What were you doing 1 year ago?
One year ago, I started my blog.

Five snacks you enjoy:

Wow, I don’t really snack too much.

1. Hostess Orange Cupcakes
2. Homemade Cupcakes
3. Cheese
4. Cheese Doritos
5. Cheese 

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:
I’m notorious for singing in the car and singing the wrong lyrics. So, I may think I know all the words, but they’re ones I made up. 

1. On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
2. Bidi Bidi Bum Bum by Selena
3. My Maria by Brooks and Dunn
4. Happy Birthday 
5. Suavemente by Elvis Crespo 

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Summer home/ Winter home.
2. Do the family hook up thing.
3. Big family vacations yearly. 
4. Travel. Exquisitely. 
5. Feed people.

Five bad habits:

1. Clicking my jaw
2. Channel surfing
3. Starting projects and …
4. Not working out
5. Eating cupcakes

Five things you like doing:
This is pretty vague…

1. Writing, reading and learning. That’s why this blog thing is so neat. I can do so much here.
2. Window shopping. I love going to cooking stores and browsing the shelves for inspiration.
3. Baking. I love trying new techniques in the kitchen.
4. Traveling. Even with travel state-side, I want to absorb as much as possible.
5. Eating cupcakes. Hmmm, I detect a trend.

Five things you would never wear again:

1. Tiva sandals
2. Bass penny loafers
3. NKOTB t-shirt
4. Banana clip
5. Metallic skirt

Five favorite toys:

1. Casio key board
2. Pogoball
3. Twirling baton
4. Scooter
5. Cabbage Patch Kid

Geeks can be greenies too. Before AfricanKelli’s challenge, I was very envious of my office mate’s trash can. Now hear me out before you think I’m over the top strange.

I noticed that there was never anything in his trash can. I on the other hand had to have the crew clean mine out by mid day to make room for more crap.

As part of my challenge this week, I also wanted to see how little I could toss out this week. I’m doing really good so far.

There’s a tie into geeks…just wait for it.

So, we (he and I) have been talking about different eco things we do. He mentioned that he had read about the energy used for white screens (ie, the white search engine screen on Google).

I’ll let you be the judge on if you want to make the switch or not. Read up on it for yourself here.

Which has less impact powder or liquid laundry detergent? I haven’t given it much thought until this week. I’ve found a few different forums discussing the pros and cons of each.

I decided to go with the powdered on this trip because of the information point I found on the ClintonFoundation.org web site. 

I also found a homemade laundry soap recipe, sounds interesting. I’ll let you know if I’m able to try it.

Homemade Laundry Soap

3 pints water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1 quart hot water
cold water
Mix fels naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints of [w]ater. Heat on low until barely dissolved. Stir in borax and washing soda. Stir until thickened, then remove from heat. Add l quart hot water to 2 gallon bucket. Add soap mixture to bucket and mix well. Pour soap mixture into the bucket, mix well. Fill bucket with cold water and mix again. Let set for 24 hrs. If too thick or separated, stir before use. Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry.
I can make this in the US for about 75 cents a gallon. It works great. There are no sudsing fillers so your clothes won’t get stiff and need fabric softeners. I use it as a pretreat on stains, too. It has saved me a lot of money. If you’d like to put this on the money saving tips forum I’d be flattered and it might be helpful to somebody on a tight budget.

That’s the challenge AfricanKelli.com gave to her readers last week. I’ve been doing small things, but like a lot of us I could do better. I took those words to heart and this week, I’m going to see if I can break some habits. Check out the Flickr group to see what other ideas people had.

16. Do you remember that? I have a 16 year old sister. So, I’m getting regular installments of 16 year old logic.

Today’s conversation started off like this-

Liz- Where are we going to eat tonight.

Mom- I don’t know, what are you hungry for?

Liz- I’ve got this cute plaid top from A&F, the one with a bow. I’m going to wear that with my khaki shorts.

Mom- What does that have to do with what you’re hungry for?

Liz- It doesn’t, I just want to eat somewhere where I can wear that outfit.

I walked in the door from a fun weekend to my electric bill (not fun) and to find out that I got ROTD from Yelp.com! *blush*

Do you yelp? The mission of the site is:

Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great (and not so great) in your world. You already know that asking friends is the best way to find restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local. Yelp makes it fast and easy by collecting and organizing your friends’ recommendations in one convenient place.

I’ve found lots of local independent bloggers from Phoenix on Yelp, it’s been a great way to stay connected. I’ve looked up my old spots in Dallas, reviewed hole in the walls in Phoenix and planned for my trips to Vegas and Los Angeles using this site.

When someone said to me that in the summer in Phoenix it can go days without going below 100, I finally got it. It’s not the dry heat that can get you here, it’s the fact that there is no relief from the heat. There are times that you can go out at midnight and it’s still 100.

Since it is so hot, it makes the fact that I need coffee in the morning, pretty unfortunate. I read an article in the NY Times Online that caught my interest.

Do you know the difference between hot brewed coffee on ice and ice brewed iced coffee? I didn’t.  I had to try.

I found another use for those POM Juice jars, handy suckers aren’t they.

These two jars were way over kill, plan on using almost 3x the coffee you would in traditional brewing. I could taste a subtle difference, but I’m not a coffee brewing expert either.

Cheers!

One of my most favorite blogs to troll is Andrea’s Recipe Box. Her writing style, page navigation and descriptions are all very easy. Also, she has two three small boys, so how she finds time in the kitchen is a mystery to me!

I had two parties yesterday. I needed a dish that was quick and could withstand the heat. You can find the recipe here

The variations I used were almonds, mint and corn. I got a lot of great compliments.

I also took fixings to make the white wine spritzer I’ve posted before, a little white wine, seltzer and tonight I put blueberries in the mix. It was very refreshing and delicious.

Thank you Andrea!

The Odd Couple. That’s my BFF Carey and me. Allow me to illustrate, when we went to Puerto Rico last summer, I had an allergic reaction to the *ocean*. Her remedy- I needed some yogurt, tea tree and echinacea. I on the other hand wanted Benedryl, a steroid and penicillin. Do you have a friendship like that? It’s the best! She’s the best!

It was Carey’s birthday this past weekend. I couldn’t go back to Texas to celebrate with her, so here’s my virtual prezzie:

Happy Birthday Girl! Love you!

Yesterday I went to a stamping class. I’m a loser. Yes, that’s right, a stamping class. I have no life. It’s a lot of fun. I didn’t have any other invitations to do anything else fun. I think I could make a lot of friends and have a place to hang out. Like a Senior Center.

At least I won’t gain weight from these cupcakes