Howcast Is Amazing

Thank you, Brittany, for working there and introducing me to my favorite video makers OF ALL TIME. Here is just one amazing example of their work; enjoy!



(If only everything in life were this easy...)

Button Makers

A few weekends ago I was invited to a birthday party for the sister of one of my friends. I decided to go because it was a crafting night, and I love me some collages; give me scissors and some rubber cement, and I'll go crazy!

About half way through my destruction of an architectural magazine, one of the hosts of the party came over and stated that they were surprised that nobody had used the button maker...


SAY WHAT?

Immediately I set to the task of making a button because, HELLO! You don't get to make a custom button every day!!

That's basically the end of the story, except to say that button makers are awesome, and if they were not $300 I would have one and you all would be getting buttons for every occasion for the rest of your lives.

Sadly, I won't be getting a button maker any time soon, as I am going to be a poor student. I got into the grad school that I applied to, and will probably be spending almost every waking moment doing school work starting in September. Actually, come to think of it, I probably won't even have time to lament the absence of an awesome button maker in my life! That's not a bad thing. :-)

Oatmeal Turnaround

The first meal on the first day of my new healthy way of eating required that I eat oatmeal. For those of you who have known me for any length of time, you'll have undoubtedly heard of the time I went hiking in NH and my mountain mates made oatmeal for breakfast; as you are not allowed to leave trash on the mountain, I carried all the oatmeal around 2 mountains, up Mount Washington and down Tuckerman's Ravine because I refused to eat it. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about attempting to down oatmeal first thing in the morning. Still, as it was the first day of my healthy eating, I didn't want to waiver so early on in the game so I put my brave face forward and at 8 am on Monday morning I commenced "operation: oatmeal preparation."

My first attempt was a disaster! I started off with a portion much too large for any person to consume first thing in the morning, and it immediately boiled over the rim of my pot (and thus made a huge mess on the stove) the second I turned my back. I was worried about putting in too much cinnamon so I cautiously tapped the jar to dispense a moderate amount into my goopy mess of oats. I threw in some cranberries, topped with honey as instructed (though I don't like honey, either, so I only put a little on) and tried to down my horrid creation. It was terrible, tasteless, and honestly made me flashback to moments on the mountain when my sister and I tried to suppress our gag reflexes and hide our oatmeal discretely in plastic bags.

I am not a quitter, though, and so on day two I made a few modifications to the recipe and have since perfected it. Here is my recipe for awesome oatmeal even oatmeal haters will love:

Small portion of oatmeal
1 pound of dried cranberries
Half a container of cinnamon
4 quarts of maple syrup
6 cups of fresh fruit to top

Ok, so I am joking to a point, but the above mixture is delightful. Breakfast with oatmeal has become my favorite part of the day! Tonight when thinking about what I wanted to eat for dinner, I found myself craving the simplicity and natural sweetness of my new favorite breakfast.

If you have any good ideas for oatmeal, please let me know! As long as it doesn't involve raisins or honey, I would be interested to try it out.

Eating Healthy!

My mother and my sister and I are going to start following the world's healthiest foods eating plan (which you can find here if you are interested). It should be interesting! You are supposed to feel great, have fewer cravings, get sick less, have more energy and have beautiful skin (a plus that I am really looking forward to!). My one worry is that this way of eating requires you to eat so much food and I am honestly a little worried that I might not be able to consume what I am supposed to every day! I guess I won't have to worry about starving myself on this new diet, though, which is a plus. :-)

Today was also my first day of practice with my new football team! The people are really, really nice. Not to diss my old team, but this new team is so relaxed and friendly, and that just goes to show you that Brooklyn wins in the awesome department... yet again. I think this season is going to be a lot of fun!

If I Can Dream

For a while now I've been seeing advertisements for this thing on Hulu called "If I Can Dream." It's a reality show about 5 Hollywood hopefuls pursuing their dreams. There are no competitions, no voting people off the island, no lame "made for TV" jobs they have to hold and no jarring personalities to put up with, all of which makes for a highly unusual reality show.

What makes this show even more unusual, however, is the fact that there are 60 cameras in the house which are on at all times, streaming live video onto the internet for the whole world to see. When you go to the web site you can view any one of these cameras and their feeds 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These cameras watch everything (decent): the pool, the kitchen, the bedrooms, and even the entry and the hallway.

Occasionally this is quite entertaining. For example, tonight when I checked out the kitchen they had their cook there preparing dinner and I was able to hear about what she was preparing and how to do it myself! I also saw someone organizing pillows, and another person asking viewers to Tweet in their opinion about their clothing choice for a party later that evening.

Other times, this can be duller than watching paint dry. This afternoon when I went there for the first time ever, I saw a girl sitting on her bed reading a book. I wasn't sure that the video was even working, but then I saw her turn the page... what intrigue!

The concept reminds me a lot of the Truman Show (remember that movie?), the only difference being that this time, the characters know they are being watched. Despite the fact that they agreed to be filmed constantly, I still feel like a creep watching their every move. Having said that, though, I am not sure I'll be able to resist checking in now and again to see what these people are up to (even though occasionally it may be more dull than life in my apartment).

I think in general the concept is truly interesting. For the first time EVER you can watch a reality show that is exactly that: reality. Also, you can interact in a variety of ways with the people living in the house (in real time!) if you catch them at the right moment, which is definitely a unique plus. I'm interested to see if this will catch on and become a phenomenon. Will people tune in to see what our fame-searching hopefuls are up to? Or will viewers discover that the reason reality shows don't usually depict reality is because the truth is not really that interesting?

Check it out for yourself: http://ificandream.com/