$2 Beauty

Good day everybody! 

The blog The Dedicated house is having a link party called "Anything Blue Friday" and I thought I'd share what I found today. I went shopping with my good friend at a boutique called Ozma Atelier. She has nice collections of vintage accessories and great fashionable clothing. She had a one day sale today and I found this purrty crochet dress.

The color caught my attention. I loved blue, but I was hesitant about the crochet part. My exact words were like " I look like a table", because this is the exact pattern my mom did for our table cover, and I just couldn't get that out of my head, until the ladies in the dressing room thought it was cute and are willing to trade it with theirs. They suggested it would go so well as country style fashion. It opened my eyes to a potential possibility! And plus, it only cost $2!!! Love it!

Linking to:

Anything Blue Friday
Creative bloggers' party

S'mores Cake

I have seen so many recipes of smore's cake and they all look and surely taste amazing. I do not bake a lot so I thought I'd make a practice round of smores cake. I picked a simple recipe from food network magazine which also found in this link. 


I couldn't make it exactly look like the the magazine...

...and I forgot to get a jar of marshmallow cream in my grocery list, so I had to make it homemade using this recipe. I love the recipe! I just could eat it by itself, like a little taste of heaven!

Are you gonna try it? I hope you like it as much as I did :)

Linking to: 

Creative Bloggers' Link Party
Make a scene Monday

Iceberg Wedges with Guacamole dressing

I wanna share to you today a little bit something about what I learned from an old cook book I recently purchased from thrift store. This recipe is from Food and Wine annual Cookbook 2009.

I've never served iceberg lettuce wedge on a plate before. I thought it looks laziness at first, but my husband actually liked it more compare to common salad mix.

Here is the recipe:

In a blender, puree 1 cup of guacamole with 1/3 cup fresh lime juice and 1/4 cup of water. With the machine on, gradually add 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper. Quarter 1 head iceberg lettuce and spoon the dressing on top. Garnish with crumbled bacon, sliced radishes, shredded pepper jack cheese and diced tomatoes. Place the tomatoes to support the lettuce.

Bon Appetit! 

 linking at:

Homemaker on a Dime
Make It Pretty Monday

Transformed Tuesday

Time to Sparkle Link Party
Pretty Things Link Party
Salt Tree Social
Creative bloggers' Link Party
Make a scene Monday

Comforter sets on sale: Comparing Prices

IF there is one lesson from my mom I am grateful about is the way she shop. Not that she shops a lot but she is a very smart shopper. I guess the reason why she is very skilled in trade was because she did it for a living.
My mom takes up all day shopping, this because she would search the entire town for cheaper prices. And oh yeah, she is an awesome haggler, something I can NEVER do with confidence!
I have been looking for a new comforter set now. One thing I love about online shopping is that I could compare prices without even leaving the house.
I am tired of using my hubby's old bachelor's 4 pc dark brown comforter that has a suede-ish texture. I wanted something light color having this hot Tucson weather. Kohls is having a big home sale where comforters could go down 55 to 60 percent off. Of course, before jumping into compulsive buying, I searched and searched for the cheapest price of comforter set I like I could find. I found some interesting similarities.

Item I:  Kohls
Madison Park Carlton 7-pc. Comforter Set
sale $104.00-$120.00
original $259.99-299.99

Walmart:

Home Essence Geneva 7-Piece Comforter Set
was $119.97
sale price 99.47

Walmart: (in different color)

Home Essence Geneva 7-Piece Comforter Set
$69.96

Item 2
Kohls
Madison Park Vivian 7-pc. Comforter Set
sale $119.99-$139.99
original $239.99-279.99

Walmart

Home Essence Piedmont 7-Piece Comforter Set

price 119.99

I wasn't too crazy about the styles but they passed my taste. The ones I really like were $100 more and I have a budget to keep. I ended with this...

Kohls
Croft & Barrow® Marcelle 8-pc. Comforter Set
sale $99.99-$109.99
original $249.99-299.99

We did not pay for the sale price though. One thing I like about Kohls is their 30% off coupons and in addition, we got $10 off from having kohls rewards. So in total, we paid $62.99 plus free shipping. I love it because it is reversible, like getting two sets of comforter set for a price of one. I like the pattern. It isn't too girly and hubby liked it.
I couldn't find anything like it anywhere but Kohls (or I didn't look hard enough?). According to what I read, Croft&Barrow is an exclusive Kohls brand.

Black Bean (Meatless) Burger

I currently installed Better Homes app in my android tab. I LOVE IT! I have to say, it is a great app with great recipes!.

I take my tablet with me and it becomes my trusty grocery check list. Yes. I am that lazy to write my grocery list on paper. It has a feature where it organizes and categorize all your lists from produce, meat, dairy and etc.

We had this recipe for tonight's dinner. I am so blessed to have  a husband who is not afraid to eat anything  I try to make for the first time. I was a little worried hubby wouldn't like it, but after eating three, he said it was delicious, or in his own word "This is seriously seriously delicious!!". Made me happy.
 He described it as a bean salsa dip in a form of burger.

I was very excited to try the recipe that I made some mistakes, mistakes that could be fixed. I did not rinse and drain the black beans as  the recipe told so I added a couple tablespoons odd flour and added another half a cup of crushed corn tortilla chips to thicken the mixture. 

I suggest to chill the mixture overnight and grill it. If I only have a grill :(

You can find the recipe for this Black Bean Chipotle Burger here. Let me know whacha think?

Linking to:

Blogstalking thursday
Your Creative Time Out Party
I Love Fridays
Frugalicious Friday
Create.Simplify. Inspire
Feathered Nest Friday
Time Travel Thursday
Share Your Creativity
A Pinteresting Party

What Chit Chat with God Can Do

Saturday, still saddened for the loss of a friend who passed away last Sunday. Her death was sudden yet very peaceful. I cried everytime it crossed my mind that I would never see her again.
I was scheduled to teach at Sunday school for the next day (today). I felt like I didn't want to or I do not have energy, mentally, emotionally and physically due to my heavy work at my job. Although I read through the lesson plan in the book, I felt I am not ready to pull the lesson through. I told my husband "I don't feel like teaching tomorrow", laid down and passed out.
Today, while driving to church, I muttered to my husband, my heart doesn't feel right and expected my class today would be terrible because I was unprepared, but somehow I felt like God understood what's in my heart. He knew I needed energy to do the ministry.
At the start of the class, still unprepared, I did what I would call, chit-pray with the kids, prayed with sincere heart to help us (including me) to understand the lesson and just give us great time. To my surprise I was full of energy  today, we did had a great time in the class.
I used to think my ministry in the church is my business alone, but I realized it was God's ministry and he does all the work through me. He will supply whatever his worker needs.
 I didn't know where I pulled that strength to do my task, but I believe that small prayer helped me today. It doesn't matter in whichever form the prayer is, as long it is personal and sincerely coming from the heart.

Have a Blessed Week Everyone!

I Love My Job

I can't even summon my thoughts to write a blog, nor any recent craft projects to share. I have been working on some things around the house, but I feel I am not creative enough to creatively express it in words... or maybe I am just too lazy to speak (I mean write).

My job has taken most of my time and energy since there was no other available to alternate the schedule with.

My restaurant work is not a glamorous job. I would come home covered in vegetable juices or blood from the prepping prime rib. One thing I learned, though one can love cooking or working in the kitchen, but it doesn't mean working in a restaurant will be a bliss. Cooking can be an enjoyable hobby, where you can take all the time you want in making one dish, on the other hand, restaurant work is a business where you have cook/prep as much as you could as quick as you could.You are paid in hours. I would come home drained and sore all over, but then, I had to do continue doing it as I work in my own kitchen to cook dinner with my work shoes on. Main reason why I don't blog much anymore, because I feel like I rather use my remaining energy to watch "Who's Line is it Anyway" and relax

Yes. It is not a glamorous job. I don't wear high heels nor wear a lipstick, or have time to curl my hair, but I like it. It is the closest I could get to what I did or should I say back I was in college. Although working in the kitchen has nothing to do with film making, it is a fast paced environment, I wear sneakers at work, a lot of running, lots of lifting and the job requires a little bit of creativity and developing of skills. Oh yeah! Not to mention I didn't have to deal with demanding customers. I am happy working at the back of the house.

It is a tough job. Sometimes I wanted to cry when my back really hurt (except when I'm cutting onions), but then I remember how I love my job and I do my best to be great in it. It is my delight to bring good quality clean food like I would give to my own family even if it takes me to wash my hand every 20 minutes for 20 secs under the hottest running water I could handle. 

 This is not my dream job. I know I mentioned I wanted to write fantasy/fiction novels and I still do, but I cannot finish a novel in one sitting. I have got to have a day job that can pay our bills, food and buy my way back to see my family in Manila. I feel it is not the right time yet. God is still preparing me for the best, but for  now, I want to do great and work my way up for a more challenging position.

At the end of the day when I have all sorts cuts on my hand and different sorts of body ache I could imagine, I still am thankful to God for that I have a job. A job I like, then I would remember everything I have gone through from leaving my life behind to start all over again. I remembered wondering how long till I get acclimated to life here in U.S. My husband thought me so well to learn how to be more independent. Tough lessons, tough teaching but lots of love into it. It was all worth it and totally necessary. He must love me so. But I know all of this is because God left me with a promise that he would take care of everything for me.