Stacey Kent is amazing!

Mr. Perfect and Most Happy Girl caught a concert by the jazz singer Stacey Kent and her saxophone-playing hubby, Jim Tomlinson, just a week before our wedding. It was a perfect date to a perfect concert. We have been huge fans every since. Now you can hear why. Don't get put-off by the French lyrics. Just enjoy the music. (Genius Child #2 will love it, I know!)

Wordless Wednesday (again)

Wordless Wednesday

Home decor

I'm not much of a knickknack kind of decorator. I don't look at most trinkets and think "Wow, I'd love to have that in my home." I'm more of the "Hey, look at that bowl. I could put something to eat in it" kind of decorator. I don't know if it's fortunate or not, but my taste in candy bowls runs more towards the Waterford Crystal variety. Okay, who am I kidding? I love classy Waterford Crystal, and I'm only saved from having waaaay too much of it in my home by how outrageously expensive it is. Many years ago (before I became the Most Happy Girl), I went to England with some friends, and this was the main souvenir that I brought back for myself:

As you can see, it is sadly lacking in having something fun or yummy inside it right now. It has spent the past four years being a junk collection bowl in the kitchen, and was only released from prison because Little Big Sis and Painter Extraordinaire went to England and brought this back for me:

How sad is it that the new bowl gets fun treats (dark chocolate: yummm!) before the first one does? This is the picture I sent with them with instructions of "Find something similar":

I like the one they brought back better. How lucky is that? I mean, look at this detail:

The spiral cut that runs around the entire bowl is just amazingly cool.

This trip was quite the feat for Little Big Sis. She's a nervous traveler and had never been outside of the country (no one really counts Tijuana as "out of the country"). But Painter Extraordinaire served an LDS mission to Leeds, England and has always wanted to go back, and especially with LBS. Mr. Perfect and I are already planning what we want to do with them the next time they go to England (and we go with them). 

Experiment in house plants

I am not good with house plants. Seriously. Over the years, I've had one house plant survive longer than 6 months. It's actually thriving, but that's because it's the type that deals really well with neglect and abuse. Drama Queen and Man in Plays gave me a beautiful azalea for Mother's Day, and it lasted about 2-1/2 weeks. I sure loved it, but obviously didn't know how to take care of it. Now, I'm trying with perhaps one of the hardest-to-keep-alive houseplants of all time: a Gerbera daisy. Wish me luck.

Baby blessing and Father's Day

This year, Mr. Perfect had a very full Father's Day. First, we we invited to a blessing for Texas Boy and Not Snow's Biggest Fan's baby boy, Mr. H. He is the most adorable baby, as you can see from the pictures.

After the blessing, we met several family members at Dad M's grave to have a short picnic and bring some flowers. Dad, we love you and miss you, but we know we'll see you again. Then we had dinner at our place with lots of family. Drama Queen and Man in Plays were on hand to wish Mr. Perfect a Happy Father's Day and just hang out for a while. That was especially nice.

So, to the man I love: Happy Father's Day!

Somewhere Only We Know (Keane)

We heard a cover of this song on The Voice the other night and I decided to track down the original version by Keane. I like it better than the cover. Does that make me a bad person?

Another blog

I hope that most of you realize by now just how crazy I am. I work full-time as a technical writer for a software company, plus I have between 15 and 20 piano students (fluctuation happens). I write this blog; I write my cooking blog; I've finished a novel that I need to find a good editor and agent for so I can get it published. And now I've created a photography blog. At least this one doesn't require me to write anything for it. I just have to edit photos I've taken and upload them. Check it out and let me know what you think. Click the photo below to go to the site.

Thanks!

What I saw on my way to work this morning

This was the view of the canyons and sunrise that greeted me on my way to work this morning. I really do love living in this valley.

Wordless Wednesday

Just how big are things in space?

Yesterday, the NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day was a YouTube video showing how the objects in our solar system compare with some of the well-known stars in our galaxy. After looking around YouTube a bit more, I found this one, which had better music. (And I'm all about the music, as you well know.)

When Did You Fall in Love with Me?

A friend at work introduced me to Chris Rice's music several years ago. He's a Christian artist who has released several albums. He hasn't released any new music since 2008; I hope he is still writing and recording.

Even though we've been married for more than four years, this song makes me smile and think of Mr. Perfect and when we were dating.

Wordless Wednesday