Favorite Movie of the Year!

The movie Julie and Julia is an incredible movie! i LOVED every second of it (except one scene which was somewhat disappointing but considering the real life scenario it makes good sense). Every scene was beautiful, Meryl Streep was splendid and portrayed her character with perfect grace and clumsy sweetness. Julia Child (Meryl Streep) was heart warmingly unique, loving, and just all around wonderful.



The way her husband loved her was BEAUTIFUL!!! He was just absolutely enamored with her even in her awkward mannerisms and voice. You could just tell, he loved her and thought she was nothing short of a goddess. I want to be loved that way, although I do know that this is a Hollywood romance and in their real lives I'm sure there is no way that he was never irritated with her or her with him. No earthly relationship is perfect or without fights, flaws, and difficulties. They just loved eachother in such a way that was admirable even if somewhat unrealistic.



Julie's relationship with her husband was also very sweet. Their relationship was a little rocky at some point, but so redemptive in the end and quite beautiful. And just look at this scene above?! Gorgeous!


A blog about food, eating, love, and cooking?! I cannot express how much I loved it! Top two movies of all time? : This one and First Wive's Club. LOVED IT!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I feel as if this post is narcissistic but Sara Jane kept nudging me to do it, and I had to post better pictures of me than she did in her post!!!

Two days ago I made a drastic change. I cut off eleven inches of my hair (which looked like these pictures when I actually fixed my hair which i hate to admit was somewhat rare due to humidity undoing my efforts).

Now, my hair looks like this:


I should add that this is so newly cut that it is easy to fix and requires practically no work at all which may be a different story as it grows out. There's something about cutting hair and making a drastic change that provides somewhat of a release, and it does help with coping with some major change or heartbreak. Again, I want to stress that I do not believe in the slightest that any earthly thing will "solve problems" or make everything "all better", I know that all my tears and woes will be gone in heaven, and Jesus who loves me here and now will provide for my heart, soul, and body and never leave me...this a haircut, diet, new outfit, drug, relationship, whatever else cannot promise!

(My hair was still wet in these ponytails so that is why it looks so gross)
I'm mailing my hair to Locks of Love so that they can provide someone, generally an underprivileged child, who suffers from Alopecia, Leukemia, cancer treatments, etc with a wig made of real hair. They require a minimum of 10 inches of unbleached hair and it is totally painless to give. I highly recommend if you have long hair to donate! What's that you say? You have short hair and you want to help? Well, lucky for you even if you don't have long hair you can still help by making a donation to the cause which you can find more about on their website. I also encourage you to take a look at the gallery of recipients. Maybe it's because I was feeling emotional anyway, but the smiles on their little faces with their new hair nearly brought me to tears!

Also, I realize most of my pictures are crappy and as someone who can operate a manual camera...that is terribly embarrassing for me. However, my camera is NOT cooperating in the least by saying its newly charged batteries need to be changed and is preventing me from posting fabulous pictures of cool things.

The Healing Powers of Puppies

This past weekend has been one of the worst ever if not the worst in my life. Whenever I am sad, heartbroken, discouraged, etc., hugging a dog is one of the most therapeutic activities I can think of.
A hug from a friend is a great thing and crying on their shoulder certainly helps, but hugging a dog is so different. Sweet Tater is the best hugger I know and some how it seems like she knows how I feel and can empathize with me. I wish she were here with me, or that I had a dog of my own here with me to care for and love. Loving and taking care of pet has healing powers for sure...of course it doesn't make everything all better or even really get rid of pain but it is a nice way to give love and know it will be given in return in a tangible way.

So...here are two doggies that I wish I could have to hug every day and love and care for them. Dogs really know how to love. Their love is genuine and honest, can't beat that.



Of course, the love of Christ is truly the only one to which I can cling and know that it is not only unconditional but contra conditional when I am unlovable. Jesus loves me despite my sin, despite my not being perfect, despite my not loving Him as I should....and even when all I can believe is that I am not good enough and am not being loved by a person and blame myself, His love is ever truer and more genuine and real. He will not let me down even when the ones I love most do and I feel desperately hurt He promises me in His word that He knows how I feel and more because He was betrayed and rejected and He lived the perfect life and died for me.

Tybee Family Vacay

Tip of the Week: Chopping an Onion without Crying!

I assume you know by now how much I love to cook (new recipe coming soon by the way). Onions are part of the "holy trinity of Southern cooking" and I use them often in any way that I can. They're an incredible vegetable packed with so much flavor naturally and are delicious raw, grilled, sauteed, roasted, baked, fried...anyway you "slice" it (he he he) they are yummy!

Almost everybody I know reacts at least a little or "get the vapors" when slicing an onion...lucky for me my eyes water and sting uncontrollably and my eye makeup runs down my face making me look like an emo-gothic mix. So, I researched and did some experimenting and I have a few tips to keep some dry eyes in t he house.

So, to avoid looking like this when chopping:




1. Wet your knife on each side under running water.
2. Refrigerate the onion about 20-30 min before chopping to keep some of the juices that contain the irritants from running around and bothering your eyes.
3. Cut the onion through the middle so you can count the rings, and cut from the inside out. This is to keep from chopping the root area which contains most of the irritants until the very last possible chance.
4. You can also cut the core out of the onion before you start or soak them for a while before beginning to cut.



*Chopping through the root like the above picture releases more tear-causing vapors rather than cutting across the other way.

Hope this helps to keep you from crying next time you cook with this delicious and versatile veggie!

Savannah, Statesboro, and Virginia

Last weekend my dear friend Ginnie, AKA Virginia, AKA Ginnie Sue, AKA Nana came to visit me in Statesboro. We used to live together in Atlanta. We shared a bathroom, purses, stories, bible study, meals, online quizzes...we shared a lot and it was such a blessing to live with her. It's sad to be so far apart now but I am so thankful that my year in Atlanta left me with such wonderful friends!

So when Ginnie and I were planning her visit, I made a list of all the "cool" things we could do in Statesboro (the list was not too extensive of course) but I lost it! I was so frustrated with myself because then I couldn't remember the things I had written down...there's not too much going on here compared to Atlanta. To give her the real Statesboro experience though, we had to go out for breakfast and since the bakery was closed for family vacation (only in a small town) we went to Daylight Donuts, my favorite place for sandwiches which I lament they no longer serve. We both had sausage, egg and cheese "biscuits" which are really more like rolls and some low quality coffee but we saw some friends and locals and took in the ambiance.

Next, we headed to the Farmer's Market downtown across the street from the courthouse. It's not very big and since we were heading to Savannah right after that we didn't buy any produce but we did buy these little gems:

The lady selling these was very friendly and was selling everything for half price so our rings (mine is carnelian) were only $7 each! We each also bought a necklace. My necklace had "peanut pearls" which are a red freshwater pearl, some more carnelian, silver, and a really large flat stone that is purple and green and orange and I can't remember what it's called. Any ideas? Ginnie's necklace is beautiful and reminds me or cookies and cream ice cream. Each necklace also came with matching earrings. It was a great deal in my humble opinion.

After we left the Farmer's Market we headed to Savannah which is only about 45 min out of Statesboro. On our way down the interstate we had to tail this guy for this picture. HILARIOUS! We laughed so hard we could have split our seams.

Once we got to Savannah we hunted like wolves for a parking space but still ended up parking several blocks away from our target location. We mostly window shopped along Broughton and took some pictures. The Paris Market had some truly beautiful things so I couldn't resist taking pictures and getting ideas for my future home. Here is a really cool vintage hat I tried on, but I was talking while posing, as usual and ended up making a weird face...tragic.

Cool antique typewriter in a vintage/new/used store along Broughton. I do love an old typewriter!

Here are some more beautiful things we saw mostly at Paris Market but other places also:


This table seemed ridiculous to us...totally non-functional and it looks sharp!



Ginnie LOVES pandas! She even had a panda trashcan in our bathroom...I too love pandas. They are so cute and sweet and are definitely gentle giants.




Shout out to the Dewey Decimal system! (above)



So cute and "Herban Essentials" super clever. Love it.

Old books I think they were from Norway? I can't remember exactly but there were tons and I thought they were so beautiful.



On the way back to Statesboro look who we found! Ginnie had the idea to stop and get a picture...it may not have been the safest part of town but we left the car running and were ready to sprint if necessary and I'm glad we did. It's so fun to find a road sign that has a significant name.


It was such a fun weekend and I am so thankful that I was able to see Ginnie and that she drove the nearly 4 hours down to visit with me! So, if you are reading this Ginnie, I am very thankful for your friendship and love and miss you dearly! Thanks so much for coming down :)

Tip of the Week: Getting the Grease OUT!

Inspired by Sara Jane I decided to do a weekly post like her "Color Me" section. I got to thinking about how helpful little hints for things around the house, etc were to me and that I may as well share these things with whoever stumbles across my blog.

So for this week: We'll be tackling GREASE. The gross stuff that sticks to everything that is slimy or gluey in consistency and always a pain to get off or out of anything.

I feel sure we've all experienced getting grease on our clothes or maybe your hands (esp if you do printmaking I've been looking like a mechanic with black oil based ink on my hands lately). Below is an exceptional example of grease:



I picked an image of the Varsity for a very special reason. The parking lot of the Varsity in the Spring of 2008 I encountered the worst grease stain I've ever had in their parking lot. When I lived in downtown Atlanta with my wonderful roommates, Ginnie, Amber, and Sara, Andrew Knight (now Sara's husband) decided to woo Sara by sending her to the Varsity to get a letter which was unbelievable sentimental and a flower. The Varsity was where they had their first date so he collaborated with Ginnie and Amber to get her to go to the very booth where they sat to get the flower and letter which was taped under the table.

One problem: by the time we got Sara there the Varsity was closed. So we had to do some convincing to the disgruntled manager to let Sara in to rush around and find it. I, being excited about this wild goose chase we were on and hurried to get to the door with my roommates to see Sara's face reading the letter, was running with everybody else through the parking lot (I don't normally run in public if not in specific running gear) and on the grease coated pavement I lost my footing big time and SMASH! I fell with a crash to the ground on my knee which seems to get a beating at least once a year. I got up a little wounded both my pride and my body but mostly sad because my JCrew pants had a big black goo blob of grease on the knee.

It was tragic.

But...here our story takes a pleasant turn! The solution for grease that works better than any stain remover I've ever tried.

SHAMPOO!!!

I recommend keeping some cheap shampoo (particularly for oily hair) on hand for degreasing clothes, hands, etc. Pour some directing on the stain or wherever grease is and scrub with your fingernails or a bristly brush that is not too harsh for fabric. Just keep scrubbing (it doesn't take too long) and rinse it off. You can also use face wash because both are made for eliminating oil from our hair and faces and work great for clothes as well. The formula is gentle enough to not worry about testing out to be sure it doesn't bleach your fabric yet strong enough to beat the grease.

This week my hands have been covered in oil based ink from printmaking and I used a little shampoo on my hands and it came off in no time. It works even better than the orange grit soap we have in the studio.