Summary...Wednesday??: Just Go With It Edition

Well, hello again.

I've been MIA for a bit, but I'm hoping that things will kind of get into a routine now. Last week was pretty hectic for us and we spent every spare moment together as a family in preparation for the next two weeks. Collin left today to go work as a medic up at a mine site about six hours away. We won't see him again until very late next Friday night. We have some contact via Skype, but the reception is iffy as they are constantly getting piled on by snow. This will be his third run at the mine. It's hard on us as a family to be apart, but it's worth it to keep our house running.

As promised, I have totally crapped out on projects. (If it helps I've also crapped out on blog reading and now have 312 posts to sort through.) But...I did purchase a gem of an item yesterday that will be a fantastic project to work on over the next few months. I may give you sneak peeks as I go, but I'm going to putting together Miss Marley's birthday present for November. Yes, it's a long time away...but it's going to take me a while. It's a doozy of a project. I'm super excited to do it though.

Even though there have been no projects, I've still been reading. So you'll get a few book reviews from me over the next few days. Darian has also finally managed to get himself ungrounded so I think he has a few to share as well. I also finally received my pocket pages for Project Life. This means I can put together the last few weeks and finally show you what I've been working on. 

In the meantime, here is another lovely gem from my girl crush, Jenny (AKA The Bloggess).

Because he's just that awesome.

Go read the post. It's SOOO worth it. Come on...look at that picture. You know you want more!

One of Those Calgon...Months...

This isn't so much of a blog post as an apology. Life has gotten crazy over the last few weeks and promises to continue to grow increasingly busy. This past weekend my only free time was spent on the couch watching Love, Actually with Collin...blog posting kind of took a back seat.

I'm planning on continuing to blog as much as possible, but I can't say how regular my schedule will be. Collin is very busy with work and is rarely home. In the next three weeks he'll be home for a total of about four days. It's getting hectic.

My work hours have been a little heavier lately, which is great for the practice, but very much wears me out. The pain that I thought was becoming more controlled with my new meds has come back with a vengeance and I'm popping ibuprofen during the day like they're Pez and sleeping fitfully at night (which makes me super fun to be around).

With Collin gone for work, that leaves me home with Darian, attempting to get him back in line. We spent time with his teacher the Friday before last to try and rectify what has become a huge problem. Our very smart and normally straight A student child has become increasingly lazy over the past few months, not bringing homework home, lying about having homework, not doing or turning in his assignments and lying to his teacher. He is currently sitting with one C and an F. Needless to say, we are not pleased.

So...our evening plans will be changing some. I'll be spending more time keeping him busy on homework and other tasks. In the past we have given him quite a bit of freedom to do as he pleases since he had been responsible about doing well with the things that needed to be done. That is no longer the case. We're keeping him on a shorter leash and making him more accountable for his actions. Additionally, he's started working on a science project that is going to have us being away from the house for a couple of hours at least two or three times a week. That eats up valuable blogging and reading time.

My days sound like a blast, don't they? By the time I'm done with all the "have to's", I honestly just feel like falling into bed. And many nights I have done just that.

Please forgive me if my posts are sporadic and more heavily directed to book reviews and recipes rather than larger projects. I promise that there are more tutorials in the works, but I haven't had the time to devote to them...for some reason, everyone around here seems to think they need clean clothes and dinner...

I hope to get into a routine over the next month or so and be more stable with my writing. Until then...hang in there with me. I really appreciate your readership. One of these days I'll get my crap back together.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate - Cookie Edition

Okay...so maybe I'm patting myself on the back a little here...but I'm telling you, these cookies are ridiculous. Let me back up and tell you the story before I share the recipe with you.

As I mentioned last Sunday, I went on a huge cooking spree last week. Many of you already know of my addiction to Pinterest. Well, I've been gathering recipes here and there from the blogs I read and pinning them to my Pinterest boards. I've also been finding some great ones through repins. As I was putting together my meal plan for February and March I made sure to put a bunch of these new recipes in the mix.

The trek to these fabulous cookies began with Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake.

My picture isn't as pretty as hers because I totally forgot about taking pictures until we'd eaten up half of it. I meant to take more of just single slices before we finished it, but that didn't happen. Let me tell you...delicious. We snarfed this up like it was going out of style. And just to make it that much better...I put butter on top of mine to melt. Holy crap it was good. Needless to say, it's a keeper.

Well...the next day I was working on making my very first homemade pasta. If you remember, I have just a tiny bit of pureed pumpkin stored in my freezer. I decided it was time to do something about it. So I busted out this recipe for Pumpkin Sage Ravioli from Bad Mama Genny. (By the way, she is hilarious and her recipes are awesome. You should check her out.)

I thawed out some pumpkin, made some dough in my handy dandy Kitchenmaid Mixer and then went to work rolling out pasta sheets through my pasta roller (FYI...I have owned this item for about seven years. This was the first time it's been used. Sad.)

There was a lot of cursing and some very ugly initial results, but ultimately I learned to make ravioli. I'm super proud of myself for that.

Well, part of the recipe for the raviolis calls for ricotta cheese. Great. No problem. I had already bought some. The issue? Half of the tub was left over. What was I to do? I had no other recipes in mind for it and I knew it would go bad if I didn't put it to use immediately.

So I made Siri find me a recipe using ricotta. I quickly decided that I didn't want to make another pasta dish (or any main dish, for that matter). I wanted something sweet. Now, you may be thinking ricotta? like the stinky gooey cheese? Yes. That stuff. It smells like sweat socks, but it tastes awesome cooked. Trust me.

And then it happened. I found the recipe that shall have it's name shouted from the heavens, the Italian Cookie. Plain name, yes. Plain taste, no. I'd share the link if I knew where to find it. Google Italian Cookie. Your head might explode. So I'm just going to share it with you...in a minute. I'm not done telling my story. If you want this recipe, you will read this. Trust me, you want this recipe.

As I mentioned earlier, I had made the blueberry breakfast cake. Minus the small handfuls (read: crazy armfulls) of blueberries that Collin and I had eaten while I was making it, I had a decent amount of blueberries left. I decided (because I can't just leave well enough alone) that I was going to punch the recipe up a notch. Blueberry frosting was born.

So this is what I ended up with...

Don't judge them by their looks. These babies are addicting.

If you want to enter your own state of bliss due to cookie ingestion, here's how you can do it :

Italian Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. ricotta cheese
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Blueberry Frosting
1/4 c. butter, softened (Don't judge me. I like butter. Call me Paula Deen Jr. No diabetes yet.)
2 c. confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 c. blueberries

Ready to get to work? Let's do it. It's simple.

1. Heat your oven to 350F degrees.

2. Start with the batter. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and ricotta.

3. Separately, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the cheese mixture.

4. Place tbsp. sized balls onto a greased cookie sheet at least 2" apart. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool on the cookie sheet for at least 20 minutes before icing.

5. While the cookies are cooking/cooling, make your icing. Place the blueberries, milk and vanilla in a blender or food processor and puree. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the blueberry mixture to the butter mixture and blend well.

6. Frost your cookies.

7. Try to stop eating them. Good luck with that.

2012 BOTY: Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie

Well...boo. Apparently, my choices in books are not as good as they were last year. I admit though...this one was a slight fluke. I actually didn't mean to read it. I was searching through my Nook, trying to decide on a book after The Night Circus, and my fat finger opened this one instead of scrolling down the page. I went with it. I shouldn't have. But, to give it some credit, I didn't give up on it like I did poor Bill Bryson. To take that credit away...maybe I should have.

Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie is a historical fiction novel set in China. It is the story through multiple eras of a torn sutra written by Buddha. The narrator of the book is telling of its perceived importance via information she learned from Tumchooq, a greengrocer in the streets of Peking. Tumchooq becomes obsessed with locating the missing half of the text, written on a piece of silk.

Honestly, blegh. First of all...it's a bad sign when you're nearly half way through the book before you realize that the narrator is a woman. I assumed it was a man from the beginning. I don't know if this mistake was due to some oversight on my part or the writing, but I only realized it after she began to describe the relationship that developed between herself and Tumchooq.

The story also frequently shifts time frames and narrators without much explanation. I frequently found myself lost and had to really focus to keep things straight. This was not a leisurely read. I had to work way too hard for it.

Ultimately, I ended up feeling..."that's it?" The book just ended. As far as I'm concerned, the resolution was lackluster and disappointing. I invested way too much time in this book to feel like the author just got sick of writing and thought, "hmm...I think I'll just wrap it up here." A very sad state of affairs.

Because I actually finished the book, I figure that it has to rate above a 1. But let me tell you that it doesn't deserve much more. So...ultimately I rated Once on a Moonless Night with 2 out of 5 stars.

Summary Sunday - iEdition

Today I said goodbye to a trusty friend. He'd been getting up there in years and he was moving a little slower than he had in his earlier days. Tricks that he'd mastered in the past would suddenly cause him to freeze up and become unresponsive. In my mind, I knew it was the right thing to do, but in my heart...I just couldn't bring myself to betray him like that. But today...well today I turned that corner. So it is with fond memories that I say goodbye to my BlackBerry. I'll miss you old buddy and I'll remember all the good times we had.

And so...today I joined the Darkside. I am now the owner of an iPhone. I held out as long as I could, but Siri is just a tempting little minx. I couldn't say no to her...though apparently she can say no to me pretty easily. Rude. Just rude.

You may be thinking to yourself...so...that's why she's posting this Summary Sunday so late at night...she's been fiddling with her new phone. I'd like to tell you that yes, that was the case. But alas, no...I was actually tied up with spending many hours slaving away in my kitchen. Tonight I made my very first pasta by hand. I also busted out a batch of cookies from a new recipe. I'll be sharing both of those later this week, but it did turn out successfully. And now...since I'm dying to get this phone figured out...let's get on with the weekly wrap up...

Posts I Posted : I actually screwed up. I'll be honest. I had a post all ready to go for yesterday, but I forgot to publish it. Oops. So I guess you'll get it tomorrow. Because of that error, you ended up with only two posts this week...one from Darian, and a book review of The Night Circus from me. Good heavens I'm behind on the stuff I've been meaning to post...

Projects I Finished : When it comes to craft projects, I accomplished zero this week. But I actually got quite a bit accomplished. I cleaned the scrapbook room...a project that resulted in these Tweets...

Cleaning my scrapbook room and just found two cameras. This mess may be a problem...
— Elle (@ErraticElle) February 9, 2012

Update: So far on my desk I have found: the ruler I've been trying to find for 2 months, a bag of pumpkin seeds and a stack of random CDs.
— Elle (@ErraticElle) February 9, 2012

Items found (part II) : Another camera (that makes 3), CD of bday pictures that needs to be taken to Patti, my iPod, new earbuds for iPod.
— Elle (@ErraticElle) February 9, 2012

I also finally wrapped up a huge project at Collin's office that involved multiple hours to untangle the mess that was his QuickBooks inventory. I'm happy to say that things look very nice and pretty.

Books I Read : I finished up Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie. I'll be letting you know what I thought tomorrow. I am now reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

Recipes I Tried : I have been a cooking FOOL this week! I'm totally impressed with myself. I will be sharing these recipes during the next week or two, but this week I made : Crockpot Orange Chicken, Chicken Almond Rice Salad, Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake, Pumpkin Sage Ravioli and Italian Cookies with Blueberry Frosting. I also made Jambalaya on Monday...but I've already taught you that one.

Favorite Blog Post This Week : Oh there have been some gems this week people. And I even remembered to star them. Aren't you impressed!? So...since I went to all this work to remember, you need to go check out Geek in Heels. Jenny was on FIRE this week with two posts that left me giggling uncontrollably. She shared How Donuts Help Us Understand Social Media and her Facebook Social Experiment. No to be outdone, Kim over at Everything bugs me. shared her interpretative map of the Bay Area. If you live there or have lived there in the past, this will make total sense to you. If not, you may stare at it quizzically like Collin did at me while I was rolling around on the floor about it.

Favorite Thing on the Web : Okay...technically these are more blog posts, but let's not get snippy. Paige Kellerman at There's More Where That Came From shared a couple of videos that were just...well...epic. Credit for the second fine gem goes to Collin and Best.Roommate.Ever. Collin and I spent an hour dying laughing at the posts on Ghetto Hikes. Cody takes urban kids on nature hikes and writes down the dumb crap they say. As a little sample of his handiwork...

source

So...as usual...you're welcome. Now...back to this phone...

2012 BOTY : The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Ah, thank goodness for good books. After the demise of Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, I really needed a pick me up. Patti suggested The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I'm very glad she did.

I loved this book! In fact, I gave it 5 stars. If you have read Water for Elephants and enjoyed it, then you'll like this one.

The Night Circus is about...well...a circus that only opens at night. Les Cirque des Reves (The Circus of Dreams) is formed as the result of a challenge between two magicians. They each select a participant to take part in a "game". They train their participants individually and then leave them to play out the challenge by attempting to best each other with feats of magic. The winner can only be decided by the death of the other (a situation which slightly reminded me of those that take place in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games). This book is certainly along the same genre.

The circus travels from place to place with no advertisement and arrives without warning. It is a strange, but inviting place where instead of one large tent, there are several tents set about a circle, with a large and unusual clock as a centerpiece. Everything is bathed in black and white and shades of gray. No color exists in the decor or the costumes of the performer. In fact, one of the very few brilliant swatches of color sits atop the heads of the Murphy twins, born auspiciously on the opening night of the circus; one just before midnight, and one just shortly after. Something about their arrival has made them...special.

So, I seriously loved this book. It took a little bit for me to understand the hodgepodge of dates through the sections, but it became more obviously necessary as the story moved on. In fact, I think it was a brilliant tactic. It made the story that much stronger. The story is not rooted in seriousness or realism. It is very over-the-top fantastical, playing to the sense of the mystic rather than the pragmatic. I loved the descriptions that existed from scene to scene. In fact, I can't say there was really anything I disliked about the book. It all fit together rather well.

I will be anxiously awaiting more books from Erin Morgenstern.

Guest Post : Darian's BOTY

I decided to restart the Narnia series. I have already read two out of the seven books. The Horse and His Boy is the next book (which is the third) in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I wasn't sure if I super liked it or I only really liked it. I was closer to I only really liked it.

This book is a fantasy and adventure book.

The main character in this story is Shasta. The other characters are Hwin, Bree, and Aravis. Hwin and Bree are the two main "talking" horses. (Interjection by Elle : I will have you know that he just air quoted me.) Shasta and Aravis are two people who lived in Calormene. They are all traveling to try to get to Narnia and the north. They are going to Narnia and the north because Shasta and Aravis both aren't liking their lives and the talking horses were stolen from Narnia.

Almost all of the parts were great! I didn't rate it 5 because I've read better books than this.

Now this is what my bracket looks like :

Summary Sunday - Superbowl Sunday Edition

Superbowl Sunday has now come and technically gone. I'm not really one for professional football and I typically watch the game just for the commercials, but I have to admit that the game was a pretty good one. As for the commercials, eh...not bad. A couple of good ones in there. I enjoyed the bribing Doritos dog, the first Acura owner and of course the Matthew Broderick CRV commercial. Also, high five to NBC for using Betty White in their commercial for The Voice. Anything with Betty White is an automatic win.

Now...let's take just a moment to discuss the halftime show and then we'll move on. I like Madonna, really...I do. I like her older stuff better than her more recent works, but I think she's a good singer. I thought she had the potential to put on an amazing show. But...when you lip sync the entire thing in a way that becomes obvious ten seconds into it...I lose interest and, quite honestly, some respect for you. Oh Madge, I held you to a higher standard.  Also, maybe you should've discussed with MIA how to behave properly during a Superbowl show. Thanks for the cursing and middle finger salute. You really brought maturity to the table there. Thanks. Heaven knows we're now going to hear about that for the next week. Pathetic.

Okay...that part's done now. Moving on...

I busted out my huge shopping run and got enough groceries to get us through the next two months and then some (excluding the produce and dairy we may need to replenish along the way).  I'm pretty proud of myself. My meal plan includes a bunch of new recipes and a large portion of crockpot recipes. I got quite a lot of food, including a ton of meat and cheeses. Plus, I estimated really well. Once I figured out my recipes and the special items I wanted to buy, I expected to walk away at around $400. Our final total? $398.78. I'm happy with that. If things work out like I expect them to, that will put us at around $175 per month. That works out to less than $2 per meal and most of those meals will leave leftovers.

Collin worked a lot this week and I spent a good chunk of my time trying to fix his office books for the accountant (there were some issues with how inventory has been being entered). All in all, by Saturday morning we had spent about four hours together this week. We did however get to relax yesterday evening and spend some time together on the couch. Thanks to Costco, we also had some yummy red velvet cake. But...back to work he went today. He may be home on Wednesday. If not, we won't see him again until Friday. It's a completely nutso schedule, but we just keep plodding along. One of these days we'll be rewarded by having our debt paid off.

I also made a couple of noteworthy purchases this week. Using the money I had left on my Barnes & Noble giftcard, I marched right out to their website and preordered Let's Pretend This Never Happened...the memoir written by Jenny Lawson (you know, The Bloggess, my girl crush). I'm super excited for it to get here, but I have to be patient. Delivery is expected around April 17th. And yes, that's right...I gave you a link...because I know you all will want it too.

The second purchase...a new carpet cleaner. I've been absolutely distraught since my Hoover Agility took a dive back in November. It's been hard to part with that loss. It was such a good little trooper. So...after much time and patience, I finally worked up the nerve (read: had a complete mental breakdown and became obsessive when it became evident that everyone around here was out to destroy my carpet) to go out and find a new one. My new Bissell should arrive next week. I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm pretty sure it will be amazing.

Here's what else I was up to this week :

Posts I Posted : I busted out not one, but two tutorials. I'm pretty darned proud of myself. I taught you how to make bottlecap coasters for the men and decoupaged paper & photo coasters for the ladies. I'm inclined to like both of them, but the photo ones make me particularly happy.

I also received the Liebster Blog Award and passed it on to five of my blogging friends.

Darian also posted a review for you on Fever 1793. This was his first review of an assigned book. I think he did pretty well, but he obviously doesn't have the appreciation for historical fiction that I do.

Projects I Finished : Because I am apparently not the type to think while I work, I was forced to make new models for my tutorials this week in order to get the photos I needed. So...I busted out a few coasters. They're not technically finished yet, but they're pretty stinking close. I also finished a scarf for a cute little girl. You may remember that I gave this purple scarf to my friend Erin for Christmas.

Well...her adorable daughter decided she loved it and was modeling it around their house shortly after I gave it to her mother. I decided that maybe the little diva needed her own. So hers is basically a reverse of her mother's. Whereas Erin's is purple with a hint of fuschia, hers is fuschia with a hint of purple. I know, cute right? I did make one mistake and made it slightly wider than I should have, but I made the length slightly shorter so it will fit her fairly comfortably. We'll see how she likes it when I give it to her tomorrow.

Books I Read : I finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It was fantastic! I'll be doing a review on it later this week. I am now reading Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie. It's a bit of a departure from what I normally read, but it is technically historical fiction. It's been a challenging read, but I hope to be able to finish it either tonight or tomorrow so that I can stay on task with my BOTY goal.

Recipes I Tried : Meh. I didn't make anything new other than the Crockpot Sesame Chicken that we tried last Sunday. I did make one of our easy family staples, though. For lack of a better term, we call it goulash. Now don't get all technical with me...just go with it. It's super easy to make. Cook one box of Macaroni & Cheese according to the box directions. Add in one can of chili and one can of diced tomatoes. Tada. See...easy. And it's good...I promise.

I don't have any favorite blog posts for you this week...for two reasons. 1 - I spent a good portion of my evenings getting ready for my grocery run...and 2 - I forgot to star the ones I liked. Oops. I warned you, my memory is crap. Oh well, maybe next week.

Guest Post : Darian's BOTY

* Darian is my stepson. For those of you reading Darian's posts for the first time, he is a nine-year-old fourth grader. His goal this year is to read 32 books...though it looks like he will get way past that by the time we reach December 31st. He is an excellent reader and is currently reading at a ninth grade level. All reviews are written in Darian's own words. I type for him and help prompt him when he needs help knowing what to tell the readers. Enjoy!! (You can also follow Darian on Goodreads.)

I rated Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson 3 out of 5 stars. I read this book for school because I am in the ALP class (Advanced Learning Program). The 4th grade ALP class is different from a normal 4th grade class because it is for more advanced students who can do work faster. We do more projects because we usually have more time and we can work at things above our grade level. We're usually ahead of other 4th grade classes.

This book is kind of a mystery, danger and historical book. The whole thing is based on a disease.

A girl named Mattie (Matilda) lives during the yellow fever incident in Philadelphia in 1793. A lot of people start dying from the normal summer sickness, but this year the sickness is spreading quicker and killing more people than usual. Matilda and her family run a coffeehouse near the river. When a person dies, the church bell rings once for every year of their life. Eventually, Matilda has to move out into the country where the sickness isn't as bad. She and her grandfather both get sick.

My favorite part is when Matilda got the sword and cut a guy's arm. The guy is a robber that is trying to steal the stuff from the place that they are at. The reason she stabs him is because he is strangling her grandpa.

I only gave it a 3 because historical fiction usually has more information about what the book is about. It didn't really talk a whole lot about the yellow fever, it only said that a lot of people died. I would've liked to know more about yellow fever.

I kind of like historical fiction because I wish it was one thing or the other, it was fake or it was real. It is in between. I don't like that as much because it makes it more complicated.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about illness, danger and medicine. I think anyone from about third graders to adults and probably grandparents would like this book.

Give a Blog a Hug

Part of the fun of writing a blog has been reading the blogs of others. I particularly enjoy reading the blogs of my high school friends. What a great way to stay involved in each other's lives!

One of these friends, Jen over at Two Frogs and a Grasshopper has nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award. So sweet! The Liebster Award is an award for us small blogs (under 200 followers) to help us share and grow our readership.

Jen tells me that Liebster is German for beloved, favorite or dearest. So let's show a little bloggy love.

Here are the rules of the Liebster Blog Award :

#1 : Acknowledge the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

That's Jen! She's a crafty little minx (in a good way). Go check out her amazing ingenuity!


#2 : Give this award to 5 other bloggers who have fewer than 200 readers. Let them know through a comment on their blog.

Details on these bloggers coming up...

#3 : Post this wonderful award on your blog.

Check.

#4 : Bask in the glory bestowed upon you and appreciate all the amazing bloggers out there.

I do the second half of this at least three times a week. I'll go ahead and start loving the first half now.

#5 : Enjoy and spread the good vibes around.

Just call me Mary Sunshine.


So my five bloggers...well I have to say that I read some pretty amazing blogs. There are some crafty people out there, some pretty hilarious ones and some super talented writers. It's a good spread. Here's who I've chosen :

1. Mom, the Intern : Most of you are now familiar with my cousin Jenna. She's great writer and she's been working the blog scene for a while now. (Let's be honest...I totally used her blog as my mentor when I first set up.) Jenna talks about her life as a mother to her two super cute kids. I love checking up on her.

2. babydear : Another high school friend, Kalee started up her blog after finding out she was pregnant with her brand new baby, Avery. (Apparently I am drawn to blogs with cute kids...)

3. In Search of the End of the Sidewalk : Rounding out the high school friend trifecta is Michelle. This woman is a fantastic writer! She taught middle school English for quite a few years, but now she and her husband are preparing to return to China (they taught over there a few years ago).

4. Reading (and chickens) : Okay, I just absolutely adore Shalini. She has fantastic topics and...drum roll...she draws pictures for her blog in MS Paint. It pretty much just the best thing ever.

and last, but certainly not least...

5. Everyday Reading : Janssen puts me to shame with all of her reading. She used to be an elementary school librarian so she knows her stuff. Right now she's also doing a cute little fashion challenge. She claims she has a hard time getting herself dressed in the morning. I think she's full of it. Nothing could look amiss on that girl.

Now go off and do some investigating! These girls are totally worth it! Oh...and if you haven't already, think about starting your own blog or amp up one you've already started...I love to read new things!