Madness - with veggies

Following a fitness resolution with one about food is nuts, but I've been meaning to post this recipe for a few days. Recipe found here. I would probably add a bit more spice to it - maybe more pepper and basil and oregano. Its originally from Cooking Light so not too too terrible in small quantities. It made a ton for freezing for later and it really helped with my immense veggie craving I've had lately.

Lumpish

The scale today was a harsh mistress. I knew what was coming though. I have been bad bad bad this winter. Too much stress and illness and eating not so carefully. Not nearly enough moving about. My pants aren't fitting so hot and I'm determined not to give in and go buy new ones. Instead, I'm gonna start a March 10th resolution to watch better what goes in my mouth and make a better attempt at moving around more. Until then, my bigger pants and comfy dresses will have to do.

I've been admiring Lisa's endeavor over at Happily Ever After in Seattle. So expect some fitness updates around here as well. Tonight, I'm off to my yoga class.

so sweet & so cold news

Kristen and I have made a change to our blog so sweet & so cold. Instead of limiting our content to etsy finds, we've decided we can feature all sorts of pretty things. Its so much fun! So check it out and feel the prettyness.

Garden swap!

I took part in Nicole's garden swap over at A Little Sussy. Unfortunately, thanks to my spam blocker eating the info I needed for the swap, I totally forgot about it until this delightful package showed up at my doorstep. Eek!

So right now, I'm having so much fun putting together a late garden package for my swappee who is so very understanding about my dingyness. However, I have to show what Bebe from Dos Hermanas sent me.

With 20 inches of snow on the ground, its so nice to have such pretty gardeny things to take my mind off of the cold. Bebe sent me lemon poppyseed scone mix (which I must admit I may not be able to wait for spring to try), pretty floral napkins, an adorable bird and nest centerpiece, a champage and punch recipe card (this is gonna get TONS of use), terrarium ideas, and a list of great gardening blogs for my perusing pleasure. Could a swap package be more perfect? I can't wait for good weather and the chance to do more entertaining on my patio surronded by pretty plants and soaking in the sunshine.

Thanks so much, Bebe!

When my package is sent off to my swap partner, I'll post some pictures.

Aren't these birdies the cutest?

Welcome to my abode

I realized that I hadn't shared some awesome thrifty finds. Please ignore the clutter!


Here is one corner of my living room. The yellow piece on the wall is really a silk scarf my husband found. We stretced it over a canvas and hung it up. I love it. The dragon was a goodwill find from years ago. I'm losing some fondness for it, but the husband keeps pointing out its supposedly excellent feng shui (even though I'm pretty sure he knows nothing about feng shui).

That awesome macrame ttree hanging was originally meant for etsy via MiriamandEleanor but I fell in love with it. The dangers of having a vintage shop!

And this I had to share cause it looks so pretty. Just ignore the laundry basket. And the bench that mneeds recovered. The iron bed is a serious find though. My parents found it at an auction and refinished it for us. The dresser (in need of replacement knobs) was a yardsale find.

Ever so slowly I'm working on finding things I like better and replacing some of our pieces or finding ways to improve upon what we already have. We're not much for brand new furniture whenever possible.

one glittering higher up still

I'm behind on posting some reviews. The fact that all I can see outside my window is snow means I'll be doing plenty more reading, watching, and crafting. So look for multiple posts this weekend.
My very favorite read recently is Anne of Green Gables. I'm determined to read everything L.M. Montgomery has ever written. (Its on my 101 list to the right). However, I stalled on getting started cause I thought I'd be bored by the first couple of books since I've watched the movies eleventy gazillion times. Not so! They are so sweet and charming and funny. I can't wait to dig into Anne of Avonlea!

One excerpt had me scrambling to write it down:

"Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting."

Entirely a different sort of book form Anne, but I also enjoyed Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Murder mysteries are not my typical thing, but a detective who's also a serial killer? Count me as intrigued. I like it - an no, I haven't seen the tv series yet. I'll probably wait until I've read all the series available as of yet. Its an interesting book, but did anyone else feel like the ending was a bit rushed?


I snagged The World's Wife to add a bit of poetry to my reading. I really really liked Mrs. Midas and Mrs. Darwin. The rest I felt a little meh about. Still the concept of poetry from the view of historical and mythilogical wives is a great one.

I'm a Wes Anderson junkie. I love how he portrays family dysfunction. Still, the story in Darjeeling Limited felt a bit lacking. However, the scene on the train where it showed all the characters in a row really redeemed it for me. I could probably watch that scene over and over again. Plus Adrien Brody was pretty awesome.

Slew of good movies and pretty good books

Flaming Iguanas was cute and bawdy. Somewhat like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance but without all the boring philosophy crap and with cartoons.

Tony Bourdain's No Reservations was full of fun descriptions of the making of his show and lots of stunning pictures - of scenery and of leaches on asses.

We've watched a ton of good movies in the past week. Atonement was beautiful. Very like to book (although I reserve the right to prefer the book.) James McAvoy can be my new crush.

No Country for Old Men was so freaking good and deserving of all kinds of accolades. I loved how many of the characters resembled real people and not just pretty Hollywood extra types.

The Lives of Others is amazingly good. A-mazing! I'm forced to tell everyone I know to watch it so they can appreciate its amazingness too.