I did it!!

Well, my first airplane ride is officially behind me! Phew!! :D

I was a nervous wreck (and I may or may not have cried during take-off and also when I felt the plane touch back on earth) but I'm so glad I finally did it. It took 26 years, but I finally did it :) I think I'll need more practice before I'm able to do an international flight, but at least the more terrifying part is over.

Yesterday me and my mom went to the Magic Kingdom, and we had SO much fun!! We ate dinner at Cinderella's Castle! And the best part is that the new Fantasyland (which includes the Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid attractions) had a dress rehearsal while we were there! Those are my two favorite Disney princess movies (favorite Disney movie goes to 101 Dalmatians) so I was ridiculously elated. Again, I may or may not have cried. I was a little emotional yesterday lol :) The Little Mermaid ride is INCREDIBLE! We went on it three times and if it's open again today, I'm sure that tally will at least double. My mom and I ended up singing Under the Sea and Part of Your World as we wandered around the park for the rest of the night.

Well we're going to go grab some breakfast and head over to The Animal Kingdom now! I hope everyone else is having a magical week too :)

confetti salad recipe

Here it is, one of the most delicious salads you'll ever eat. It's just so fresh and summery! And tasty! :D Here is my mom's recipe, although if you're impatient like me you might want to skip cutting everything into itty bitty pieces and just use the food processor instead ;D Also, using purple onions is important, because part of the charm of confetti salad is all of the different colors sprinkled throughout the dish! :)



Here's a text version in case you'd like to print it :)

4 c. Jasmine rice (made w/5c. water) .. let cool
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 large purple onion
1 cucumber (remove seeds)
1 carrot
1 bottle Good Season's Italian Dressing

Dice the peppers, onion and cucumber into teeny-tiny pieces and dump them on the rice. Grate the carrot over everything. Pour the whole cruet of dressing into the bowl, stir and let it get cold.

nepotism and earrings

Now it's my mom's turn! ;D My mom runs a little etsy shop called Baubles Bangles and Beans, where she sells handmade earrings. She sells two kinds -- coffee bean earrings, made with real fair trade coffee beans, and "extreme decaf" earrings, which are similar to her coffee bean style, but without the coffee! My mom is so cute, it's ridiculous... I am not exaggerating in the least bit when I say that each time she's made a sale she's positively GIDDY with excitement. She usually has the order packed up and ready to go within like 10 minutes because she's so excited that she made a sale. It's so adorable!

So if you have a coffee addict on your Christmas list, this is a pretty cool gift, right?! She offers free shipping on all orders, no coupon necessary (and you know you'll get it for Christmas since she ships it within like 10 seconds of your order, lol) and if you mention that you're visiting from my blog when you order there will be a little flapper doodle goodie in your package, too! :D

ps. If you're super amazing and want to order from my mom AND my dad you can let one of them know and the orders can be shipped in one package :)

DIY: adjustable bracelet

This is Judy, Kate's mom! While she's in Disney World and the rest of us aren't (okay, yes, I'm jealous!), I thought maybe you'd like to spend a little time making a cute adjustable bracelet for yourself or a friend (or you can scoot over to my blog, That's Not What I Expected to Hear, to read some of my imaginative - and imagined - conversations with, um, inanimate objects or go to my etsy shop to see the jewelry I make from real coffee beans!) Here are the directions for making the bracelet (or just use more cord and make it a necklace!)



1. Select some beads or charms and cut your stringing material to a few inches longer than you'd need to either slip it over your hand or your head. 2. Thread your beads onto the cord (a good idea is to put a slipknot in the other end so your beads don't fall off while you're stringing them!). 3. Center your beads and tie a knot at each end of the beads to secure them in the middle of your cord.



4. Now comes the tricky part - making the slide knots. Place the left cord above the right cord with more than 3" of overlap (see the photo). Next, lift the right (lower) cord about 3" from its end and making sure the rest of the right cord stays below the left cord, begin coiling the piece you've lifted around BOTH cords until you've made three loops (sorry I don't have pictures of this part...I would have had to have three hands!). Thread the tail (which is still the right cord - it's the piece left over from looping) back through the three loops you just made and then pull it tight. You've made your first slide knot! 5. Repeat step 4 for the second slide knot. When both knots are done, slide them together and make sure your bracelet/necklace fits over your hand/head. If it does, trim the excess tail from the knots. If it's a tight squeeze and you have excess cord hanging out from your knots, just undo the knot and redo it so that you won't have so much excess. 6. Once your bracelet/necklace is over your hand/head, simply slide the knots apart to make it as tight as you'd like it.

Congratulations! You just made your own beautiful adjustable piece of jewelry!

scathingly brilliant moms

I know a lot of people think they have the best mom on the planet, but I really do. People who think their moms are the best meet my mom and change their mind. There's a picture of her in the dictionary next to "mother." There's also a picture of her next to "chocoholic" but that's beside the point.. She's just plain amazing, and I'm so so lucky to have ended up with her. When life is incredibly rotten and I think I have the worst luck ever, I remember that she and my dad are my parents and I realize I've got it pretty good after all.

Since I'm moving in a couple months, I couldn't give her anything sentimental today or there'd be a weep-fest for sure. (I'm having a hard enough time just writing this post.) I couldn't say it to her in person today, not wanting to turn us both into waterfalls for the next 24 hours, but she's seriously my absolute best friend on the planet. I'm going to miss her like mad and I can't wait for her and my dad to join me in Canada next year.

Three generations: my grandmom, me and my mom

my mom's mom, me and my dad's mom

Grandmom Dawn with my mom when she was a baby

Grandmom Eve with my dad when he was a baby

I know I probably love my cats TOO much, and a lot of people wouldn't think cats belong in a mother's day post... but I am so thankful for Chloe's mom and Hypatia's mom. They gave me the best cats anyone could hope for (albeit one of them tries to kill me on a regular basis, but still..) and I almost wish they were humans so I could send them some kind of thank you card..

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Who is your favorite movie or tv mom? I think mine is Glynis Johns in Mary Poppins..

35 years

Today is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary! I might be a bit biased, but they're seriously the best people I've ever known. They have the biggest hearts on the planet, and they're just so sweet... they are a perfect match, and I feel so lucky that they found each other. Me and my brother always feel like their anniversary is really something WE should be celebrating, since their marriage has given us the best parents any children could ever hope for.

jean genie

coat - h&m

jeans - old navy

scarf - urban outfitters

bag - urban outfitters

shoes - the back of my closet

I hardly EVER wear pants, but after too many windy days spent in NYC trying to hold down my skirt to keep it from blowing up around my face (and embarrassingly failing at this task numerous times) I decided to go with some trusty jeans this time. Not nearly as pretty, but much better than flashing all of New York City, yes?

Me and my mom spent the day in the city since I had to attend a meeting, and it was so nice! I really love spending time with her and don't get the opportunity very often, since she works full time and is too tuckered to do much besides watch tv when she finally gets home! After the meeting we spent some time (cough.. hours) in H&M then had drinks (lemonade & coke kind of drinks) in the cellar restaurant at Macy's before coming home and meeting my dad and brother for dinner at Olive Garden. We really don't get out much as a family so when we do it's a HUGE treat, and incredibly fun! Somehow I blurted out that I owed my mom a "gret of daditude" (instead of debt of gratitude) and it struck our funny-bones so much that my mom was crying, and I was having trouble breathing I was laughing so hard. All in all -- an absolutely perfect day! :)

i can only do two things at once

dress - f21

belt - old navy

tights - kmart

hat - f21

vest - vintage, from my mom

My mom bought this vest on her honeymoon in London, in 1976. Despite the fact that I can't really button it without holding my breath (I'd blame it on holiday cookies, but it hasn't buttoned on me for years.. lol) I love wearing it, just because of the family history behind it. When I came downstairs wearing it this morning, my mom smiled and started recalling bits of her honeymoon. I love that clothes can do that .. just one look at something you wore on a special day, or bought on a special vacation, and it immediately triggers a trip down memory lane.

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a trip down music memory lane

I think my parents are pretty awesome. There's a hundred reasons why, but one of the biggies is the music they introduced me to as a kid. My dad owned a record shop for the 1st decade or so my parents were married, then they opened a music t-shirt/poster mail order business around the time I was born. Music is super important to both of them, and they made sure it would be to me, too. I could probably buy one record a day for my entire life, and wouldn't come close to matching my dad's collection.

I remember when I was around 8 or 9 I was singing along to a Peter Murphy song (the lyrics of which I only understand now, as a grown up) and my mom apologized to me in advance for exposing me to that kind of stuff. "When you're an adult, you are going to hate us," she said. That might have been true if they hadn't also been busy making me into a progressive open-minded person who'd totally play the same music for her own kids.

When I was about 13 I became interested in older music (Sinatra, Crosby, etc.) and never really listened to the songs I'd loved as a kid, except on road trips when my parents would make mix-tapes for the car. It was only recently, within the last six months or so, that I finally started listening and appreciating their tastes in music again. Not only are the songs little trips down memory lane, but I'm really enjoying exchanging youtube links with my dad, who, needless to say, is beyond thrilled that I'm listening to his favorite music again (except T-Rex. I just can't get into them..) and keeps sending me songs I might like! :)

When I have kids, they're going to be little music aficionados who sing inappropriate lyrics and hopefully they won't grow up to hate me for it ;-D

my favorite halloween costume

After reading this article today about Target's attack on homemade Halloween costumes, I was reminded of my all-time favorite costume -- a Hershey's chocolate milk box made for me by my mom when I was 11 years old. It won 1st place in the best costume competition at my Halloween school dance, and I came home with a $25 Pizza Hut gift card.

I think this is 100 times better -- and 100 times more special -- than any disposable polyester costume I could get at Target, don't you?

Happy Birthday SUPERMOM!

So many of the reasons why my mom is wonderful are private and personal to me, and I can't share them here. Suffice it to say, she's come to my rescue so many times when I had dilemmas or crises, and supported me through everything. She's my personal hero, and my absolute best friend in the whole world. She's the humblest person I know, and the person who has the most reasons not to be humble.

She's awesome in a gazillion different ways, and I seriously think I'm the luckiest person in the universe to have her for my mom.