Day 19

PICTURE SESH!

Before Camille's graduation, May 29th

Liv, May 29th.
Camille, before her SUPRISE party! May 30th

Me, before the party!

Camille and I before her party!

Olivia and Camille, May 30th

Day 18

I decided to upload some pictures of my tattoos. They are a really big part of my life, and each one means something special to me. The one inside my bottom lip was my first, I didn't know if I really wanted a tattoo so I decided that was the best place to get it because it's impossible to see unless I show you. The letters LJK are my brothers' initials. He died when we were younger so I wanted something special for him. This was done at Incredible Ink in downtown Orlando, Florida.

I got this next one after I realized how much I love tattoos. This is Lemmie's portrait on the right side of my ribs. I absolutely love this, it's such a perfect representation of him. Done by Albert Diezhandino at Violet & Blue's Tattoos in Orlando.

This is the third tattoo I got. It's Latin for "She Flies With Her Own Wings." This really represents who I am as a person, I'm very independent (almost to a fault). Done by Tiffanie Violet at Violet & Blue's Tattoos in Orlando.

This tattoo was an idea I thought of while wanting to get a family tree. I realized that my heart was in the roots of my family and so I intertwined the ideas and this is what I came up with. I love it. Done by Albert Diezhandino at Violet and Blue's Tattoos in Orlando.

This is my most recent piece. It's part of the E.E. Cummings poem called I Carry Your Heart and the part I have reads "You are whatever a moon has always meant... ...and whatever a sun will always sing is you." Done by Albert Diezhandino at Violet & Blue's Tattoos in Orlando.

I had a great night with my sisters. We had some nasty strawberry lemonade that burned your throat like shots of Grey Goose! But it was still fun! Enjoy the tattoo pictures!

Gabi

Day 14

Last summer Ryan bought me this book from Urban Outfitters. I've only draw in it a few times, but I absolutely love it. I took it off my dresser this morning and flipped through it. I decided I'm going to collage the pages instead of just drawing on them and when I came to the flower pot page I knew I had to do that one! It turned out so adorable, so I'm going to do maybe 1 or 2 a week because there are over 200 pages to doodle on!










I used paper flowers, metal brads, yarn, colored pencils, and ColorBox brush pads (they are little almond shaped ink pads).

And!! The other day I got a few pictures of a cute bird in the bird bath!

"And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -Steve Jobs

Gabi

Day 10

Today I was in the baking-mood again. My mom wanted me to make these fig scones I made before, but they weren't my favorite. I decided to try these Oatmeal Cinnamon scones (Veganized, of course). They turned out really well, not overly sweet, but still delicious. I don't like super sweet things for breakfast. You can add in 1/3 of a cup of any dried fruit if you like or 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, but I kept mine simple.

Vegan Oatmeal Cinnamon Scones

1/2 cup margarine

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup oats

1/3 cup soy milk

sanding sugar, if desire for topping

1/3 cup dried fruit (optional)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Supplies: baking sheet, medium mixing bowl, liquid measuring cup, dry measuring cups, measuring spoons

1. Preheat over to 375* Chill your mixing bowl for 5-10 minutes before starting. Also, chill the baking sheet while preparing everything else.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

3. Cut in margarine (I quickly used my hands to cut it in, but work fast because you want the margarine to stay very cold.) until very crumbly. Stir in oats and any dried fruit or nuts, if using.

4. Add in soy milk and mix gently until the dough just clings together, do not over mix.

5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and quickly pat into a 7" circle so the margarine doesn't get warm. Cut into 8 wedges and place on an ungreased baking sheet. (The easiest way the make 8 wedges is to cut the circle in fourths, then each fourth into two.)

6. Sprinkle each scone with sanding sugar, if desired. (Mine look really white from the flour, but I dusted them off a little before baking and forgot to reshoot them.)

7. Bake 15-18 minutes at 375* until golden and firm to the touch. (I went 16 and a half minutes.)

I hope you enjoy these, my mom is eating one right this minutes and she like them better than the fig ones! "The belly rules the mind." --Spanish Proverb

GABI

Day 5

Today we had my little sister Sophia's 9th birthday party.

Her real birthday was about a month ago, but we had to celebrate a little later.

It was garden themed and the kids also swam!

It was about 92 today in Central Florida, perfect for swimming!

We planted Zinnias!

All of the kids painted, bedazzled and decorated their terra cotta planters!

They played "Pin-the-Dragonfly-on-the-Daisy!"

Each goodie "bag" was a bucket filled with a kneeler, zinnia seeds,
a mini terra cotta pot, a shovel, a hand-digger, a visor,
gardening gloves and a butterfly net!

The birthday girl Sophia and Ethan, the sweetest little brother and sister I could ask for.




The flower cupcake-cake!

Olivia and I!

(She is one of my 3 sisters!)

The finished pots!

Sophie (in the bathing suit) trying to catch a
dragonfly with her pink net!

We had a fun and exhausting day, but it was the first real birthday party Sophia has had (since her 1st which she can't remember!) and she loved every second of it. I loved taking the pictures, I had about 200! They had fun chasing Daisy and Rocco (our 2 ducks) around the backyard too!

"The family is a haven in a heartless world."
-Gabi

Day 3

So last night I had an itch to bake something. I was looking through the VeganYumYum app on my phone and saw the most amazing crumb cake I've ever laid eyes on. (The Egglant and Pine Nut Rolled Lasagna is literally to die for!) I know the reciepe and pictures are on VYY Crumb Cake but I thought it would be fun to document it here since it turned out beautifully when I made it. Here goes!


Crumb Cake
Serves about 9 in an 8"x8" pan

-->CRUMB TOPPING
8 TB vegan margarine, melted
2/3 Cup granulated sugar
1 TSP molasses
3/4 TSP cinnamon
1 Pinch salt
1 3/4 Cup flour

--> Cake
1 1/4 Cup flour
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 TSP baking powder
1/4 TSP salt
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1/3 Cup soy milk + 1 TSP apple cider vinegar
1/4 Cup water + 1 TB cornstarch
2 TSP vanilla
Powdered Sugar, for dusting

--> Supplies
8"x8" pan
Aluminum foil
Whisk
Liquid Measuring cup
Dry Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

1. Preheat the oven to 350* F.

2. Whisk the warm margarine with the sugar, molasses, cinnamon and salt.

3. Mix the flour in with your hands until it comes together and has a cookie-dough-like texture. (I needed to add an extra tablespoon of melted margarine because mine was a little too dry!) Set aside to cool while you put together the cake batter.

4. Line the 8"x8" pan with two sheets of foil, letting a little extra hang over the sides so you can lift it out easily later. Spray the sheets with vegetable oil.

5. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking power and salt together in a large bowl. Add in the oil, soy milk + vinegar mixture, water + cornstarch mixture, and vanilla. Mix until smooth, but DO NOT OVER MIX or you will get a tough cake.

6. Add the cake batter to your prepared pan, make sure the batter is evenly distributed in the pan.

7. Start breaking apart the crumb mixture into small pea-sized pieces. (Mine were about the size of tiny grapes, but either work.) Start covering the batter with the crumb pieces. You'll cover everything before you are halfway through the mix, but make sure to use it all because it's delicious.

8. Bake your crumb cake for 40-50 minutes at 350* (I baked mine for just over 45 minutes, so it may need to go the full 50). The top should be starting to brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Also, push over a few crumbs and make sure the top isn't still wet or gooey.

9. Carefully grab the foil and lift the cake out onto a rack to cool for about 25 minutes.

10. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired. I liked it either way, but the sugar makes a nice presentation.

This was my piece! It was so good slightly warmed still, though it was very rich. I wanted to eat the entire thing as soon as it was cooled, but after that piece I knew that wouldn't be possible. I recommend trying it with coffee or tea.

I hope everyone enjoys this, I'll be baking more soon. In the meantime, try this! :)

-Gabi

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -Albert Einstein