January 3, 2009

Hey LilSis, and Happy New Year!  How funny that many of your resolutions were mirrors of my thoughts.  Not so surprising after all though, I suppose.  We do have a lot of similar experiences with similar responses to them.

We haven’t talked about this offline, but I can give you some of my thoughts on what I’d love to talk about in BigSisLilSis in 2009.

• More MAC, more skin care, more beauty product info! I think we’re all looking for the thing that works best for us, and if we put our heads together, we can compare notes and maybe save each other some time and money,  I have some leads on some interesting products that I’m working on already.
• More food and more recipes! I’ve got a bee in my bonnet to try some baked goods using agave nectar and coconut oil, since these two are touted as healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients.  Overall, I want to bake more and post more recipes and photos.  I have a whole bunch of new baking cookbooks that I need to break in, and baking just makes me happy!
• More tips and thoughts on achieving the healthiest state we can reasonably attain, as opposed to just trying to look good. Not that there is anything wrong with looking our best; I’m just focusing like a laser beam on getting healthy healthy healthy this year, God willing.
• More cats in hats, of course! My furkids didn’t get a new chapeau this Christmas since their Meowmy was busy with the SPCA bake sale (sorry, kitty pies, sometimes you have to sacrifice for the good of your fellow felines).  But I promise more hats on more cats in 2009!  And that isn’t just an empty campaign promise!  Since we agree that we need to laugh more, one of the best ways I know of is cats in hats!
• In the category of “materialistic”, I’d like to talk more about shoes! Buying shoes, organizing shoes, wearing shoes…you know, just talk about shoes.  I REALLY want to share my love (obsession or fetish may be better terms) for t-strap shoes!
• Last but not least, I’d love to do more Sister Showdowns, Sunday Suppers, and What the “L”s. I get a kick out of doing those, and I hope I’m not the only one who does.

Those are my off-the-cuff thoughts, LilSis.  What are your thoughts for the year ahead?

~BigSis

January 1, 2009

~BigSis

December 30, 2008

New Year’s Eve will be here within a matter of hours, and you may be thinking about what to serve your hungry crowd.  Plain chips? Mixed nuts? Chex Mix?  How about something as easy as those options but tastier?

Salty...savory...slightly spicy...delicious!

I work with G, whose husband C is a great cook.  His family has a recipe for a snack mix they call “IT”. IT is really simple, but IT is so delicious that you can’t stop eating IT!  Fortunately, IT makes a HUGE batch!  You can see that you have lots of leeway in the amounts of dry ingredients to use.  Just use what you like and IT will turn out great!  Don’t leave the curry powder out though.  I don’t usually like curry, but the small amount of it in this recipe gives it a great subtle flavor.  There’s something about the combination of the curry, fresh garlic and butter with the salty ingredients that’s just yummy!  Thanks for this recipe, G and C!

IT rocks!

IT

Mix together in large roasting pan:
2 bags Fritos
1 box CheezIts
Pecans
Walnuts
Sliced Almonds
Popped Popcorn

Mix in saucepan:
1 tsp curry powder
3 dashes Tabasco
1 Tblsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
2 sticks melted butter

Pour heated mixture over dry ingredients and toss to coat evenly.  Cook in slow oven at 250 degrees for 1 hour.  Stir occasionally.  Dump into brown paper bag to drain.  Store in tightly sealed container when cool.

~BigSis

December 29, 2008

Do you have a big fancy party to go to this New Year’s Eve? Or maybe you’re hosting a soiree at your home? Either way, you no doubt want to look gorgeous and you may be looking for a new “party face”. Have you ever thought to look on YouTube for makeup tutorials? There are some fabulous ones out there, and the cool thing is you can actually see the look done. If you’re a visual learner, this is the thing for you. I think one of the best video makeup teachers out there is Miss Chevious. Besides the video, she also gives you a complete list of all the products she used in the look if you go to the MissChevious channel on You Tube.

There are a few different looks here, so make sure to follow whichever one you prefer. You might even like to change up the looks slightly to make sure they match your facial details. For example, you might want to change the eyeshadow to make sure it enhances your eyes, or you could consider changing your eye colour by using the bausch and lomb contact lenses. That could give you a completely different eye colour to make sure the makeup really stands out properly. Anyway, this is a Christmas makeup look that she did, but I think it would be pretty for New Year’s Eve too, perhaps with a gold dress?

This look is Miss Chevious’s modern interpretation of Marie Antoinette; really heavy on the eyelashes with pink lips. I love this look! I can see it with a white or pink dress, or even black.

This look is called Icy Winter Chill, and I think it could be beautiful with a silver or white dress. It’s very Snow Queen!

I’ve saved the most dramatic for last! This is the look that Miss Chevious specifically designed for New Year’s Eve, and it’s definitely over the top! It’s based on hot pink and black, and would probably be most suited for a night out hitting the clubs, rather than a dinner with the in-laws! To me it’s kind of Morticia Adams meets Hello Kitty! I definitely couldn’t pull this off, but I know there are those of you who can, and if you can, go for it!

If none of these seem to be a fit for your style and your coloring, check out the rest of Miss Chevious’s videos on YouTube. You’ll be hooked!

~BigSis

December 27, 2008

I agree with what you said, LilSis.  I hope that everyone had a great Christmas!  I also hope that you aren’t in the midst of that after-Christmas-darn-it’s-all-over-letdown feeling since we’re in that weekend after Christmas and before New Year’s.  I don’t have those blues this year, but some years I do.  What I do have right now is a GIANT list of things to do this weekend.  You know the list…I bet you have one too.  It goes something like this:

• Put away all the Christmas paraphernalia: wrapping paper and bags, treat bags for food gifts, extra Christmas cards you didn’t send, etc.
• Put away all the great gifts you got.  BTW, read the manuals and send in the warranty cards!
• Unpack from your holiday trip.
• Go to the grocery store for FOOD, not flour, sugar and butter.
• Drink as much water as you can to try to flush all that “stuff” out of your system that’s making you feel sluggish today.
• Try to figure out which of the deadly leftover temptations in your refrigerator can be frozen to get them out of your sight. And keep them out of your mouth.  And off your butt!
• Clean out your closets to make one more donation to the women’s shelter before year-end.
• Balance the checkbook!  Yikes!
• Return that gift you bought just in case, but didn’t need after all.
• Buy New Year’s cards since you didn’t get around to Christmas cards.
• Buy thank you cards.  Actually fill them out and mail them.
• Catch up on laundry.
• Catch up on house-cleaning. especially if you have New Year’s Eve company coming.
• Think about what you might want to buy with any gift cards or cash you received.  The New Year’s Day sales are just around the corner, so watch for the sale offers in the paper, mail and online.
• Catch up on everything that you got behind on in the last week, like going to the bank, refilling prescriptions, buying pet food, and going through the mail.
• Start to weigh your New Year’s Eve options.
• Go to the gym to try to burn off that fudge!  How can that much damage be done in two days??

That’s my list.  How about yours?

And by the way, while we’re in the list-making mode, how about using one of these?  I can get my pink fix and my Franklin Covey fix at the same time with these awesome products! And BONUS!  They’re having a sale through December 28th!

FlipNotes are only $7.95 and so cute!

This Pink Portfolio is letter size and $69.95. Pricey but pretty!

For electronic lists, how about this laptop bag at $189?

However you like to organize your to-do lists, use your method of choice to get started on your 2009 resolutions! I’m working on mine!

~BigSis

December 25, 2008

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~ Luke 2:4-14 King James Bible

~BigSis

December 24, 2008

We both want to wish everyone a blessed Christmas!  When we stop to think over our last year, so much has happened.  It hasn’t been one of those years when you just tread water and nothing really goes on.  In our households, lots has happened. There have been wonderful things like the birth of a new baby boy, the fun of launching this blog, and moving into a new home, but there have been challenges like illness, losing a sibling, losing a furkid, and betrayal.  Life’s just like that.  No matter what happens in this life though, we have the hope and the promise of the life after this earthly existence, and we strive every day to keep our eyes focused on the Lord.

Our prayer for all of our friends and family and for all of you is that you would experience a renewed  gratitude this Christmas for the gift that we were given when the Baby Jesus was born over 2000 years ago.  We pray that all of our hearts would be filled with thankfulness, and not with stress over the gifts, the food, the family drama, the traffic, or the weather.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas.  God bless you.  And happy birthday, Jesus.  It’s all about You.

~BigSis

December 23, 2008

I’m busy tonight like all of you…baking, gift-wrapping, list-checking, and Christmas-meal-planning.  But even with all of this going on, one thing that CANNOT fall through the cracks is the Christmas pedicure, so I’m doing that tonight too!  What is it about the holidays that makes you want a new pedi color?  I don’t know; it’s kind of like going on vacation and wanting to buy new underwear and new makeup.  There’s no logic to it; you just want it!

So, my new shade of choice is Essie “Tomboy No More” (red currant truffle).  I went to Ulta to buy “Rock Star Skinny” (glamorous crimson red) but liked Tomboy even more in person.  Tomboy actually looks much deeper in person, especially with the 3 coats of color I like to use.  And Rockstar looked a touch browner and slightly more shimmery than Tomboy.

Neither of these shades are on All Lacquered Up’s list of the 21 Hottest Holiday Polishes, but there are some great (and bold) colors there.

All Lacquered Up's 21 Hottest Holiday Polishes

Choose one for your own Christmas pedi, or as a gift for one of your nail fanatic girls.  What a fun gift these would make!  You’ll see a few reds and plums, but look out.  There are lots of greens, taupes, grays, metallics, purples and browns!  These are not your mother’s dusty mauve or creamy apricot shades!  Choose a few of these fun colors and add a base coat and a top coat, and you have a complete cool gift!  And the best part, you won’t even have to go near the MALL!

~BigSis

December 21, 2008

Drum roll, please!  Our goal for the SPCA Bake Sale was $3000, and our total so far is $3005!!  We have commitments for more online donations before the end of the year, so we may see that total go even higher!  Woo hoo!!!

We are SO thankful for the wonderful response of the other tenants in our office building, for the online donations from friends and family, and for the support we received from the building management staff.  Above all, we know that this tremendous success is humanly impossible.  A few girls working for a week or so cannot logically bake enough goodies and sell them in one day to make $3000.  It just doesn’t make sense.  The only answer is that God did this, and we give Him all the glory for this event!

I talked about the brownies and bars the other day, and thought you might like to see a complete list of what we had for sale.  Here’s what came out of my itty bitty kitchen:

• Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
  Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
  Strawberry Bread with Pecans
  Chocolate Sheath Cake
  Gingerbread
  Root Beer Bundt Cakes
  Outrageous Oreo Brownies
  Outrageous Brownies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts
  Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  Caramel Bars
  Texas Pecan Pie Bars
  RazzMaTazz Bars
  Soft Peanut Brittle
  Almond Toffee
  Fudge in Christmas tree and gingerbread man shapes

Here’s what K and her sister L did:

• Banana Bread (with and without nuts)
  Cranberry Orange Bread (with and without almonds)
  Spice Cake
  Snickerdoodles
  Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
  Rice Krispie Treats
  German Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
  Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels
  Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch
  Santa’s Whiskers
  Peanut Butter Cookies
  Sugar Cookies
  Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our coworker SA did some incredible cream cheese pound cake and peppermint bark, as well as crafting our lobby signage that was so crucial in driving people up to our location.

So it was truly a team effort, and we’re all just THRILLED with the response we got!  Beyond thrilled!

Here is a photo of our goodies just before the customers arrived.  There were also two other cookie areas out of camera view so this isn’t even a complete picture of the massive amount of goodies we started with.  You can see that we had a TON of stuff all packaged and labeled, and even had some backstock stashed in cabinets since it wouldn’t fit on our tables!

SPCA Bake Sale Goodies!

And here is what was left after 8 hours of sales!  That’s it!  Are you kidding me?!

This was all that was left!

So, after celebrating a great day that lasted 12 hours from set-up to clean-up, I stumbled home to face the mother of all messes in my kitchen.  These were just the items that had to be hand washed!  When, oh when, will those cats earn their keep and learn to do a dish or two during the day!  ^..^

Mother of all kitchen messes!

Before I sign off this topic for a while (and start to plan next year’s event, God willing), I wanted to share a little of what we’ve learned about bake sale success during our 2 experiences.  We aren’t experts by any means, but we’ve definitely learned some things!

• People love chocolate, especially brownies.  Have plenty!  Have more than you think you can sell!
• People love peanut butter.
• People like things that are decadent and that they wouldn’t make themselves.
• Lots of people dislike nuts so leave them out of recipes if they’re optional.
• People like BIG items – big slabs of bars, big pound cakes, big cookies.  Our smaller items sold the slowest, even though the recipes were incredible.  The small size just couldn’t compete for the attention of people up next to the hefty items, even if there were lots of them in the package.
• People love rice krispie treats!  Go figure, they aren’t an item I especially care for, but I’m in the minority.  They sell like hotcakes.
• Items in colored treat bags that can’t be seen clearly don’t move well.
• Cute packaging sells great though, even if the item can’t be seen through it.
• Putting out samples of an item lights a fire under it’s popularity.
• If you’re doing cake or bread, frosting or even a drizzle of glaze will pretty it up and help it sell better.
• Some items are just too unexciting to sell well.  For example, I thought that good traditional gingerbread would be a great seller at Christmas.  It turned out to be really slow.  It just couldn’t compete in a world full of rich brownies!
• Pray, pray, pray!

So, one last shout out to K, L and SA for their hard work.  You girls worked like crazy women, and it paid off!  Thank you to building management for your fabulous support of this project.  Thank you, of course, to our fellow tenants, friends and family for buying our goodies and contributing online!  And most of all, thank you to God for blessing this event.  We are SO thankful and humbled that You answered our prayers!

Now.  What can I bake this weekend?

~BigSis

December 19, 2008

Now that we have less than a week til Christmas, we’re all sprinting to the finish line, or the check-out line!  I’m needing a few ideas to finish up my shopping, and found these guides for giving.  If you’re stumped for ideas, I hope these will help you out!

• Gift Guide for Bakers is courtesy of Baking Bites.  Most of us have a baker on our list!
• Barnes and Noble has a pretty cool Gift Guide where you can shop by recipient: Curious Kids, Music Lovers, Animal Lovers, Teens & Tweens, and so on.  Within the categories, they have DVDs, calendars, and home items, as well as books.  Even if you make up your mind too late to order online, you can always pop into one of their stores.
• Dallas News Gift Guides also give you categories to choose from: Tech, Museum Shops, Health, For Him, For Her, Snow Lovers, For Kids, VIdeo Games, Toys, Under $50, etc.
• Bass Pro Shops have a Fishing Gift Guide. We could find an idea for BDot here!
  
• For women of any age, check out Beauty Addict’s Gift Guides.  She has BUNCHES of them posted: covering stocking stuffers, teens, party girls, jet setters, fragrance, bath & body, super luxe, and hair, skin & tools.

I’m off to make my list and check it twice.  Happy shopping!  And remember the reason for the season; it isn’t all about the gifts so try not to stress yourself out too much over it!

~BigSis