Check It. USB typewriter.

This strange Brazil-like contraption combines the best of both worlds: a vintage typewriter for a keyboard, and modern Mac, PC, iPad screen for a screen. Imagine the beauty of punching away to the click of typewriter keys, but also being able to omit the painful Wite-Out, and careful sentence-by-sentence, word-by-word writing that was synonymous with typewriter writing.

The USB Typewriter came about when inventor Jack Zylkin saw a vintage typewriter on a friend's mantel, and decided to put it to use, according to Nerdist.

They're now available on Etsy.com (I want the Underwood), or you can get fall in love with the typewriter of your choosing and buy the DIY kit.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. P.S - I Made This.

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, but in perpetually trying to save money and attempting creativity, I've gotten inspired by the site P.S. - I Made This.

The site is an avid fashion follower, and aims at trying to keep up with trends while also reimagining, reusing and reinventing -- something we should all try and do in all sorts of aspects of life. But in terms of fashion, it could also be really fun.

Take the site's version of the ever-festive feather skirt. The idea seems at first a bad one, but their method of using feather trim layer by layer makes it seem easy enough -- and their result looks great!

I also really dug their knit circle scarf -- such a great way to reuse an old sweater you don't wear anymore! -- and their iPad case. Got any other great DIY sites? Pass them on! And show us your results.

-- Chau Tu

Check it. 'Week Without Stuff.'

If you're ever yearning for a simpler life without all the clutter (and if it's too early in the morning to get any real productive work done) ReadyMade Magazine, the DIY mag, has some really interesting blog posts including the recent Week Without Stuff.

Starting with one woman's move to a new place in New York, the week-long blog chronicled her experiments with simple living. She put away the superfluous kitchenware, limited her wardrobe to only the essentials, and tried to make a go of a life with fewer things.

ReadyMade publishes all kinds of interesting blog post series, including a no plastic challenge and a post on bartering.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: A picture from Week Without Stuff, the authors old neighborhood.

Make It. Paper curtains.

I recently went to this nice coffee, pastry shop with my roommates who loved the curtain pictured above. When we got home they went to work quickly recreating this giant curtain for our apartment.

It's a fairly easy project for the crafting novice and creates a really nice stained-glass effect in the house. You can also make small ones (like stained glass panels) if you're not interested in doing the floor-to-ceiling curtain.

What you'll need are basically just two things: colored tissue paper and mod podge or something like it to bind the pieces of paper together. Cut or tear the pieces of paper to create small squares and bind the edges together with the mod podge.

This is a good after work, weekend project. Within about three weeks, if you consistently work on it, you can have unique, homemade curtains without having to get out the sewing machine or even use fabric.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. Christmas presents.

I definitely am of the opinion that making Christmas presents beats buying them hands down. It takes patience and quite a bit more time than perusing the isles of a store, but homemade goodies are personal and thoughtful. And, if you're one of about 12% of Californians who are registered as unemployed, or painfully underemployed, making your presents for the holidays can save you a bit of crucial cash.

Making presents also doesn't have to mean cutting faces out of paper plates like you did when you were five. With the right materials, you can make a very impressive, thoughtful gift. Over the weekend is the perfect time to start projects too, since there is ample free time to get supplies, try things out, and go back to the store if you run out of something.

Yesterday, Amy Sedaris went on The Wendy Williams Show and showed off some of her cooler DIY designs and gave me some ideas of how to modify her projects to fit my own crafting abilities. Follow the link to see Amy Sedaris in action and get your own crafting ideas. She's also got a new DIY book out called "Simple Times" which features more of her projects (pictured above).

Another inspiration (for me at least) is Etsy.com -- which has some really impressive stuff.

-- Lauren Williams

Do It. EATLACMA Public Fruit Jam.

Fallen Fruit is one of my favorite homegrown community efforts. The collective began as a way to map the spots in Los Angeles where one might be able to obtain public fruit, or rather free food, like in areas where tree branches grew over sidewalks or public property. Soon, they grew their fruit-finding horizons, teaching people about fruit with neighborhood fruit tours and advocating for public gardens. Most recently, they've taken part in and planted a garden for LACMA's latest program, EATLACMA, which explores the role of food in art and culture.

And to celebrate its participation in EATLACMA, Fallen Fruit is presenting one of its most popular and well-loved activities: the public fruit jam. In this event, people are invited to bring their public fruit and then learn how to make jam with it. No recipes are used, so as to come up with unique and original flavors. It's practically like performance art, and at the end of the day, you get to take home a jar of your own homemade jam.

And it's all free, with tickets to be handed out the day of from noon-3pm--but come early because the event is sure to be popular. And remember to consult the fruit maps beforehand, you'll want to bring your own public fruit finds for the full experience.

EATLACMA Public Fruit Jam takes place this Sunday at 12 p.m. in Hancock Park at LACMA, located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd. in Miracle Mile.

-- Chau Tu

Eat In. Spicy ice cream.

ReadyMade Magazine, the mag devoted to all things homemade, recently had an intriguing item on their DIY blog: Spicy ice cream. Taken from the book "Spice Cream" by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, these new mixes sound quite tasty without being too creative and funky.

Featured flavors included such interesting concoctions as strawberry cinnamon frozen yogurt, brown sugar and spiced banana ice cream, and what I found most interesting pink grapefruit-tarragon sorbet.

Most concoctions didn't require anything that you probably don't have in your home already: eggs, vanilla, milk, cinnamon.

For recipes check out their blog.

-- Lauren Williams

Check It. Korduroy TV.

In a quirky blend of crafting and surfing, Korduroy.TV created a very unique website with DIY episodes on how to fix up your old board, make a fin T-Shirt, and comes complete with interesting interviews and surf-humor comics.

At times it seems the crafting and surfing communities don't really blend, but the founders of this blog got it down pat, and have made a visually appealing, interesting dynamic blog that is pretty cool for surfers and land lovers alike.

Although I only spent a small two-month period surfing (or, probably more accurate, falling), I can still appreciate watching people harness the power of an emense natural force and make a sport of it.

Below is a video with "surfer/shaper" Cordell Miller.

Episodes, blog entries, and interviews are rated with a series of Hang-Ten style hands, too. Pretty rad.

All Yew- Cordell Miller from http://vimeo.com/apeel on Vimeo.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo/video credit: Courtesy of Korduroy.TV

Make It. Clothespin doormat.

It's time to get out the power tools and portable vice again. This project, making a doormat from doll's head clothespins and a small-gauge wire, is probably at the intermediate level of crafting, but definitely worth the trouble.

A nice doormat really sets the tone for your house. It can be welcoming, keep your floors slightly cleaner, and be a nice accessory. This doormat says "whoever lives here cared enough to get out the power drill just to make the floor nicer for you, visitor" -- at least, that's what I imagine it saying to my guests.

Do It. Impromptu composting.

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to be a better gardener, one thing that may help you is might be impromptu composting. Unfortunately for those who lack a green thumb, California soil is very poor in nutrients (because Southern California is really just a big desert). Areas near the beach are often have even worse soil quality because they are usually quite sandy.

Like many people, until recently I lived in a small apartment with very little space, which really doesn't work for the full-size compost pile, like the ones my parents used to have when I was a kid. A compost pile takes a long time to break down all the components, and a giant heap of garbage at a small home is just a recipe for disaster.

Certain food waste, though, is particularly helpful for the novice gardener. It can get very technical, with measuring acidity, carbon and nitrogen, and pH levels (just thinking about all that is exhausting) but here are a few things that work well in quickly improving soil quality.

Egg shells, banana peels, and other potassium-rich food reminants will make your roses bloom. Coffee grounds, which you can actually pick up at almost any coffee shop for free, are also a tremendous boon for your garden, too much though and they can stick together and prevent air from getting into your dirt, and essentially suffocate your plants. Orchids also love black tea, both the leaves from the bag, and the brewed tea--cold of course--but they're quite fussy, so I wouldn't deviate from their normal care too much.

If you do end up going all out and composting on a large scale avoid all animal bones, meats, pet waste, and grease.

Just bury or pour these ingredients over your plants and it will definitely prolong the life of your plants.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Picture courtesy of Cambridge, Mass. website.

Eat In. Mini casseroles.

I love casseroles. Maybe that makes me trashy. But mostly, it just makes me my mother's daughter. We ate quite a few meals from a baking pan. Never had green bean casserole, but there was plenty of Mexican lasagna, chicken and biscuits (I requested my mother make this for me when I go home to Massachusetts for X-Mas), and chicken divan.

The thing about casseroles though is that they are usually way too much food and preparation for a single girl. I don't have time to cook up pounds of chicken and veggies and there is no way I'm going to eat it all. I freak out when leftovers have been in my fridge longer than a day.

But I've discovered a quick, economical solution: mini loaf pans. They are disposable (I don't like dishes so much, but I have no doubt they make glass or metal ones), come in packs of 5 at the dollar store, and are perfectly portioned for one. It allows me to have fresh comfort food for a couple days. Here's my recipe for a veggie casserole that is incredibly inexact, takes whatever you have on hand, and pretty much the best thing I've ever made up.

Ingredients:

• About 3/4 cup frozen veggies or enough to fill the pan to the top. Whatever you have handy. I like to keep lots of options hanging out (they're frozen, why not?), so I usually include peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes.
• Around 1/3 can of any condensed cream soup. I'm big on plain ol' Cream of Mushroom, but I will also use Cheddar Cheese soup, Cream of Potato, and I'm sure Cream of Celery or even Cream of Asparagus would be delish.
• Roughly 2 tablespoons of sour cream.
• A palmful of cheddar cheese.
• A generous sprinkling of parmesean. No canned powder stuff. At least get the pre-shredded kind that resembles the actual hard cheese. Why? Because we may be broke, but we still care about ourselves just a little bit.
• Breadcrumbs. Or crushed up crackers. Hell, even Cheez-Its. Whatever you got, baby.
• Pepper and oregano or your favorite herbs and spices to taste. No salt though, that soup contains more than enough sodium!

Directions:

• Thaw the veggies in the microwave or in a pot of water (no need to heat all the way, the idea is to keep the finished product a little crisp).
• Combine the soup, sour cream, and cheddar in a bowl. Season with pepper and oregano.
• Stir in the veggies.
• Pile it into the pan and top with bread crumbs, parm, and more oregano and pepper.
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes-ish.

Now you can take that anywhere. Subtract and add until you've got dinner.

Also, don't you love how the flash makes the pan gleam in the photo? The holy grail of Heather's kitchen. For real.

-- Heather Robertson

Make It. Cork trivet [Gift Guide].

Looking for something for a friend who loves to cook? This project is one that has been in the making for quite a while. At first, I was trying to save up corks from bottles that I've drank, but I can't go through them quite as fast as I wanted to make the trivet, so I dropped in to the local wine bar and asked if they had any extra corks there.

What you'll need for this project is a power drill, a coil of small-gauge wire, wire cutter, and about 24 wine corks. I also used beer and champagne corks and the mushroom-shaped lip at the top actually made kind of nice feet at the ends of the trivet. Make sure not to use plastic corks, as they might melt when in contact with a hot surface.

I also used a portable vice to hold the corks steady when I drilled through them (I definitely wouldn't recommend using your hands to hold the corks while you're drilling). Although you may not own a portable vice or power drill there are a few sites where you can borrow them from neighbors for free and there are a few rental sites out there, where you can rent power tools easily enough.

One of the problems with using cork is that it flakes and is unbelievably messy. Also, drilling a perfect hole that is straight is going to be tough because of how cork is. You'll want to have the vice positioned low so that you can get a good handle on it; it just makes drilling a bit easier.

Drill a hole through the corks the long way (come to think of it, I guess you could drill them through the short way and string them together sideways). For those who haven't used a power drill before, never stop drilling half way through. Continue drilling even while pulling the drill out. Otherwise, you will go through a few drill bits. I found this out the hard way when making a clothespin doormat.

When all the corks are drilled, string them together on a thin or medium-gauge wire. You will have to twist the wire to get through the cork because the stoppers flake when the drill goes through them and obscures the hole.

I strung four corks together and made six rows. I used three beer stoppers and one champagne plug at the ends to make feet; it actually came out pretty nice.

Connect the different lines of cork together with more wire, wrapping the wire around the middle parts. This is where the thin gauge wire comes in. It's a bit less conspicuous.

It is a little time consuming, and certainly messy, but you have a nice trivet in the end.

-- Lauren Williams

Make It. A budget -- using cash?

Lauren Williams: Hey, Heather. So I read this article in the Atlantic Monthly about using cash to better budget your money (the whole "spend what you have" thing). My mom, who manages budgets for research projects, has always used cash herself to better balance her money. Have you heard the same thing? Have you ever tried using cash instead of card?

Heather Robertson: I tried this week, actually, in preparation for this post. It was hard and I had to cheat a couple times. I think for it to work, I'd have to really think about what purchases I need to make and take out a chunk of cash to last the week. That would help me monitor how I'm spending and keep me from going over budget. Removing the ability to make lots of impulse purchases would smart, but not be nearly as painful as looking at my bank account and trying to figure out where all my money went.

LW: I know that when I do have cash, I am more reluctant to spend. Watching it leave my hands is so different from swiping a card. It's harder for me to let go of money when I see a $20 bill turn into a few dollars and cents. Do you have the same experience?

HR: I definitely spent less this week. But this was mostly because I had no idea how much money I actually spend in a day and simply didn't have the cash (or a nearby bank to replenish) to make purchases. I took out $20 yesterday, thinking it would be enough for a day where I was at my desk job for 8 hours, but by 7pm that night I had to really consider how much a coffee at Starbucks costs--and how much it was worth to me--because I was down to spare change.

LW: One definite downside to having cash is the chance that you get robbed and someone winds up with all your cash. With a debit card, you can call the bank, and have your money protected. This one time I was biking to the work and someone took my satchel with all my life's possessions from my bike. All my cards were no problem to replace, and my balances stayed the same, but whatever cash I had was just gone.

Sometimes, if you are a homeowner, your home owner's insurance will cover a robbery, but if you're like me and what you have on you is less than the deductible, you're just out of luck.

That's really my only hesitation to having cash. That and the prospect of me losing it. Again, a lost card is easy enough to replace. Lost cash however, is just gone.

-- Lauren Williams & Heather Robertson

Do It. Ceramics class.

Coiling. Sculpting. Throwing. Pinching. Firing. Glazing. Shaping. Molding. These words get my heart fluttering like few other things can. I love the prospect of taking a hunk of, well, dirt really, and making it into a glass vase, large mixing bowl, porch-dwelling pumpkin, decorative gnome or, in my case, a very ugly colander.

My weekend escape is my time at a ceramics studio in a tiny room in the middle of Bixby Park, a itty-bitty park nestled between Cherry and Junipero Avenue, Ocean Boulevard, and Broadway with a (interesting?) view of Long Beach’s port.

For $45 every eight week session, students are privy to first-rate lectures on glazing techniques, throwing, sculpting, and a low-fire kiln and both electric and kick wheels (I’m more of a kick-wheel girl, myself). You do have to buy the clay yourself, but that’s no biggie with Lyon’s Supply Company in the East Village of Long Beach.

Most of the folks attending are in the over 50 crowd, and vary in skill level from the beginners to master sculptors

and there's definitely a very supportive atmospher

e. At the beginning of each class everyone gathers around the kiln and comments about how each person's work came out, and what can be done to fix/improve work.

Those interested in signing up for the class, provided through the city of Long Beach can sign up on the city's website.

Bixby Park is located at 130 Cherry Ave. in Long Beach.

-- Lauren Williams

Pleased to meet you ...

Welcome! Thanks so much for stopping by.

The world runs on beats: the beat of the clock, the beat of the music, the beat of your heart. From the latest book release, the best dish on a restaurant’s menu, or the dingiest dive bar, Los Angeles is always moving to the next, newest, coolest beat. We are four young journalists hoping to capture those beats for you, and to make every one of those beats of your heart completely worthwhile.

We're here to report on the best of what Los Angeles has to offer—broken down into these categories: Eat Out, Eat In, Do It, Check It, Make It, Advance Notice & Etc. We'll tirelessly cover these beats and report to you.

Contact us: thebeatofyounglosangeles@gmail.com

— Chau, Heather, Lauren & Leslie