Gwen

Today my sweet Gwendolyn Monet turned one year old.

We celebrated with a few gifts. We wrapped up two things that she already had hanging in her closet and a set of cheap fabric blocks from Ikea. The presents were mostly for show... and for Asher. It isn't a real party without a box or two to open. While I was gone (rehearsing kids for our primary program) Dan made a delicious devil's food cake. Gwen liked it, but she is always willing to share.

I am so lucky to be this girl's Mom. She is almost always happy and smiling. She is learning so fast! She says "Uh oh" at appropriate times. She dances whenever she hears music. She loves her family. She is crawling really well now. Someday she will get teeth and more hair and she will start walking. Every child goes at their own pace.

I am loving every step of the way.

Etoufee

A few of you have asked for this recipe, so here it is straight out of my New Orleans cook book. I make the whole recipe if cooking for guests and half if I'm just cooking for our family. Try it, it is amazing!

Etoufee-

2 pounds of meat (I usually do cooked chicken and/or shrimp. Mix it up if you want to)

1 cup oil

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups onions

1/4 cup celery (many times I omit this)

1/3 cup garlic, mashed and minced

2/3 cup green peppers, chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup tomato paste

1 can chicken broth

3 cups water

2 chicken flavored bouillon cubes

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon Tabasco pepper

1 teaspoon fancy paprika

In a large skillet, make roux by stirring oil and flour over slow to medium heat. When roux reaches peanut butter color, add chopped onions, celery, garlic, and green peppers and saute for five minutes. In another skillet (small) melt butter and add tomato paste. Saute paste in butter until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes, and then mix with the roux. Pour in broth, slowly add water with the melted bouillon cubes in it, and balance of seasonings. Cook for 30 minutes. Add crawfish tails (or shrimp or other cooked meat) 5 minutes before serving. Serve with rice.

I'm sure I have a picture of this somewhere. I can't find it now, but when I do the picture will be where these words are now.

Bon Appetit!

Update on the fam

I haven't blogged much this month... partly because I have been very busy. Here is a flash update on each member of our household:

Gwen still looks pretty much the same as she has for the past 9 months or so. She is longer, but she still has the same face, not a lot of hair, no teeth, and tiny feet. She has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia which just means that she is extra flexible in her hip area and it will take her a little longer to learn how to walk and stuff. A wonderful woman named Jessica has been coming to our house every 2 weeks for the last month and a half for therapy and Gwen can now get in and out of sitting by herself and will tolerate standing for long periods of time. She doesn't crawl yet, but she scoots like a champ. I think she would have been famous in China a few decades ago. She is white, chubby, bald, has tiny feet, is a contortionist, and I'm pretty sure she speaks chinese all the time. When Asher was this age (almost a year) he had teeth, his first haircut, and was taking his first steps. But I'm glad I get to pretend like Gwen is a 7 month old for a little bit longer. It is like having a baby forever!
Asher is saying some pretty fun things lately. He is a little obsessed with Harry Potter, but when he started speaking to me in parseltongue we decided to put that movie away for a little while. He still hordes and places toys like an art curator. You may think he is sleeping in the above picture. Not so. He is playing "chop chop ninja" on my iphone. He can work that little piece of technology far better than I can, so I think he might take after his daddy. We are also keeping him away from the games on our phones, hoping that we can bribe him into being potty trained. It is not looking too good right now. I wont go into details.
I am in the last stretch of playing the Baroness Elsa Schrader in the Sound of Music for Copperstar Repertory Co. This is the only picture I have of myself so far... I'm in the lobby with my nieces and nephews. You can't see how epic my hair is, but it is so awesome. It takes Sam at least an hour to do it. He also colored my hair for free at his salon. I'm pretty lucky, because he is dang good. Past clients include Kristen Chenoweth and Hillary Clinton, to name a few. He used to work on Broadway and at a swanky New York salon.

I also painted the abbey wall, sewed humongous nazi flags and runners (as previously stated), and have volunteered my time all over the place for this show... but I am getting paid for the help I've given two times a week to run the kids in the pre-show act. So, yeah. I've been busy.

Dan quit his job at Red Pear and has been venturing out solo. He has a few independent jobs right now, so contracting looks promising so far. He also sold all of his Cannon camera equipment and sort of traded it in for new Nikon stuff. He has a renewed interest in taking pictures, but unfortunately he can't photograph himself. No picture of Dan.

Also, Dan has been really supportive through tech week and performances. He has had both kids from pretty much 4:00 on most days this month and I am so grateful that he supports me in my crazy adventures even when it is hard. I will try not to go overboard with this acting thing... but I just love it so much!

Of course, I love him more...

More sewing

Here are some recent projects:

I made a tutu for my sister-in-law Sara...

I made a pillow out of Dan's torn white church shirt and some sequins...

I also am in the process of making nazi flags for my play. I'm a little scared to post a picture for fear someone will get the wrong idea. But they are HUGE and epic.

Unillustrated Happenings

On Friday we threw a little dinner party for the adult Arizonan members of our family. We have been trying to make this a monthly tradition, and thus far we have been serving up tacos. We took to calling our evenings together "talk 'n tacos" so I was a little nervous to change the rules. But I did it anyway. I made etouffee, rice, jalapeno cornbread muffins, and chocolate souffle with toffee sauce. (There are a lof of double fs in that food! Which is why it could make you ffat.) It was all SOOO good. Sara and Brian brought red berries and fruit dip that was also very delicious and Stephen and Rachel took care of the beverages with soda and Shirley Temples. It was like eating at a really good Cajun restaurant. I'm bragging, I realize, but I'm not kidding when I say- to coin a phrase from my sister Tracy circa 1998 or so- I wanted to go back in time and eat it again.

I always like it when food turns out well for company.

On Saturday Dan was gone all day at SunnyConf, which is a really cool conference for nerds. I think this was the first or second year they have held a rails (that is a computer language for those of you who don't speak geek) conference here in Phoenix, but Dan said they had some programming celebs there, and he met some cool people. He also signed himself up to do a lightning talk, which is where you talk about anything you want for exactly five minutes. He had no idea what he wanted to talk about when he put his name on the list, but he did it anyway. While he was waiting he fixed on a topic and put together some slides to go along with it. He gave the talk to me, and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm really proud of him. I mean, if our positions were reversed I would feel intimidated and freaked out to go out of my comfort zone like that.

I am married to a cool guy.

While he was gone I had 16 cast members from The Sound of Music rehearse at my house. It was super fun. I guess they couldn't get in the theater on Saturday and I told them I had an open area in my front rooms and a grand piano. It worked out perfectly, and I loved watching my kids watching other kids sing and dance to Do Re Mi.

By the way, I'm in the cast of The Sound of Music. I was cast as Elsa, the rich fiancee baroness.

Sorry about the lack of photography.

That's Life

I never wanted to be in a sorority. It never appealed to me on any level. However, I am a little bit addicted to a facebook game called Sorority Life. I don't care about the part of the game where you fight other girls from rival sororities or the part where you plan events. To me, it is all about collecting outfits and accessories. It is like a game of paper dolls for grown ups. I suppose it appeals to the little girl in me AND the designer in me. I feel like such a shmuck admitting to the fact that I play this game, but hey... we all have our oddities, right?


I know, I'm pathetic.

Sewing on the brain

Last night I had a dream I was a contestant on Project Runway. Actually, it was kind of a nightmare even though I was chosen as someone who was "safe." We were making hats out of an article of clothing we owned. Everyone did a terrible job, including Heidi Klum, who was also a contestant.

I mentioned I have been teaching a sewing class. I think more people should learn to sew. I want to teach an adult class too. Here are some shots of a few of my lovely students with their first projects. In case you can't tell, they made their headbands. And they did a great job!

Also, I have decided to sew myself something this week. Stay tuned for the finished product!