Flashback......

     I mentioned in a previous post that I received a new phone for Christmas. I was overwhelmed with all of the features. It has a camera, but I rarely used it, because I didn't want to plug it in to the computer and then have to e-mail the pics to Wally World. That's just too many steps for this impatient woman.
     On a recent excursion I noticed an advertisement that said I could effortlessly send my pics to the kiosk using their new bluetooth system. All I had to do was stand in front of the instant print machine, select photos from my phone's gallery, select the bluetooth kiosk #, and voila my pictures appeared instantly on the screen in front of me. Does it get any easier than this? I don't even have to keep track of my little chip thingy.
     So now I have to explore all of the photo editing tools offered by my new best friend. The soft edges in the above picture and the crayon border in my header are both compliments of my phone highly sophisticated piece of technological genius.
      I'm sure there are probably some of you who are out there yawning, but I'm just thinking back to the dot matrix printer. You know, the one with all the holes along the edges of the paper....the one that always got off track and ended up jammed in a pile....so after several aggravating attempts you were rewarded with graphics that were a cross between cave drawings and bad pointillism. Only those, who are old enough to have experienced one of these painful episodes, can truly appreciate the beauty of modern technology.
     I would have to say that the above mentioned printers came out about the same time as those sun glasses (can you say CHIPS or Poncharello?) I guess it is OK for some of the styles to make a come back. At least I'll have plenty of pictures to blackmail Eloise with later.

Spontaneous Photo Shoot.....

Since we are homeschooling this year, Eloise hasn't taken any school photos. The year is almost out and it didn't seem right not to do the picture thing. Last Saturday she played in a community outreach concert for  GNOYO. Since she was already dressed nicely.....since I had my camera handy...and since it was a beautiful walk from the concert chapel to our car...well you know I just couldn't help snapping a few.

~PROBLEM SOLVED~

All is well in my OCD universe once again.

The Wedding....

 This is a picture of the cake I made for a friend who has recently become a member of our church. In spite of the fact that I only had 2 weeks to put the whole wedding together, I think it was beautiful. I must take a moment to give credit where credit is due. I was slightly extremely fatigued as the time for the wedding approached and I still needed to sculpt the roses out of fondant. Sis. Debbie W. ran over to the church and whipped up the roses for the top of this cake out of butter cream icing in probably less than 10 min. Thank you, thank you, thank you.!!!  After that, she helped sister Evangeline clean up the huge mess that I made while I finished up a couple of the boutonnieres. I don't think I would have made it without her.

This was Sister E's Corsage.

The ceremony was held in the fellowship hall and there were approx. 50 people there.

The flowers on the arch and head table were hand made out of tissue and beads.

Stacy & Kassidy(miracle baby) waiting for their cue.

Stacy and her big brother practicing their walk.

The moment they've all been waiting for.

Sorry I don't have more pics. At this point I was trembling from exhaustion and could hardly stand.

Love & Prayers,

Miss Riya

The Best Valentine's Day Ever....

The delicious hand dipped berries that hubby had delivered were fabulous. It is also wonderful to think that this day commemorates the day 18 years ago that we officially began "going out". That being said, I must take a moment to gush about the one that I am most passionate about. He is truly amazing and he's been up to some really awesome stuff lately.

"Who?"

"What Stuff?"

Well,I thought you would never ask.

His name is Jesus and he has been creating quite a stir around here. As a matter of fact on this Valentine's Evening He made a way for us to bring a tub into the local prison and we

baptized 12 women in the name of Jesus

and one woman was so stirred, that she continued to pray until

she received the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Thank You Jesus For The Greatest Gift of All.

Ooooh La La....

 There is a local sweet shop that specializes in these lovely little pastries. They are common in France, but are a rare find on this side of the "Pond".  Locally they are only sold at a store called "Sucre" in New Orleans. Sucre caught the attention of a few celebrities and has been featured in magazines such as "O". These little morsels are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the taste buds, but not so appealing to the pocketbook. Being the curious chef that I am I tried to imagine what ingredients and methods would yield a treat so delicate, yet crisp to the tooth. I couldn't figure it out, so I pushed the thought of them out of my head.

 A couple of days ago I was browsing around T.J.Max, when all of a sudden this beautiful cook book screamed my name. So of course you know what's next.....

 You have probably noticed that what the French call a "Macarone" is not the same as the gooey coconut mounds that you will often find at Chinese Buffets.

 The pastries themselves usually only vary in color and are made of ground almonds and powdered sugar that has been sifted to remove any lumps and a meringue made of egg whites & super fine (caster) sugar.

 After stiff peaks had formed, we added a touch of blue coloring. Next we folded in the almond/sugar mix. Then we piped  1 1/4 inch circles onto parchment lined pans. The macaroons had to rest for 30 mins before baking. After we removed them from the oven we had to let them cool completely. There are dozens of ways to fill them, but we decided that the blue would work for the "Blueberry Cream Cheese" filling.

Genius I know!

 Here is Eloise with the finished product.

It must be all that French blood in her.

 I wish you could taste them.

~Someone needs to talk to Bill Gates or those guys over at Apple and tell them to get busy working on the "See-Smell-Taste" computers. ~

Bonus Pics:

Above are a few of our young ladies who attended our Valentines "Making a Treat for Someone Sweet" fellowship party.

 Above/Below: samples of our creations.

We had a fun evening of creativity & fellowship.

THERE....ARE YOU HAPPY BEPPI?....I FINALLY POSTED.

Love & Prayers,
~Me~



For TT & Gayle...

We're Singing a New Song in 2011

    Our pastor recently preached an awesome message about(you guessed it) "Singing a New Song". We are going to face the new year with a new attitude. I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm charging ahead with a smile on my face. I hope all of my friends will join me.

   
    As for why I haven't posted in a while..... well I have been trying to focus inward and help my family to transition with all of the recent changes in our lives. "What changes?" you might ask. Well, I won't bore you with all the details, but here are a couple:

•  Husbands job has shifted(new position & schedule)
• I have recently become "Office Manager in training" for my father's/daughter's business.
• Eloise is now trying out a new on-line curriculum(more about that on our homeschooling blog)
• My parents just bought me a new cell phone/music/picture/e-mail/browser/ap/game thingy. I successfully graduated from the 2 hour "basics" course. No applause necessary.

Will post soon with pics and stuff you might actually be interested in....I promise!