Happy Valentine's Day

Here's to Valentine's Day, which makes us stop and remember how much we love those in our lives, especially our husbands.  And here's to Hollywood, nothing like a romantic movie to inspire more passion in our lives.
                                                     
                                                              Carrie and Mr. Big

 These photos were taken several years ago for a Vogue photo shoot and they are still my favorite.  
                             They remind me to strive for connection, confidence and beauty.

                             If you haven't seen the movie P.S. I love you, here is a trailer for it below.
                          Wow! this movie makes you want to love deeply and live every day happy.

Share your history

On my trip to Hawaii, I read the book Marley and Me by John Grogan.  I was hoping it would make me feel more sentimental about Winston.  I really enjoyed reading Mr. Grogan's feelings, memories and story.   In this book, he has done a fantastic job of recording twelve years of his life.  The details and the sequence of how all the little moments fit into the bigger picture, I was very impressed.

I want to share an excerpt that I thought were very insightful.

"Children serve as impossible-to-ignore, in-your-face time pieces, marking the relentless march of one's life through what otherwise might seem an infinite sea of minutes, hours, days, and years." page 186

 

                Marley and Me goes in the same category as Gwyenth Paltrow's cookbook and children's picture book The Gardener by Sarah Stewart.  They are all creative ways to share family history.  And this is what I was referring to when I said "the hearts of the children turn to their fathers" is a great way to show your Valentine's love.  This Sunday for our Valentine's dinner, I shared my typed notes with Daniel's family of a few interviews I recorded in England during my last two visits to see his Gran.  

  

I've also been working on an essay about road trips with my family when I was a child.  

I am sorry it's not quite ready to share.  I actually have a lot of vivid memories related to this subject and I want to present them in an enjoyable way.  

Grandma's dishes

Sometimes when I am getting dressed I wish I still had roommates to give me their opinion on my outfit.  The same goes when I am hanging pictures.  Why don't my friends and family live just around the corner?  It forces a girl to either wait indefinitely until company arrives, or move forward and trust her choices.

Today I am doing a little of both.  I wanted to share with you my Great Grandma Gerda's plates that I have decided to hang on the dining room wall, but realized once I had them up, it looks like I need more.
Here is what they look like from a distance.

                                                                   And here is a closer look

My options right now: I could hang my favorite Christmas plate which has a popular British icon on it. 

                           I think it would be a fun contrast to the old fashioned floral design.

                                     Or, I could just hang a white plate, giving it cleaner look.
                Really, I don't want to distract from my favorite picture of Jesus with Mary and Martha

                    Or I could leave it as it is for now and not rush my creative process.  Any thoughts?

Peter and the Starcatcher

Last week's musical of Peter Pan  reminded me that there was a production of Peter and the Starcatcher  which just finished playing last month in New York on Broadway.  It had caught my eye in  fall, but we choose our tickets for Chaplin instead because it gave us the best seats.

Anyway, this play is based on the popular book written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.    From what I can gather from the highlight clips on youtube, their strength is in the acting and comedy, and not so much the music. You'll see what I mean when you watch for yourself.

Very fun stuff.  I can tell this show really captured the audience in the story and world of Peter Pan

Here is a clip for my costume friends out there.  This show won a Tony for Best Costumes

Cinque Terre

On the northwest side of Italy, there is a place on the Mediterranean Sea called Cinque Terre.

                                 Cinque Terre actually consists of five separate villages on the coast.
                                                   Are you ready to see this amazing place?

                                                                             Behold!

  Here is a picture of what the coast looks like between each town.  You can see the tunnel where the train comes through.  The train is the best way to travel in Cinque Terre.

 The roads and stairways can be very steep.  Don't bring high heels for this reason,  also the cobblestones.

 Doesn't it look so tranquil and inviting?!  All you can do here is eat, swim, hike and shop.  What wonderful ways to spend your days in the sun.  I was so happy when I visited here on my way back from Lake Como.

At the very top of the main street in Vernazza, Daniel and I wandered upon a fantastic little restaurant, owned and ran by twin brothers from Sicily.   Their food was delicious and they were so funny, they entertained us the entire meal.   We had to go back a second time.

 We rented an apartment right above the main square looking out onto the water.  It had a kitchen, dining room, living room, two bedrooms and bathroom with a washer machine.  I absolutely loved hanging my clothes to dry on the lines outside our windows.  We paid 320 euros for two nights, that ended up being 80 euros per night, per couple.  Here is the stairway leading to our front door on the right.  Oops, we left the kitchen light on when we went out that night.

 This is a place that is calling me back.  I could live here.  I hope I do someday.

Red Rose and Snow White

Are you familiar with the fairy tale of Red Rose and Snow White?  I had a picture book when I was younger but have never seen it mentioned in pop culture since.  Well, I have a niece named Rose, so this story came to my mind one day, and I thought "let's revisit this tale".   

 Red Rose and Snow White are sisters who live in a forest cottage with their mother.  One winter night there is a knock at the door and they find a bear asking to come in and keep warm by the fire.  They become fond of him and the bear comes every night for the rest of the winter.  In the summer he leaves with the explanation he must guard his treasure from a wicked dwarf.

During that summer Red Rose and Snow White encounter a dwarf who has gotten his beard stuck in a tree.  The girls rescue him by cutting his beard, but instead of being grateful, he is grumpy.  Similar situations happen throughout the summer- the girls helping the dwarf in peril and he never being grateful.  Finally the bear is upon him and with one swipe of his paw he kills the dwarf.  The bear is turned into a prince revealing the dwarf had cast a spell on him.  The prince marries Snow White and  Red Rose marries his brother.

Here is an assortment of artwork I found, is looks like most of it is vintage.

Valentine's Gifts

 
I love giving to neighbors and friends at Valentine's Day.   There are no expectations, so anything is a delight to the receiver.  Chocolates, flowers and baked goods, such fun ways to show your love.

Last year I gave my neighbor a bouquet of beets because she doesn't eat sugar.  Wrapped with twine and cellophane, they made a pretty package.








This year I have found some unique dishes at Anthropologie.  I can't wait to give one each to my boys.
 I think they will love using them every night for their dinner.

And of course there is the cards and sentiments to consider.  Last year I wrote poems.  Here's an example:

Arthur,
You have a big big heart,
You like shopping at WalMart.
In swimming class you are the best,
Hundreds on your spelling tests!
Sometimes at recess you get sweaty,
At night you sleep with all your teddies.

This year I am going with the theme
"The hearts of the children turn to their fathers"
a scripture from Malachi 4:6 referring to family history. 
I am excited and I will share more later.

Peter Pan

My high school performed Peter Pan  during my junior year.  I wasn't very happy cast as an Indian; I struggled to learn the dances and there was no opportunity for standing out vocally.  Yet, these songs have found a fond place in my memories.  Pirates that sing and dance are funny.

 Even the Indian "Uga Wug" song compels me sing out when I randomly recall it.  But there's one song that I can really relate to...

"I've Gotta Crow"  sung by Peter Pan when he figures out how to get his shadow to stick to himself again.  Sometimes I am pleased with myself and I find this song coming to my head.

                                                         Here's Mary Martin performing.

Chicken

 This was our view of the beach in Kauai. We were treated to sun and waves for ten lovely days.

Below is what Utah looked like this January.  Quite a contrast.  Going back to the Hawaii picture,

can you see a rooster in the center next to the hedges? There are wild chickens all over the island.  The roosters would start crowing before sunrise and the hens wandered around the lawn chairs of the hotel property with their chicks looking for crumbs from the guests' snacks and lunches.

Well, there was one chicken who seemed to catch the attention of the hotel guests more than the others.  This chicken was 33 inches tall and 30 pounds.  A big one.  He would run from his mother, looking for the swimming pool or sometimes he wanted to explore and spy on the people around him.  I watched as the guests would smile and then start to look worried.  "Were is this chicken's mother?"  "Oh, he's yours?  Oh good."  They'd sigh with relief and then go on admiring his blond hair and blue eyes.

(Daniel's Dad has always called my boys "chicken" when they were little toddlers.  I think I've heard his Gran uses this term of endearment as well.)

Once on This Island

Where have I been?  In a tropical paradise  namely Hawaii.  Wow!  It is amazing to get away in the dead of winter.  Here is a favorite musical that I thought would be fun to share.

This show opened on Broadway in 1990.  It's the story of a peasant girl with elements of  Romeo and Juliet and the fairy tale The Little Mermaid.  Unfortunately there are no footage from Broadway, but here are vocal recordings.  A song introducing the main character and then a love song with action to follow.

Wedding Gifts

When I read  Project:Organization  by Marie Ricks last summer she had a chapter on wedding gifts.  Marie says keep your life simple by deciding ahead what you give out for family wedding gifts, friend wedding gifts and acquaintance wedding gifts.  A set gift or amount for each category, then there's no wasted time and aggravation with worry.

Marie Ricks gives garden hoses. It's a great idea.  Something useful that everyone has to buy for themselves.

                     I have given quite a few sets of Christmas stockings to newly weds in the past.

This year I branched out and made a Christmas tree skirt for my favorite babysitter.
 Definitely more time consuming. If I was to do this again, I'd need a pattern, because there was a lot of trail and error just going for it.

Daniel likes to give his male friends tools or guns when they get married.
I think I'm going to start giving out sewing kits.

These are sewing kits I made for my newly wed sister 'n law Sally and Luke's Kristina for Christmas.
The trick would be to make them assembly line style and have them ready to give out when announcements come in the mail.