Wedding Schmedding

So, I'm not super into weddings.
There. I've said it.
I never really was, in fact.
As a little girl, I definitely played house and I definitely pretended to be a mommy, but I never really dreamed about, planned or pretended about my wedding. I guess I don't like the drama and hoopla and such. I worked in the wedding business for a few years and that only worsened my opinion of them.
It may surprise you, then, to know that Emma and I watched the royal wedding.
Let me explain.
For Christmas, my sister-in-law gave Emma a darling vintage snack set - plates and cups that fit together - and some special tea, specifically for having tea while we watched the Royal Wedding. Before that? I scarcely knew anything like that was going on across the pond.
However, if you know me at all by now (and it's likely you do), you know I love parties and baking. Who am I to neglect a reason to make scones?
Life has been busy and the wedding broadcast started at 4 AM here on a school day, so we had to record it, which was fine. That gave us a chance to pack up our goodies and head to my brother's house to have tea and breakfast with my sister-in-law, Sarah. Emma texted her early this morning to see pajamas fell within the appropriate dress code.
They did.
So, we went out and about in our pajamas.
Take a look at how much fun we had!

Scones and jam and lemon curd and cream and tea and...wonderfulness!





A closer look at Emma's dishes:



Earl Gray tea lattes with steamed milk!





Our tray of accoutrements:



Huckleberry wants to know if puppies can have scones too.



It was a decadent and lovely morning! We lingered far too long over the footage of all those hats and dresses and, of course, the radiant bride. Then it was time to go home. I realized that I was still in my pajamas and would not make it home without pumping some gas into the car.
Oh well.
Generally, I don't go out in public in my pajamas, but there was no choice now. Emma, however, was unsurprised by this development. When I worried out loud about what people might think, she offered that it sounded perfectly like something I would do anyway and she didn't see what the big deal was.
I see.
Well.
Since I made it home unscathed, in my pajamas, I believe I'll stay in them for the rest of the day. I have a paper due tomorrow that I have scarcely even begun. But there are only a few days left in this semester! I am nearly there!

Panna Cotta

This is how the girls eat while the boys are away:




Lemon & Greek yogurt panna cotta with delicious blueberries.

Blue (Alternate)

Here's my alternate for this week's Two for Joy post.

One More Week

This semester will be done in one more week(ish).

I have some really big things weighing on my mind and I am trying so hard to really focus on school work for this last week. The problem is that those big things keep squeezing my school work into a tiny corner of my brain. The problem with that is that the school work has an actual deadline.
As in, an actual, week-away deadline.

As in, I have a giant research paper due in a week that I've barely even begun.

I keep meaning to.
I have very good intentions.
When it comes down to it, though, it's been the thing whose deadline was furthest away and I am honestly just treading water here as this semester winds down, finishing the things that are due tomorrow.

In spite of my persistent state of denial, Tomorrow keeps popping up as Today with every sunrise.

I am accomplishing the bare minimum in all areas. It's not just the paper, mind you. It's finals in all classes and juries in front of the music faculty and work too. Who knew that accompanists were needed in so many different ways around here? I have the option to turn down some of that work, but, let's be honest - I like to eat. I also like to be able to buy underwear for my kids. I can only turn down so much work.

I don't like that.

I would prefer to achieve and conquer and surprise everyone with my greatness!

Alas.

Priorities have become difficult to juggle. How do you really choose between educational responsibilities and church responsibilities? How do you really choose between studying for a test and your daughter's science fair project?

Greatness will have to wait.

Ahem

I'd like to make an announcement.

I have discovered that there are at least five teeny lemons on my pink lemon tree! They are beautiful and stripe-y (yellow and green stripes on the outside, pink fruit on the inside) and I hope they hang on until they are ripe!

Daily Bliss: laughing with the boys at school

Alternate-Alternate

This was my "plan B" photo for this week. I took it. I liked it. But I didn't love it.
Jasmine flowers are blooming everywhere right now. They smell amazing.

Alternate

So, I was totally late getting my picture finished for this week's Two for Joy post.
Every week, it comes down to a couple of photos and I always have a hard time choosing just one. This week was no exception and, well, I thought I'd share the alternate photo with you.



I found this nest in the front yard quite a while ago and left it there. I left my house this morning, having been granted an unexpected morning to myself, determined to find a picture to take. Nothing seemed to fit right. I walked around parks and lakes and downtown and...nothing.
But when I really got to thinking about this week's theme ("Delicate"), I suddenly remembered the nest. I sped back home, really hoping it would still be there. And, of course, there it was. Right underneath the Spanish bayonet.
Hooray!

Daily Bliss: coffee downtown - all by myself
Wake-up Playlist: choir songs from yesterday's concert. all of them. jumbled up together.

Another

Just another picture I took recently.

What's This?

Oh, it's just a picture that I took.
I wanted to put something here so you know I haven't forgotten you.

In the Garden

I took my coffee this morning on my front porch.
It felt as extravagant and lazy as it sounds.
It was only five minutes, really, but it was so nice.
I got to watch our neighborhood birds go about their morning business and you all know how much I love birds. There was a woodpecker pair pounding away at the tree across the street, a mockingbird changing guard at the nest and bringing food in for the little ones, a cardinal pair ruffled up on top of a fence and a blue jay pair making all sorts of loud ruckus.

I went outside this afternoon to water my fledgling garden. It's mostly tomatoes and I mostly haven't had much success with them so far. But this year, I went all out. We have tomatoes everywhere, trellised up in the most odd ways. I also have a watermelon patch, lots of bell peppers, beets, pumpkins and cucumbers.

It's been a really warm spring so far. The warm weather plus our recent storms have brought pests and disease out a little early into the gardens. I am ready. I bought myself an organic pest and disease controller to try out this year. We have had a mild outbreak of tomato worms and I was planning to take charge of them this weekend. But the damage so far - it hasn't been as bad as I've suspected it should be.

As I turned my back to the yard, a flash of red caught my eye. It was our Papa Cardinal. He swooped down into one of the freshly-watered tomato patches. Then a mockingbird fluttered into place by the still-wet blueberries. I realized, as I watched them for a minute, that they must be the reasons the worms have seemed to disappear.

We have added birdhouses to our yard and worked hard to keep it free of the feral cats that roam our neighborhood. Maybe the birds know it. They didn't mind my presence there and seemed grateful for the easy meal, and I certainly didn't mind having such beautiful and effective pest control!

So far, so good. And if we hold on to most of those little green tomatoes long enough for them to ripen, we may finally have a harvest big enough to justify calling ourselves gardeners.

This Week

We did a few things.
Poor Emma was in another spelling bee.



They really are things that she faces with dread.

Andrew's jazz band played a set on Saturday at the (sweltering) downtown ampitheater.



These days are busy as usual. I'm in the final month of this semester with a paper to write and finals and recitals to face.

I think I can...

Scenes

Scenes from around my house this weekend:
Gifts - treasures, really - from a friend's trip across Europe and a miniature paper scene (with a fabulous back story) made by Emma.

Pies

Chris' birthday is coming up and, as usual, we had a little family party. I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he wasn't really sure he wanted a cake. I asked him if he wanted a pie and he wasn't really sure he wanted one of those either. But he did conclude he wanted some sort of birthday treat.
We settled on the idea of hand pies. Strawberry hand pies.
I put them each in a convenient little sleeve and brought them to my mom's in cute, vintage boxes.







Yum.