Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice - Sarah from The Wicker Bar

Sugar, Spice and Everything nice is my new series that spotlights exceptionally sweet bloggers! This week I'd like you to meet Sarah from The Wicker Bar! Besides being a complete sweetheart, she also has a KILLER wit and I constantly wish that I was just 1/10th as funny as her. This is going to sound so geeky, but Sarah is just SO awesome and cool, I kind of want to be her when I grow up (and she's like 6 years younger than me.) She is one of my closest friends, and I'm super excited that she agreed so share some of her sweetness (and awesomeness) here today!

I have a lot of favorite pictures, but this one is a current favorite. I'm totally besotted by Twin Peaks at the current moment. Kyle Maclachlan is pretty easy on the eyes, so this picture of him and Lara Flynn Boyle is basically the sweetest thing ever right now.

Garden State is one of my absolute favorite movies. The whole thing is very bittersweet yet hilarious, but this scene is particularly touching. I can't describe it without totally giving away the story, so you should definitely watch it!

To be honest, I don't bake/cook as much as I'd like to...mostly because whenever I do, I end up eating the entire tray of brownies or whatever I've made! For a margherita pizza, I just kind of toss it together, but I do something along the lines of this recipe from Pink Parsely. Then for dessert I'd whip up some Trader Joe's truffle brownies, or grab a few Minty Newman-O's if I was lazy ;)

Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie
I've loved this song since forever, it seems. It's such a summer song, and it's PERFECT UGH. I'm disgusted with how perfect it is. The whole "Plans" album is just incredible as it is but I'll never stop loving this particular song. Can't you just picture driving with the windows down to this?


My two friends, Chris and Kevin, like to drop by my house unannounced from time to time. Last summer they showed up at my doorstep, so I let them in. Chris immediately went to the pantry to fetch the box of Wheat Thins, and Kevin sat down at the counter and picked up a newspaper. I was getting something out of the oven, so I was too preoccupied to notice them making themselves at home. I turned around to Kevin intently reading the paper, and Chris on his blackberry munching away - in silence. I stared at them for a second, then said, "You know, I'm really glad you guys came over to spend time with me!" obviously testing them. Neither of them looked up, and they both replied with a spacey, "No problem, we love coming to your house," and continued reading/eating. I burst out laughing because it was like something out of a movie. They snapped out of it, and then we took a trip to PetSmart at 9pm so they could buy beta fish. I have the craziest friends.

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice - Emma Wallace

Sugar, Spice and Everything nice is my new series that spotlights exceptionally sweet bloggers! And really, who is sweeter than Miss Emma Wallace? Her kindness, zest for life and innate positivity are contagious! And if ever a person had a voice to match their personality, it's Emma. Her music is so lovely and cheerful that I guarantee one listen will put a smile on your face, and significantly brighten not only your day, but your entire life. I'm super excited that she agreed to share some of her sweetness here today!

ps. she was (predictably) too modest to choose her own music for the sweet song, so I cheated and added one of her songs at the end of her post. ;-D Have a listen and prepare to smile!

Well, since I just had a baby, I think all my photos of him are sweet! I'm completely twitterpated. But here is a photo of him in the front baby carrier my husband wears. It's DOUBLY sweet because it a. has my baby in it and b. has my wonderful husband carrying him around (which makes me fall for my husband that much more). I swear Peter would live in that carrier if he could!

I have a passion for children's books. I think I spend pretty much all fun money on out-of-print or exciting children's books. My usual favorite type is the "slice-of-life" books - that are just about the every day goings on of the characters. There are so many I adore and one of my favorite authors, Eleanor Estes, writes about the sweetest books ever. One of her books, Pinky Pye, is about a family that spends a summer vacation on a remote Northeastern island and adopt a scrappy, abandoned kitten. Parts of the story are told from the kitten's perspective and it really is the perfect and adorable summer read.


I have not one sweet tooth, but, really, ALL my teeth are sweet. It's true. So I asked my mother for one of my favorite (of many) childhood dessert recipes. It's like a candy bar AND a baked good. What could be better?

HELLO DOLLY COOKIES
Melt 1 stick butter and pour in greased 8 x 8 inch pan. Layer 1 cup graham cracker crumbs over butter. Layer 1 cup coconut over crumbs. Layer 1 cup chocolate bits over coconut. Layer 1 cup pecans over chocolate bits. Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk over all. DO NOT MIX. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.





There are so many sweet songs out there! This one, though, not only has such sweet lyrics but the tune also seems so darling to me! I first heard it sung by Harry Connick, jr - his piano solo is marvelous - but I love the Sinatra version so much! The picture I chose is of the most romantic Hollywood
couple ever...


I lived briefly in Seattle mid-college and I have many (many) sweet memories of living there! My sweetest memory isn't the many-layered chocolate cakes from Dilettante Chocolates (oof, those were good), or the truffles I squirreled away and ate one by one when I was tragically low on cash (mmmm) or the gelataria and donut shop I worked at (I think I put on about 800 lbs working there. But now I can make both gelato and donuts. Totally worth it) or the pecan sticky buns from the vegan bakery (so sticky you want to cry), NO! All around Seattle, there are blackberry bushes, just growing on the side of the road. I walked everywhere in Seattle and I have such wonderful memories of snacking off the wild blackberry bushes.

Okay, maybe the many-layered chocolate cakes are up there with the blackberries.

Fred Astaire by Emma Wallace!

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice - Casey from Noir Girl

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice is my new series that spotlights exceptionally sweet bloggers! This week is Casey from Noir Girl. Casey is one of the kindest, most generous people I've ever known. I haven't met her (yet!), but you get the impression that a little group of butterflies and hummingbirds accompany her wherever she goes, or that the air would smell sweeter when she's around. She's just that incredibly nice! She is also exceptionally talented (just check out her blog header for starters!) and her drive and creativity inspire me to work harder myself. I'm so incredibly lucky to call her my friend, and I'm so glad that she agreed to share some of her sweetness here today! :)

Hedy Lamarr (my favorite classic film actress) with a contestant in a children's costume pageant.


On a recent daytrip, my family and I discovered an adorable custom in a local historic town. All along the sidewalk downtown, shop owners put out water bowls for the dogs walking along the street. Whenever a dog feels thirsty, they just pause a moment and gulp. It is the cutest thing ever!


Even though summer is in full swing here in the southern US, I have been dying for pumpkin scones recently. I'm planning to whip up a batch today! I like this recipe from A Dash of Sass because it uses whole wheat flour. Not only are these scones delicious, but they are actually kinda good for you too! ;) I always eat Pumpkin Scones slathered with apple butter. There's no other way.

Recipe link: http://adashofsass.com/2009/10/04/whole-wheat-pumpkin-scones/

Helen Forrest is my favorite 40's big band singer. The heartfelt, simple way she sang each song makes me fervently wish I could sing like her. Happily for me, she was amazingly prolific and has a huge library of tunes. She sang everything from silly novelties to sweet ballads to peppy jives. Check her out if you like this song!


Some of my favorite childhood memories involve the games my brother and I played together. They weren't games in the truest sense of the word - more like creative endeavors with ordinary objects. One of our best pastimes was creating pillow forts in the living room. We are big believers in nap time in our house, so our sofas have always been covered in a wide array of pillows and blankets. Steve and I tossed every soft object we could find on the floor, watching the pile of materials grow with each drop. When the couches were uncovered, we borrowed the seat cushions and turned them on their ends for the walls of our fort. We gingerly laid blankets on top of the cushion walls to enclose the space. Sometimes the structure became unstable if we piled on too many blankets too soon, and we ran to fetch every tall, slender object within stealing distance to secure our creation. Steve lost interest in the fort design as soon as the blankets went on, but I continued tweaking and securing until it was just right. Once we had it complete, we absolutely had to sit inside and enjoy it. After all the hard work of hauling blankets (do you ever stop to think how heavy blankets are?), I was exhausted and wanted to nap in the fort. Steve, always the dynamo, insisted on dragging every one of his favorite toys inside and demanded we play instead. Of course, he won (little brothers always do, you know) and I would match wits with him in a heated game of Memory, Star Wars style. He always won this, too.

In the end, our mom rewarded our hard work with little bowls of homemade cookies and milk in special lidded cups with straws. We chomped away on chocolate chips while trying to figure out the latest mystery on Ghostwriter. And when Steve wasn't looking, I hid the Star Wars game under the couch.

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice - Millie from ClassicForever

I've been blogging for over 2 years now, and in that time I've met some of the sweetest girls I've known in my entire life. I thought it would be super to start shining a spotlight on them in a new feature I'm calling "Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice"! And I couldn't think of a better person to start with than Millie from ClassicForever.

Millie was my very first blogging friend -- we met through our classic film blogs in January 2009 -- and she is seriously one of the sweetest people on the planet! Not only does she have a wonderful personality and fantastic sense of humor, but she also cares deeply about other people & is working to make the world a better place. She spends a great deal of her time raising money for Sierra Leone, and often goes to volunteer there herself! She is such a huge inspiration to me, and a wonderful friend. I'm so glad she agreed to share some of her sweetness here today! :)

A Sierra Leonean mother holding her baby. Just a few months before this photo was taken, this baby was dying. But, then the well in their village was repaired. He is alive and healthy and smiling because of clean water.

For a sweet story, I'm going to talk about Africa again (mainly because I will be back in Sierra Leone in less than two months and I'm seriously excited). This story is both literally and figuratively sweet.This is Moses (he must have been about three or four). Moses was the little brother of the cook at a compound thing I stayed at on one of my trips. He would sit on the ground in the corner of the courtyard and stare at us whenever we were there. My specific "job" in Sierra Leone is working with the children (heh heh heh... everyone else always gets stuck doing manual labor, while I get to play with kids all day) and so I kept trying to get Moses to smile. *I* would smile at him, or try and to talk to him, or try and play games with him -- and he would run away and hide. One afternoon, we were back at the compound for a couple of hours for some reason... and there was Moses. I realized that I had fruit roll-up in my pocket from working at a school earlier in the day. I pulled it out and held it out to Moses. He was a little wary, but he still ran up and grabbed it. Then he started to eat it.... and then he was my friend for life.

Moses turned into a crazy ball of energy (high sugar content is probably mostly to blame) and proceeded to follow me around whenever I was at the compound. HE WAS SO SERIOUSLY ADORABLE. This is an example of how sweets (two things you'll always hear from children in Africa is: "Snap me!" [meaning take a photo of them] and "SWEETS! SWEETS! SWEETS!") are never a bad thing...and often lead to lasting friendships. ;-D

When Kate told me about this, she used tofu brownies as an example. I HAD NO IDEA THAT SUCH A BRILLIANT CONCEPT EVEN EXISTED. It's difficult to comprehend, but sounds awesome.

Anyway, for a sweet recipe I'm gonna have to go with Chai-Spiced Cookies. I actually haven't tried this recipe before, but I'm definitely going to this weekend. I have a definite chai addiction and just think about chai tea in solid form -- the possibilities for beauty are endless. I found a great recipe on Whole Foods' website.

I know that it's a bit of a cop-out using a recipe I haven't tried yet, but all my normal recipes are so boring. EVERYONE already knows how to make snickerdoodles (or at least they should know as intelligent, literate humans). And usually me and food consists of me taking already prepared food and adding cilantro, so yeah. (I will eat cilantro on anything.)

It's officially summertime (Santa Cruz Organic Mango Lemonade is in stock! THIS IS HOW WE KNOW) and summer memories are always the most loverly. I have the best memories of watching Parent Trap (the Hayley Mills version of course) with all my siblings (all six of them) and drinking my mum's pink lemonade (she makes it pink with a sliver of beet juice). (By the way, I am a clear abuser of the parentheses.) Any mention or viewing of the film instantly transports me back to being six. And, wow. Everything was so nice and simple when I was six. And I totally didn't know that Hayley Mills has a twin named Hayley. (That's weird. but it DID say: Starring Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills, so clearly...) Life was awesome. And watching the movie always makes me realize how awesome life IS! :-D

I also want to thank Kate for asking me to do this -- it made me so happy (it was a definite sewer moment [sewer is KateishMilliney for Awwww]). Kate IS the sweetest person to ever exist. That's just basic truth. Thanks, Kate (by the way...TYRONE POWER IS COOL AND YOU KNOW IT! ;-D)