A Charlie's Angels Adventure

Sigh, I miss Summer.  When it is Summer you forget how good you have it- with the warm sun shining on you and endless amounts of garden veggies coming from the backyard.  It's easy to just focus on the mosquito bites and sunburn.  While going through my cell phone photos I came across many from the summer.  One night my husband took my friend Eileen and I to the local fair.  We felt like we were Charlie's Angels on an adventure.

There were helicopters:

 

Snow mobiles:

 

 

And fine dining:

(That's my ferocious steak on a stick face.)

 

Other fair attractions included garden displays:

 

The official countdown to nice weather has started!!

 

Loving The Memories

2012 started on a sad note.  Our funny- life of the party Uncle "Juice" passed away on January 5th.  First it was shock, then anger, then sadness, now I can finally smile when I think of happy times although still with tears in my eyes. 

 

Juice was loud- he had outbursts at dinner (on purpose), passed gas and blamed it on someone else and would take your dinner plate before you were done.  "Go get some more food, this is cold." 

He was a great mix of OCD and laughs.  Unfortunately, he became sick and his body couldn't take it anymore.  His short 52 years were lived quickly but he jam packed a lot of life into them.  If only everyone could be so lucky.

 

Thankfully there are great memories to get us through it.

Juice fell in love with us when we were little as his first niece and nephew.  You can tell my brother was the apple of his eye.  He would become my brother's Godfather.

 

Juice with my Brother and Father at my wedding.

 

Juice attacking a bear- couldn't take him anywhere.  (Apologies to the bear).

 

 

At my Father's retirement party.  He was surrounded by friends and family which loved him.  Not sure why everyone was leaning.

 

My Uncles and Mom.

The point of this post isn't for sadness.  It's to help let everyone know what a great Uncle we had, and what a great Uncle we now don't physically have anymore.  This Christmas will be the first without him.  Without him telling you what your present is before you open it or telling you the bread isn't that fresh.  But I am thankful for all the Christmas seasons I had with him.  So thank you Juice.

 

We love you, keep an eye on us. And if that is you passing gas from Heaven cut it out.

xoxoxox

Here Chickie Chickie

I love animals for as long as I can remember.  When I was a child I would save my money in hopes of buying a horse and drew posters that I put on my bedroom door proclaiming the whales should be saved. For the last two to three years I have been "chirping" to my husband I wanted chickens.  I imagined myself wearing rain boots, going out in the morning and being greeted with an egg or two. 

To my surprise I came home from work on my 30th birthday to this:

My husband construced the hen house while I was at work.  It can accomodate up to four chickens but we decided to start out with two.  After waiting about a month I found a great lady in NJ that had the breeds I was looking for.  We purchased a White Silkie and a Buff Orpington. 

The ladies love to hang out.

They also love to eat and eat....and eat.  And I don't think I have to mention what happens when animals eat and eat and eat.  Let's just say there is a lot of cleaning up after the girls and pampering them with new wood chip bedding every morning!

I haven't had an egg yet, but from online research/ forums searching it seems many people play the same waiting game.  I look forward to the day I am out there while the sun is rising and see a fresh gleaming egg looking back at me.  For now though the girls can just look pretty.

The Case of the Doppelganger

I am sure we have all heard of a case of the doppelganger.  In one of my favorite shows, Vampire Diaries, the main character Elena is a doppelganger.  Her evil counterpart haunts her through the various episodes and tries to steal her boyfriend (who doesn't love a good vampire love drama triangle?!) 

My doppelganger was far from evil- she was my Grandmother.  Recently I decided to declutter a closet and happened across many photos from when I was younger.  In this pile of photos I found one of my Grandmother (my Dad's Mother).  I am not sure why this photo was mixed in with photos of my brother and I playing with toys I wish I still had, or photos of my baby brother sitting on me for fun (funny, real funny), or even our grand trip to Las Vegas in the 1990's.  But the photo was there, calling to me to pay it some well deserved attention.

Here is a photo of my Grandmother taken sometime in the 1930's.

(She is on the far right, hugging the shorter child).

And here is a photo of me around the age of 7 hugging our neighbor, Megan.

We are almost making the same face!

My Dad also had a Doppleganger.  Many years ago we were going through old car magazines and I came across this photo.  I couldn't help but exclaim "Mom, look Dad's in this photo!"  To which my Mother said, "That better not be your Father, because that isn't me sitting next to him!"  (Oops). 

Here is my Dad sitting in an old car with us back when we visited the car museum in Las Vegas.

Do you believe in Doppelgangers?  I know there are so many variations to genes and people but I have to believe that somewhere, somehow there is someone that looks just like you.  Maybe they speak another language, but what if your life mirrored them?  When I look at the old photo of my "Dad" I can't help but wonder if my Dad's love for cars is deep in his being because of his Doppelganger.

Be on the lookout, you never know when you will see yourself- and you aren't looking in a mirror.

The Epic Fail (And Coconut Macaroon Bites)

I consider myself a pretty good baker.  I follow the directions, measure things out almost to the exact line on the measuring cup and hover over the oven like a chicken hatching an egg. 
So you can understand my shock when I had an EPIC FAIL.

I decided to bake yesterday since we were having a going away party for a co-worker.  Who wants to bake the same old thing?  On the agenda was a friends Mother-In-Law's recipe for coconut macaroons.  I had first tasted these at a recent bridal shower and fell in love with them.  Ooey in the center, crisp on the exterior, just the right amount of sweetness.

The baking process started out as usual for me.  I pulled out the ingredients needed.

Started measuring ingredients.

Mixing everything together.



This is the part where I was still blissfully unaware of the epic fail.  I read "line the baking sheets" and neglected to read "with parchment paper".  Instead I lined them with wax paper.

I then used an ice cream scoop with the golf ball sized coconut mixture.

And then 12 minutes into baking I emerge from the other end of the house and notice smoke.  Hmm that's weird.  Then I notice a burning smell.  Not the macaroons!!  I run into the kitchen to find the wax paper burning.  Quickly taking the cookies out of the oven the botttoms were stuck to the wax paper.

I had to bring out the fan and open all windows before the smoke detectors went crazy.

Then I came up with an idea...what if I took the top parts (non burnt/melted to the wax paper) parts of the cookies and rolled them into balls?

Not bad but I couldn't make this the last baking item my soon to leave co-worker was going to eat from me.  So I dressed them up in fancy foil cups and drizzled some melted chocolate on top.

The combination of chocolate, coconut and sweetness reminded me of a candy bar. In the end I turned my epic fail into a masterpiece.  (I had to sample a few just to make sure).

Growing Up

When I think about what I want to be when I "Grow Up" it has meant a variety of things to me.  My dreams are always evolving and changing.  This is to be expected as my goals in life morph and work around my mindset, age and knowledge.  My 5 year old brain is different from my 15 year old brain and from my 25 year old brain. I often hear people comment "If I could only be a child again."  Sure it was fantastic to play outside for hours and not worry about paying a mortgage, taking your dog to the vet and what's for dinner.  But my mind back then was undeveloped (heck even today I still have a lot to learn).  I would not want to revert back to a time when I didn't know everything I know today. 
Here are some examples of how my life has changed.

 At age 5 I wanted to grow up and become a dancer.

I found out my pixie like frame was great for jumping and bouncing around, but my soon to be large feet would hinder me from looking good in dancing shoes.
 Now I own shoes that fool you into thinking my foot isn't a size 10.  (And I still have my size 2 tap shoes to fantasize with).

At age 6 I was convinced I was a princess and had the crown to prove it!

I realized I may be Daddy's Little Princess but the royalty checks never came from Britain.  (Wonder if they went to the same address my Royal invitation went to?) 

Instead I found a man who treats me like a queen.

At age 7 I was thoroughly convinced I was an animal/wild creature/mystical.  I would gallop around the house, make animal noises and as the below photo demonstrates- conned my Mother into making me a unicorn for Halloween.  I wore this costume long after Halloween had ended.  In fact I wore this costume until my head wouldn't fit in it anymore.

When I went to school and realized none of the other kids galloped instead of skipped I started to question the true mystical powers I might be possessing. 

I find my creativity is now better put into writing.

I wanted to be a farmer and have a rambling farm with chickens, cows and a field of daisies.  Dad let us on the mower, but only when parked. 

Today I took these skills and have a nice sized backyard with tons of flowers and a great vegetable garden.  I have the occassional stray bunny in my backyard and would still like to get a chicken.

At age 10 my Mom entered the fair and won Best In Show!  She pushed me to start baking and I eventually won a blue ribbon.

Now my baked goods are asked for by co-workers.

As I continue to grow as a person and cough *age* I can only hope that I look as great in fur, a feathered hat , funny glasses and costume jewelery as I did at the age of 11.

The Royal Wedding

I have been eagerly anticipating the royal wedding for months.  No not because I wanted to see the Queen or royals from far away lands, but for the hats!!  I adore hats, especially vintage ones.  The feathers, the embellishments, studded hat pins, satin, wool, various textures.  *sigh*.  I would have fit in perfectly at an event such as this showcasing one of my vintage hats.  My Dad always tells me that I have a perfect head for a hat, and if my Grandmother was still alive she would envy my hat collection. 

For the life of me I don't know why my royal invitation didn't make it in the mail- perchance I should smile more at the mail delivery people.

While watching the royal wedding (which I had to DVR due to the time difference) I noticed a striking similarity between myself and Kate Middleton.  She was wearing the exact wedding dress that was depicted in my wedding caricature.  I need to then assume my wedding carciature was "leaked" on the internet and the creative forces behind the royal wedding dream machine "borrowed" some of these dress ideas.  It's ok, I am flattered, really...but my invitation should have had signature required to guarantee it arrived.

You can view the official royal wedding photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy/