The KitchenAid Stand Mixer does everything. It is my little kitchen helper. In addition to using it as a great mixer, you can make pasta, grind food, make dough, and even make ice cream. Ice cream. I wish I had some right now.

Several years ago I finally made the plunge and bought it. It is a purchase, I know. Not your usual $19.99 appliance. I have a friend who has had hers for over 20 years and prayed it would break so she could get a new one. Hers was in the boring white color and now there are so many fun colors out there to choose from. Mine is gloss cinnamon and looks so good out on my kitchen counter. I use mine mainly for baking. The thing I love the most about the KitchenAid Mixer is that I can gather ingredients while the mixer is working, and by the time I get everything in there it is done! Plus there’s the no wear and tear on my arm feature. It makes it so much easier and fun to whip up a little something. If you do a lot of baking during the holiday season you will quadruple love this thing.

Now comes the hard part. There are several versions to choose from.  Here is a link to amazon.com’s buyer’s guide. I think the main thing to choose from is whether or not you want a tilt head or a lift. I have the lift and certainly have no complaints.

There is the classic mixer, which retails for $199.

The artisan series, which retails for $237.

The Pro Series gets you up to $367.

All mixers come with a wire whip, beater, and spiral dough hook. You can find additional accessories here. My favorite is the beater blade, which scrapes the sides of the bowl while mixing. You know, so then you really don’t have to do anything.

If you don’t want to spend a small fortune on photoshop, this is a great alternative: picnik.com. Believe it or not, I actually have photoshop and it seems very complicated to me. Picnik is the easiest, user friendly photo editor I have found. Not that I am a big photographer or film editor. If you are a simple gal like me, this is the place for you. Picnik is available free but I urge you to spend the $25 yearly fee and upgrade to all of the available features. Like wrinkle remover, insta-thin, teeth whitener, air brush, etc. You know, all the stuff we need to make us look like a more natural beauty.

As you know, I recently purchased a photo scanner and have scanned all my family photos. Another wonderful feature of picnik is that it has an “auto fix” feature, which instantly lightens all old, dark, dreary photos. And you can crop all your photos on picnik. I am so old that there are pictures of me before a zoom lens was created.  Lots of unused spaces in pictures.

Here is a great example of an old photo that I cropped and lightened:

Took less than one minute to do those two simple steps. Kind of like having your own little zoom button. This example just scratches the surface of what you can do with your old scanned photos or newer digital photos.  Now isn’t that worth $25 a year?

*On April 19, 2012, picnik.com will close.  Some of the same features can be found on google+.

This will make you want to slap your momma! Paula Deen’s Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake. It really is more like a brownie than a cake. Paula has several variations to the Gooey Butter Cake, and this is my all time favorite.  Listen, it has two sticks of butter, cream cheese, chocolate, and an entire box of confectioner’s sugar.  What’s not to love?

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing pan, plus 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, melted
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 egg, plus 2 eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs, and the cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer, and add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed. Slowly add the remaining 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of melted butter, and the vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture until smooth. Stir in nuts with a rubber spatula. Spread filling over cake mixture in pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking. Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

If you are looking for a brand of eyeshadow with the largest selection of colors, MAC eyeshadow is the place.  If you are looking for a true pigment, MAC is it.  It took me a long time to even try MAC because I always thought it was too expensive, and the stores themselves are a little intimidating.  But once you cross over the MAC line, you are hooked.  The best thing about MAC eyeshadow is that when I apply it, it stays there.  It doesn’t flake off and fall down under my eyes or on my cheeks, where I have to redo that makeup or do the eyes first and then the makeup.  It stays put.  My current favorite MAC eyeshadows (because I know you want to copy me) are gesso, aqua, quarry, and mulch.

Each eyeshadow pot is $15.  I have been using mine for well over six months and haven’t even put a dent in one of them.  They are sold individually, or you can create your own palette.  My suggestion is not to buy the palettes that are sold through MAC.  I love the  Z palette, which comes in pink, leopard, black, or zebra.  You can also buy the eyeshadow depotted at MAC for $11.50, which will save you $3.50 per shadow.  You’ll have that Z palette paid for in no time at all.

What is a Z palette you ask? Well, you can depot your eyeshadows, blushes, etc., and put them all in one container, that has a magnetic bottom.  The Z palette is the best because it doesn’t have any holders, like the palettes shown at MAC.  That means that you can add any size to the Z pallette. Here are two youtube videos on how to depot, using either the oven, or a straight iron method: gossmakeupartist, makeupgeek.  Using a Z palette makes you feel like a real diva!

When traveling, I would suggest getting the unii palette.  It has the same great qualities as the Z pallette, but holds a smaller amount, and the hard case will prevent any breakage when bouncing around in your purse or suitcase.  But just in case you do break one, you can also youtube how to repair it.  Don’t throw that broken eyeshadow or blush out!

Let me know if you are a MAC user what your favorites are (because you know I want to copy you) or if you have a palette for your makeup.