in review

i really REALLY tried to do the whole "best of '09" review, but found myself not remembering huge chunks of my year! what is that about?!? so here it is, my tried and true year-end review. all in all, it was the year that i took an amazing *journey,* a ride that i am not yet willing to get off!!

(for half a second i thought i might attempt a decade-in-review, but sweet hell, if i can't remember '09, then trying to remember '00-'08 might just put me in the little white room (although i did a bit of reminiscing on FB.) (so, if you're interested, i invite you to come by).

without further ado, may i present, the year that was:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? went on a destination family vacation with just the three of us.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? my word of the year, "journey," took me places i had not been before.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth? yes! nephew Felix Daniel was born to my sister, Patricia on September 27.

4. Did anyone close to you die? a fellow hotel manager passed away shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. it definitely shook us up as we considered our own mortality. it is tough to lose a contemporary.

5. What countries did you visit? does EPCOT World Showcase count? it does for me!! in 2009, i visited NOLA, Philly, D.C., and Walt Disney World! Quick work trips took me to Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston. what a difference "getting out of town" made for me this year!!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? a fitness routine

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? january 19th, the day i decided to take my life back.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? sailing this hotel through some very troubled economic waters.

9. What was your biggest failure? working to much, not walking away from my desk enough

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? no

11. What was the best thing you bought? can i say "the snuggie" that jack got for Christmas? (don't judge!) okay, really it was my pretty pink Dell laptop!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? matty quit smoking!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? the people responsible for trashing the pianos in the music hall at Ithaca College. SENSELESS DESTRUCTION!!

14. Where did most of your money go? house

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? meeting natasha and carlo and hoop

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? BOOM BOOM POW

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer? HAPPIER, the same, richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? blogging

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? butting heads with mat and jack over petty things that we won't remember!

20. Did you fall in love in 2009? YES!

21. What was your favorite TV program? Glee

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? absolutely not

23. What was the best book you read? i am re-reading childhood favorites with jack - currently enjoying "The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel.)"

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? NOTA

25. What did you want and get? an mp3 player and a smart phone

26. What did you want and not get? new hair color ;)

27. What was your favorite film of this year? did i see anything that wasn't PG-13???

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? turned FORTY in the Magic Kingdom!!

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? losing 25 pounds

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? it was all about the underwear, baby!

31. What kept you sane? little getaways

Merry Christmas

omelets "boiling" away
individual omelets, cinnamon button bread and clementines
the boy who STILL believes

with full bellies and full hearts,

the ericksons wish you a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

silent night, holy night

solstice solace

wow, today had some really stressful moments. jack, a child who *needs* routine, meandered and whined his way through the first day of vacation. our day started rough, and was heading right back to it as we arrived home to begin the business of dinner and downtime (fortunately, my mom assures me that he did NOT threaten them with his wrath while they entertained him this afternoon.)



thank goodness for solstice. thank goodness we have a tradition of eating foods that can don't need to be cooked and fussed over. thank goodness we sit together in the glow of the tree and candles and count our blessings. thank goodness i was able to keep it together and not let jack's temper tantrums propel us all into winter doldrums. thank goodness.



welcome winter. today is the darkest day of the year. we light candles and welcome the return of the sun.

the return of sunshine on our faces and smiles for each other.

"no snow" days

so, pretty much the rest of the east coast/mid-atlantic region is having the White Christmas of their lives. unfortunately for one 8 year-old, we live just a little too far east for the historic snowfall.

oh, we had precipitation. it rained and rained and RAINED on friday. literally put a damper on our third annual holiday drum circle. but that did not deter us from heading out with our festive finger foods.



i saw a link to this tree of pinwheels over at not martha. (you can see a snazzy photo from the Cook's website here.) i have to say that it took me a ridiculously time to stack the pinwheels so that it looked somewhat like a tree (and not a bizarre shrub.) the Cook's promo shot is decidedly more "Seussian" than mine.


after our clothes dried and our fingers unpuckered on Saturday morning, we went for the trifecta: oh, yes, we managed to sqeeze in "gingerbread house making" "Christmas cookie baking" and "turning all 1,000 pieces of the Christmas puzzle face up" in one day!

i've made a certain peace with gingerbread house making over the past few years. once again, i thought maybe we might "forget" about this little tradition. thank goodness i have jack to keep me on my game!! (if you need a laugh, or just a refresher on my gingerbread woes, might i direct you to '06 and '07.




i had the brilliant idea to have a little cookie exchange with my mom and sisters this year. i can't even tell you about the obscene amount of cookies we had to exchange. (i think next year we should all bring about one dozen cookies. period. end of story.) i seriously have no idea what i'm going to do with all of these!!



the puzzle is out, and ready for working. this year we set it up on our kitchen table. i have been drawn to it more than once today, and jack and i just finished up a good hour of puzzling together. ("mom, you have to double check that all of those border pieces are correct. IN ALL MY YEARS OF PUZZLING, that's been my experience...")



to recap: snow? no. sugar? yes.

merry christmas week!!

hello, blog

Advent and the Christmas Season are filled with precious moments as a family, quietly waiting for the birth of Christ, reveling in family memories, attending lavish parties in our very best costumes and baking trays upon trays of gorgeously decorated sugar cookies.

uh, yeah.

this is MY reality:
i got home from the wonder of Disney and half expected my home to have been decorated by those tireless imagineers. how wonderful it would have been to bask in the glow of my Christmas vision without having to sort through boxes and wrappings and THE GARAGE...

company parties were both the first weekend of the month, and we always consider ourselves lucky to "get that over with." following the Hampton party on Sunday night, I accompanied a handful of employees to the local Irish Pub. at 12:30 a.m., I realized that I was the only one left standing (not literally, but)! needless to say, Monday morning required some extra hydrating...

i declared a crack down on bringing any Christmas boxes into the house until I had a chance to declutter and clean. seriously, does anybody else bring in 4X the amount of stuff they already have just to make the place more festive?!? decluttering and cleaning projects move ahead s-l-o-w-l-y. boys sneak boxes into the house. now we're decorating the clutter (i absolutely rolled down the top of my desk last night. i'm considering nailing it shut until after the first of the new year.)

put up the tree(s), but felt too tired to fluff. let the boys start decorating without fluffing. stared warily at tree(s) for two nights, trying to get up the energy to fluff. Saturday morning loomed cold and bright, and I finally started fluffing. did not stop until 5 trees and 6 garlands were fluffed. and my hands were thoroughly chapped...

finally created a mantlepiece garland. i will show you a photo of it, if i remember to take one...

skipped the Christmas-by-the-Sea parade because it was raining. i love Cub Scouts cheerfully throwing candy off of a float as much as the next mom, but really...

skipped the festive outdoor showing of The Polar Express because it was 35 degrees out, and people, we here in Coastal North Carolina don't actually own enough clothing to keep us warm in 35 degrees...

"forgot" to print Advent activities for the Advent jar ("forget" being code for "i haven't bought printer ink in about 7 months.") have not lit the candles on the Advent wreath yet, and yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent. have not lit the candles in the menorah yet (we celebrate all kinds of light in my house) but have played several "spirited" games of dreidle...

Christmas cards?!?!?!?!

i think i'm hosting a cookie swap on Sunday...

elvish

i've been knitting...

the best conference of 'o9

january was so long ago, that it almost doesn't qualify for 'o9.
january is often such an insignificant month, don't you think?
and yet, i've already mentioned my january trip THREE TIMES in this year-in-review.

it was THAT good.

the whole reason i went to New Orleans was to attend the annual Hampton Inn conference, a yearly gathering of GMs and executives and themed dinners. i *love* conference. i love the chance to get away from my little town at the end of the earth and play cosmopolitan girl. i love exploring new airports (okay, not really). i love missing my family a little bit.

conference has taken place in Las Vegas and D.C. and Orlando. and New Orleans. (any guesses for 2010? it's BIG. y'all.)

i am a bit of a conference dork, in that i love the general sessions and the motivational speakers. i love being recognized as one of the top performing managers in my brand. i love navigating buffet lines with my GM friends from all over north carolina and more.



the underlying theme of conference this year was "building your circle of friends." my circle and i have taken this idea and run with it this year. my circle had become my sanity, my sounding board, my mentors and best friends. i appreciate Hampton for lighting the spark that fueled even greater connections with contemporaries i already liked and admired. for creating friendships among acquaintances.



the best of 2oo9

the best night out of o9

it was a day that transitioned into a night.
it was a "college reuinion."
it was a creative Saturday.













the best of 2oo9

the best article of o9

i can't recall one singular article that bore sharing this past year. i am an admitted "news snacker" - one who gets their news in snippets and tweets and sound bytes. what can i say? i've always loved the intro paragraph.

i will say that i spent the most time reading up on H1N1, and the pros and cons of vaccination. i am a child of Public Health Iliterally - my father retired from the Centers for Disease Control.)

i vaccinate.

the best of 2oo9

best restaurant experience of 'o9

small town living = limited "dining out" experience :( for three foodies like the ericksons, that can be a real challenge.

however,

for the (almost) ten years that we've lived near wilmington, we've talked about stopping at a place called Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn. a few months back, jack was off at a birthday party, and matty and i found ourselves in Amy's neighborhood (sorry, jack!)

wow. the burrito barn did NOT disappoint. the burritos were the size of my head! and i could have subsisted entirely on their bottomless chips and salsa bar. oh, yes. a salsa bar. ginger lime salsa. wasabi salsa. black bean salsa. chipotle salsa.

and, for 45 minutes, matty and i relished a meal together. the two of us. no crayons or DS games at the table. no "finish your dinner," or "you have to go to the bathroom NOW?" (does anyone else have children who are fascinated with using restaurant bathrooms?)

Amy, we will be back. soon. with our 8 1/2 year old foodie in tow. after all, someone's got to help us get to the bottom of that bottomless basket of chips!

the best of 2oo9

the best trip of 'o9

i had two.

the first: new orleans. where i fell back in love with myself.
the second: walt disney world. where i fell back in love with my family.

the best of 2oo9

ruffled

once i saw it, i knew i just had to make eva's scarf. i was a little hesitant to make myself *another* scarf. (then i read michelle's scarf wardrobe post, and almost changed my mind!) as it turns out, mid-scarf, i realized that it was the perfect birthday gift for another very special girl who celebrates on november 25th.



everyone should have a go-to, confidence-building accessory in their wardrobe. happy birthday, crystal! hope it motivates you AND keeps you warm :)

Thanksgiving Dinner

there is nothing quite like the woodfire smoke smell and the homestyle embrace of the Cracker Barrel. (i'm not usually a fan of the Cracker Barrel. or "homestyle cooking, in general.) however, in this case, it was the perfect end to a great day.



"do they have any Thanksgving specials?" asked Jack.


oh, yes. yes, they do...

truly, madly, deeply

i've learned a lot on this vacation. i've learned the five days at Walt Disney World is just about enough. enough time to ride a few rides more than once. enough time to see just one more show. enough time to decide that watching other people eat abnormally large turkey legs is disturbing.


i've learned that a party of three is a good number (for me.) i've learned that i really am thankful to be past strollers and diapers. i've learned how to read my family - how to know when an ice cream can soothe the moment or when it's time to call it a day.


i've learned that if the sign says WARNING: YOU MIGHT GET SOAKED ON THIS RIDE, i should be thankful i'm wearing cute stripey underpants!!


i've learned that a little mid-afternoon rally can buy you a few more hours of fun and entertainment.


i've learned that you really can "do" Walt Disney World" without spending an arm and a leg. i've learned to love the glee on the face of an 8 year old when he steps off of the Test Track. i've learned that jack can make friends anywhere. i've learned that i can survive a week in a single hotel room with the two erickson boys. i've learned that a cup-of-noodles is a fantastic dinner after a 9 hour day in the pouring rain.


i've learned that this vacation is everything i needed/wanted/craved it to be. and i've learned that i really should not let so much time pass between vacations!!

all i ever wanted

we're three days in, averaging 9 hours a day, and i think i'm holding up pretty well. this vacation really has been the perfect way to CELEBRATE where i am in this life's journey.



the sounds of "happy birthday, eleanor" ringing from the rafters of the Magic Kingdom are still echoing in my sleep. Thanksgiving dinner at a nearby Cracker Barrel provided great leftovers to carry with us today. (have YOU ever brown-bagged it in a theme park? did you have the moistmaker?)



hope you are enjoying every bit of your holiday this week!

happy thanksgiving!!

a little rain may fall on your parade. no worries!! take a moment and fall back in love with your family and friends this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving, blogosphere!

wordless wheeeeeee...

FORTY!!

thankfully

i'm sitting on my sofa. tuesday morning. 7:57 am. i've got laundry going, coffee steaming, jack is...

hold up! jack is at school, and i didn't take him. i'm not on my way in to work. heck, i'm still in my pajamas!!

THIS MUST BE WHAT VACATION FEELS LIKE!

in a few hours, we three will be heading to the airport. spider dog will be having his own new experience at pet camp. other family members will be heading to georgia. and maryland. and we will be winging our way to The Magic Kingdom.

we will have a week of mouse-ear shaped foods and fastpasses. it will snow on Main Street USA. we will have Chinese food (or Thai or Italian or STEAK) for Thanksgiving dinner.

i will turn 40.

and i will NOT check my work email. i WILL blog and i WILL facebook and i WILL spend part of my first evening of vacation programming a new phone (since mine inexplicably will NOT unlock. what's with that?!? i can answer calls, but THAT'S IT!! motorola and verizon - you BOTH have MUCH to learn about customer service. but THAT is a story for another day...)

but for right now, i'm sitting on my sofa in my p.js. watching Nie on the Today Show and channeling kristi's amazing vacationing karma.

i am so thankful for this vacation. i am ready for the Magic.

photoless phriday - the last of the thirties edition

do you ever do those countdown-to-something-big thing? you know, this is the last full day of school before vacation; this is the last Christmas in this house; this is the last vacation with no children (one child, two children, etc)... i'm there now. within the last week of. the final days of.

truth be told, i've spent the better part of the past 24 hours in tears. inexplicable waves of emotion. heart-wrending sobs in the shower. stifled sniffles and dewy eyelashes. i'm doing myself no favors by listening to an eternal playlist of kate bush and brandi carlile and dido and sarah mclachlan.

part of this is shear exhaustion. i haven't had a break from this hotel life since last january.

part of this is tender memories of last fall and early winter. the time when we were losing Grabbie.

part of this is vacation-related-stress. i've never been on vacation with just my two before. i'm all of a sudden feeling like one hotel room is a small place for three vivacious personalities.

but part of this, a big part, is the-countdown-to-something. the last days of a significant part of my life. the inevitable "have i accomplished the things i had hoped to accomplished?" "am i where i want to be?" "am i WHO i want to be?" for a startling moment last night, the only phrase i could utter was "i want to go home."

even more startling, i was convinced that "home" was not a place i have found. yet.

i am doing my best to entertain the notion that "forty is the new thirty." or whatever. but i don't want a new thirty. in fact, i kind of want a chance to do my old thirties over again. not all of them. but some. definitely some.

i've turned off the music now. it's gotten to be a little much, even for me. i'm going to spend the rest of this last friday doing the things i normally do: most likely enjoying pizza in my pajamas, with my boys, watching a movie. maybe knitting.

and tomorrow, i've got to get up and coach the last soccer game of my thirties. so, there's something!

happy weekend!!

thankFULL

i am thankful for TWO Thanksgiving covered dish meals today.

and thankful for elastic waist pants.

i am thankful that i have shared TEN Thanksgiving meals with the team at Hampton Inn Southport over the years.

and thankful that vacation is near.

i am thankful that today is Beaujolais Day.

and thankful for the digestive aid of a glass of good red wine.

wordless wednesday

 

 

disclaimer: i did NOT make this, it was a wedding gifr from matty's grandmother. we bring it out every year around Thanksgiving and use it through the holidays.

win, lose or...

so, can we talk about this soccer thing?

you might remember a few months ago, our soccer league was scrambling for coaches; specifically coaches in my son's age group; more specifically... coaches for my son's team (of course.) i deftly avoided hanging a whistle around my neck by agreeing to be the "assistant" coach to a very competent coach who stepped up at the last minute. whew!

my duties as assistant coach were pretty minimal: organize the snack bringers, remind parents what color jersey to have clean for the upcoming game (we alternate between white and blue jerseys), show up at practices for moral support, help with the phone tree when rain forced us to cancel, etc., etc. i was really good at doing all of those things.

and competent coach was doing a great job out on the field! trust me, i know how challenging it can be to herd nine Under-10-year-olds into something that resembles a cohesive team. i know how challenging it can be to convince them that they don't all want to play goalie at the same time. i know how challenging it can be to get them to keep their hands to themselves.

i know this now, because all of a sudden, i realize i've spent the second half of the season being The Coach.

oh, yes. first it was, "hey, can you cover this practice?" then it was, "can you cover the make-up game on thursday night, because I have an exam." and then, "my sons have been diagnosed with the flu, and i'm not feeling so great myself." and finally,"my flu has turned into bronchitis and possibly pneumonia so, guess what? i won't be there saturday. can you cover the game?"

uhhhhh...

so, that is the story of how i became the soccer coach for the U-10 Hurricanes. i don't begrudge coach his families' illnesses, and i certainly am grateful that the pox has not fallen upon my household. but? "coaching" has stressed me out. (like i needed anything else to stress me out these days. fortieth birthday approaching? hello?!?)

i feel that i've been competent in my substitute role. i've run drills, i've remembered to bring a jersey for the goalie, i've communicated effectively with the other coaches, i've overcome absences and i've even finally learned something more than the most basic of soccer rules. the kids have even called me "coach," and i feel like we've found a middle ground between total chaos and championship team. we've definitely shown progress, and we've even won a few games!!

have i enjoyed it? no. i get stressed out before each game, wondering if i'm going to upset a child (or worse, their parent) by substituting too much, or not enough; by not giving everyone a fair shot at goalie. by not noticing that so-and-so is calling so-and-so an "idiot." every time i call "SUB," i worry that we didn't have possession of the ball and that i've made an agregious soccer error.

my child seems more stressed when i'm coaching. it's tough to appreciate the nuance between "mom" and "mom-who-is-coaching-right-now-honey."

we had our last game yesterday, and we just have the soccer festival standing between us and the end of the season (and vacation. and forty...) i feel good about my participation, even if my original plan to avoid coaching at all costs didn't quite pan out. i think i was a fair coach, full of encouragement and praise and gentle reminders. i also realize that, for my son at least, i actually would like a a coach who is full of drills and enthusiasm and athleticism. (i don't feel like jack made a lot of technical advances this season.) what can i say? i'm driven. and, i appreciate someone who can lead the drive.

one of the parents said to me recently, "you're doing a great job." i immediately whipped my head around, looking for lurking soccer league administrators. "don't say that too loud," i admonished in a whispered frenzy, "i don't want them to call me next season!"

gee, thanks!

i am in the middle of "budget season," and i am both bored and stressed by the whole operation, but i'm thankful i have the opportunity to have serious input into the budget that i will be expected to uphold in 2010...

i have to go to a Rotary District dinner this evening, 45 minutes away from my cozy home, but i'm thankful for the time that i will be able to spend in the car with my dad...

today's "feelings about 40" are leaning toward the melancholy and i really need to find time to deal with renewing my driver's license, but i'm thankful that vacation is just a few short weeks away...

wordless wednesday

 

spt

i'm not going down without a fight!!



thank you all for the laughter. it's amazing how a good chuckle can lighten the mood!

dwelling

it's a few short weeks away.

i'm bordering on indifferent to depressed.

i had certain body image goals that i am no where near attaining.

i had financial goals that i am no where near attaining.

i had blogging and photography goals that i am no where near attaining.

i know that i should not be so blue about it.

but, i am.

quick... somebody tell something funny (and young at heart!!)

thanks

i am thankful for:

intrepidness
spunk
joie de vivre

thanks

feeling grateful today for:

skillet chicken parmesan;
an 8 year old boy who requested a pumpkin hat;
permission to enjoy my birthday month (thank you for the reminder, natasha!);
new-to-us furniture to replace old-to-us furniture;
election volunteers who call on election eve (no matter the candidate);
a healthy home.

reality check

i've been eating well this week. i don't often blog about food here (kind of ironic, considering the title of my blog and all.) i read beautiful foodie posts, and get tons of inspiration thanks to their mouth-watering photography. often, when i'm preparing a meal, i think i should take some pictures. but there are just not enough hours in the day for me to stylize my measured dry ingredients and freshly squeezed lemons. and usually by the time i think to photo the finished product, we're halfway through our meals and having a lively discussion about who is going to clean up the kitchen.

also, despite my love of words, and sentences of words, and paragraphs of words, a reviewer i am not. a few notes and my very scientific 5-star rating system scribbled into the margins of some old cookbooks tell me all i need to remember about a particular dish. (given that most of the recipes i use now come from the www, i rely heavily on "bookmarking." that and my uncanny ability to remember which bloggers make great chicken enchiladas, pumpkin cookies, rye limpa bread, or even a favorite sandwich.)

so, despite the fact that there are no photos, and i am not going to wax poetic about the amount of squash i've eaten in the past week, here is a sampling of what was served up at the erickson's house this week:

Turky Chili and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie (Rachel Ray) *****

Shoo Vampire Soup (Martha Stewart)(no link to be found - i used my trusty 2000 Halloween Issue) ****

Stuffed Squash (Alton Brown) ****

Spaghetti Squash with meat sauce (Matty Erickson) *****

Mummy Sandwich (the lovely Joys of Home blog) ****

Chicken Mug Pie (Rachel Ray) *****

as i read back over this list,i am reminded of some lovely meals this week. and it occurred to me that (sometimes) weeks full of meals like this one are the exception, not the norm. my reality is that there is often a pizza night in the mix. (sometimes two!) my reality is that four out of five nights i am stopping at the grocery on the way home from work. and not for just one key ingredient. often i haven't decided on the evenings meal until five minutes before i walk out of my office. my reality is that my husband studied the culinary arts, and apparantly did not take one single class on washing dishes.

maybe i hesitate to share my cooking adventures, because of the lack of gorgeous photos, or a succint and savory review of the meal. maybe i think that my meals don't stack up to some of those that you have shared. (am i the only one that ever thinks that?)

unfortunately, i have stumbled with hesitations like this most of my life. a bit of the "grass is always greener" syndrome. i've wasted some precious time trying to keep up with the jones family (and the murphy family, and the smith family...)

but this week, we ate well. and added several recipes to our family favorites. we only ate pizza once, and that was after a late, chilly soccer game. but just in case you spend half a second worrying about keeping up with the erickson family, let me just put some perspective on it.



my reality: i can't make a decent looking mummy sandwich. don't get me wrong. i can see vast improvement over last year's attempt. at least this year's attempt "resembles" something "wrapped."



and truthfully? we would not have revisited the mummy sandwich this year had jack not declared it a "family tradition." (tradition? after a sad attempt one year? oh-kaaaaay...) but how could i deny my son his hallowe'en memories?

three!

i've given a lot of thought this year to my blog. if you were to ask my what i blog about, i really couldn't choose any better words than i did on that Hallowe'en three years ago...

in which i attempt to pay attention to the "little things" in life: the smiles, the quirky quotes, the entertainment factor of a now-5 1/2 y.o. son, split pea soup, homemade halloween costumes, cool fonts, my search for the perfect monogram, beautiful food and a dizzying array of my life's "amuse-bouche."

he is 8 1/2 now,
and there have been dozens of soups (three soup swaps!),
homemade halloween costumes are "itchy"
and i haven't yet found the perfect monogram.

and... i'm almost forty.

there are plenty of "little moments" yet to be found. thanks for sharing all of yours with me!

masquerade

frightfully fun

a fun martha craft that i've been meaning to do for several years. super fun to make, they cost next to nothing, and (say it with me) it's so easy, lelly could do it!!

did you see barb's? we both had the same great idea!



i love the bad lighting effect from my cameraphone. but, hey! it captured every single spooky dust bunny on my lampshade!!

happy birthday, barb!