Just left of normal

As much as i love this blog, everything weighing against me in my daily life always seems to win out. I feel that i have lost the desire to blog and express myself in writing. Not that i know how else to express myself... maybe if i spend some time repressing everything then i'll turn into that person people seem to keep expecting me to be.
And for now, hopefully, they will be satisfied that no emotional response from me is perhaps better than a possibly negative one.

To those very few of you that take the time to keep up with my not so exciting life, i bid you farewell; I deeply appreciate all your support. I will undoubtedly be back some day, but i can not foresee when that may be.

I am forever seeing great ideas and products online and in magazines. So i though i might build an entry over the course of each week and post it on Friday as my Friday Favorites. The variety of things being so vast i thought i would create categories (i.e. organization, recipes, handmade, seasonal etc). Not every category would be included every week but as time passes I'll put together an organized area for locating favorites by category or by date. So allow my to commence with the very first Friday Favorites!

Seasonal Sensation:
Everyone knows that summer is the time for weddings. Whether it's because it follows spring -full of lovebirds- or just because it's the time of year everyone seems to have more fun, i don't know. But it cannot be denied, summer has it for weddings. I love Etsy and am always looking for great stuff... today actually, i saw the most gorgeous dress on the front page. This Custom Wedding dress by ktjean is gorgeous. It's perfectly feminine with a fresh yet vintage feel, the tiers gives is texture while keeping it simple and chic. I would love to have this as a wedding dress, therefore ktjean gets this weeks Seasonal Sensation Friday Favorite.

Beautifully Organized:
One of my favorite magazines -and i have several- is Blueprint (edit: i am sad to report that Blueprint got the axe by martha stewart - fun while it lasted). The January/February 2008 issue featured an article called Every Bling in It's Place. An organizational idea i immediately fell in love with and put to work in my own jewelry armour. This includes using lovely orphaned china teacups and saucers to organize your jewelry. The sides of the cups are perfect for hanging earrings especially those long dangly ones that always tangle on anything else it can get close to (as most of mine are). And the saucers great for rings and bracelets or necklaces. Now you'll see that lonely piece of china at the thrift store a little differently won't you?

Fashionable Chores:
Anything is more fashionable than hauling a sack of laundry down the street to the laundromat. Now there is a better way. This adorable laundry bag will not only look pretty on your arm or hanging on your bedpost, it also won't announce your laundry blues to the entire block. Personally i choked a little at the price but if your willing and not into making yourself a knock off it's worth it. 'White Devil' laundry bag by Burke Decor definatly gets the Fashionable Chores Friday Favorite spot.

Fresh Recipes:
This recipe is one from my personal collection, it's a very 'about' recipe... you know a pinch, a dash, a sprinkle. Well i take that back i'll try to be as precise as possible but you should add and subtract according to you taste. Summer is the best time for fresh lemonade. I never liked the powder mix drinks - any of them lemonade, kool-aid none. It wasn't until i was in middleschool that my worldly bohemian french teacher showed us how to make fresh lemonade and i loved it. It's quick and easy so don't fret.

You'll Need:

10 to 12 lemons (or about a cup and a half fresh squeezed lemon juice)
1 cup of sugar
2 1/2 to 3 qt pitcher or container
knife
cutting board
juicer (or just use your hands to squeeeeeeze the juice out)
glove (you will be thanking god, if you have even the tiniest cut on your hands it will burn)

Set aside one lemon to slice and toss in at the end or garnish the glasses. Juice the rest of the lemons and pour into your pitcher. -If you prefer less pulp pour the juice into the pitcher through a sieve or cheese cloth. Add your sugar and fill with water until it hits the 2 1/2 qt mark (if no marks there are 4 cups in a quart so you'll need about 8 cups or so of water). Lastly add your sugar and stir until you can't hear the sugar anymore. At this point taste it and see if you need more or less for me this is about perfect, i like it to be a little tart almost enough to tighten your jaw but sweet enough that it doesn't taste bitter. Slice your last lemon, throw it in and Enjoy!
If you don't like drinking straight lemonade but do enjoy lemon in your tea make this yummy lemonade and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then when you sit down to enjoy a glass off tea toss a lemonade cube in.

OK so i am little behind the bandwagon but i had to share. Perhaps it's because if I'm watching tv it's Noggin or Nick Jr. Noggin however is my preference. So i am personally a music junk and baby girl is turning into one too, anytime there is music on she has to bust a groove. Noggin doesn't run commercials like other channels instead they have music time and run clips from (usually Jacks big music show) of artists playing fun songs and lots of kids all around joining in and dancing. Most often the songs are really fun and catchy, today in particular i was stopped dead in my tracks when i heard violins. As a child i played the violin and actually wanted to play the cello the following year but i had made to change schools and my parents couldn't afford to buy the instrument and pay for private lessons.

Back to the topic, so today they played the "strings" episode of jacks big music show where they introduce and play several different instruments that are strung. The artist song they did was 2 brothers who are from Queens, New York and have studied at Juilliard and Bloomingdale schools of music. They go by Nuttin But Stringz. After doing a little searching i found out that they were on America's Got Talent (sorry i don't usually watch those shows) that aired in mid June. Below is their clip from the episode. I have always been drawn to classical sounds and give props especially when they can incorporate the sound with rock or heavy metal or in this case hip hop/rap. Watch the clip enjoy it, check out their site... I can't stop listening. I may also add the clip from noggin (it's the same song only a tad different and significantly longer). Enjoy!





P.S. the song played automatically on their website is just as amazing.