Animated Disney Challenge

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1. Favorite Character: What if I say Prince John because I can't decide on one. What a great indecisive way to begin amiright?

2. Favorite Official Princess: Cinderella. Come now, she has a song with my name in it :)

3. Favorite Official Prince: Prince Phillip

4. Favorite Heroine: Pocahontas

5 Favorite Hero: Simba

6. Favorite Cast of Characters: Peter Pan

7. Favorite Friendship: Lumiere & Cogsworth

8. Favorite Sidekick: Pain & Panic 

9. Favorite Couple: Yzma & Kronk (hee hee!!!)

10. Favorite Animal Couple: Maid Marian & Robin Hood

11. The Pet You Wish You Had: Arcimedes

12. Favorite Villain: Ursula

13. Favorite Villain Song: Be Prepared or Marvelous Mad Madam Mim

14. The Most Chilling Villain Demise: I'm gonna go non Disney for a second and say Rasputin in Anastasia. 

15. A Moment That Makes You Laugh Until It Hurts: Meet The Robinsons "I've got a big head and little arms" 

16. A Moment That Makes You Cry Your Eyes Out: The facedown between Gaston & the Beast

17. A Moment That Scares You: Hercules diving for Meg in the swirly whirly pool of spirits

18. A Moment That Makes You Mad: When Flotsam & Jetsam flip the boat during "kiss the girl"!!!

19. A Moment That Makes You Happy: Toulouse hissing in the Aristocats

20. Favorite Musical Number: Friend Like Me 

21. Favorite Romantic Moment: Robin Hood giving Maid Marian the flower ring

22. Favorite Ending: Princess & The Frog

23. A Line That Inspires You: "Don't forget the importance of body language!"

24. The First Movie You Remember Seeing: The Little Mermaid. We left the theater because I was terrified by King Triton

25. A Movie You Think Is Under-appreciated: Sword in the Stone

26-29 Just skipping these

30. Favorite Movie: It seems that I've changed my tune about The Little Mermaid in the past 22 years. And I'm going to claim it as my current fave.

Black Bean Brownies

When my purse looks like this I consider it the beginning of a great night. And girls my purse don't lie!

I work at a health club and a member who comes in to work out every day had been telling me about these incredible black bean brownies she'd had at a party. I'd heard of "special ingredient" brownies before, but never ones where the green in them was avocado! For freak out Friday (we watch horror movies and scream really really loud) with my friend Lorraine we decided we should try baking something at least semi healthy.

We modified the recipe that I was given because there were several inconsistencies in the directions (ingredients listed but not in the actual recipe?). I'll include the frosting recipe but it wasn't our favorite. It didn't taste bad...it mostly didn't taste like anything. I'm sure more cocoa powder would have helped that but we were already on cocoa overdose! 

Black Bean Brownies with Avocado Frosting

Ingredients

Brownies:

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 15oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

1 Tbs vanilla

3/4 stick of softened butter (or butter substitute)

1 egg (or 4 1/2 tsp egg replacer)

Frosting:

1/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp warm water

1/4 ripe avocado

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, salt, bkg pwder, bkg soda, and cocoa powder.

3. Use a food processor or blender to liquefy the beans

4. In mixer or large bowl combine beans, sugar, water, vanilla, and egg.

5. In small batches add the dry ingredients to the wet. Pour into pan.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

For the frosting mix all ingredients in a small bowl with a hand mixer. We just made it in a blender. Spread that gooey crap all over your super dark and fiber filled brownies. TRY to keep yourself from eating them all. Good luck!

Then you'll end up with crazy high energy and laugh ridiculously about this picture!

The Rainbow Connection

The very first set of collages I put together (probably in about 2003) was rainbow themed. I guess I didn't like green then! You can tell in the post before this that I developed a lot more from this style. Maybe because there isn't any style in this series. Just color. Not even precise cutting. Shame on my. But bonus points for a visible progression!

Collage Art

In the days before Polyvore and Pinterest there was the art of collage. Not that it doesn't exist anymore, but the internet has done its wicked magic and made a weird dent in my previous medium of choice. Either that or I just grew up. You pick, but I'd rather blame it on an inanimate identity than face the fact that I'm not the same little bizarre teenager. Oh wait, actually I'm very glad to have moved on from that. Anyway, back to my point. When I pulled out the collage calendar to scan it I thought I should dig out the mass of projects that were stashed under the bed as well. Some of them are actually very pretty. And all of them I am proud of. In a way they are a time capsule to the pop culture of the day and a reflection of who I was or wished to be.

Throwback Tuesday

How was 2005 already 8 years ago??? I'm recognizing just how long ago that was as I've been flipping through old journals and notebooks that were in the bottom drawer of my dresser. This find was a true gem, a calendar that I'd made for the whole year! I remember during Christmas break in 2004 having sticky fingers covered in glue. This was my proudest accomplishment! I didn't scan the month parts of the calendar because who wants to read my um...VERY busy 16 year old schedule. I had SUCH a busy life then...not.
Enjoy this collage adventure blast from my past!