My new aspiration...

Who'd have thought that a Valentine's evening alone, a consolatory movie, and a little imagination would lead me to the next thing I want to do with my life. That is, this:


No, that's not me swooning in white. I'm in red, a Bollywood dancer. Never mind that I'm quite tall, not super fast moving, and really very white - I think it'd be a blast to learn the choreography - and nothing some spray tan and CGI can't fix, right?

Okay, so the movie I watched was Marigold. It is, admittedly, a bit predictable (okay, a lot) and some of the dialogue wasn't as snappy as I would like, but overall a very innocent and enjoyable way to spend a Saturday night. India is a beautiful place according to this movie. I envied the sun on Ali Larter's face (while in the back of my mind I was worrying about sunburn). And, there were a couple really great Hindi dance numbers, which leads us to my newest calling. Okay, if I can't be in a Bollywood film - maybe I could start a fitness craze doing aerobics to hindi dance music. I can see it now: Bolly-cize.

Okay, for something I do know about, here's a picture of the invitation/bookmarks I made last night. A girl that goes to my church/her mom goes to my church had a baby, but declined to have a baby shower, so we're sending her a card shower.


These things were handed out at church and they have instructions to bring a card next week and they'll all be packaged up together. For having purchased the paper, ribbon, and flowers at about 5pm and finishing before bed last night, I think they turned out pretty cute. They have a Bible verse to start out, then the baby's vitals, and finally the instructions.

It's a long weekend (hallelujah!) and I'm planning to do some scrapbooking, as well as making a few major changes in my life. Stay tuned for what those changes are. I also hope to go to a movie - especially Confessions of a Shopoholic. Having loved the books SO MUCH, I'm really not expecting much from the movie, but I did see a ten foot tall shopping bag with rope handles at a movie theater I went to in December, and for some reason that sealed it. I've got to see any movie that advertises using gigantic carrier bags.

Orange-Vanilla Bean Touchdown Dance

Okay, first off, I'd like to thank Firefly's husband, Ben, for deciding to sell his computer for parts money for a new computer. Secondly, I'd like to thank him for listing it on craigslist while I was visiting Firefly. And finally, I'd like to thank him for removing it from craigslist and selling it to me.

So now, my friends, I have a laptop computer complete with hard drive space, wireless capability, functioning battery, functioning keyboard/touchpad interface, and the ability to print! Thank you, Ben, thank you! I'm hoping to never repeat the New Year's Resolution post experience again.

My most recent issue of Martha Stewart Magazine featured cupcakes on the front and a bunch of delicious sounding recipes in the inside, so I decided to try my hand at the best sounding of all - Orange-Vanilla Bean Cupcakes. Here are the results:


You may notice that only one is frosted. Well, the recipe called for a swiss meringue frosting, but I wasn't sure that I wanted meringue, so I decided to try an orange vanilla version of cream cheese frosting. But, when I tasted the combination of frosting and cupcake, I realized that the cream cheese frosting was much too sweet and over powered the delicate flavor of the cupcake - so after a little experimenting I served the cupcakes warm with unsweetened whipped cream that was whipped with some vanilla and orange zest. So delicious!

Do you know how little vanilla beans are? Very tiny. Like bits of dirt. Smaller than sand. I know because I got them all over myself after scraping the pods. In this picture you can see how tiny they are.

Another thing of note about vanilla bean pods - they are expensive. I looked for them at a local grocery store and found them for $17.50 for two, or $10.50 for one, or $7.99 for two and figured "well, Martha can afford to write these recipes, but everday people must just drool over them" when I decided to check the bulk section. 99 cents a piece, folks. I did the touchdown arm gesture before remembering I was in a store. What have we learned from this? Always check bulk spices. It's really the way to go because you can buy only what you need and have fresh so your cooking is at it's tastiest. (Also, don't let merryheathre get too involved in a quest for spices. She talks to herself and does weird little dances of joy when she finds what she was looking for.)

Here's a cute little dog curled up on my couch! I think I'll keep her.

After a short detour through downtown...

Last Friday night I was dreading another depressing, deflating experience at my small town church that inevitably leaves me angry and frustrated. So, I looked around to see what else was going on and noticed a special event called GODencounters that was being held at UW. Of course, I caught the ferry and headed over. I was very proud of myself because, despite getting on the express lanes which have no exit to UW when they're heading south, I was nearly on time!

The speaker, Matthew Gamble, was great. I've heard him speak before and always appreciated his humor, but this time he said some pretty heavy things that really resonated with me. In the morning he talked about Romans 8, then in the afternoon the focus was "Be still and know that I am God." It was really refreshing, and even though I was "alone" among about 170 people I had a wonderful time. It was nice to be reminded that NO MATTER what I experience, Jesus has experienced it, too. He doesn't leave just because we're going through unpleasantness. He's the person you can call when you don't want to be too negative or depress anyone else by saying what you're really thinking.

The real surprise of the day was how much I liked the band, Garage Voice. These guys are talented, intelligent people and it shows in their lyrics and the way their fingers move. I'd also be willing to bet that they have a pretty good sense of humor. Something about the music made me smile, and want to laugh a little bit. I was blown away. Their second CD is coming out next month, and I'm totally buying it and the first. Also, they had the most beautiful guitar I've ever seen. I don't know anything about guitars - but this one was pretty. It's green and has the cut outs like a violin and was flatter and more circular than the guitars people play around the campfire. I think God has blessed them, and through them, He blessed me.

Now it's back to the day to day, but I've got new fabric to sew and a Martha Stewart recipe to test - so it's all good.

merryheathre, Seamstress Extraordinaire!

Well, I'm happy to report that my New Year's resolution of finishing one project per month is going really well. I've already finished two projects this month! The first one was actually twofold. I made baby quilts for my first ever roommate - well, really, for her twin babies. The fabric is s'mores by Me and My Sister for Moda, which is reminiscent of our days in the dorm, getting marshmallows as big as possible in the microwave.

I divided the fabric by color - so one quilt is pink and blue and the other is green and purple. I used a layer cake, a panel and yardage to make them. It's a snowball block (and big - so it's easy!).

Then, once I had packaged them up and mailed them away, I spent a little quality time with my sewing machine for myself. I made the Birdie Sling by Amy Butler using fabric and pattern that were given to me by my one blog follower (you know who you are!). It's Joel Dewberry fabric - Ginseng, I believe. The finished product is really quite big. I can practically carry a laptop or a binder. My favorite part (which of course I don't have a picture of) is the lining. I matched up the fabric perfectly across the bottom seam. That's where the extraordinaire comes from... :)

Next up, a slew of cooking. I made tiny black lentils last night and they're delicious! I put two chipotle peppers, a bay leaf, onion, and garlic in while they cooked (I had help - someone posted the recipe, I can't take credit) and they're smoky and tasty. I served them (to myself) over sticky rice with feta and cilantro. And, the best part is they're pretty.

Sunshine!

The sun is shining for the 3rd day in a row and I'm beginning to feel like a real person again, rather than a grey skinned underground dweller. :) This has not softened my resolve to get a sunrise alarm clock, though. I'm still cynical and don't believe the sunshine will last. This is the northwest, after all.

I have spent my long weekend doing really fun stuff. I'm a few seams away from a new purse. I went shopping with my friend Kim and got some great stuff for organizing, and I've even started organizing! Wow! I know. I'm working on revolutionizing the filing system that I started way back in college (there goes a tear... never thought I'd say "way back in college") and my recycling is getting off the kitchen floor and into bins under the kitchen sink! I'm using every chance I get to bring out the Brother P-Touch labeller that I recieved for "New Year's".

I promised to write about a couple books I recommended to Jennifer. I can't take credit though, because they were recommended to me. The first was Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge - it's sort of the woman's counterpart to Wild at Heart and talks about what essential things a woman longs for and how that affects basically everything. It was really interesting and I think I walked away understanding myself a little bit better. The other book is called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell and it's all about allowing people to question the Christian faith. Good stuff. Read, enjoy, let me know what you think!

Well, this has been a nice little break - I'll post some pictures of my finished projects soon!

Haircut! & Color!

So, last week I really needed a haircut as you can see. I was also really tired of being blonde (or at least blonder than usual). So, I went to my favorite hairstylist, Dawn, and here are the results:

While I look & feel less blonde now, I said something completely stupid at work yesterday, which goes to prove that haircolor does not predict intelligence. While I was snapping pics of my new hair, I grabbed one of my Christmas present - the beautiful sparkly necklace I wear almost daily.

So pretty! And shiny!

New Year

Okay, now I'm mad. I just wrote this introspective thing about New Year's Resolutions and it disappeared. Perhaps my New Year's Resolution should be to get a new computer.

I guess we'll see.