Coffee Table Organization

Living in a tiny apartment has its ups and downs, but there are times (many times) that I start to go crazy when things start to pile up due to a lack of space. Lately I've been getting more annoyed than normal and have been trying to find ways to make our tight space work, while still enjoying where I live.

Our coffee table is the dumping ground for mail and all those miscellaneous items in our house, mostly since our living room and front door are within reach of each other (sigh!). It looks clean now, HA, but you should see it when it's not picture worthy. I cleaned it yesterday (that's why it looks clean), so it's good till tomorrow when the week starts again. Well, there's nothing you can do but make it work. I saw a basket at Marshalls and at first didn't think anything of it, but when I came home and was looking at my coffee table, I had an epiphany. This would be perfect! I ran (well drove) back and bought it and it's perfect for what I needed.

THE coffee table

Empty space than can be used :D 

  

 THE Basket

 

New dumping ground :) I'm so excited!

I love my new basket. I think it's going to make my coffee table less of a mess and more organized and useful. I love me some good organization!!

Snippets from the week

I haven't had time for my normal everyday posts for a few reasons. School, school, Pure Barre, school and life!

This past month I signed up for the 20 day challenge at Pure Barre - 20 days in 30 days. It's been really hard to keep up with my schedule and I've been exhausted every night due to it, but I'm happy to say I have 5 more days to go and I will have met the challenge.  I have already started to see changes and I feel really good. Tired, but good. I have been forcing myself to exercise at least 4 days a week and for the past 2 months, I've been doing just that. I have also been biking to work most days, which has also helped. Have I lost a pound, well, I've lost a measly 3! But, they say muscle is more dense than fat, or that fat is replaced by muscle and therefore the scale won't move but you will look thinner. Well, I want the scale to move OKAY. Is that so much to ask for, jeez!!  So, I like to think I've lost more, but it's just all muscle baby! Ya! Sigh...not satisfied yet. I'm in this for the long run. So, I've accepted the fact that the changes I want to see are going to take a while and that I need to also watch the food I consume. Well, that's the harder part...but it's a work in progress.

That's my rant for today. Here are a few pix from the week, oh and it rained today :)

Beautiful masks I really considered buying - when my parents were visiting a few weekends ago...ok, so this isn't from this week! :D 

 Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies - see here for the recipe!

 Rocky and his usual antics

Something about this leaf reminded me of the cartoon 'The Land Before Time', from when I was small :)

 New candle holders my mom bought me :) I'm in love with them!

 Hello radishes :)

Pumpkin Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Icing

Apparently Fall has started, but you wouldn't know it here in SoCal. It's 80 degrees today (my face just cringed). However, the leaves are changing and the nights are cold, so I have been pulling out my sweaters and warm socks and trying to get into the spirit of fall and maybe, just maybe, the weather will have pity on me and give us some actual Fall weather.

So, in the spirit of Fallness, my new word :) I have been craving all things pumpkin. Pumpkin latte's, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pies and pumpkin cake. I came across this wonderful recipe for a yummy scrumptious pumpkin cake and I wanted to share :)

*Cake recipe adapted from: Gourmet Magazine and The Baker Chick

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves or all spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (light would be fine too)
3 large eggs

Glaze Icing:

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk

Cake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Note: grease and flour the heck out of a 10" bundt pan.
• Bring the eggs and butter to room temperature - it makes all the difference in the texture of the cake, especially with room temperature butter.
• In a medium-sized bowl: whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• In another bowl: whisk together the pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (if you have one, or just use a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time until well combined.
• Alternate adding the flour and pumpkin mixtures, mixing on low speed, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Don't overmix.
• Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth top with the back of a spoon. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Invert and cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire rack before icing.

For the glaze:

• Measure the sugar into a bowl. Add a few tablespoons of milk at a time, till it gets to the consistency you want.
• Stir until it forms a thick, creamy paste.
• When you have turned the cake out onto a cake plate, drizzle the glaze over the top. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Snippets of the past few weeks

I've been busy trying to write a paper, so my poor blog has been ignored, but here are a few snippets over the past few weeks of things we've done, some from my instagram.

We've had a few rainy days here and it's been lovely!

Not the best picture of Rocky (our algea eater), but he was loving the orange I put in there. 

 

A new joint called Creamistry just opened up near us which serves ice cream with a new twist, liquid nitrogen. It made the ice cream have a wonderful consistency. Super creamy and soft. Definitely a must try. 

 

 A wedding we went to over the weekend.

 Flowers from the hubby and a new candle I bought with an amazing scent that smells like candy, 'sparkling vanilla plum'. Yum!

Can you read peoples emotions?

Have you ever watched the show "Lie to Me" with Tim Roth. Fabulous show. Check it out on netflix if you haven't. In a nut shell, it was about a doctor who would assist in solving crimes through reading peoples emotions and micro expressions. There is a lot of truth to what he did and here is a quiz to help you test out your emotion reading skills. Take the quiz here!

I got a 29/36. Not bad I suppose. Some were harder to tell than others. Now, if this would actually work in real life for me, that would be great. It's just, I really have to stare at someones face really hard to be able to read them and that is border line awkward and weird.

Fina china that made the earth crack open

I hate Mondays. I really really do. I wish we could outlaw Mondays and make it part of the weekend. It is my most unproductive day of the week and it drags on and on and feels like it never ends. Now, you may be thinking, how does that have anything to do with the title of this post. Well, since it is my most unproductive day, I spend my Monday's goofing on...in other words, today I was looking up fine china patterns :D

Why, because I walked into Bed Bath and Beyond on Sunday to buy a house warming present for a friend and I always walk through their fine china section just to see what's new on the shelves, what new patterns I like, and whether I would still buy the pattern that I have (Lenox Opal Innocence). It's this bad habit that I have, as a way to justify in my head that the money, or gifts more like, were well spent. I love my pattern, and have way too many of them, but things change, so I like to confirm my liking every time I walk in, and walk back out with my head held high, thinking, nope, I got the best pattern. Let's not even mention that this is America's top selling fine china pattern. They all copied me. Come on people. Well, anyways, this was the first Sunday in 5 and half years where the answer was NO.

The earth rumbled and cracked open and I fell through it. I painstakingly picked myself up out of the man made hole, and slowly dragged myself out, trying not to make a scene while I contemplated stealing a plate or two of the new pattern (j/k!). 

What pattern you dare ask broke my heart and has helped me waste my Monday.

The new Garden Grove, by Lenox. And, if you haven't been following me, let me tell you, I have an obsession with blue and white and this new pattern is killing me.

Oh beautiful plate, how you make me want to serenade you...

I also found this beautiful pattern, the Opal Innocence Silver in plain sight for my poor eyes to see, which is similar to the Opal Innocence, except the scrolls are in silver. Why, God, why. Why do they have to keep making beautiful things. Stop!

Now, I really do love the pattern that I have and it really is beautiful, but so are these. And, if I had to pick again, there is a high chance, it would be one of the above :D and that fellow readers is what made the earth crack open yesterday!