What a good idea

"Deceptivley Delicious"

These are cupcakes. Cupcakes! Not cherry pies, but cupcakes! That's frosting, muh friends. WOW!

Remember To Look Up

When I was in Egypt, some of the best things to see were on the ceiling.




I took this one!






I took this one too!


I should also mention that I though didn't take all of these pictures myself, I have seen it all with my own eyes.

Masaa al-Khayr, and Good Afternoon.

Wanna know somethin' neat? I've stood exactly where this guy is standing: Seven Arches Overlook, Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. I know where he's standing just from looking at the picture, and that's pretty neat too. :) What a view!


Photo taken by: Rina Castelnuovo, The New York Times

"If I could, I surely would"

Boy would I love to have this baby. I've had the same wallet since I was fifteen. Yeah, it's time to upgrade. Both elegant and functional. But what makes it functional is what really attracts me to it; it is without doubt the most functional handbag-wallet-type-ish-thing I've ever seen. And it comes in any number of colors; conservative browns, black, coral, robins egg, and my favorite, (shown here) saffron. A friend of mine has one and let me play with it. It was so choice! Too bad I don't have petty cash or it would so be mine:

the "International Lauren Clutch" made by HOBO. Sold at overpriced stores everywhere. Ballpark cost: $100, + or - ten. The cheapest I found online was $85. Tempting! But no, I can't justify it. *sigh*

Maurits Cornelis Escher

You will likely recognize "Relativity," one of MC Escher's most famous works. Underneath it are duplications of it, both in 3D--which is kinda cool,  and in Lego form-- which is awesome. 

 

"We live in a beautiful and orderly world, not in a chaos without norms, even though this is how it sometimes appears." 

"I don't grow up. In me is the small child of my early days."

"So let us then try to climb the mountain, not by stepping on what is below us, but to pull us up at what is above us, for my part at the stars; amen."

"Only those who attempt the absurd... will achieve the impossible. I think it's in my basement... Let me go upstairs and check."

Look What I'm Getting

I've had it! My current phone (ye olde brick with antennae) cannot, even with a replaced battery, hold a charge. It dies after 8 texts or a 90 second conversation. Unacceptable! Especially considering that with my family scattered here there and everywhere I need a reliable way to converse.

Joni came in my office today sporting her new phone. After meeting the lovely device she refers to as "Pigwidgeon" I had such a case of phone envy that I initiated my research. Voila! I found the phone for me: the Samsung "rant," color black. And all it'll cost me is $50 and two years of indentured bondage to Sprint.

Is This Where I Buy an Argument?

I think it would be great if you could just ding a bell and say "thank you, good morning" every time you were finished arguing with someone.

Whether the Weather

It's been quite warm here in Provo the last few days. Warm enough that I walked my spring running course with my roommate last Saturday, and even though I know a cold snap will inevitably follow soon it has been warm enough that I feel it is time to start hitting that running trail again every day . So! Whether the weather permits or not, I'm off.

Knit Cobalt

It reminds me of Kitty in the movie Exodus.

The Story of Schmuel, Tailor of Klimovitch

Click here for the lyrics to SCHMUEL, which is Yiddish for Samuel, in case you were wondering.

I am obsessed with this song. I discovered it two days ago when Joni told me I could watch the original broadway cast recording of "The Last Five Years," the musical, in its entirety online. Last 5 Years incidentally was written by none other than the brilliant Jason Robert-Brown (the guy who wrote "Parade" and "Songs for a New World"). More about him later. 

Having seen the whole show, I can say "the Schmuel song" is my favorite. I had several epiphanies watching this -- badly recorded -- clip starring Norbert Leo Butz (the original Fiyero from Wicked). The song reminds me of Hugh Nibley's concept of "Lunch is Free." 

I just love everything about this number. I DID say I was obsessed with it, didn't I?  "...Limb-o-vitch?" hahhaha

*Really, Mom, I'm posting this exclusively for you. No one else will care about Jason Robert-Brown OR the song. Besides, you're the only one I know who'll adore the Jewishness of the story. Also note the star-of-david atop the Christmas tree! Oh yeah-- this is the same show that "I hate these payless shoes" comes from. ...Ahem. Love you, Mom!* 

Not just an ordinary outfit

I'm the costume representative for my Folk Dance team this semester. That means nothing special, just that I have a tweensy bit more to do for our performances. But tonight, ah tonight! My team is meeting at the costume warehouse (or wear-house...pff!) to be fitted for our Israeli costumes.

I'm so excited! I get to wear a pretty teal dress that flares out when I spin. YAY! Besides, my sister wore a dress just like it when she was in college, so hey-- isn't that nifty?

Mediterranean

Happy Presidents Day

Who said which quote? Do you know?

"It is better to be alone than in bad company."

"Those who deny freedom to others do not deserve it themselves and under a just god cannot long retain it."

"Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals."

"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world."

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

"It is difficult to make a man miserable when he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him."

Lucky

Thanks to my roommate Taylor, I have had this song stuck in my head for THREE DAYS. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg!

Happy Valentines Day!

I wish I could give you all roses! XOXO

Behold! The Ski-Cape!

I see my friend Lauren every weekday while we are at work, except on Wednesdays because Lauren goes snowboarding Wednesday afternoons. I do so miss that girl on Wednesday afternoons. Maybe Lauren could use one of these capes when she's doing her thing. Note that it "serves alternately as a sail and a brake..."

Modern Mechanix Magazine: Feb, 1940

...it reminded me of Wile E. Coyote's bat cape. :)

On the Green

Can cupcakes sport this look? Whoo, what a bad pun.

I love these! I do not golf but if someone I knew frequently did, I'd love to make these for them. Aren't they cool? And easy! The hardest part would be writing Titleist.


Miss Scarlet in the kitchen with the billiard ball... :)

I've also seen these done with both Fondant (they look real, but that's a lot of effort and they'd taste sick, so what's the point?) and with colored sugar (which would melt into the frosting eventually). This buttercream option I think would be best. And on a green background too! Fun fun fun fun fun!

Pottery Barn Kids Retro Kitchen

This adorable play-kitchen made by Pottery Barn reminded me of my play-kitchen when I was little (with the tiny cardboard campbells soup cans, aluminum frying pans, and all of Mom's empty spice bottles that I played with). Geez, what ritzy kid grows up with a play kitchen from Pottery Barn?

Pros: Super adorable, really great colors, and old styling.
Cons: Costs more than real kitchen appliances.

Exhibit

Last week I went to the BYU Museum of Art and saw this exhibit of Dan Steinhilber's. He uses mass-produced, mundane objects for his medium, and creates work of optical interest.

Check out these pictures: dangling dry-cleaning hangars, a mural of duck sauce packets, flickering fluorescent light bulbs (which undulated in such a mesmerizing pattern it was hard to look away from them), and crumpled and laquered trashbags. Too bad I couldn't get pictures of the interconnected rings of pvc pipe or the sculpture of twisted baloons--they were awesome too.






My favorite? The corner of the room full of packing peanuts that were occasionally blasted into the air by industrial fans.


flying packing peanuts

No, really?

Bill recently brought to my attention that Buddy Hackett (whom I know as Marcellus from the movie version of The Music Man) also is the voice-actor for Scuttle on The Little Mermaid. I'm not sure how I was unaware of this, but geez, now I even see a slight-resemblance in the seagull's face. Beautiful hindsight, eh? Yes. And all this came out after Bill made a hillarious reference to Scuttle doing the shipoopi. It was such a great image that I HAD to post about it, just on the off-chance someone else might not know. Alicia? Melissa? Eh?

2nd "restrict your remarks to the weather"

"Crepuscular rays, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds or between other objects, are columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. The name comes from their frequent occurrences during crepuscular hours when the contrasts between light and dark are most obvious." (Wikipedia)

If you read that and were thinking "what on earth does crepuscular mean?" I didn't know either, so I looked it up. If you are really smart and somehow knew it already--that's grand, great for you. You could have told the rest of us that "crepuscular" refers to the time near dawn and dusk. The root is from the Latin crepusculum, meaning "twilight." Isn't that nice? Hmm. Well. Here's what I else didn't know:

"Crepuscular rays" can be found not only in SUNSETS,

Taken from Black Mountain Tower, Canberra

But are also called the same when REFLECTED

This building is somewhere in San Fransisco

or FILTERED THROUGH objects.


C-rays can also be INDOORS,

St. Peter's Basilica (as in, Rachel really wants to see)

and aren't merely solar, but LUNAR.


DID-YOU-KNOW-THAT? .... NOW YOU KNOW.

How Wondrous and Great

photo taken in Goblin Valley, UT

GREAT and MARVELOUS are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are THE DEPTHS of the MYSTERIES OF HIM! 

Jacob 4:18, The Book of Mormon

Whistling While I Work

"There are times I do actually enjoy cleaning." "In [this] job that MUST be done, there IS an element of fun." I WANT TO CLEAN MY APARTMENT REALLY REALLY BADLY. 

The only problem is that after all of my errands today there still wasn't enough time left to scrub my sink, and shower, and black porous ceramic blotches ("out damn spot" for sure), and remove all the hard water stains, and mop the kitchen floor, and vacuum the carpet, and organize my kitchen supplies (not to mention groceries), and hang clocks on the wall, and lemon-oil the cabinets, and de-black mark the base boards, and un-smudge the light fixture plates, and dust the TV, and wash the windows, and "George Wadsworth Winfield, how could you do this to us? The drapes are too short, the rugs are too small, and I can't find a place for the piano anywhere", and GAAA I CAN'T LIVE HERE, IT'S FILTHY! 

Okay, so I don't want to clean my apartment. I want to give it a thorough overhaul. I want to "give it a hard scrubbing from turret to dungeon" and I want to do it now. TODAY. Too bad I only have a half hour left with which to dilly dally. *sigh*

Taylor & Rufus

My roomie Taylor and I had a discussion about Rufus Wainwright a few minutes ago, involving me (remembering Matt singing it) asking "isn't he the guy that sang 'my phone's on vibrate for you'?" And getting a horrified stare in response. "Nooooooo," she mumbled. 

BUT HE IS. I had to look it up and check. 

Then I said, "was he the guy who sang about cigarettes and chocolate milk?" And Taylor started singing it. Boo yah. I totally love her. And Rufus. Mainly because he wrote the song that's in the Meet the Robinsons Movie. I was going to post a picture of him, but he creeps me out, SO. Nix on that. Instead, you get a picture of Taylor. YAY!

Hide Your Children

Bill showed this to me yesterday, and while I felt it was deeply wrong to tamper with Julie Andrews... it IS excellent proof of what good editing can do. And I felt myself smiling.

Ronn Lucas, Best Ventriloquist EVER

Mom, this is for you, by request.

"Look at this, I'm upside down! All the foam is rushing to my head!"

Flavius Honorius, Emperor of Rome 393–423

Ahem! Broadcasting live from my Byzantine History class. Last week we discussed the title of today's post, an emperor of Rome who should never be "honored" by the soundtrack from Gladiator. 

This painting (which makes excellent use of lighting to deliver a point) is called "The Favorites of Emperor Honorius," and depicts his typical behavior of being more interested in birds than in the affairs of state. The man was an imbecile. He let the empire fall apart, and it was under his rule that the city of Rome was first sacked (by the Visigoths). He seems to me to be one of those political people whose only talent is avoiding murder. Here's what a historian in my reading had to say about him:

"His name would be forgotten among the obscurest occupants of the Imperial throne were it not that his reign coincided with the fatal period in which it was decided that western Europe was to pass from the Roman to the Teuton." 

Hardly complimentary, eh? I do find it amusing that he is known still today as "Emperor Honorius." What an oxymoron.

INKHEART

I can't wait to see this! And can I just say that the interwoven caps in the logo make me happy? Because they do. Anyway, INKHEART. There are lots of famous people in it--Andy Serkis, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, not to mention Brandon Fraiser AND Paul Bettany. I gave the soundtrack a precursory check; it seems suitable. Oooooh it's gonna be good. I'll tell ya how it turns out.