Flower arrangments

Flowers!! They bring the bees, and make me smile!

There are so many interesting ways to display flowers - and instead of a glass vase, these are some ways to present nature!

For our wedding, we made paper flowers - I recently stumbled upon tissue paper flowers...which I fell in love with. Simply because they will last always!

This wire teapot can easily be found at a Home Goods store or Michaels Craft store. The flowers are simple - yet it looks wild and fun. Have a spot of tea?

This is perhaps my favorite arrangement ever seen by a florist. This is perfect for ladies day or just to spice up your day!!

Lose your drink? never again.

You are at a party, and there are atleast a dozen solo cups on the tables. You had the punch....but so did everyone else! You can use a marker and write your name on the cup, OR.....

http://etch-it.com/wheretobuy.htm

Etch it on!! This brings me back to when I was 6 years old, and I would turn the white dials of my etch-a-sketch to write my name. Now, 22 years later, I can use my finger nail to write my name on my cup at parties!

The only problem I might have is I wouldn't want people to throw them away!

The company sells solo cups with the labels, or just the labels.

Neither way, I think this is a fun and retro way to mark your territory!

Summer Soup served with fun!

Make any chilled summer soup look spectacular by serving it “up” in a martini glass. Chill the glasses in the freezer until you are ready to serve the soup for a nice frosty alternative to a bowl. A summer soup recipe that would definitely be ultra tasty is the Coconut Corn Chowder.

Perfect for the summer when corn is in season. Canned corn works well when you’re longing for summer.

Ingredients

1. 8 ears of fresh corn
2. 2 stalks of celery roughly chopped
3. 1 carrot roughly chopped
4. 1 bay leaf
5. 6 cups of water
6. 1 onion chopped
7. 1 clove garlic chopped
8. 1/2 – 1 thai red chili (adjust according to taste) roughly chopped
9. 1 can coconut milk
10. 1 tbs fish sauce
11. 2 in piece of lemongrass crushed
12. 1 kaffir lime leaf
13. 1 tsp salt
14. 1/2 c finely diced red and green peppers
15. 1 Tbs lime juice
16. 1 thai red chili finely sliced (or more according to your taste)
17. 1 finely sliced green onion

Method

1. Cut corn off it’s ears and set aside
2. Make a stock by simmering corn cobs, celery, carrot, bay leaf in water for 30 minutes
3. In a separate pot sweat onion over medium heat until translucent
4. Add garlic and thai chili and sweat for 1 minute
5. Add corn, coconut milk, fish sauce, lemon grass, lime leaf and enough stock to cover
6. Simmer for 20 minutes
7. Remove lime leaf and lemon grass
8. Pour soup into blender, leaving out half of the corn kernels
9. Blend until thick and somewhat smooth
10. Pour blended soup back into the pot with whole corn kernels
11. Bring back to a simmer and adjust thickness with more stock if needed
12. Stir in chopped peppers and lime juice, adjust seasoning to taste
13. Garnish with sliced chillis and green onion

*Note: Canned stock and canned corn can be substituted for fresh.

Dress your table!

Labor day is approaching, and to totally dress up the table - you could use seersucker napkins to put out during lunch or dinner! The preppy fabric reminds me of New England summers, though I only enjoyed my summers at the Jersey shore - this is how I would imagine it!!

Adaption

I enjoy rereading past entries to see how I have changed, developed - molded into a new better (I hope!) version of myself.

Sometimes, it completely blows my mind that I ever was the person I was six years ago. In 2003, I was someone I don't even recognize - I look back at past blog entries, and I am saddened by the girl who sat in front of the computer screen. It takes me back to the heartache and loneliness. I can't believe I made it. I survived.

I never thought I was someone who was weak. I always felt I was a leader among my friends. I came up with the ideas, the plans - I carried them out. It amazes me that in relationships however, it was completely different. I was weak. I left the boy tell me who or what I was. nothing. I felt nothing. or everything. In high school, I remember the tears. Oh the buckets I could fill.

But now, I couldn't imagine being with someone who didn't support me or made me feel less than me. I couldn't imagine not being comfortable in my own skin due to someone else's insecurities.

I can't help but think back 0 and I find myself doing this more often these days. I think back to college, high school, past relationships - and the girl in those situations is unrecognizable.

I have my family and my future husband to thank. He gave me the courage to believe in myself. My true potential. He saw and continues to see the best in me, and made me believe that all I was previously criticized for - those are things that made him fall. I am emotional. I am silly. I am beautiful. I am me. and I don't need to be anyone else anymore.

Ode to the Things I love

I want to write. I have the need to put my words down on paper. However, when I try, my mind draws a blank. The words are totally forgotten.

Here I sit, in front of my computer - with a list an arm's length long of things I should be doing. However, instead I am thinking of all the projects that I simply can not wait to attend to.
This is an ode to the things I love:

Sneakers. Purses.
There are two ways to tackle this. I love buying them, and I love the idea of organizing them. In my closet, I have shelves dedicated to the seasons. I have a winter, spring, and summer shelf for my purses and shoes.

Secondly, I like the idea of MAKING my own purses. I feel like there are so many patterns, fabrics and ideas out in the world - just waiting for me to grab on and create!

Recycling bags.
Mr. calls me a bag lady. I love to put things in bags. Our bills - in a plastic bag. Our junk mail - in a plastic bag. My gym clothes, my lunch, my graded papers, the one sock missing its twin - all in plastic bags. Perhaps I should invest in fancy pants recycling bags.

Books.
What to say? I love books. I love the smell, the feel, the texture - and the shelves full. I like organizing them, rearranging them, and stacking them accordingly to date, author and genre. I toyed with the idea of getting the Kindle - but the thought of not having the pages between my fingers was enough to draw a tear to my eye - I decided against it.

Board games.
As a child I remember fondly of all the board games I would play with my family. I still have my favorites, locked tight in a box under my bed - awaiting for when future allows my children (unborn) to play.
I like finding websites pertaining to board games and dreaming of the day that I will one day have a closet, or room, big enough to hold everything. My favorite site must be Lime Green. They have the neatest toys, but I especially like the board game listed here called Quelf. We put this on our registry - I hope we get it!

My last two words -Stationery supply.

The Time Traveler's Wife chills me

I am in the process of reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked up a copy (and I hate to admit it but after $6 in library fines, and three separate times checking the book AND audio book out - I am ALMOST finished.)

I started this post over a year ago, yet I just couldn't find the time to finish the book - or the post. When the book came out on the big silver screen, I thought "this is the swift kick in the pants I need to finish!". Yet, now the movie is OUT of the theaters, and I am still only on disc 10 of the audio version.

I know my current post is not selling the book, but what I mean to say is - I SHOULD have made time. Though I am STILL not finished, I couldn't help but want to write about it.

I admit, the book had me at time travel. I am a sucker for "A Wrinkle in Time" - and to maybe have the adult romantic version of this, tickled my fancy.

The story introduces Henry, a librarian (my 2nd favorite job choice - next to a Blockbuster employee), who suffers from CDP (Chrono-Displacement Disorder) which carries him away from the present time to some time in the past or future. One moment you are reading how he is walking across the street to meet his wife Claire, then he is standing (naked) in a corn field circa 1980.

Originally the book was a little hard to follow, but the book technically follows the life line of Claire, Henry's wife - from her childhood to middle age. Henry appears and disappears time and again, at various ages and stages of his life - but Claire continually ages.

I would recommend this book to everyone, but I would make sure you have a set amount of time to read - as you don't want to put it down (and it could be confusing to restart!).

Happy travels!

Love your Honey with No Money

Not everyone can shower their love with candies and flowers (though it would be nice!) - so finding cheap ways to show your love on the 14th is ideal.

The typical date on Valentine's Day consists of dinner and a movie. To make this a little easier on the wallet, why not decide on cooking at home?

If you are looking for a little wine and chocolate, how about the Alba Wine/Chocolate Tasting? My kind of event - get to sample different wines and chocolates....all for a whooping $5! I did this last year, and their dessert wines were so delicious - I dreamt about them for many nights after.

How to be single without being such

Since writing last, I have finished that horrid book (if you didn't catch what I was reading- please don't even waste your time finding out) and started a new book - "How to be Single".
I started this book last Tuesday, the night before Mr. went on his work trip. He didn't have a chance to be briefed on my latest novel. When he came back Friday afternoon, I was still at work. He came upstairs to find the book laying on our bed. He told me later, he thought to himself "Gee - she sure got comfortable with the idea of me being away!" I laughed because the book was not a "How-to" yet a fictionalized story about a group of middle-aged women who have yet to find love in their lives.

This story is refreshing, funny and very addictive. I find myself taking it with me wherever I go. This book is very much like "Sex in the City", its outlandish scenes that make you wonder if its really possible in the world to be that outgoing (for I, myself, am not).

The past reminds you

I sometimes get caught up in things that used to be. Either past friendships, broken relationships - or situations that I never really quite understood. Tonight I found myself in that same place. I often can go back in time and read through old journal entries, blog sayings - and reconnect with the person I used to be. I often feel like I am two people. I think about the girl, who when put to the limit, expresses her feelings in such a way - that even years later, I still can remember the moment I wrote it. Then there is the modern me, I feel = but I feel I don't have time to write about it...or the emotions are strong enough to get a grasp on WHAT to write....

This is something I found, I almost wanted to give myself a pat on the back...because I remember the moment I realized I was worth more that what I was given. I thank God everyday that I finally realized that.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005
you say i talk too much. that i think too much - that i read into everything and I look for trouble.
the truth is what you are hiding from - we dont talk enough. we dont talk at all. you dont know me. you dont know what happens each day -
we hide from ourselves the truth that we have grown apart. we are different people than what we were when we first started. I was foolish always to believe something like this would last.
I need more. i crave the attention that you withhold from me. i talk too much. i think too much. im just too much of everything for you. and you are just too little of anything for me. - kmw

I think about the me, now. I don't think I would even like Mr. tell me those things, but then again I don't think he would even think it. He likes that I talk. alot. enough sometimes for the both of us. Or that I read, and think, and ponder.