THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

playing catch up

See, this is why I don't commit to those yearlong projects that require you to do something everyday. I'm really terrible at that kind of stuff! Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. We've had a very hectic and crazy kind of month.

Colin and the girls baked a birthday cake for me and we had a small family party. They always make it so special.

The girls and Colin got me Abba's greatest hits, so we had a little dance party in the living room before we went to bed.

Then for my grown up party we went with a couple of friends down to London to spend the night and enjoy the city. We ate at a Brazilian grill (Rodizio Rico) on Friday night and then went to a bar afterward to have swanky martinis and yummy cocktails. Our watering hole was Westbourne House, which was surprisingly decent. The staff was appropriately snooty and inconsistent, but the drinks were heavenly and, honestly, that's all we cared about! My favorite was the Tuscan martini, but the Caipirinhas were equally divine. 

We crawled back to the hotel to crash for the night, having no real plan for Saturday. We had wanted to eat at Crazy Homies on Friday night, but couldn't get in, so we decided to try it for lunch on Saturday instead. It didn't disappoint. It's hard to find decent Mexican here in Europe, but this place is pretty darn good. The margaritas were awesome and the salsas...oh the salsas. You have no idea how excited we get about them! They were all yummy and we loved the Frida Kahlo-esque decor. Creepy and macabre...very "Day of the Dead". Love that. Probably should have taken some photos! sigh...

We even went to the Portobello Road market where I picked up some yummy new letterpress stamps. Always a good thing to find. We also saw a 12 volume set of Shakespeare's complete works from the 30's but didn't want to carry them all the way home. Kinda regretting not getting them now. Ah well.We have so many books it's not even funny!

After staying up late and partying, we were really tired mid-afternoon so we decided to head back. Good thing we did, cuz we all fell asleep on the train. We were beat! I had such a wonderful birthday, though, and I'm so happy Colin indulged me and took me out on the town. I think we might have to start making this a tradition!

Howdy!

Hey all!
Sorry about the move, but Wordpress was getting on my last nerve! I've been getting reacquainted with Typepad and I am LOVING IT! I forgot how much you can change things around and how you can get your blog exactly how you want it! It's awesome!
K, so here's a bit of a tour...
To the right we have my pages listed.

First, there is the newsletter subscriber page. Click on that to go to the coolio little sign up form (that Wordpress would NEVER let me embed!! ggrrrrr...) and you can get the inside scoop on my upcoming designs!

Second is my About page. You can click on that and see a bitty blurb about me...I tried to keep it short. No, seriously, I did! :)

Third, you'll see all my categories. Click on any one of them and it'll take you to all the posts that are tagged with "bento" for example. Love that feature!

Fourth, Archives will take you to every post I have ever made. This includes my previous Wordpress blog AND my old Typepad blog. Apparently I have been yapping blogging since Aug 2005! Crazy, huh? So I guess the blog is 3 years old! WOW!

After that, you can subscribe to my blog feed and add me to your Typepad people list.

I am so excited about the blog right now. It's making me happy! I'm going to add a couple more things like a "newest release" link so you can go directly to my store if you'd like.

So, I hope you like the new digs. I've got some more work to do! CIao, all! :)

aloha oy

Despite the rain and the wind and the cold, Lara's birthday party was a big success. :) Yay.

We moved everything into our sun room and the girls still had a blast. Ya know what the kicker is, though? Today it's beautiful. The sun is shining and it's lovely out. Figures. :)

Anyway. I hold no grudge against Mother Nature. We still had a great time.

The calm before the storm:

I had issues with Lara's cake...the icing around the top kept sliding off because it had nothing to hold onto. Finally I had to scrape off some of the sand (crushed Nilla wafers) and re-apply it. It ended up staying on so I stopped being mad at the cake. :) Lara picked out all the cake toppers and then I put it together for her. In my head it looked way different and at first I was disappointed that it looked so plain. But then it grew on me and I started to like it.

Yes, we bought a 6 ft inflatable palm tree. And a parrot.

Noodle was being especially mischievous so we put her in her high chair in the kitchen to keep her away from the big girls. She still managed to be a little stinker. :)

Then we ate lunch and the girls cracked each other up the entire time.

Then I taught them a short hula dance. I mixed together the easiest steps and then made a little 3 part dance. I was happy that the girls were having fun and enjoying the dancing. They all looked so cute in their costumes. :)

Then we brought out the cake and sang to Lara. I made sure not to scorch Polly Pocket and her palm tree.

I love this one. :)

Then she opened her gifts with all her friends and they oohed and aahed over all the girly, pink, cutesy stuff she got.

Then we took one last photo of all the girls. I've ordered these already and I'm hoping they will get here in time to pass out to the girls before half-term.

So, that was about it. It was exhausting and exciting and we were dead tired afterwards. A friend came over and we played RockBand til midnight, though, So I guess we weren't too tired. This evening we've been invited to a friend's house for dinner, so we are trying to clean up the wreck that our house has turned into before we head out.

I hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend. :) Aloha!

kinda bummed :(

Today, after a week and a half of dry weather, it starts to rain. And there's an even greater chance of rain tomorrow.

This is not good for a luau.

So, I'm kinda bummed about it. Trying to brainstorm about having it inside...where we'll put everything...how we're gonna do our hula lesson....sigh...

Man, I was so excited. And we'd invited people over for an after party so we could grill and hang out and enjoy the day. Turns out, that probably won't be happening either.

Alright, I need to get out of my office and do some rearranging and cleaning in the sunroom. :(

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday! Ciao!

in progress

Ok, starting today I'm going to compile the ridiculous amount of day tips that I have skipped over. It'll take me a while, but I'm hoping to get them all done today. Lots and LOTS of photos to alter and upload, but I'll get it done. :)

I hope all the Mommies had a wonderful Mother's Day! I was a lucky duck and got to have it twice (Once for the British holiday, as well!) On Sunday, the kiddos and hubbie woke me up with breakfast in bed. :) And then we spent the day at Hampton Court Palace. Photos of that to come as well.

I'm off to the gym. Ciao, all. Happy Tuesday! :)

monday, may day

Observed, that is. Today there is no school. It's a bank holiday in jolly old England. So, we're having a relaxing very productive day outside. The car is washed, vacuumed and de-funked. The lawn is mowed, grass clippings raked. Patio furniture scrubbed and de-bird pooped. Broke out the paddling pool for Noodle. She hated it, threw many fits and then we realized it was way past nap time. Colin even scrubbed a mysterious stain on the driveway. (It's still there, to his dismay.) Boy it's hot here today. And not just "hot for England" hot. It's pretty darn toasty. So, we're going to grill every thing in the house that can be grilled and then I'm gonna bake an apple pie. We don't really need a pie. We could just eat the cake I made yesterday. But pie, it is. Miss Mia has personally requested it.

Happy (observed) May Day, y'all.

aftermath

I'm finding pastel colored foil wrappers everywhere. Yesterday was a fun day and all the food was yummy (even if I do say so myself) :) and we got to talk to family and friends. Good day, all around. The snow melted after all, so we hid the eggs and sent the kiddos outside. Lara was so sweet. We keep trying to instill in her the value of taking care of her younger sisters and she was leading Noodle around and getting her some overlooked eggs. :)

The funniest part of Easter was when Norah woke up. I woke up around 6 and couldn't go back to sleep (which is how I caught the new snow and blogged so early) and then I went upstairs around 7 to check on the kiddos. Noodle was the only one awake, so I got her up and dressed and then I put her down on the floor and it went something like this:

(spying the bag of goodies by her bedroom door)

Noodle: sharp intake of breath "Whassat?" whispering and pointing to the bag.

I go across the hall into our bedroom, sit on the edge of the bed and watch her, just to see what she does. At this point she hasn't actually touched the bag and I don't think she thought she was allowed to touch it. She just squatted next to it and then poked it a couple of times. Then she looked right at me and walked across the hall and shut my door. So, wanting to see what she's up to, I go to open the door and she's back there, squatting next to her goodie bag and she very softly whispers:

"Go away."

Clear as a bell.

When I recover from my fit of hysterical laughter, I tell her to pick up the bag because it's hers and she just lit up like a light bulb! She was sooo excited. I don't think she was very confident in how long the event would last, so she just started shoveling the candy and chocolate into her chubby mouth as fast as she possibly could!

In other stuff, I was browsing online this morning at Etsy (my version of window shopping) and I came across a couple of really cool artists. One makes jewelry that's really beautiful.

And the other recycles old, odd bits and turns them into jewelry. I didn't buy anything, though. I'm trying to be a good girl. We are gonna try to pay this van off as soon as possible so I am putting myself on a self-imposed budget. Nor more fun stuff and goodies and impulse purchases.  It'll stink, but it'll also be good for me. Although, I don't know if the budget will extend to my Paris trip in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll just impose a "continental" budget. That way I can shop in the Paris flea markets. sigh... See? Told ya this was gonna be hard. I'm already making exceptions. ;)

they call me thumper!

They don't really, but Thumper's about the cutest bunny in cartoon land, so he gets quoted today. :)

Well, the van details have all been worked out. Our order is processed and we'll have our new ride in 12 weeks. Yeah, that wasn't a typo. We're custom-ordering it from the States and it'll take that long for it to be ordered, built, driven to port, hauled across the ocean, driven to the nearest pick up station, brought up to UK specs and then registered and yada yada yada. Fun, huh? We could have had one of the many vans in stock, but 1) none of them were orange and 2) they all had TVs.

I'll prolly get labeled as a huge freak, but we specifically want a van with no TVs. We're not big TV people. We have so many distractions in our lives that we feel having TV, too, would just send us over the deep end. So, we get our news via internet and our favorite prime time shows via iTunes. We still own a DVD player, but we highly censor what our kiddos watch and are exposed to. So, having them plugged into a DVD while we're on a road trip just doesn't go with our lifestyle.

And there's something the shifty people at Dodge don't want you to know. Those fantabulous seats don't do ALL that is advertised. Oh, sure, they swivel and stow and there's a nice table. BUT you cannot get them all together. You can either get the seats that swivel which come with a table OR you can get the seats that stow in the floor and don't swivel. And no table. So, we chose to have the seats that stow in the floor. And since we're not getting the table, which the kiddos couldn't reach anyway, we're gonna get these:

They're in the PB Teen catalog, but I can't find them on the site yet. It's called the "Superstorage Lap Desk" and it's perfect! The kiddos couldn't even reach the table in the van if they wanted to (it's made for much bigger people) so this is a perfect solution.

Then this morning, we had a bit of a surprise.

We've hit a bit of a snag as far as the easter egg hunt goes....trying to decide if we're going to do it inside or send the kiddos out in their boots...

And I know the perfect kit I am going to use to scrap this photo!

Last night, we all sat down to decorate some yummylicious sugar cookies. I can't stand the store bought dough, so I always make it from scratch (and boy is it yummy!). The girls did a lot of the decorating and they're eggcited about giving them out as gifts. :) We're having 6 people over for a big lunch and the girls are calling it our "Easter party".

If you were my neighbor, I'd bring you a box of them. :)

I've gotta dash. Lots of cooking to do before everyone gets here. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and I hope you can be close to those you hold dear. Happy Easter!

janvan3000

When I was in high school, I had a veritable myriad of cars. First, I had a Suzuki Samurai and the fastest it would go was 75mph, downhill, with the wind. I loved that thing. It had a rag top on it, so my best friend and I braved the cold and took it off to cruise around town when I first got it. I completely forgot that my temporary license plate was taped to the top and still had no idea what was going on even as a State Trooper pulled me over. I had never been pulled over before, so I made my way to the next turn-off and then pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. You would have thought this State Trooper was my father by the way he was ripping into me because of what was technically an extremely slow car chase since I didn't pull over immediately. The apartment complex happened to be that of my best friend and her mother was at home and she stood outside her front door and just laughed and laughed and laughed. Man, she had herself a good time. I think I'd had the car for about a day when this happened. And at first the "jeep" wouldn't go faster than 35mph...anywhere. I was so frustrated and then My BFF and I realized I had been driving with the parking brake on.

For a week.

We laughed so hard I almost peed myself. But it was really, really pathetic. I'm sure when I told my dad he was wishing he'd never even bought the thing. :)

The next car I had was a Dodge Colt Vista. You cannot imagine a sillier car for a 16 year old. I say this with no malice whatsoever, though. If I could find this car, I would buy it and hang onto it just so I could pass it to my daughters when they start to drive.

We affectionately dubbed it "The Jan Van". I could fit a lot of friends in this baby, too. It really came in handy for all those after school practices, track meets, and volleyball games when we each carried a HUGE bag of equipment. You could barely hear the radio even if the speakers were turned all the way up. And the windows came up to your elbows, simulating a ride in a snowglobe. People were even asking me for rides. The car was just that funny. I have to say thanks to my dad, though! I was a lucky enough kid that my parents bought cars for me and I am very grateful for that!

The Jan Van, unfortunately, left a sour taste in my mouth, concerning vans, for many years to come. To this day, in fact, I have issues with vans. I really don't like them and I consider them to be "not me". Even though I had 3 kiddos, I always wanted an SUV or station wagon. A van just seemed wrong for me. Until yesterday, I was dead set against a van. Until yesterday I said that vans were for those "other moms". That was yesterday.

Today, I want a van. I want a van because I drove the new 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and me likey.

Something about the van just spoke to me. It said something like: "I will work my butt off for you. And with the kids in the back seat, you will barely be able to hear them fight over the Polly Pockets. And I have 19 cup holders."

And then it softly whispered: "I come in ORANGE."

And then my life changed. And as soon as we figure out exactly what we want and work out the financing, I will be the proud owner of a house on wheels.

28 is really great! ;)

Just a bit of silliness. ^
Ok, I've handed out enough prizes, sent enough emails, and described enough products to last me a lifetime! :) Holy beans, my hands are tired! These are all the ladies who won something:

comment#9 barbara, comment#8 jenny, comment#35 geoi, comment#36 scrap evangel, comment#17 mandy r, comment#37 lacie, comment#49 laura, comment#31 michelle adams, comment#40 kim, comment#7 michelle b, comment#15 jana, comment#22 SMJ, comment#11 jenni, comment#38 chengie, comment#13 teresa, comment#43 gina, comment#3 sandy, comment#32 connie, comment#2 jaime, comment#14 lor, comment#23 kirsty b, comment#27 sara

I have emailed everyone and you have either received a GC, gift, or instructions on how to get it. Sorry the emails are not a personal as they usually are...I was in a rush. I didn't yell at you or anything, but I didn't ask about your grandma and her corns, either. Next time, though. Promise! ;)

Thank you all so much for playing along! I had a lot of fun and it was nice to get to "chat" with all of you! And thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Ok, so let's get to the weekend rundown:

Friday was busy, busy, busy as I dealt with the grab bag goodness and the outpouring of GC's from other designers and just trying to keep my ducks in a row. Hit the sack sorta early and got super jazzed about Saturday at the Portobello Market in London. Probably should have gotten more sleep than I did...but at the time I didn't know just how long and tiring that Saturday was going to be! :) You might wanna tinkle and grab a snack before you settle in for the day to read this gargantuan post.

We drove to the nearest "park and ride" so we wouldn't have to pay so much for the train. As soon as we were on the tube, I realized that this was the first time the girls had been on the tube. Commence clicking!! :)

Noodle was bored out of her mind:

We navigated our way to Portobello Road which is located in Notting Hill and made our way through the neighborhood to get to the market which was packed. And considering this thing is in the street, that's sayin' somethin'. Poor Noodle looked at everyone's knees all day. By the end of the day we hated the stroller.

I didn't get much...I wasn't planning on it, though. Browsing through junk and treasures is a pretty good way to pass the time, so I was pleased as punch just to be there. However, I did find some goodies for myself (and maybe a friend *wink*). I got antique copies of Emma, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, The Wind in the Willows, and A Midsummer-night's Dream. I am a true fiend when it comes to antique books. I like them just short of crumbling. :) After we browsed the antiques, we came to the foodies area and stopped to poke our nose in and see what we could find.

One man stopped in front of this big pan and said, "That's looks delicious." The cook replied, "Odelay. Stick around. It gets better." And then he winked. But how?!?! HOW could they get better?!?!

Across the street, we found a piggy. One of our family rules dictates that we must stop for any and all porcine-related paraphernalia and pay our respects.

SALUTE!!

I loved this tent. The olives looked absolutely amazing and the woman was too cute. And I loved all her ladles and buckets.

While I took this photo, Colin was at a baker's stall getting the most heavenly thing I have tasted in a long time. She appears shortly in her own portrait.

We shimmied on up the road and found this:

Then we took an excruciatingly long and maddening tube ride to Westminster. The Circle line was closed, so we had to circumnavigate. Got lost, didn't care, way too tired, went an extra stop just so we could sit for 5 more minutes. But we finally got there.

We unpacked the tarts that Colin bought at the market, and lo and behold. The Treacle Tart, Ladies and Gentlemen. If you have not tasted one of these, you are truly missing out. If you like honey and if you like tarts, this is the treat for you. It was baked by a genius at POPINA. I just ordered some and I can't wait til they get here. I am going to stalk the postman til they come.

Don't really know what's going on here, but Lara's face is priceless.

Just to orient yourself.

So we turned a 180 and walked past Big Ben and headed for Westminster.

Although there are lots of sights around Parliament, my favorite is St. Margaret's church. I could look at it all day. I don't know why I'm so enamored of it...it might be the blue dollop.

Yes. Yes, it's definitely the dollop.

We carried on towards Westminster. It was closed for the day, so we just admired the exterior.

Stopped to snap a sweet pic of Lara.

The first rest during a very long day.

Taken from the front of Westminster looking towards St. Margaret's and Big Ben. If you notice, Noodle has a shoe in her mouth. This was the general theme of her day. Unbuckling the shoe, throwing the shoe, chewing the shoe, hugging the shoe, taming the shrew....wait...

Had to take a peek at the Tudor dolls in the Abbey Shop window.

Stopped to snap a shot of Colin and Mia.

Stuck my camera through the gate to take this. Almost got arrested. Well, ok...I didn't almost get arrested. But I could have. That's the point.

Walked back past Big Ben and across Parliament bridge. Turned around to take this. This kinda sums up what most tourists see of London. Big Ben and a bunch of crap. I should know. I live here and this is all I've seen. That'll change, though, as soon as the weather gets nicer. LOTS of shows, museums, faires, and restaurants to visit.

Ok, so the sun was in my eyes. That's the only excuse I have for this sorry excuse for a birthday photo. I really was having a good time. I promise. I don't know what I was thinking about at this point...probably the fact that I gave my last bit of treacle tart to Noodle and I wanted it back... The kids look dang cute, though.

Talk about tooting your own horn. He even played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", which is Noodle's favorite song. We got all excited and she couldn't have cared less. Classic.

The "reggae" singer in the tube station. He was singing "No Woman No Cry" and I use the term "singing" loosely. But he was jolly and peppy enough, so he got points for that. A large group of drunks was singing along with him just behind us, so that added to the parTAY flava.

It was a very, very long day. After the tube ride to our car (1 hour) and the car ride home (hour and a half), we decided there was no way we were going to cook dinner at home. But we weren't about to spend a thousand dollars on take-out because the dollar is so bleepin' weak right now, either. So, we decided to go to the bowling alley since they have good burgers and we can pay in pesos dollars. So, we're sitting down and I look over and Lara and Mia are holding huge rifles that go to an arcade game, we have given our baby Sprite because that was the most benign thing they had, and on the big screen we're watching a documentary about truck drivers....in a bowling alley. My pre-birthday day was now complete! :)

On Sunday, I got my wish and slept in for as long as I wanted. Colin made us lemon pancakes and we had a little lunch party later in the day. He made this cake. I was so excited, I almost cried! He worked his little fingers to the bone and did such a good job! :)

It was a happy cake, to be sure. I had an Egyptian themed birthday. I got The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra on DVD as well as an out of print book (Silent Images) I've been wanting for 4 years. I saw it at a Tutankhamen exhibition forever ago and haven't forgotten about it. And neither did Colin. :) So, we watched Charlton Heston part the Red Sea yesterday and hung out with the kids. The best birthday yet, I'd have to say.