The Princess and the Frog

Personally I am quite excited that Disney decided to step back from Pixar-like

animation and make this movie seem more hand drawn like the classics we grew up with.

Disney basically made my childhood for me, and whenever I need a bit of nostalgia in my

life, but have a limited amount of time, I just blast my Disney playlist that has ALL my

favorites from back in the day.

Sigh, I hope my kids love these movies as much as I do, and don't just think they are

outdated....

Ps. was I the only one who was thought the D is Disney was a weird G for the first 15 years

of their lives?

Frankly my dear,

watching Gone with the Wind for a History of Film class, doesn't seem much like work to me.

Of course writing the paper on it might be a little more work. Well worth it though.

PS. Quite a seductive pose for the 1930s isn't it?

Sitting with a nice hot mug of

DandyBlend is wonderful on those chilly winter nights.

I like it because it's like a mix between coffee and tea, but it isn't bitter at all so no milk or sugar needed! Bonus because I add a lot of sugar to tea and coffee

It's made from the roots of dandelion, chicory and sugar beet, and roasted barley and rye!

If you have a store that supplied it near you, I recommend it!

These...

would make an *excellent* addition to my wardrobe

{anthropologie flats}

{anthropologie necklace}

Unfortunately, they are totally out of my price range. What are your winter wishlists filled with?

PS. Thank you weather for cooling down. I quite enjoyed wearing slippers around the house.

Banned Book Week

starts tomorrow!!

{image from the ALA website}

Some of my favorite books are on that list (lists by author or book title), and I'm currently reading a book that is on that list also. I always find it so crazy that so many great books are challenged so often, and were even burned!

Any of your favorites on there?

Why, hello there autumn!

Today is officially the first day of autumn!!

break out those jeans, jackets, and scarves!! unless, like me, you live its still hot for another month

looking forward to Apple Hill in the upcoming weeks

they have *the* best apples and have lots of fun things to do and see!

oh and

I bought this lovely little number last night...

{shabbyapple}

Hopefully the cut will look flattering on me, and not a bag cut in all the wrong spots.

Loving the cranberry-ness of it!

What's your favorite fall color?

Dear Weather,

I would *really* appreciate it if you got cooler.

I enjoy the overwhelming warmth you give us every year, but enough is enough.

It is now the end of September, and the 100 degree heat just isn't cute anymore.

If you need a model, please look to Seattle or London weather.

Much love,

Michelle

P.S. In a compromise, I will wear my flip-flops in the winter when it isn't raining (as it usually isn't) in a tribute to the hotter days of summer

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

September 19 is the International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!!

Arrrr you ready for it?!

(Image via here)

In honor of this momentous day, here is a quick pirate statistic:

Did you know that 3.14% of sailors are Pi Rates?

*true* fact

And thanks to the Bloggess, we can all speak like pirates! Vive le pirate talk!

If ye come to 'tis tavern, it gunna translate ye message into scurvy pirate speak... 'tis quite interestin' to spy wit' ye eye how everythin' looks!

Well I be off to a family event fer th' day!

think OUTSIDE the box

So sewing is kinda complicated. I mean I literally had my dad come over and help me thread and spin the bobbin, thread the machine, or solve some other problem ten times each.

Besides learning how to maintain the machine, I have been working on sewing my duvet cover the last week or so, and it has been kinda complicated to figure out how all the pieces will fit together.

When I first laid my comforter on the floor and then stretched the sheet over it i realized that it was both too short and too thin to adequetly cover the comforter.

Awesome.

So I took the fitted sheet, cut it in half, and sewed it onto either side of the main sheet. Not to mention taking the stitching and elastic out of each corner of the fitted sheet. I then realized that the sheets are so thin that I could see colors from my comforter through them. So of course now I need to make the top side of the duvet doubled by sewing the extra sheet from the sheet set that was to be the bottom side of the duvet.

Following me still??

And of course the whole time this is happening the sewing machine keeps getting messed up and I am spending more time rethreading and taking stitches out and trying to figure out what is wrong. Did I mention what a *natural* I am at this?

Ok, it gets better. I figure out that if I just have my comforter upside down in the duvet the colors don't show. Whew! Because I think that I had sewed it wrong to do the double-layer thing.

So now I just have to sew a bunch of pieces at the bottom and top. I was explaining this to my mom a few hours ago, and she was saying how she thought this would be just an easy first project. "Just sew two sheets together" Yeah, thanks for the advice mom. So I was ranting to her about how it was too short and too thin. THEN she said "Well why didn't you get king size sheets?"

Wait, what? What is it that you just said?

They actually make bigger sheets? oooh that's right, they do!!!

doh! C'mon Michelle. Next time think outside the box.

P.S. Isn't this an awesome sewing machine? It would totally match my Hello Kitty toaster!

oh em geee

Now I like Harry Potter, but I would definitely feel silly using a Harry Potter Universal Remote.

The article says that "The vibrating television wand incorporates accelerometer technology similar to that of Nintendo Wii remotes, allowing users to change channels, control volume, and even fast-forward and rewind using circular, up-and-down, and back-and-forth gestures. There are a total of 13 programmable commands."

*Remember to 'Swish and flick' when using this device*

EDIT: My sister thinks its awesome. I told her she would be embarrassed at a family gathering to say "Hold on, let me turn down the tv" and whip out the wand and wave it around to lower the volume. My mom then pointed out that she could use the other remote in a situation like that. Problem solved.

Header Woes

Put up a new header, not sure which I prefer... I don't think I know how to make my own so that it would actually be more me and relevant to my blog.

yellow tulips that are bright and cheery and remind me of the phrase roses and peaches?

or white roses with a vintage-y table and mirror that are more of my taste?

will someone show me how to create something for my header?

First Sewing Project

ok, it's not really a "project" per se, but I *was* practicing today and decided to make Callie a ruffled collar with the scrap I was working on.

Ta Da!

Like her crazy alligator face? She kept trying to rub it off, so I only made her suffer through it to show everyone and take the pictures.

It was made from the unused material pattern choice from my sister's dance costume from the summer. I even sewed a button on!

It's quite couture don't you think?

umm thanks?

Today while buying wayyy too much stuff at origins, my sister was trying to figure out what shade of foundation to get with the help of the sales woman. My sister remarked on the fact that she had been using my foundation and the woman was very suprised and remarked on how different of skin tones we have.

(to my sister) "You are much tanner than her! It doesn't match your skin color!"

(now turning to me) " You are white! you are REALLY white! you are so white!"

Me "gee thanks..."

I mean what do you say to that in a society where being tan is prized?? I thought we, and by *we* I mean society, was beginning to move past this skin-killing fad and going for a more natural look.

Oh well, I have embraced this pale-ness since I stopped playing soccer and hopefully in twenty years this shunning will pay off!

P.S. I am trying to sew a new duvet cover because the comforter I am using now was meant for my dorm room and matches NOTHING in my room. Trying to be thrifty, but knowing me it will be *way* more expensive and not even be usable.

The frilly apron is pretty much as Donna Reed as I get.

an example of why kids should NEVER do drugs

So I am taking Biological Psychology this semester and the other day we were learning about how drugs affect the brain, killing brain cells etc.

student with a pot-head personality: Ooh! (eagerly raising his hand) So does smoking pot, like, kill your brain cells?

teacher: well the studies are complicated because a lot of people that habitually smoke pot will also do other drugs, and it is hard to monitor all the variables. And scientists can't make people smoke pot everyday for twenty years for a study. But yes, studies indicate that smoking pot a lot will kill brain cells.

student: that study would be sooo awesome! i would totally do it!

Class: laughs at the ridiculousness of the *obvious* example of what too much pot does to someone

Five minutes later....

student: OH!(raises hand eagerly again) So does it only kill brain cells if you smoke it? Like is it ok if you just eat it?

class: laughs again at the absurdity of this pot-head's questions

teacher: ahhhh, no..... Smoking is worse for you lungs, but it still affects the brain in the same way.

student: bummmmer!

C'mon people, let's try NOT to be so obvious about those specific extra curriculars in the classroom live above the influence...

Eeeerm, yeah...

About my garden.... yeah remember when I was talking about how awesome it was? About how well it was growing and how much it was producing? Yeah, not so much.

Honestly? I was trying to be hopeful and optimistic, yet my vengeful side came out eventually. After months of patiently watering and caring for each and every plant, I watched them not produce anything, or begin to grow something, raise my hopes as I checked it each day, and my pain at seeing it yellow and shrivel.

So I stopped watering the plants (except the tomatoes and baby trees) and fed them to the insects. Alas! I checked on them a few days ago and apparently they are just playing me. I think they did it just to be *smiteful*. and yes, I just made up that word. If you weren't suspecting that, then just ignore this.

yes, TWO watermelons are now growing until they shrivel up and die OUT OF SEASON. I mean, it's supposed to grow in July and August, not mid-September.

Next year less experimenting with new plants people.

Last Computer Update....(hopefully)

I was wayy too depressed about being computer-less the last week to blog.... ok not really, it was just a pain to sit in my sister's room on the desktop that is always almost breaking whilst the sun beats down my back.

anywho... apparently my logic board failed again or some

other nonsense, so they had to take it back for another3-5 days. aaand because of the weekend that was another day that it would be delayed in the shipping process. Shipping?? What is that you say? Yes, indeed you heard right.

they shipped it to me, so that my lazy butt would

n't be dragged 35 minuted across the land of stop

lights to claim it. AMAZINGNESS. and of course it was fixed again for free.

(I am thrilled to have my mac back which is why I am going to be posting multiple entries in a row)

In other news, I have been trying to read as many classics as possible so that I feel like I know something about what they are saying in Gilmore Girls. For reals.

I recently read Miss Lonelyhearts/ The Day of the Locu

st by Nathaniel West, as recommended by my AP lit teacher senior year.

This weekend I also read Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, which is about a political figure imprisioned in Russia during the Stalin trials of the 1930s.

So now I am starting on Ulysses by James Joyce. I'm not gonn

a lie, I am pretty intimidated. So we shall see if it en

ds up being as treacherous a read as Moby Dick (which suprisingly isn't even boring when I think about it, maybe I'm easily amused?)

Stuff you should know--RPattz is bothered

Seen this?

came out pretty soon after Harry Potter HBP came out in July..... *so* awesome.

I am thinking that it has been pretty popular since he has created a couple more videos and has even created the site robertisbothered

Personally, I think he does a great robert p. AND daniel radcliffe.

oh and I have also really been into listening to podcasts all summer. It's good for when I am cleaning or eating on the go since I don't have to fumble with turning the pages of a book or anything. also I learn stuff.

enter Stuff You Should Know. Ohh josh and chuck, good ol' georgians

<------ Chuck

Josh ---->

and my favorite Stuff Mom Never Told You. Listen to the benefits and disadvantages ( I *so* did not have to go to a thesaurus for that word) of polygamy, Barbie's past etc.

and it is always nice to shake stuff up with a history lesson- Stuff You Missed in History Class.