suziebeezieland

the big so cal heat wave of oh-ten

We're just sittin' around finishin' off some peach sherbet.  It's still pretty hot. Yep. Still too hot to pronounce the "g" on the end of any words.

What are you all doin'?

something to ponder: holiness

from Joshua Harris:

The difference between the person who grows in holiness and the one who doesn't is not a matter of personality, upbringing, or gifting; the difference is what each has planted into the soil of his or her heart and soul. So holiness isn't a mysterious spiritual state that only an elite few can reach. It's more than an emotion, or a resolution, or an event. Holiness is a harvest.

it's hot. no, really.

The chances are about 100 percent that if you have a friend on Facebook who lives in southern California, he or she is posting statuses that say something like this:

Wow, it's really hot!

Of course that needs some quantifying.  I should specify that today in L.A. it got up to 113 degrees, which is the hottest day on record in Los Angeles, ever.  

(They started recording these things in 1877.)

It's so nice because it gives us all something to talk about.  I had about twenty-seven conversations today that went just like this:

Wow, it's really hot!

I'm sorry not to have any photos to document this record-breaking heat, but my camera melted.

fred astaire + eleanor powell

My mom sent this to me today, and I thought some of you might like it.  It's a clip (it's one unbroken, unedited camera shot!) of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell tap-dancing in 1940 to Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine in a movie called Broadway Melody of 1940.

This is considered one of the greatest tap dancing scenes in film history, and Powell was considered the only female tap-dancer who could out-dance Astaire.  In his biography, this is what he said about her:

"She 'put 'em down like a man', no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself."

:)

I'm going to try this while I'm mopping the kitchen tomorrow morning. 

picture frame chalkboards

I've heard that chalkboard paint is so 2008, but if you, like me, have decided to live your life blissfully free from the crushing responsibility of being a pop-culture elite, you can continue to enjoy it.  :)

Our house is full of chalkboards.  A very fast and easy way to make your own chalkboard is to use a picture frame. 

You'll need these things:

• A picture frame with glass
• A paint brush or small roller
• A can of chalkboard paint
• A plastic trash bag that is a bit bigger than the picture frame glass

Remove the glass from the picture frame.  

Lay a plastic trash bag out on a work surface.

Put the glass from the picture frame on it.

Clean it well on both sides with glass cleaner, and give it a few minutes to dry completely.

Brush the chalkboard paint onto one side of the glass and allow it to dry to touch.  (It won't take long. Ignore the directions on the can. Paint on glass dries really quickly.)  

Give it two or three more coats, until it is opaque. (It doesn't need to be perfect, because the back of the picture frame will make it darker.)

Put the glass back in the frame, and voila! Instant chalkboard.

The chalkboard paint instructions will tell you to "season" the paint by rubbing all over it with the side of a piece of chalk and then erasing it, but you really don't need to do this when you use the paint on glass, because glass is not porous. Just write on it with chalk when it's dry, and erase it when you want to write something else.  (Don't use a wet cloth or paper towel to wipe it off for a week or so.)

If you saw Ramona and Beezus, you might remember that when Ramona got her new room, there was a window on the inside wall, because her room was an addition and they were trying to save money so they didn't remove the old window.  They just painted the panes of glass with chalkboard paint, so she had a chalkboard window. It was so cute.

If you get bored of using your chalkboard as a chalkboard, the black is a nice background to tape cute pictures to.  

You could also add a little vinyl decal to it from Shanna Murray. :)

something to ponder: glory

from D.A. Carson:

The Christian's whole desire, at its best and highest, is that Jesus Christ be praised. It is always a wretched bastardization of our goals when we want to win glory for ourselves instead of for him.

possibly the best saturday of soccer ever

Claire's new soccer team, The Shooting Stars, had their first game this past Saturday morning.

It's a very cute and sweet little team, and includes two girls who were on the Super Tough Pink Puffs last year. Bob is happy to be coaching again. :)

They are actually playing their positions this year! It looks less and less like amoeba soccer. What a difference a year makes.

One of the team parents is a French pastry chef for Disney. C'est chouette, ca! :) It was his family's week to bring snacks, and they really upped the bar right away.

Typically, we throw a zip-loc baggie of grapes or orange wedges and a water bottle at the girls at half-time. These folks brought a table, covered it with a tablecloth, and had lovely fruit and sandwiches and chips and napkins . . . it was a thing of beauty. I love the civilized French. 

The Shooting Stars won, 3 to 1!  We have a little wringer on our team named Olivia who made both goals. She is adorable, and just zips down that field. You'd never see her coming, and then, bam!

I went home and washed Claire's jersey so she could wear it again that night ... Saturday evening was our AYSO region's night at the L.A. Galaxy! Bob and his dad and Claire and Tash and Danielle and I went to the game. The Galaxy was playing D.C. United. :)

We got there early, and it was fun to watch the Galaxy warm up.  They do some fun stretching thingies. 

Tash and Danielle drove separately and met us after work.  They're always fun to be with.

The reason we had to get to the game early was because Claire got to be in the Hi-Five line down on the field. Do you see the kid in the teal-colored AYSO jersey? Here, let me guide you with an arrow.

More arrows are below . . . the yellow arrow is Claire, and the red arrow is Landon Donovan.  Who, pray tell, is the blue arrow?  It's nice of you to ask.  The blue arrow is Galaxy team photographer Robert Mora.  

Robert just happens to be a friend of our very own suziebeezieland Resident Dude, Mark!

I did not know this when I mentioned in my Facebook status on Saturday that we were all excited around our house because Claire was going to be in the Hi-Five line.  Mark emailed to let me know that he knew the team photographer and that if I told him what Claire would be wearing, he'd let him know, and maybe Robert could get a few shots of her.

Is that not awesome?

Robert got a photo of Claire hi-fiving D.C. United's Julius James, below.  

"Why do you look so serious?" we asked her.  

"I was cold and a little bit scared," she said.  "And they had this Volks W. Wagon thing on their shirts I was looking at."  

"Do you mean V.W.?" asked Bob.  

"Shoosh," I told him. "Volks W. Wagon is cute."

In this photo you can see that she had just hi-fived Troy Perkins and Stephen King for D.C. United, and Edson Buddle and Omar Gonzalez had just passed by on the Galaxy side. 

{photo credit: Robert Mora}

And here's a shot of her getting ready to hi-five United's Santino Quaranta. Or possibly shake his hand. I'm not sure which.

{photo credit: Robert Mora}

I am pretty excited that we got some up-close photos of this opportunity.  Thank you so much, Mark and Robert.  

Okay, so back to the regular photos I took. :D  Here Claire is showing me her Hi-Five line armband before we cut it off.  (It was hurting her wrist.)

I tried to get a decent shot of David Beckham to show you, but this is about as good as I got. :) He is number 23 and wears red shoes, so he's easy to spot.  He came on in the second half.  

We spent most of the game being behind, zero to one, which was a bit of a surprise to folks, I think, because D.C. United has not had a good year.

But then, in the last ten minutes of the game, Landon Donovan scored a goal.  Everybody went wild!

And then four minutes later, he scored another one! And everyone went SUPER wild!

So right at the end of the game, we pulled ahead, and won! 

It was such a great day of soccer. I'm pretty sure it was the best ever. :)

You can see more of Robert Mora's quite stunning photos of the game here on the Galaxy website.  It will give you a much better idea of what the guys actually look like, and what they are capable of doing as they play.  Really incredible.

I had the funniest thought when I saw Claire down on that field hi-fiving the guys.  

"I'm a soccer mom!" I realized.

:D

broccoli + tomato pizzas

My sister told me awhile back (perhaps two years ago!) that our Linda B. made pizza using naan from Trader Joe's, and ever since then I've been wanting to try it.  

So last night I made these broccoli and tomato pizzas using Trader Joe's Tandoori Garlic Naan (six small-sized naan to a package).  They were a hit with all three of us.  :)

It is a simple and straightforward recipe.  My only advice would be that if you can't find naan, use good-quality FRESH pita bread ... you don't want flat and dry (probably any kind you get at a regular grocery store will be dry), you want puffy and soft/a little oily (from a farmer's market or middle-eastern market or a Greek restaurant or someone's grandma ... just make sure it tastes good by itself with nothing on it and doesn't remind you of sawdust).  The flavor comes from the naan/pita itself and the garlic, so make sure those are good.

Also, you know this already, but don't buy those bags of pre-shredded mozarella. :) It's too dry. Get a ball or block of mozarella.  I get a block and cut it into about four chunks and run each chunk through the food processor with the grater/shredder disc in it.  (And there's always the good ol' box grater.)

I may have used quite a bit more mozzarella than is called for. :D

Here's the recipe from Woman's Day. (I don't own a stovetop steamer basket so I microwaved the broccoli in a little microwave steamer I have.)

Ingredients

2 cups small broccoli florets
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 whole-grain naan or 3 whole-grain pocketless pitas (note: I used small naan, so we made more)
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 cup lowfat ricotta
1 cup quartered grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 475ºF. You’ll need a baking sheet. 

2. Place a steamer basket in a large skillet. Add water to come up to bottom of basket and bring to a boil over high heat. Add broccoli; cover and simmer 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Lift basket from skillet; drain water from skillet. Add olive oil and garlic to skillet; add broccoli and toss over medium heat 1 minute or until fragrant. 

3. Place naan or pitas on baking sheet. Spread each with sauce and top with broccoli, ricotta, tomatoes, and mozzarella. 

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese melts and bottoms are crisp.

saskatchewan education week

Movin' right along
Hey, L.A., where've ya gone?
Send someone to fetch us, we're in Saskatchewan!

If your knowledge of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan is, as mine is, limited to a few lines in a song from The Muppet Movie, and the song has regrettably juxtaposed Saskatchewan with your own city of L.A. and caused you to think of it as a place yonder and hither from which you must be "fetched," then welcome to Saskatchewan Education Week (a subsidiary of Oh Canada, Oh Wednesdays!) in which all the suziebeezieland girls who live in Saskatchewan tell us what they want us to know about their lovely province.  

I haven't cleared this with them beforehand, so it could be a colossal flop.  Then again, it might be super cool.  Really, I never know around here.

So ready, set, go.  Tell us stuff, Saskatchewan girls!

two-week meal planner

{image from Birch + Lily, used with permission}

We're trying to eat very healthily around here lately -- I have a lot of weight to lose and need to have more energy; Bob has a small amount of weight to lose and needs more energy; Claire needs to learn good eating habits and be exposed to a bigger variety of foods (says I) and wants to eat more vegetarian meals (says she) -- so I'm working harder on meal-planning than I usually do.  

About five months ago, Justine Taylor over at the blog Birch + Lily (which I enjoy very much) posted her own "two weeks of meals" system of meal planning, and I've been thinking about it (but not doing it, because that's what I do, I think about things but sit on them for months and even years) ever since.

It just made so much sense to me, so I finally decided to try it when I decided to overhaul our eating around here.

The big "ah ha!" I had when looking at Justine's plan is that she (1) plans two weeks of meals at a time instead of one week, and she (2) removed the days of the week from the template she uses to plan out her meals so that she can select any one of the meals from any day to make that evening, depending on how much time she has.  (Some meals are harder or more time-consuming than others to prepare.)  

She also does some fun color-coding with colored pencils, which you can read about in her post.  

{image from Birch + Lily, used with permission}

I emailed Justine, and she very kindly allowed me to use her photos so that you can see what her planner looks like, and she also sent me the file of the planner, which you can download for your own use:

Download Two Week Meal Planner (pdf)

Thank you, Justine, for your generosity.  Your clever system has eased a big burden in my house. :)

Here's what's on my most recent two-weeks-of-meals planner sheet:

Chicken Thai Wraps (I made these tonight and they were WONDERFUL . . . everyone gobbled them down . . . scroll down Catherine's post to see the recipe . . . my grocery store didn't have broccoli slaw so I used regular coleslaw mix and it was still super yum)

Salmon with Blueberry Mango Salsa (I'm not big on fish -- I should rephrase that -- I HATE SEAFOOD -- but I do like salmon for some reason. I never make it, though, so I'm giving it a shot.)

Cobb Salad with Chicken 

Greek Style Quinoa Burgers (I'm not big on quinoa -- pronounced keen-wah, if you haven't had a snooty, irritated waiter tell you that yet -- but it's so healthy that I'm experimenting with different recipes, hoping I'll fall in love with it. The texture just oogs me out when I eat it as a side dish. Blech.)

Bean Burritos (this recipe serves eight so I can freeze the leftovers for lunches -- I'm making these tomorrow for dinner)

Curried Chicken Wraps (I'm on a chicken wrap kick!)

Black Bean Croquettes with Fresh Salsa 

Broccoli and Tomato Pizzas

Roast Chicken with Asparagus

Mediterranean Steak Salad

Cuban Chicken and Vegetables 

Veggie Stuffed Shells

That's twelve meals, and then I schedule one night of leftovers and one night to eat out in each two-week period.  (We also eat leftovers for lunches.)

I'll be interested in hearing if any of you find this helpful for your own households. I'll keep you up-to-date on how some of these recipes turn out. :) 

something to ponder: drifting

from D.A. Carson:

People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

cake spy

{image from cake spy}

According to my trusty blog stat software which we discussed not long ago, Suziebeezieland has had 224 visitors in the past two days who've come over from a website called Cake Spy, because Jessie linked to my post on Nigella's doughnut french toast, and apparently 224 people were hungry for this. (Make it! It is delicious!)

So anyhoo, then of course I had to go check out the Cake Spy website, and oh my stars, it is A DESSERT DETECTIVE AGENCY.

That is a profession which combines two of my favorites things: (1) cupcakes and (2) sleuthing.  I wish I had invented it.  Can you imagine having business cards which read "Dessert Detective"? Wouldn't that really just make everyone's day?

(I'm thinking about our Sara P. as I type this. I believe she also cares for cupcakes.)

So naturally, I was immediately hooked.  Here is a bit of what Jessie the Cake Spy's biography says about her:

The Cakespy crew is headed up by Head Spy Jessie Oleson. Jessie O is a freelance writer and illustrator, whose writing appears on DailyCandy.com, and has a weekly column on Serious Eats, and who has illustrated for various companies including Microsoft, iPop, All-Mighty, Taylored Expressions, and is a regular contributor to Taste of Home.

If you are in Seattle, she has a Cake Spy shop at 415 E. Pine Street, and if you are not in Seattle, her online shop is here. 

Her artwork is very sweet, and I am now a new fan. :)

I tried to decide what my favorite thing in the whole shop is, and I think it is this:

erin condren

Melissa asked where the big calendar on our fridge came from, and I thought it might be a good time to once again talk about how much I love the goodies over at Erin Condren.  

The images below are some examples of the shop's "signature" look.  I first learned about Erin's shop when Claire was in preschool with her two nieces.  I am a fan of her fun, colorful style. :)

{all images from erin condren}

I am, specifically, a fan of her jumbo calendar, which I know I've raved about before (it's the first calendar I've ever really, consistently relied on and used in my life), her notepads (I've owned the taffy multipack and the gumdrops multipack), and her flat note cards (I have the confetti brights).

She adds new products and patterns regularly, and there are a lot of fun goodies over there right now, if you are in full-blown back-to-school organizational mode. :)  

I just noticed this video on her site, explaining how she uses their life planner.

something to ponder: the cross-centered life

from C.J. Mahaney:

We make time for what we truly value. We build habits and routines around the things that really matter to us. This is an important principle to understand as we seek to build our lives around the gospel. Do you want a cross centered life? A cross centered life is made up of cross centered days.

back to school with etsy

I did some window-shopping on etsy tonight by doing some searches using school-ish words, and found some cute stuff to share. :)

Lucy Jane Kids sells "My Tiny Tote" -- a kid-sized tote bag in cute fabrics.  Some include a rectangle of chalkboard cloth to personalize.

Babeloosh Mini sells organic reusable sandwich bags, snack bags, and lunch totes.  (I think these make so much sense. We go through plastic Ziploc bags like we're the Jetsons or something.)

Chet and Dot makes pencil cases out of cute Japanese fabrics.  I like that bear and bird who are obviously friends.

sarah + abraham has personalized kids' water bottles and dishes. So sweet! :) 

Lily Reed has personalized allergy alert tags.  She also has cute bag tags.

Jenster 76 has apple cardigans. :)

John W. Golden has FANTASTIC "by order of the management" signage. Check them all out. :)  I have my eye on "put your dishes in the sink."

Happy Family has "Old School Microscope Science Geek" t-shirts (and onesies!) for kids.  They have this illustration on some other neat stuff, too . . . do a search for "microscope" in the Happy Family store.

And Electric Boogaloo has a lot of fun "Geek Up the Nursery" stuff (tag line: If you're a nerd, there's a mighty good chance your babies will be nerds too. Why fight it?)  I am fond of this gentle Force=Mass x Acceleration print. 

And their what the earth is NOT made of poster is hysterical.

One of the favorite things I found this evening were little wooden figures available at Bunny With a Toolbelt.  Make sure to check out her store to see how sweet they all are. Anyway, she will make custom wooden figures to illustrate your child's favorite book. (Ha. I mistyped that at first and it said "your favorite child's book." Oops.)  She explains how it works here.

Gibberish has some really cool science necklaces and pendants and suchlike.

And Gibberish 2 (her other etsy shop) has some very pretty "read" accessories. :)

Oiseaux has some of the prettiest bookplates I've ever seen.  

And finally, if you, the mama, need a little back-to-school organizational item of some sort, I have always really liked Mary Kate McDevitt's Mini Goals Chalkboards and Clockboards. It's a lovely and sensible kind of an antidote to an electronic to-do list with 15,000 items on it. :)  

sleepless in seattle always makes me want to clean my kitchen

I watched Sleepless in Seattle tonight, and it made me want to go clean my kitchen.  So I did.  Then I remembered that I had a little lamp that used to be in Claire's room just sitting in a closet, and I thought I might be able to squish it in with the things on the counter that's to the right of the fridge.  So I did.  :)

(I bought that lamp when Claire was a newborn, when Amy Coe came out with a nursery collection for Target.  It was white but I painted it the same light blue -- Behr's "Lucent Sky" -- as the stripes at the top of Claire's bedroom walls.)

This also happens when I watch You've Got Mail . . .  I clean my kitchen and then I want to do something cute to it, because I get all inspired and antsy looking at the cute set design in that movie. (Although when I watch You've Got Mail, I also make plans to open a children's bookstore.)

Do you remember Annie's (Meg Ryan's) kitchen in Sleepless in Seattle? It is tiny and pink and full of sweet, vintage details.  One of the things I most love about Nora Ephron's films is that she and her production designers are so good about creating warm, personal women's homes, with real attention to detail in each room.  And the lighting is always really nice.  They pay a lot of attention to lighting.  Next time you watch Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail, look at the good lighting.  Lots of lamps and neat vintage fixtures. :)

I remember reading once that Ephron really took care to make the set design and clothing styles timeless, so that the films wouldn't feel dated.  I think she was pretty successful with that.  

I took the following photos this evening off the television and so the quality is poor, but you can just pause the movie and look slowly and closely next time you're watching it yourself, to get the feel. :)

Annie is restless and can't sleep, and has come downstairs to her kitchen.  She turns on the radio and once again hears Sleepless in Seattle talking about how much he loved his wife.

The walls of the kitchen are pink, and the appliances are all vintage white.  There is a circus poster on the wall, and a painted white wooden console table that serves as extra storage next to the tiny stove. Dish towels hang on hooks under the window, where there is just enough room for a tiny turquoise painted metal stool.

Meg Ryan is so sweet in this scene. :)

As she peels her green apple in one big long swirl (look how the apple matches the green of the box under the console table -- that's not accidental), she gets more and more pulled into Tom Hank's character's voice and words on the radio, and by the end of the scene she is crying.

The next time we see her kitchen is when she again rushes downstairs in the middle of the night when her friend calls to tell her that Sleepless in Seattle's son has called into the radio program again.  

Then she tries to hide in the broom closet with the phone and the radio. :)

I loved the bright red phone against the pink wall.  Again, it is no accident that her robe matches the phone. We also get a glimpse of some cute flowery dishtowels and an enamel metal shelf above the sink. And there is a little stool under the phone, where she could sit to talk and listen if she weren't so worked up.

And she's wearing socks. :) Love that.

(Do any of you watch Psych? Doesn't she look like Juliet in the picture below?)

Close up, you can see that the wall is actually wallpapered . . . it almost looks like a Swiss dot pattern.

Have I already talked to you about the You've Got Mail kitchen? If I haven't, I will. :)

something to ponder: I AM

from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer:

When God would make His name known to mankind, He could find no better word than I AM.

"I am that I am," says God. "I change not."

Everyone and everything else measures from that fixed point.