Read: The Power

I am currently reading The Power by Rhonda Byrne.

I had read her book The Secret back in 2006 and really enjoyed her explanation of the Laws of Attraction and the power of positive thinking. However, I think I was in a different mind set back then and didn't apply those principals as effectively as I would have liked.

Fast forward to 2010. I have a bunch of changes going on in my life right now and this book is EXACTLY what my soul has been searching for!

I'm three chapters in and loving it!

Stay tuned for my review!

Eat: Bette's Oceanview Diner

My sister has been RAVING about Bette's Oceanview Diner for awhile now and after seeing Bette's featured on Check Please! Bay Area, we knew we had to try this place!

The hubby and I had some free time last week and were able to make it out to 4th street in Berkeley and grab a late brunch. From the the moment we walked in, we were greeted and seated right away. Our waitress was friendly and during our meal, a few other waitresses checked up on us as well!

The main reason we came was for the "scrapple". This now tops my list as my favorite breakfast meat. Absolutely delicious!

The scapple is hiding behind my grilled tomatoes. It was so scrumptious and savory! While we were eating, a few customers came in to order some scapple "to go". My morning bun was also equally delicious! It was a croissant dough laced with cinammon and sugary goodness!

Definitely try this place if you are in the area. After your meal, there are so many great shops to walk off your scrapple! Next time I'm getting the souffle pancakes!

Baby Blues

Last month, I started working on a baby blanket for our friends Jordan and Nou who are expecting in December. I told myself I could work on this leisurely since I had a few months until their little bambino was born. Being that they live in Seattle, I was planning on mailing it out in a care package to them in early December.

Imagine my surprise, when the hubby informed me that Jordan had called him and said his family was throwing them a surprise baby shower in a week! What!? Are you serious?!

Well, of course we were going to go! This was their last trip to the Bay Area before the baby was born.

So day and night, I worked like a mouse sewing Cinderella's dress, to get this blanket finished in time!

I felt like I was on Project Runway, crocheting my tail off to "Make it Work!".

In the end I was quite pleased with myself and the outcome of the blanket that I completed in ONE week!

Here is the blanket. I used Attic24's crochet Neat Ripple Pattern. I found her pattern to be the easiest and most consistent out of 3 different patterns I tried.

I wanted to give the blanket a Missoni-esque vibe, so I deviated a bit away from Attic24's pattern. Instead of doing 2 consistent rows of each color, I did the following:

2 rows Soft blue
2 rows Ocean
1 row each of grey heather, white, soft blue, grey heather
2 rows Ocean
2 rows Soft blue
2 rows white
Repeat row 1 grey heather, white, soft blue, grey heather
2 rows white
Repeat from beginning

I used Caron Simply Soft yarn.


I added a gray single crochet around the entire blanket. My edges didn't turn out quite as straight as I hoped!

The single crochet gave me an even surface to add my basic shell edging to the blanket.


And here is the finished blanket!! I hope this baby afghan will bring lots of love and warmth during the cold Seattle winter!

We can't wait to meet your new bambino in December!

XOXO,
The Mariano Project

Winding Down...

Wow, has it really been over 2 weeks since my last post?

Right after I posted the Pillow Talk post, that following morning I came down with a severe case of food poisoning! I woke up around 2am and just started vomiting my brains out! This continued for the next several hours and by 5am, I was so weak, nauseuous, and feverish, that I pleaded my hubby to please go out and buy me some 7up!

Suffice to say, I am still alive and kicking, but that whole ordeal just really put things into perspective to really just take it easy. And that is exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks. Just kickin it! No crocheting, sewing, exercising, or reading. Just enjoying everyday and relaxing.

Things are changing as we speak. Back in July, I found out that my job is being relocated to Anaheim and my final work of week will be at the end of this month. I'm really excited to begin this new journey in my life. For 7 years, I have worked continuously, and now I have been blessed to take a bit of a breather, find a new path, and pursue my passions.

You know how that old saying goes, "When God closes a door, he opens another."

I can't wait to experience all the new and exciting adventures behind my new door...

Pillow Talk...

A few weeks ago I picked up two yards of this Waverly Coral Sun and Shade outdoor fabric in navy at Jo-ann Fabrics. I loved the coral pattern (and the fact that it was 50% off per yard) and can't wait to add it to our living room!

You may be wondering why I chose outdoor fabric. Well, simply because it is fade proof, water proof, and stain resistant. It's not the softest fabric out there, but I figured these pillows could be used either as floor cushions or pillows and should I decide to take a nap, I don't have to worry about my makeup leaving any stains or God forbid any drool marks! Ha!

I already have two existing 18x18 pillows that I am going to use. So, now all I gotta do is find my Sewing for dummies pillow pattern and a little bit of free time.

Stay tuned for the reveal!

Faux Wallpaper Reveal...Finally!

Boy oh boy was this truly a labor of love!!

What I "thought" would be a fun and "quick" Friday night project, lasted over a week!

After a few arguments, shoulder aches and neck kinks, here's how it turned out!

It began with the design that the hubby produced for me using CAD. He printed it out, I cut it out, and made a stencil with a piece of cardboard.

We wanted the outcome to be subtle, so we opted to use the same shade that we had painted the wall but in a high-gloss.

Unfortunately, since we had used Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer in One in Burnished Clay, we were dismayed to find out this line does not carry a high gloss formula. They only go up to a semi-gloss. Boo!

So we scoped out the other brands that did carry high-gloss formulas and we found an almost perfect match in Glidden's Clay Bisque.

With a set of $1.50 artist brushes from Daiso and a plastic cup of paint, we were ready to go.

Jay had us mark the center line of the wall and taped it off as our starting point. Well, this pic was taken after he had stenciled the entire wall and I started painting already, but you get the point.

So, let me digress for a bit. Here's a pic that the hubby took of me starting to stencil the wall, before he took over.

Big mistake! Meaning, me stenciling was a BIG mistake!

Was it the wall or was it me or was it the stencil? I could not get it straight! I used a level and still, my stenciling came out crooked!

You can imagine the hubby's face when he saw my two rows of catastrophic stenciling. He pulled out the big eraser and took over. We put in the taped center line and a few hours later ended up with a perfectly symmetrical stenciled wall!

Then he attempted to paint and that's when I pulled the brushes from him and took over!

I painted for a few hours and then went out with my girls. The next day painted a few hours and then went to the gun range. And then I would paint for 2 hours every night after work...

Jay and I both learned a valuable lesson with this project. He's great at stenciling and I am great at painting! Now we both know our roles and as we work together on another wall, we can avoid those wasted hours of crooked stenciling, erasing, and needless arguing!