Bright Star

Remember my previous post regarding Bright Star? I finally saw it last night. It actually arrived from Netflix on Tuesday, and I have been slowly dying all week while waiting for the chance to watch it.

It is a wonderful movie. Very well acted. I've only seen Abbie Cornish in Stop-Loss, and Ben Whishaw in Brideshead Revisited, but they are both perfect for the parts of Fanny Brawne and John Keats. The dialogue alone is worth seeing this movie for - almost every word between Fanny and Keats has deep meaning, and much of it comes directly from Keats' poems and letters.

The movie is slow at times, but I thought the beautiful cinematography more than made up for the lack of 'action'. The movie flows like Keats' poetry, it has a dreamlike quality, with very touching scenes of Fanny and Keats wandering through the countryside and meadows filled with wildflowers, longing for each other and dreaming together.

Maybe I like the movie so much because I have read the real story of Fanny and Keats. It is both sad and tragic, and I can't help but feel for their situation. And even though I knew how the end would come, I was still deeply upset. Be sure to listen to Ben Whishaw reciting "Ode to a Nightingale" during the closing credits. It's mesmerizing.

Dear John,

I am currently reading "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks. I'm about 100 pages in, and so far, it's pretty boring. A few summers ago I read A Walk To Remember and Dear John, which were both good. Last year I read The Choice, which was just alright, not the greatest. And I started to read Nights in Rodanthe but gave up after the first few pages didn't capture my attention.

It's been years since I read Message in a Bottle. I saw the movie and was complaining to my brother's girlfriend (at the time) about how much I hated the ending. She recommended reading the book and said it was so much better than the movie. Well, the lead character still dies at the end, so for me it didn't change the way I felt about the ending. I just have a very difficult time with movies where one of the lead characters dies at the end. I want my happy ending. I don't want sad, end of the story, and knowing that they'll never be together again. I want to know, or at least think, that the couple lived on together in happiness for however long. I don't think one half of a couple dying makes a better or stronger 'love'. Romeo and Juliet was brilliant, but both of them dying doesn't make the love into more than it was. Their dying just made their love story tragic.




Has everyone seen the trailer for Dear John? I keep watching it, and it looks really good, AND I just love Channing Tatum. Yum. (Too funny!! My husband is downstairs yelling up at me "Your boy is in a new movie that's coming out." Yes dear, I know!! LOL) I really want to see this in the theatre, but I just know I would start bawling. I cry very easily. I'm sure I could get my husband to go see it with me, and if so, I'll definitely have to bring tissues!!

The song that is used for the trailer is "Set The Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol. I think the first time I heard (and really listened) to this song was when I was watching a Michael and Sara/Prison Break video. And the CD that this song is on, Eyes Open, is really good.

So go watch, listen, or read.... and be happy!!!

Grease is the word!!!

I think it's quite obvious that I like 'Grease'. Just look at my business name!!! I was flipping through the most recent fabric catalog from Hancock's-Paducah and this is the fabric that really caught my eye: Official 'Grease' fabric from Clothworks. I must have this. I must find it and buy it and rub it and love it... and I think you get the picture. It's just way too cute and way too ME.

I'm normally a law-abiding citizen...

However, I may have been breaking the law recently. I knew that. It's not beyond my knowledge. Sum*mit Ent.'s legal department contacted Etsy and had my items removed. It seems Sum*mit owns the copyright to every word, name, and/or phrase that is even slightly related to the Twi-light series. AND they own EVERY photo of everyone who is in the movie series. Hmph.

Here's the kicker: I'm not supposed to talk about this (oops) and I am not allowed to ask Etsy why items that are the same or similar to mine are still on Etsy. Sum*mit must think I'm a big fish since they are going after me. Not that you can't type "Twi-light" in the search box at Etsy and find hundreds of other sellers doing the same thing as me. I feel special for being singled out.

New Style For The New Year

I decided to make my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) and my other brother's girlfriend a new purse for Christmas. They both prefer zipper closures, so I took the same measurements that I used on THIS bag and made it with 2 handles and a zipper. They both turned out really cute!!

Mandy The Mannequin

During the summer months my Mom and Dad go to a lot of garage sales. I've been reminding my mother for years that I really need a dress form or mannequin or something that I could use to take pictures of my purses. So our family gathered at my parents house this year for Christmas, and after the presents were opened my mother called us all into my brother's old bedroom to show us this:


(My husband has now named her Mandy the Mannequin. He claims she has to have a name if she is going to continue to scare the crap out of us. I put her on our stair landing, and she really does scare us because we aren't used to having someone lurking on the stairs at all hours).

My parents walk 3 times a week. In nice weather they walk their neighborhood or go to a park. In bad weather they go to their local mall. It used to be a really huge outdoor mall until they decided to enclose it and put a roof on it in the late 1980's. Since then it's gone downhill. It's not very safe, all of the large department stores have closed, the food court is closed, the movie theatre is closed... so there's not much reason to go there except to walk. A few weeks ago they were walking in the mall and a store was closed, but they had mannequin parts laying around. So my mom went in and asked what they were going to do with the mannequins, and the guy told them they were selling them for $20 each, so my parents walked out of the mall with one for me.

It's perfect for taking pictures of my purses. I never have an extra person around to use as a model, and no one wants to see ME modeling my purses, so this is great.

Where in the world is Santa Claus?

My kids always loved finding out where Santa was on Christmas Eve. It was also a good way to get them to go to bed when they were all wound up. We could check to see how close Santa was to make sure they were sleeping when he arrived. There are several good places to watch Santa's progress:

NORAD Santa Tracker

Follow NORAD on Twitter

Santa Tracker

Merry Christmas!!!

Sewing and shipping and hoping it gets there on time...

I finished up the last of my custom orders. Everything will arrive in time for Christmas gift giving.

I am now offering Gift Certificates available in any denomination. For a limited time, if you purchase a minimum $20 Gift Certificate, your recipient will receive FREE SHIPPING when the certificate is redeemed.

Dan's Emerald Forest

Every Christmas season my family heads over to Dan's Emerald Forest to see the wonderful display. My parents still live in the house where we grew up, which is in the same town as Dan's house, so it's never hard finding time to visit both. Usually we pick an awful cold day to visit my parent's and make the side trip to Dan's to see what is new. This year was no exception. It was 32 degrees with a slight breeze and a few sprinkles. Chilly. Actually, our local FOX news was live at Dan's the Wednesday before our visit. We had really strong winds that day, knocking down lighting displays all over town, and the wind kept the trains off the track at Dan's.



We've been taking the kids every year since they were little. The kids love seeing what is new and what they remember from the year before. You can always find something that you've never seen before. My husband always has a hundred questions for Dan. He likes to hear the dirty details of how the changes occurred since the previous year.

I was a bit sad - due to the rain sprinkles the drive-in theatre was movieless. There is usually a small flat screen tv that serves as the movie screen. Here you can see the cars pointing in one direction with nothing to watch. Last year I think 'It's A Wonderful Life' was playing.



New this year - or should I say returning this year - was the ski slope. But I don't think the little gondolas were running up and down the side of the ski slope. At least I don't remember them moving at all.

The Little Tree

We've had the same Christmas tree for years and years and the kids have always loved it. It's huge, pre-lit, and rotates - which is just the coolest thing ever. Dad and I have grown tired of trying to get all of the lights to work - we end up stringing lights on it so the whole tree is lit. So this year we thought we'd try something different and bought a pre-lit 6 foot tree (it was only $35). Which is really quite nice and perfect for US. However, my kids hate it!! My son refused to help decorate it this year, and my daughter complains every day about the 'stupid tree', mainly because it doesn't rotate. Here she is in front of the stupid tree. I took this photo as we were heading out the door to her school choir performance 2 weeks ago. Notice the green cast on her arm? She had a blue cast on before, but after a few days her fingers swelled up and I took her back to the doctor. Her cast was squishing her hand, right around the top knuckles of her fingers and causing them to swell. So they cut that cast off and she picked out a different color. She had the cast removed for good on Monday. She's much happier now.

Cardinals Game

This is one of our summertime events that I never got around to posting about. During 4th and 5th grade, my daughter was in show choir at her school. It was an after school activity, and they had several concerts and appearances at events throughout that time. One of the biggest was singing the National Anthem at a Cardinals home game on August 19, 2009. Here is a shot of my daughter on the outfield Jumbo Tron.

Amy Butler Ginger Bliss and Charm Fabrics

I recently had the opportunity to purchase Amy Butler Ginger Bliss and Charm fabrics. The 2 bundles on top are fat quarters, the fabrics on bottom are yardage, and I didn't pay an arm and a leg for these either. Has everyone seen the ridiculous amounts people are asking for some of the prints? I am not that desperate to own out of print fabrics. Truly, if I paid $30 for a yard of fabric, I would NOT want to use it!!

Cyber Monday

The sale in my Etsy shop is going on through Monday, November 30.

Weekend Sale

Rob and I feel the same way about Black Friday shopping. I just don't do it. Too many crazies out there for me!! But I do love online shopping. And now YOU have a reason to love online shopping too. Get 20% off every item in my Etsy Shop. PLUS - Get a free gift when you spend $30 or more!! Please let me know if you would prefer a revised invoice from Paypal. Otherwise, payments are due immediately and all refunds will be issued by me asap. This is the last sale in my shop for 2009!!

Turkey Day Sale!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!


Special Thanksgiving Day Sale for my blog readers!!!
30% off every item in my Etsy Shop.
PLUS - Get a free gift when you spend $50 or more!!

Please enter "Turkey Day Sale" in the message to seller. Also let me know if you would prefer a revised invoice from Paypal. Otherwise, payments are due immediately and all refunds will be issued by me asap.

Hurry!! This discount is only good through Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26. On Friday the sale will be announced in my shop and drop to 20% off every item. This is also the last sale in my shop for 2009.