Today is the Day

'There are many fine things which you mean to do one day, under what you think will be more favorable circumstancs. But the only time that is surely yours is the present, hence this is the time to speak the word of appreciation and sympathy, to do the generous deed, to forgive the fault of a thoughtful friend, to sacrifice self a little more for others.

Today is the day in which to express your noblest qualities of mind and heart, to do at least one worthy thing which you have long postponed, and to use your God-given abilities for the enrichment of some less fortunate fellow traveler."

Greenville Kleiser 1868-1953

Really like this quote.

SO I haven't posted in a long while.

School got started; therefore: life got busy. (I'm a substitute.) Plus we're moving, plus I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant! I've been so tired. But as I was looking at that Grosgrain giveaway, I decided to stop being lazy and post something. Didn't have much of a plan about what I was going to post though... So, after some thought, this post is a spring board. Something to get me going again. I will post a real post later on today, after I have time to figure out what to post about. Haha.

In the mean time... I have REALLY been enjoying the recipes over here. OOO!! And HERE! I love the pictures on this site.

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Seriously. Holy Heck. WOW. These are some AMAZING costumes!!! I cannot BELIEVE she is GIVING THEM AWAY!! Oh I hope, I hope, I SOOO hope!!! These would look incredible on my nieces! Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

(Just a side note: Awesome pic huh? There are TONS more on her blog. She's a great photographer!)

Sometimes I hate blogger.

I've been trying to add some pictures to a post and IT. IS. NOT. WORKING.
Well, actually it is working, but not how I want it to. So, I guess I'll just say that I'm getting some ramekins tomorrow and a new rolling pin.
Excited about that. NOT excited about blogger tonight. BOO.

Kookles Nursing Cover GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Kookles Nursing Cover GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
It's just what I'm gonna be needing in a few months! Though as I found out today... A BLUE one would be more appropriate! Haha... But really I would just love to have one. :)

Just Cook Already; A Giveaway.

Just Cook Already is having a give away!! And it's good stuff too.

Like Williams and Sonoma good.

They have several ways that you can enter:

-twitter/blog about them & leave the address where they can see it!
-leave a comment with your favorite just cook already recipe.
-become a follower.
-grab their button!

I love giveaways; and this is a GOOD one!

Fabulous French Cookies with a Mexican Twist

MMMMM. I made pommiers (you say that palm-EE-es; love the French, just wish they could spell! Haha.) But I put a Mexican spin on it. I wanted them to taste similar to churros. (We were going to a dinner party. She made Mexican Food.)

Don't let the french name scare you. They are SOOO simple and quick to make.

Ingredients:


1 puff pastry sheet thawed
1-2 cups sugar
cinnamon to taste
1 egg white

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Mix the sugar and cinnamon. Liberally dust your counter top with the cinnamon and sugar. Unfold the puff pastry, place on counter top and coat top with cinnamon and sugar. Roll out the puff pastry to around 17" by 13" (Or about the size of a cookie sheet.) Roll in both sides of the short ends until they meet in the middle. (It will look like a scroll.) Cut the scroll in to 1/4 inch pieces and lay on a cookie sheet. Brush each cookie with the egg white and put them in the oven for 12-15 min. Watch them closely! You want them to brown and have the sugar caramelize but, with all the sugar in them they can go from perfect to over done quickly.

Enjoy!

I *REALLY* want this book

I looked through this book while I was at Barnes & Noble last night. It is awesome! It has some great ideas. And lots of pretty pictures. I'm a sucker for pretty pictures.

There's a stenciled quilt pattern I'm dying to try out...

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!
Nuts! I didn't do it right yesterday... But here it is all fixed. If you haven't already, go check it out!

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Should I be this excited?

I just got size 50(!) knitting needles! I didn't even know they MADE size 50 needles. And I got'em for a buck 99. Seriously. I have no idea what I'm gonna make with them yet... any ideas? They're HUGE!

But WOW! I love good deals.

They look like this only mine are yellow and therefor cooler.

Beautiful Giveaway at Grosgrain!

I mean, just LOOK at it! You can try your luck too. Just head on over.

Good luck... But I hope I win. ;)

More Simple Pasta

Ingredients:

12ish oz spaghetti
3ish cups rough chopped tomatoes
1/4ish cup minced garlic
1ish cup fresh chopped mushrooms (I used cremini)
1/4ish cup parsley (or carrot tops...)
1 stick butter
1-2 tbsp dried basil
1-2 tsp red chili flakes
Salt to taste
Parmesan Cheese to taste

Boil a large pan of water, salt it WELL and drop your pasta. Melt the butter and saute the garlic on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Do not let it brown, you just want the flavor to really come out. Add the mushrooms, salt them and saute for 5ish minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, and chili flakes. Cook until the tomatoes soften and give off their juices. Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. Grate in the Parmesan mixing it in with the pasta often to create a nice cheesy layer over all the pasta. Add in the parsley and salt to taste. Transfer to your serving dish and top with with more Parmesan and parsley if desired.

The Year of Living Biblically, One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

This book was awesome!
Author, A. J. Jacobs puts himself through some crazy experiences. Like stoning an adulterer. Really he did. Not to death and only with pebbles... but stone the man he did. He also herded sheep in Jerusalem, grew he beard out to abnormal lengths, wore only white and observed the Passover by not only holding a Passover dinner, but also by painting his doorway with the drippings from his lamb roast. Basically he did everything he could to follow ALL the rules in the Bible. (Even the crazy obscure ones that most of us have never heard of like, not wearing clothing made of mixed fibers.)
The resulting story is both hilarious and touchingly insightful. He spends a lot of time fighting with his secular self and his religious alter ego that he calls "Jacob". In the end, it does seem that his year of living biblically changes him permanently. As living the Laws of God are wont to do.
It's a great read.

I. Love. This. Movie.

QUICK and EASY Spicy Shrimp, Sausage and Tomato Pasta

So I didn't get started on any projects yesterday. We had a dinner party instead! It was kind of impromptu. But I think the pasta dish and ice cream I made turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. The pasta was an exercise in what-do -I-have-on-hand-that-I-can-serve-company. The ice cream came about because it was hot and I thought homemade ice cream would be a good way to cool off.

The pasta was SOOO easy. And easily adapted or copied. AND FAST!!! Love those kind of meals.

Ingredients:
5 Italian Hot Sausages (You can use mild or sweet if you like... but the extra kick was nice.)
1 stick butter
8ish cloves minced garlic or ~ 1/2 cup
1 lbish de-shelled and de-veined shrimp
1 1/2ish cups rough chopped tomatoes
1/2ish cup minced parsley (or carrot tops like I used... they taste the same!)
1/2 cup shredded or ribboned Parmesan cheese
enough pasta for 6 people... I used a package and a half (~ 27 oz) of spaghetti
1 cupish reserved pasta water

As you can tell from my ingredients list I'm a "little bit of this and a little bit of that chief"... I measure NOTHING! Except of course when I'm baking. Measuring is a given when baking. No choice really. But! Feel free to adapt this recipe in anyway you like. That's what recipes are for in my opinion. Adaption.

Boil a large pan of water, salt it WELL and drop your pasta. Half the sausages, remove their casing and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces. Put in a hot pan with the butter. Cook until almost done. Add the garlic, shrimp and tomatoes. Cook until the shrimp are almost done then add the drained pasta and most of the parsley (or carrot tops! :) ) Mix the pasta in with the "sauce" and add the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce and coat all the pasta.

Transfer to your serving dish and top with the remainder parsley and Parmesan. To make the ribbons: use your potato peeler and "peel" off ribbons of the parm!

That's it! You're done!

This dish really only takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. So 15 minutes or less! Woohoo! And it's so pretty done- it really is company worthy.
Enjoy!

O!! p.s.: My mod podged picture frame from the other day? It unbubbled it's self as it dried. YAY!

Modge Podge Spring Board?

So I finally DID something today! Yay me! I'm a substitute teacher and as such I have the summer off. But I've hardly done a thing. Boo me. I can't say that I've done nothing, I've been reading quite a bit. (My current fav is The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs- I got it for my birthday a two days ago and I'm half way done. I'd be done if I hadn't been on line so much!) I also made a fun baby blanket for one of my friend's soon to be born son. But I digress... Now that we have the internet again, I have been wasting my time online. Again, BOO me!
I have gotten SOOO much inspiration from a bunch of different crafty blogs though. I've been so engrossed in them that, until today, I've done nothing about it. Finally, I decided to get up, get out my Mod Podge stuff and get to work on a picture frame project that I've had waiting for me for months.
Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. It bubbled a little. I'll live, but when things aren't perfect it bugs me. Mod Podge is harder to fix then, say, crochet. With crochet if something isn't up to my specifications I can rip it out and start over from the mistake. Glue doesn't let you 'rip it out'. Because it rips. And then it's ruined. So BOO for not putting enough glue down in the first place. If I'd done that it wouldn't have bubbled when I put the 'Podge on the top.
O-well. I guess progress is progress. I've seen a couple sewing projects that I'm thinking about tackling... Hopefully I can use today as a spring board of motivation for tomorrow.

Pho, Bubble Tea, Godiva, Borders, Choir and Pizza. In that order.

Today was my birthday. I say today because I haven't gone to sleep yet. I say was because it's one in the morning and is therefore technically no longer my birthday. It was a fabulous day. Full of favorite things. We (meaning my husband and I) had pho from my favorite pho place in Utah. They also have some FABULOUS bubble tea there. I highly recommend it. (Kim Long in Layton.) Then we went to Godiva and I got a 32 (!) box!!!!! We then enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere of Borders where I got 2 books. The Geography of Bliss and another one about a guy who lived the bible literally for a year... I forget the name so I will have to add it later. We then booked it back to town so that I would be on time for choir. I sang and a friend and I had fun doing what the director told us not to do... But immediately after singing it very wrong he told us that that was right!? So we had a good laugh. Then, said friend joined the hubster and I for pizza at The Pie. All in all, a day of favorites! I'm tired.

Ballet Shoes and Yarn and Hooks and Books

This is a blog dedicated to my favorite things.
Thus the title. I happen to have a deep abiding love of ballet shoes and yarn and (crochet) hooks and books. So as a beginning:

My favorite things; a list.

ballet shoes
yarn
crochet hooks
books
dave
zuppa tuscana
pretty dishes
dresses
lilacs
classical music
spencer
dance
rainy days
home school
anne of green gables
long showers
tea parties
tomato soup
kitties
mom
birthdays
beads
bread
fabric
singing
disneyland
volleyball
chocolate
seattle
boats
the ocean
old houses
pasta
food network
farmer's markets
journals
home
interesting conversation
the nutcracker
dessert
sushi

This list is by no means all inclusive...