Love.

Castle, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.

A better post later. I just had a scare that Castle was cancelled. Apparently it is just rumor right now, but I wanted to declare my love to the entire world wide web before anything terrible happened.

New Years Cards are the new Christmas Cards

This year I made a vow to myself that I would send out Christmas cards, but well, that didn't happen. I even have some fabulous ones that I got 60% off at a store closing. *sniff* (I loved that store.) I underestimated - as usual - all the things I wanted to do/needed to do/still have to do during the holiday season. My solution? New Year's cards!!! Why didn't I think of this before?!?! Why waste your precious Christmas shopping time writing out Christmas cards? Send a New Years card instead! So, instead of doing the pile of work sitting on my desk, one day my sister and I sat and designed our New Year's cards that we will be sending out. I really like mine, although I wish that one of the fonts had printed bigger, but who is going to notice but me??

Anyway, I decided to brush up on my brush strokes (he he he.....get it? Brush up....HA! I kill me!!) when addressing my envelopes. My calligraphy instructors always encouraged us to practice our calligraphy anytime we are sending out anything. In fact, my copperplate calligraphy instructor would even write her checks out in copperplate. But, I have not whipped out anything in probably 3 years. So, here are the final results before I added the addresses.

I am really rusty so I apologize in advance for those that will be receiving cards that don't met my usual standards of excellence, but I didn't order extra envelopes so you'll just have to deal. These three were my favorite, and frankly, the only ones that received the stamp of approval from moi.

I will be leaving next weekend for India so this will probably be my last post of 2009. Happy New Year!! All the best in 2010! I hope your New Year resolutions include lots of crafting!!

It's not me. It's U (verse).

So, I have been MIA for quite some time. I still maintain that I am busy getting my U-verse fix, but honestly I haven't had much to write about. I have gotten so far behind on my shows that I sometimes feel like deleting them all because it's not realistic to watch that much television and still have a day job. I haven't really been making anything. Work has been very stressful. (I have two gray hairs in the most obvious spot to prove it.) Home life has been so-so. I actually dove into the infamous "blue room" and started my clean sweep of my former life. It's been pretty theraputic to see where I've been, who I was, and how different I am now. Sad sometimes. Motivating other times. Either way, I am feeling good about the amout of stuff I've gotten rid of while still getting overwhelmed at the amount of stuff I have to yet to go thru. But, my motivation to clean out that room has been a bridal shower I am hosting at my home on November 7. I will finish that room by November 7 and it will be pristine and beautiful and magical and clean and empty. Mostly it will be empty. And that is what I look forward to at the end of the day.

I also have my computer to blame. It has pretty much said it's goodbyes, so I haven't read up on my celebrity gossip or my daily blogs. I feel like I am neglecting my blogger friends, but then I realize 'oh, they don't even know who I am' and then I don't feel so guilty. But, I do miss them. Mr. Bean and I decided we will buy me another computer, but I am going to be patient for this one. I am at the point that I just want to finish buying all my furniture and get it over with. So. I will wait.

Anyway. I have recently made a couple of things worth posting. I will post them when I get some decent pics, so you'll have to just wait. I figure the one reader I do have has probably seen it already, so I am in no hurry. :) But for now I will just say, it's not me. It's U-verse. :)

U-verse has changed my universe....and other news.

Sorry for the lack of posts. Mr. B finally kicked Comcast to the curb and signed us up for AT&T's U-verse. We got a free 37" TV from my work and against all sorts of marriage/design/sleep principles, we put it in our bedroom. And it is great. Mr. B also splurged and got us Showtime and Starz. For $5! So, we have pretty much been in honeymoon phase with U-verse and recording everything we possibly can and then some. God is good.

In other news, I finally got my Le Creuset dutch oven and she is a beauty.

The color is being discontinued, so the sale price even beat the price at the Le Crueset outlet by my house! Mr. B said I could get it since he knew I've been wanting it longer than I wanted him.

My first dish to make was Williams Sonoma's Poulet Nicoise. Williams Sonoma had a picture of it on their cover about a year ago and I have been drooling over it ever since. The dutch oven and the recipe. Mine came out looking exactly like the picture on the front cover. Here's the iPhone version. Trust me. In real life, it looked amazing.

As far as taste, it was okay. I read that if you did not put in enough tarragon that it would taste like chicken soup. And that is pretty much what I got. I'm not too familiar with tarragon, but I read that since it is very strong, use it sparingly. I didn't have fresh tarragon, so I bought dried tarragon and only put in half the amount called for in the recipe. Apparently, I cut back too much. But, I will give it another go another time. It is a lot of food for just me and Mr. Bean to eat, so maybe sometime when we have company over.

That's all I got for now. There is an insane thunderstorm outside complete with wind, crazy thunder and lightening, and now hail. The electricity keeps going off and Freddie is actually pretty scared. So, I am signing off.

TODAY

Since I've seen this on about 50 of the blogs I read, I figured I'd participate...

Outside my window... Freddie is hoping to see a cat.

I am thinking... that I need to finish packing.

I am thankful for... air conditioning.

From the kitchen... nothing, nothing, nothing! My MIL made me some fish curry for my birthday and Mr. B is bringing me home some leftovers from his dinner with his coworkers.

I am wearing... a house dress my MIL gave me from India. The most comfortable thing I own right now.

I am creating... a dress. Almost done if I could finish packing. And get off the computer.

I am going... to IOWA!!!!

I am reading... Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven.

I am hoping... to get to bed at a decent hour.

I am hearing... Seinfeld in the background.

Around the house... NOTHING!! I had to clean like a mo' fo' because we are having company tonight.

One of my favorite things... Fish curry. And vacation. :)

A few plans for the rest of the week... Hang out with my sister and BIL and Mr. B. Reading. Shopping. Eating. Relaxing. Boat time. And definitely a lot of laughing. :)

Weekend Fun.

I finally finished up the last apron on my To-Do list and gave it away. I didn't take pics of it. Mostly because I forgot, but also because it's the same pattern as the other apron I posted pics of a few weeks ago. I used Amy Butler's Wildflowers in Navy in the Daisy Chain line. I fell in love with the fabric when I bought it because I just knew my friend would love it. I am not a huge "blue" fan, like my friend, but I can appreciate a fabulous blue print when I see one. This one is gorgeous in person. My friend loved it. So, I am happy. It's nice to get a good "OMG, I LOVE IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MADE THIS!" every once in a while. :)

I also made a card for Mr. Bean's cousin. He is the last to graduate from high school on that side of the family, so the family got together on Saturday night. It's a money holder. I based it off of Kristina Werner's gift card holder that was a PDF for Two Peas sometime during the holidays, but I can't find the original link and, frankly, I am too tired to look for it right now. The PDF had a template you could cut out and use, but I remembered basically what it looked like and just went for it. Using the template probably would have saved time, but I didn't have time to mess with my printer once I took the time to find the PDF anyway. So. Here it is.

Front (He will be a Longhorn, of course):


Inside:

If I would have had a few more minutes (we were running late as it was), I wouldn't have kept the "Class of 2013" and instead would have just put "Congrats" or something. Just looks really heavy for the card. The money was stashed under the flap created by the brads.

That's all I got for now. Finished up some reading I need to to. It seems my list of books I want to read is getting longer than the list of books I've read.

Awesome.

OMG!! I can't believe this!! If you know me at all, you will know that I think my dad is the most amazing man ever. I don't know many dads that can come close to how awesome my dad is and how much he has sacrificed to provide for us - his kids and grandchildren. Anyway, I am sure I will write tons more about him in other posts. So, my favorite blog to read is Kal Barteski's. She's so talented and hilarious and honest and inspiring. She is my Canadian Idol. He he. On Friday, she posted that she was giving two You-Are-An-Awesome-Dad prints if you left a comment to telling her why your dad was awesome. I read all the comments Friday night and was literally balling. I went ahead and put my two cents in, thinking nothing of it, but reading all the comments made me all sentimental about my dad. And guess what. She picked my comment for a print!! Yea!!! Read it here. I know my dad will love it. :) Yea for awesome dads and yea for K. Barteski!!