Months with Alexa

We have had Amazon's Echo for months now and I feel like I can finally post an opinion about her.  We first had Alexa in the den.  The first weeks I would ask her to play music so I could listen to something while I cooked or worked.  The problem is Addison complained that it was too loud and bothering him or he would just come in and tell her to stop or play something I did not want to her.  He just loves bugging me.  We also had to unplug her every time the rabbit was out. All of our cords in the den are in PVC pipe because Stefano loves cords especially speaker cords.  He has already chewed thru one laptop cord.  So every time Stefano is out Alexa is unplugged and sometimes stays unplugged for days because we forget to plug her back.  I started feeling like we were not really using Alexa so I had an idea, lets move her to the bedroom.

I have had Alexa on my night stand for 2 weeks now and I love it.  I have found some great relaxation music on Amazon prime.  Now while I am falling asleep I am listening to the sounds of rain and crashing waves.  This is especially really good when hubby is out of town and I can not sleep because I hear every creak and bump in the house.  I have noticed that I am sleeping better and falling asleep faster.  I also use Alexa as an alarm clock to wake me up every morning.  She has a nice tone that is not harsh and loud that slowly wakes my up.  Then I ask her to give me the news report so I can know what is happening in the world that day.  Then I ask her to play something up beat to get me moving.  Some mornings I just need some "Walking on Sunshine".

So far my nights have been relaxing and my mornings have been better.  I am really happy I thought about moving her and she is staying on my bedside table permanently.  Oh and last weekend I asked her to play me some Madonna while I folded laundry.  She played songs that I had totally forgotten about and laundry was actually bearable.  I hate doing laundry.  Well actually not washing it.  I just hate folding and putting everything back up.  Anything that makes laundry bearable gets 5 stars in my book.

I guess I am saying I totally love our Amazon Echo.  Now I just have to get the Phillips Hue so she can turn off the lights in our bedroom.  I would also love her to lock all the doors so I don't have to get up every night to make sure everything is locked.  I know, paranoid much.  :) Well I will be working on all of this soon.

Talk to you soon,

New Improved Paper and Pi

As you can tell, I have updated the blog.  I have been in a rut lately and have not been inspired to post anything.  We have been very busy traveling, diving, and with school.  Now I finally have some extra time and I still don't know what to post.  I had a great idea last night.  I thought if I cleaned up the blog it would inspire me to write.  That usually works when I have to craft something and don't know how I am going to do it.  I end up cleaning up the house and viola I have inspiration.  Well I still do not know what to share but I am very happy the way the blog looks.  Please click around and enjoy.  Let me know what you think and what I should change.  And please follow me on Instagram and Facebook.  I might not blog everyday but I definitely Instagram everyday.

Thank you,

Egg Cups

Since Easter is around the corner,  I have eggs on the brain.  It seems like everyone's Instagram feed is full of brightly colored eggs.  Eggs being painted on, eggs dyed with vegetables.   Addison is too old to dye eggs but I do love to look at everyone's beautiful colorful eggs.  But the more eggs is see the more eggs I want to eat.  I am not talking about hard boiled eggs.  I like my yolks runny.  I like to dip my bacon in a sunny side up egg.  Or a poached egg on top of a salad.  Or a soft cooked egg and dipping your toast in the yolk.

All this egg craving has made me think about egg cups.  The Chosen One has got me a little obsessed with egg cups.  She has decided to buy different types of vintage ones.   I think she is going to have a beautiful collection of them one day.

Her is her beautiful picture of her egg cup.  Doesn't that look delicious? We might be best friends but we have different taste.  The Chosen One is more elegant and refined.  

She would probably love these egg cups:

A Japanese vintage egg cup is perfect for The Chosen One.

This one might be too colorful for her but I think the top is interesting. 

I am more quirky and wild.  And love these:

My version of Japanese egg cups.  LOL!

You can buy them here.

I just love the little chicken feet.  

This one is really artistic.  

You can buy it here.

I don't know if this one would be easy to eat with but it sure is cute.

You can buy it here.

I believe this is the cutest egg cup and bread holder I have ever seen.

You can buy it here.

I don't know about these.  A little too cool for me.  I just think they are for the some to match their modern decor style.

Out of all of them I really love the bird on the branch one or the chicken feet.  Who knew there were so many different types of egg cups.  

Well now I need to make some eggs to satisfy my egg craving.  

Talk to you soon,

Pinwheels by Paper and Pi

I know I know.  I was going to start blogging on a regular basis and then I didn't post anything last week.  I got so busy with orders, snow,  and family stuff but I am back.   Yes, it snowed last week. Can you believe it snowed in Georgia?  It was beautiful and not as crazy as last year.  I am happy that Addison got to see snow again since he is a Georgia baby.  We had a snowball fight and relaxed at home for 3 days.  Since school was closed, Addison and I watched a lot of movies.  I thought it would fun to watch all the Oscar nominated movies since we didn't see any of them, except for "The Lego Movie".  I guess that counts.  We watched "Whiplash", "Birdman", and "Boyhood".  The were all good but "Whiplash" was our favorite.  "Whiplash" was amazing!  Addison said it was the best movie he had ever seen.  He watched it twice in one day.  If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch it.  We believe it should have won Best Picture.  It had Addison sweating and me yelling at the TV screen.

While I was gone I did continue to cook and craft, I made my favorite pork tenderloin dish.  The recipe is from Tyler Florence and you can find it here.  The chimichurri sauce is so good.  I also
made a yummy roasted tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches (of course).  I will share my roasted tomato soup recipe soon.

I purchased the new Baked Occasion cook book and haven't baked one thing out of yet.  I should never be too busy that I stop baking.  I really need to start baking this week to make up for this travesty.  :)

My orders have been actually taking up most of my time.  I love it when people purchase my creations.  I hear people tell me they like my stuff but one can always wonder if people are just telling you that to be nice.  When I receive an order, it really brighten my day and makes me realize I do create beautiful things.  This week has been pinwheels, pinwheels, pinwheels.  I got an amazing custom order to create pinwheels that could be used for table numbers.  What a great idea!  I had so much fun making theses especially since the pinwheels were the colors of the rainbow.  One can not smile when they are creating with colorful paper.  I love the way the turned out.

Since I was in a pinwheel mood, I decided that I need to introduce some more pinwheels to my shop. I try to make different types of pinwheels and think these turned out so cool.  Star Pinwheels!

I am thinking they would be great for Memorial Day or 4th of July.  But I was also thinking I could do them in different colors like black and gold for a birthday party or graduation.  

What do you guys think?  I am wondering what other interesting pinwheels I can create.  Well time to finish up these orders.

Talk to you soon,