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Moving into creativity

Writing is a sedentary activity. So are a lot of other creative pursuits. For me, getting my body moving can really shift my mood and loosen up ideas. But I am often guilty of hunkering down and not moving for long stretches. Or just squeezing writing between chores which are also not terribly active: driving, laundry, cooking, banking. During a fantastic relaxation massage early last week (thanks Ruth & Warren, I finally used my birthday gift certificate!), a whole new…

Salted Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

We're heading to our favorite Superbowl party this weekend and a late call has gone out for desserts. What a great excuse to bake up a storm and bring our Superbowl best! This Salted Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake is easy to make and quite quick too. I baked it for the shorter length of time suggested from Bon Appetit (my oven seems to be quicker than most recipes recommend). This cake stays in the pan and is frosted warm with…

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Lavender shortbread

My sisters are amazing cooks. Kylie created the most delicious Christmas spread I've ever tasted and Michelle (the youngest), kept us supplied with her homemade shortbread cookies throughout the holiday period. When we got back from Australia, we found ourselves missing the shortbread. I made a batch 2 weeks ago and this week I thought I'd try a variation on the original recipe. Lavender shortbread. I prefer making the individual cookies rather than pressing the dough into the bottom of…

When things go wrong…

My house - tented There have been a whole lot of little annoyances at my place in the past two weeks. It wasn't anything big or terrible, just a collection of inconvenient, time-consuming things that started us wondering what we had done to annoy the house/IT gods. It started when we got back from our trip to Australia. We felt happy, relaxed, and jet-lagged. I turned the computer back on and it died - one year and nine days after…

Finding (writing) inspiration

The Panel: Chris Brancato, Shawn Ryan, Andy Schneider, Lawrence Andrews The writers group I meet with weekly is a great source of inspiration and support, not only for my writing, but for finding new ways to stay excited, informed and energized about writing and living a creative life. My friend, Sherry Lee Berkin from the group, loves to get out and listen to successful writers, screenwriters, literary agents, and teachers speak. I've been with her listen to Shonda Rhimes (Gray's…

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Marie Kondo's book about decluttering caught my attention the minute I heard the title. However, books on decluttering are, in fact, contributing to the continuing problem of clutter in my house. In the past, I've tried throwing out ten things a day (and liked it very much but keeping it up was difficult), I've tried getting rid of something every time I buy something new (but the backlog was too big), I've even tried filling a trash bag once a…

White Girl In Nepal

When gorgeous Aussie actress, Bojana Novakovic traveled to Nepal following the devastating earthquakes and aftershocks earlier this year, she took her camera with her. The quakes triggered avalanches both on Mount Everest, killing at least 19, and in the Langtang valley where 250 people were reported missing.  Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages flattened. Bojana's White Girl in Nepal exhibition of photographs is aimed at keeping kids affected by the quakes off the streets, fed,…

DIY Industrial-style Holiday Wreaths

You might remember my living succulent wreath disaster DIY from last week. It ended well after morphing into a lovely living centerpiece, but I was left with a second metal frame and no wreaths for my double front doors. The frames are less than five dollars from Michael's Craft Supplies, so I bought another one and found some gorgeous battery operated mini garlands to wrap around them. These little lights have come a long way since the first clunky versions…

DIY Living Succulent Wreath

This lovely and affordable wreath, made on a square frame, was originally intended to hang on my front door for the holidays. I spent an hour or so putting it together. I made sure I did every step properly. I even created my own clips to hold each rooting-hormone dipped plant firmly into the sphagnum moss (which I sprayed with water to make it less dry and brittle). It looked good, though the succulents needed to grow in a little…

Baked Apple Rose Tarts

My friend Ruth (who doesn't usually bake), made a batch of these gorgeous looking tarts. She promised they were easy, so I took on the task. The recipe from tiphero.com is beautifully presented in a short video. I love cooking like that. You can see what to do, and replay where you need to. We're finally enjoying some real fall weather in L.A. It's been raining on and off, so a warm little apple tart made a perfect afternoon tea…