Friday, January 31, 2014

it's Fallon and it's funny~



Jimmy Fallon's lip sync battle
 if the video doesn't load, just wait a minute....it will
and click on the lower right hand corner to enlarge.
 
o.k. I know a bunch of you are looking
at my blog from work, even though you are
NOT SUPPOSED to do that kind of stuff while
you are on the payroll...
 
here's a little advice,
come back again tonight, when you're curled up on the
couch and you can crank the volume.
 
this is going to take a few minutes to watch,
and it is worth it if you like to laugh
(and who doesn't?)
 
it's so darned funny and clever
and, well I just LOVE IT!
 
 
have a fun weekend- and find
some way to laugh- it lengthens your life~
or at least it feels like it does.
 
 
:  )   :  )    :  )
 
 
 
xoxoxox 
beth

Tuesday, January 28, 2014


 
 
 
 
today i have a few snippets of things i've saved to show you.
 
i love this artists work~~    so much~

 
 
 
 
this is why i love photography. it's my little way of leaving
something that matters after i am gone.
 
 
 
how amazing would it be to witness this?
 
 
once upon a time i owned a little shop named bella pear.
 i loved them then and i still love,
beautiful images of pears.
 
 
 
i discovered this wonderful website right before Christmas
it's called apifera farm.
it's a wonderful animal rescue farm in Oregon.
please take a couple minutes to look it up.
apiferafarm.blogspot.com
 
 
 
i love tiaras, remember?  :  )
 
she should be wearing one....
 
 
i would really, really like it if my hair could look like this someday.
how does one transition gracefully to gray
when you're ready?
 
(not there yet)
 
 
 
 
i my hair can't look like hers, then maybe i'll just get a couple goats and
wear a bonnet.
 
 
stay warm, stay well, and stay classy~
 
xo, beth


Friday, January 24, 2014

table in the darkness







One of my besties gifted all the girls in our book club
with this book at Christmas.
Cindy is lucky enough to work with the author Lee Wolfe Bloom
at the Melrose Center for Eating Disorders in St. Louis Park.
 
 
Last night we had the honor and privilege to
have this talented author join us at our
monthly book club.
 
 
You know how sometimes when you have an
image of what someone will be like, you are disappointed?
Well LeeWolfe (as her father calls her) did not
disappoint.
 
Lee was honest, sincere, funny and just really fun to
hang out with. I told another friend on the phone this morning,
that I would love to have her as a neighbor. When she told us
that she calls her sister Walter, after the children's book
Walter the Farting Dog, I knew we could be friends.
(Her kind sister never wants to hurt anyone's feelings, and
is a peacekeeper, thus leaving Lee afraid that she'll
eventually just blow up from holding all her feelings in!  Walter does this
 in the book and he eventually blows up.) 
 
Lee told us about her desire to share the story of surviving
an eating disorder- but how scary it is to talk about your
childhood, with all it's complexities when your
parents are still alive.
 
She answered a whole lot of questions from us and she
is as interesting and fun to be around as I was hoping!
I didn't want her to leave....
 
This is a good book friends. If you know anyone who has,
or is struggling with disordered eating, you will get an inside look
at what their daily life is like and hopefully it will help you
understand them better.~
AND~
it is possible to get well and that is the
beauty and truth of her story. 
 
 
I cannot believe I forgot to bring my camera and
so I don't have any photos to share, but can I just say
that it was a lovely evening in my friend Mary's newly
remodeled home. After we sat and talked
about eating disorders for a long time, we gathered
around her table and filled our plates with
a whole bunch of really fun, decadent food and chowed down.
 
 
I love to chow down.
 
 
xo
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

What could be better than a bunch of mothers
celebrating with their daughters?
 
Not much!
 
3 of my daughter's girlfriends, their mothers and
adria and I, have a fun tradition of
having a party when each of our girls
turns 30.
 
 
My girl was the 3rd one of the
4 to turn the big 3-0 and it took us a few months
to pin down a date that would work for
everyone, but we finally did and we
had such a fun day!
We started with manicures and then
went out to dinner together.

(thanks Rose for planning the party.)



Anita getting her mani
 
 
 
Dee Dee ready for hers~
 
 
 
 
This picture cracks me up! It is Karissa
looking at me- trying not to laugh out loud at
what was going on at my station.
The girl doing my mani got stuck on repeat I think. 
Believe it or not it was only my second ever
manicure and I decided on the gel.
I guess that normally involves some filing, trimming, more filing, lots more trimming- a bit of buffing, a couple pre-treatment
layers and then 2-3 coats of the gel polish.
BUT......FOR SOME REASON, MY LITTLE GIRL GOT IT IN HER
HEAD THAT I'D TOUCHED SOMETHING AND BEFORE SHE STARTED WITH THE COLOR, SHE SAID TO ME (SEVERAL TIMES) "YOU TOUCH SOMETHING?"
I kept saying "no", but she wasn't buying it- and who knows
why, but she put on 12-14 coats of polish. I lost count.
It started to feel like a Saturday Night Live skit
when everyone else left to go to dinner and I was still
"being polished". The manicure ended with her accidently
spilling my champagne (which I was too tied up to ever sip) all over me and in my purse.....
It WAS funny though and the big joke at dinner was that
I'd have to get a mother of the bride dress to match
the dark nail polish color- cause it will probably still be
on my nails. like forever!
 
 
Rose, Karissa's cute sis Kylee and  Katie who came all the
way from Glenwood-over 2 hours-for the party, (how great was that?)
 
Adria, Anita and Karissa 
 
Hi Kim Hess, down there on the end! 
I know there's a lot of closed eyes - but it was
the only shot of us toasting Adria.
 
 
The girls surprised Adria with engagement
presents too-so sweet! 
*hello Anthropologie muffin pan and timer
 
 
ring cleaner for your purse and cute post its.
perfect for someone with a new diamond.  :  )



how darling is this ring holder?


this is a traveling gag gift.
30 rocks- get it?



girlfriend loved her fab new purse


 and look what the Hess's brought her...yes a
bottle of their favorite HESS wine, from Napa Valley
 
 
 
 
 sweet Rosie is expecting her 2nd little papoose in March~
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
we bugged a hostess to snap a couple pictures of
our whole group.
Love these ladies...and look forward to many more
celebrations in the coming years.
 
Karissa turns 30 next and I can't wait to celebrate!
 
 
 
xo, beth 


Sunday, January 19, 2014

a snowman kind of day

 
 
Yesterday we got a few inches
of beautiful pristine new snow.
This is my backyard this morning.
Doesn't it look like it's been
frosted with buttercream icing?
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 so this afternoon I went out to shovel the snow off
our deck and the snow rolled up like ice cream does and... 
if you're a kid at heart like me, you know what that means!
 
 
It means you have a yard full of snowman snow!
 
 
~there are only so many snowman making days
each winter- let us not waste them.
 
(let us not!)
 
 

 the head takes shape
 
 
 
 





  
 
before I settled on a patriotic stocking cap in
honor of the upcoming Olympics,
I tried a few other options.
 
 
Giddy Up Snowman
 
 
 
 
I've Got a Large Wreath on my Head Snowman
 



 
 
 
and this guy?  Adios Amigos Snowman.
 
 
 
 
and here's my best idea yet...
 
a two faced snowman.
 
I decided that since his cute little face faced the street,
I'd give him a second face, facing my kitchen so
I wouldn't just be looking at a faceless head.
 
face it. it matters.
 
it's better this way.
 
 
 
It's only January and I'm still loving the snow,
beth


* I have one more tip for you snowman lovers out there.
In the winter don't buy those cute little bags of mini carrots.
Always keep some old fashioned
long carrots in the fridge.
If you get a wild hair to build a snowman, those 2 inch
babies just don't cut it.








 


Friday, January 17, 2014

skin feeling a little dry?




one of my favorite bloggers
blogged about how to make this organic
sugar scrub and I decided I was
going to make some of my own today.
*************************

 
 


 
Peppermint Sugar Scrub
 
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup baby oil (or light olive oil)
several drops of peppermint essential oil
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
 
that's it!
you melt the coconut oil in the microwave for
1 minute, then add the remaining
3 ingredients. mix well and put in
 shower safe containers with a lid.
 
This exfoliates, invigorates and moisturizes.
what could be better?

*while bathing or showering just rub it on
your skin with a washcloth or your hand and then rinse off.
 



 
this is the coconut oil before melting.
have you heard all the health benefits of
this oil yet? I've used it for cooking, gargled with it
for gum health and now I've used it in a bath scrub.
 
 
so melt the oil, add the rest
and stir till well mixed and put in your containers.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 You can use other essential oils instead of peppermint too.
I'd like to try lavender and eucalyptus next.
 
Wouldn't these make a fun little surprise for
a girlfriend?
 
A girlfriend with alligator skin.
 
Help a girlfriend out!
 
 
xox, b


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

woman camps



 
I woke up this morning thinking about man camps.
 
 
my sister is living in one
in williston ND.
 
 
I haven't been there to visit or see it,
but I picture it looking something like this:
 
(Not really sure why they are called "man camps", but I
suspect it's because they don't really
welcome women there.)
 
 
 


not a whole lot of glamorous going on here right?
"Glamping" it's not.
 
My sister's hubbie is one of the hard working, risk taking
oil field workers...doing what they do to get the oil
from the fields to the trains out there.
 
My sis bravely made the decision to accompany him and
live side by side with her guy when he needed to
head west for work.
 
I admire her. And him. Would I have made the
same decision?
I don't think so. I wish I could say that if
Lars was working there I would have been right
on board to go with and be his
support/cook/dedicatedwife/companion.
 
I pretty much know that if he'd been heading to North Dakota
to work for weeks at a time between trips home,
that I would have embraced him, wished him well and said,
"stay safe, I'll see you when you get home"!
 
Well, this morning I got to thinking...
why don't we start women camps?
 
 
They would look something more like this:
 





A whole bunch of woman living side by side.
 
 
FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 
 
We could:


*have potluck meals
 
*take turns going to the grocery store
 
*exchange good books
 
*lay on lawn chairs (by the lake or our pool)
and talk about pop culture
 
*hire massage therapists to come and
give us foot rubs
 
*stay in our yoga pants all day
 
*only do yoga on days that end in T.
 
*watch American Idol, The Voice,
and Downton Abbey together
 
*check Face Book frequently
 
*knit

*listen to Adele
 
 
 
no boys allowed.
 
 
 
you in?









xo, beth