Eye Candy Friday (on Thursday)

February 26, 2015 By Carole

I put together this awesome cheese and charcuterie plate last Friday night, using the knowledge I got from the cheese tasting we attended. It was fabulous, I must say. And, in my world anyway, cheese is definitely eye candy. Truthfully, I’d rather have cheese than candy, if we’re going to take this in the literal sense.

Anyway.

I’m posting eye candy today because I am leaving for Freeport, ME for the annual SPA weekend this morning with Jo-Ann. Sharon is joining us tomorrow and we will be seeing loads of our friends all weekend long. This is just a long way of saying that I won’t be posting tomorrow because I will be way too busy doing the usual SPA related stuff: drinking, eating, spinning, chatting, laughing, knitting, and all-around hanging out. I will try and post on Monday but: see previous sentence and know that there may be some recovery time involved.

Have a great weekend, I am wishing all of you could be with me!

Words In The Wild

February 25, 2015 By Carole

I have been getting some great mail lately. I got a Valentine and a letter from Margene. And a postcard from Bev. And a card from Patty. I feel truly lucky and cherished because when it comes to this type of correspondence I am a bit of a slacker.

Yesterday, I got a perfectly wonderful card in the mail from Kym. Her words made me realize that she definitely understands about the winter blahs. And it made for the perfect thing to post today since before this came I had nothing to talk about.

The knitting – it’s all super seekrit.

The reading – it’s not much to talk about right now.

And the winter is dragging on.

But getting mail from friends is just the thing to chase away the winter blues.

Ten On Tuesday

February 24, 2015 By Carole

A week or so ago we spent some time in our friend’s outdoor hot tub. It was cold and snowing but being in that hot, churning water was surprisingly pleasant. Of course we joked about it being a time machine and that got me thinking — if this hot tub was, indeed, a time machine, where would I want to go? And just like that a Ten on Tuesday topic was born. Presenting: 10 Time Periods I Would Want to Visit If I Had A Hot Tub Time Machine.

The North during the Civil War. I’m not a reenactor for nothing, you know.
The South in the years prior to the Civil War. While I think slavery is abhorrent I do think it would be kind of cool to experience life on a plantation and attend a barbecue. I’m thinking Scarlet at 12 Oaks before the war broke out. And then before I left I’d free all the slaves.
Boston in the days leading up to the Revolutionary War. It was such an exciting time and Boston would be the place to be.
Scotland in the 1700s. I’d be looking for Jamie Fraser, you can bet on that.
England during World War II. It was a scary place, it honestly must have been terrifying to be there, but I’d want to experience it so long as my time machine was working well enough to get me out at the first hint of real danger.
San Francisco in the 1960s. I’d be wearing flowers in my hair.
Paris in the 1920s. So much art and culture between WWI and WWII.
England during the 19th century. And I would hang around with Austen and Dickens and the Brontes. And I would love it.
American in the 1950s. I would like to be, for about 5 minutes probably, a typical housewife of that time. It’s how my mom lived and I’d just like the chance to experience that first hand.
Finally, on a completely sentimental note, I’d want to go back to September, 1992. Hannah was an infant and this time around I would do my best to slow down time and savor every moment.

So, what about you? Where would you go if you had a hot tub time machine? If you wrote a post for today please click the button below to add your link. If you’d like to subscribe to the weekly Ten on Tuesday email, please click here.

An InLinkz Link-up

Weekending

February 23, 2015 By Carole

I had a weekend full of fun, really good cheese, friends, dancing, and my favorite TV event of the year, The Oscars.

Here’s the thing with the cheese – we went to a cheese tasting sponsored by a local food group. It was great and I learned so much about buying cheese, storing cheese, and what kinds of cheeses I like. Okay, that might be all the cheese but still, I learned a lot and my new favorite cheese is Oma by the Von Trapp Family. Yes. That Von Trapp Family.

The fun included a night out for the Dale and the Duds Valentine’s Dance. We danced and we drank and we laughed and had a really great time. It’s good for me to see Dale perform now and again, it brings back so many memories of our early years together and it reminds me why I fell in love with him in the first place. Plus, those 5 guys in the band are some of my favorite men in the world.

As if that wasn’t a great weekend already, Sunday was Oscar day. I watched E! most of the afternoon while prepping some delicious food for us, including the wedge salad bites pictured above. We also had buffalo shrimp and cheeseburger sliders and, of course, champagne.

I had seen all of the Best Picture nominees this year and I enjoyed them all. I loved Imitation Game best of all and I also thought Grand Budapest Hotel, Theory of Everything, Whiplash and Selma were fantastic. American Sniper was terrific and Boyhood was good but a bit too long for me. As for Birdman, well, I just didn’t get it.

And of course, that won Best Picture. I knew it was coming, though, so I was prepared. And I was glad to see Grand Budapest Hotel pick up awards in other categories, Whiplash got some great attention, Selma won Best Song and the performance by John Legend & Common left everyone crying, Eddie Redmayne won for Theory of Everything and American Sniper picked up some technical awards. While I wasn’t super crazy about Patricia Arquette in Boyhood, her acceptance speech was fantastic and empowering – equal pay for women! YES! And J.K. Simmons gave an excellent acceptance speech and reminded everyone to call their parents. (I would if I could and I sure wish I could, Mr. Simmons.)

Neil Patrick Harris did a great opening number and the addition of Anna Kendrick and Jack Black made it even better. After that, though, I thought he fell flat. His jokes weren’t very good and the thing in his underwear (yes, I know it was a Birdman reference but meh) just wasn’t funny even if he is hot. Lady Gaga was amazing in her Sound of Music tribute although I found whatever that was she was doing with her dress to be distracting.

As for the fashion: Rosamund Pike, yes; Julianne Moore, no; Patricia Arquette, yes to the dress and no to the hair; Reese Witherspoon, maybe: J.Lo, OH YES; Emma Stone, no, Naomi Watts, yes, Felicity Jones, yes, Anna Kendrick, YES, Lupita Longo, yes (although I wondered what it was like to sit down on all those pearls).

Those are the highlights for me for this year’s Oscar show. Did you watch? What did you love and, even more important, what did you hate? And for those of you who don’t watch the Oscars, shocking as that may be, how was your weekend?

Eye Candy Friday

February 20, 2015 By Carole

More snow = more tulips. Okay, not really, because these are the tulips Dale bought me for Valentine’s Day. That’s right. No roses for this girl, I much prefer tulips.

My plans for the weekend include hanging out with Dale, a night of dancing, and the Oscars! I hope you have fun weekend plans, too!