SORRY, sorry, soorrrrry

OK so I haven't posted in a while because work, school, and life have just been crazy, crazy busy. I promise I am crafting a new post in mind as we speak.

For now here is a video to tide you over.

This IS love!

I am going to take a cue from some of my favorite blogs out there and start a "Things I love" section. I am going to try and update it weekly but heck if there are three things that I love in one week...why not!?! So this week. This is what I love.

LUSH

Lush is a great handmade cosmetics company. They have a ton of bath and shower products that smell out of this world. Not to mention that they sell most of their products with out the use of any plastic containers (You can thank Jimbo for the hysteria after he reminded me that e-v-e-r-y piece of plastic that has ever been created still exists).

The fragrance I am particularly obsessed with is Karma.The LUSH website describes Karma as a...
"Spicy orange and patchouli soap to calm and soothe a tired mind" Geesh even the description suits me. But I love this stuff so much that I picked up the Karma shampoo bar and the Karma Kream (that does come in a container but it's all PCRPs (Post-Consumer Recycled Products).

I wish I could put a scratch and sniff sticker on here. It's just that good. I'm almost hesitant to smell anything else because everything else sounds so cool .

Jimmy has his own collection of LUSH soaps. He likes like Sea Vegetable and Ice Blue

















Sea Vegetable (top) is "lavender and lime that refreshes and invigorates."

Ice Blue (bottom) is an "intense peppermint soap that cools, cleans, and refreshes."

LUSH even has shampoo bars. These little suckers can last up to 80 hair washings. Incredible. And the Karma Shampoo bar isn't the only one they have. Lush has 12 shampoo bars including this bad boy below:
















Meet trichomania ( which actually means an obsession with hair) it smells like coconut cream pie and is made for dry, curly hair. Heaven!

Finally! It's the LUSH message bar. We have the Wiccy Magic Muscles bar. OMG! This works wonders on sore muscles. The bar melts almost as soon as it comes into contact with your skin. So it's just like message oil. The little nubby things are actually adzuki beans and the bar smells like Big Red gum. It has peppermint oil and cinnamon leaf oil so it gets all tingly.
















Even Early is a fan!

SO...bottom line is go check out the LUSH website at: http://usa.lush.com/cgi-bin/lushdb

If you have a LUSH near you - stop by. If not - you all know what your getting for your next wedding/anniversary/birthday/Christmas/etc.

What's New

So in the past week we've done some pretty fun stuff. Monday started off like any other Monday. In our house even Early isn't a Monday kitten. (God I totally know how he feels).










But the week went by fast and pretty soon it was Friday. Just in time for the....

MT. VERNON SPRING WINE FEST

Jim and I attended this Mt. Vernon Spring Wine Fest on Friday. It was a birthday event for our friend Ryan. His girlfriend Kate organized everything and it was tons of fun. Ryan and Kate have a bunch of cool friends and it was nice to hang out with a big group of young people. The weather was a little chilly (thank God Kate had some extra sweaters in her trunk or I would have frozen to death) but other than that it was beautiful. We sampled wines from 17 different Virginia wineries and bought a few bottles; which we enjoyed with fruit, cheese, and bread while looking out over the Potomac River at sunset. Then we took a candlelight tour of the mansion and the grounds of Mt. Vernon. We can't wait for the Fall Wine Festival. We're hoping to plan a beer festival/camping trip with Ryan and Kate in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I only had my crappy little camera so I didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few:




















SHEEP! Seriously how cute are they.



















The view from where we were sitting. You can't really tell from this picture but the place was packed. We even saw some of our favorite Boozers, The Gastons!

BITTEN BY THE WINE BUG

Saturday was beautiful and we had some leftover wine from the night before so we decided to have a little picnic on our balcony. We be-bopped over to WFM to get some bread and cheese (didn't get enough of that the night before I guess) as well as some ingredients for a few nice salads.

Marley was invited















Except:
a) she doesn't look like she is enjoying herself and
b) she looks like she is taking a poop.

Early was NOT invited.















He is clearly pissed but he doesn't understand that it's NOT OK to attempt to jump off the balcony.
He also doesn't do very well on his leash (I have no idea why not?).
Besides he has that lovely little "bird on a springy tree" there inside with him. It even makes noise!

SO anyways. We made our lunch and enjoyed a nice romantical time outside on a Saturday Afternoon.








































(BTW aren't Heirloom tomatoes pretty. Totally took a hint from the Vegan.Chicks.Rock blog)

BLACKBERRY CRUMB BARS

On Sunday I made some yummy blackberry crumb bars out of the Everyday Foods magazine. We ate some and then I took the rest to work today to share with my team and the 4th floor residents.


















My baking adventure was followed by some knitting.

This is (someday) going to be a washcloth. I love the colors.


















I have this dream to one day replace all of the washcloths (yep all 3) that I own with hand knitted ones.
But then I'm not really sure if I want that dirty hippie boyfriend of mine showering with them soo....perhaps they'll just be potholders.



















My other knitting project is a bag like the one that my mom made. I LOVE this yarn and I can't wait to get started but I am forcing myself to finish the washcloth/potholder first.




































So pretty!

TO ROUND IT ALL OUT...

We end tonight with Mr. Crankypants Early Bird in his favorite "WOE IS ME!!!" state.

Disappointment

I am very disappointed in the people of West Virginia.

And I don't normally say that or feel that way. I'm not even really disappointed that they didn't vote for the candidate I support. I casted my vote and it feels good to know that 91,612 people in the Mountain State feel the same way I do.

I read some stuff that Melissa sent my Mom about the folks in Southern West Virginia's reaction to election/rationale behind who they voted for.

The fact is that I am more angry that they didn't even base their reasoning on logical arguments. And to top it off all of their uneducated assumptions appeared on NPR for the rest of the US to see and poke fun at.

It was ridiculous. There are no other words to sum it up. They make the rest of the State appear uneducated and inarticulate. These are they people that fulfill every stereotype of a West Virginian. Case in point: my Aunt Debbie, a very intelligent and well-spoken lady, is from Man, West Virginia.

For today, at least, I am a resident of Virginia.

Justice (resident of Man, WV): Well, I liked Bill Clinton real well, and I think, I agree with a lot of the things she says. I don't really, I don't know that I agree with a woman president, but if it came down to it, and Obama won the primary, I would vote Republican. Sale: She says she doesn't believe that Obama is Christian. She believes he's a Muslim. But that's not the only reason she doesn't like him. Justice: I just don't trust him, I don't know why. He gives me the creeps. And his wife says this is the first time she's ever been proud of America. I don't know how you can be a First Lady and not say you're proud to be an American, you know what I mean? You want to help a country that you're not even proud of? So, I don't know, you know, Hillary screams American, you know.

Quote:

Daniels (another resident of Man, WV): Well, I like Hillary the best, but I couldn't vote for her because she'd be usurping the authority over me. And the man's not supposed to be over…the man's supposed to be over the woman."

Quote:

Blankenship (another resident of Man, WV on his support of McCain): because I think that he'll keep the war going and that'll make more coal be produced. Sale: More coal? Blankenship: Mmm-hmm. Sale: So you're skeptical of the plans to pull out of Iraq. You don't think that'll be good for West Virginia? Blankenship: Well, there weren't no coal mining jobs until we went into Iraq. Sale: And Blankenship says he's only had two customers in his barber shop who say they'll vote for Obama if he's the Democratic candidate in the fall. The rest won't. The reason? Blankenship: I'd say maybe because he's black, most of them." Sale: Nobody else referred to race on tape when talking about what turned them off about Obama, though one man, once the recorder was turned off, said he's not ready for a black president. And then there's Obama's name. Mosley: Barack Hussein Obama. They don't like for us to say his name, but it is his name.

Getting Started!

Wow..I have always wanted to do this but always been a little hesitant. I think it'd be a lot of fun so - why not! I guess now I have to start thinking of thoughtful and insightful posts to entertain you all.

I've been looking at some of my favorite blogs (Melissa's Page, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, Urban Housewife, Vegan Chicks Rock) for inspiration and I suppose the topics just kind of come to you based on what's happening in your life.

So I guess we'll see what happens. For now all I can think of is the Vegan General Tsao's "chicken" from WFM (A-M-A-Z-I-N-G). And here are a few little pictures for you.

Sir Early cat keeping tabs on sister Marley.








And a pretty one from my trip to Dallas last week.