Please Pray for my Mom

Many of you know my mom is in the hospital (for those of you that don't, she had to have surgery due to a sickness she has been battling for almost 4 years). It's day 13 now and she is still not well enough to come home. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you.

Oh Sweet Sadie and aLpHaBeTs!

What you ask?? Oh Sweet Sadie is a 'traveling boutique' that is sure to delight your fancy...especially if you heart Farmer's Markets and the like. Oh Sweet Sadies features over 80 talented local artisans; beautiful clothing for adults and children, original home decor, everything for baby, retro toys, neck ties for your man, scented candles, pettiskirts, card and gift tags, mineral makeup, jewelry galore, funky hair accessories, vintage cake plates, useful notepads, designer jeans, original art work and photography, beautiful handmade quilts, dress ups, adorable ribbons, gumballs, scrumptious baked goods, homeade candy, games and toys for girls and boys, and oh so much more!

*Note, while you are there, check out 'Oopsie Daisy', a new children's boutique in Daybreak. I hear it is adorable! They have everything you need from pregnancy all the way through- maternity clothes, furniture, beautiful children's clothes, shoes, toys, and gifts. A B.G. client was in today and she has been helping with the opening of the store and said it is wonderful!...{{Wish I was prego and could partake of its cuteness}}

Where you ask?? SoDa Row, Daybreak's new Retail Shopping District

When you ask?? Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! 9:30 am- 8:00 pm
I am going right after work...can't wait!

And speaking of work....the Black Goose Design is bustling with aLpHaBets...

New aLpHabeT charms and aLpHaBet letters to decorate with...cute chunky painted and distressed letters! Who knew letters could be so fun?! I will post some pictures soon..when I find my camera!

F is for FALL...F is for FAVORITE!

I think Fall is the most delightful time of the year! I love the smell of pumpkins burning around Halloween, I love how the colder air feels so crisp, I love the colors in the mountains, I LOVE Fall clothes (you can layer and layer and layer--scarves, tights, boots, hats..so fun!), I love drinking hot apple-cider, curling up with a book and turning the fireplace on....I could go on and on. These are some of my favorite Fall ideas. I want to have a little dinner party just so I can make place cards in mini pumpkins and then maybe I will serve SCARY spider-web cookies for dessert (or even better, do that treatment on chocolate cupcakes!!)

{Recipe Spotlight}

If you like apple-cider as much as I do, you will really enjoy this recipe...

.::Hot Strawberry-Apple Cider::.
8 cups apple cider or apple juice (Tree-Top is the best!)

1 10 oz. package frozen sliced strawberries

4 inches stick cinnamon

1 teaspoon whole cloves

Fresh strawberry or apple slices

Cinnamon sticks

Combine cider or juice, frozen sliced strawberries, the 4 inches stick cinnamon and cloves in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve lined with 100% cotton cheesecloth. Serve with your favorite teacups and garnish with a cinnamon stick and fresh strawberry or apple slice. Makes 8, 8 oz. servings. Yum!

If only.

Meet Elimovna.

She's from a darling little place called Anthropologie.

If only she were $29.80 instead of $298.00...

I would promise to love her forever.

If only.

Friday, Won't You Please Come Sooner?

The next two Fridays promise delightful entertainment at the Box Office... Can't wait!!

If only I had more time to read...I would read both books before the movies come out...but I don't...so I think I'll just see the movies...maybe twice...perhaps three times.

.::Julie & Julia::.

Opens this Friday, August 7th

{{a brief synopsis from the Julie & Julia website...}}

Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron's adaptation of two best selling memoirs: Powell's Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen, and My Life in France, by Julia Child.

Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though by separated by time and space, are both at loose ends..until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.

{{on Julie Powell's book Julie & Julia...}}

Julie Powell, who was nearing thirty and trapped in her dead-end secretarial job, resolved to reclaim her life by cooking, in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpexted reward: not just a newfound respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto.

{{on Julia Child's book My Life in France...}}

Julia Child single-handedly created a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she was not always a master chef.

Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia’s unforgettable story – struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took them across the globe – unfolds with the spirit so key to her success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of the most endearing American personalities of the last fifty years.

and a little more.....

After a little research, I found the original Julie/Julia Project blog (for those of you that don't know, Julie Powell started a blog in which she posted about each of the recipes in Julia's book and her quest to cook through them! You can find it here. If you would like to read a little bit about her current life, her latest blog is here.

.::The Time Traveler's Wife::.

Opens next Friday, August 14th

First things first...I think Rachel McAdams is absolutely adorable. I would see any movie that she was in. Second, I have heard that the book The Time Traveler's Wife is amazing (A Best-Selling Novel).

{{a brief synopsis from The Time Traveler's Wife website...}}

The Time Traveler's Wife is based on the best-selling book about a love that transends time. Clare (Rachel McAdams) has been in love with Henry (Eric Bana) her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows when they will be separated: Henry is a time traveler--cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shiftime timeline, skipping back and forth through his lifespan with no control. Despite the fact that Henry's travels force them apart with no warning, Clare desperately tries to build a life with her one true love.

Dear Denise,

.....And you will be missed dearly. Thank you for being such an amazing example, teacher, manager and FRIEND.

.:Rainy Day Recipe Spotlight:.

Call me crazy, but I enjoy rainy days.

I think it is because we don't get them a lot (well, with the exception of this week). *Disclaimer: I must admit that every time I smile at the wet window pane when I wake up, I think of a poor bride that is getting married today who is probably not as thrilled; however, they say rain on your day of wedded bliss is a sign of good luck?....

There is something about the smell of a rainy day, the sound of the rain as it hits the rooftop and windows, and how the gloomy weather makes you want to put on your most comfortable jammies and read a good book by the fire. I love it.

It also makes me want to eat yummy soup and so I did just that. Taco soup to be exact.

I'm no Rachel Ray, but I would say my soup was delish'!

.:Taco Soup:.

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion

1 package taco seasoning

1 160z can kidney beans (drained)

1 16oz can tomato sauce

1 16oz can corn (not-drained)

1 28oz can stewed tomatoes

Brown beef and onion. Drain. Add taco seasoning, corn, beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

I topped mine with tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, sour cream, olives, and fresh cilantro (may substitute cilantro for green onions).

Enjoy!