The Kings Speech, Jane Austen Book Club & Weekends!

I started reading this book yesterday.  Its pretty good!  It reminds me how much I LOVE Jane Austen - and how I think I want to read all her books in the course of this year.  Yes, I know I've read P&P before, lots, but it's been prob 5 years or more since I've read it all the way through.  I've never read Emma or S&S all the way, but I have started them before and something always came up that I didn't finish them.  Plus there is Persuasion and Northanger Abbey too - so maybe one a month until they are all done!  I need to find a big "complete works" of hers, since she is one of my favorites. I'll review this book when I am done...so far its ok - but I cant judge it just yet!

Last night Dave & I went to see The Kings Speech.  I LOVED it.  I love movies set in England, first of all.  Maybe because my mothers side of the family lived there (some still live there, actually) and it's in my blood - but I just love England and learning about the history of the royal fam (who doesnt, really?!) and all the proper, respectful ways and most of all the way they talk!  This movie was awesome.  Awesome cast, Colin Firth was so amazing - what a great actor (Well, those of us who are P&P lovers already know that!)  I highly recommend it to those who have that spark of interest as I do.  Some others my find it a snoozer if they arent into that kinda movie.  But man oh man, if it didnt went Best Movie I'd be calling someone up - it was lovely!

This weekend is busy busy.  I'm trying to make the most out of my weekends now that I work full time during the week.  I love love love my job, I love being a school counselor, even if it's while someone else is out for a while.  I also loved being a housewife, so it's nice knowing that in a few months I can do that again.  Then we have to figure out what we want next...jobs, babies, jobs, babies....both...who knows?  Today I am helping mom at the house, still lots to do there, and later I'm going to see a musical at HCC with Ashley and my mother-in-law.  Guess what it is?  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!!  I was in that show in high school, I've been singing the songs all morning.  Ah...high school drama memories, some of the best times I've had!  I'm also practicing my bride & groom cake pops later on tonight or tomorrow, there are TWO showers I've been commissioned for - since we are trying to (slowly) do this even business.    I'll post pictures of them - I hope they turn out cute!  Plus I am trying to finish a house project I started Thursday night for our dining room...hoping to get that done too. And read two books.  Man, I better get started!

Have a great weekend!

How to Bake a Perfect Life, an apron, and Book 10!

Whoa it's been a busy busy weekend!  Where to start?  Lets see, I finished Book 9 which was How to Bake a Perfect  Life by Barbara O'Neal.  I loved this book!!  First of all, you'll want to bake tons and tons of bread while reading this...I really wanted to, but I was so swamped this weekend with stuff to do - I just couldn't fit it in.  But I will get to it, I need to bake so badly after reading this!  It's about a 40-year old woman (a baker) whose very-pregnant-daughter has to fly to Germany to see her wounded soldier hubby, leaving the main character with her 13-year-old stepdaughter.  The girl was living on her own, in a homeless neighborhood after her bio mom was arrested for drugs.  The book is all about the main characters life and background, with a splash of the 13-year-old and the pregnant daughter's lives as well.  Its really good.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  It has love and laughter and baking and heartache...its a good time, I promise!

Then, after finished that I retreated to my new craft room to make an apron out of Book 8, the Martha Stewart book.  Here is it all finished, with a wonderful model, known has my husband;)

 Isn't he cute;)  LOL.  I thought it would be much more entertaining if he modeled it.  I was right.  Thanks babe!

 I made this all by myself!  I love it!  Technically it's for Ashley, but I think we'll share it.  She picked the colors which are pretty sweet together, if you ask me!  I made it by the step by step directions in the Martha book.  I gave this book a 4, since it was easy to read and came with patterns!

 I made these strappy straps! 

This took me about 2.5 hours from start to finish, including printing the pattern, cutting it out, cutting the fabric and sewing & ironing.  Good times!  Not bad for my first sewing project in a while, right?

So that brings me to Book 10 which is Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  I am going to be brutally honest here, I don't think I'll FINISH this book by tomorrow night. I'll start it for sure, but it's not a book I want to speed through just to beat my deadline...I figure since it's month with 28 days, I can afford to go over a day or too.  I'm not going to beat myself up about it, I'm still reading 10 books! 

I can't wait to pick out my March 10!!  I can't believe it's time to pick 10 new books already!?!?  Where is the year going?

Stay tuned for pics of our new shelf in the dining room, and some IRISH decor, and a project brewing for this week.  I have to go and get ready for WORK tomorrow!  I have a job!  Yay:)

Night

Backstage with Julia

Hola!!!

I finished book 7 late last night - Backstage with Julia.  It was sweet, interesting story of a woman who worked very closely with Julia Child and was a very good friend of hers.  They not only worked on TV shows and books together, but they traveled all over and cooked together, because Julia always said, "Isn't cooking together such fun?!?!"  Man, she was such an AWESOME person!  She traveled well into her 80's and she TRAVELED, as in carried her own luggage, stayed up all night, and partied like a teen!  She said thinks like, "You are only as old as you feel..." her and her husband Paul never wanted to live in a "retirement community" because they were full of "OLD" people, even though they themselves were in their 70s when considering a new home!  She wasn't diet crazy or even healthy food crazy - yet she lived a full and happy life cooking REAL and lovely food.  Thats my kinda woman;)

I highly recommend this book, if you are interested in Julia Child and/or cooking.  I give it a 3.5 - because you know I reserve 4-5's for books I absolutely can't put down...this one is a long read because it chronicles a lot of Julia's work.  I loved it, but I know enough to know not everyone will.  Its a really good read though, if you are into that sort of thing!

 Because of work, I am WAY too exhausted to sew tonight, so I will be creating my first apron from the Martha Stewart book this weekend.  By the way, I can already say I love the MS sewing and fabric craft book.  It's hard to rate a book like this but I'm going to try.  I'm giving it a 4 because all the craft pictures were great, the instructions are great, she breaks down and defines everything and the book comes with CD that has printable patterns on it.  Perfect for a beginner, like me!! 

Now I have to sew that apron, that will be the end of Book 8.  I will start "How to Bake a perfect life" tonight and try to finish that over tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.  Then Sat - Mon is Dave Ramsey time - which will be tough because I have to take NOTES for that one....lol...not really but I want to take time and try to apply it.  Dave is going to read it again too, after I'm done (he doesn't have a Feb 28th deadline, like me!) I'm cutting it close this month, but in my defense there ARE only 28 days in Feb!!  That's 2-3 days less than most months, which is enough time for me to finish 1-2 books;)

Ok, I'm exhausted and am ready for a hot bath and a good book!  My first day went great!  Ready for my second...

Oh and I'm linking up with this beautiful blog My Romantic Blog for a show and tell Friday, showing my craft room progress:)

The smells of Boeuf Bourguignon....

I haven't gotten to the library yet!  I'm on page 234 of 307 in Julie & Julia.  The reason I may be so behind is because reading this book has made me so hungry for REALLY good food, that I spent the morning making Oeufs en Cocotte and I've spend most of the day making the multi-step, kind complicated yet very easy Beef Bourguignon.  My goodness, our house smells amazing!!!  AMAZING!!! 

I am ok with my pace of reading though, because if and when I get a job I wont be able to read all day, and cooking/cleaning today has taken that place thus far - so I keep telling myself its ok its ok...its day 3 and I should be moving on to another book, and I will!  Ashley (stepdaughter) and I will go to the library tonight after she is done mounds and mounds of homework and I'll pick up my 8 books:)

I really like this book, so far.  I'm almost done so I can't imagine I'll change my mind!   There is bit of language in it, but I've been able to stomach it because the talk of the food is so glorious.  Just like Julie, I have also 'stolen' my moms copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 - the cream colored one with the orangey Fleurs de Lis on it, I think it was my grandmothers, an original copy.  Trust me, if you read this, you will want to cook!  I think its almost IMPOSSIBLE to read it and not cook something from the cookbook - its either so inspiring or makes one so hungry that its inevitable! 

The eggs, cream and butter I made this morning were the best tasting eggs I've ever had, so so yummy!  Maybe one of my 8 books with be a Julia Child biography.....

Anyways, as this is not a copy cat blog of Julie Powell, enough of the Julia Child/cooking talk.  Its a good book, if you love cooking and twenty to thirty something humor, read it:)