Category: Misc.

A girlfriendof mine did a post on her blog about the blogs she loves to read every day and why. It was a cute idea and so I thought I’d play copy cat and do the same… It took some work, (and MUCH frustration from blogger) but here it is…

The majority of the blogs i read daily are home blogs. TONS of them, but here is a handful of favorites- A Soft Place to Land almost always has inspirational eye candy, of the home project variety. I can not get enough of it. Small Notebook is a major source of inspiration for me, whether it comes to homeschooling, homestuff or what have you. If you are a reader of Home Sanctuary then I don’t have to explain to you why this blog is in here, or why it’s a favorite. If, however, you don’t read it- you are really missing out. Seriously. And lastly, it was only a few months ago that i came across this site… She’s a genius. I am not kidding. I could have cried the when I saw the redesign of her office. When I am rich, I plan to hire her as a design consultant on my beautiful beach home AND my Manhattan loft. Until then, i am forced to just lose myself in the brilliance that is her blog…

I love cooking, especially for others. I love trying new things and am an obsessive recipe collector. I subscribe to over a dozen cooking blogs and love each and everyone of them, but for unique and completely artistic and amazing recipe reasons this one, and this one are my favorites…

Like most bloggers, when I began blogging I met a bunch of really amazing women. Some of them are ridiculously comedic, even when times suck; some have a way of making me feel like we are age old friends who have known each other forever; there are those who become a true kindred spirit, and then they BLOW YOUR MIND by having this amazingly beautiful idea which explodes into a huge success (and book deal) overnight… Some travel long hours, trust you enough to stay at your house and become a real life and blog world friend; She is the one who will make you laugh, make you think and manage to make you green with envy over her stick figure adventures. This girl right here is A-MAZE-ING. Truly. she is real and honest, candid, completely lovable and someone I am so blessed to “know”… And lastly, I don’t even know what to say about Jenna. I love her. a lot. I love the heart she writes with because it’s the same heart she loves with.

BUT, if you were to ask what my absolute favorite blog is, I would have to say this one,. It has nothing to do with any of the other stuff, but lots to do with writing- which isn’t every one’s cup of tea.

P.S. a new (to me) blog that I am really loving, and wanted to share is this one… I love her writing style and she is simply clever!

I’ve been a little obsessed with Genny’s eleventh birthday party. Granted, her birthday isn’t for nine more weeks. this is sort of an illness that I develop, post the holiday detox. Once the gifts are unwrapped and the decorations securely packed away again, until next Christmas, I sort of slide frantically into Genny’s birthday planning mode.

It’s complicated to be so anal sometimes…

as much as I may drive someone else crazy, I drive myself so, even more. Honest. {Even though, between you and I, I am sure that certain someone would argue his case!}

Genny told me she wanted an Alice in Wonderland party, a couple of years ago. I thought it over and decided that it just wasn’t really right. That might sound dumb, i know. It turned out though. Then last year she mentioned it, in passing, and I dismissed it at her ultra cool Nancy Drew party was underway. Sometime this past fall I knew that the Alice in Wonderland party was meant for her 11th birthday. I mean, at the heart of it, isn’t the story of Alice (creepy drug parallels aside) the story of a girl caught between growing up and childhood? What else is 11? I mean, it’s the birthday right in the middle of single digit age, and your teens…

Eleven is scary, and so (if we’re honest) is Alice in Wonderland. :) Perfect… So, I phoned my good buddy Tim (Burton) and he threw together a movie, to accompany the party, with our friends Johnny and Helena. {ok… i’m kidding. That’s not quite how it happened, but you have to admit it’s pretty cool timing since the movie releases the month of her birthday. Quite perfect really.}

For the most part, it’s planned.

a few games are planned, party favors are (mostly) purchased and put ready to be assembled. decorations are in the process of being planned, menus (and crazy mad-hatter-cakes) are being dreamed up and mis-matched china and tea pots are being scouted out. I am really, super excited!

Major downer is that this is an all girl party, (maybe the major downer will actually be the year that isn’t the case…) and that she limited to eight guests. She, obsessive compulsively planning ahead just like her momma, presented me with a list of 19 girls. Yeah, no. We just don’t have the budget for that. Eight. That’s all.

The point of this incredibly pre-mature post, however, is to solicit a bit of your help. You see, I have a 3 subject spiral bound notebook FULL of the plans, but I feel like I need just a bit more. So, I’m reaching out to the brilliance you my readers for your thoughts and ideas. In a nutshell, thus far, I have:

* backyard crouquet using stuffed hedgehogs and “flamingo” mallots.
* Giant card guards adorning the crouquet yard.
* centerpieces of painted roses and red dipped paint brushes.
* mismatched chairs, at varying heights.
* many tea pots. (one with the dormouse of course)
* mismatched cups and saucers.
* little “eat me” tags adorning the bite size nibblets.
* A “looking glass” on our front door, for the girls to enter.
* “drink me” tags on varying beverages.
* our friend the caterpillar.
* rabbit prints leading to the door.
* character and card decor.
* pin the *grin* on the Cheshire cat.
* insert your wisdom here*

I snagged this from Stuff Parents Need. I needed a happy little distraction! :)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hmm… The holiday season isn’t complete without either of them, but quite honestly I’m not a huge fan of either. I have a few SMALL juice glasses of Nog, over the season, and a few SMALL mugs of Williams Sonoma hot chocolate. I prefer the champagnes and wines of the season, honestly…

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa? Just kidding… but yeah, we don’t do Santa. We open gifts on Christmas Eve, after dinner. We take our time, taking turns and really just enjoying the time together. Christmas morning results in a stocking and the “big” gift and then heading, pajama clad, to my sisters for a very early breakfast and gift exchange. At noon we go to my husband’s parents house for another gift exchange, Christmas dinner and then my mother in law’s birthday celebration…

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We typically have colored lights on our house, though this year we have none. This is my first year with a pretty/themed tree. We have white lights and white, silver and gray ornaments. Genny has a tree upstairs though, with colored lights and all of our family ornaments.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but we have a kissing ball.

5. When do you put your decorations up? I try to decorate just after Thanksgiving but we’ve only really done a tree and some pine garland this year, and we just barely got it done. Most of our decor is still packed.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? IBaked caramel french toast on Christmas morning. Yum!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Playing “Santa’s elf” by helping my grandfather pass out gifts to family.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don’t remember really. I remember asking once, and being told he was real. I do remember feeling really lied to when I found out he wasn’t.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We open most of them. If they came in the mail, from friends or family and our gifts to each other (except for stockings and the “big” gift).

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Every year, before, we bought ornaments for each other that somehow tied into the year. We would hang them all, along with family ornaments. This year though, we went different. After last Christmas I just really wanted a kid tree, and a pretty one.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I LOVE to watch it snow, outside my window. I love playing in it. I love skiing. I love blankets and fields of deep, untouched snow. The end. I hate, hate, HATE driving in it.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift? A puppy, when I was 11.

13. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? I am a gift giver. I LOVE giving gifts so typically I get pretty wrapped up in it. This year has been the exception.

14. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love advent. I love baking cookies. I love spending time with friends. I love the lights of the tree. I love our Christmas Eve tradition, and family time on Christmas Day… I am pretty much a big fan of Christmas.

15. What tops your tree? We have a star.

16. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love the giving. I love it so much that I don’t usually care if I recieve anything at all. I just love the buying, making and wrapping of them. I love prettily packaged presents…

17. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? really like candy cane ice cream… does that count?

18. Favorite Christmas Show? I love the Muppet christmas carol, Miracle on 34th st, etc… as a family. When kids aren’t present, than Love Actually, hands down!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? My absolute favorite is Oh Holy Night.

Have you ever wondered if one particular thing in your life had gone just slightly different, all of your dreams may have fallen in your lap?

Like, for instance, movies.

I love movies… LOVE them. Although I don’t aspire to be a screenplay writer, I wouldn’t mind it. What I’d really love- if I got to pick and choose- would be celebrity photography/film promotion. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

At any rate, yesterday may very well have been that “day”, for me. It could have held that “moment.” And now, now we’ll never know how it would have turned out.

You see, yesterday I was approached to do a photo shoot for a local company who is filming a fly fishing porn film. Yep…

I will allow you a moment to process this and compose yourself…

Better?

Ok.

Regretfully I had to decline, though one has to admit that such an event could put a whole new spin on lifestyle photography…