Chai Green Tea

Today I'm tired. There really isn't alot to say. I'm cold and have drank so many mugs full of Chai Green Tea, I'm going to be in the bathroom all night. (Tea being the diauretic that it is.)
At least I'm drinking it out of a cool new mug...hubby & I went pottery painting last week, and I made a groovy mug in teal & lime green, with polka dots and stripes. I'm very proud of it. The coolest part is the fish I put inside the mug, so when my tea is done I see the fish in the bottom. It's a crazy little smile. I also put one on the bottom so anyone who looks at me while I'm drinking my tea sees a fish too. Yeah...I need to get out more.

I'd post a pic, but my digital camera decided it wanted to die for no apparent reason, and I haven't figured out the new video camera yet to know how to take a snapshot and download it. I guess that's my task for tomorrow.

Fashionista Lil' Kate!

Me & my wedding gown designed by Kate Bennett
I want everyone to know my dear, dear friend, Kate Abraham (nee'Bennett) (aka "Lil'Kate") auditioned for the upcoming season of Project Runway yesterday. I want everyone to know how amazingly talented she is, whether she makes it onto the show or not! Tim Gunn and Nick Verreo gave her a definative "maybe". Ok, so what does that mean guys?! With a personality like hers, and talent to boot, she sooooo should be on that show! Check out her website...send her some positive vibes! Go Kate!

Please visit...

Today I'm proud to announce I have started a new daily blog to get me working harder on my book. You will be able to visit it daily to learn about the holiday of the day, as well as ways to celebrate, and recipes too! I hope you'll enjoy it!

I've also finally put up my website! It will have some similar pages, as well as information on my Event Planning business!
Please check them! (and leave feedback!) Thanks!!

National Bavarian Crepe Day!

Neunschweinstein Castle

In celebration of National Bavarian Crepe Day:
Bavarian Crepes!
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cherry Filling (see below)
1 cup sour cream 1 oz. semisweet chocolate, grated
Cherry Filling: 2 cans sweet dark pitted cherries (16 oz. ea.)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup almond flavored liqueur
1 cup sour cream
1 oz. semisweet chocolate, grated
In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add buttermilk. Beat with a whisk or with electric mixer on low speed until just blended. Add flour, sugar and cocoa, beating with whisk or with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in melted butter. Let batter stand about 1/2 hour at room temperature. If kept longer before cooking, refrigerate. Stir batter with a spoon. Cook crepes on upside down crepe griddle or in traditional crepe or omelet pan. As each crepe is cooked, stack in a covered dish or pan to keep warm and moist. Prepare Cherry Filling. Spoon onto warm cooked crepes. Fold sides over filling, envelope style. Spoon sour cream on top. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Serve at once. Makes 14-16 servings. Cherry Filling: Drain cherries, reserving 1/3 cup juice. In a medium pan, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch. Stir in liqueur and reserved cherry juice. Add drained cherries. Stir constantly over moderate heat until slightly thickened.

Bond, James Bond

This weekend I'm attending a ballet on Friday, and then Saturday is a friend's birthday bash. It's a James Bond theme, with a full bar and casino games. All guests have to come as Bond characters. I'm very excited about it! Hubby is going as Boris Grishenko and I'm going as Natalya Fyodorovna Semyonova...both from Goldeneye, my favourite Bond movie. Our hosts find it funny my husband is playing a bad guy, while I'm one of the "good girls"...very much a role reversal. I'm very excited about it...especcially since it is one of the first "theme" parties I've been to I haven't hosted! (All of the pleasure, none of the work!)

Now my dilema is trying to figure out an appropriate gift.

Spring has Sprung!

Enjoy the first day of Spring!

Erin Go Bragh

Luck o'the Irish to ya!
Today is the traditional "Wearin' o' the Green", the day Americans everywhere claim a little bit of Irish heritage...it gives them an excuse to drink green beer, after all! What is it that makes Americans celebrate this day with such gusto? Maybe its the laid-back nature of the Irish (that can quickly change into fiery rage or passion) that we envy? Is it the lushness of their country, the richness of their ales, the blandness of their food, or the liveliness of their music? Whatever the reason, it's a good day to raise your glasses of Guiness high and share a toast with friends!

"May you be in Heaven a 1/2 hour before the devil knows you're spent!"
"May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends below it never fall out!"
"The future is not ours to know, and may it never be -- so let us live and give our best, and live it lavishly!"
"May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future!"

Support All Around

Today's lesson in futilism is my attempt to figure out what theatre company my family is going to support for the next year. This may not sound as strenuous as it really is, however, I realize that whatever decision I make locks us into tickets for an entire year at whichever theatre, ballet, opera company I choose. That's alot of commitment!

In the past we have purchased season tickets to the Milwaukee Ballet, then individual tickets to various shows we chose to attend elsewhere. However this coming season of dance doesn't intice us enough to commit to it, giving us a chance to be patrons of some other theatre. This is terribly exciting...and yet daunting. So far none of the theatre companies (and there are many) have this overall amazing season that screams "oooh, me, me, choose me"!

On an entirely different vein (because its that kind of day)...please check out a couple of other people's websites. Please!
First, a big hello and thank you to my new friend and "bloglord" Kel! Her blog is cute and definately worth your time!
Second, an old friend is doing something very good and needs you to support her. If you care about kids, please make the donation, thanks.

Who Done It?

You are cordially invited to a 1936 soiree at an English manor, when your host is murdered!

Today I'm planning a birthday party for my husband and I. (Our birthdays are 2 days apart.) We have decided to keep a relatively small event this year and are hosting a murder mystery dinner party. It's great fun, if you've never been to one. Good food, fabulous clothing, death..all the makings of an evening with friends! I'm really looking forward to it, though it will still be a month or more away.

All of my friend are performers, so we tend to create alot of these sorts of gatherings. I realize that isn't how the average person spends their time, but we do. We are creative people with creative needs. I supposes that is why I want to do this for a living...creating events for people. It's what I do best. And what I find the most fun with.

My daughter tells her school friends about the parties at our house, and I think most of them don't believe her...but why be boring? Enjoy life! Have a party! Let me organize it for you! After all...wouldn't you rather be the one "who done it"?

Skating the Olympic Circle

This weekend my daughter, hubby & I went ice skating at the Pettit Center in Milwaukee with his parents, brother & sister-in-law. A regular family outing! For anyone who knows what my relationship with his family (mother in particular) has been like, this was quite the accomplishment. His parents have never been particularly fond of me, to say the least, but maybe things are changing a little bit? I can only hope. It's been hard maintaining that balance between "I don't care what others think of me" and genuinely wanting to be accepted. I can only hope they see we do love each other and have a good relationship, and with that will come some "kinship" from them too.

I love figure skating. It's been a part of my life since I was tiny. I think I was first put on the ice sometime around 9 months old. Mom was a professional figure skater, so it was only natural. We lived on a lake, so most days in the winter months I was out on the ice, the rest of the year was at a rink. An accident when I was about 11 ended any dreams I may have had of Olympic Gold, but the love of zooming around a rink has never changed. The briskness of the arena, the wind has I move about the ice, even the smell evokes memories of my childhood, and a world that, in my heart, is so uniquely my own. Age now makes me notice when I try to do something that once came so naturally and easily to me, has an element of fear. But the thrill is all the same. The ice is my domain. I feel powerful upon those thin blades. I am strong and the energy comes from somewhere in me that I don't feel anytime else.

Maybe I'm mid-30s now, out of shape, and aware of my own potential injury, but when I'm circling the ice...I can feel that Gold medal around my neck.

Friday's Feast

A new way to spend a Friday.

Appetizer: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how intuitive do you think you are? 9
Soup: What is your favorite kind of gum? Actually I don't like gum at all
Salad: Name a CD you own that you would never get rid of. Duran Duran Greatest
Main Course: When was the last time you said something you didn't mean? Last night. I told my daughter I'd ship her off to boarding school if she didn't stop misbehaving.
Dessert: What is the sum of the numbers in your birthdate? (Example: 3 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 9 = 31) 45

Squishy Face

Pugs crack me up!
I can't help it, they absolutely turn me into this babbling idiot with their cuteness. Their crazy squished in faces and big eyes totally make me smile. I am convinced they have no real purpose other than to make me smile. It doesn't matter how bad of a mood I'm in, one cute little pug goes by and I'm laughing.

There once was a pug at the Michigan RenFest, the PubPug, and the minute I'd come past I'd call out to him and he'd run to me, up my full skirts, and rest on my chest with a smile. Sheer joy.
I want a pug...maybe one day. Until then I have to be content with the random happy pug moment.

I'm curious what makes other people smile despite themselves???

The Game of Life

Another month...no pregnancy.
I wish I was one of those women who could just "go with the flow" but the truth is, I don't have it in me to not think about things. I've often been accused of "thinking too much". I consider. I ponder. I fret. I assess. I research. I don't let things drop until they are resolved. Sometimes I push and push to the point of frustration, but I like to have a clear picture. Nothing left to doubt or chance.

So here I am playing the greatest game of chance...trying to get pregnant. Hell, I don't even like Monopoly because it's too much of a chance game! I get angry and frustrated when I play. Give me a game like Scattergories, Trivial Pursuit or heck, even Pictionary. Those of games of mental skill...I can do that.

But the game of conception is all about rolling the dice and taking the chance. And just like Monopoly that takes so long to play, you have to wait. Only to find out your house at Park Place has been repossessed, your Water Works have dried up, and you don't get to go past GO or collect $200. Another month wasted. Start over. Try again. Draw the Chance card and put your emotions on hold.

What's in a Name??

Me as Mary, Queen of Scots w/Kevin as Lord Darnley at the Michigan Renaissance Festival 2000

Ok, so I found this funny little quiz that tells you how your name would be defined. Here are my results:

Kimba --[noun]:A lewd street performer
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Let's just say I laughed my ass off. As you can see by the photo...I've been a lewd street performer for many years. For years I performed & worked with the Michigan Renaissance Festival. I am also with the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Over a 14 years I've acted in the streets of these Elizabethan faires, and looking back I can say they have been great years.

You don't realize just how many people's lives you've touched until someone comes back to you with a photograph they took of you with their family. That we are in literally thousands of people's family photo albums is overwhelming. They remember the silliest things, like the snide remark you made to their husband, or the way you made their child laugh. It's a warm feeling inside. Despite the dirt, the heavy clothing, the long days, the mud...it really has been good times.

I have good friends, also, because of the faires. People who are amazingly intelligent, well educated, thoughtful souls. I'm looking forward to the summer now.