Fave goes FAB!

3 more weeks until the FAB Fair. I'm super excited about it, even though there's stiff competition that weekend (if you're into indie/handmade products, then you know which shows I am referring to!). If you're free for a bit on either day, Nov. 22 & 23, stop by the Heritage Hall on Main St. You won't regret it! Even though I'm vending there the entire weekend, you better believe I'll be shopping too!

Sunday morning recipe

I've baked since I was about 11 or 12 years old, but for the most part I stick to the recipes of my childhood that I've grown to love (and know like the back of my hand, thanks mom!). However recently I was asked by Karlo to try experimenting with some new recipes since he's not as big of a sweet tooth as I am. So, when I came across this recipe on one of my favourite blogs, everybody likes sandwiches, I was super excited to try it out. Now, in the past I haven't really ever been a fan of the whole sweet and salty thing, I've always preferred my foods be one or the other, but nevertheless I set out to try this recipe and boy am I glad I did! The result was a batch of the best cookies I have ever had! I'm not kidding, I'm obsessed with these cookies. I substituted the white chocolate in the recipe for a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (the good kind, though - Ghirardelli all the way) this time because Karlo doesn't like white chocolate, but the recipe does call for premium white chocolate which I will try for myself the next time I bake these. Like she said on ELS, these cookies are "thin and crispy and that sprinkle of fleur du sel (hell, just use regular ol' kosher instead) on top, is the icing on the cake. The salt brings an interesting complexity to each bite...it's like a party in your mouth!" Amen, sister! I've eaten probably a dozen myself over the last few days, and I'm making another batch at this very moment, for Karlo (who by the way, is equally obsessed with them) to take to work tomorrow to give out at the Science World staff meeting.

crispy salted oatmeal cookies with dark and milk chocolate chips
(recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t kosher salt
14 T unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 c sugar
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 t fleur du sel (or Maldon or kosher)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the 1st salt measurement in a medium bowl.

2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add in oats and chocolate until incorporated.

3. Spoon up a large tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball, repeat for remaining dough. Press down on each ball to slightly flatten and sprinkle a flake or two of fancy salt on each cookie. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Makes 24 - 30 cookies.

Take it from me, this recipe is easy to prepare and tastes oh so yummy. Try them and you won't be disappointed. I'm feeling inspired to try more sweet and salty things now - Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, anyone?

So you wanna be Canadian, eh?

@jodiferous posted this on twitter this morning, and I couldn't pass up sharing it, too. This is hilarious, yo!

Reverse Psychology at it's best...?

So today on twitter everyone was buzzing about this article from WIRED magazine. In case you don't give a crap what that dude has to say about blogging being dead and all that, I'll give you the coles notes version: blogging is dead, facebook/twitter/flikr are where it's at, anyone who doesn't subscribe to that mentality is dumb.

Angry bloggers enter stage right

So let me get this straight - you are writing what is essentially a glorified blog entry about how "blogging is so over?" Have I got that right? Word to big bird, that is some crazy reverse psychology going on over there. I mean, writing an article that looks like it's meant to make everyone realize that they should stop blogging, only to actually spurn the bloggers into action? It's either extremely hypocritical or superbly sneaky - I can't decide which.

I am woman, hear me roar!

It isn't women's history month (that's March), but I thought a post about the power of women was in order today because Danielle, Sarah and I have started a women's networking group here in Vancouver, BC. Our first event is quickly approaching (Dec. 3rd - mark your calendars, female Vancouverites!) and it'll be a great night for anyone looking for a little inspiration and motivation during these uncertain economic times. Our speaker is Sue Paish, CEO of Pharmasave and former corporate lawyer. She will be speaking about her new role as CEO of Phasmasave and the process of deciding to leave her job as one of the most powerful corporate lawyers in Canada to pursue her next goal. If you are a "woman on the rise" in your industry, or a woman who already knows what it's like to work your way up the ranks, this event will certainly be of interest to you.

"Stop watching !@#$ING LOST!"

Here is a 15 minute keynote address by Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library) from the Web 2.0 Expo NYC

I LOVE this video. I've been following @garyvee on twitter for some time now, and apart from being wildly hilarious and endlessly amusing, the guy is clearly onto something. Most people will watch this video and think "but it's not that easy! I can't just decide to start doing something I love and make money off of it, otherwise everyone would be doing it." And you know what? I think everyone SHOULD be doing it. Part of what I love about being an entrepreneur is "the hustle" as Gary calls it. The constant fire in your belly and yearning to devote every waking hour to whatever your passion (your business) is. A while back, I blogged about how hard it was making the decision to quit my day job to strike out on my own and start Fave Handbags. And I admit, if it weren't for my amazing support system (Karlo, you rock!), there were a million times when I might have packed it in, and gone back to my old job. But what keeps me going is what Gary is talking about - Passion and Patience. I have the passion to keep going, and since nothing has ever happened for me overnight, I have the patience to see this through to the end. I'm completely inspired by Gary, and the many others who are doing what they love and I hope you find some inspiration in this video too.

What keeps you inspired?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I live in 2 worlds

Lately I've been thinking about the dichotomy of my life - my existence on the cloud (the internet, in case you didn't know) and my existence in the real world. Since I began actively participating in the social media world, I have found that my online network has increased exponentially, yet the spillage over into my physical, real world has been minimal to say the least. Interestingly, my internet world knows (in much detail most of the time) a lot about my real world, but the same can not be said of the opposite. Most of my real life friends don't know about twitter, wouldn't know what to do on FriendFeed, wouldn't have the time to StumbleUpon, Digg, or bookmark on delicious. Heck, most of them don't even know about this blog!

So what is it that makes me so eager to share my entire life with my online community, and yet be less forthcoming with my real world peeps? I mean, it's not like I intentionally hide my online life from my real world friends - for instance, almost everyone on my Facebook page (until very recently) are my real world friends, people I actually know and added on FB AFTER knowing them for some time in the real world. And my Facebook page has links to my business website, which has a link to my blog, which has a link to my etsy and twitter accounts, so while I have not actively marketed my world wide web endeavours to my real life friends, they can certainly stumble onto it easily without me having to tell them to "check it out!" In the end, I guess it's more about the online opportunity to share - I can always fire off a tweet to say whatever fleeting thought is in my head or share whatever random experience I just had - than it is about hiding anything from the people in my real world.

What got me started thinking about all of this is an article I read on Jeremiah Owyang's blog titled "How I use Twitter, and you?" I'd been following jowyang on twitter for a while, and when he tweeted about his twitter method, it got me thinking about my own. Jeremiah's method differs greatly from mine, and that, I believe, is because of the difference in our ultimate goals for using twitter. Jeremiah, being a web strategist who blogs about how companies can use web tools to connect with their customers, uses twitter the "value added" way, staying far away from posting "personal minutia" and carrying on "excessive personal conversations." This makes sense for Jeremiah and I respect that. However, I use twitter in a different way, choosing to share what some would consider "personal minutia" with my tweeple and I follow a lot of people that do the same. While I do often include links to articles I find interesting or comment on various real world issues that interest me and might therefore interest my followers, for the most part my use of twitter is to share my daily experiences with the people that follow my tweets, minutia and all. Perhaps this is part of my "personal branding" if it must be called something; I aim to let people, whether they are potential customers or not, know the real me, the full version of the real Lara, and that inevitably means sharing "personal minutia" on twitter. The good news is that it is obviously working, since most of the @laravarona tweets I receive are in response to personal things I've shared. So, in the end, there are obviously different ways to utilize an online service like twitter and each way has its own merit.

How do you choose to use Twitter?

Addiction, for me, is a four letter word

BOOK (s) !!!

Ever since I was a little girl, I've had an obsession with books. I love them, I need them, I crave them. Weird? Perhaps. But I cannot stop. At any given moment, someone can ask me how many books I am reading and my usual answer will be something like "Um, 6, BUT..." followed by some supposed reason why reading that many books is totally normal (ie, "BUT 3 of them are business books, 1 is a collection of short stories, 1 is a quick-read-chick-lit type book, and I'm sure I'll fly through the novel quickly, so really 6 isn't that many!"). The strangest thing about my obsession is that I'm not just obsessed with the act of reading itself - I am addicted to the act of purchasing and owning books. I literally cannot walk into a bookstore and walk out without purchasing a book. It's a sickness. I can't get rid of it, even if I tried, but to be honest I would never try! I love the feeling of holding a new book in my hand, cracking it open and knowing that I'm the first person to devour its contents (and most likely the last, since I don't often lend out my books. I'm too afraid that I won't get them back!). I can dog ear all the pages if I want, I can make notes in the margin if I want, I can highlight entire paragraphs if I want...oh man I could go on forever. The point is, my name is Lara and I am a bibliomaniac.

Currently occupying my bedside table:
1) Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
2) The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
3) When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
4) Free Prize Inside!, by Seth Godin
5) Meatball Sundae, by Seth Godin
6) Fourth Comings, by Megan McCafferty

Will let you know how each of these books play into my "list of all time of favourite books" once I get through all of them!

P.S. Isn't the library in the picture just to die for? That baby is going on my vision board, pronto!

Have a happy Handmade Christmas!

Last year around this time, I decided that I wanted to buy local for all of my Christmas shopping. I figured it would be easy enough, with all of the wonderful local shops and markets that showcase Vancouver designers and artists. But I left it all to the last minute and wasn't able to find something for everyone on my list, simply because I only gave myself a few good shopping days. In the end, I was not successful in my quest to give all locally handmade gifts; I am ashamed to say that I even ended up giving some very NON local gifts such as Future Shop gift certificates and mass produced clothing items from stores that will remain nameless. But this year will be different. This year, I will succeed in my quest to buy local. This year, I am armed with a much larger arsenal of markets, websites and resources for handmade, locally crafted items and I am going to share them with you in the hopes that you will take the same vow that I have, the vow to buy handmade.

I know what some of you may be thinking - "why the heck is she blogging about Christmas right now?? It's only October!" Well, yes it may be a tad early to be thinking about Christmas shopping, but again since I went through the whole ordeal last year and wasn't able to achieve my goal, I am starting now to ensure that it will not happen again. Also, since I will be sharing my resources with you all in the hopes that you'll also have a happy handmade Christmas, now is as good a time as any to start with

Tip #1: Check out etsy, "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade."
I have found and earmarked dozens of amazing items/sellers on there already, and I haven't even spent a lot of time on the site yet. In order to make sure that you are truly buying local, use the shop local option by plunking in your location to view the etsy sellers in your area.

I'll admit, the reason I originally checked out etsy was to sell my bags on there at a discount off of regular retail price (gotta get rid of some of my inventory to make room for the new line which will be coming out any day now=P), but I ended up finding a wonderful resource for my own shopping needs. I hope you'll do the same!