The Dynamic Domestic Duo

It rained all weekend, so I bet you can guess what we did! We stayed at home and made things.

We watched the movie Coraline and I made dollies.
Grace loved hers so much!Actually this one's mine.

Homemade Wheat Bread.
Not super successful. Very dense. I blame the yeast.

Vanilla Sugar
It smells so good, I just want to swim in it.

Boiled Peanuts.

We slip a couple slices of raw bacon in ours to cook. It adds a level.

Blood Orange Sorbet
For the True Blood finale. So exciting! So yummy.
I'm so excited for season three already.
Here's my pick for Alcide:
Jeffery Dean Morgan. Ting!

Guess what you get when you bake, dice, blend and strain an entire pumpkin through a cheesecloth.
A quart and a half of pumpkin puree. And some toasted seeds.

Oh, and I finished my arts & crafts project.
You say finished, I say put down for a bit. I will pick this up later but that may be an entirely different blog.

Next rainy weekend...
Popcorn Cupcakes!

Just call us the domestic duo...maybe not so dynamic.

Blessings pt.3

I'm thankful for...

this little furball who just loves her new pillow

Count Your Blessings...Pt.2

I'm thankful for...

Sunny Saturdays


Bowing Oak Trees


Bright green moss on dark twisting roots


My fantastic fotographing fiance


My favorite pair of jeans, seen here on their last weekend trip

Settling In

It doesn’t happen like it always does in the movies. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to do it. Sitting at your desk, on a Tuesday afternoon, drifting off into daydream oblivion, thinking about your addict parents, and the new and obvious tension between your old friends, and this stale rut of a life you’ve dug yourself. You do something you haven’t done in…wow, years. You maneuver your mouse to the large W icon and double click. This time the bright white of the blank page doesn’t seem so sterile. It’s almost inviting. And you type a couple of warm up sentences, your fingers sliding easily into the old awkward way they always hovered over the little plastic keys. That’s the easy part. The warm up. Now comes the true test. One quiet afternoon is all you need.

Count Your Blessings...

...Not your troubles. In my constant search for an attitude adjustment, I'd like to try this exercise. Let's all go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for. I'll start:

Rainy Sundays

At my house, we play the occasional let's stay in bed all day game. It is especially fun when you can open the door to the porch and watch the rain fall. Yesterday we watched I'm Not There, the art film about Bob Dylan, Jason finished A Confederacy of Dunces and started another book, whose title eludes me right now. I finished Dune, and began Thirteen Moons. We watched a bit of The X-Games, snuggled with warm and furry kitties, crafted origami flowers, and pigged out on boiled peanuts and watermelon. Siiiggghh... I wish I was there now.

Top Hottest Vampires

Inspired by Entertainment Weekly's lame attempt at listing the hottest vampires of all time, I am making my own version. Vampires are easily the sexiest monsters. They are dark and mysterious, beautiful, and suck on your neck. And they are pretty popular these days. On to the list! Let's do this is random order cause there's no way I could choose a top hottie vamp.

I'd like to start with someone who was left off this list entirely, which is A CRIME!

1. Gary Oldman as Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula. He-LO! I have crossed oceans of time to find you? Swoon. How EW could leave him off their list entirely is beyond me. I think a male must have made the list also considering that Blacula is number one and there are a couple of actors from the TV series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and everyone knows the movie was waaay better. He is without a doubt the best part of this movie. Gary is the vampire who doesn't even have to try, you already belong to him. You never had a choice. You have been his since the beginning of time.



2. Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga. It's really quite a shame he plays a vampire because Robert has the most adorable rosy cheeks. Us girls, we've always had a soft spot for bad boys. But when the bad boys in question are poor, tortured souls who really are good boys behind all the circumstances, it's even better (hello, Dylan McKay). Edward is the vampire who will love you, protect you, kiss you, all the while the blood racing in your veins sings to him, lulls him to bite you to drink you, to kill you. grrrrowl.



3. Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn. Most of the time, I can't even watch this movie. It's disgusting gratuitous bloodshed makes me queasy. Except for Salma's scene. Wrapped in a boa constrictor, Salma slinks down a runway as sexy as us regular girls could only hope to be on a good day. She makes supermodels wish they looked like her. Salma is the vampire who will entertain you and turn you on and then rip off your head and drink your blood. Doesn't get much more bad ass then that.




4. Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton in True Blood. I've talked about True Blood before. And if you haven't watched yet, you certainly should. Bill's allure is a tricky one for me. These vampires are modern, and out in society as vampires, therefore way less mysterious than their hidden brethern. Still, Stephen, who is British, manages to pull off a delectable and charming southern accent and chivalrous manners. Bill is the vampire who will charm you, and then lure you back to his house and then serve you a bottle of japanese synthetic blood substitute, warmed to a comforting 98.6 degrees.



5. Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview With a Vampire. Let me start off by saying that if you are a fan of Stuart Townsend, you may as well just stop reading. Because there is no better Lestat then wacky old Tom, who wasn't even that wacky then, I should remind you. Lestat, the blond haired, blue eyed, brat prince, so they call him, who's only vice is his own vanity. He is the vampire who will take you out to the most fashionable places, eat the richest food, among the most popular people and then steal your pearl necklace when he's done feeding on you.



6. Antonio Banderas as The Vampire Armand in Interview With A Vampire. As it so happens, the movie strays a bit from the book when it comes to Armand. If it had been another actor, not Antonio, I'd actually feel the way I feel about Stuart Townsend playing Lestat, which is angry. But since Antonio can hardly do wrong, here he is, in all his european theatrical glory. Armand, well the movie Armand is the vampire who will make your death a spectacle in front of hundreds of unwilling theatre patrons. He revels, unabashadly, in the spotlight.

More as I think of them...

Save The Date Attempt #1

After countless hours of internet browsing,
I found these amazing save-the-dates,
by Lucky Luxe.

But who can afford $300 for save-the-dates these days? So I made my own.

I got 19 8.5" squares from one yard of $6.99/yard white cotton. Printed directly on it using the freezer paper technique. The hankies are folded, pinned onto a 5X7 piece of cardstock printed with some additional info. The crochet edging will be the priciest part of the whole thing. I only got one hankie's worth out of a $2.99 spool. I'll have to shop online for something different but overall I'm pretty happy!

What do you think?

Happy News

Wow. It's been a long and sometimes pretty dark couple of months. But I am happy to announce something to look forward to!

Yep! We're getting married! Just happened this weekend so I don't have any details but I'll update as soon as I do. Bout time, right?

my immortal beloved

I had just gotten off work, bartending, so it was late, and i was giving some kid a ride home. I had moved to Conyers and had a long ride home so i was in a hurry. I saw your litter on the couch at Jane's and you all were so cute, all orange and white and cuddled together on a blanket, mewing up at me. I reached my hand down and you reached your tiny neck up, and bam: I fell in love. You sat on my shoulder like a little parrot on the ride home and for many rides after that. I wrapped you in my blanket and you stared up at me with those big, blue alien eyes. Jane told me you were a boy and I named you Oscar. Then my roommate Lindsey brought home another kitten from the same litter and we realized that you were definitely NOT a boy. So i had just finished watching Almost Famous and hence, Penny Lane became your name. You and Askim used to climb up our pant legs when we were opening your food cans on the counter.I brought Abbey home for you. You hissed at her first, and then you licked her. You loved her. We both did. But she had to leave us. And I'm not sure you ever really recovered from that loss. You loved to play. We'd hook a velcro monkey to the fan and watch you run in circles after it. A box would sit on the floor and you'd crawl into it. We'd push you around and make vroom sounds until you got scared and jumped out. I shouldn't have scared you, honey. I'm sorry. But it was pretty funny. One time, we were shooting water guns at each other, it was all fun and games but I screamed when I was attacked and you ran and attacked the shooter! You were a good protector. I brought Jude home for you. To fill Abbey's void. He was one crazy tomcat. I didn't get him fixed in time and bam: you were pregnant. We took good prenatal care of you and out came five glorious little bundles of joy. The morning you went into labor, you waited until I woke up, looked straight at me and meowed. I said to you "Now?" and you meowed again. It was cute. You kept moving the baby nest to different areas. You were a good mom. Then we moved to New Orleans. We had a good time there. We danced together. Well, I danced and you sat on the couch arm and stared at me. I sang and you came running. Still not sure if you like the sound or if you just wanted me to stop. Remember when you you tried to scratch your neck off and I had to put a sock around it? I'd swaddle you in my blanket and call you a worm. Then I'd cover your ears and say "ahms for the poor" because you looked like a little old lady. You were so funny. You slept with me all the time. Cuddled up against my belly or your head on my arm. If I was sitting and my lap was empty, you were sitting on it. You were my good little traveler when we were evacuating. You were scared but you never let it show. I always told you that as long as we had each other, than everything would be ok. I saw the growth in your belly and just thought you were getting fat. Remember? I told you that we were both getting bellies? Then it got bigger and I thought maybe you were pregnant. Then you started to get skinny and I knew we were not so lucky. Our time was up. A large tumor had grown in your beautiful belly. Had already metasicized to your lungs. You weezed and panted and struggled to breathe. You could barely walk and so you stayed in bed all day. And I selfishly thought, the steroids and antibiotics the doctor prescribed could keep you here with me. For a whole week, I hand fed you, and faithfully gave you your medicine twice a day. I never wanted you to suffer. I am so sorry, honey. I thought it would make you better. I really did. I actually promised you that it (the meds) would make you better, that I would make you better. I'm a liar and I'm sorry. Now, you're at home on the bed. Weezing and panting and struggling for your life. And after I got off the phone with the doctor, he tells me all he can do now is prescribe pain pills. So I sit here at my desk and cry and type and think of how I'm going to do this again. I've decided to skip the gym tonight. You're so much more important than that. I'm going to go home and brush you and give you a nice sponge bath and cradle you and sing to you and make sure you know you are loved. You know you are loved. And in the morning, we'll go and you will begin your next life. Somewhere in the multiverse, and I just know that I will see you again soon. We are kindred, darling. Never forget that. I know they all leave us, why did I open my heart like that again? And the reason is always: is better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all. I don't even know how to thank you for everything you've given me. The love, the memories, the sweet, the sour, the amazing gift of you and the love you gave me. I can only hope that I gave you even a fraction of the love you gave to me. I will be there for you, till the end. I will always be there for you and love you, eternally. I love you, Penny Lane. I will never forget you. Ever.

Pretty, pretty princess nails!

You loved your Erin.

Beautiful babies

My sweet little girl

Your big fat baby belly

I love you, Penny Lane.

Wee Dolls

I've got to keep my fingers busy! In between licorice whips and celery sticks, I made these! They are small wire, hot glue, and embroidery floss dolls. I was watching my mom's dogs for the weekend and so I just glued them onto a box with a Welcome Home sign in the back. I guess I'll be making more but I thought it was cutie patootie so I wanted to share!

Almost there...

On Monday, April 20th at 11:59 P.M. Jason and I smoked our last smoke. Puffed our last puff. And the past three days have been hell. I feel as if the physical withdrawl symptoms are almost gone. Now all I have to do now is live the rest of my life realizing that I am an addict, and never take another puff. Hopefully, I'll think about them less and less. I mean, I wasn't born smoking. So I have lived at least some of my life without smoking, I just have to remember how to do it. How did I used to wake up? How did I used to finish eating a meal? How did I used to deal with stressful situations? How did I used to go out?
Oh yeah, that's right. I wasn't legal.
This is what helps right now. Deep breathing, cinnamon sticks, straws, gum, water, food, reading horrific stories about what tobacco does to people, this site. It's imperative that people stay very calm around me, that no one raises their voice, acts too excitable, or restless, or makes me antsy. Which is exactly why I need them to just leave me alone. I wish I could just go to sleep for a week and wake up healed! It's a hard process but the first three days are the hardest. That's what they say anyways. And I'm almost out of it! So if the sheer improbability of my being able to withstand another 72 hours of this chest-tightening, cranky and irritable, exhausted and completely unable to focus, don't really know what to do with myself, want to jump out of my skin, kill someone, scream at someone, then cry and go to bed- isn't enough to cement the declaration in my mind that I will never take another puff, then I don't know what will.
I get the feeling that someone may just throw a pack at me sometimes. But in my defense, if they would just leave me alone, I wouldn't be so...well, you know. Also, tons of people have quit smoking. They aren't any better or stronger than me. I can do this.
Regardless, it's been 2 days, 9 hours, 13 minutes, and 10 seconds, since I quit. I have saved nearly $30 dollars so far, and saved 8 hours and 44 minutes of my life. (unless the dragons come, at which point, i'm lighting up.) Also this site, which gave me all those facts and figures and these here:
When you quit smoking,...the benefits for your health begin within minutes of your last cigarette.

After 8 hrs

100% Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide level reduce by half, oxygen levels return to normal

After 24 hrs

100% Carbon Monoxide eliminated from the body. Lungs start to clear out mucus and debris.

After 48 hrs

100% There is no nictotine left in the body. Ability to smell and taste greatly improved.

After 72 hrs

80% Breathing becomes easier. Bronchial tubes begin to relax and energy levels increase.

After 2-12 wks

17% Circulation improves, making walking and running a lot easier.

After 3-9 months

3% Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve.

After 1 year

1% Your excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker after one year.

After 2 year

0% Your chance of achieving long-term success with quitting tobacco increases significantly after two years.

After 5 years

0% From 5 to 15 years after quitting tobacco, stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

After 10 years

0% * Risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers* Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases* Risk of ulcers decreases

After 15 years

0% * Risk of coronary heart disease is now similar to that of people who have never smoked* Risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked