I am exhaused from the weekend, thrilled to be home with my family and anxious to share my thoughts about Blissdom. I have so much to ‘show and tell’ that I think it’ll take more than one post. But since today is Super Bowl day, I just had to share my little video of Harry Connick Jr singing, “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In”. I’m not a Saints fan but when Harry sings for you, it makes you want to be. I’m still lamenting the fact that my Vikings–and their fearless leader, Favre—didn’t make it. Our good friend, Mike, who is a die-hard Saints fans, is in N’awlins as we speak; so even though we’ll be cheering for Peyton and the Colts, we dedicate this little video to Mike and all you Saints fans. Who ‘dat?!
And this is a cute little picture of my roomies at the concert!
Archives for 2010
when your husband tweets
remember this sweater and vintage skirt
that I hacked up to make a dress for blissdom?
well, i didn’t finish it.
i basted it together and threw it in my suitcase
hoping to shop and find a real dress
before i got here.
i’ve been having way too much fun with all my
new/old blog friends to shop
so i wore it anyway—
–and tweeted this picture right before we left
for the harry connick jr concert
and i ended the tweet with ‘don’t pull on it’
because this dress was literally hanging
by a thread.
to my pleasant surprise my twitter-savvy-hunk
of-a-husband, who
is currently attending a very serious church meeting
in atlanta, tweeted me back with this:
shut.up.
i am still chuckling
and greatly anticipating my arrival back home.
post-edit: my great friend patty at blessed moon, who I begged to come to blissdom with me, is having a “i’m not at blissdom blog-hop” where you can introduce yourself and link up, so go and introduce yourself and link up! see you soon with lots of blissdom pics. i wish you all were here.
Blissdom Bound Y’all
As I was putting the finishing touches on my little love gifts to pass out at Blissdom, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my very southern roots. I made the cutest little bookmarks and very heavily-iced mocha cupcakes for my friends {old, new and yet to be made}, all the while listening to Tim McGraw’s song from the movie The Blindside called Southern Voice. It reminded me of so many things that I love about ‘the Southland’. I grew up on old school country music and can recite many-a-line from Coal Miner’s Daughter. I regularly say y’all, monogram far too many personal and household items and often get a little happy with the eye-shadow. I hug everyone, use too much butter, make a killer pan of cornbread and love everything Elvis and Johnny Cash. And though I rarely listen to country music these days, I’ve always had a teeny little crush on Tim McGraw. I think it’s because he resembles my own hottie husband and seems to be a devoted family man. Are you following my stream of consciousness here?
I’m going to Nashville for Blissdom…
which reminds me of my country music raising…..
which reminds me of how strange we southerners must seem to outsiders….
which brings me to butter cream icing.
For you see, butter cream icing breaks down all barriers—-and all arteries for that matter—–and buttercream icing seemed to be the most perfect way to welcome you to the south. That and Tim McGraw singing about cicadas, sweet tea and Hank Williams. Something about heading to Nashville makes me wanna put on my boots, make buttercream icing and listen to a little Tim McGraw. I can hardly wait to get there.
I’ll see y’all tomorrow.
I made the bookmark as a pdf file so you can download it, print it off, laminate it and bedazzle it. Love to you all! And don’t worry, if you’re not going to Nashville, I’ll take good notes and share everything I learn. My partners in crime are Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy and Krist from Pink and Polka Dot.
The Lure of the “Inner Ring”
{one of my favorite inner rings, forged by time and trial and good fortune}
It can be intimidating to go to a meeting of five hundred smart, opinionated, quite successful women. Let alone women bloggers: that’s another category altogether. And when 500 women gather at Blissdom this week, there’ll inevitably be 100 little groups of 4 or 5 women huddling and laughing and talking about all manner of topics, as it should be. We seek out those with whom we have much in common and hope to make true connections. But lurking closely is temptation to what C.S. Lewis, in his book The Weight of Glory, calls the ‘inner ring’. And we often perceive that we are somehow just ‘outside’ it. You know the ‘inner ring’ well from high school; the group of girls that are inseparable and exist for the sole purpose of excluding everyone else from their circle. The group is usually not a natural, organic group that forges easily because of the like interests shared by the parties. It’s a group that has the appearance of including the ‘important people’ or the ‘people in the know’. And it’s sole existence is exclusion. The allure for the inner ring only works if there’s an imaginary line of admittance which is guarded tightly by those already inside. Lewis points out what many of us already know;
If all you want is to be in the know, your pleasure will be short-lived. The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from outside. By the very act of admitting you it has lost its magic. Once the first novelty is worn off, the members of this circle will be no more interesting than your old friends. Why should they be? You were not looking for virtue or kindness or loyalty or humour or learning or wit or any of the things that can be really enjoyed. You merely wanted to be “in”. And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom, you will be looking for another ring.
The quest for the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a suprising result will follow. If in your spare time, you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside, that you are indeed snug and safe at the centre of something which, seen from without, might look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and noone was led thither by the lure of the esoteric, for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do what they like to do. This is friendship.
What we seek to establish and strengthen are friendships. Inner rings are unavoidable, necessary, and often innocent wholesome groups. It’s our desire to be admitted for the sake of being “in” and our pleasure at others’ exclusion that ushers in evil.
So, remember that the people sitting with you are likely the most interesting, kind, passionate people at the conference. And when you find, perhaps unawares, that a cozy inner ring has formed, be thankful for the gift of true fellowship, which never has exclusion as its’ touchstone.
See you at Blissdom!
Thank you Ruthanne for introducing me to PW’s photoshop actions (used on the above photo). I see an ‘inner photography ring’ in our future. Anyone else wanna join?
Hunkered Down
I love any reason to hunker down. If for nothing else than just to relish in saying the words ‘hunker down’.
And this is what I see just outside my breakfast room this morning.
It’s not the 6-12 inches of snow they predicted,
but 2 inches of slush is enough reason for hunkerin’ in my book.
And I have no trouble filling the weekend to the brim.
Let me break it down for you in a small numbered list.
1. I’ve been looking for a dress to wear to the Blissdom Cocktail Party.
I’m picky and don’t have much time to shop.
Which left me in my craft room hacking up a vintage dress—
and a shirt that fits well—-sorta like
Project runway. Except it’s Project Blissdom.
And it needs work or I’ll be stopping to shop in Knoxville
on my way to the meeting.
2. This particular weekend of hunkering down also involves a little eating of crow.
Remember this post? where I rejoiced in the
lack of electronics at my house?
Well, the little girls have been saving their own money for almost
two years. They finally talked their daddy into
letting them get iPods.
So as I sit by the fire reading a brand new book,
I look across the room and feast my eyes on
this bit of irony.
{complete with TAylor , home from college for the weekend}
3. A good blog friend introduced me to a new blog where this book happens to
be the topic for a book review over the next 3 weeks.
Several of you have asked me if I’ve read it.
So, I ordered and read it in a few hours. And loved it.
I don’t think I’ve read a modern writer who reminds me more
of C.S. Lewis than Thomas Howard. AFter I re-read
parts of it several times and ponder it, I’ll be back for a review.
He’s catholic and I’m Lutheran.
This book is for everyone.
4. Lent swiftly approaches {it begins on February 17, Ash Wednesday}
and the above book only makes me
more anxious to settle into the penitent season with
some of my worldly affections stripped away.
Last year, I ‘fasted’ from comments on my blog.
It was a harder than I thought it would be.
It opened my eyes to how pitifully attached we become to certain things
in our lives. Dare I even mention fasting from
blogging/media altogether? I don’t think
I could do it. But I’m pondering it.
Have you ever tried any version of the
modern media fast? What are your thoughts?
I’m not trying to sound overdramatic but the thought of
forsaking my blog for 40 days
sounds about like leaving my favorite pet out in the snow with
no food and water for 40 days. Drama queen, I know.
5. Last but not least, there’s been playing in the snow,
sewing, cooking, cleaning, movie watching
laughing, snuggling, husband-kissing, dog-feet drying and various other hunkering down activities.
I could do this every weekend.
Hope you were lucky enough to be snowed in!
Mocha Cake=Pure Bliss
I thought it was high-time mocha cake gots its’ own post. Mocha cake deserves more than to be thrust in the corner while beef-potato-cabbage soup struts its’ stuff. Mocha cake is not an afterthought; nor a recipe to be thrust to the bottom of another post. Mocha cake stands alone as the single best weapon in my recipe arsenal. {As I overdramatize mocha cake, I begin to wonder if I have at some point, given mocha cake it’s own post—but the overdramatization is so much fun, I decide I don’t care.}
Mocha cake has become my magnum opus.
I only bring mocha cake to VERY special occasions. If I bring you mocha cake, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and declared my love. ANd I’m pondering bringing mocha cupcakes to Blissdom.
Pondering, I said. I’ve also pondered making cute little bookmarks. Or my standard chocolate shortbread cookies.
But I mean, if I bring mocha cupcakes to Blissdom then I won’t know if you love me for me or for my cupcakes. Right? So just in case I chicken out and can’t commit, I’m finally giving you a gorgeous pdf file of mocha cake.
And pdf-file making may seem of little consequence to some, but I’m old. Like 40 remember? So, if I make a pdf file of mocha cake for you that’s a pretty strong statement of how committed I am to this relationship. You know what they say about commitment though, why read the blog when you can get the pdf for free? So don’t take this recipe and run. I’m laying it all on the line HERE people. I’m giving from my heart with reckless abandon. See ya tomorrow, right?
*very important note: this is not my original recipe. It was given to me by a friend a few years ago. It has become ‘mine’ by common law. I’ve made it so many times that there can’t possibly be someone out there who ‘owns’ this recipe more than me. But if you happen to know who the author is, please share! I think it came from a magazine more than ten years ago. Here’s the nuts and bolts but surely you want the cute copy here.
Cake: Icing:
2 cups all purpose flour 2 sticks softened butter
1 ½ cups sugar 1 T. vanilla
¾ c cocoa 1/8 t. salt
1 t. baking powder 2 pounds powdered sugar
¼ t. salt ½ c strong brewed coffee
1 ½ sticks butter, softened
3 large eggs to chocolate icing only add:
1 c. water ½ c cocoa powder
1 ½ t. vanilla Garnish with shaved chocolate
Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 eight inch round cake pans. For the cake, beat butter, eggs and vanilla. When smooth , alternate adding dry ingredients and water and beat for 3 minutes. Divide evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
For the frosting: Mix butter, vanilla and salt and then slowly add sugar and coffee, alternating. Beat until smooth. Remove about 2 cups of the frosting and place into a freezer Ziploc or cake decorating bag. Add ½ c cocoa to the remaining frosting. Use this chocolate frosting to ice the actual cakes and then save a little to make a few chocolate ‘points’ on the cake. Using the buttercream icing that you put in the bag, pipe points onto the cake. Use up all the frosting and then do the same with the remaining chocolate icing.
Ta-Da!
**Post-edit: While we’re on my favorite topic of food, I made this for dinner on Monday—todiefor! It doesn’t sound that great but it is. Trust me.
And I’m making this for dinner tonight. It gets great reviews and looks interesting! Happy cooking. Happier eating.