You would do well to develop a new collection or hobby...

...was the fortune in my cookie at P.F. Chang's the day after Christmas 2009. Luckily for me, I had asked for, and received, 3 major appliances/gadgets for Christmas. The first, and most unrelated, was my Bissel Cleanview Helix Bagless Upright vacuum (thanks mom and dad!). The only collection I could really develop with this would be mounds and mounds of Maine Coon fur that Maddie sheds. But after 3 years of her shedding with only a small Dirt Devil to clean up with, it's pretty exciting! And it's amazing what good vacuum suction can do for your allergies...and your floor.

My parents also gifted me with my Sunbeam Hand/Stand Mixer. I have always been a cupcake fan, even before the cupcake boom and places like Love at First Bite in Berkeley, CA existed, so when my birthday rolled around this year and Matt asked what I wanted, I told him $30 worth of cupcakes. I don't think he wanted me to eat that many cupcakes, so being the genius he is, he went and bought me Cupcake Heaven, a beautifully illustrated cupcake cookbook. Of course what good is a cupcake cookbook if you don't even have a mixing bowl? Enter: the Sunbeam Hand/Stand Mixer. I love the dual functionality of this mixer, and it allows me to test out the "stand" function without shelling out hundreds for the KitchenAid.

And for the trifecta, my Nan and Pop bought me the Brother XL-3750 sewing machine. Now, this request was kind of a whim seeing as the only thing I ever remember sewing was a felt bear with a needle and thread, but according to my fortune cookie, it's really going to pay off.

So follow me on my journey as I try to create with my mixer and sewing machine to see what the writers of PF Chang's fortune cookie fortunes had in mind for me.