Oh this looks fantastic!

Herb Citrus Cordial (makes 4-5 pints)

Ingredients:

6 cup sugar
Zest of 6 citrus, in large pieces of peel
4 cups fresh citrus juice
2 cup water
8 cups loosely packed fresh basil or 2 cups lavender or 20 stalks of rosemary or some other herb you want to cordialize.
Method:

In a large pot bring sugar, zest, juice, and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.  Add the herbs and let the syrup infuse for at least 15 minutes.
Meantime prepare your canning jars.
Strain syrup through a fine sieve, squeezing out as much syrup as possible from the herb leaves before discarding them.
Boiling water process for 10 minutes.
Serve with vodka and a splash of soda water, or just soda water if you prefer!

Do It Like They Do On The Discovery Channel...

My chaotic and haphazard way of trying to put this wedding together has me all over the place. I'm having issues with theme (to have one or not), colors (blue, brown, pink, black, grey, tan red, purple, orange...sigh), venue (indoors? outdoors?), hell, I'm having a hard time with the season - fall? Summer? Spring? I have NO idea.

"We" don't seem to have a song. So I thought I'd find a suitable song and maybe that would help dictate some of the rest of the stuff, since music is so influential for me...Now, this (of course) made me reminisce a little - thinking of the songs that have been part of my previous relationships and I'm thankful I didn't need to incorporate some of those songs into a wedding - any of you remember Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch"? Yeah...well.....

Anyway...I've been listening to songs, lots of songs, and I find one that actually is sort of nice, has a sweet sentiment...I heard it somewhere, thought "Oh, that's pretty, I'll look it up later". I looked it up....It's still sweet....but apparently it was made popular (not on the alternative station I mainly listen to) by the movie Twilight - now...I've not seen the movie, nor have I read the book (they're on the same list with Titanic - basically, I'll only watch if threatened with bodily harm to someone I love).

I know I'm being...snobbish...but...I have a VERY hard time thinking my wedding will be associated with *Twilight*....ugh....just...idk...kill me now....

Now, I do have a fun idea for our wedding if we decide to go the quirky route - which I'm very tempted to do. I can't share it but it's really funny, and will certainly make it something more than the traditional ceremony/reception....and it has everything to do with the "first dance"...*sigh*

I think my head might explode...

A Hawaiian cliff sounds more and more appealing....lol

(Oh, and this is the song from Twilight *shudder* - The Bad Touch doesn't seem so bad)...

RMAKTA

So I recently stumbled upon this little Facebook gem. While I don't particularly like FB, I have gotten better about posting and responding to posts. And, every so often, I find gems like this that really make FB worth it:

Real Men Are Kind to Animals: https://www.facebook.com/realmenarekindtoanimals

I firmly believe this. Real men AND women are kind to animals. I generally have to avoid media that reports abuse or neglect of animals due to the ensuing nightmares that will undoubtedly plague me for days afterward but there are so many stories of good here, I like to visit their page regularly, share their stories and repost their images.

Oh Retro!!

I love this dress. I don't know if I can pull it off though. Or get it made for a reasonable price. But I love it and would love to wear this. I know it's not a traditional wedding dress but I can't imagine being a traditional bride. The black is a little formal, so I might see about having it made in a different color. I do want an evening wedding but I also want it outside. And a million sparkly candles. Or lights or whatever. That's about all I've been able to decide upon.... I can't pick colors, themes or, heck, even a venue... I've had a few people tell me "not to worry about it" but then they obviously don't know me....And they don't realize that some of these places get booked YEARS in advance. I have a year. One. Uno. 1. That's it. Maybe a year and a couple of months but maybe not as we've not picked a date. Though I think venue will dictate the date since we're not a horribly sentimental couple...at least not when it comes to stuff like that. ARGH!!! Then, I have these moments and I think WTF? Really? I'm spending this much energy and thought on a WEDDING?!? I mean come on, in the grand scheme of things this is just so....insignificant. Sigh...

Riot Fest!!!!

We got our Riot Fest tickets tonight!!! Is it sad that I am so excited I am practically vibrating - and its not until September....

Bad Books, Blink 182, Kitten, Blondie, Violent Femmes, Against Me!.... Just to name a few....

Riot Fest, Riot Fest, Riot Fest!!!!

September cannot come fast enough...

Sigh....

*sigh* and Will...

Mmmm. Vin.

Mistake....

As a wife to be, I am already learning from my mistakes. I was distracted by the shiny - I've never been one for "real" jewelry, it doesn't matter to me if the shiny is a diamond or crystal or cut glass...just that it's a shiny. :-) But I have to admit to having been totally caught up in the moment when we were picking out The Ring....

Which leads up to my mistake....I was feeling a bit "OMG - Deer In Headlights - WTF is going on!?!" and all sorts of awkward and that's when I said it. I said he could have carte blanche with the wedding bands. And I meant it. I will wear whatever he picks out.

But that brings us to this mornings convo:

Him: I've found lord of the rings wedding bands.
Me: Oh? Where? (thinking...can I blow the place up?)
Him: www.e-weddingbands.com
Me: Oh, ok. (Thinking, DoS attack then?)
Me: Not bad. Well, you get to pick them so whatever it is you want.

And I do mean it. I just. Well. I just hope that the one I get can have all the engraving done on the inside....

Thank you, Machinima!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I need to try this...

It's supposed to clean just about any pot/pan you have....

1/4 cup of baking soda in a small glass bowl and squirt in hydrogen peroxide until it makes a nice paste.  

Home...

We are looking for a home...

First, we thought we'd buy something but being the brilliant man that he is, the male part of We thought since we are moving out of our comfort zones and to a more remote location, we should probably rent something first to ensure that we are happy out in the boonies.

We want to rent a small house. With a fenced yard. In the McHenry county area. That permit dogs. 2 dogs, in fact.

This is no small feat, it seems. I have found houses. And houses with yards. And houses with yards in the McHenry area. But none that take dogs. I've found apartments that take dogs but they have no yard.

Needless to say...the search continues....with much frustration!

If anyone knows anyone who has a rental available, let me know....

It's Official!

We are engaged (as of 4/27/2013). I'm at a loss. Deer in headlights. Happy but...stunned....a million things to be done. Ring forthcoming - one has been picked out but it's being modified (a beautiful marquis main stone is going to replace the insipid little princess cut one that was in the ring) and needs to be paid off, so it'll be a few weeks but there it is.

Not a great pic but it's the only one I took.

Thank you, my beloved - whoa. I can't call him Boyfriend anymore. Well, thank you my beloved betrothed! Jeeze, that sounds so...goofy. Lol.

Beating My Head Against the Wall of Stupid...

Clients are bad for my health. I think my blood pressure skyrocketed beyond the range of "normal" today.....

1) Client asks why I can't make the rectangular image she sent me fit proportionally into the square space....

2) Client: When will my update be finished?
     Me: My hope is to have it done today. I will let you know when we've finished the programming.
     Client: Ok, thanks.
     Me: The programming has been completed, please review at your convenience.
     Client: What am I looking at?

3) Client receives scam email. Forwards it to a lawyer and asks what he should do. Lawyer says while it's important to protect your trademarks, this is a scam, ignore it, blah, blah, etc, etc. Client then forwards email to me, with a very panicked message about not knowing what should be done and asking what action should be taken. I reiterate that it is a scam and should be deleted and forgotten. Client says "Okie dokie, that was easy peasy". SOMEONE NEEDS THEIR MEDS INCREASED.

Helsingborg

So I was cleaning out my computer - purging various old files as I am prone to saving everything for no good reason and I found a text file that contained this:

1710 In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.

Now this leaves me wondering WTF I was doing and why I thought that was apparently noteworthy enough to have its own file. While I am partially Swedish, I am not particularly interested in history, so I really cannot figure out for the life of me what this was about.

Though I do think the o's with the little slash mark are very cute....

A Poem...

Come morning, I press my lips against you,
Opening my mouth to take you in,
Feeling your sweet warmth,
Finding myself lost in the bliss of you.
Ever so happy, I bask in your presence.
Ever so satisfied, I look forward to the morrow.

My Friends

I'm expecting a Facebook Friend request from Princess Buttercup and a LinkedIn request from Westley. 

Citrusy Almond Biscotti

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon orange liqueur or orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped or sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350°F.

 Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

 Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract, orange liqueur/juice and zest in large bowl. 

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until well blended. 

Stir in almonds.

It helps to place dough in the fridge for a half hour or so if it's soft.

Divide dough, using floured hands, shape each section into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 inch-wide logs. 

Place onto prepared baking sheet, spacing apart 2 logs on one sheet.

Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 25 minutes.

Cool logs completely on sheet. Maintain oven temperature.

Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake until just beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.

Watch...

Go Anonymous!

Hehe - Anonymous hacked into the Facebook account of Westboro Baptist Church and gave it a much needed makeover!

Thanks for making my day, Anonymous!