Better Ct.

Last Wednesday was a good example of how

low expectations can sometimes surprise you.

Our friends had planned a day of going to see the taping 

of a local show

called Better Ct. It’s a News variety show( I guess that’s what you’d call it)

You know a little bit of news, some guests from the area, local stuff.

…but no singing or dancing : )

I’m sure you have similar shows in your area.

I had seen the show before but since it’s on at 3 in the afternoon it wasn’t too often.

Now if you had asked me to go see a Martha Stewart show or David Letterman I couldn’t

get my coat on fast enough.

The good part was that there was food dangled as the carrot as we were

going to a Tapas restaurant in West Hartford afterwards.

Yeah, I liked that.

We met our friends at their house for breakfast including fresh fruit, yogurt and muffins.

Yum more food …….can you tell I’ve been on a diet?

I was good and only had fruit and yogurt…

ok I had toast too.

I refuse to give up bread…..it would be very unfrench of me.

We were all ready for our drive to Hartford with

 our bottles of water.

Do you see George’s orange sweater???

all wrinkly.  I told him it was too wrinkled but he wanted 

to wear it…

so what am I going to do? iron it?

I don’t think so.

We have 4 irons and I try to avoid it at all cost.

yup 4 I just discovered more in our kitchen pantry.

More on that later.

Do you think they’re sweaters are subtle enough????

I was wearing brown.

There they are…..Scot Haney and Kara Sundlun.

Sorry the photo is so blurry. They couldn’t have been more gracious and friendly.

They don’t get a big audience ….I think there were about 15 ? but it made it very nice to be

right there so close and see how it’s done.   

Kara going over her notes.

Scot getting ready. I forgot to say that he also does the weather for channel 3 CBS

and is great at it. I’m a channel 4 NBC girl but I love watching Scot doing his thing.

He brings a lot of personality to his job.

His nickname is “Zany” Scot Haney!

Well they sat down and suddenly they were on.  He was so silly from the start I thought

they were just goofing around. Nope that’s the show.

She was teasing him for having no attention span.

Flash something shiny or new in front of him and he’s off on that.

I can relate!

They had a few different guest on, one of which was a fashion modeling agency

who brought in some of her girls.

Gosh were they tall and the girl on the left had the prettiest hair…..and so straight

and no split ends.

Then came the recipe of the day….which we were warned by the camera crew was not to be eaten.

I guess chefs they are not.

That day was cake in a mug…..different recipe then the one I have tried.

The crew turned out to be right even Kara and Scot weren’t 
loving it.

After the cake fiasco they had IKEA there featuring a man cave for the up coming Super bowl.

Gosh when is super bowl?

I’m more a Puppy Bowl watcher.

I could watch that everyday…..all day :)

Kara enjoying the snacks they brought.

Which they later shared with all of us.

I was so happy I had gone. The time just flew. I thought there might

be a lot of waiting time between segments but

 it moved along quickly.

They have great chemistry together and just are so natural 

with each other.

Ok I’m now a FAN

As planned we went to West Hartford.

It was such a gorgeous day.

We’ve had so much rain lately.

We went to Barcelona for lunch

and after sampling a few delicious tapas we had

your own plates too.

Did I mention I’m on a diet?

Yeah, well the diet is on now.

It was so worth going off my diet for.

It looks like a burger but it’s a grilled veggie sandwich with

Portabella Mushroom, Red Peppers, Squash,
Spinach, Feta Cheese, Chickpea Puree.

I saved half for dinner.

Even great eaten cold.

We rushed back home (well our friends house) to watch the show that comes on at 3.

Slatey watched with us.

My friend Joanne hoped we might be on TV since there was a cameraman  photographing us almost the whole time.

I was thankful we weren’t : )

Have you ever been on TV?

Relishing

These hydrangeas had been in my kitchen since late Summer

….or maybe it was Fall?

Now that I think of it I may have picked the last of the good ones

right before my niece came to visit last October.

I wanted to brighten up the house with a few blossoms from my own garden.

They had given me pleasure for a long time but now they

had faded too much from being in the sunlight in front on my 

kitchen window

and it was time to let them go.

The water was still in the bottle all murky and full of sediment.

As I dumped out the water and was about to throw them in the trash I noticed green shoots

and roots had developed.

It’s not uncommon for that to happen and we root hydrangeas all the time….

just not this way.

So I will keep them a little longer….

It made me realize that seemingly imperfect things are often what can give us the most pleasure.

I just noticed that when I wrote my watermark on the last photo I

typed my name wrong.

grren instead of green.

Opps

I guess I will relish in my imperfection!

Joining Texture Tuesday

with Kim Klassen

I wasn't going to post these photos after I really looked them
over.....just too washed out, kinda blah and I think I took them on a cloudy day.


Then I remembered the point I was trying to make.....
it's OK to be imperfect.




so there you go.....
smile

At Last……and a Winner

You know when you find someone really talented,

……and you just love everything they make?

You just can’t decide what you want to buy?

Well Tanya is that talented someone.

        

Tanya is bead woman extraordinaire. I am in awe of her work.

Who wouldn’t be?

     

A few months ago she was getting ready for a show in her area.

She had the tin types picked out for the necklaces 

but they weren’t completed yet.

Before they were made and brought to the show she

asked me which one I had my eye on.

It was a hard decision but I zeroed in on one.

        

I wanted her to invoice me but Tanya said we would 

talk about that later.

Well you guessed it …..

she gifted it to me.

Isn’t that so sweet and generous of her.

I tell ya the love out there in blogland is BIG!!!

It came enclosed in a beautiful black box with her gorgeous card.

Even her cards are exquisite…….lovely 19th century ladies spending time together

working on their needlepoint.

Enjoying each others company……

just like we do virtually now.

                       

She added one of her friend Heather’s beads made with a unique

firing technique that brings out different colors.

I wish I could have you see it in person.

             

Embellished with antique buttons and beads.

I wore it a lot during the Christmas season in the shop and I got so

many compliments on it.

They all wanted to know more about it.

Tanya just added some lovely pieces to her Etsy shop recently

HERE

If I were you I would run right over.

Now in the same spirit of giving.

The winner of the Jeanne d”Arc Living Magazine

is

Lynn of Cottage and Creek

I want to thank everyone who entered. I know many of you had trouble leaving comments ( me too)

so I appreciate your efforts to get through.

Happy weekend to you all,

I play this song for you

Etta James

Rest in Peace

we’ll miss you.

That’s the Yeast of it!

I’m really enjoying having this Giveaway that you can still enter. 

It’s been great to hear from my blog friends and to meet some new ones

There have been some new bloggers that I hope to share with you in the future

I found a great easy bread recipe in

Lisa’s blog from La Dolce Villa

She called the post the Fear of Yeast!

I found that amusing because I find too that people DO fear making bread with yeast

and you don’t need to.

(get it?…… knead too…haha)

I know that was bad.

We have made so many different kinds of breads and followed a ton of recipes but most of them

have been super simple and fast.

This one is much like one we have made before except that it allows you

to keep the dough in the fridge for 2 weeks.

We love bread so it won’t be in the fridge for 2 weeks

I hadn’t taken these photos thinking I was going to show them here just wanted to remember my first bread of 2012.

I would have styled it better :-)

We baked them on my parents old pizza pan.

A pizza restaurant was the first business they owned after we moved from France.

Did they know the pizza business or even speak much English?

No but that didn’t matter.

They worked hard and

like my father used to like to say

The only words I need to know is Pizza, Grinder and Money.

My dad was a tough Frenchmen.

Well, they never made a lot of money but we got by.

I covered this bread with sesame seeds.

Love them!!!

This was the kind we used to make ….

big huh? I think this one was the no-knead bread that we saw on Martha Stewart.

I like everything about making bread.

The simplicity, the easy access of ingredients, the fact that people have been eating

it for centuries.

It’s a staple in every household.

The best part is I know what’s in it…..

and no preservatives.

Just yeast, water, flour and salt.

Ok sometimes I get fancy and add….

Olive Oil.

Yum

So are you going to try it?

Now don’t forget go

Here and watch the video and the recipe that Lisa provided

and say hi while you’re there.

Then come back and enter the giveaway

HERE

I'm going home and having some warm bread that George was making tonight.

Jeanne d’Arc Living Giveaway

                                        

It just occurred to me the other day that I need to do a giveaway to celebrate the New Year.

I know we’re  already 1/2 way through the first month.

No matter…..

it’s the thought that counts right?

It's a little token to thank everyone that comes here to visit,

leaving comments of encouragement, emailing me so we can really get to know each other,

and to thank the lurkers….the kind people that don’t have blogs

but stop by to see what’s going on in our life.

I say “our” life because as much as George would rather I keep him out

of it……I just keep pulling him back in.

What can I say….he’s more interesting then me.

I know the kitties are for sure but they like the press....haha

The last couple of years I have been lucky enough to have met some of the people that read my blog.

When they say

“ I read your blog”

“Oh my gosh you do???”

that’s not really what I say…. just what I say in my head.

I don’t even know what I actually say, I’m usually so shocked.

Keeps me on my toes…..

and to tell you the truth scares me a little when I’m about to hit that

Publish button.

I guess we all do that on occasion.

Helps me to think I’m writing to a friend…..

and  I am.

I knew I loved blogs before I had one of my own and thought it would be fun but never imagined

it would bring me such great friends.

Women who love all the same things I love too.

I'm so thankful for that.

OK back to the giveaway!

As you may have guessed the Giveaway is the current issue of

Jeanne d’Arc Living magazine.

All you need to do is leave a comment here and let me know what you

like about the Nordic French look of Jeanne d”Arc Living.

Spread the word  by blogging it or leaving a link on your sidebar for a second chance.

No need to follow but if you’d like to then,

 Welcome , 

and I will give you a third chance.

You don’t need to leave separate comments to tell me so,
just how many entries.

Giveaway is open to anyone.

For anyone that has already ordered this issue from me and wins I will send you issue #2.
Giveaway will end on Saturday Jan. 21st at noon eastern time.

Thank you for entering and good luck!

Hugs

Carole


1/21/12
Winner has been picked.
go Here and see the winner.

Icing on the cake

You remember our get together from the last post…..

Well after a wonderful meal that Evi lovingly prepared for us out came the presents.

Shoot, I was going to show you the delicious food …..

but we were all so wrapped up in the excitement we just started eating.

I know, how could I?

but I did.

Trust me it was both beautiful and scrumptious. 

I think I gained 5 lbs!

We toasted to our friendship just as the first presents were being unwrapped.

Pretty presentation don’t you think?

Laura loved her present so much she decided to wear it.

Wave to the folks!!  She’s cute even with a grain sack over her head.

I think we’d had a lot of wine by then : )

You can go to Laura’s post HERE and view more photos.

We received  surprise gifts from our friend Mary Pernula. You should have heard us all squealing.

You mean that sweet girl sent us all a gift knowing we were all getting together?

What a doll!

She wrote the nicest note that Paula read us. I wish I had photographed it.

I was so touched I almost cried.

got a little misty eyed

Mary made us all these adorable altered vintage bottle decorations….

different for each one of us.

This is one is mine!!!

I have it hanging in the living room by the window.

Every year now I will be able to enjoy it and think of you Mary.

I might turn the paper around and keep it up all year.

Thank you so much Mary!!! I love it.

When I was home the next day I went in the living room and played with my new gifts.

I will treasure these forever!

These lovely gifts are the icing on the cake of what is

 most important of all ....our friendship.

I know you'd all agree.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Thank you for stopping by.