My favourite iphone apps

Ever since my husband surprised me last year with an iphone, we've been inseparable (my iphone and I, that is). And I began to love it even more once I discovered the world of iphone apps, so without further ado, here are some of my faves...

1. Cartolina - I use this app all the time. It lets you send short notes to people via text or email, and the designs are gorgeous.

2. Hipstamatic - Lets you take retro style photos, and my favourite part is that it looks like an oldschool camera on your screen.

3. Instagram - I know that everyone and their dog has this app, but I must say I'm pretty attached to it as well...

4. 8 mm - Like hipstamatic but for videos. You shoot videos through the app, and decide beforehand what kind of effect you'd like. I use this app now anytime I want to take a video, it just makes everything look so much more interesting.

5. Shazam - If you want to know what a song is that's playing somewhere, shazam will tell you (almost always). Isn't that amazing? Man, the internet is magical...

6. Photoshop Express - I think I got this before I started using hipstamatic and instagram, but it does some cool things if you want to edit photos. Like this...

from this... to this...

7. CBC Radio - What can I say? I love Canada.

So tell me, what are your favourite apps?

My creative Space: another yoga mat bag

This week I finally got around to finishing something I had been promising my friend for ages: her very own handmade yoga mat bag.

I had made one before for myself, and one to give away so this time around I melded a couple of patterns. I used the pattern in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing as well as the pattern in One-Yard Wonders. Both are wonderful books. Though I must say that I find it nearly impossible to sew a circle onto a fabric tube, anyone else have this problem?

After photographing it, I popped the yoga mat bag into an envelope and mailed it off to my friend with a card that said "it's not perfect but it is handmade with lots of love," my crafting philosophy in a nutshell. xx

Homemade chocolate peanut butter cups

Peanut butter is pretty much my favourite food group, and don't bother telling me that it isn't a food group because I won't listen :) Being a peanut butter lover, I also happen to love Reese's peanut butter cups, but they're difficult to find here in Australia.

Enter Alicia Silverstone and her vegan cookbook, A Kind Life. I whipped these up on Sunday night to bring to our Monday morning staff meeting and all of my vegan co-workers loved them. Yesterday I made them non-vegan with milk chocolate and they were equally delicious. Head over here to find the recipe and make some of your very own! And if you do use milk chocolate, I'd suggest cutting down on the sugar.

Thanksgiving in July

one of Amanda's friends iced this cake to be a perfect replica of the american flag, cute hey?

This weekend, my lovely yoga friend Amanda hosted a thanksgiving in July dinner party. She's from Chicago and figured that celebrating thanksgiving while it's cold outside makes more sense than waiting until November when it's boiling. So she made the most authentic thanksgiving feast: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.

My contribution: cornbread muffins. And boy oh boy is it hard to explain cornbread to

Aussies :) Pumpkin pie is equally perplexing; most Aussies seem to expect it to be savoury and when they realize it's sweet they either love it or hate it. Of course, I love it and I love finding ways of adapting traditions with my fellow expats!

My life in iphone photos: round 3

xoxo

My family, vintage

I've mentioned in passing on my blog that my my family is Colombian. My mom was born and raised in Bogota before moving to Canada as a young adult. Last time I went to visit I managed to scan some old photos so I could have digital copies.

To me, they are treasures. They show my grandparents when they were young and falling in love, my mom when she was just learning to walk, my aunts and uncles all dressed up in the clothes that my grandmother handmade for all of her 5 children. I love these photos, and my family.

my mom and her cousin

My grandparents, Mirella and Pedro, before they were married. I love that my grandmother is taller than my grandfather.

my mom on a beach

my mom (far right) and her 2 sisters in their school uniforms

my abuela and her first daughter, my mom

my oldest uncle with my mom