The Cadbury Bunny Meets Tutu

It's Easter time and we all bear witness to the beautiful colors of the season.  Pale pinks, purples, and yellows. Or mint green, baby blue, and pale peach enliven our homes and tell us Spring has arrived. I'm certain the followers of Martha Stewart could show us all a thing or two about being crafty and filling our homes with projects from her magazine.  BTW, I like Martha and have tremendous respect for her ability to hire really good people. I could use one or two of them on my staff.  Oh wait, I AM my staff.......

I know this is the traditional holy time of the Christian calendar, but us inventive Americans have turned it into yet another holiday for eating and socializing.  Think about it, Easter brunch featuring ham with pineapple and maraschino cherries, deviled eggs, leg of lamb with minted Spring peas, all sorts of breads, potatoes with butter and fresh spring herbs. My mouth waters just thinking about it. (I'm sure bacon is involved somehow....).  But the real action is CANDY!!!!  What better time of year to eat empty-caloric ridden foods made of chocolate and shaped like an Easter Bunny.  Don't you just love all the funky colors of pink, green, yellow, purple in those baskets filled with that plastic fluff, yellow foamy chicks, and eggs dyed in all matters of design. An ambitious friend of mine runs a really fun special in her retail store every Easter:  She has dinner napkins made up in Easter colors and ties a bag of Easter cookies to them (icing done in pale shades, of course) .  What a great hostess gift!!  I like this idea, including the sugar cookies (I have tasted them, from Clumsy Cookies...) because every time the giftee uses the napkins, they are reminded of the giftor.  I really like that last line I wrote. But think about it.  What says Easter more than ... The Cadbury Bunny!!!!!!!!!!!  Is there any other candy in the good ole' US of A that is so tied to a holiday? You say Christmas and Chocolate Santas?  Maybe. You think of Thanksgiving and chocolate turkeys?  Almost sounds nasty.  What about the Fourth of July and chocolate fireworks? Uh, no.

The more I think about this, the more suspect I am.  Just like Puxatawny Phil, the Cadbury Bunny only comes once a year but Phil has a day named after him.  Wait, a groundhog has a special day of the year named after him but not the Cadbury Bunny??  A cute little chocolate bunny is taken out by a groundhog??  This is just another example of how America is headed in the wrong direction. If Phil is so special, why no chocolate Puxatawny Phil???? I find this whole thing disturbing.

Okay, my disturbia has passed and it's time to get thinking about dressing up the home for the Spring has Sprung and Easter is Here look. There is a great array of fun and unusual items you can find on Etsy these days:

BeatrixBows is killing it out there with this unbelievably creative Easter basket.  It's a tutu!!!!  What girl of any age would not be thrilled to get one of these?  One can fit a whole lot of chocolate bunnies and yellow chicks in it.  If you are a girly-girl and like pink, this is the store for you.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/93347135/large-tutu-easter-baskets-in-your-choice?ref=shop_home_active_1


And then there can be nothing else like this lovely Easter nest from Timewashed.  Becky, the owner, does a superb job in making a lot of absolutely stunning pieces.  In her own words: "I love changing things up from the traditional holiday fare."  We love it too, Miss Becky!!!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/183475566/easter-decor-nest?ref=shop_home_active_6

                                                                                    


Or this beautiful wreath could grace your front door.  I love the simple, fresh colors that make one want to stand still and feel the Spring breeze on your face. Lenore at Designawreath really has some wonderful and unique items to check out.


Here is the link for this wonderful piece https://www.etsy.com/listing/126403034/easter-wreaths-spring-wreath-easter-egg?ref=shop_home_feat_1

I want all of them in my house, just in time for a wonderful Easter holiday.  We will be feasting on Easter ham, Spring peas and ... what else... chocolate bunnies!!

Well, until next time.  It's 5:00 somewhere.......

Bugged by Carmine

Red, the color with which everyone has one of those love/hate relationships.  The Chinese love it; they lacquer everything in red. The Soviets have Red Square; in Russian, "red" is the word for beautiful.  The Japanese have a red sun on their flag.  Italians have red sauce for pasta.  The French have red wine.  There is even a song about the color red, "Red Red Wine," although I'm thinking the song might actually be about my favorite beverage.  America has .... well, what do we have?  And what is the deal with red??

A book recently came out all about color.  It's a beautiful book written by Joann and Arielle Echstut called the Secret Language of Color, and of course, every chapter deals with an individual color. I am planning on buying it and displaying it with the other 576 books I have on my coffee table about home décor. But red seems to have its own special category.  For example, the majority of flags in the world contain red.  Or red is the international color for stop.  Red is the color of good luck; that's why a roulette wheel has red slots on it.  Brides in India and Japan wear red wedding dresses. But best of all, red is one of the top two colors for ALL people.  What's not to like???  (BTW, most of this paragraph is one big Useless Factoid of the Week....)

Then why is there this perception that red is a bad color for our homes???  Maybe if you are one of those people when you were young that had furniture upholstered in a red damask fabric, kept clean from your sweaty little hands and the pets' dirty paws by lovely slipcovers made of clear plastic, then red might not be your favorite upholstery color. Maybe you live in a place that has vampires and you are adverse to that neck-biting, blood sucking thing they do?  Maybe you read Anne Rice books late at night?? Or have you seen too many Freddie Kruger movies??  Maybe you drank that Starbucks coffee that had carmine in it and were repulsed that you were actually drinking the proverbial "bug juice"??

Yep, that stuff in most anything and most everything red is made from a bug called Dactylopius coccus, a dweller of the prickly pear cactus.  Its technical name is cochineal.  It's found in meat, sausages, and red marinade, fruit preparations, jams, gelatin desserts, juice beverages, non-carbonated soft-drinks, baked goods, confections, icings, toppings and dairy products. The Aztecs were the first to harvest it.  Then the Spanish, after coming over and giving the native peoples a bunch of nasty diseases, figured out how to export it and many a fortune was made from drying and mashing up these little bugs.  And of course, with the way Mom Nature does stuff, they only use female bugs.  If you are feeling sorry for the bugs, think about this:  all the other red dyes are pretty much carcinogenic.  I'm sticking with the bugs.


You cannot know how much I really want to post here a wonderful little red pillow for everyone to see that I have for sale in my Esty store.  But this blog is not about me... oh wait, it is MY blog... so here are a few fun red hot items for your home.

Believe it or not, this is a photograph of a red vase.  I love the gerbera daisies in it.  And you can't beat the name of the company... at least if you are a woman... LipstickGraphics.  Photographer Peter Gravina has some great black and white if you are interested in that as well.  Here is the link https://www.etsy.com/listing/126465425/red-gerber-daisies-in-red-vase-color?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_search_query=red+vase&ga_ship_to=US&ga_ref=auto2&ga_explicit_scope=1&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_view_type=gallery








If you really like red and want folks to be wowed in your entrance way, check out this wonderful console table from the WoodWork Man, Phillip Bennett.  He has a lot of what one would call Shabby Chic pieces.  Great looking workmanship.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/93051329/console-table-handcrafted-shabby-red?ref=shop_home_active_13


And last but not least, something fun from Hammock Boutique is this red hammock chair.  This is such great summertime fun!!  The shop also uses indigenous Mayan women to weave their products.https://www.etsy.com/listing/179905891/red-chair-hammock-with-tassels-handwoven?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Well, pretty soon I will be seeing red if I don't get to cocktail hour.  It's 5:00 somewhere.......

Miss Manners Advises on a Pie Wedding

Miss Manners, the woman in America who can so genteelly tell you that you are an exacting, golddigging, ignorant human being and make you so glad she told you.  You did not know what a shallow person you really were.  People of all ages, both sexes, and all different walks of life read her column.  I always like the ones about child rearing and the worst ones have to be questions about wedding etiquette.  For example (and I am making up this question):

Q:  Should I let my son Little Billy run with scissors?
A:  Miss Manners eschews telling anyone how to raise their children.  She thinks parents should have the ablity to raise them without interference from outsiders, giving them the best opportunities life has to offer.  That being said, allowing your child to run with scissors gives them the lifetime opportunity to be nicknamed Little Billy-One-Eye.

Yet I always think somewhere in the back of her mind, she is just dying to tell someone what she REALLY thinks.  For example, this on wedding etiquette:

Q:  My fiancee and I are working on plans for our upcoming nuptials and have a question.  We are young and, like most young couples, don't have a lot of money to spend on the wedding extravaganza to which we feel we are entitled and are hoping to get other people to pay for parts of it.  One way we have considered milking people is the wedding cake because they seem awfully expensive. We would like to ask people to bring a pie to the wedding because we want to spend the money we would otherwise devote to a cake gambling in Las Vegas.  The wedding is in August, in Alabama, and will probably be Agonizingly Hot.  Some people will have to travel several hours in their hot car the day of the wedding and the pies might be without refrigeration for a short time. And then when the people arrive, we will have to leave and drive an hour round trip to a state park to have our pictures taken, again, the pies might be without refrigeration for a short time. Then we are having a traditional church ceremony, about an hour, and the pies might have to be without refrigeration. The main foods at the reception are being catered by a chain restaurant and we are serving bland hummus, fruit with toothpicks in it, and chicken salad sandwiches with the crusts on.  We realize that the pies should be refrigerated but our question is:  Do you think it is in bad taste to serve the pies to our guests at room temperature?
A:  ARE YOU FRIGGIN' KIDDING ME?????? DOES THE WORD SALMONELLA MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?????

I know, I know, you are thinking, Kim, you came up with a really good question about wedding etiquette because I have been wondering that very question myself.  I have to admit that this incident report actually happened at a wedding attended by a friend of mine.  I know you are thinking that I am making up that also.  But my parents, making Miss Manners proud, raised me to tell the truth when one is writing a blog. Okay, that is a lie.  Back then, there were no blogs.  There was just the National Enquirer and we all know everything printed in that is the truth.  Now another question about wedding etiquette arose from this very same wedding:

Q:  I have an 8-month old child, who is probably the best looking, best behaved, smartest child in all of mankind, and I am pretty sure everyone else knows it and is extremely jealous that he is not their child. He is very mature for his age, speaks several languages, and will soon be in law school.  I have been invited to a Bachelorette Party Weekend in Las Vegas where I expect everyone will want to party, gamble, and hire a male stripper with the looks and body of Mathew McConaughey in Magic Mike, not that there is anything wrong with this last part.  My questions is: Would it be all right if my son went to the party in Las Vegas?
A:   Only if you don't want those girls to be your friends anymore.

Nope, didn't make up that incident report either. It's my understanding that the other invitees to the Vegas Party had the same response as Miss Manners....... but alas, apparently the mother of the lil' darling didn't get the memo and there were disastrous results.  Something was mentioned about Hangover 3 but we have not gotten that confirmed.

There are a few items out there on Etsy that can help to ensure you have a tasty, fun wedding without community pies or toddlers at a Las Vegas party.  Let's start with this beautiful vintage pie server from FairSails.  Okay, it's a pie server.  You knew I could not resist having one in here..... who cares if says "Merry Christmas" on it?? But this shop has some really nice vintage items and has been around a while.  Randi and Garrett have some unusual pieces that will pique your curiosity.   https://www.etsy.com/listing/170424066/vintage-cake-server-pie-server-merry?ref=sr_gallery_12&ga_search_query=pie+server&ga_ref=shop_search&ga_vintage_rewrite=vintage+pie+server&ga_original_query=2&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_view_type=gallery





Or if you are more of a Modern-Princess Bride-Type-of-Girl, this is a beautiful piece to wear, very unusual,  very princessy (is there such a word??).  You can find it at Lottaart.  Lida and Leon have affordable items and great bling, everything a bride wants!! https://www.etsy.com/listing/155568271/beautiful-wedding-bracelet-handmade-and?ref=shop_home_feat_4


And if you are looking for a wedding cake, check out these great little individual miniature wedding cakes.  Any Bridezilla would want them, such a better alternative to pies.....  you can find some great epicurean delights at jessieraye.




https://www.etsy.com/listing/92827785/your-own-custom-miniature-wedding-cake?ref=sr_gallery_21&ga_search_query=wedding+cake&ga_ship_to=US&ga_ref=auto2&ga_explicit_scope=1&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_view_type=gallery

Well, that's it for this week.  It's 5:00 somewhere..........

OJ is Dying

Yep, you just had to look, didn't you?  Thought maybe you could save a few dollars at the grocery store by not buying that trashy tabloid you love to read but don't tell anybody you read it.....

Sure Orinthal J. Simpson is an icon in the folklore of American history, for whatever reason you wish to choose. I think he singlehandedly started the evolution of people driving cars to people driving trucks in America.  But this post is moving on to the first and original OJ, the one, the only... drum roll, please... orange juice.  You see, I heard on the radio the other day that sales of that acidic filled, morning delight of the 50s and 60s has trailed off by over 40% in the last decade.  How can this be?? How can it be that we, as a nation, have stopped filling our cute little juice glasses with the stuff America is made of?  What's next... bacon?  No way, because I eat enough bacon for three people, so that would never happen.  Everything  is just better with bacon it in.  I think that might could be a post for another day.......

Anyway, remember growing up, those cutest little orange juice glasses your grandmother used to serve you your orange juice??  And it was always cold, straight out of the fridge with your morning cereal, probably Wheaties, because you WERE the Champion!!!  But I am thinking that, what with America at 0% population growth (geez, who is going to fund Social Security and push me around  in my wheelchair when I am old and grey????), that might account for some of the decline in the popularity of orange juice.  But I have another suspicion........ it's the slackers who have stopped drinking mimosas at brunch.  Yep, that's it.

Useless Factoid:  Spain is the county that produces the most sparkling wine in the world.  Why you ask?  Ever go to a brunch and order a mimosa and get that little black bottle of "champagne" in which to mix your OJ??  Well, that little black bottle is sparkling wine produced in Spain and is used by about 99.9% of hotels and restaurants around the world as the sparkler in a mimosa. Not that I am disparaging that little black bottle of bubbly, but it makes me wonder how bad that stuff might actually be if everyone has to put OJ in it to taste good.  Just a thought..........

But back to the lack of mimosa consumption. I checked on the number of brunches in America, private and public, and there does not seem to be a lack of sales in restaurants and lord knows how many of us attend Saturday or Sunday brunches on a weekly basis.  So what has happened?  Did mimosas fall out of favor?  But what could have taken its place?  Please tell me people are not consummating martinis at that hour of the day!! Hmmm..... I guess it gets back to the slackers who are just not paying attention and letting the Real OJ slip into obscurity.  But for those of us who still believe, here are a few Etsy offerings to keep a good thing going....

The folks at WordForWord got smart and put everything together in one place (Please note the bacon reference, but I digress....).  Yeah, I know these have nothing to do with drinking mimosas but OJ figures quite prominently.  They have an awful lot of really fun stuff in their store. https://www.etsy.com/listing/120325009/breakfast-magnet-set-espresso-orange?ref=shop_home_active_2


These glasses are just fabulous vintage.  Imagine yourself drinking out of these back in the Art Deco period of the '20s.
I have visions of Leonardo DiCaprio showing up in a tux and the women swooning while sipping.  It's really a good fantasy!!!!  They can be found at VintNoggin. https://www.etsy.com/listing/177355593/antique-pretty-pink-optic-champagne?ref=shop_home_active_18  
Okay, so they are from the '40s.  Fantasy is still the American way......


But if you really, really, really want to keep on with the above mentioned fantasy, check out this absolutely stunning Art Deco Champagne Diamond Engagement ring.  I can just envision Leonard DiCaprio kissing my hand while I am flashing this ring.  A woman can dream.....

 
You can find this gorgeous piece at JdotC. Ms. Jessica has some really beautiful pieces.  Here is the link for this one.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/126142433/art-deco-champagne-diamond-engagement?ref=shop_home_active_9

Well, time to go.  It's 5:00 somewhere........