What I'm Loving Wednesday

What am I loving? Flapper Dresses. Especially this phenomenal little number...

I wanted to do my own costumes for 'Singin' in the Rain', so I have been searching around for the past few weeks looking for dresses that will work for the show. I only need two more - one for 'Good Morning' and one for the Premier at the end. I can't get over how beautiful this dress is...sadly, it currently resides in Australia and would cost about $400-$450 with shipping and everything. Sigh...hopefully I'll find something just as marvelous to wear, but until then? My heart belongs to Australia.

425 Degrees

I burned my hand. Badly. Well, not badly badly...the burn on my ego is probably worse. How did I do this you may ask? Lest you think I rescued a kitten from a burning barn, the tale is filled with absent-mindedness, idiocy with a thick coat of shame.

I had just baked some cheese bread and took it out of the oven with my right hand (which was protected by an oven mit - safety first.). I slid the cheese bread onto another baking sheet to cool, but it slid just a bit off the sheet to the counter. "Not a problem", I say to myself, "I'll just use my mitted hand to slide it back on the sheet". Without thinking, I simply transferred the lava-hot metal baking sheet to my unprotected, un-mitted left hand.

Screams followed, the pan slammed on the floor and I raced to the sink and doused my hand in icy water. I didn't cry...but man, I really wanted to. It hurt SO bad. I called Cody at the station and he told me a few things I could try to help ease the pain, but basically I would have to grin and bear it. And really quick, what is that all about? 'Grin and bear it'? Smile through the horrific pain? Whatever, 'swear and bear it' is more like it. Moving on...

Luckily my dearest friend Mindi came to the rescue! Medical kit in hand! Hurrah for having paramedic friends. She coated the burns (which were on the tips of my fingers, a big one on my index finger and a blistering one between by thumb and index finger) with burn gel and wrapped my hand. I kept an ice packet on it until I fell asleep and was able to unwrap my mummy hand this morning. My fingertips looks completely fine, no pain there. The big burn on my index finger is a little tender and the other burn still has a few blisters, but not bad. I got second-degree burns, but lets be honest - it could have been so much worse. It might scar, and if someone asks how I got it? "Oh, the craziest thing, I saw smoke coming from a barn..."

Here's What I Know...

I have no concept of time.

Having sore muscles makes me feel strong, but not seeing immediate results after working out two or three times makes me feel weak.

Being nice to others doesn't always mean they'll be nice in return, but always be nice to others.

I have the greatest friends in the world.

I'm excited for Fall...what?

Errands can be fun with two blonde, little boys. And a Dr. Pepper.

Mother Dearest

The most beautiful woman in the world was born today. My sweet Mum is celebrating her Birthday today and oh, how I adore her. She is second to none, what an amazing woman. We are planning an afternoon together next week and I cannot wait! Outings with her are my favorite.

So to my gorgeous, inspiring, talented, strong, best friend and phenomenal mother - I love you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

For Love of Thrills

Dinner Theater for Lovers! The weekend of Valentines, I performed with the Thrillionaires for two nights for a Dinner Theater. We did one last Summer and since that was such a smash hit, they asked us to do it again. We had the best crowd's, both nights were sold out! I had a total blast. The songs were fun, including a little melody I sang, "Cupid can be stupid...don't worry, and don't be blue-pid....now it's up to you-pid..."

Here's our lovely cast: Jake, Maclain, Me, Brigham, Lisa and David!

Ahh, the young lovers.

The next night followed suit - it was so hilarious and everything just worked so well. Awesome show! Bob and Jeff joined our cast that night. Bob was even willing to get his legs broken for love. I mean, who wouldn't?

Despite my obvious advances, Jeff wanted nothing to do with me.

Me with the Lovely Lisa.

Aside from the performances, Cody and I had a mushy Valentines weekend. We got to spend all day Saturday together (thanks for watching the boys, Steph!). We went to lunch and furniture stores and Home Depot...because that's what do you on romantic outings. Cody surprised me with roses on Sunday morning, got the boys ready for Church and made every meal. Isn't he a total Prince? Hope you had an ooey, gooey day of love!

Love is in the air...

This was the first year I got to buy Valentines for Cache to take to school. I was all excited to find some cool love notes and treats and make them look all lovey so that all his friends would think his Valentines were the best (Yeah, I'm shallow). My attempts were in vain.

My son chose Transformer Valentines, not that I was surprised. I picked up some festive baggies and a small box of hearts for each kid in his class. It was so fun to sit down with him and put everything together! He was so excited...He wrote out everyone's name and folded up the Valentine. We put everything in a bag and tied it with a ribbon. We carefully placed each bag in his backpack and he was off to his Valentines Party the next morning.

When he got home from school he quickly showed me all his lovey treats. While I initially thought that the Valentines we created were pretty cute, reality hit me like a truck. Ours were so lame! There were little baggies filled with toys and suckers, gift certificates, and the best one of the bunch? A box of candies that was wrapped to look like an iPod. I mean, pain-stakingly wrapped in thick, red paper with a white, round dial and a playlist with love songs! There were even 'head phones' made with yarn and Rolo's.

Turns out I'm in big trouble. Just look at what my friend Jen did for her sons' Valentines:

Are you kidding me? It's so cute! And SO easy!

And then of course, my witty sister. Um, hello? Totally brill.

I love the stache's.

No idea how I'm going to top those ideas. I can't just send my son off to school with store-bought Valentines and a lame box of candy! I've got to invent! I've got to create! I just skated by this year, which means next year I'm totally screwed.

Happy Valentines Day!

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Last Friday was our formal Valentines Dinner for our ward. I'm on the activities committee and this event was huge. We wanted a classy, glam, retro-y feel to the evening and we even got the Voo Doo Orchestra to come and play for us! The evening was all about romance, but it was also a fundraiser for the YW in our ward. I designed the posters for the event and our turn out was beyond what we expected.

We spent most of the morning on Friday decorating the Church to make it look fancy. I think we succeeded! People lent their China and silverware and goblets...it looked really pretty. My favorite part? The lights draped across the ceiling. Brilliant!

They asked me to sing 'At Last' with the orchestra, who turns down an opportunity like that? I got to wear my red 40's dress and Mindi did my hair - how dreamy are those flowers? The orchestra sounded amazing. It's made up of kids 18 and younger and they sound like seasoned professionals. It was a blast singing with a big band behind me! I must do that again...

It was a smash hit! It was a lot of work but we totally pulled it off. Luckily we don't have another event to plan until July, I'm going to need that much time to recover. Wink!

And Blog Makes Three

Happy Anniversary to my blog! It's been three glorious years of bringing you trivial nonsense and breakdowns, fashion wants and personal triumphs. Thank you for stopping by with your wonderful comments! I adore my BC fans. Happy Anniversary, dear Blonde Canary Blog!

Lack of Depth

If you didn't know this already, I'm a pretty simple girl. I might even say shallow. I don't mean the 'you're as deep as a bean' shallow, but more the 'I'll just coast the lazy river and take things as they come' shallow. I don't feel like I'm a deep, interesting person. I've never intrigued anyone, no one has been blown away by the inner workings of my mind or ever looked at me in wonder and said, "Talk to me, you blonde mystery..."

One night after a Thrills show I went out to dessert with the cast. While I was just pleased as punch to be enjoying a slice of pie, the rest of my party began talking movies. And not just general movie chat, I mean the thick, gritty movie chat. Movies that I've never seen or even heard of. They argued and gushed over cinematic angles and the script and the brilliant themes that touched their soul. I sat quietly with pie-remnant sticking to the side of my mouth while my eyes darted back and forth from comment to comment. It's not that I didn't want to join in the conversation, I just had nothing to add.

I looked at my friend Brett's blog and he listed some of his favorite movies of all time. I read through his brief descriptions, glazed over the movies I didn't know and perked right up when I saw a film I recognized: "The Incredibles! Oooh, I loved that, too!" "Star Trek was so great" "Casino Royale...so true, so true". As I'm looking at this list I think for a moment, "Hey, I should do this - I should make a Top 30 list of movies that I love." and I still might. But it won't be as impressive as his. Rest-assured that the majority of my movies would involve a dance number, loads of romance and witty comedy. Not one is foreign, I doubt any of them were independent films and a great deal of them would be animated (or have an animated segment). But what are you gonna do, I'm shallow.

Movies aside, I'm also basic when it comes to music. I heart music more than I can express, but the style of my music is not too varied. My sister and younger brother are music twins - they find the coolest, most distinct bands and songs out there. They sing along and dance to the pure tunage, and they also hear fine melodies in the background that no one else picks out. Andrea used to ask me if I had heard of some new band she discovered, but she apparently got tired of me saying, 'no' because she doesn't ask me anymore. I usually love everything she suggests, but lets be honest - if she didn't bring it to my attention, I would never have found it for myself.

If a song is catchy and makes me grin, that's really all it takes. If said song is by a Disney star (not Miley, fear not) or a trendy punk band, so be it. My iPod is full of 80's metal, Opera, movie soundtracks and jazz standards. It might not be interesting and deep, but I like it.

I will spare you further comparisons of my vanilla style to my fashionably flashy friends, you get the idea. Lest you think this is a pity-post of me selling myself short, let me assure you that that's not the case. I revel in the fact that I'm simple. I love that I'm easily amused. I have shining moments of genius and creativity. I love that I am amazed by so many things.

Is it bad to be an intricate labyrinth of depth? Of course not, you people fascinate me. And as you express your thoughts, I'll sit back and listen in wonder while I enjoy my piece of pie.

Cache Quotes:

"Mom, Cole and I were just playing a new game."

"Oh?"

"Want to know what it's called?"

"What?"

"Jump off the ledge."

"...."

Home On The Range

I don't know what it is about farm life, but sometimes it romances the dickens out of me. It could be because the only farm life I'm ever exposed to is through movies or visiting Grandma Doreen or getting fresh vegetables from our old neighbor, George (haven't you noticed that farmers are some of the most generous people?). Something about it makes me long to plant a big garden, wear and apron, make big breakfasts and have a big porch with a swing. You will note that not once did I say it makes me long to feed the horses and milk the cows...all the work that actually goes into making a farm run.

I've always had a soft spot for farm houses and lots of land. Maybe it's the simple way of life that is so appealing. Working the land, reaping what you sow. The satisfaction of working alongside your family. My sister was toying with the idea of raising chickens last year and while I initially thought she was crazy, I find myself thinking the same thing. How cool would it be to have your own fresh eggs? I can already picture a little coop in the corner of our yard...

I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I want that feel to this house. Enough with the longing! I want a squeaky screen door and I want to leave the windows open during the day. We have plans to plant a big garden this year (gardening tips? anyone?). My Granddad used to have tons of apple trees in his back yard and I may want to plant a few of those, too. Besides, they're great for climbing. I want a big farm table and a swing on my front porch. Not sure I'll ever get my farm house, but I can certainly improvise!