my pie crust. Also, the price point on this was way more than I want to pay for a handheld pie. I can't remember the exact cost right now but I think it was $5-$6. At that price I want more than just a few bites of pie. So even though this was freakin' adorable, I don't think I'll be getting it again.

filling was pretty

The other item I got was one of their red velvet cupcakes. I kind of have a love/hate thing going on with red velvet. On the one hand, I don't love the red velvet cake flavor. I mean, it's fine, but I am really getting it because I know that red velvet always comes with cream cheese frosting and I LOVE cream cheese frosting. Sure, sometimes I can get it on a different flavor cupcakes but you'd be surprised by the lack of cream cheese frosting in bakeries. 

Susie's red velvet is pretty tasty with a moist cake with great red color. Their cream cheese frosting is delicious which makes this a winner in my book. 

I am a fan of Susie Cakes and definitely recommend it. There are several locations in SoCal along with one in Northern California (which I am going to the next time I visit my parents).  You can see their menu along with all of their locations on their website. The location that I went to was their Manhattan Beach store and their address is below.  

Susie Cakes
Manhattan Village
3500 N Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 150
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
tel 310 303 3780
fax 310 546 4561
Mon-Sat 10am-7pm

twist, yarns of intrigue

Good morning, everyone. Yikes, I slept in really late today and therefore woke up really late. Isn't it crazy that it's june already? It feels like christmas was just last week but we're already heading into the second half of the year. I am not usually a hug fan of the hot southern california weather but i do love that it stays light out for so long. I feel like a vampire sometimes when i don't get to see sunlight during the day. only without all the good things like supernatural strength and special powers.

This week i had a hankering to fondle some yarn (knitters will understand) but none of the local stores in my area were appealing to me. so on saturday, I wrangled my friend to trek down with me to manhattan beach to go to Twist, Yarns of Intrigue. the owner, Cathy, is fabulous and they have recently moved to a much larger location down the street. they also carry the most fabulous selection of Malabrigo, one of my favorite yarns, as well as their own yarn and other treats. A trip to twist never fails to inspire me to create and i knew it was the thing to get my creative mojo flowing.

We walked in to see the wonderfully large new space. If you have never been to the old store it's hard to compare but the new space is easily 3-4x larger than the old one. It's so open now with a large couch and an area to hang out and look at pattern. There is also a great yarn bar where you can learn about some of the yarns in the shop and actually knit a swatch with them. you can see how the yarn knits up and what it feels like first hand,  which is a great way to try out a new yarn.

yarn bar

books and pattern galore

The malabrigo is always what interests me the most and they really do have the best selection of it that i've ever seen. Mal is notoriously hard to keep in stock in large quantities with a good selection of colors but cathy manages her orders so well and has such a good relationship with them that she always has lots of colors in all their bases.

seriously swoon at the mal sock yarn

Cathy also dyes her own yarn in wonderful colors. There wasn't much in stock unfortunately for me. I think the locals are snatching all of her yarn up before I can get there. I did find some wonderfully soft and beautiful cotton yarn that Cathy dyes. I am not usually a fan of cotton. Ironic since it's perfect for Southern California weather. But I just find it unyielding and hard on the hands. However, this cotton was dyed up vibrant jewel tones that caught my eye straight away. And the swatches showed and amazingly soft and cushy fabric. I wanted to buy it all! But that wasn't possible so I settled on 3 skeins of a beautiful green with blue undertones to try out. I am seriously going to order more for a sweater though and maybe a blanket. If you you visit Twist, you must feel this cotton.

the cotton of my dreams

I was also looking for inspiration for a wedding shawl I am going to make next year. My friend (who was with me) is getting married next year and requested a shawl for the big day. We looked at some books and narrowed down some ideas but none of the patterns was calling to her. Right when we were about to leave we saw a lovely red lace shawl in the corner made from Malabrigo Silky Merino, a really beautiful silk/wool DK blend. Peggy tried on the shawl and it was love.

So we picked up 3 skeins of the Silky Merino in a really pretty lavender/grey colorway called Madre Pearl. It's a gorgeous color and I am really excited about starting the shawl now. 

That was our big day and yarn trip. It was just the pick me up I needed and got me excited about knitting again. If you're ever in the area, you really should stop by and visit the shop. It has something for everyone. I'll leave you with our yarn purchases for the day. Have a wonderful afternoon!

twist cotton in jade

mal silky merino in madre pearl