Dec 16 2019
On the weekend after Thanksgiving, the girls in my family went to a tea room for lunch, and it wound up being the highlight of the week for all of us! There’s just something about taking your time with a warm pot of tea that inspires focus and cozy conversation. The tea room that we …
Dec 13 2019
Last week my family and I visited Leavenworth, Washington for their annual Christmas lighting festival and truly had the best time of our lives. Leavenworth is an over-the-top charming Bavarian-styled village nestled in the Cascade Mountains. The Cascade mountains are located in in central Washington State and about a 4 and 1/2 hour drive from …
Nov 17 2019
This weekend I’ve combined some of my very favorite fragrances for a fresh, invigorating soap: lemongrass and tea. I’ve chosen Jasmine green tea because of the wonderful scent and I thought it would go well with lemongrass. For this soap recipe, I used organic lemongrass essential oil, not fragrance oil, which is stronger scented and …
Oct 24 2019
Dear Lou… We just love the Haunted Mansion! Every time we go, we just love looking at the graves in front of the entrance, and we just noticed the mausoleum at the exit. Were they always there (I don’t remember the mausoleum)? And are the names on the graves of real people or just made-up? …
Oct 19 2019
Mummy Candles Mummy candles are also fun and so easy that even a two-year old can do this activity. Let’s face it, part of the reason those twos are so terrible is because they are old enough to know things are going on around them, but at the same time they just cannot do very …
Sep 29 2019
Have you ever paid money to go through a haunted house? Do you have haunted houses in your city or town? Some places like Kansas City have a big business of having haunted houses in their old warehouse district. The Beast and the Edge of Hell are the two most famous. This year, there is …
Aug 26 2019
It all started with Pumpkin Spiced Latte. And then there were pumpkin flavored donuts followed by pumpkin creamer and pumpkin cake. And once the pumpkin craze set in, we had pumpkin beer, pumpkin soup, pumpkin spiced tea, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin cream cake, and oh yes, don’t forget the pumpkin pie! The smell of pumpkin …
Jul 23 2019
Last weekend Coraline and I went berry picking again with my sweet friend and her adorable 6 month old baby, Ronin. It was a lot of fun and in the end we ended up with a couple pints of delicious raspberries. After thinking for awhile I thought a dark chocolate chocolate chip Bundt cake with …
Jun 23 2019
This month I had the pleasure of visiting Palm Springs, and of watching the recently released documentary on Frank Sinatra’s life in Palm Springs, and I must say that the film paints an accurate portrait of the beautiful desert oasis. One of the narrators of the film describes a Palm Springs neighborhood looking exactly the …
Jun 18 2019
Every summer for the past twenty-plus years, music-lovers have flocked to an 80-acre farm outside of Portland, Oregon to attend an event called Pickathon. The three-day-long festival takes place from August 2rd through 4th this year, and this year, the lineup is huge: 65 bands, including Sudan Archives and Damien Jurado, will play at least six uniquely constructed stages, delighting …
