New Year's Resolutions

Here are my New Year's Resolutions - a month late -

I will start drinking more water.

and

I want to actually keep up with my blog this year

For those of you who know me well, most days I might drink a whole 4 oz of water. My goal is to drink more water and therefore quit drinking soda. Hi, My name is Emily and I am a Coke (classic) addict. In the last 2 weeks I have finally started falling into a trend. First I substituted cranberry juice for soda. Then I started doing half cranberry juice half water. Then when we ran out of cranberry juice, I went to just straight water. This last week, by my best estimates, I think I was averaging 2-3 pints a day. The conversion that means that I have been drinking 32-48 oz a day!! That's a record for me! Let's just hope that I can keep it up.

My other resolution is to get this blog back up and running. I have all kinds of fun ideas that I can't wait to do. I've already started the new year off running:

I love my 100% organic cotton tote bags and I wanted to dress them up a little:

Finished Project

I printed a vintage WW2 Victory Garden poster on to iron on paper. I think I let the paper get too hot because it the backing stuck to the canvas. I picked off the tiny pieces of paper with a tweezers and then used Mod Podge to protect it. There are some small pieces of the picture missing, but I kinda like it. I think it looks more vintage that way.

I also learned how to make my own vanilla extract! I also made a couple of trial jars for my friends. Vanilla beans, vodka, and 6-8 weeks to ferment - tada - homemade extract! Mine should be ready to try next week. I can't wait to bake with it - or make an adult vanilla coke!! I made the labels and used Mod Podge to glue them on.

This is the bottle I made for myself. It's a ACNW Maple Syrup jar and a wine cork I cut to fit.

Vanilla beans and vodka

These were gifts "From the Kitchen of the Gypsy Naturalist"!!

And last but not least I made Owl cupcakes for the Super Bowl party I bartended. My theory... "Whooo cares Whoo wins" plus who doesn't love big-eyed owls??

!

Is this one sad or sleepy??

I thought the ear tufts on this one turned out well.