Birthday Buttons!

Tomorrow is my friend and co-worker John's birthday. To celebrate at work today, I initially thought of making t-shirts for people to wear and embarrass/show their love for him. However, t-shirts and iron-on transfers can be pricey and time-consuming. And so, out of frustration, was born a super EASY, quick, and cheap way to embarrass your co-workers on their birthdays - Birthday Buttons!


Supplies - 
1) Self-adhesive pin backings (available in the Jewelry making section at Michael's, $2.99 for 26 pcs)
2) Wooden circular disks (I found soccer balls and beach ball wooden circles on clearance at Michael's, $.29 each)
3) Printed images of your buttons the size of your wooden circular discs (I used the exact size of the image at the top of this post)
4) 3M Re-positionable Spray Mount (this stuff is AMAZING)


Directions - 
1) Cut out all your circles so they're ready to go.
2) Remove sticky backing from your pin backings and attach to the middle of the side you don't want to show (i.e. I put mine on the soccer ball side)
3) Spray the spray mount on the back of your paper circles. 
4) Quickly adhere the paper circle (careful to align it upright with how the pin backing is attached - so it will be easy to pin on) to the OTHER side of your wooden disc.
5) Repeat and presto! Birthday buttons.

100 Posts and Counting

Holy buckets Batman! I made it to 100.

This past week, I've definitely reached the first blogging milestone - 100 posts. When I started this blog in October 2009, I wasn't sure I'd make it this far. In fact, I made myself make a list of 30 post ideas BEFORE I would let myself start a blog. I tend to go after things pretty hard then refocus on something else after awhile and I didn't want a blog to be a fairweather thing.


I must say that I'm quite proud of all that I've done with and for the blog and the inspiration it's given me to start and keep writing. Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and supporting me along the way!

In honor of 100 posts - instead of the top 100 things about me, here's 10 you may not already know:

1) I had a talent agent when I was a kid.


2) I completely ripped off Disney's Hercules as a stage musical for my high school and conned everyone I knew into being in it. I later got to tell this story to the directors of Hercules, John Musker and Ron Clements when somehow- I magically ended up working at Disney Animation.


3) I've been on NPR twice for my work on audio documentaries.



4) I strongly prefer gummi worms to gummi bears, and mostly only the yellow, green, and orange varieties.


5) I will one day have my own cupcake bakery. That day may come sooner than later...


6) I once mistook Jason Mraz as a Jason Mraz cover band. I told him that and he later used it as his own joke at a concert at Duke. I heart Jason Mraz.


7) My secret dream job aside from movie mogul and cupcake baker is wedding planner. I'm especially into these sites: Southern Weddings, 100 Layer Cake, and Style Me Pretty.


8) My all time favorite movie is While You Were Sleeping. I watch it at least twice a year.

9) I was a cheerleader Senior Year of high school. This is widely regarded as a silly decision given my personality and is usually the most surprising thing I can tell people about me.

10) Writing this blog has given me hope and kept me from quitting Hollywood when the going's gotten tough! Here's to more writing, and more inspiration in 2010.

xo Annie

Design QuickFix -Hanging a cheap Target shelf

Oh shelf, you were such a pain in the butt to hang.

This is another post brought to you by the incredible love and brilliance of my boyfriend Gus. As part of my office space creation (photos here), I thought I'd try to install this humble little white shelf from Target on my own.

Two large holes in the wall - I realized I had been too brave and also made two fairly large holes in my wall. The holes were just slightly too far apart for the spaces on the back of the shelf - even though I'd measured. Gus came over, I made sad puppy eyes, and he put his much more handy mind to work on the problem. We adjusted the holes BUT found that we couldn't get the shelf to lay level because the hanging spaces on the back had way too much wiggle room for the hardware.

This is the part where I would have probably given up and placed a picture frame over my newly created mess.

Gus, however, remembered the self-adhesive felt I had leftover from hardwood-proofing the bottom of all my furniture (from this QuickFix). Using a nail, he forced small pieces of it into the hanging holes to fill them up and make the fit more snug. With a little trial and error- perfecto!

Now, I'm not planning on putting anything major on this shelf (and it's not exactly 100% level) but hey, it's on the wall! I suggest you give this a whirl the next time you're dealing with a cheaply made shelf. For my own part, I don't think I'll be drilling into the wall without Gus's supervision for forseeable future.

Easy Dinner - BBQ Pork in the Crock Pot

Recently, I created my own amazing Steak Marinade. Continuing on my marinade roll... I give you - BBQ Pork in the Crock Pot ala Annie... (the title is still under construction). Anyway, this is pretty simple, very delicious, and very easy. 


Ingredients:
- 1 pork tenderloin (I used prepackaged from Costco; you could also probably use other cuts of pork that are cheaper)
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- Dash of red chili pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard (I use Trader Joe's Garlic Mustard Aioli)
- 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1/2 or 3/4 of a cup of your favorite barbeque sauce (used Trader Joe's)
-1/3 cup of ketchup


Directions:
Place the pork in a large crock pot. Combine all of the other ingredients and mix well. Pour over the pork and set to cook on low for 5-6 hours. When it's done, the pork will be falling apart deliciously.

Hope you enjoy! As much as I've enjoyed marinade making, I recently made some amazing cookies so I'll be sharing that recipe in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!

The importance of dropping your pants

Spotted this a bit ago and though it's a bit kitschy... the last part of the sign really sold me on it. I have just a closet/hallway area for my washer and dryer and this was the perfect way to easily decorate it. Also, I gotta love that much for $15 from Marshall's.

 How do you decorate your laundry area? Would you ever entertain the notion of a sign like this? Usually, I'm not much for wooden signs but this was too awesome to turn down.