Let's get COZI!

Lately I have been longing to be organized. Actually, that's a goal that I always have, and it seems so lofty most of the time. In my quest for order and sanity in my what seems to be "fly by the seat of my capris" life, I have stumbled upon the most AMAZING smartphone app. Cozi. It's a super user friendly online family organizer, and I love love LOVE it! Some of my favorite features include...

-the journal. Wanna capture a funny moment or milestone on the go? You can just snap a pic and jot down your little memory in your cozi journal, and put it online for all you want to see. No more excuses for this girl...


- the to do lists and grocery lists. These are probably MY FAVE. Super easy to add items, reorder, email, group things into categories, etc. They even have starter lists on their site you can build from. Fab.


-The easy access. I can input info from my laptop or my phone and it syncs automatically. Love the seamless transition.

-The calendar is the BOMB. And you can sync with outlook, iCal...whateva you're into. Also, you can add online calendars from external sites, such as your children's school, Flylady, etc. The layout is so easy for me to understand. Each family member has their own color, so you can who who has what, get their info to them easily, etc. I'm telling you. This app is wicked sweet.

Anyway, I encourage anyone and everyone to check this out. Even if you're not a smartphone owner...the site is awesome. I haven't even been able to scratch the surface of it's coolness, I'm too busy organizing my life :)

I'd love to hear if anyone else gets Cozi with me! Hope you'll love at as much as I do. Here's to getting order in your life! 

A BADD Way to do your windows!

Howdy Ya'll! This is my first BADD post from the Lone Star State! I've recently left Hawaii, and are throwing down some roots in Texas while my husband attends PA school. I know...he's rad. :) So while he's away studying his pantelones off, I'm putting some personal touches on our new house! I'm all for some Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and Restoration Hardware speaks to my very SOUL... but I also like to "produce" something once in a while. I wanted something clean and crisp for my kitchen windows, and not the run of the mill plaid or gingham valances with apples and sunflowers. No offense to those kitchens, since I do like those things, I was just feeling "Earthy"....or something to that effect. Sooo, off to the Forum I went. And not the one at Caesar's Palace either. I'm talking the MEGA shopping center awesomeness that is just 2 miles away. DANGER I tell you. There's Kirkland's home, Pier 1, World Market, Bed Bath and Beyond, Hobby Lobby, Target, Best Buy, Ross AND TJ Maxx, just to name a few. Yes I said few. Like I said, DANGER to your wallet awaits as you exit the freeway. I could dedicate a blog just to the shopping finds I stumble upon at that place. Anyway, back to the windows :)

At Ross I found some bamboo table runners for $5.99 each. So I snatched those babies up and ran to Lowe's to grab the rest of my supplies....wood, corner brackets, and drywall screws. We had the staple gun already, as well as a drill.

 Naturally I measured my windows and figured out where I wanted my runners to hang, and screwed in the corner brackets like so..

 Here's another view of how they look installed.

Next I took my staple gun and stapled the long edge of the runner to the thin, long side of the wood I had cut. I colored in the staples so you couldn't see the silver finish. Also, if you found runners with an unfinished edge you could staple and finish them afterward with some kind of ribbon, fabric, or trim. Whatever tickles your fancy.

 

Here's a view of the valance flipped upside down and stapled. Notice that this runner was lined, which I recommend. Especially if using bamboo.

The next part is SUPER easy. Just take your valance and set it atop the brackets and center. Voila! You can secure the wood to the brackets if you wish, but since these aren't heavy, I didn't worry about it. 

Cute? I think so. It was just what my casual kitchen needed. It gave me the texture that I crave without going too fancy dancer, which I la la LOVE in other places in my home. If you need a quick facelift to your kitchen window or windows, this is a cheap, quick, and fun fix! Enjoy!

PS- We linked this post up to the Friday Flair Linky Party at Whipperberry!

Linked up at Tip Junkie as well! 

Speckled Eggs

Hi BADD readers! I know, quite the hiatus! Life has been hectic
for some of us, and not so productive for the others... so not
the best mix for projects. We should be back on track though!

So I saw these adorable eggs, on this blog, a few days back. I thought
they were darling, and worth a try!

Every year I buy new Easter eggs... even though I keep the eggs
from the previous year. LOL so basically I'm drowning in eggs!!!

I decided to turn them into something more decorative... give them
a new life. Really, you could use any color scheme and/or any color
paint. It's Easter, there are no rules on egg color{s}! So go crazy :)
I opted for blue and green. I already had the blue spray paint at
home, and green stood out as the perfect match. I was limited on
the texturizing spray paint, so I opted for the lightest {texturizing
spray paint is pretty awesome, by the way}.The tutorial said to use plastic primer. I could not find any, as
options are pretty limited on this island {or I only went to one store...},
so I decided to risk it. I haven't had any problems with the paint coming
off, so I'd say that's an optional step ;)
Also, instead of using paint, I just used spray paint. I laid down my
eggs on some newspaper, and turned on the spray. LOL those little
guys flew every directions! So, I got smart, and grabbed an empty
egg carton. I laid each side on the bumps in the carton, like so....It worked out pretty good. I did have more of an issue with some
eggs not being totally covered. So I had to apply some touch-ups to
some.
I did a round two batch the following day, and this time, had the
idea of filling the eggs with a large rock. Brilliant! Also, since the help
of my two year old was unavoidable... it was a perfect way for him
to help out! He'd collect the rocks, help me fill the eggs... and was
a happy helper! Spraying them this way, both sides got a much more
even coat.
Here's another thing two year old helpers are good for...
making pretty rows of eggs.
So the order I went; light coat of spray paint, once dried - apply
a light {or desired} coat of texturizing spray paint. Once that was
dry, another light coat of the base color spray paint.And the end result... These were the first round of eggs. I
decided I prefer a lighter coat of texturizer.These are from the second batchI found this big vase at Savers, for $3.99. Which is a STEAL
for the Savers by me... I think it's the perfect fit.I then filled this basket {$1.99 at Savers} which some
overflow eggs
It was a pretty fun project! Now I'm thinking I want to add
some light brown, or cream colored eggs in the mix! Yes, please! :]

I think these eggs are perfect for Easter wreaths, sitting in
a nice vase, or decorative basket! A great way to use up those
eggs from last year!

Badd Girl's Fruit Pizza

This recipe has been in my family for as long as I can remember. It's one that the kids secretly hope is on the table at all of our family get togethers. It's so vibrant and colorful, just as pleasing to the eye as it is the palate! If you want to be the star of your next get together or pot luck, look no further. This recipe is sure to be the show stopper! Here's your lineup. Just pretend the orange juice is made and you see lemon juice next to the bananas ;)

You want to preheat your oven to 350 and roll out your roll of sugar cookie dough. I would like to use my own dough recipe someday, but the store bought is so much easier and the perfect amount. Lazy you say? Maybe. But when I make fruit pizza I never want to wait to eat it, and making my own dough would just take too long!

After your cookie dough has baked. Let it cool. This very important. You can bake this a couple hours ahead if you want to. 

Next you want to throw a block of softened cream cheese and some sugar in your mixer bowl. Then add a little vanilla...yumm-o.

Now beat it until it is creamy. Really beat it good. I like to punish my cream cheese because I know what it's about to do to my thighs once I eat it. This is BADD girl fruit pizza people. Not for the anti-sugar light hearted types. 

Once your cream cheese is good and beaten, fold in a couple cups of cool whip. Yes Ma'am. Please and thanks. I may or may not lick the bowl clean. This stuff is my daggar. 

Slap it on your pizza crust and spread it out, leaving about 1/2 inch border on the edges.

Slice up your fruit. you can use anything your heart desires. My favorites are bananas, kiwi, strawberries and mandarin oranges. Sometimes I feel saucy and throw in a blueberry or two. When I'm shopping with my husband at the grocery store, and he sneaks some kiwi fruit in the cart, I know it's his slient way of saying, "Please make fruit pizza. and make it quick." Needless to say there were kiwis in our fruit bowl and now we have a brand new BADD post :)

love love LOVE fresh fruit. 

Arrange your fruit on your crust however you want, starting from the outside working your way in. Here's my result...

Now you wanna whip up a glaze to pour on top. In a saucepan, whisk and bring some OJ, lemon juice, sugar (duh) and corn starch to a boil and let cool off and get thick for a minute or two.

 Then pour on the top of your pizza. Heaven is near. Yes I think so. My mouth is watering posting this and this pizza has been gone for days. Sigh.

Throw this puppy in the fridge until you are ready to eat. I would give it at least an hour....if you can withstand it that long. ENJOY!!

We would LOVE to see anything you take from BADD and make/create yourself! E-mail us pictures of what you do and we will feature you on BADD!

Happy baking and crafting!


Here's the official recipe:

1 roll sugar cookie dough

1 block cream cheese softened

3 T. Sugar

2 cups cool whip

1/2 t. vanilla

fresh fruit

Glaze:

1 cup OJ

3/4 cup sugar

2T corn starch

1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. roll out cookie dough on a pizza pan/stone and bake according to package directions. Let cool. In mixer, beat block of cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until creamy, fold in cool whip. Spread on cooled cookie crust. Slice fruit and arrange atop cream cheese mixture. Prepare glaze. Pour over top of fruit and place in fridge until ready to eat.

The perfect mod tealight holder...

Wooo! My first post on the BADD Blog! I'm totally stoked ;)

So to keep things flowing and fresh... today is a craft post!

{side note... if you didn't get a chance to read Lauren's post
below - you must! I was a test tester, and they were divine!}

So I came across this modern tealight holder over the holidays,
and was totally obsessed. Seriously, every gift idea was some
variation of the tealight holder.
I found the tutorial on Noodlehead. Her directions are
pretty straight forward - and I love that it's a total low cost,
to no cost project. I had to buy a 1 1/2 inch bit, and the
wood, but if you have some 2x4's hanging around the garage,
even better!

I used maple wood, because my options were limited - but it
worked just fine. I sanded the board - then spray painted it
black. After the spray paint was dry, I sanded the edges a bit,
and distressed it. I love candlelight. A row of tealights, sitting on a romantic table
set for two... pretty much the perfect fit.

Chocolate Filled Coconut Meringues

Whenever I would see meringues at the grocery store I thought there is no way they would be tasty. They reminded me of something a Grandma would have in her cookie jar. Fast forward to last week when I stumbled on a recipe for chocolate filled raspberry meringue kisses, and BAM! For some odd reason I needed them in my oven immediately. I don't know if it was the fact that they were mini, involved chocolate, or that Sara said she loves meringues, but I longed for them in my life.

On my weekly trip to the grocery store I picked up a couple different extracts, coconut and strawberry to be exact. Raspberry was long gone. Since my husband loves anything coconut, and he's my unofficial (yet very official) taste tester, I thought I would give these babies a try with coconut flavor. It's cool right? We live in Hawaii and all..blame it  on the tropics! What's funny is growing up I strongly detested anything with coconut. I blame it on my mom, it's a "texture" thing for her. She never gave us things she didn't like. However, not until I married my man did I fall in love with this exotic flavor, and I guess I can get away with it living on this island!

Here's the recipe. I found it on one of my favorite dessert blogs, Save the Date for Cupcakes. You can check out the cuteness there, and I'm going to post my recipe below.

Chocolate Filled Coconut Mini Meringues- (adapted from Save the date for Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon coconut extract (or any flavor you wish)

Food coloring, optional

1/4 to 1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats. Place chocolate chips about 1 1/2- to 2-inches apart on the sheet.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Place the bowl on top of a medium sauce pan filled with a couple of inches of barely simmering water and set over medium heat. Gently whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar dissolves. This can take up to 10 minutes. Once sugar is dissolved, remove,  add extract and food coloring if using and whisk the mixture on high until stiff peaks form.  Your peaks should not "curl" or bend.

Fill up your Pampered Chef (that's what I used) easy decorator thing 2/3 of the way with the meringue with the star tip. You can use a pastry bag with a Wilton #30 star tip (or comparable). Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets, centering each star on top of a chocolate chip. Refill decorator/bag as necessary.

Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.