suziebeezieland

autumn at gooseberry patch

Gooseberry Patch may be one of those online shops you've avoided because of the words "goose," "berry," and "patch".  That's some pretty efficient branding there, when you have three separate, down-home words squashed into one name. 

It's hard to be a little bit country when everybody else is a little bit rock n' roll.

The pared-down mod equivalent is to just have three clean, sparse ciphers in a row: CB2 or DWR.

But Gooseberry Patch has some nifty stuff I think any young bougie-crunchy hipster could own with pride.

For instance, look at this round metal twist candle carver.

{all images this post from gooseberry patch}

Now just imagine a windowsill lined with orange votives or apple votives and walnuts, all in a row. If you had a minimal, clean-lined house style -- maybe some Danish mid-century modern going on, say, with low furniture and light-toned wood -- think how fresh those fruit votives would look.

Now take these squirrel salt-and-pepper shakers.

If you have a bit of a retro vintage thing going on, these would be cute on your breakfast table.

Same with the owls.

Or look at these marshmallow lollipops. The raffia has to go, but if you squinted as if you were bored, and had a face expression that said "I'm thinking about cool indie music and also, I'm not going to waste my life ironing," then you would look really great with one of these in your mouth.

It's all about context.  So embrace Gooseberry Patch.

new topics in the suziebeezieland facebook group

Here are three new discussion topics in the suziebeezieland Facebook group. (If you would like to join this group, click on "facebook group" on the nav bar above, and request to join.)

It is a private facebook group and is currently accessible to 98 people. Click on the list of members to see who you're talking to when you post there. :)

• what were some of your hallowe'en costumes when you were little?
• do you twitter? how about tumblr? do you have an etsy shop? link us up if so.
• the welcome and how i came to be in suziebeezieland posts in our Facebook group are a good place to introduce yourself to others here if you haven't already.

For fast reference to all the suziebeezieland Facebook group discussion topics, which are always open and ready for your delightful comments, bookmark this page here. :)

learn something every day

I like the new British website Learn Something Every Day, where you learn something every day. :) And it's all in little scribbled poster form. And you can submit your lesser-known facts to them, and they might use it.

{all images from learn something every day}

oceans two

I don't want to name any names, but two suziebeezieland ladies (let's call them "Danielle" and "Tash") recently planned and then executed a scathingly brilliant heist at an undisclosed location and, yesterday, presented me with the awesome present you see above.  

Taking their place amongst some of the most audacious art thieves in history, "Danielle" (The Mastermind) and "Tash" (The Lookout) are said to have gone underground and are not available for comment at this time.

"hark! which way are they going? for i am their leader," said coach bob

The Super Tough Pink Puffs had their first game today. They played the Kickin' Rockstars, who wore light pink jerseys and light blue shorts. 

With all that pink on the field, the Kickin' Rockstars were called "the blues" to reduce confusion.

In our region, each game is comprised of four, ten-minute quarters. Each girl plays a different position for three quarters, and sits out for one quarter. In this age division, they don't keep score. But if you're dying of curiosity, we scored one goal, and the other team scored three goals.  :)

The coaches are allowed to be on the field for the first few games.

They shout out helpful things such as "Goalie! Stay by the goal!"

Also popular is "Our goal is the other way! Run the other way!"

They are also available to remind the girls what their positions are. The defensive responsibilites of playing full back seem counter-intuitive when there is a ball to be chased.

The coaches are also available to help with equipment failure, such as untied shoelaces or ponytail holder breakages.

You just don't get this kind of excitement in the pros.

is that you, baby, or just a brilliant disguise?

Weren't we going to do a post about eighties hair? If you had big hair in the eighties and there is a photo of it somewhere online, link us up with it here so we can all enjoy the buoyant poufiness together.

Because an out-of-style hairdo shared is a joy multiplied. Or something like that. :)

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

Here are three new discussion topics in the suziebeezieland Facebook group. (If you would like to join this group, click on "facebook group" on the nav bar above, and request to join.)

• share your favorite etsy shops
• tips for getting back into the groove of the school year
• workout habits (gym? videos? running? walking? chasing toddlers around all day? what?)

For fast reference to all the suziebeezieland Facebook group discussion topics, which are always open and ready for your delightful comments, bookmark this page here. :)

bacon & eggs

My sister and I took the kids out yesterday to see our parents, and my mom had a really fun treat for the kids to make. Here's what you'll need to make "bacon & eggs". :)

• a bag of stick pretzels
• a bag of white chocolate chips
• a bag of M&Ms with all the yellow ones picked out :)

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and have the kids line up the pretzels in pairs. (Each pretzel in a pair should be close to its mate but not touching.)

Dump the white chocolate chips into a covered microwaveable container and melt the chips at 70 percent power for about one minute. They'll still look like chips when the buzzer dings, but then when you stir them you'll see that they're melted.

Use a small scoop or spoon to pour a little puddle of white chocolate onto the center of each pair of pretzels.

While the white chocolate is still warm, press a yellow M&M into the middle of the "egg white".

Chill the baking sheet with the eggs and bacon on it in the fridge until the white chocolate has hardened, then eat them.

Thanks, mom! :)

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

Here are three new discussion topics up in the suziebeezieland Facebook group. (If you would like to join this group, click on "Facebook" over there under "Browse" in the right sidebar, and request to join the group.)

• online paper stores and stationers

• back-to-school shopping & coupon codes

• cell phones

For fast reference to all the suziebeezieland Facebook group discussion topics, which are always open and ready for your delightful comments, bookmark this page here. :)

♥3 things i love♥

{image from susyjack* contemporary paper}

1. the susyjack* 2010 desk calendar

2. this sweet garden

3. He's a lover, not a fighter. But he's also a fighter, so don't get any ideas.
People hang on his every word . . . even the prepositions.
He can speak French . . . in Russian.
The police often question him . . . just because they find him interesting.
He lives vicariously . . . through himself.
He is . . . The Most Interesting Man in the World.

"oh, canada! oh, wednesdays!"

JanSport's limited edition Heritage series includes this nifty O'Canada backpack. :)

♥ 3 things i love ♥

1. the daily strip at Rhymes with Orange

2. Elliott Brood

3.US Marshal Marshall Mann (who won't be back until next April)

your blogs

If you have a blog and would like me to link to it in the sidebar here in suziebeezieland, please leave your name and the blog's URL in a comment on this post. :) (I will continue to bump this post up top every now and again to catch anybody who didn't see it or has changed her mind.)

"i got curious" has been getting me in a lot of trouble lately

First I "got curious" about the Twilight craze, and you know what happened there.

So then I started playing "Bejeweled Blitz" on Facebook last week right before I go to bed at night, when I'm waiting for my turn at the sink to brush my teeth and wash my face, because I saw that one of my fellow school mom friends plays, and I got curious. 

She's a really neat woman, and I thought that if she were playing, there must be something worthwhile to this game.  Each game takes exactly one minute, so I thought, no harm.

And then I was so impressed by her awesome scores. I wondered if I could get a score somewhere close.  It gave me a little bedtime goal, to see if I could reach her score.

Five trillion games later, I'm nowhere NEAR her score.

Today I found out that it's her seven-year-old son who plays Bejeweled Blitz on her account. Not her.

I can't stop laughing. :D

ps My mom used to ask, would you go jump off a bridge just because everybody else was doing it? I might, mama. I might.  I get curious.

madmen yourself

Our Jenny L. made a cute little retro cartoon version of herself over at Madmen Yourself, and I think she has started a little Facebook fad, because now we're all doing it! It's so fun!

I should note that in real life, I never wear lipstick, but it's fun to be more glamorous as a cartoon.

when we landed in nebraska, i confirmed what i suspected . . .

Okay, I promise this is not going to become a YouTube blog, but today when I showed my sister the wedding clip from the post below, she, in turn, showed me this one. And I have to show you in case any of you haven't heard or seen it yet because, oh my goodness, I love this. ♥ (The whole story behind the song is here.)

wedding dance

My friend Kathy had linked to this on her Facebook page, and I just have to share it because it made me so happy. :)

embarrassed admission

I'm strangely tempted by these wigs. Aren't they cute? (I won't really buy one, because I bet they are one million degrees hot to wear, and if I wore one, somebody on rollerskates would zoom by and grab it off my head or I'd walk under a low tree branch and it would fly off or something, but I'm just saying, I'm tempted.)  My own hair never looks cute like these. 

I might be a bit wigged out (ha ha) about wearing human hair, though. I mean, I know I wear human hair now, but it's my own. The fancy human hair European ones are really expensive. There is one called Reality, which is ironic.

All the names of these wigs crack me up. I think "Beguile" would look okay on me, although I'd probably feel self-conscious and wonder what my facial expression was supposed to be, to match that wig. 

I also think it would be fun to buy "Hot Sauce," just so you could say to all your girlfriends, "Hey, how do you like my 'Hot Sauce' wig?" 

That "Embrace" one is pretty cute, too, but boy, I bet you have to make sure the person you are embracing knows that you're wearing a wig, because that could be one big ol' surprise there for somebody at some point in the embracing. ("Whoops, my wig just fell right off the back of the sofa.")

Also, look at Raquel Welch. That's airbrushing or PhotoShop something-something, right? Because she's 69 years old.

feverfew & barbie feet

The feverfew has bloomed, and its cheerful little blossoms make my heart skip when I walk out the front door.

There's a Barbie picnic going on in the background.

Here's something cool you might not know. If you buy the Beach Party Barbies instead of the regular ones, they have big, flat feet instead of tiny, inclining traditional Barbie feet. They can't wear regular Barbie shoes, but the fact that you can hang them from almost anywhere by their toes more than makes up for it.

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

This week in the suziebeezieland facebook group*:

Costco Favorites

Swim Lessons

Cute Ideas for Teacher Gifts

*To join the suziebeezieland facebook group, just get yourself a free Facebook account, and then go to the group and request to join.

this & that

• Linda B. recommends putting Little Dorrit on one's Netflix queue.  It features (among others) Matthew MacFadyen. :) Linda has never once, ever, given me a movie or television recommendation I did not love.

• Missy M. submitted a picture to the Scrapbooks Etc. "Kid on the Cover" contest for April, and it was chosen as a top five semi-finalist!  Her daughter is here ("First Day Hanging Out at Preschool") and you can vote for her through June 16th. Vote! Yay!
  

• Elizabeth Dillow, Tina Cockburn, and Marnie Flores have started a new blog called write. click. scrapbook. and you should go check it out if you haven't yet, especially if you have been missing Simple Scrapbooks magazine. They also have a Facebook group here that you can join.

• Here is a random photo of Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. :D

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

Go here to see the full list of topics available to discuss in the suziebeezieland Facebook group.

This week's new topics include new moms, kids' allowances, and summer reading lists.

Our Katy has also posted a new topic, encouraging anyone interested to discuss the first book (Twilight) in the Twilight series. I have no idea why she thinks this might be interesting to anyone. :D

If you aren't already a member of the suziebeezieland Facebook group and would like to be, you'll need to get yourself a Facebook account if you don't have one already. Then just request to join the group, and Facebook will let you know as soon as you can get in! :)

this week & next week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

There are three (3) new discussion topics this week over in the suziebeezieland Facebook group:

• expecting (meet other expectant moms-to-be from suziebeezieland)
• summer fun & vacations (share your plans for this summer)
• tomatoes & zucchini (share your recipes that call for fresh tomatoes and/or zucchini)

Here are next week's topics, so you can be thinking about what to say. :) They will post in the suziebeezieland Facebook group on Monday, 5/25.

• new moms and/or new babies (meet other suziebeezieland moms with kids two years and younger)
• kids' allowances (do your kids get allowance? how much? how often? do they get allowances for chores, or just for being your kid?)
• summer reading lists (what would you like to read this summer?)
  

Simply go to the suziebeezieland Facebook group and click on any discussion topic (old or new . . . all topics are always active) to participate.

The group is closed, which means no one can see it except the people who belong to it. If you're not a member and would like to join, click on the "Join Group" link, and Facebook will notify me that you'd like to join. :)

flair

Here is my Flair over at Facebook. :) (If you click on it, you can see a larger and clearer version.) Some of you might not know this, because it's a newish feature: if you add the Flair tab to your Profile, and then click on View Board, you can see your corkboard in its full big size, rather than that little puny one you get if you just have a Flair box on your Boxes tab.

I like how many small opportunities there are in life to be creative. Even with stuff like this. :D

march madness

Oh, one more thing . . . I'm not running a suziebeezieland March Madness pool this year (sorry, guys, I just don't have time this year)(although it sounds like CBS Sports sent automatic reminders to anybody who played last year . . . sorry about that) but if any of you want to post your brackets on your own blogs or on Facebook or anywhere so we can compare and trash-talk :), I'll check them out. Here's mine. (Click on it to see it bigger.):

the magic, unstaged blueberry strawberry facein the bottom of the bowl

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

These are the discussion topics we've got going this week over in the suziebeezieland Facebook group. (Click on the "View Discussion Board" link in the right sidebar on the group page in Facebook to see all topics listed.)

I'll post here each Monday to let you know what's going on over there. :)

suziebeezieland facebook group

If you are a regular visitor to suziebeezieland and have a Facebook account, you are invited to join the suziebeezieland Facebook group. This is a place where we can have group discussions on different topics, see what everybody is making for dinner, see what we each look like (with our profile photos), post photos and videos to share with each other, or just say whatever is on our minds by posting on the group Wall.

I do not have to be one of your Facebook friends for you to join the group, but if you're pretty sure that I have no idea who you are, just jot me a little note when you hit the Join Group link, so that we can "meet" each other. :)

Right now the group is Open, which means Facebook members can join without approval.  Also, the group page is visible to anyone on Facebook.  Of course, I can delete comments or group members as needed.  I don't anticipate anything odd happening, although with Nadine and Mindi you never really know. :D

However, I foresee making the group Closed once we've all settled in. This would mean the Facebook public can see the group description, but not the members or our interactions.  Each new group member would also have to be approved (the link changes from Join Group to Request to Join Group when a group is Closed).  This way, we will be able to discuss things the way we felt more comfortable doing back when suziebeezieland was password-protected. It will also feel cozier. :)

For now, though, I want to keep it open to make it easy for folks to check it out and see if they want to join before they hit the "Join Group" link. :)

I will post a new discussion topic in the suziebeezieland group every few days, so check in whenever you feel like it, or start your own discussions!

There is absolutely no pressure to join our Facebook group. I just want you to know it's there if you're interested.

If you do not have a Facebook account and are still trying to decide if you want to do that or not, let me throw in my two cents here. :)

First of all, Facebook is about to change to a new interface (it will look something like the photo below), so you may wish to wait until they do that. (This should happen some time soon.)  You wouldn't want to learn how to navigate Facebook and then have to relearn it right away. :)

Second, if you think you would like to be on Facebook to interact with just a couple people, but don't want to "reconnect" with everyone you've ever met, let me assure you that the privacy settings on Facebook are fully customizable.  It looks like some of the forthcoming changes will allow you to customize your Facebook experience even further. 

When Facebook changes to its new format, I'll post a little "Facebook Tutorial" here so that you can see what I'm talking about. I am a private person but have absolutely loved Facebook, and recommend it. And I think our Facebook group could be really fun if we get into the swing of it. :) 

describe it in three words (part 2)

This is a continuation of our first Describe It In Three Words post. 

(The highest number of comments you can display on a TypePad post on one page is fifty.  Once there are fifty comments, a second page of comments begins.  Every fifty comments, a new page of comments begins. You can get to each subsequent page of comments by clicking on the link at the bottom of each comment page. This is also how you can read the newest comments on our Welcome post!)

I think that as long as we're playing this game, it's just easier if I start a new post every fifty comments! :)

Valeria had chosen the next word, which is:

picture

describe it in three words

I played this and thought we should try it here, because it was so fun. Here's how it works.

I start the game by writing a random word.

The person who posts next after me describes that word in three words (and only three words, or your answer will be null and void), then posts a new word for the next person posting to describe in three words.

For example, if I post the word "apple," the next person might describe it as "a crunchy fruit" or "Snow White's temptation," and then post the word "zoo" for the next person.

Get it? It's simple. In the unlikely event that two people post at once, the next poster (after those two) can just choose either word to describe.

It goes without saying that this needs to remain G-rated.

Ready? The first word is "glue".

:)