sinead o'connor and my mid life crisis

it all started back in 1988 ...flash to watery screen change and bring into focus a 19 girl with a partially shaved head, and huge earrings.

here is my letter to the person who influenced me the most that year...the letter i have finally perfected these 21 years later, just kidding, i wrote it this morning...

hi Chris...i am just checking...i cannot seem to find my Sinead O'Connor cd. i am wondering if i left it at your house? now that i think about it it could be that it slipped out of my purse. i swear it was right there next to my keys. maybe i forgot to grab it?
in all reality it should be filed neatly in my drawer between, "simply red" and the soundtrack to "some kind of wonderful" but it is not. i suppose it could have been lost in the approximately, 18 moves i have made since i lived in Chicago. have you by any chance seen it? angry, Irish, shaved headed, adorable girl with tattoos, on the cover?
if not don't worry, i will just order it on amazon, or download it to my itunes with the gift cards i got for Christmas and my birthday last year.
OK i have no idea why this came up and is so important for me to have it right this minute! i heard her on the radio yesterday and WHOA did it take me back...so i googled you!
i suppose i am just doing what all women do when they turn 40 right, google their past? my guess is that most do this to find plastic surgeons, personally i have held up quite well and on occasions am still carded when i go out. no, not for me...but i do have this increasing need to tell everyone who has had a positive impact on my life, how much they mean/meant to me (like I am dying or something! which p.s. i am not) and a small part of me still wants to BE Sinead O'Connor, but this time i could not shave my head...i mean c'mon...although i consider donating it to "locks of love" a lot.
anyway, the point is, and i do have one, i googled you. i found you and here is my confession...you have made such a positive impression on me and my life in ways you might never know if not for this revelation. if you want to know more, here is my email...if not and you are ok with the quiet understanding that you just never know how you effect people and their life by even the smallest of gestures, then know this...it is true.
the most important thing is that you look well. it seems you followed your heart and i am happy to see it. unless you had another dream i am not aware of, then what are you waiting for...life is short! and i swear i am not dying!
much love,
kristie

it is a new day!

wow it is certainly a new day...i am watching Barack Obama give his speech to the nation. isn't he the most eloquent? uh...it just makes me proud to be an American . it is a new day for me to.

for me this last weekend was a weekend of gain. i gained a lot of closure, and gained a lot of self confidence, confidence i once had, and lost. i have also gained new perspective. it is a new day.

now that i have gained some very valuable things...is is time and important to do some shedding. shed some weight, that is and i have a plan. i am intending to loose 17 lbs, by loosing 1 lb a week.

sometime in mid may, it will be another new day...

Ch-ch-ch-changes

life is interesting isn't it? taking turns you never even expected. as it happens my life took a turn that i never thought it would and now EVERYTHING is different than before. looks like i have some healing to do. so far i am doing well for the most part. keeping busy is key, working out, even better. thinking of taking up bike riding. maybe it will help me get back on the road my life is on...in the meantime...

i am so happy the holidays are over. starting with the dog that ate my birthday cake on thanksgiving day it was sucky the whole way through. i am glad it is over.

onto the new year and OMG a new president. can you just believe it? thinking about it makes me cry. well actually almost everything makes me cry lately, but especially Barack Obama!

How to Make a Fairy Garden

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to Summers Past Farm http://summerspastfarms.com/ with my friend Vanessa. I have to say, I am so happy to have finally gotten together with her! It has been a while and we always have such a good time together, which of course we did! We walked around the gift shop, had some coffee and yummies, walked the nursery (a little) smelled lots of soap, pet the kitties and dreamed of fairy gardening.







Thinking about it just wasn't enough I guess, and it was all over for me when my lovely friend bought me the cutest ever gardening accessories...




http://summerspastfarms.com/fairygardens.htm I had no choice but to go all out and create my own Pixie Paradise. And here is how it went...First I added the bench, a fairy needs a place to rest after all of that flying! Then I got the birdhouse and the beehive, I mean excuse me, is there anything more adorable? And what fairy garden would be complete without an actual fairy?? After much deliberation, I finally settled on The Marigold Fairy, we'll call her Mary...

After we left, thoughts of where to and how to create this were buzzing my brain. In the shop they had a cute layout in a birdbath.





I thought I could create something from a shallow planter of some kind and was anxious to get to home depot. Just as that thought settled, we passed a "statue place" (right next door). I flipped a "u", and stopped in. Much to my happiness, we found the perfect "home" for Mary. A very inexpensive, flower shaped birdbath. Just the right size for a beginner like me.



Continuing on with the education of how to...the next thing you do is go to Micheal's and walk the whole store at least 2 times, going back and forth between the floral, and diorama sections many more times. Pick up anything and everything that looks miniature and fairy-like or garden-like. (you can always return it later) Use your coupon, and save your receipt!



Next go to Home Depot, look around for more garden-y things. Buy more stuff. Go Home! Ask husband to unload heavy stuff (birdbath) from car. Shower, watch Olympics and go to bed. (optional)

In the morning, lay in bed and plan your garden. While becoming inspired again, I decided to do a few non-fairy-like things to tidy up the yard. Like oh let's just say re landscaping just about covers it! Go back to Home Depot, get soil, bark mulch, a few more succulents (of course) Gotta love sustainable plants. Come home.

Move things around in your garden, re-plant, re-pot, and find or create the perfect spot for your fairy home. Work all day, make your huaband think you are crazy, get inspired and bring magic into your life (and sore arms and legs and back from lifting, moving, carrying and general redistribution...) Then start the actual fairy garden!

For my fairy land I used some Alyssum ground cover, floral foam, pebbles, Spanish moss, and a mirror for a pond. I had many crystal like stones ad added those to for extra magic. Of course I used all of the items I bought yesterday too! There are a few secret ingredients as well, see if you can find the. I took many pictures along the way, so make sure you take a good look.







Just add stuff, take stuff away and add different stuff, until it evolves into something you love! Don't you love the perfect spot for the solar light? Doesn't it look just like a little fairy house??






I hope you are inspired to go make your own Pixie Paradise, or Sprite Sanctuary...

Life, Tea and the Pursuit of Happiness

So I am a little behind on the bloggin! Sorry about that! Who am I apologizing to? I have no idea but I am behind on documenting my life, because I have been living it. So nah!

This has been my life for a few weeks now, so I shall start from a few weeks ago....

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went to "Tea Upon Chatsworth". http://cu4t.com/ What a beautiful Sunday morning it was, made better with friends old and new. Afternoon tea has been a long tradition in some cultures, unfortunately, not ours. I vote we bring it back daily. Tea is truly one of the very few simple pleasures we have left. Everything in life is so complicated, or if it is not, we invent ways to make it complicated. At "Tea Upon Chatsworth" I felt we were brought back to a more simple time. Warm beverage, quiet or not so quiet conversation, but conversation nonetheless, actually in person, person to person, without agenda, or email, or phone or texting. What a concept!

As we sat down, and were presented with the menu I was delighted to find there are exactly 3 menus to choose from. Not an overwhelming variety of choice as far as the yummies go. No room for order envy, Cream Tea, Afternoon Tea, or High Tea. See, ...simple, right? Perfect! Until...you turn over the menu and are faced with approximately 30 varieties of tea! All of my warm fuzzy feelings of simple bliss were steamed away when the tea menu is revealed! OMG what to choose? Luckily, everyone gets a pot of tea, so that is 5 pots of tea to share if you are with 5 people! And no worries, the staff is there to guide you through everything from where to start and very helpful suggestions. They sure know their stuff.

'Nuff 'bout that.

I have also been working very hard on my perpetual calendar, reminder Rolodex, which I scraplifted from my friend Shannon (also at the tea). Who took a class from Leah Fung a couple of year ago. It is a little bit of a big project depending on how many thing throughout the year you need to remember. But I am proud to say although I have not completed it, the end is in sight, and the majority of it is done.

Aside from that, I am fortunate enough to have one of the best jobs ever. I have the best most wonderful boss, without whom my life would not be half so great for 35+ hours of the week. And that is a lot of life to not be happy with. I know this to be all to true. That said, this week due to the achievement of our goal, we had the pleasure of having an outing. Always good food, and some kind of fun is involved. This time it was GOLF. Actual Golf. Having only played the Tiger Woods XBOX version, I was excited to try this out. I am quite good at the TV kind and wanted to apply my "knowledge" on the fairway. To this I now say "HA!" Although it was fun socializing, driving the cart, and putting, the stuff in the middle (driving, sweating, chipping, replacing divots, swinging etc) I could live with-out and I will happily stick to the XBOX version thank you. I am a little grateful I did not fall in love with the real Golf, because I am sorry, XBOX games are approx. $50.00, and I can enjoy the game in the comfort of my living room, whatever weather condition it is outside. I know that clubs, balls, shoes, shirts, tee times, lessons etc., would cost thousands and although I was excited about the possibility of liking it. I can keep my thousands of dollars and buy more scrapbook paper.

Now at same said job, I personally happened to win a contest, not on the golf game of course, a week ago. My "prize" was a couple hours off early and tickets to the Del Mar Race Track. I "borrowed" $20.00 from my friend and at the end of the day gave him back $18.70. We stayed for 6 races, I bet on 5, so it was fun for me. Needless to say I am not a big better, I like to win so I cover my bets, it makes me happy!

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I met with my book club to discuss "The Book Thief" Which I ended up loving! AND I got to choose the next book " The Art of Racing in the Rain" which I finished yesterday.

Betting, golfing, working, reading, and scrapping, I am busy pursuing happiness. : )

thank heaven for little girls

i have been wanting to put these projects up on-line for 2 weeks and i am now getting it done! all it takes are time and patience, of which i have very little, well time very little and patience, i actually have some of that! after i got all of my 400 some photos or Ryanna edited, lightroomed and elemented, then sent off to Costco...i shut down my computer, reformatted all of my CF cards and was about to delve into another project or 2. i realized it was a good time to take those project pictures, and get those squared away and in the meantime. i am on a roll...sushi anyone?

also since she was just here...more pictures of the cute Ryanna, and if you look closely you might catch some or Ruby in the mini book i made! to cute. i am so lucky to have 2 beautiful girls to keep me in projects

paper dolls and quiche

so i mentioned i was taking a class right? working on these cute projects has been so much fun...see photos...it has inspired me to create in way i would not and remember that creating is fun. it actually felt like i was playing! i am using scissors and cutting things out! i know it sound weird but scrapbooking does not require a lot of detailed scissor work, it is mostly for trimming, and for that you usually use well...a trimmer.

last weekend i attended the pp (pink pineapple) crop for the club/class...very fun. 5 hours, girls, scissors...i mean what more could you ask for? Shannon brought in a stampin up, project as a part of being in her stamp club. we made 3 really cute cards.

for the book club crop it self, Elena had this idea to make paper dolls out of ourselves.

it was fun giving our self lipo suction (with scissors) and making cute outfits you would not normally be able to it in. also get those creative juices flowing. a few days later i had a brilliant idea to make a paper doll for my step-daughter (Ruby, 9 going on 17). she loves designing little clothes for her stuffed animals, i thought she might like making them for herself . i took her out in the back yard, took her picture and printed out 2 approx 8" pictures of herself to which she made so far a dress and little top. on days like this i feel like a good step mom.

while Ruby was designing the new outfits, i got a bug to take another stab at perfecting my Mexican quiche. i had made it once before it was great but i felt it needed more cheese. here is my recipe- i am open to suggestions!

i have not yet had quite the energy to make my own crust. i used to be an asst. baker for a restaurant, and would make my own crust all the time. i was very good at it but the store bought - omg is bakers square or marie callendars?? is very good so i like that one the best out of all i have tried (which has been quite a few...

so one pre-made -frozen pie crust.
bake according to pkg, directions- it is usually 10 min at 400. make sure you prick it with a fork several million times to avoid those bubbles... after you pull out your crust decrease your oven temp to 375. all ovens vary mine i think does not get as hot as it says. so i turn mine up a bit. cool that crust.

4 eggs at room temperature
2 cups Mexican blend cheeses shredded or shred it yourself if you feel adventurous.
1 cup half and half
(other recipes call for cream which i love but this one did not - i am sure you can try it that way)
1/4 cup diced onions
ALL recipes call for more but i do not like onions- just the essence, so i mince mine so tiny.
4 oz can of green chili's

dice your onions, go ahead and cook them up in a little olive oil until clear.
while that goes on, whisk up the eggs
toss the onions in with the eggs, give a little whisking
heat up the half and half until it is just warm and whisk into the eggs
add green chili's
toss in the cheese it will melt a bit due to the half and half so best not to whisk at this point, i just stir it a little.

cover a cookie sheet with tin foil, i am not sure why, but it helps clean up if the eggs spill over!
put pie crust on cookie sheet - then pour mixture into cooked/cooled shell

bake about 45 min- 1 hour depending on oven
serve warm with a dollop of sour cream and a little bit of salsa

until next time- bon appetite!