Entries Tagged 'Nerdy Stuff' ↓

This is a recipe I made up one night recently when I needed a snack. Although it is much less fattening than real cheesecake, it is not a low calorie snack! Enjoy!

Ingredients
1/3 pkg Neufchatel cheese
2 Tbsp confectioners powered sugar
1 drop of vanilla extract
low-fat honey graham crackers
Optional: chocolate chips, fresh fruit, or fruit preserves

Mix the Neufchatel cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl until well-blended. Top graham crackers with cheese mixture. Top with extras if you like (chocolate chips, fresh fruit, or fruit preserves work well).

Yes, this is one lazy cheesecake to make!

Image created by wordle using my bio

If you haven’t seen Wordle yet, you might enjoy checking it out. You simply enter text or a URL, and Wordle creates an image with the words pulled from the text. You can change the font, colors, and orientation of the words in the diagram.

The image above is what I came up with when I entered my bio into Wordle. Fun!

First of all, I’d like to say Happy Birthday! to my mom today. (Hi mom! Have a good one!)

Next, I’d like to talk about holiday decorations. Do you like them? Do you display them? What do you put up? Indoors? Outdoors?

I love holiday decorations, especially lights. As a child, my mom would drive us around at night to look at the decorated houses. I still like it.

I also love TONS of candles. It helps that I make candles.

I will be putting up lights in my studio tomorrow. I can’t wait! I also have a tiny little tree (maybe 18″ high?) that I’ll be putting in my studio. I used to put it in my apartment, but my cat Tiger would grip it in his teeth and drag it around the house, unraveling the lights as he went. Funny, yes, but not all that safe.

So now I want to hear about your holiday decorations! Poinsettia? Mistletoe? Menorah? Tree – live or artificial? Photos are a plus!

I mentioned this in the comments of my last post, but I wanted to turn this into a separate post.

I want to hear your stories from Black Friday!

Did you brave the crowds at the mall? Did you find amazing bargains? Did you make a ton of sales? Was it a day like any other? Do you have any unbelievable Black Friday stories from previous years?

For me, I did not go out shopping, but I did a little online shopping. I had some nice Thanksgiving leftovers, and I took it easy a little more than usual. I still got my work done, but I didn’t let myself think of all of the things I have coming up. I watched a couple of Monty Python movies. It was a nice, relaxing day. I’m having a BOGO sale this weekend in my Etsy shop, so I hope that goes well.

Your turn! Tell me about your Black Friday!

I’ve been the president of my Rotary club for just over a month now. I became president when our president resigned. At first I was uncertain about taking on the presidency and continuing with Rotary, but that very weekend, I participated in an event that made me want to continue. The Santa Clara Rotary Club gives out new shoes to underprivileged children to start the school year in a program called Steps for Success. Our club contributes by giving the children socks. It might not sound like much, but being there with the parents and children, being able to make a small difference… that is why I want to be part of Rotary.

The biggest challenge I face is in not feeling overwhelmed. It’s too easy for me to get involved in every little detail of things, and make things more difficult than they need to be. Being a leader and presiding over weekly meetings is a very new thing for me. I try to stay focused by remembering the one thing that is most important in Rotary: Service.

I have several events scheduled for our little club over the next month or so. On December 6, we’re helping with a book sale held by the Friends of the Alviso Library. On December 13, we’re participating in the Santa Visits Alviso program. On December 17, our club is hosting a presentation by The Tech Museum of Innovation on Leonardo DaVinci. The presentation is open to the entire community of Alviso. On December 20, our club is having a holiday dinner.

Yes, it will be a very busy month. I’ll be sure to post here with photos and news about each event.

Question of the Day: Can you offer me any advice on not becoming overwhelmed?

I just now realized that I was tagged on October 29 by Karen Faulkner to list 7 things about myself. Shows you how keen my powers of observation truly are.

Seven things about me:
1. Sometimes I’m less than observant.

2. I have three cats. I’ve been a big fan of cats since I was 5 years old and got my first cat. As a child, my room was COVERED in pictures of cats, stuffed cats, and cat figurines. Everything had to be CATS.

3. I’m the oldest of 7 children. My youngest sister is a senior in high school this year.

4. I just recently became the president of my Rotary Club when our president resigned. It’s taking up A LOT of my time right now. I have a lot of ideas, and I think I’ve changed the club a lot since I became president (last month).

5. I’m absolutely terrified of talking on the phone. I have a hard time hearing people over the phone, and I feel like people can’t understand what I’m saying. I prefer email or talking in person. Every time I have to make a phone call or answer the phone, my heart races.

6. My favorite food is Indian food. I like both South Indian and North Indian dishes. It’s some tasty food for vegetarians!

7. I have this bad habit of completing things only 80%. In fact, I almost skipped writing this number 7.

I don’t have anyone to tag, but if you’d like to list 7 things about yourself in your blog, post a link in the comments below!

Wow, I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without writing in my blog… I definitely shouldn’t make a habit of it.

I am part of a new team on Etsy called Etsy Mentors. We have volunteered our time to help mentor other Etsy sellers. We have set up a blog, where I have already written two posts: http://etsymentors.com

Here is the first post I wrote for Etsy Mentors: (To see my more recent post, you’ll just have to visit the Etsy Mentors site!

In the two years I’ve been an Etsy shop owner, I’ve been asked to do a number of shop critiques, and on many occasions, I’ve asked the requester to do a little homework before I spend my time and energy giving a thorough critique. Why? Because I’m a big meanie? Well, perhaps I am, but I also want to help get your shop in the best possible shape. These steps will help you get ready for your critique:

1. A little light reading
I ask that everyone who approaches me for a critique read all of Etsy’s FAQs, Do’s and Dont’s, and Terms of Use first. I know that it seems like a daunting task, but it is all written in very simple, straightforward language, and it won’t take as long as you think. It’s well worth the time. It’s probably not possible to memorize everything in there, but at least you’ll have a familiarity with what is included in Etsy’s policies and guidelines.

2. Fill in all of your shop sections
Make sure that you have a banner and an avatar, a shop announcement, a profile, a shop policies page, shop sections, a message to buyer, and at least a few listings. It’s difficult to evaluate a shop that isn’t complete.

3. A tiny bit more reading
After setting up shop, check out the EtsyWiki for advice to shop owners. There’s a ton of great advice on photos, pricing, and on successful selling.

4. Make improvements to your shop based on what you’ve read
This step might seem obvious, but be sure to use what you’ve learned. You’ll find that improving your shop is a constant iterative process. There’s always more to learn, and there are always ways to improve.

Now that you’ve completed these four steps, you’re ready for a detailed shop critique. Contact the Etsy Mentor of your choice, and we’ll be happy to give you pointers based on our own experience.

About the Author: My name is ‘Chel, and I’m the owner of Lava Jewelry and Zbella. I’ve been a member of Etsy for just over two years, and I’m available for mentoring in the following areas: Etsy Policies, Shop Critiques, USPS Shipping, and Gemstones.

I went to Yosemite over the weekend with a couple of friends. I have spent a lot of time at Yosemite in the past, doing geology. Two of my professors at San Jose State had a grant studying the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite in the park. (Feel free to ask me about the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite. I’ve spent a lot of time around Tenaya and May Lakes, as well as near Tioga Pass, on the eastern part of the park, but I hadn’t spent so much time in the touristy areas.

My friends and I went to Glacier Point, which is probably the most scenic part of Yosemite. From Glacier Point, you can peer down into Yosemite Valley, and you can see all the Yosemite landmarks with famous names: Half Dome, El Capitan, Sentinel, Bridalveil Falls, etc.

It was really hazy (and there was a lot of smoke from nearby fires), but luckily I brought along my handy dandy polarizing filters for my camera, which were able to cut back the haze in my photos fairly nicely.

My brother and I hope to go on a camping trip next month, possibly in Yosemite. Maybe we’ll go visit some of my favorite spots near Tioga Pass this time. We’ll see.

Question of the Day: If you could go camping for several summer days in any part of California, where would you go?

June’s birthstones include moonstone and pearls. Lava Jewelry has beautiful pearl and moonstone jewelry for those June birthdays. Because pearls are not a stone, and volumes and volumes could be written on pearls, I’m going to focus on moonstone today.

Moonstone is a form of a mineral called adularia, which is an orthoclase feldspar. (Was that all Greek to you?) It is a potassium aluminum silicate. Moonstone is known for the unique way it reflects light. It occurs naturally in a variety of pale colors, including white, pink, yellowish grey, green, peach, and grey. White/colorless moonstone with a Schiller effect (like labradorite) is called rainbow moonstone. The Schiller is usually blue in rainbow moonstone.

Moonstone has a hardness of 6 on Moh’s hardness scale (quartz is 7, diamond is 10). Unfortunately, moonstone fractures readily, so I prefer not to use it in jewelry that tends to get knocked around a lot, like rings or bracelets. It’s a beautiful stone to use in earrings, necklaces, and pendants.

I do not know any of the metaphysical or healing properties of moonstone. If someone would like to contribute this information, please write in the comments below.

Another of June’s birthstones is alexandrite. I do not currently have any alexandrite. It is an expensive and beautiful gemstone that changes color depending on the light source. It appears a different color in sunlight than in incandescent or fluorescent light.

Question of the Day: Who is the final Cylon?

Poll Answers

The husband of an Etsy seller (Christine Francisco of bellastyleboutique and rinnovibodyspa) went missing earlier this week. He disappeared on Wednesday night (2/13) on his way home from work in the Seattle area.

Please pass the word along to people in the Seattle area. We would like to see this family reunited. Updates on the situation can be found at mailpen.net