Twilight in Comic Strip

I came across this last year and laugh every time I read it. It sums up the Twilight series pretty well. As much as I love the books, they're totally laughable :)

This bit of genius is from here.

{if you click on it you can enlarge it to read the whole thing}

Rinda & James, II

Remember when I posted here about my brother-in-law and his new wife?

Well, they've been published!!! Not like we were published, but in a big-deal magazine. Any guesses?

Here's the spread to clue you in:



How fantastic for Rinda to know that everyone loved their reception and beautiful wedding ideas!

So...

Can I start the Christmas music yet?

And the decorating?


Wait - not the decorating, not until Saturday. For today, we're off to see Wicked! I'm ready to be impressed, cast and crew.

Obligatory Shots of Food

And praises of thanks. Well, I'll spare you the praises of thanks {of course it's there, who do you think this is?}, but here is where I'm showing off all my Martha Stewartishness and pictures of glorified mashed potatoes and candied yams.

Let's start with a table setting. I used some kickass 1920s pink depression glass divided plates for our plates du jour, a variety of silver candlesticks I had {some old, some new}, a picture-perfect pumpkin atop a milk-glass pedestal bowl thingymajigger, and voila! perfect start for dinner for two.
And then I went and added Ryan's Grandma Marshall's crystal glasses. I think they're beautiful, old-school wheat pattern and all, and I will cherish them forever.

And then placed the champagne flutes that his parents gave us {they were in this awesome basket for our wedding night that we took to the condo we were staying at - it was jam-packed with snacks for 3 days!} in front of that

Then added in one handsomer-than-handsome red-bearded husband...
...and his requested cornish game hen {which he said tasted like arse. wait, no, scratch that-he said it was bland}

and ham, sides, etc.
and you get a lovely picture of my dinner plate!
Are you full yet?

You can have seconds. We have enough food for 4 Thanksgivings.

But WAIT! Don't go until you've had some pie.

French Silk Double-stack Pie {I kind of just made that name up. It's cool, no? Double the filling recipe, ditch the pie dish in favor of a springform pan, use a single recipe for the crust}

And Pecan. With stars added for good measure.
They are so so SO good! Must stop gorging. on. pie.

So to make this long post even longer, I'm going to share my family's French Silk Pie recipe. It's a staple at all Watkins' Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and it's delicious. Sinfully so. But sinfully easy to make.

French Silk Pie
1 cup real butter {margarine not an option-spring for the good stuff}
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, but still warm
4 eggs
Cream butter and sugar together, add vanilla. Add in warm chocolate and mix thoroughly. Add in 2 eggs and beat on HIGH for 5 minutes. THIS IS A MUST. Add last 2 eggs and beat another 5 minutes.
Pour into prepared pie crust and refrigerate for 6 hours. Frost with Whipped Cream and chocolate shavings.

We use a butter-nut crust. Always have, always will. It's far superior than pastry dough crust for this pie.

Butter-Nut Crust
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Cut* butter into flour until a dough forms. Add in nuts and press into pie dish.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350^o F. Let cool before filling

*I tried it with my food processor this time and it was so fast and so easy. I did half the butter first, mixed it all the way in, then added the rest of the butter and then the nuts. Easy peasy.

Let me know if you make one and what you think!

Unless you think it's gross. Because I don't want to hear that.

Friends with Talents

Among my many many talented friends, I have to share this picture my friend Evonne took.

I keep looking back at it {since May!} and just love everything about it.
EvieB Photography {cute logo!} has so much eye candy and such great pictures. And it doesn't hurt that she's pretty awesome, too! I just wish we still lived close...sigh.

Hillary and Ellie Come to Kansas

My older sister, Hillary, and her youngest child, Ellie, came to visit Ryan and I earlier this month.

I started worrying about what we would do to entertain but luckily the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to drive here and there and stop at this store or that without too much worry if we'd get caught in a rainstorm {unlike now, which is un-fun}.

We went to Legends one afternoon, which Hillary deemed a fabulous collection of stores, and shopped and shopped. Thank goodness our good friends, Brooke and Lanny, let us borrow a stroller for their trip. Ellie would have been SO done with shopping after the first store.

Ellie is adorable. I hadn't seen her since March and Ryan hadn't visited since last Christmas{!} so she'd changed quite a bit. She wasn't too fond of Thunder at first, but after she gave him some skittles {she refers to all candy as gummy} and nerds, they were friends. Until she ran out of candy. Then she wanted to look at him from afar but too close and the Divis shriek rang throughout all 1500 sq ft of our home.

Hillary just posted some pictures and I stole this one.

I might have given her a lot of candy during her visit. She has some on her face.

Isn't the expression on her face to-die-for cute?!

My Too-Short Haircut {a.k.a. I Asked for it Between My Chin and Shoulders}

I'm only showing a side view because I didn't get a good picture of the front. Maybe I'll try for one tomorrow. ...Probably not. The weather is pretty dismal.

It's only hair and it will grow.

Christmas Wish Lists

Every year my mom outdoes herself with the annual Christmas Wish Lists.

She's created one for each member of our family for years...probably 10, now that I think about it. This year's are my favorite so far.

pink for the girls, blue for the boys
{but I secretly want the blue one!}

I always dread these lists because I have no idea what to put on them. I'm terrible about finding something I want and just getting it as soon as our budget allows. I guess it's good that I have to stop and think, "oh, wait, I shouldn't buy that...I can put it on my Wish List!" Cuz that's truly what goes through my head.

The other day when I got these I called my mom to tell her how much I like them and she started telling me she's kept all the old ones and how funny it is to read through my youngest brothers' lists. I can't remember details, but I think one of the things was a pizza. But I could be making that up.

Isn't my mom so talented?

Martha Stewart Holidays

My current subscription to Martha Stewart Living expired in October and I chose not to renew it for a few reasons. I miss the monthly issues, but I still have the special editions that I can pick up at the grocery store or bookstore {which weren't included in the subscription to begin with} and I think they're probably the cream of the crop issues.

This Winter edition is no exception. Look at the beautiful cover!


I love having the recipes online and readily accessible, but to me there's just something so savory about having the recipes and gorgeous pictures alongside each other in one place. So I buy the issues and I keep them forever.

I've gone as far as to take them to Kinko's {when it was still Kinko's} to have a cover and binding put on extra special issues to keep them in better condition. I stopped doing that, of course, but that doesn't mean I'm not still tempted!

P.S.

I chose to remove the post about Super Saturday because it really hurt someone's feelings, which wasn't my intention at all. Thanks for all your awesome comments and suggestions about future activities!

Emma 2009

As many know, I'm a lover of most things British. Our first girl's name is most likely going to be Jemma {although I'm really loving Elliot lately} and if it had been possible for Ryan to do his doctorate in England, there we'd be.

This may or may not have started with my adolescent reading of Pride & Prejudice. I was so smitten with that singular novel, that I've devoured any scrap of film that depicts any of Jane Austen's novels. Tonight is Emma, released in the UK {you lucky blokes!} last month. It was available on the BBC website, but of course, since we're not in the British Isles, I can't stream it. For shame.

I was given a tidbit of information that it's on youtube! So currently, I'm watching Emma in ten minute segments that are simply {sigh} simply delightful. Sure, the costume and manners aren't entirely accurate to the period, but really, was Kiera Knightly's 2005 adaptation of Elizabeth Bennett accurate? Hells, no.

What I'm especially in love with in episode one {because that is as far as I've gotten thusly} are the dresses! BEAUTIFUL gowns, not dowdy in the slightest. And the hairstyles are a close second. They're more 2009 than 18th century, but they just work.

Forgive the grainy quality of the pictures. I had to settle for a screenshot from youtube.

I can totally see the top of this orange frock on one of my super-stylish friends {that would be Ashley, of course} and worked with a cute pencil skirt or even a dark rinse jean. If only I still had the figure!

I can't wait until this is available for purchase here. CAN'T WAIT!

No Halloween Candy this Year!

A spookified entrance

meant cobwebs and pumpkins

and as you clearly see, we had bumpy lumpy pumpkins, round, red, orange, and green

you were greeted by mice scurrying along the table and amongst the hedge apples

and spiders creepy-crawling up up the topiaries while bats lined the belfry mantle

That is all on that subject, tardy as it may be.

Mouthwatering

Caramel apples were handed out as game prizes this year.

I was making sure this one wasn't poisonous.