Mornings

I'm loopy in the mornings.  I'm usually recovering from a dream and feel disoriented.  This morning I woke up wondering about all the different foods that the Queen of England had eaten in her lifetime and thinking about how all the different food and health trends affected her and the cooks in her castles.  Then I pictured a ginger glazed chicken.

I think I've been watching too much Downton Abbey.

When I finally rolled out of bed, I looked online to see if there were any royal-type cookbooks and THERE ARE!  I requested them both from the library.  The first, was published in 1971 and has prized recipes from royals around the world and the other is from 1998 with recipes from English royals.  I love the cover of the first book.  Who wouldn't want a spread laid out in the shape of a crown?

I also found a more recent book by a royal pastry chef who moved up to be Princess Diana's personal chef. 

I requested that one from the library too.  ROYAL OVERLOAD

Pomp and circumstance

Has anyone flipped through or made recipes from these books before?  I'm especially excited about the pastry sections.  I do love a good royal pastry.  My go-to pastry and cake recipe book is the St Michael Cakes, Pastries and Cakes cookbook that was my Dad's (and maybe also my Grandma's?)  It can be bought for the unreasonable price of one pence on amazon UK.

Did anyone watch America's Next Top Model last night?  I caught the last thirty minutes.  I was glad they didn't cut the Scottish girrrl because I like to hear her talk.  What was with the flag lips?  You can buy them!

I don't know anyone who want to but you can here

Why I oughtta!

This weather makes me feel like a bag of old bones just like that fist pumping/threatening skeleton below.  Or is he just checking his manicure?

Yesterday I started planning the layout of my giant linoleum block. It was intimidating to start.  Next I'll be transferring the drawing to squares of transfer paper and transferring it to the main block.  I'm still undecided if I should transfer the whole design at once or work in squares.  Scintillating, I know.

I'm also going to run some errands, including mailing some 6 inch platform knee high boots I wore 10 years ago to raves (and also in public) and recently sold on ebay  I sold another, shorter pair last week and the guy at the post office made fun of me.  They're off to Massachusetts to an appreciative goth/raver/short person who also buys corsets on ebay.

Want to see some old photos of me at a rave?  TOO BAD.

Happy leap year day!

Boom!

Look how big this linoleum block is!  Another Valentine surprise from V.  This is going to be my largest linoleum block yet.  Maybe I'll sell some prints on etsy when I'm finished and become a millionaire.

It's supposed to get stormy today.  Jag is enjoying as much sun as he can before his tiny little square disappears.

Fall 2012 Fashion: the good!

I love everything in this collection but the prices.

Toronto twins have some cute retro preppy chic outfits (did I just type cute retro preppy chic?)

I especially like the greenish pants on the 2nd model and the sweater on the 4th model.  

I have a pair of cropped navy pants from J.Crew that I never thought I'd like.  The sales lady convinced me to "just try them on" last spring and I'm glad I did although there is no way I can wear them with flats without looking like an old marm.  

Fall 2012 fashion: the bad

What is happening on the runways?

A leather dickie with matching gloves, an over sized fur hat, and a one shoulder dress layered over a long sleeved shirt.  Awful.

Enormous saddlebag pockets, an over sized raincoat with fur trim and a big poofy two piece. No.

I wore something like that black dress in highschool, I saw someone wear that orange fur jacket at a rave once, and that frou frou turtleneck dress used to be a curtain. Gross.

In other fashion news, did you watch the Oscars?  Jennifer's Lopez' dress looked like part of an outfit I used to have for my brunette Barbie (her name was Whitney).  There weren't any outfits that were super amazing, were there?  There can't have been because I don't remember them.

Around the House

V was out of town this weekend and I surprised him by finishing the laundry room and hanging curtains, coat racks and blinds in the laundry room and in the kitchen.

Llorca supervised

I was so wishy washy about the curtains worrying that the print would be too busy, or too bold, or too bright so I went with sheer white with a chrysanthemum pattern on it.  

I cheated a little too.  I bought full length curtains and just hemmed them.  It ended up being cheaper than buying fancy fabric.

One of the rods is hung higher than the other because they wouldn't fit at the same level.  That's what I get for getting 3$ rods at Walmart.

Cut branches from the yard.

Whoa

I was looking through some images of New York Fashion week and came across a photo of this guy.  Have you heard of him?  I had to google him.  Rick Genest's whole body is tattooed to make him look like a rotting corpse.   I'm pretty sure I would scream if I woke up to that every morning.

He's a model for Mugler and did an ad for some crazy dermatology makeup.  The video is cheesy but I watched it anyway because I don't want to work on cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.