Goodwill finds and pinterest

I have fallen in love with Pinterest and have been on a pinning frenzy for the past few weeks. Decorating ideas, DIY tutorials, handmade cards, recipes and more abound on my Pinterest boards. This method of "pinning" ideas on a computer bulletin board is ingenious and is the update to my old method of tearing out pages from magazines! What an amazing way to organize all of your ideas and to do's.....That's where this post comes in. I have been doing a lot of pinning of ideas and I have not been doing anything with the ideas. Pinterest becomes a huge time waster if you don't act on any of the information that you have been taking so much time to pin! Am I right?

I was so inspired by the several photos of mecury glass vignettes I saw during Christmas time on Pinterest. I have several pieces of mercury glass but I wanted to try to make my own piece, in the form of a lamp or vase. Having studied several tutorials on Pinterest I decided to go to my local Goodwill and find a treasure to turn into an even better treasure!

Here is a cute white vase I purchased from Goodwill for $3.99. Next time you see it, I will have done the mercury glass treatment to it.



While at Goodwill I found a few more treasures...... A Vincent Van Gogh print in an ugly 1970's frame for $7.99. I am thinking of either replacing the frame or spray painting this one a darker color.



Here is a 20 piece set of my everyday dishes.....found at my local Goodwill in perfect condition for $12.99. I was so amazed to find these and that they were the same pattern I have at home! I have had these Gibson "Fruit" patterned plates for about 18 years now and I love them. My mother-in-law took me shopping years ago and bought them for me. She was surprised that I wanted fairly plain white dishes and asked if I wanted something more decorative. I had the foresight, back then, to stick with white and I am so glad I did. It is so easy to add additional serving pieces when you already have white....there are so many choices out there in white! And it all works wonderfully with my Gibson "Fruit" pattern.



Here are the plates I've had for 18 years in my woefully outdated kitchen cupboards!


I am thrilled with my finds and hope to fix up the vase and Van Gogh print.....watch for their transformations!
Pam

Chicken Tikka Masala
So, our family has come to love Indian food.....not the Navajo kind.....but the East Indian kind from India. About a year ago we went on a fun weekend down to San Diego and stayed right near the Old Town area. One night, while there, we wandered the main street of Old Town and found a restaurant that looked intriguing. Our daughters, 16 years and 12 years, were interested in trying some new foods....." How about Indian food", we said, as we came upon a restaurant called "Masala". The smells coming from the joint were fantastic..... the music was pumping and made you want to break out into a bollywood dance..... the decor was beautiful......the waitstaff smiling and inviting......AND it wasn't crowded..... wait a minute, every other restaurant is standing room only, why is this place not packed? Then the question of, "Is it any good?" came next.... why are there no people? Well, we were starving and it was late, so, we said why not!
Then we were faced with a menu we knew nothing about. What do you order in a place like this? Turns out they have a tasting menu that gives you a bit of the most popular dishes served family style.....think chinese food! So, tasting menus all around, we say, as we set back in our seats listening to the music and watching a real bollywood film on the t.v. monitors overhead. Too fun!
We tried so many wonderful things, most of which I would not be able to recall the names, except for one- Chicken Tikka Masala. We LOVED it! A wonderful dream of a sauce with exotic spices, heavy cream and tomato sauce simmered over grilled chicken.
We wiped up every bit of the sauce with the naan bread and enjoyed every creamy bite!
So, upon coming home we vowed to find a recipe that would duplicate the experience for us at home. Thank you allrecipes.com! They came through with flying colors! What you see here is the product of a lovely recipe...... not too hard, but still requiring enough work to call it gourmet and to impress the family!
Of course, I had to make everthing else from scratch and make it all more difficult but the result was wonderful!
Chicken Tikka Masala paired with rice, garlicky green beans, naan bread and fresh mango slices.
YUMMY!

Getting Crafty........

Here is the entrance to my craft room..... I have had this craft room since we moved into this home 14 years ago.

This is what it has looked like for the majority of those 14 years...... with brief moments of organization and peaceful crafting held within.....

This photo shows a major attempt at getting organized. I love these crafting storage cubes! Got every one of them at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. It took a while to get them all but they have helped alot.

So, with the new year upon us, I have decided to really make an attempt at getting this craft room organized and permanently ready for me to walk in at any given time and start making a card or wrap a gift or sit down and read a great book! This is a big challenge! :^)

Here is a photo of the closet with it's doors moved to the center so all the stuff inside can be seen! Uuuggghhh!

Underneath all of this stuff is a scrapbook I am working on for my oldest daughter's high school graduation! Aaakkk!

The view to our backyard from the corner window of this room! Lovely..... might actually inspire me to really create something fantastic!

I would love to have a comfy chair, an ottoman and a floor lamp here so that I can sit down to read a book or craft magazines. Some shades on the windows would be great, too. The sun beats down very strongly in this room and fades paper very easily.....need some protection.

This is the table we use for wrapping gifts. It works pretty well but the wall space above it is wasted space.....I would love to have shelves or rods hanging on the wall to hold gift bags and gift wrap.

I love this room when it is neat and I can actually accomplish something in it. But for 14 years it has been a great place to dump things when we don't know what to do with them....My husband refers to this room as the "CR_P Room". I would love for it to be known only as Pam's "CRAFT Room". Could it really be possible? I'm gonna give it a try. I will keep record of my renovations, on this blog, as I accomplish them. Hope this will inspire others to either create their own craft space or even better yet....... inspire someone to clean up a cluttered area in their own home. We deserve to live graciously. We can't do this with so much clutter! One way to keep clutter at bay is to edit your stuff, so, I will be doing some of that, too! Watch for more........ :^)

AMOCA event - kilnopening.edu

So, a month late.....here are the photos from our event at AMOCA - American Museum of Ceramic Art. This was the kilnopening.edu. This event showcases ceramic art from students and professors from local colleges. We had a very busy night and made lots of food---and all of it was gone! Hungry college students! Enjoy the photos...next event is this Saturday night, June 12th. Will be the same show, new food and new photos to follow!

Happy eating!

Menu for AMOCA this Saturday

So, another ceramic art opening at AMOCA this coming Saturday.....here's the menu: Whipped Goat Cheese w/honey and pistachios on pita bites, Asian noodle slaw with chicken, Won-ton cups with black bean and corn salsa, Greek Spinach and Turkey wraps, Adult Rice Crispie treats and Lemon Curd Tartlets. The show is featuring ceramic art students and their instructors from the local colleges. Should be a busy night! Since the artwork will be extremely varied because of so many artists featured, we decided to have a wide variety of tastes as well. Hence, the United Nations approach to the food. We're all over the map, literally!!
Pictures to follow!

More than just serving others......

Just in thinking about this blog.....not only do I want to share about what it means to serve others but also about serving FOOD! I am a part - time caterer at a local ceramic museum and I love doing it. I get the opportunity every month to be creative with food. Trying new recipes, honing favorites and having the challenge of serving 100-300 people is a blast! I get to do this with a really great friend and sister in Christ. As I go along I will share the things we do, the foods we try and the way we plan and serve. Hope you enjoy!

Why should I blog about Serving others?

Life as a Christian is about loving others and serving others as best we can. Sometimes our human parts gets in the way, however. We, at times, become selfish and forget about our purpose here on earth. Love God, Love others and Serve others. This blog is to help keep myself in check. Am I serving others to the best of my ability? Am I serving with the right heart and right intentions? In other words, am I serving because I want to be noticed or praised? Or am I serving because the spirit has moved within my heart to give of my heart? This blog is also to serve as inspiration to others. Will it do that? Not sure, but willing to give it a try.

I am a christian, wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, caterer, crafter and an elder in my church.

I live in surburbia. I serve others as best as I can. I am living the life of serving in surburbia.

More to come.......