500

i know i've thrown a bunch of posts at you today...sort of an amuse-bouche clean sweep, getting ready for oh-nine.

there is a method to my madness, however. because that down there?

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that is post number 500!

happy new year!!

quarter past three

merry Christmas!!

look what rolled in on the tide

a few weeks ago, i wrote this post. and imagine my thrill when a few days later, i found this in my mailbox

 

patsy sent the sweetest message in a bottle, and i've been smiling about it ever since!! matty and jack dubbed it *the coolest good mail ever.*

have you ever found a message in a bottle? would you send one?!?

blahg post

i write a lot. aside from amuse-bouche, i keep a daily journal. i have also recently begun a writing project that requires three pages of hand-written stream-of-consciousness a day. add to that some Lenten meditation.

i've been trying to think of something to post about all day, and i'm afraid to say, i think i might have,
quite literally,
run
out
of
words...

gift[s] from the sea

to say i am thrilled with the turnout for this week's spt challenge would be an understatement. i have spent hours reading about blog names. learning what makes each name special, each blog special. learning more about why we blog and what we take away from it. learning that there are a lot of people who've been visiting amuse-bouche, and i didn't even know you were? (thank you so much to all of you who are jumping in to this fun project!! give a shout out sometime so i know you're there!)

as much fun as it has been to read all of your posts this week, the greater joy for me has come from reading the comments you have left for me. a little positive reinforcement is always good for the soul.

there were many days (early days) of blogging when i felt adrift in the great sea of the Internet. putting my thoughts out there, hitting the publish button, and waiting, breath held, for a comment, an acknowledgement that my words had reached somebody. in many ways, i was like a beachcomber, tossing my message in a bottle out to sea in hopes that it would somewhere, someday connect with another soul. and in the same way, i horde the messages that come back to me, visit them from time to time when i need to feel connected.

last year, i read this book, and it still its on my nightstand. as a lover of words, of language, of metaphor, i pull strength from her words. the irony is not lost on me that i live near the sea, i live the metaphoric life. i wonder if there is not room for a chapter about messages in bottles, as well.

all of this is to say thank you for your wonderful comments this week. thanks to those who have stuck with my over the past year, and thanks to those who are now making introductions. blogging with you, communicating with you soothes my nerves and stimulates my mind. if i have to toss and turn at night, i would much rather be thinking about your kind words than the more mundane details that usually rattle my brain.

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. - anne morrow lindbergh, gift from the sea

it's national soup swap day!

check it out! i got a little guest press over at soupswap.com

i know some of you are swapping, or thinking about having a swap. please let me know how it goes! better yet, let them know at the soup swap blog - you can read up on soup swaps all over the country.

today is the *official* soup swap day - but i know from experience that any day can be soup swap day!

for pj

Christmas meme

i've seen this meme all over (most recently on jill's blog), and now i will shamelessly use it to fill up some space on my own blog! (i swear, i have ideas to blog about, but i simply cannot find the time, energy, spark, etc. needed to write. (this is a *huge* difference from last year, when i managed to post every. single. day. of december.)

so here goes, Christmas, lelly style:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
wrapping paper, must be coordinated with ribbons and fun stuff, too! one year, this actually developed into a friendly contest between my sisters and i - who could be the most creative? i love to lock myself away and wrap and wrap and wrap.

2. Real tree or artificial?
i've always had a real tree, but i'm definitely hearing the case for artificial this year. especially since the trees here on the coast were all shipped here from somewhere else. and with the drought this year, the north carolina trees aren't looking so great. and they never smell like the trees i remember from my childhood. also, kelly a. had me on the *pre-lit* incentive...




3. When do you put up the tree?
usually within the first two weeks of december - i'll be lucky to make that deadline this year. maybe next saturday?!?

4. When do you take the tree down?
before New Year's Day. i used to keep it up through Epiphany, but it's become more important to me to get everything put up before we get back into the swing of "real life."

5. Hot chocolate or apple cider?
cider - i love to smell it simmering on the stovetop. my dad is a big fan of wassail, and i love the spices that he uses.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
my first *brand new* bike - it was bright blue, and i vividly remember sitting on it in the living room by the Christmas tree. undoubtedly it was too cold and/or too wet to try it out on Christmas Day, so i sat on it and watched T.V.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
i have about 13 of them. i try to add a new one to my collection each year.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
me, believe it or not. i'm just not that into *stuff* anymore. i much, much prefer gifts given with meaning and purpose, and i think that might intimidate some people who tend to buy gifts for me.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
jack, for sure. as long as it has something to do with an action figure!




10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?
a telephone in the shape of a Jeff Gordon car!@#$! yeah, that was DEFINITELY the worst.

11. Mail or email Christmas card?
mail!

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
Christmas Vacation or Holiday Inn (i know - totally different genres.)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
december 23rd! sad, i know, but i am an up-to-the-deadline girl.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
i don't think so, but i won't swear to it

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
cheese fondue, a Christmas Eve tradition. and crunchy cheetos with red wine after midnight services. and that is a very special tradition.

16. Clear lights or colored?
i've been using colored the past few years, but having a yearning for white this year. i am very particular about using larger bulbs outside and *fairy* light bulbs inside. size DOES matter!




17. Favorite Christmas song?
toss up between Silent Night and O Holy Night, also O Nata Lux and The Nativity Carol (the chorister in me is coming out!)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
we definitely stay home, and i am lucky that almost all of my family is close by.




19. Can you name Santa's reindeer?
but, of course!

20. Angel or star on top of the tree?
I just bought a very cool mirrored snowflake that we are going to be using.

how about you? have you answered this meme yet?? go for it - it's a fun way to spend a few moments!

fireside

to celebrate the end of godspell (sniff, sniff), we had a bonfire on the beach saturday night. the weather was perfect, the food was perfect, and the company was, well... perfect.



potatoes and sweet potatoes roasted in the bonfire...perfect


*tribal council* torches, used in the show, decorated by the cast members...perfect


sunset over the atlantic...perfect


fairy lights on the sand dunes...perfect

i'm still in that let-down time after a show ends. i've often said putting on a show is like raising a child and sending them off into the world, all within a 2 month span of time! it's pretty intense. now, with all the *free time* i'll have, i guess it's on to pink christmas and a thankful swap!!

SNAP to it

OK, since i'm fairly new to this blogging thing, i always get tickled pink when i learn about a new blog gadget. today's cool thing comes from kristi, who never ceases to amaze me with the things she shares through her blog.

so, check out snap and see how it can make your blog look oh, so hip. it's a simple & free download (two things that i LOVE!!)

now, i really must get to adding some links to my blog, so you can all (and by "all," i mean "the person who might read my blog one day by accident") take a peek at what i peek at every day.