Cacti DIY

There's no place like home - and it's been decided that we're going to spend more time decorating our place and adding more flavor.  My favorite way to quickly spruce up an area is to add more foliage.  We picked up a few new additions for the house this weekend and it's already looking more lively in here.  I've also been coveting mini terrariums - I love how unique they look.  I decided to take matters into my own hands & get down with some DIY.

Here's a step by step how to make your own mini Terrarium.

 1.  Find yourself a nicely sized glass bowl.  I picked this one up from Marshalls for $5.99.  Get yourself a cactus and a few succulents.  Make sure they're happy indoors - there's a difference between indoor and outdoor succulents.  Don't forget a small bag of Cactus soil.  I picked up my soil and succulents and my most favorite garden store, Flora Grubb in San Francisco, CA.

2.  Pour soil into the bowl - about 1/3.  You want to make sure you keep some room for the soil attached to your little cactus, in case that little guy has roots.

 3.  Gently add your first succulent and pack soil around the base.

 4.  You want to make sure the little guy is tightly squeezed in there.  No room for dancing!

5.  Add your other happy little guys and you're done!

Types of plants featured 1.  Crassula Perforata (light green one) Var 2. Aloe Christmas Carol (red one) 3. Cactus

This little one will be living in the middle of our kitchen table.  Have fun and enjoy!

The Big Apple

I flew out to NYC last week for work - Chloe and Isabel HQ.  I loved spending time in the New York office.  It's inspiring to work with beautiful jewels strung across your workspace and hung amongst little vignettes across the different parts of the office.  It felt very cozy and artsy.

I remember when I first started working after college, the thought of traveling for work was so exciting.  New adventures, that newfound feeling of independence and the excitement around feeling "grown up".  It's fun to think about it.  I've traveled more for work and play this past year more than I ever have...and either I'm getting old or increasingly bratty but, nothing is better than coming home to your warm bed and humble abode ;)  

1. Chloe and Isabel entrance

2. Commerce - where I caught up with my beautiful old friend, Bryana.

3. C+I Jewels near my desk in NYC

Enjoy!

Resolutions.

I spent last Saturday evening with my BFF, Etsy.  The eventful night began when I saw the words flashing across my screen, "Items matching your taste: Take the Test."  Etsy asks you to click on items that you like - From your selections, they create a collection of suggestions for you.  I wouldn't say the curation of recommended items came close to my taste, but I did find a few inspiring shops and artists because of it.  Thanks to them, I feel the inner Martha channeling and times like these, I wish Michaels Crafts was open to freaks like myself, 24 hours a day.  You know, I bet there's a market for late night hours they're missing out on.

After much ICS (Internet Craft Salivating), I came up with a list of projects I want to accomplish this year.  Instead of my redundant, "eat healthier, be less cynical and yoga more" resolutions, I've compiled a more fulfilling list.  Without further adieu...

1. Send more snail mail - and while I'm at it, decorate the envelopes. Because I totally have time for that.

New blog obsession: Rin's work from PaperedThoughts

2.  Create my own mini terrariums.  Because I like succulents, sand and moss.  It rocks.

Beautiful work by Etsy Shop Tiny Terrains

2.  Paint neon acrylic colors on driftwood sticks.  I mean, who wouldn't want NEON painted sticks. (I know I already posted about this)

I'll take one of everything from Bonjour Frenchie

3.  Learn to knit.  I want to make all sorts of chunky, infinity scarves. 

4.  Stop sweating the small stuff.  It's true.  It's all small stuff. You heard it here, folks.

Flax Seed Vegan Pancakes

I've been receiving a lot of requests for recipes around the vegan foodie photos I post on my Instagram account so I thought I'd share my vegan pancake recipe for the breakfast I whipped up this weekend.  I tweaked the original recipe a bit - my best pancakes to date.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon flax seeds (I use them whole)
1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons grape seed oil
Cinnamon

1. Put your iron skillet on high heat.
2. Mix your dry ingredients together in a bowl
3. Add the soy milk & oil to your mixture slowly
4. Mix until smooth
5. Add a tablespoon of soy butter to your HOT skillet!
6. Get your pancake on

When you're done stacking up your pancakes, add a glob of soy butter, organic maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Breakfast food is my favorite type of food and San Francisco has many great vegan restaurants - I see more and more places offering vegan options all the time.  My beau and I have a few favorite breakfast/brunch spots here in San Francisco.   If you're ever visiting, be sure to check out my top two spots below for some great vegan eats.

1. St. Francis Fountain in the Mission District (24th Street) - An old school diner-style joint, with a ton of SF charm.  I order either the Vegan Tofu Scramble with Ranchero Sauce with a side of vegan sausage (Scramble, hash browns, tortillas, holy goodness its amazing) OR the below pictured, Vegan Rancheros.

2. Herbivore in the Mission District (Valencia Street) - A casual spot with entirely vegan eats.  They certainly offer the gamut, from vegan mac n cheese to vegan thai...I strictly stick with breakfast at Herbivore but still enjoy their pasta and salads from time to time.  I almost always order the basil pesto tofu scramble (if you're thinking "vegan pesto doesn't register right in my noggin", BEHOLD it exists)  I was raised on marinana, meatballs and gravy...what Italian people call "sauce".  I'm a quasi-Italian food snob and Herbivore knows their pesto.

Enjoy!

Rasbarri Jewelry on SALE!

Right now, you can shop most of my Rasbarri collection on Zaarly RIGHT NOW for $22/piece.  Choose from necklaces, rings AND bracelets.  I'm running this promotion for the first twenty customers to purchase.  I'm very excited about it - get your shop on!

Get it here: https://www.zaarly.com/rasbarri