Travelocity gnome, 2. :: Q-lia Stamps ::, 3. South Korea, 4. Cars Cupcakes, 5. Stitch bento 9-28-06, 6. The Wicked, 7. teacups, 8. Pucca., 9. Belagio Glass Ceiling 3, 10. Paper Star, 11. jellybeans, 12. lots o' alice cuppies, 13. riot of colour!!, 14. Pick A Color....Any Color, 15. Pez!, 16. O, Canada!, 17. SkyDome and CN Tower standing out in the sky, Toronto, Canada. ------TOR_DSCN0259, 18. gnomes?, 19. Gnome at home, 20. a star to wish on, 21. Obama '08, 22. Obama cookie, 23. Charismatic Barack Obama, 24. Senator Barack Obama, 25. Crayola Meltdown, 26. colourful, 27. Color Me Happy Seen on Explore, 28. Crayon Me Beautiful, 29. You begin, 30. Knitting Needle Collection, 31. Stash corner, 32. the office, 33. Cubular pincushion, 34. Japanese cherry blossom Pincushion, 35. Limonata!!!, 36. Sunny Side Up

Card Class

So we had card class yesterday and we made some cute cards. The thing I like the most about card class is that sometimes the cards we make might not be something I would make on my own so it's good to step outside my box. We made these yesterday in class....the one wiht th ecupcake was supposed to be a easter card but I loved the cupcake stamp so I switched it up and made a birthday card instead!
More laters!

lemon bars and other nonsense

We have had a great Saturday so far. Well....we have made it a good Saturday. I woke up in some SERIOUS back pain at 5ish am so E. gave me drugs and I stayed in bed while he went out and started fixing our fence....long story short the wind here is so fierce that it literally blew down a section of the fence before we moved in...and the company that installed it (Pioneer Fence Company, don't buy from them FYI!) will not do anything about it....even come over to give us an estimate...NICE!
So he slaved away in our yard and I slept in a little (ok maybe a lot). Cleaned house and then I went to a fun card class. Pictures to come. We have chilled the rest of the day and are now watching "Across the Universe". I'm loving it! Great movie!
Pics above are of a few of my fave things from this week.

Tea in the super lovely new mugs that Nicole gave us. Love Tim Hortons!
Lemon bars, recipe below, such a great recipe...these turned out yummy yummy yummy and I have also been really into fun packaging for when I give baked goods away. A box made to hold one cupcake held four lemon squares perfectly! These lasted about 30 minutes after I put them out at my office...they are always a hit so go and bake some! Totally delish!


Lemon Bars

Crust:
2 sticks margarine
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t. salt

Mix (by hand or mixer) till crumbly. Press into bottom of 9X13 baking pan. Bake at 350* for 15-20 min, or barely golden. While baking, prepare FILLING:

4 Eggs
2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoon flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon grated lemon rind
Powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

Beat eggs in mixer till frothy and lemon colored. Add sugar, continue beating. Add remaining ingredients, beat well, and pour over still warm crust. Bake in oven (350*) for another 20 min. Let cool, sift a lot of powdered sugar on top, cut, and EAT!

VERY IMPORTANT!! DO NOT OVER BAKE!!!!!
This is probably the main thing that distinguishes between GREAT lemon bars, and NASTY lemon bars. I check the bars around 15 min, and continue every minute or so. You want to take them out when the middle is still just a *little bit* wiggly. Just a little. If you wait till the middle is set and take them out, they will be dry.

making pretty things

So i've been eyeing this software for the cricut machine for awhile now... http://www.craftedge.com/

It cuts all TTF fonts and Dingbats that are installed on your computer using your cricut. I installed it last night and after setting everything up I was able to cut this really cute wall design using 2peas barefoot professor and 2peas DW dingbats. So cute!!! I love that it was only about $60 and you are able to use all your fave fonts. I can still see using my cartridges and buying more shape cartridges but this was WAY easy and fun!! It's on the left wall of my laundry room if you are looking at the bathroom door and I LOVE it!

Snowy trip

We had a really interesting trip driving down to Phoenix this weekend. We got just outside of Heber and saw that they were stopping all cars on the way to Payson and diverting them through the Salt River Canyon way. The roads had been really clear up until that point but on the way to Show Low from there I took the first picture...really bad messy roads. Just outside of Show Low there was an SUV completely flipped over on it's roof in the middle of the road. The roads for better as we slowly got to lower elevation and Salt River Canyon was SO pretty. I have never driven that way before and it is just stunningly beautiful. Eldon was such a rockstar driving the whole way. It took longer to go through the canyon but it was lovely. As we got to the bottom of the canyon it was raining and everything was super green. This trip is probably the most green I have ever seen the desert. It was very odd in some ways but really beautiful.
We had a lovely time with Nicole, Gene and Caleb....can't wait to see them soon!!
That's all till after the jump!

Quiz O' the week!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7ISH
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. Last movie you saw in the theater? 27 dresses, again.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy, Martha Stewart
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Crackers, toast or a granola bar…I really don’t like eating breakfast very early.
6. What is your middle name? Elizabeth
7. What food do you dislike? Eggplant, Okra and black licorice.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I’m over CD’s…my iPod rules the world.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Ranger.
10. Favorite sandwich? Ham & Cheese
11. What characteristics do you despise? Disrespect….trust me that it’s a charachteristic!
12. Favorite item of clothing? Yoga pants.
13. If you could go on a vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be? Hawaii, Disney World or Canada!!!
14. What color is your bathroom? Green
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Old Navy
16. Where would you retire? No idea!
17. Most memorable birthday? Probably my 23rd…we were in San Diego on our honeymoon.
18. Favorite sport to watch? Hockey!!
19. Favorite saying? Legend (wait for it) Dairy!!
20. When is your birthday? November 27
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Nightowl but working days so I’ve had to conform.
22. What is your shoe size? 7
23. Pets? Abby & Ariel
24. What did you want to be when you were little? A Marine biologist.
25. What are you today? Annoyed
26. What is your favorite candy? Cherry tootsie pops.
27. Your favorite flower? Stargazer lilies.
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? February 23.
29. What church/synagogue do you attend? Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
30. What are you listening to right now? Josh Groban on the iPod.
31. What was the last thing you ate? Cowboy cookies from Jaquel
32. Do you wish on stars? Only shooting ones.
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue
34. What is your pet peeve? Random banging….E has this habit of tapping his feet and hands when we are doing something quiet like watching TV or a movie and it drives me batty!
35. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Nicole
36. Favorite soft drink? Mountain Dew.
37. Favorite restaurant? Costa Vida, Joe’s, Swiss Chalet, P.F. Changs
38. Hair Color? brown
39. Favorite day of the year? Christmas morning
40. What was your favorite toy as a child? Atari.
41. Summer or winter? Summer
42. Hugs or kisses? both43. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla
44. When was the last time you cried? I don’t remember
45. What is under your bed? Some candles.
46. Who is the friend you've had the longest? Probably my sisters.
47. What did you do last night? Drove home from Phoenix and did laundry.
48. Favorite smell? The Rain, E., Mango, Clean laundry, baby.
49. What are you afraid of? I feel a bit like Monk with this question….just a few then…Spiders, Heights, Crashing in cars, flying, driving on the freeway, there are too many more to list.
50. How many keys on your key ring? 3
51. How many years at your current job? Like 3 ½?
52. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
53. How many towns have you lived in? Six
54. Do you make friends easily? I make acquaintances easily…friends is a whole ‘nother story.

Frisky

So this is just a quick post...we are spending the weekend with Nicole and Gene and Caleb and we are having lots and lots of fun. Caleb has grown so much since we last saw them and it's really great to spend time with all of them.
On another note.....around a year ago my parents had to put our cat frisky down...I took a bunch of pictures of him at christmas last year when we visited my parents and this was one of those pictures.
It's been almost a year since Frisky has been gone. He was such a great cat.

Blessings

Inner beauty, originally uploaded by borealnz.

Made some seriously yummy roasted garlic mashed po-tate-toes yesterday for dinner. SO delish. Along with some asparagus and a nice pan fried steak and we had a nice dinner-in meal for valentines day. So many times I would rather just cook at home instead of going out. I love the convenience of going out and having no dishes or cooking tasks but I love the convenience of being able to just chill and have our own schedule. Are you ever just completely of two minds on a subject. That's me with eating out...some serious up sides and some serious drawbacks. Plus I love to cook. E is so sweet...we were watching Survivor after dinner (don't you think those fan players think they know the game so well when they really don't have a clue?) ANYWAYS so an outback commercial comes on and E starts talking to the screen about how he doesn't need to go to outback because I cook for him....not that we have an outback closer than about an hour away but the thought was nice.
One of my intentions for this year is to try new recipes and the garlic mash was quite the hit. Very yummy...plus the night before the whole house smelled like yummy roasted garlic because I did that part ahead.

On a different front, work, i've been facing some challenges. I really like my work and some of the people are really great...but here's the thing about attorneys...did you ever see the movie 2 weeks notice? Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant? I have one attorney that I work for who is SO Hugh Grant. Sometimes mid way through the week I honestly feel like I will lose my ever loving mind!! Right now I have three attornies and that one has no concept of the fact that I deal with three times the workload in cases that she does. I only have three right now because we are short staffed and right after I ended up with three she asked "Is it really that much harder to work for three attorneys instead of just two?" I could barely contain my answer to just "yes". This is a total vent and I really do like my job and have fun and find it really interesting. Sometimes I even am able to come home and really feel like I made a difference...helped a victim who was raped or who has been a victim of one of the many other ways people hurt each other and really just wanted to feel like someone in the justice system was listening to them.
That part of my job I love...and the two other attorneys I work for right now are SO great...they are funny and courteous and respectful and really just great to work for.

I also really struggle with faith sometimes. It's just very different to be exposed to so much ugly all day at work. Seeing the hard cold facts that people so really really horrible things to each other. And that sometimes they do NOT get what the victims would consider "justice".

But at the same time it also just helps me feel so blessed. I am blessed to have the family and friends I have. I am blessed to have had the life I have had and that we have now. Seeing so much of the bad can really help you appreciate the good, the great, the blessings.

So in that spirit, and counting MY blessings...that I am only working a half day today because I AM GOING TO SEE NICOLE IN PHOENIX!!!!!! (and I downloaded "Twilight" for my ipod so we can listen to it while we drive even though I *just* finished reading it [i'm so obsessed it's sick]) Go and have a wonderful day! Count your blessings!

Happy Arizona Statehood Day!!

Arizona was admitted into the statehood Feb. 14, 1912 as the 48 th state. Now isin't that more importatnt than Valentines day!?

In all seriousness...I love this man. He is so much to me that just doesn't fit into the title "husband". Babe...I love you! (at this point it would be helpful if he actually read my blog, which he usually does not).

I love this poem and I know I just posted it the other day but it's a gem I tell ya!

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

Quotes

These are some of my fave quotes. Several should probably be classified more as poems but whatever! I like them!


I love the challenge of starting at zero every day and seeing how much I can accomplish.
-Martha Stewart

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.
-Mary Lou Cook

The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in. –James Baldwin

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

----from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson.

Tell me I'm clever, Tell me I'm kind, Tell me I'm talented, Tell me I'm cute, Tell me I'm sensitive, Graceful and wise, Tell me I'm perfect-- But tell me the truth.
Shel Silverstein quote

If you are a dreamer,come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!
Shel Silverstein quote

When you get to the end of all the light you know and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.
Edward Teller quotes

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn


I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
Dawna Markova

Mosiac Monday

I am Inspired!

1. Pierre Herme's box of Macaroons, 2. St. George Station, 3. my deco tapes, 4. route 66. holbrook, az. 2007., 5. Sudbury Water Tower, 6. Sudbury tradition, 7. Spring is here, 8. trader joe's cupcake: vanilla, 9. Martha Stewart Meets Edward Scissorhands, 10. BitterLemon3, 11. gummy bear *, 12. Lollipop lollipop, ohhh la lollipop, 13. Rainbow of Peace, 14. mini chili chocolate cupcakes, 15. Happy Valentine's Day, 16. a fairy cake, 17. Like Floating, 18. Starring: A Cactus Macro, 19. Star light, Star Bright, 20. Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, 21. Organised buttons!, 22. Glitter Knitting Needles, 23. Socks, sockets, 24. Untitled, 25. The Emerald Tornado

Brownies

Kimmy took these adorable pictues of the brownies I made yesterday (I brought her a few at Bellydancing) and the super secret recipe that could get me banned from being oh so very Martha is that I totally use canned frosting. Not always but sometimes and this frosting ROCKS! Just right. Not too sweet or chocolatey and it's awesome on brownies. Also. Ariel is totally still loving her little hideaway. She spends a majority of her time up there and it's WAY freaky when she jumps down and you didn't know that she was up there. I'm just saying. Working on Eldon's mssion scrabpook. Still.
Laters!!

Saturday

Typical Saturday at our house lately consists of E getting up early and leaving for meetings, me sleeping in and then cleaning the house from top to bottom. Not exactly the bast part of my week. I do enjoy having a clean house as much as the next person but it does get old cleaning the whole house by yourself and then asking someone else to do one small task out of everything and having them not do it or take a really long time to get it done because they have other things they want to do. Not naming nay names here but it seriously gets on my nerves. It's a little hard to be patient and sweet when you have really done nothing fun all day either ya know?

My super fab friend Kimmy picked up some really sweet cupcake patterned paper for me at Scrapbooks Etc. Can't wait to go there next weekend let me tell you! That and a pedi are tops on my list right after seeing NICOLE!!!

So Excited for Nicole to be home! Actually since I took and dinner break and wen't to denny's with E and J i'm thinking she may be home now!!

Well i'm in bed and i'm going to post this and then watch "The Jane Austen Book Club" while the boys play a little resident evil...not exactly my thing...thank heavens for laptops!

Oh and I made those awesome brownies again. SO delish!!! Totally a keeper recipe!

Night!

My Fave Slippers

I LURVE these slippers. They are only about $3 in chinatown...however I am usually deprived of a chinatown so I have to stock up and have them sent to me. These ones were mailed by my darling sisters and I LURVE them too! I love these slippers because they are not hot or heavy. But since we have all tile and wood it's great having something to protect my feet. Thanks Kendra and Angela!

Twilight

These live at my house now and i'm a happy happy girl! Such good books and is it a sad thing that I already wrote the movie release date on my calendar? It's there. December 12, 2008. It may be E's b-day but I already have plans with Edward thankyouverymuch!

Super Fudgy Brownies

Moving on from someone sweet to something sweet. But just right sweet not so sweet it makes your teeth hurt.

These were super yummy super fudgy and really hit the spot. That spot of me that wanted to stay under the covers with a heating pad eating brownies and reading books and poppin advil if you know what I mean. Eldon liked them too....when I stopped threatening him with my fork and let him share. Just kidding....he ate half the pan.


Make them. And they are not lying when they tell you to line the pan with parchment paper. Such a good tip!


http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=42c6d3e8bc6e1110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=type_1&autonomy_kw=super%20fudgy%20brownies

Happy B-Day Nicole!!

Nicole is such a good friend for so many reasons. I've known her for years and I'm so glad she's part of my life.













I mean you need a friend who knows exactly what you like at Jamba juice!













And who always has the Canadian food you are missing in your stash. (Also handy to have someone who also goes home to Canada to help keep the stash stocked)

















She taught me how to scrapbook! Need I say more? Ok then. It's awesome to have a friend to scrap shop with. She has great taste and a super memory which is helpful when I need a piece of that paper we saw three weeks ago for a project i'm working on.













She's super sweet, thoughtful and has a wicked sense of humor which is a must. She is completely someone you can tell anything to and she will listen and help as much as she can. Also she is a really patient person (which I know has been tested this year as well at her sense of humor...and she's passed with flying colours). She gets me....you know those friends that you can talk to who understand what you are talking about when someone else would just go "huh?".
















She is from Sudbury. I know it sounds wierd but being an expat and living away from your family and your country can he a real big deal sometimes and it's great having someone who understands all that.




















We bond over cupcakes. It's fun having friends who share your obsessions I mean HOBBIES!
These are a present I made Nicole! Suprise!

So for all of these reasons she's an awesome friend, my best friend really, i'm glad you're in my life Nicole! Happy Birthday!!!

SNOW DAY!!

Just some pictures of our crazy snow. The cats were loving it!! This is the most snow I have ever seen living in Arizona I think!

This is what I anticipate Eldon doing today

E. has a snow day. So this is what I anticipate him doing all day. Looking for our funny cats as they find places they like to crash out. Ariel has been loving this spot on top of our computer desk.

Back to the snow day. I don't think that this has happened for like 60 years is the rumor. So what does he do? He's the webmaster so he goes to the school to post it on the website. Gotta love it! Leaving the house at 6:30 am on a SNOW DAY to go to school, which is canceled!

I will probably still be schlepping into work because i'm sure that our offices will still be open. (Can't stop the law and all that jazz). Anyways there was a lot of phone call frenzy this morning so I was awake early and decided to blog. Off to get ready for my day now.

there is another storm warning for tonight

So I totally wasn't kidding about the snow. There was rain for about a half hour last Monday night and then when I was cleaning our entryway I opened the door to this. Yes we live in Arizona so a little snow like this is a big deal but I kid you not that Monday and Tuesday of the week that just passed is probably the worst snow i've ever seen here. And there are winter storm warnings for tonight.

We are chillin' in the house. Watching the superbowl (I know how AMERICAN!) which for me really just means watching Peyton Manning when they show him in the stands or he's on commercials and watching the commercials in general so expect blogging! I made super yummy brownies with walnuts and chocolate frosting yesterday (still half a pan that are calling my name) and I will be posting the recipe + photograph because they were really good. Kim you want me to send one to work for you? All I can say is that those brownies, a heating pad, and liquid advil are seriously all that's getting me through the day. It's that type of a day for the human baromoter.

Go local sports team go!! Oh wait...they are playing in Arizona but Arizona is not playing....i forgot that part....OK then...GO PEYTON MANNING!

happy girl

This is what I have been doing all day. Adding music to my itunes and setting up the new laptop we bought because my ipod has more memory than our desktop. I'm really having fun playing with it and am loving that we can use it in other areas of the house. Totally happy!

Laters!

good housekeeping

I think we have a pretty normal house life generally but sometimes I am just blown away by how much Eldon does around the house. He is such a good husband and honestly I appreciate him SO much!
I really enjoyed the article I posted above....so interesting to see the different perspectives and gender roles from decades ago and how it is today.
Eldon is such a trooper. When he is off on breaks and during the summer he is so SWEET and takes care of almost everything at home while i'm at work. His honey do list can get really long but he does a great job at getting things done.
So here's to a happy home and not having to know your place!