Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!

And take a tour of my home! Many thanks to Boomama for hosting this Christmas tour! Welcome!

Stop 1: The front door of our apartment. This is Liz's super cute Christmas welcome door hanger thingy. Someday when we find us some husbands and are no longer roommates, I will have to find something like this for my door because I love it!

Next stop: The Christmas tree! Boy Scout Troop "some number I don't remember that sells trees on Wilson Blvd" came through for us again and supplied this great tree!

And up next: People!!

And food (recipes below)!

Yes - this is my favorite way to decorate at Christmas! Fill your house with your favorite friends and your favorite food, and play you favorite Christmas tunes in the background and you've got yourself a celebration. And don't forget to use the word favorite as many times as you can! These pics were taken this weekend at Anne and Liz's annual Very Merry Christmas Party! And it was Very, Very, Merry! Here we are in front of the tree!

I cut off all my hair! Whoa! Afterwards, some of us went outside to take a picture in front of the house:

Oh wait! I mean George and Laura's house! Oops! I think our tree competes well with theirs!

And now for a couple of recipes. Liz and I make basically the same things every year at our party and the food is always a hit. I've posted two yummy recipes (one really easy and Christmas-y (Jello squares) and one that requires a little more work but it worth every minute).

Christmas Jello Squares:

3 (3oz) boxes of Jello (I make one batch with cherry Jello and one with lime)
1 pack of gelatin
3 cups boiling water
1 cup whipping cream

Dissolve Jello and gelatin in boiling water. Add 1 cup of whipping cream and stir.
Pour into 9x13 pan and chill over night. When the jello chills, the cream rises to the top and creates a lovely layered effect (you can see them in the food pic above).

Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

1lb ground beef
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp milk
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper

Mix above ingredients and form into meatballs. Place in 9x13 baking dish and bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes. Drain excess fat.

In sauce pan combine 2/3 cup of Heinz Chili Sauce and 2/3 cup of grape jelly. Cook over med-low heat until well mixed. Add meatballs. Serve in crock pot to keep warm.

Well, there you have it!! I hope you all have a merry Christmas!! Enjoy the bloggy Christmas tour!

What time are you starting the prayer vigil?

...was the question posed to me by my coworker Andrew after reading this article:

Liza Minnelli collapses during Swedish concert

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, December 13th 2007, 9:47 AM

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Liza Minnelli collapsed after finishing a song during a performance in Sweden, and she was seen by a doctor at her hotel and then flew Thursday to the United States for medical treatment, a concert organizers said.

Minnelli, 61, was performing in a Christmas show Wednesday in Goteborg, Sweden’s second-biggest city, when she collapsed while walking offstage, said Zlakto Nedanovski, a spokesman for the concert organizers said.

"As she walked down the steps, she passed out," Nedanovski told The Associated Press, adding that she did not return for the rest of the show.

"She was taken immediately to her hotel, where a doctor was waiting," he said.
He said Minnelli was flown to the United States on Thursday on the advice of doctors there.

"They decided together with her management that it’s best for Liza to go to the U.S. right away," Nedanovski said, adding that he did not know the medical diagnosis.

"She had felt a bit dizzy before she got up onstage," but decided to proceed with the show anyway, he said.

Minnelli’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed the entertainer "had complained of dizziness" before the show and "became very ill after the show began."

"As a result, she was unable to finish her performance and was rushed back to her hotel by her manager," Rosenberg said.

She said a doctor examined Minnelli, and in consultation with her New York physician, determined that she needed "to immediately return to New York City to receive further medical evaluation."

In a separate statement, released by concert organizer Svensk Nojesutveckling, Minnelli’s manager, Gary Labriola, said: "We don’t yet know what happened, we are all very worried."
Minnelli was performing with several Swedish entertainers in a show called "A Classic Christmas Night." It was the fourth and final show in a series of four concerts in Sweden, Rosenberg said.

Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 film "Cabaret." She won an Emmy for the 1972 TV special "Liza with a Z," and Tony Awards in 1974 and 1978.

The $50 Carrot

I went to my 10 year high school reunion a few weeks ago. I'd been going back and forth about whether or not to go since I didn't have much fun at the five year. But eventually I decided to just go for it and hope that I'd see a few people who would be interesting to talk to and not just there to get drunk. And I found a few! It was fun to catch up with people but I left there so thankful for the friends I have now. I love being blown away by the way God takes care of me and He has certainly done that with the friends and family He has provided. Shout out for God!

I almost forgot - the reason the title of this post is "The $50 Carrot" is because I spent $50 to attend the reunion and left it realizing I'd only eaten one baby carrot. I had been sick most of the week before, and didn't want to dive back in to the world of real food by eating wings and meatballs. So I grabbed a carrot and that was enough to satisfy!

Aren't we a lovely bunch? I love how Paul (standing behind me) and Brian appear to be gazing lovingly into each others eyes. Makes me laugh :)

I'm Drowning in Soap

Which is why I haven't been blogging lately. And I just haven't been inspired. All my energy is going to wrapping soap and selling it at the farmer's markets each weekend. This is what our dining room table has looked like for this last month.

And I've got another soap wrapping station set up in my room. And we've got soap bins scattered around the living area with soap drying. At least the apartment smells good!

Really, though, I've enjoyed just about every minute of my life as a "soap sister", except for those early hours at the farmer's market the last two weekends when the temperature has been hovering around freezing. But other than that, I've totally been turned on to fun and fancy (and all natural) soap! And scents. Which is kind of an amazing thing, because in the past I have specifically purchased soap without a scent because they give me headaches. And now my whole world is filled with lavenders, melons, mints, lemons, gingers and plenty of fragrances I didn't know existed. And to all my friends and fam who read this blog: bet you'll never guess what you'll be getting for Christmas this year?? :)

Goodbye little red car!! Have fun building homes!

Last week the Habitat for Humanity peeps came and picked up my car. I donated it to their Cars for Homes program. I wasn’t as sad as I thought I would be to see it go. Actually, I was kind of relieved after all the fun and good times I’d had at the DMV the week before trying to get the title changed over into my name. But most of you have already heard that story. Or maybe the sadness wasn’t there because I’d been driving my new car for over a month and all things red and Ford had completely been erased from my mind and been replaced with blue and Honda. Who knows?

What I do know is that I loved that car! It took me and my friends all over the country and it never let me down. It came close to rear ending other cars about 237 times, but not once did it not stop just in time. It had a few scratches from its encounters with many a pole in the FDIC garage, but never complained. And it even laughed along with me when I locked my keys in it again and again. A car doesn’t get any better than that!

I had a great time cleaning it out last week and reminiscing about all the people who had been in and out of it throughout the years. The friends, the boyfriends, the family members, the girls I baby sit for who got such a kick out of the manual windows. I found a comb that belonged to cute Jeff who is a member of the “God uses cute guys to draw Anne closer to Himself” club. And lots of great mixed tapes that my friends made for me back in the middle and high school days. And my favorite find was a note from a French family at our church who saw my France sticker on the back of my car and wrote “Vous etes Francais aussi!” They thought I was French and that makes me very happy! Thankfully, I went back to Europe in 2005 and bought the same sticker at the exact same shop in Monaco (because I just didn’t want to by it in France), anticipating the fact that I’d soon have a new car and would need another France sticker. Now I have to find it so I can stick it on the Honda.

Anyway, the last 7.5 years and 83,808 miles were quite a fun ride! Can't wait to see where I'll be when I've got that many miles on the new car. Probably pushing forty, which is a crazy thought!

Let Go and Let God

Say your 10 year high school reunion is coming up in November and you'd really like to lose 5 pounds. Six months out, you tell yourself you'll work out 3-4 times a week and stop eating all the brownie mix. A few months go by and you realize you've gone through spurts of working out and eating well, followed by spurts of sitting on the couch and eating brownie mix. But you think to yourself "That's ok! I still have 3 months. And fall is here! Perfect for long jogs and bike rides outside." Then all of the sudden November rolls around and you discover that you weigh the exact same thing you have weighed for what feels like forever down to the .6 that always seems to follow the 1xx. So you say "whatever" about the whole losing weight idea and decide you'll wow your former high school peeps with your super personality and Liza Minnelli moves. Well, let me just tell you (because I am living proof) this is the exact moment that God steps in and makes you violently ill the week before your reunion. You spend the early part of the week returning (in a not so fun way) all the food you enjoyed over the weekend. And for the next three days you live off of Gatorade and saltines. You try to eat a banana one day because you really really want a banana, but this is not a good idea. So it's back to the saltines. When you finally get the energy to stand up without feeling dizzy, you get on the scale et voila! A number lower than you've seen in quite some time. So you laugh a little about how funny God can be. Then you say a little prayer that you'll actually make it to your reunion without passing out from all the fever.

Anne with an "E"

Some of you have left comments lately about the name of my blog so I think I need to set the record straight on where the name originated from. While I do love and appreciate Anne of Green Gables, my being Anne with and “E” came to be long before I knew who Anne Shirley was. Actually (and I think any Anne will attest to this) before I was even old enough to write my own name, I knew I was Anne with an “E” because I’d heard my Mom say it at to the receptionist at the dentist or pediatrician’s office or I received random birthday cards from little old ladies at my church who’d forgotten the “E” and I was smart enough to know that “Ann” was not my name. All that being said, I have proudly been an Anne with an “E” for as long as I can remember.

During my elementary years, I read several of the Anne of Green Gables books (can’t say that I’ve read them all) and certainly felt like Anne Shirley and I were kindred spirits. And of course now I own the first two movies. But then something amazing happened in my life sometime during the middle school years. I discovered Liza! I’ve talked about my Liza obsession before, so I won’t bore you with it now, but I will say that when Liza came into my life (sounds a bit like a conversion story, doesn’t it? haha) so did the song Liza with a “Z” (which was written for the made for TV concert of the same name). And you bet I could relate to Liza always having to tell everyone her name was Liza with a “Z” not Lisa with an “S” and although Ann without an “E” is not pronounced differently, it’s still annoying to always have to tell people.

Well, being the wannabe performer that I am, I decided that I would one day have a show (and theme song) called Anne with an “E” that would open on Broadway. To date, the show has only opened in my head, but I still have high hopes.

So here we are today with the Anne with an “E” blog. I’ve been thinking that the quote at the top doesn’t really give any information as to who I am, other than the fact that I love Jesus. So I’ve been toying around with what we’ll call a mission statement for my blog. My church’s mission statement is “Spreading a passion to love God and people above all else.” This of course comes from Matthew 2:36-40:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Somehow, the discussion that followed between Jesus and the Pharisees about the importance of finding some type of super star in the entertainment industry to obsess over (preferably one of the Broadway ilk) was left out of the Bible. I’m really not sure how this was overlooked, but who am I to question the Lord?

So I’m working on some kind of mission statement/blog theme sentence which you’ll hopefully see in the near future. It will be something along the lines of loving God, people and Liza above all else, but I need to make it catchier than that. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment! And go out and download some Liza tunes today!

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway

**** Updated****
OK – the comments are closed! 350+ comments! That is some kind of craziness!

Now, how I picked the winner: I exported your comments to an Excel spreadsheet so I’d have a number beside each name (I removed a couple of duplicate comments). Then I used the handy dandy random number generator to generate a handy dandy number. And here are the results:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 249
Timestamp: 2007-11-02 19:00:26 UTC

And the winner is….

Vicky @ Homeschool Mandate.

For those of you who did not win, I'll be back again if Shannon does another giveaway at Christmas (or some other future date). And feel free to check out the Mount Harmony website where you can order soaps online. They're not cheap, but these soaps are just lovely, are great for your skin and smell great too! Thanks for all your comments! This has been a blast! Hope you all enjoyed it too!

Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a fall bloggy giveaway and I am joining in on the fun!

I am giving away handmade soap made in Middleburg, VA at Mount Harmony farm. These soaps are amazing! Each of our soaps is made with over 50% olive oil (which is great for your skin - especially dry skin in the winter) and other essential oils and fragrances. All ingredients are natural. Here's a look at the soaps we sold at the farmer's market this weekend:




They look almost good enough to eat! (but I wouldn't recommend it!)

I'll be giving away two bars (to one winner) that you can choose from the following list:

“Ann Yonkers Meets The Red Mandarin”…essential oils of mandarin red, sweet orange and bergamot with jojoba and apricot kernel oil, color and safflower petals.

“Ginger Lemon Poppyseed”… soft scrub of poppyseeds, oil of apricot kernel, essential oils of ginger and lemon, plus color.

“Oatmeal Lavender”…combines the best of both worlds…oatmeal for earthly texture, and lavender essential oil for heavenly scent.

“McCreamy McSoap”….Grey’s Anatomy fans now have their own creamy soap from Mount Harmony’s McCreator. Avocado and castor oil, pigment, safflower petals, and fragrance give McSoap its McCreamy softness and allure.

“Citrus Moonbeam”…essential oils of sweet orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, grapefruit and cedarwood are bathed in the light of moons of juniper berry and grapefruit balls, paprika and tiny meteorites of heather buds.

“Gladiator Exfoliator”…for the man in your life…ground oats, spices of cinnamon , allspice, nutmeg give strength and honor to essential oils of rosemary, sage and clove bud with the bravery of wheatgerm oil, aloe vera gel and vegetable glycerin.

“Grouchy Tiger, Smitten Dragon”…just can’t get enough flying fantasy action, this is close and will have you flying through bamboo forests: essential oil of mentha arvensis, pigment, vegetable glycerin, and apricot kernel oil.

“Shea Chic”…shea butter, vegetable glycerin, lavender essential oil, calendula petals –tres chic!

"Clary Sage and Mandarin”… like a rare piece of Oriental porcelain, a design of oils of avocado, aloe vera, vegetable glycerin, chlorophyll, calendula petals, mandarin soap pieces, and essential oils of lemon, mandarin, sweet orange, tangerine and clary sage.

“French Lavender”…white as angel wings, essential oils of French lavender, bergamot, cedarwood.

That's it! The soap will come wrapped in a beautiful tissue paper should you choose to give them away as gifts. The wrapped soap looks something like this:

Just leave a comment (include your email if you don't have a blogger account)and you'll be entered into the drawing! I'll pick a winner using a random number generator on Friday, November 2 at 3pm EST. I'll post the winner's name to the site on Friday and also send an email.

Happy bloggy giveaway-ing!!

Jesus can take me home now.

Because I've seen Liza. In person. We were in the same room. And it was amazing! I have not been so overwhelmed by something in a long time! They just don't make entertainers like her anymore. She is so powerful. Her ability to connect with the audience is so like no other and you can't help but love her (she cried while singing "Maybe this Time.") She doesn't have the range she used to have, and she's had both her hips replaced so the dancing is mostly limited to her busting out the jazz hands and striking poses like this:

But when she strikes a pose she totally strikes it. And she holds it for several seconds until a few people shout out "we love you Liza!" and then she gives a little giggle and goes on with her singing. She was just so Liza. Liza with a "Z" that is. And after the concert last night I was thanking the Lord like nobody's business for giving me this opportunity, and then I said a little prayer for Liza because I have no idea where her heart is, but I do know that I hope she's with me in heaven because I don't think I could spend an eternity without being able to listen to Liza.

Tomorrow my life is going to change forever.

That is, if I don't have a heart attack first. The moment I've been waiting for since the beginning of time (or maybe since I was 12) is about to happen. I'm going to see Liza!! Liza with a "Z"!!! In concert. In Baltimore. Tomorrow!! The only thing that could make this moment better would be meeting Liza and/or getting called on to fill in for one of her back up dancers who just came down with the bird flu. Not that I'm wishing that on anyone. I just have dreams about dancing with Liza. Because that is my goal. And I dance much better than I sing. Hopefully one day I'll be doing this: