Happy Friday All, My heart is dancing today (well aside from being slightly  tired because Youngest had a bit of a rough night) but I won't let that ruin why I'm on an emotional high. Last night, as an early anniversary present to ourselves, my handsome Real Life Hero (my husband) and had a rare night out Picture of the program we got at the performance and went to see the musical of Disney's Beauty And The Beast . Not everyone dresses up at this theater, but I was brought up that fancy places like the one we went to, you wear something dressier than jeans or khakis and a top. So I wore a floral pleated skirt, a dressy black top, my new sparkly low-heeled sandals, sparkly necklace and bracelet. And, with the help of at least a dozen bobby-pins, I put my hair up (all by myself, which is really something since I'm completely uncoordinated with fixing hair. I'm lucky I can do a simple bun and low or high ponytails. I can't even really braid my own hair...

Happy Tuesday All, It's so rainy and gloomy today, which is not cool. The rain is good, but the gloom? Not so much. So we're going to have to find ways to brighten things up in spite of the grayness outside. Yesterday, a writer-buddy of mine (and fellow blogger), Marsha,  posted a fun post with quotes . So I thought today I'd pull some of my favorite quotes from various sources and post them here: "Give me this moment. This precious chance."--Dr. Jekyll from the musical Jekyll & Hyde (song:  This Is The Moment ). "Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?" "If there are, we'll all be dead!" -- Inigo and Fezzik from movie, The Princess Bride . "I'm too sexy for my fangs."-- Gregori, from Kerrelyn Sparks'  book, Sexiest Vampire Alive . "We would call Monroe something else, except we don't want to want to insult donkeys." -- Bastian "Bast" Cantrell from my novel, Surreal . "I hav...

Happy Friday All, Has everyone had a good week? Mine seems to have flown by, but then again, I was pretty busy. If you've seen the musical, Fiddler On The Roof , you might remember a song called Tradition . It talks about all the different traditions that hold the community together. In my family we had traditions that brought us together. For Christmas we tied together all kinds traditions from around the world. There's a Scandinavian tradition called the Yule Goat. Much like Santa Claus, this goat brings gifts to good little boys and girls. We would talk about the Yule Goat bringing this or that. It was great fun. My Dad started making a German Christmas bread/coffee cake baked good called stollen (pronounced "schol-en"). Wikipedia called it a "fruit cake", but this isn't quite as dense. It has nuts, candied fruit, cinnamon, and raisins (well at least the way my Dad makes it). For some of the weddings in my family, the night before, at the rehe...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Sitting here listening to Toby Keith 's Rock You Baby takes me back to my wedding day. It was our first dance song. I remember I sang it to my husband as we danced. I thought about using Huckleberry but decided Rock You Baby sounded more like me and my husband. Funny how things bring up different memories. A scent, a photo, a movie, a quote, a song.  If someone starts quoting the opening speech by John Adams from the musical 1776 I'm transported back to when I was about 19 and listening to my brother quote the entire thing. Or if I smell Brute aftershave I wonder if my Dad's around. If I taste Chocolate Drop Cookies (my grandmother apparently used to make those, but I have no memory of her making them--but one of my sister makes them and every time I have one it makes me think of her). I don't know if there's a website that has the recipe written down. I used to have a copy, but I'm not sure where I put it. (They...

Happy Monday All, Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty good. The Tonys were last night, so in honor of that and some things I've thought about... I've got a question... Lately it seems like everything is becoming a musical? Now, don't get me wrong...I love musicals. In fact, some of my favorite movies are musicals. However, I never thought so many movies, and books would become a musical. I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I love musicals, but it makes me wonder what story is next?  Cases in point regarding books and musicals: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy became a musical in the late 1990's . I recently learned that back in 2000, the book by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre became a musical . Jekyll & Hyde is based off of the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. Some people aren't aware that Phantom Of The Opera is based off the book by Gaston Leroux (I read the book before I saw the musical, and I ended up reading the...