Posted on November 27, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Traditional Thanksgiving Drink

OK, it’s Thanksgiving and you’re reading my blog.  That means that either your totally addicted to my brilliant musings or you’re not having a fabulous time with the fam.  In case of reason number 2, here is a drink that is sure to make your Thanksgiving fly by (please arrange for a DD)

Thanksgiving Margaritas

1 Can of Limeade (I just use the generic brand, but you can get fancy if you want)

1 Lime worth of zest

1 Lime worth of juice (yes these can be the same lime)

1/2 Limeade Can full of Tequila (or a full can for “extra spicy” margaritas)

2 Shots of Triple Sec

Ice

 

You can make this in the blender for frozen margaritas or just mix it all up and serve over ice.  I don’t salt my glass, but if you want to, you’ll need some salt (duh).  So, here comes the hard part.  Dump all of the ingredients together into either a blender or a pitcher (or a really big glass if you’re a nut job and want to drink this all by yourself.  Please have a puke bucket nearby because you will get sick.  It’s friggin’ tequila, people.)  Blend or mix until it looks right.  Drink.  Enjoy your holiday.

Some additions that I’ve found to be delightful:

Orange Juice

Pomegranate juice or liquor

Oh, hell, any old juice will do if you’re looking to make something a little different (or disguise your drink from Granny.  Now, I don’t have to disguise my drink.  My Granny is the one giving handles of bourbon for Christmas.  Go, Granny!)

I’ve digressed.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be tasting the recipe while blogging.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  (oh, this could also be known as the Thanksgiving Diet.  Drink too many margaritas and you won’t have to worry about that extra 5-10 pounds of turkey weight.)

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Posted on November 26, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Twilight (possible spoiler alert)

My book club chose Twilight for December.  Kate picked it because she didn’t care for the heroine or her relationship with the hero.  It was a little too “old school” for her taste (as in she felt the heroine was a bit doormat-ish and the hero was a bit of a mysogynist).  Another reason we picked it is that it’s a fast read.  Despite the 500+ pages, the font size is pretty big and the reading pretty light.  The vocabulary isn’t overly simple, though, which I liked.  We wanted to pick a book we could finish before the holidays so we could squeeze a meeting into December.

Kate’s reason for suggesting a book she disliked was that we all loved The Sex Lives of Cannibals, so our book club conversation went a bit like this:

Claire: Remember that part about the plan and boat trips?

Elizabeth: That was hilarious!

Kate: I loved that part, but I felt bad about the dogs.

Heather: I really enjoyed the ethnography.  I don’t usually get to read fun books that also relate to my field of study.  Usually they’re dry and dull.

Heather’s mom: I’ve only read chapter one, but I can’t wait to read the rest.

Well, that’s not verbatim, but you get the idea.  I reminded me of a few critiques in art class when everyone loved the piece.  We just sat around complimenting it and no one learned anything.  When we read Eat, Pray, Love, we had more diverse opinions, so our conversation was more book oriented and less “what have you been up to since last meeting” oriented.

Anyway, back to Twilight.  Kate couldn’t understand why so many people love this book.  Having read it, I totally can.  While it’s not my preferred genre (I’m not generally into the teen romance/vampire books), I thought the voice of the heroine was very believable as a 17-year-old high school student with your standard identity issues.  She’s not overly confident and is plagued by pretty traditional teen angst.  It’s not over the top, though.  It read as a true depiction of high school issues and the breathless giddiness of first love (assuming you fell in love with a vampire).  The hero is actually pretty nice (for an angst-filled vampire in love with his food), and the heroine actually stands up to him, and even bosses him around quite a bit.  Sure, she questions herself a lot, but she’s pretty tenacious when she sets her mind to something.  She’s also smart, which is a plus. I could see teenage girls (and their mothers, apparently) really enjoying the romance, which is fairly appropriate for the age, I think, and the antagonistic flirting from both characters.  It’s full of all kinds of tension, which I think some readers may find more appealing than others.  Also, anyone who has been a teenage girl in high school could probably relate to a lot of Bella’s angst.  She was a bit martyr-y for a bit, there (oh, no boys like me, oh, I don’t fit in…  That kind of thing), but weren’t we all.

So I enjoyed the book.  Our meeting isn’t until the 17th (or is it 18th?), so I hope I can remember all of that until then…  I don’t feel compelled to read the rest of the series.  I have a funny feeling it goes a little something like this (possible spoiler.  Assuming I have maintained my uncanny ability to predict plots):

Bella: Turn me into a vampire.

Edward: No.

Bella: But I want to be with you forever and not get old and die.

Edward: I’d feel bad taking away your humanity and subjecting you to a life as a monster.

Bella: But you’re not a monster.  Now turn me into a vampire.

Edward: No.  But I’ll kiss you and distract you.

Bella: Well, okay until chapter 2.

*scene*

Oh, and somewhere in there, Bella’s life gets threatened and Edward has to save her.  Make that several times, because she’s a klutz and it makes for drama.  Oh, and Edward’s life might be threatened too (better yet, because of Bella in some way), so she feels she has to try to save him as well.  If I was into the genre (or hell, if someone lent me the books, and I wasn’t so damn far behind on my reading list), I might read the rest just for kicks.  But it’s not like I have an overwhelming need to know what happens next (unlike some stories that I just can’t get enough of… *cough* Dexter *cough*)

One thing I did find annoying was the excerpt/teaser for book 2 in the back.  Here’s more spoiler, and I’m ending on it, so don’t read any farther if you don’t want to know yet.  They end the excerpt with Bella at Edward’s house with his family.  She gets a paper cut which somehow sets off crazy bloodlust, and then we end with her in a pile of broken glass gushing blood and surrounded by hungry vampires.  Really?  You think that will make me feel compelled to buy the book?  It’s a 4 book series and this excerpt ends on page 20 or so of book 2.  They can’t eat the lead character.  What would the rest of the books be about?  I’m not at all worried for her.

Check out other books I’ve read and my goodreads.com rating:
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

 

 


rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews.

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Posted on November 26, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Free Goldfish

Nathan is driving me nuts!  I ended up with some goldfish from yesterday’s shoot.  I have no way to care for them, but I don’t want to mass murder them in the toilet.  I didn’t choose to have fish, but here we are.  What am I to do.  I have offered them to everyone I have seen and no one wants them.  What do I do with these fish?  He thinks I’m allowing them to die slowly from neglect.  I’ve fed them, and put them in a container.  Would anyone like a goldfish (or 20)?  My two main concerns are that Nathan will euthanize them or Rupert will “free” them (into his belly).  I’m afraid they’ve gotten overfed, because Nathan thinks I’m not feeding them so he encouraged Adam to feed them.  Poor fish.  I mean, they’re just fish, they shouldn’t be too hard to care for.  But we have very sneaky cats, and one is a ninja who kills small creatures (or mostly kills them and then leaves them in the middle of the floor for us to find).  So please, someone adopt these fish.

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Posted on November 25, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Bills

I had to pay bills today.  Well, I didn’t HAVE to do anything depending on the outcome I was looking for.  My preferred outcome is to keep my house, car, and utilities (of course, we haven’t turned on the heat yet, so that bill was delightfully low).  I don’t know why I want all of these things, since I hate dealing with paying for them.  But I don’t hate it enough to give them up.  So, I had to pay bills today.  I am going to the bank tomorrow.  To put money in.  That’s my favorite thing to do at the bank.  I hope they’re open tomorrow…  Paying bills always makes me wonder why I do it.  Wouldn’t I be just as happy in a little cave somewhere with a garden.  Or just hunting and gathering.  I read that the hunter/gatherer lifestyle was actually very leisurely.  Where would I hunt and gather, though?  People are awfully touchy about you gathering on their property.  I think the government is about the same.  That leads me back to my little house and fuel efficient car.

I would miss photography if I gave it all up for the cave lifestyle.  I suppose I could put solar panels outside the cave and work that way…  But once I do that, I’m back to where I started having to deal with AT&T (who have been very pleasant, but I keep having little issues with billing) and earning enough to pay for things like DVDs.  Then I’d need a climate controlled, safe area in which to store my disks.  And now I’m back to where we started…

I guess I’ll continue to wait for the zombie apocalypse (which may happen on my 35th birthday, the Mayan “end of time” date).  Then the point will be moot.  Nathan’s big fear is that I would be eaten trying to “get the shot,” but I think my sense of self-preservation is too high for that.  I’m a wedding photographer, not a war photographer for just that reason.  Until then, I suppose I will continue to pay my bills.  Sigh.

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Posted on November 25, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Graphknitti

http://deputy-dog.com/2008/11/urban-knitting-worlds-most-inoffensive.html

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Posted on November 24, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Claudine’s ChocOatChip Cookies

Claudine photographed our wedding.  She’s also a fantastic recipe writer.  Here is her fabulous ChocOatChip cookie recipe.  Yum!

Claudine’s ChocOatChip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks of margarine
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
4 teaspoons REAL vanilla extract
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs or Eggbeater equivalent
1 1/2 cups firmly packed all-purpose flour (unsifted)
8-10 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and/or 8-10 ounces raisins
3 cups oats (NOT “Quick” Oats)

For variety, add any or all of the following:
walnuts, almonds, almond extract, cinnamon, nutmeg

Kitchen Items:

a large, microwaveable mixing bowl
measuring cups and spoons
a wooden spoon
cookie tins
an oven

Directions:

1. Place an oven shelf in the middle of the oven, halfway from both the oven
floor and the oven ceiling.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Place margarine in the mixing bowl and microwave it – on defrost or on
low – until it softens and stirs easily. If the margarine liquefies, the
cookies will be a little flatter. If you have a cat, move it out of the way.

4. Add baking soda, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, and eggs and stir until the
sugar dissolves.

5. Continue to stir while gradually adding flour, oats, and raisins and/or
chocolate morsels, etc. Again, move the cat.

6. Shape the dough into small balls, 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

7. Place cookies-to-be on an ungreased, non-stick cookie sheet. Leave at
least 2 inches between cookies. Temporarily banish all cats from the
kitchen.

8. Bake the cookies for 7 – 10 minutes, until the edges just start to turn
brown.
My oven takes about 9 minutes. Don’t overbake.

Recipe doubles well. Bon Appetite!

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Posted on November 24, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

I love this blog

blog-awardSo my dear friend Kate at http://katekaryusquinn.blogspot.com bestowed upon me the “I love your blog” award recently. Part of the job as the winner is to bestow the award on a blog I also love. This was an easy one for me. http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/

I love this blog! It’s awesome and funny and I just love it. So thanks, Margaret and Helen for brightening up the internet. 🙂

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Posted on November 22, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Hat knitting

So I found my yarn and have started making my fingerless gloves.  It’s very exciting.  While at Loopville (which has moved to a larger space in the same shopping center near the Bearden Nama’s), I saw the coolest hat pattern.  I told the lady “I want to make this hat.”  She’s out of the pattern, but will call when it gets in.  I have the yarn already.  Of course, now Nathan wants gloves and a hat to match his awesome scarf.

I think I’ll make him the same gloves I’m making for myself because they look awesome and I’m having a good time making them.  This is the first time I’ve done circular knitting on double sided needles.  It was a trick to figure out at first (my pattern says just to do it, and my book doesn’t discuss circular knitting at all), but I think I’ve got it!  I’m almost to the cabling part, though.  Oooh!  Scary!  I did do some circular knitting on circular needles when I was first learning to knit and was playing with some old yarn.  I’m doing the cabled gloves that Elizabeth suggested.  I also love the seashell gloves, but they were just a bit intimidating for my first time.  I’ll try those next time.

As for the hat, I went to go find a pattern, and found all kinds of good stuff!  I think I may need a dozen hats to get myself through the winter.  And, Dad, I promise I’m working on your blanket too!  🙂  I’m going to make this hat for Nathan: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTtychus.html

Then I’ll make these hats for me (or someone lucky enough to convince me to share)  🙂

http://www.knitty.com/issuefall07/PATTfoliage.html

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATKSmadge.html

Oh, and I also found some AWESOME sock patterns.  I will be making these as well:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTclessidra.html (these are hot!)

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTquilllace.html

http://www.knotions.com/issues/winter_2008/patterns/lakeside/directions.aspx

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Posted on November 20, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

What happened to the good stuff

There was a day when email forwards weren’t all about the next thing that is going to kill us or how you’ll die if you don’t send it on to your 7 most gullible friends.  I miss the days of funny anecdotes.  Sigh.

 

“Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will
pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first paragraph of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking and anything you wish to say must be written on the paper. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.”

The following was actually turned in by two English students at American University: Rebecca -last name deleted, and Gary – last name deleted.

STORY:

(first paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn’t decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite
for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. “A.S. Harris to Geostation 17, he said into his transgalactic communicator. “Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far…” But before he could sign off, a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship’s cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. “Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,” Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously
excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. “Why must one lose one’s innocence to become a woman?” she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu’udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles.  The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of he treaty the Anu’udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan.

The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret Mobile
submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion,
which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the
conference table. “We can’t allow this! I’m going to veto that treaty! Let’s blow ’em out of the sky!”

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic
semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)

Yeah? Well, you’re a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent
of Valium. “Oh shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F*CKING TEA???”

Oh no, I’m such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels.

(Rebecca)
F*CK YOU – YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!

(Gary)
Go drink some tea.

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Posted on November 20, 2008 by rebeccaclaire

Dora & Gyll

Dora’s mom, Joy, was my second grade teacher.  My little brother was one of the original thirteen children at their school, The Atlanta School.  After I moved back to Atlanta, I began photographing the school portraits for The Atlanta School.  I knew Dora’s little sister, Bekah, since she was my little brother’s age.  Somehow, in all that time, I hadn’t gotten to know Dora.  Something tells me it might have been because she was living in Africa where she met her husband, Gyll, who is from Congo.  I’m so glad I got to meet Dora & Gyll.  They had already had a ceremony in Congo with Gyll’s family, but they wanted to celebrate their marriage in the U.S. with Dora’s friends and the family members who hadn’t been able to go to Congo for the wedding that summer.  Today is their fourth anniversary, and I just wanted to share some of their pictures and wish them a very HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!  

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It was a wonderfully sweet ceremony in Joy’s backyard.

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That would be Joy on the left.  I think they have to claim each other.  🙂

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Dora & Gyll went straight from the ceremony into their first dance.

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And continued dancing for much of the afternoon.

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While there wasn’t an official “wedding party,” Bekah performed many of the duties of a maid-of-honor.  She also made sure the family history table was all in order.

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Because Joy runs a school, they were very creative in making sure the guests (many of them children) were well entertained.  This table also had scrapbook page materials.  The children made pinch pot candles to provide mood lighting as the afternoon faded.  Guests were encouraged to take one home.  I still have mine!

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They took care of the food themselves.  It was a beautiful arrangement of seasonal snacks, fruits, nuts, and little cakes.

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What do you do when you spend the day dancing?  Lose the shoes!

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