Strawberry Amaretti

Need a quick recipe for a delicious desert? This is the one. Not only that this is very healthy but also delicious. You only need a few ingredients that mostly are in your kitchen. Since I found the recipe; I eat this almost every morning until I am out of Amaretti cookies.  Thank God it is easy to get and  available at Marshall which I almost go to everyday. You can also alternate the fruit with others like blueberry or raspberry.

Recipe

Strawberry Amaretti

Ingredients;

- 2-1/2 cups fresh strawberries

- 1 tsp almond extract

- 3 tbsp honey

- 2-1/2 oz. /70 g amaretti cookies, plus extra to serve

- 1-3/4 cups strained plain yogurt

1. Put 1-3/4 cups of the strawberries into a bowl with the almond extract and 1 tbsp of the honey. Mash lightly with a fork. (I cut the strawberry into a small pieces)

2. Crumble the amaretti with you fingers to break up coarsely.

3. Lightly stir together the mashed strawberries, amaretti and yogurt, then spoon into 4 small glasses or dishes

4. Top with the remaining strawberries and drizzle over the remaining honey.

----oo00oo----

Thank you for stopping by!

Little Miss Sunshine; Emma.

I never had so much fun and excitement as I was photographing Emma and her brother Lucas. One word only for Emma; photogenicallyummy. (Is there such a term, if you know what I mean?)  No matter what she did, her picture turned to be the cutest and pretty as Emma herself in person.

Beside taking picture of them, I also love playing with them. Brother Lucas reminds me a lot to my son when he was  that age. He had dinosaurus plastic toys in his hand, instantly my mind went to my son when he used to play and carried them all over with him. 

There is something about photographing children or toddlers; you do not need to direct them. I love the candied expression of young kids. They are the cutest and so adorable to capture in the camera. Although in general it is hard to pose them like you want them to be, like I wanted them to sit still next to their mother. They just won't do that.  Perhaps I should have one of those little toys stick to the top of my camera to get their attention to be sitting still. 

Anyways,  take a look at Emma's pictures. She surely is Little Miss Sunshine. Thank God, it was bright and sunny that day. And she loves playing with the little flower  tiara I brought for her to wear.  

Thank you Ilana for bringing such pretty outfit for Emma to wear! I love all of her sundresses. And her tutu dress was so pretty on her.  Just like what  I wanted for my little girl model to wear. 

Thank you so much for reading?

Black Urn Planters Turned White (DIY)

I was looking for a few  white urn planters  to put on the entrance on our new home, but could not find any.  There were some but urns can be very costly.  I found black urns half price when I got home with them my husband did not like it. So I sprayed painted them white.

Here is what I did.

What you need.

- Rust-oleum Stone textured finish spray paint

(for 4 medium size urns I used 8 cans)

- Behr Ultra Lagoon Moss sample

- Behr Ultra Potting Mix sample

- Brush

- A pair of gardener's glove

- A mask

Clean the urns with damp cloth. Then spray each of them two coats evenly.

Let it dry for a couple of hours under the sun.

Take a brush and deep it in Potting Mix paint and wipe the brush gently as we do not want a blob of paint on the urns. Gently brush it over the crevices of the urns. Do not press the brush. Do it all over the urns. Then do the same with the Lagoon Moss paint color. Paying extra attention on the crevices. Let it dry for a few hours or over night and do not put them out door in case it rains.

I really love the black turned white urns now. After a few weeks they even look better like in the  picture below.  And my Verbena have grown on to the side and down the urns. They were very small when I just bought and planted them on the urn (picture above).

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Happy Wednesday Everyone?

Our New Living Room/Home

Just an update that we are now in our new home. And it has been a week since we are moving in.

I can't believe we are finally here. It took us 3 years to get where we are from trying to sell the old house and finding this new home. 

This house is almost 4 times larger than our previous home. We built a new kitchen, bought new appliances, remodeled the bathrooms, and changed the entire floors. We bought new furniture, some already in the house and some are still in the way or being ordered. Still we need to order a mantel, chandelier, a hood for the stove.

We have a new kitchen cabinets but the granite counter top still being made so I have not cooked since we moved in this new home. Good thing is everything is so large that we have so much space now. 

I also into  gardening these days. I have not done much with the garden but putting a small annual flowers in the urns to decorate the entrance. I also bought some geranium since most flower pots already there left by the previous owner.  I never knew that gardening can be so much fun and therapeutic. I love seeing the bud is coming out and finally blooming like my hydrengea that I planted almost 2 months a go is starting to bloom.

Well, these pictures are  the new living room and dining in one big space in the house. Some of the furniture being put there are temporarily until we order a new one  like the coffee table is on the way.

I created two inspiration boards for the living area. I bought a pair of an old chairs almost 10 years a go at Ebay for USD 40.00 and it has been sitting in the storage. I thought they deserve some make over since the cushion is very old and is really in bad shape. I always wanted a neutral beige sofas with a pop of color on this type of chairs to compliment and to brighten the room. I am thinking to re-cover the chairs with a deep teal color and repaint the wooden frame with silver or off white color. They will position on the side of the sofa and a love seat will be positioned on the other side.

These boards has two set of color of throw pillows. I love bright colors to give a punch to the neutral colors in the room. Those 3 intaglios arts were made by me a few years a go. I was going to sell them on Etsy but never get to do it. So now they will be decorating the living room.

Initially I wanted to do the the pink, grey and black color combo on my working space/studio. But now I kind a love those colors in the living room.

So what do you think about these two boards?  Which one do you like most? I really need your input. And I thank you so much for that.

And this is one of the chairs. Today I was trying to take off the whole cushion but I gave up. I did pulled out about 200 hundreds little nails out of it.

This house still need a lot of things to be done. But hey, "Rome was not built in a day" right? I have not done anything with my working space/studio yet. There are many more important things need to be done so the studio will be the last.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Happy Monday Everyone!

30 Days Through Ellya's Photography Lenses

Although this project  is still in the back of my mind; I can not wait to share it with you what it is that I am intending to do.

I would like to challenge myself to do a 30 days project about photography. It is a "30 Days Through Ellya's Photography Lenses" project.

Each day I will take picture of anything interest me and try to capture that particular moment of object through my camera. We, including me often take picture of pretty stuff like flowers on the vase, pretty food presentation, etc. This time I would like to take picture of odd things, like puddle on the street, snow and rain.

This project would be a very good project to improve my photography skills and at the same time I would take picture of odd stuff  otherwise I would not dare to take picture out of like I mentioned above.

I do not know when this project is going to start since I am in the middle of moving a house. But I would like to do it very soon. I know I talk about moving house all the time. This process of moving house has taken us forever and this time for sure is going to happen. So I am starting to pack some stuff and our current home filled with boxes right now. You know how hectic it is about moving a house can be.

Anyway, these are the list that I am intending to take pictures on my project. If you have any more ideas to add to this list please give me a shout, I will be so grateful for you to help me. And I thank you for that.

1. Around the home;  home decor like flower, furniture, vignettes (I know this is regular items but in can be included too)

2. Vitage china. Must include this, as vintage china is one of my favorite item to take picture out of.

3. Outside the house;  people, nature, street side, etc.

4. In the city; building, on the street side.

5. Weather condition; snow, rain, fog.

6. Food styling; ice cream, egg, vegetables, popsicles.

7. Movement; cars, trains, airplanes. Anything fast.

8. Kids are playing

9. Sports action.

Okay, I am very excited now. Can't wait to start my first day picture project. In the meantime, I will let you know for sure.

Thank you so much!

Blooms...

As I was driving around to do some errands, I can't help to stop and took  pictures of  these pretty flowers a long the street. One was at a church, the other one was at a shopping center and others was just a long the street.

I always enjoy driving when seeing these flowers a long the street or at people's home. This time of the year is the best to enjoy them as they are only blooming for a short period of time. Aren't they just beautiful? Do you know are they perennials or annuals? And do you know their names?

 I was pretty upset this afternoon when I went to our new home to transfer some stuff over like paintings and looked at my  wild flowers I planted 2 months a go, they were all gone. All I saw was some broken little leaves scattered on the soil. They were only 4 inches tall and they did look like wild grass. So I think the gardener of the developer of our new home must have thought it was some wild plants. I planted them on a patch; they should have known that it was carefully planted. I was shocked when I want to water them and with a water can on my hand  found  many broken little leaves all over the ground. Tears was automatically pooled in my eyes and I called my husband Steven sobbing. It was funny thinking back. This is the first time I ever planted anything in my life, and each day I was so happy to see them grow taller and can't wait for them to bloom. I guess I should have put a sign or a fence as my husband suggested me should do. Well, a lesson learned.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Life Is As Sweet As Cherries

Looking back, I can not thankful enough to the life that God has given me. With disbelieve, in two weeks  my life would be exactly like what I wanted and dreamed about 12 years a go. In general I am a happy person and what not to be happy  for having a wonderful and an understanding husband who married me when I was just came out from a 2 months hospitalization with 3 surgeries for Aorta Aneurysm. What not to be happy marrying a man who understand and let me be what I wanted to be. I can go on and on about all the things I am grateful to be married to my husband "Steven".  Sometimes I am wondering why I deserved such person in my life, why I deserved such  good life like I have now. I don't know, but what I do know was that I used to dream and wanted it so much.  I wanted a good man as a husband,  an established career, a beautiful small home with a small garden, a studio and a nice kitchen. I used to picture these  every day in my single days as a student in NYC. It was a long time a go but felt like yesterday.

What I did not see it coming was that I got very ill and hospitalized for 2 months after met Steven (now my husband) for about 10 months in May/June 2004. 1 year later he proposed to me and we got married.

Now 12 years later those dreams are about to becoming true. It has been 3 months that the house under a renovation. It is almost over.

So far I have been planting some flowers like hydrangea, lily of the valley, and some wild flowers.   The house has a deck in the back just like I used to dream where I can paint art during summer time. I will plant a small rose garden just below the deck. Although I might not see the flower I planted blooming this summer, I am sure by next summer they all will be blooming for me to enjoy.

The fun part has just begun like we are now  buying new furniture for all the rooms like living room, master bedroom, and family room. I will have my own dream room; a working space/studio/office just for me. I am so thrilled about it. Now I can have all of my craft, paints, sewing machine all in one room. I went to IKEA to look for a working desk, a book case and shelves yesterday.  Oh, I am so excited to get to decorate all the rooms again.

Behind my back, Steven has been looking for a baby grand piano as well. I have been dreaming about owning a baby grand piano since a long time a go. I am a classical piano player. I have not played a piano since a long time a go because we do not have a piano right now. So I am dying to play piano regularly again.

Although my career did not turn out to be the way I wanted to be, I do believe and with some hard work, my photography business is starting to pick up clients.  I never knew that I enjoy taking picture of people very much. Sometimes you have to go through many different ventures until the right one arrives. I hope this is going to be a business that can be thriving. I do not wish it will grow into a huge business but I do want that it would be something that I can enjoy for a long time  while I am doing a task as a wife to Steven.

To all of you, what ever your dream is about, don't ever give up on them. You must dream and imagine it again and again in your mind as if it is happening right there and then.  I used to dream about it every single day,  wherever I went and in whatever I did. At night, my bedroom became a ritual sanctuary where I lid many candles around me sitting on the floor and just let my mind went to that beautiful place that I really want. I went to this place every single night for 2 years as if I could touch, smell, and feel. I think what happened  next was that my mind and body was set and ready  to meet this special person to share my life with.  I, myself drawn to that person who meant to be with me, to share the kind a life like in my dream designed for us together. And to fulfill me. My luck is also his luck. So we bound to be together.

The key for the dream to be happened is that you must work and put your energy in it as well. You can not sit around and just dream. It won't happen. To win a lottery first you  must go out and buy a lottery ticket right? For me at the time, beside dreaming and wanting, I went out my way to put myself toward the dream. Since my dream was to share my life with a person I really love, I must put myself to find this person first. That was the very first thing I did. You have to have a pure good intention when meeting this person. It is important that he sees that. As simple as that. If this person is not meant to be, don't give up. He is not the last person on earth you are going to meet. Once you met this person, if this is what your dream is about, then the rest will fall on you. Imagine your dream goal is like wanting to see a beautiful flower blooming out of a single seed you planted. First you must watering the plant, then you will start seeing the little leaves coming out. You will keep on watering the plant then it will grow taller.  Now the plant has some buds on the tip of the branches. And soon you will see the buds are starting to open up and becoming  beautiful flowers. After building relationship and trust in marriage, you and your husband will be moving into your beautiful dream home. It is like a chain reaction, it is a process,  your dream will just keep on going. And yes I am still dreaming  that I am working on right now. And just like in spring time, I am starting to see a few little leaves coming out and so does my dreams and the good intentions will start to happen. It is an ongoing process and it will go on forever.

For the dream to becoming true, you  must be realistic. Your dream must be within the capacity of you; your being and soul. If your dream to have a beautiful life with the man you love, it will be impossible to meet and to find 'a real prince from a far away kingdom' and hoping you will live in a huge beautiful castle. Dreams does not work that way. Dreams only works on what works for you. Working on the impossible it will just wasting your time. And it is not healthy for you. I knew since a long time a go that I always want of what I called "A HAPPY SIMPLE LIFE."

I am still pinching myself for what is happening to me now because,

LIFE IS AS SWEET AS CHERRIES !

~~~~oo00oo~~~~

Thank you so much for reading!