Linens, and Wicked, and Cake! Oh My!

The last few weeks have been busy with things at home, things out and about, and foodie things.


I've slowly been trying to put our bedroom together since our move some months ago (eep! almost 9!), but it needed to begin with the curtains. I bought the purple Ikat fabric over a year ago, and a friend of mine sewed them together to make some panels a few months back. Right before we moved we purchased an upholstered headboard, which has been the first headboard we've had since we were married. No kidding! We then got some simple natural linens, and then ... I waited for the final piece. And it finally went on sale! It's that lovely coverlet with a paisley design, and matching shams.

Now all the room needs is for some pictures to go over the bed (I have them, they just need to go up), and for a bed skirt -- do you know how hard it is to find an off-white bed skirt? *sighs* Unfortunately, I may have to go with "ivory." Here's hoping it's not too yellow!

~*~

And then, a weekend before Mother's Day, I took my mom to go see the musical Wicked! I've seen it before, but I wanted her to experience it. She loved it. It IS quite the production. You're not supposed to take pictures, but I managed to go near the stage AFTER the production was over and take a picture of the backdrop that greets you when you first enter. It's a map of Oz, with the Emerald City in the middle (with it's twinkly lights).

~*~

And, to celebrate May, we had a May Day party at work, and I decided to be ambitious and attempt a delicious-looking dessert I had found via Pinterest—a Triple-Lemon Blueberry Cake (3 layers, with lemon juice, zest, extract, oh, and curd, so, maybe, technically, 4-Lemon ^_-).

And, not an official P52 shot, but I got a pic of the inside. Yum!

I know, I know, I promised I would not try to post food pics for my Project 52, but ... I've never made a cake like this, so I HAD to take a picture of the success. Not only did it come out pretty, it was DE-LISH! (I added the sugared blueberries, as the frosting was a little plain because I could not get it to go yellow—I think I got the wrong kind of food coloring.)

So, there ya go! My last few weeks in review.

My Stories

I came across this fantastic idea on write.click.scrapbook about "My Stories." Basically, the author has folder on her computer where she types up stories that are hers, memories, so that she will always have them accessible, especially for her children. And, every few months, she prints them out and puts them in a binder.

Sure, we always remember the BIG events (like weddings, births, funerals, etc.), but how about that wacky day when THIS happened ... or remember when so-and-so said THAT thing? I don't. For some reason, my memory seems to get worse and worse as I get older. Which, maybe is common? I don't know. (Maybe I need more brain exercises.) In either case, while I try to scrapbook those memories, it's really only been the last few years that I've been scrapbooking, and usually it's larger moments that I've happened to capture on digiFilm.

I thought that that'd be a great way to journal ... to write down those memories as they come. To always remember them. Recalling them can be spurred on by incidents, smells, etc.

I love what she says about this:

What I mean by "stories" are the little incidents and experiences that add flavor to your life. The chestnuts you pull out at family get-togethers or the tales of mirth you tell at parties. The inside jokes and memories and embarrassing moments that make you unique. You know: your stories.

What's funny is that in her post, she talks about an incident she had with a spider. Which reminded me of a funny story involving a spider myself ....

Many years ago, I was sitting around (my then best friend) Jennifer's dining table, with her, our friend from high school Russell, and her then-boyfriend Michael. It was night time, and we were playing a card game (I want to say it was Phase 10, but maybe it was Skip-Bo—Russell might remember). We were having a fun time until someone glanced down at the floor and saw a spider. Russell and Michael immediately got somewhat antsy. Spiders were not their friends. 

I thought it was an awfully fuzzy spider, thought it wasn't terribly big. So Jenn took off her shoe and went to kill it. And the spider exploded out into (what seemed like) hundreds of tiny spiders which went scurrying everywhere! I had never seen such a sight! But as soon as that happened, Russell and Michael jumped out of their chairs, took a few steps toward the living room and got on top of the coffee table. At the same time, Jenn rushed to under the sink to grab some bug spray—I had never seen her move so fast! She quickly sprayed all the little things dead. And me? I think I scooted my chair back and lifted my legs up. And I may have screamed some. But at least I didn't jump on the coffee table. *LOL*

I think the rest of the night everyone kept feeling like they little spiders were crawling all over them.

And that's "My Exploding Spider Story."


I want to try and do what write.click.scrapbook has done, so I can retain my memories. After all, they're unique to me. I might share them on here once in awhile. We'll see.

How about you? Do you have a good memory? Do you journal in some way to retain those memories?

The Last Few Weeks

Lots of things going on, and I have not posted photos, but will do that now! ^_^

First off: good news! Brian got a job. It's a temporary/seasonal job with full-time hours working at the same company I work at. They expect to possibly offer him a permanent position in the next few months, but nothing is ever certain. Also, he had to take quite a substantial pay cut, since they claimed that was all they had in the budget right now. They also said that if/when they offer him a permanent position, it would come with a pay increase. Although, we don't know what that really mens in terms of dollars. Also, Brian had planned to go back to school this fall, and that's still the plan, so we'll see if this job will fit in with that.

Second: stupid news! Someone hit my car twice over the last two weeks. Brian and I have been carpooling and leaving my car parked near out apartment. We came home one day to see a scrape and a slight dent on my read driver's side. Not happy, but somewhat excusable, as the spaces are quite narrow. But last Wednesday I came home to very noticeable damage over my read driver's side tire. And, I am not happy. BUT, we believe we have a suspect. We even took photos and everything and they seem to match up. Thing is, I don't know how we go about even getting this person to admit what they did (if they even noticed, but how could they not?). Anyway, it's aggravating.

Third: fun news!! This past weekend, I got tickets to go see The Little Mermaid musical in Kansas City, Missouri. The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie, and I had wanted to see the musical while it was on Broadway, but it only lasted about a year, which made me sad. Since then, I have watched our local theaters to see if it was coming, but no such luck. Then, a random bit of events led me to discover that it was showing in 3 cities this summer, one of which is Missouri. I knew it would be a great little trip to go see the show, but also, Brian has lots of family up there (and his grandparents are only about half an hour away from Kansas City), so we thought it'd be nice to visit them too. We are also going to go with his dad and stepmom, so it should be a fun little vacay. We had thought, that with him not having a job and starting school soon we might not be able to have a vacay this year, but this will fit the bill nicely (and will probably be the last one we have for a few years, but that's okay). SO, I'm very excited about that!! ^_^ (And in a few weeks, I get to go see Wicked!)

And last, but not least, pictures!!


Went to a seminar where I learned about storm spotting. Now I'm an official Storm Spotter!

~*~

Twice a year, my church puts on a worldwide conference that we can watch from the comfort of our home. I usually take this time to work on a cross stitch project; it helps me stay awake. ^_^

~*~

While we enjoy the Kindle, there's nothing like a haul of free books from the library!

~*~

The youth at church were having a silent auction to help pay for their summer programs, and I donated some handmade/designed cards.

Spring is Here!

Although you wouldn't know it with this cold, rainy weather!

But, I did manage to get out and get this week's picture of an Oklahoma Redbud, with it's lovely purply-red-pink blooms. I want some of these around my one-day home!

I especially love the drops of water still on it from an earlier rainstorm

How is spring where you are? What's your favorite part about spring?

LBD P&P Obsession

So, you may or may not know this, but my favorite book of all time is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I love Austen's wit, her flawed characters, the love that develops over time, the misunderstandings ... all that makes great drama!

I own the book (and all other Austen books, in my lovely Everyman's Library set), and read it at least once a year. I have also seen almost all of the movie/television adaptations (well, except for the 1940s one; I should correct that). My favorite has been the BBC/A&E version with Colin Firth (*swoon*) and Jennifer Ehle. I thought it was so faithful to the book. My only real qualm with it was that I didn't find that Wickham very attractive (and he's supposed to be, so ....). But, maybe that's just my person opinion.

SO, how is it, that it took me almost to the end of the Web series to discover this gem?

It was my darling husband that came across The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is an modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, as told by Lizzie Bennet through her Vlog.

And I LOVE it!!!!!! Like, big, puffy hearts love it.

It's about to come to an end, so I'm actually glad I just barely found it. Means I could catch up with it only have to wait for a few more episodes to be released.

But, I have to tell you, the Lizzie & Darcy (played brilliantly by Ashley Clements and the swoon-worthy Daniel Gordh) in this version are giving Firth & Ehle a run for their money. Seriously!

I also love that they made it a multi-racial cast, and that the writing deepened some of the characters (like Darcy's sister) and even gave me some understanding to others (like Lydia).

I think it's hilarious how they interact off the show, through Twitters and appearances, as their characters. They were up for some Streamy awards, and showed up in character. Somewhat. So fun!

And the cast is HOT. Some beautiful people up in there!! Just look:

So, if you have some time to waste (or not, because, really, each episode is only a few minutes long), go check out this awesome web series!! GO. Now!

Oh, and FYI, there are some Vlogs that run concurrently at certain times during the series, namely Lydia's and Gigi's/Pemberly's that would be helpful if you watched, as well.

Nowadays, these are becoming more and more popular, and now that I've seen a few, I think I may take a time to look around for more. I find the writing is usually tight and concise (it has to be, these are only a few minutes long), and they have to engage the audience, or they will get dropped.

How about you? Do you watch any web series? Enjoyed them? Any recommendations?