Pixelmator

Been playing around with pixelmator for the past two months. The first is for my business, Dolled Up. I plan on passing them around when I have time. Still iffy on the colors because well, I'm really uncoordinated with color. The second and third were for Billy's sister. She graduated high school so I made a banner for her as a gift. The last two were for my friend, Rhomel, who graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree. Congrats to both Rhomel and Vicky!

 

 

I was a bit insecure making these as I've stated earlier, I'm not very good with color coordination. I've seen work from other people who had much better products but the only way to get better is to practice right?

Cook, Eat & Love

I was craving something Spanish to eat for dinner so I decided to look online for some recipes. I was looking over a few but couldn't find the perfect one because (1) they took way too long to prepare and cook (2) I didn't have majority of the ingredients and (3) I was super hungry. Luckily I came upon a Spanish/Mexican rice recipe from FOODWISH and some other site I can't remember, maybe EHOW? Anyway, I had majority of FOODWISH' ingredients whereas the other, I had ALL the ingredients. The former looked more appealing to eat considering that he had a video tutorial on how to make it. So what'd I do? Combine the ingredients whilst substituting other ingredients I didn't have. For example, FOODWISH included jalapeño to the ingredient. For substitution, I used celery. Yes, totally different but I wanted a crunch to my Spanish rice. I also omitted using cumin as I didn't have any on hand. Here is the final product:

The verdict? Not bad. It was a little spicy but still delicious. The bottom of the rice was burnt though. I'm not used to cooking rice in a pot. I'm Asian; we have rice cookers that cook rice to perfection. Maybe I'll use the rice cooker the next time I cook this :) I'll probably add chicken in there too for some meaty effect. You know, for some reason, the consistency and the flavor reminded me of the kimchee fried rice that I used to order at downtown which has now closed down due to the bad economy. Boo to bad economy. Thank you for closing down the best kimchee fried rice I've ever eaten! *shake fist in the air*

Anyway, for my next cooking adventure, I'm thinking jambalaya? I have so much time in the world to learn...goodness, I need a job, seriously!

Life is slow, but exciting.

It's been an interesting month thus far. Although I've been planning and purchasing my materials for my small business, I'm finally making it official. I'll be registering my business with Billy this weekend. I'm also grateful that one of my friends who also owns a business will be placing my business in her advertisement. Of course, I will do the same regardless of whether she didn't do it or not. It's about helping others out I say. And speaking of that, I need to make one for myself to pass out to everyone. Just thinking about it makes me so excited! Like my previous employer said to me, "Just do it [register]. At least if you register your business, you'll have something to work for". Those words of encouragement inspired me to JUST DO IT! Although registering was one of the last steps, at least I did start on something and now, it's going to be official.

Anyway, aside from the business stuff, life itself has been a bit slow. I've gone through an interview and have been offered a p/t job but I couldn't take it. Stupid me. I am still trying to find a job. Ideally I'd like to work a part time that offers some kind of benefit. Healthcare isn't cheap and my current doctor sucks. I've been technically unemployed for almost 4 months already and it is daunting that I'm not "good enough" for these employers. And it's not helping that a certain person thinks that I'm using someone for everything. *roll eyes* I know what I am and I know what I'm not so whatever to you.

But wow! I can't believe it's already April though! Time is really ticking! The next thing I'll know, I'll be celebrating New Year's sans fireworks, drinking some moscato and bbq'ing with my family. It's amazing how life zips by so fast.

Plan plan plan.

This past Saturday was a no-go for me. This also goes for the volunteers my mom suggested. But between Saturday and today, I managed to find four volunteers to practice on. Yay! I'm very excited. Finding little girls to practice hair and make up on was more difficult then I expected. The fact that majority of my friends and family are college bound, no children young women and men made it more difficult for me. I thought I would never find one until I finally thought about B's two cousins who have daughters! DUH!! Story of my life. Of course I had to ask them. I also thought about my other friend in high school who had a daughter. She lives nearby B's place. My first volunteer is the niece of one of my good friends. Luckily, she loves make up and nails. Hopefully, she'll like the hairdo too. I was informed she didn't like people touching her hair. *cross fingers*.

Anyway, last week was an exciting week. I finally received my CS makeup palette. My, are they pigmented and bright. It's so different from what I'm used to in every level. Hello, I rarely use make up. Hopefully this will force me to put on make-up. Practice makes perfect right?

It's mines for the taking

According to Chinese astrology, 1987 babies were born in the year of the rabbit. Fast forward to today; 2011. It is another year of the rabbit. For some reason I think that everything becomes more possible when mystical signs/event/etc. are lingering in the air. Reading facebook posts, I've seen a lot of friends posting that 2011 is going to be their year because it is the year of the rabbit. Fortunately, I fall under that bandwagon because I am a 1987 baby! :) I've got some plans up ahead for myself and I can't wait to put my ideas into actions. I'm going to do a trial test on Saturday to see if it'll work out or not. But then again, one party won't determine what I will do. What I need to make sure of is the way I execute my plan once everything is a go; it needs to be perfect to the T. Hopefully, by the end of April, I can call myself a businesswoman. Also, now that I have people to do a trial on, I need to purchase my materials. Thank goodness my mom works at a barbershop. She knows where to purchase bulks of hairpins, brushes and barbicide.

Red velvet, shrimp and a whole lot of tiredness

For the past few weeks or so, I've been wanting to bake a red velvet cupcake. It all started I think when I went to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It was my first visit ever at this establishment and I had no clue what to order. I was in line wondering what to get when I caught a glimpse of frosting. Then as I looked closer at the label, I read "red velvet cupcake". From the first bite I knew that I had to make one for myself. Mind you that it wasn't my first time tasting a red velvet cupcake. That bite at Coffee Bean inspired me to want to bake one for myself. And today, B and I decided to attempt to make our first ever red velvet cupcake; not from a box, but from scratch. I was excited not only because I was fulfilling my craving of wanting to bake, but because it was our first time baking together. TEAMWORK all the way! Surprisingly, the cupcakes turned out really great albeit us baking it longer than the designated time. Here are two of the cupcakes we made; the frosting for the second was inspired by Starbucks red velvet cake frosting.

B and I were also inspired to make Giovanni's Kahuku shrimp after we spontaneously decided to visit their truck yesterday. People have been saying that it "broke da mouth" but for $13 a plate, it was more like "broke da wallet" and in this case, B's wallet. I've lived here on this island since I was 6 and it was my first time to ever eat Kahuku shrimp cooked in a shrimp truck located up north of the island. The flavors were good but in honest truth, it's not worth the drive nor my (bf's) $28 = 2 plates ($13) + 2 bottles of water ($2). By the way, we've learned our lesson; to bring our own water bottle.

Anyway, our first attempt turned out alright. We actually looked online for a recipe and found a great site. The shrimp that were cooked closely resembled Giovanni's. Unfortunately for us, we put too much flour on our shrimp which led everything to thicken up. Regardless of that mistake, the flavors turned out pretty good. Attempt #2 will definitely turn out much better than the first! :) Here is attempt #1: