Introducing Strawberry Chocolate Tea by The Republic of Tea.

Yummy, yummy!

Naturally caffeine free (so I can enjoy a cup at bed-time), naturally sweet, smells and tastes delicious. A perfect 0 calorie, aptly named treat. I think I’ll have a cup right now!

Ingredients: Rooibos (red tea), carob, cocoa kernels, chocolate flavor, strawberry flavor, sweet blackberry leaves and bourbon vanilla beans

Try it and let me know what you think.

Do you have any other really yummy teas to recommend?

Honestly, the ruling that corporations are people may be the worst Supreme Court decision ever. It’s ridiculous – and damaging to our nation. This brilliantly silly attack ad shows one reason why. Not to mention how absurd our campaign finance laws are… which this clip illustrates:
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Thoughts?

Today, instead of being buried in snow on January 1st, I planted primrose in one of my garden pots.

And I enjoyed watching the dozens of birds at my feeders… including a sweet hummingbird who is so happy I have left out a small feeder for him (in the pot with the primrose).

I also discovered a few other blooms in the rock garden. And wondered if the little blob on my finger was a bug…

… or a tiny slug.

It was the latter.

He’s cute, but will grow into a garden menace so I flushed him down the toilet.

To ring in the new year, I also spent some time playing my new Tibetan bowl.

I have been a bit distressed to discover that my formerly perfect pitch is currently off by 1/2 step. When I first played the bowl, I was sure it was an E-flat or even an E. But it’s a D. AGH!

I downloaded an app to help test/retrain me and I am consistently 1/2 step too high. I know what the note is – it’s just a half step off from the rest of the world. It’s unsettling and I hope that I can come back into tonal alignment (or whatever it would be called).

By the way, I started a new blog awhile ago and have made a resolution to update it regularly. It’s called:

FlowersMakeMeHappy.com

It is devoted entirely to my love of flowers, and it’s where I will post lots of my flower photos. I also have a facebook page where I post additional photos, and twitter feed for it. Follow me

So, how did you bring in the new year?

The other day I undertook the monumental task of organizing my ribbon drawer(s) and realized that I actually am a collector…

…of ribbon.

It started in my early 20s. I didn’t have much money at the time, and treating myself to a fancy ribbon now and then seemed like an affordable indulgence.

Over time I became attracted to more and more expensive ribbon – though usually purchased them on clearance, or through the use of my treasured wholesale card for Ensign Floral.

I discovered a $90 bolt of French silk ribbon for $10 at Molbaks after Christmas sale a year ago – I mean, how could I possibly pass that up?!

And so my collection has continued to grow. Here’s the official ribbon count, as of today:

• Red: 10
• Silver and/or White: 13
• Gold: 30
• Colors and non-Christmas patterns: 28
• Christmas: 18

Um… that’s 93 bolts of ribbon.

I think that probably qualifies as a collection.

Those who receive gifts from me will probably attest to the fact that the package is often as big a deal as the gift inside. Sometimes moreso

Do you recognize any of these ribbons from gifts I’ve given you?

I love creating a beautiful gift presentation…. though I find it very challenging to part with my favorite ribbons.

In fact, I’m still holding onto ribbon that is over 25 years old (it’s really cool)…

It’s a bit of an illness, I’m afraid. I buy them intending to use them, but they become like my children and I don’t want to part with them – unless I know the recipient will truly appreciate them. Even then I am oh, so reluctant to use the last of the bolt, knowing it’s a final farewell.

Perhaps I need therapy. What’s the difference between “collection” and “obsession“???

What do you collect?

Is it just me, or do the holidays feel like they’re rushing upon us like river rapids?

I decided to keep things simple – my only decorations are my horizontal Christmas tree (garland above my fireplace, with some of my favorite ornaments) and a collection of three small sparkly snowflake trees on the mantle.

I was inspired by my son’s Christmas plans, and tried to keep gifts simple, but meaningful. Yet, despite my intention to make it a low-key Christmas, I found myself rushing around to get gifts finished and mailed off in time to be received by the big day.

I got some hair-brained idea that I wanted to sew some gifts this year (which is ridiculous, since I don’t sew). It really would have been much simpler and less time consuming to just go buy gifts. But no, once I got the idea, I was a woman possessed. So it’s my own fault that I lived in chaos (and fabric stores) for 2 weeks.

And now, the holiday is upon us. Are you ready? What exciting (or boring) plans do you have?

Whatever your plans (and do please share them), I hope you have a wonderful Christmas – or whatever holiday you celebrate

Jonny Quest (yes, the cartoon) was the first. He was followed by a string of mostly musicians… teen heart throbs like Davy Jones, Donny Osmond and David Cassidy, etc.

Yes, it’s a bit embarrassing – but admit it… you loved them too, or someone just like them in your own music era. (FYI, I fell for musicians in real-life, too…)

Anyway, during the 80s I developed a celebrity crush on Richard Page, lead singer/songwriter from the band Mr. Mister.

It wasn’t a physical attraction – I just felt a real connection to him whenever he sang. It felt almost like I knew him (I didn’t, of course) and I found myself fantasizing about various scenarios in which we’d meet and discover we were soul mates, yada yada. LOL. It felt more than a bit silly even at the time, but I apparently needed a fantasy to help me cope emotionally, and his music spoke to me and gave me that escape. Whatever the reason, I was seriously crushing on Richard Page.

Aside from all the crush stuff, I really enjoyed the music and respected him as a singer/songwriter. Watching the video Kyrie gave me permagrin (I still can’t watch without singing along and smiling). Broken Wings my be among my top 10 ballads… I listened to The Border over and over again… I just liked how I felt when I heard him sing.

As most bands do, Mr. Mister faded away after a couple of albums, and Richard with them… interestingly, about the time when I didn’t need the mental escape anymore. But he continued to work in the industry as a sought after backup vocalist and a songwriter. I have seen his name crop up over the years on a number of projects – he has written/co-written hits for Madonna, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, and many more. But, after one solo album back in 1995, Richard wasn’t producing his own music.

After seeing him credited on Josh Groban’s “Thankful” video recently, I decided to Google Richard again… It had probably been 7 or more years since I’d done so.

I’m not crushing anymore, but still love that voice/songwriting. I hope he’ll keep making music.

Thoughts on crushes? On Richard’s music? On any re-discovered crushes or music??

Well, the Universe answered with 2 trips to Costa Rica (3 weeks each), San Diego and Salt Lake; one trip to Los Angeles for a trade show, and another to Victoria, B.C. with my friend Jana (where we worshiped flowers and laughed a lot).

Most recently, a last minute trip to Kauai to spend a week with my family, before Brandon & Jen moved to Malaysia.

I have no idea what it is I’m doing in this photo.

There were 16 of us in all – both my kids and their families, plus my sister and her family, with a couple of significant others joining us. We had a great time together – discovered we all share similar world views, and were easy and compatible companions (which isn’t always the case when family, or even friends, travel together).

My granddaughters couldn’t get enough of each other, and Kennedy was missing her cousins 10 minutes after they left for the airport. We definitely need to do this again!

My world still feels a bit like it’s spinning around me, as I try to get my grounding again. I think I’ll stay at home for the rest of the year.

Maybe I’ll even update my blog again.

I’m still working through photos from many of these travels – but here are some of my favorites from Hawaii (and I think this slide show will even work on iPhone/iPad):

If you’re interested in viewing more pics from Kauai, visit Allicat Photograpy. There are a lot of them…

Where have you traveled this year? Where do you want to go in 2012?

Isn’t she beautiful?

And doesn’t her family all look so happy to have her in their lives?

I love this family photo… and not just because everyone is color coordinated (yes, I brought clothes for them with me to make sure they would be ) but because they look so content and happy… happier and more peaceful than I’ve ever seen them before. It warms my heart.

Brandon and family had moved from Grecia to Escazu, on the hills outside of San Jose. We spent most of our time just relaxing and enjoying each others’ company, rather than fitting in a lot of touring. But we still kept pretty busy.

We ate at some REALLY great restaurants (our meal at Taj Mahal Indian restaurant is a standout for me), visited the farmers market, saw “Tangled” (in Spanish), and attended two kids’ birthday parties and a playgroup, where I met more of the wonderful friends Brandon & Jen have made in Costa Rica.

We also spent three days in the jungly Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Even more great food to be found there. It was beautiful but very, very hot. And humid.

I carried my camera and 3 lenses with me EVERYWHERE because there was so much flora and fauna to be photographed….

Like the troop of howler monkeys that climbed and leaped through the bamboo trees around the house. (See video below) I saw more blue morpho butterflies than I could count. Not to mention the bug photos I previously posted.

We visited some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen…

…and of course I wanted to be ready to snap a photo of my darling granddaughters at any given moment

Although it was a pain in the butt (or the arm, actually) carting my camera around was a good thing considering the house we were renting was broken into while we were at dinner one night. Upon returning, we discovered thieves had taken 2 Macbooks, 3 iPads, a camera, 3 backpacks and assorted other items. I was spared because my laptop was hidden in very obscure place – and I never let my camera equipment/ipad out of my sight. I felt really lucky.

Ironically, I returned home to discover that, while away, I had been robbed of over $3600 in jewelry, over $3500 in cash and assorted other small items. Sadly, it was by someone I know and I am very disappointed that my trust has been betrayed. (About $500 in cash has been returned so far).

Fortunately, my son recovered one of his laptops a few weeks later because he had installed the free Prey Project software. Yeah, Prey! (Yes, I have it on both my computers!)

I know you’re probably tired of bug photos – but I want to share one more. I saved a pretty blue damselfly from drowning by fishing him out of the swimming pool, then held it on my finger and my skirt for about half an hour til it’s wings dried enough to open and close. Once he could hold himself upright, I set him on a begonia petal – where he kindly posed for me for another 20 minutes before flying away.

Kind of cute, don’t you think?

I’m still sorting through the hundreds of photos I took and will let you know when I’ve got more ready for viewing. I figured if I waited til I got them ready to be posted, it could be months before I posted anything. But I’ll get to them. In the meantime, enjoy these few and this brief video that will give you an insight into the wonderful sights and sounds of Costa Rica!

I’m looking forward to the possibilities of visiting my family again – but this time in Southeast Asia. Brandon and Jen are moving to Malaysia before the year is over!

I’d never tried a Chai Latte before (I know, can you believe it?) but had a sip of Ashley’s while she here a couple of weeks ago. OMG – love at first sip.

How can it be I’d never tasted this delicious hot, sweet drink? I live in Seattle, after all, the coffee shop capital of the world.

Ashley gave me a rundown of the different types of Chai out there, and insisted that Oregon Chai is the best (or at least her favorite). While at Central Market last week, I discovered Oregon Chai concentrate on sale for 2 for $4.00 – less than half the regular price. I bought a couple of each of the varieties (regular, slightly sweet, and caffeine free – made with red tea instead of black). I like them all – but prefer the sweeter varieties (of course).

Because I enjoy drinking this in the evening, the Caffeine Free variety has become my favorite. I always have it in my Laurel Burch cat mug, a favorite gift from my friend, Jana.

And topped with a little whipped cream and cinnamon, it’s simply divine.

What are your thoughts on chai?

Any brands in particular to recommend? Want to write a chai haiku?

The songs are so catchy that they just stick in your head and won’t go away. But that’s ok, because I simply love the soundtrack.

Since it was written by the brilliantly funny South Park boys (who refer to this musical as their love-letter to Mormonism), and the musical genius Robert Lopez (Avenue Q) I expected some profanity and crudeness. They have built their career on crudeness and pushing the envelope, and I can handle most of what they throw out on South Park. But three of these numbers are a bit too much for me and I have them “unchecked” in iTunes so they don’t play. Most songs, however, are simply delightful – catchy, fun, clever, brilliant or just plain silly.

If you love musicals you really need to listen to a few of these songs. Even if… no, especially if you’re Mormon (with a sense of humor), since you’ll get all the inside jokes. Some of the best musical theater music I’ve ever heard.

You can hear most on YouTube – the one I’ve got here on the page is Hello! Listen and enjoy!

My three favorite numbers are:

• Hello! - the perfect opening number. And every time I listen to it I catch some clever phrase I missed before. “Eternal life is super fun!”
• Two by Two – the missionaries get paired up and learn where they’re going. Favorite line: “We’re fighting for our cause, but we’re really, really nice!” Plus the clever play on the word “of” used throughout.
• I Believe. Beautiful ballad the lead missionary sings as he comes through his crisis of faith. Though I thought it would have been more appropriately titled “I know” – since that is how most Mormons share their beliefs… But “I know” doesn’t roll as musically off tongue, so “I believe” is a better fit. One swear word you probably miss if you’re not listening carefully.

Other fun numbers (no profanity):

• You And Me (But Mostly Me)
• Turn It Off! (what was playing in my head when I decided to write this post)
• Man up – ridiculously silly and makes me laugh.
• Baptize Me… this is so clever. Very sweet, very innocent – but what a double entendre! I just have to shake my head and laugh.
• And Spooky Mormon Hell Dream – ridiculous. Very South Park. Picture the South Park version of hell…

The songs I’d suggest you stay away from, if you don’t want to ingest the most offensive stuff. Trust me… you can’t “unhear” it once you have…

• Last half of Hasa Diga Eebowai - the first half is fun. Last half (when they explain what it means) get’s pretty bad.
• Making Things Up Again
• Joseph Smith American Moses

Have you listened the music? Do you love it? Hate it? Have a favorite song? Which one is playing in your head?

Buy it now!