A Day At The Beach

Last year I took these photos but I just found them and realized I never shared. So here goes:

Last Summer, Oregon had one of the lowest tides on record. So, some friends including a marine biologist friend of ours met up at the Coast to explore and here is what we found-

All of this is usually underwater. I believe the sea life was feeling a little naked.

This is an actual road, the original old timers road but when they constructed Highway 101 they moved the road further inland.  This road is rarely exposed because the sea has taken it over completely. You can still see the ruts in the rocks.

All around us we could hear the little snaps and crackles coming from the sea life.

Every inch of ground was covered in a living organism. 

Here is another view of the old timers road. I believe the story goes, that the original road could only be used part of the time until high tide. It was difficult for communities to contact each other.  Kinda romantic if you ask me. Sure, I can think that (the girl who can't stand to be without a Starbucks).

All of this is underwater.

This was so cool. Sometimes I forget how beautiful Oregon is and how much history

we have right in our backyard.

My Man Thursday

Is (drum roll please) . . . Dougray Scott

I mean really, do I need to say more?

There is something about him

timeless

classic

Okay, he has made some stinkers but here are a few of my favorite good movies he has made:

Enigma

Arabian Nights

Ever After

And who can resist his name, Dougray?

New Tags

I have been working on a ton of things. This is just one type of tag.

In A Day

I just watched the cutest movie. IN A DAY from 2006.  Netflix it.

MY MAN THURSDAY

Is Jeremy Northam!

I love watching Jeremy some of my favorite movies are:

Emma (my favorite)

Possession

An Ideal Husband

The Golden Bowl

Happy Texas

Gosford Park

Enigma

The Net

The Misadventures Of Margaret

You got to love this guy.

Revamp A Tazo Tea Tin

I write this as I rush out the door. I have been absent lately because I am working during the day for awhile, at least until Oct. 14th.

 But I thought I would show you what I'm working on. I love Tazo tea tin's. The shape, the sturdiness make then something I like to keep around.

I revamped this one by mod podging paper and then gluing ribbon on it. It's a great idea to give to a friend. You can tailor make the tin into something your girlfriend would like. How about a theme~A Jane Austen Tea Tin or an I Capture The Castle Tea Tin (with tea stained doilies inside).

You can fill the tin with whatever you want. An assortment of your friends favorite teas perhaps or cookies or keep the tin for your self and put pencils or whatever you can think up inside. The sky's the limit. The good thing about these tins is that they always smell good inside.

Ciao for now!

In The Autumn Mood

Today I'm in the mood for Autumn. I ran to the dollar store and found these great paper leaves

(seen above).

I also collected branches from our yard and mounted a sturdy branch above the fireplace. Then I hot glued the leaves on the sturdy branch. Voila! Autumn.

When I'm in the Autumn mood I like to watch Practical Magic.

The movie is brilliant and the house (even though it's fake) is gorgeous.  

Happy Autumn!

MY MAN THURSDAY

My man this Thursday is Matthew Goode!

He is fun to watch.

One of my all time favorite movies is My Family And Other Animals

(just to clear it up he is on the left in the photo above). :)

Matthew was brilliant in My Family And Other Animals. He reminds me of a young (and alive) Cary Grant. Watch My Family And Other Animals and then watch a Cary Grant movie like Arsenic and Old Lace. Their timing and comedy is very similar I think.

He was wonderful in Brideshead Revisited. It's a must see. South From Granada was also good. Like I posted before I was a little disappointed in Leap Year but Matthew was very funny and handsome.

Enjoy!

Make An Autumn Table Runner In A Snap

This is fun and easy.

This is all you need:

I used the ink I had on hand. A Ranger brand ink pad in Fired Brick. I also used StazOn Ink pad in Timber Brown and Olive Green it really does stay on. Brilliant stuff. I would have gone and got another color of StazOn but I was feeling lazy today.

First, I cut a rectangle of burlap. I just eyeballed it. Then I frayed the edges by pulling out a string, one at a time until the fraying was the way I liked it. Burlap is really cheap and I love the texture of it. More than any other fabric, burlap says fall to me.

The leaf stamps I used were mostly from the dollar bins at JoAnn Fabric.

This is all you do:

Stamp the the leaves in different directions anywhere you want.  

It's soooo easy and it adds something extra special to your fall decor. 

Note: this is a really easy project for kids.

New Tags On Etsy

Check it out.

MY MAN THURSDAY ON FRIDAY OOPS!

Being the first week back to school, things around here are crazy! My Man Thursday slipped my mind. So here goes.

It's Russell Crowe!

Yes he has a temper but he is still fun to watch. What a great actor.

Here are a few of my favorite movies:

Topping my list ~A GOOD YEAR~ I love this movie! I absolutely love it.

Gladiator

Master and Commander

LA Confidential

3:10 To Yuma

Robin Hood

Oh there are so many more but these are some of my favs.

People Are Weird

Last night my husband and I took our boys to Borders to pick out some books. On our way a lady hit our car from behind while we were waiting for the light to change.

We pulled over to see if there was damage thinking she would also.


BUT NO! She kept going right passed us. So my husband pulled back onto the road and we took her licenses plate number and followed her into a grocery store parking lot where she proceeded to park quickly, hop out of her car, and run into the store. We called the non-emergency number for the sheriff and they arrived quickly.

Ok, there was no damage to our car and no one was hurt but the point was she should have stopped. Right? My husband clearly saw her in the rear view mirror look up and grimace when she hit us. So she knew she did it. Why didn't she stop??? 

Well, we waited outside with, by now 4 policeman  and 2 police cars. I was a tad embarrassed but I kept asking them, "Did we do the right thing by calling?" They said we did the right thing.

A couple of minutes later she came running out of the grocery store a bag of flour under her arm. She looked all shocked at the situation and said, "I did what? Oh my, I didn't feel it. Are you sure?" Her ponytail waving in the wind. "Is there any damage? Oh I am so sorry."

She soooooo knew what she did. Guilty!!!!

But what could we do? We just shook our heads and said we thought you should have pulled over.

End of story: The policeman told her to slow down and be careful and that was it. Off she went.

Sometimes I don't like people. :)

 

Back To School

My boys went off to school today. I already miss them. I was so not ready for my babies to go. As the minutes tick by I wonder how they are doing.

But I did get to go JoAnn Fabric with a friend today and we saw all the moms with their babies. It made both of us very sad until one of the little babies started throwing a fit and then we sighed and smiled at each other. 

    

I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas but I have been working on some items for a show in December that I am going to try and

get into. Thought I would share. 

I have also been working on some Halloween postcards and I was going to do a tutorial but my camera battery died. So it will have to wait. But here is a photo of some of the postcards I have been making.

Enjoy!

Cookie Fate

When I was in college I worked at The Clothes Tree, a little shop in the Valley River Mall in Eugene, Oregon. Each night I worked, I would walk down to The Cookie Cottage on my break and buy myself the most wonderful cookie ever invented- a chocolate cookie with marshmallow in the middle and topped with chocolate icing. Over the years I have tried to replicate this recipe. I even tired to look up the company but to no avail. Apparently it went out of business years ago.


It's fate: Several years ago a new friend of mine and I were talking about our days at the U of O and we got to talking about this chocolate marshmallow cookie. To my surprise she knew all about it. Come to find out she loved them too and her entire sorority would make pilgrimages to my cookie mecca.

And I thought I was the only one who knew about the special cookie. :(

Well, my friend tells me that her friend called the company before they went out of business but they wouldn't give out the recipe. So she came up with this one. I am passing it along to you.

This recipe is the closest thing to the real thing:


Chocolate Marshmallow Surprise

cookie base
2 cups white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup cocoa

Mix this all together. Drop by spoonful and roll into a ball. Then slightly flatten with palm of your hand.
bake for 6 min. Remove from oven top with as many tiny marshmallows as you can fit on the top of the cookie in a single layer. Put back into the oven and bake one more minute.

Remove from cookie sheet and let cool. Then frost.

Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
4 tablespoons butter
5-6 tablespoons milk add more if too thick.

The recipe didn't call for it but I added some vanilla to the frosting and I am not sure why other than it was there and it felt like a good idea.

Enjoy!