Thursday quiz

I was watching The Biggest Loser the other night. You know the show, where there are several chubbies competing to see who can lose the greatest percentage of body weight. Anyway, I had just ate a healthy dinner of vegetables and decided to make a little snack to finish off my dinner. I prepared my snack and took it with me to eat while sitting on the couch. The Biggest Loser program had begun so I sat down and started to eat my snack and then I realized what a loser I was. I was eating s'mores while watching the TV program about fat people.

Now these were not your regular s'mores because I did not have a bar of chocolate to put on the graham cracker and marshmallow delight. I went high class and replaced the chocolate with Nuttella. If you don't know what Nutella is then you are missing out on a tasty piece of heaven that is here on earth. (By the way, nothing beats a delicious croissant with nutella spread on it. Sigh. Yum)

I wonder how many s'mores the people on The Biggest Loser have eaten while sitting on the couch and if they could feel their butt getting bigger by the second like I did in that moment when reality hit so hard?

The question for this week is this: have you ever caught yourself in a moment where you realized that you were completely contradicting yourself or the situation your were in? (You know what I'm talking about. You complain to friends and family that you don't have any money and then you spend $100 on a new pet animal.)

Little leprechauns are about today

Once again, my kids came to the kitchen for their breakfast. Every St. Patrick’s Day, a leprechaun (me) shows up and turns the milk green. My 9 year old daughter has a new breakfast beverage choice, Crystal Light Lemonade. This year the leprechaun turned the lemonade green as well. It’s fun to see how she still falls for the leprechaun routine. I know my 14 year old son secretly likes when the leprechaun comes, even though he thinks he is way too old for that sort of thing. I will be going to the grocery store to purchase some chocolate gold coins for some more tomfoolery. After they arrive home from school, I’ve decided to tell them (and try not to laugh) that I managed to catch the leprechaun while he was up to his same old shenanigans and demanded that he give me some of his gold. Then the coins turned into chocolate when I let him go. I know, it’s totally lame. It’s amazing the stupid things you do for your kids!

Enjoy the pictures from Irish Blessings & Ireland History and Landscape.

Real Estate Friday

Sorry, the price wasn't listed for this lovely home. I can definitely see myself living here with my husband, Mr. Knightley. I know what you are thinking, Knightley didn't live in Scotland but I don't care. Maybe he got a job and we had to relocate. Sigh. He is my Mr. Knightley.

Exceptional Scottish mansion house in the Kingdom of Fife

An exceptional Grade A Listed , Neo-Palladian mansion house in a beautiful country setting. Original forecourt garden. Walled garden. Extensive lawns including a cricket pitch and enchanting tree house.

Nearing the end of a substantial restoration project Melville House is one of the most significant houses in Fife. With 11 main bedrooms, a staff flat, two self-contained wings and charmingly converted Pavilions the accommodation is entirely flexible. Commercial kitchens in the basement allow for outside catering.

The adjacent courtyard stables and coach houses were converted sometime ago to provide classrooms with a central stage and games hall but these are now in the process of being upgraded to provide a cinema, gymnasium, showers and treatment rooms. The cricket lawn and tennis court are being upgraded and the most enchanting treehouse has been built to keep lookout over the front drive. Melville House has an attractive countryside setting in north east Fife. It is surrounded by farmland and woodlands with a back drop of rising hills behind.
North Fife is a popular and attractive area south of the Tay Estuary famed for its beautiful countryside.

There is both national hunt racing and polo just beyond Perth at Scone which also hosts the Scottish Game Fair. Perth is the gateway to the highlands and there is hill walking, skiing and water sports within easy reach.

I love winning

Those of you who know me know that I can be a competitive person. My favorite competitions are the ones that are secret; for example, Monica and I decided to read the book P.S. I Love You. We both secretly tried to finish the book first just to rub it into the other person. (Monica beat me by a couple hours.) When I was in high school I worked at a local movie theater. Working the concession stand can get boring after bagging so many bags of popcorn a night. So one night my friend Becky and I decided to have a competition with the other two workers (they didn’t know about the competition) to see who could bring in the most money in their drawer. We worked harder and faster and made tons more money than the other two people. Actually, they thought that Becky and I were crazy because we begged people to let us sell to them and told them that our popcorn was better than theirs. One guy heard our claims and ran over to us to buy popcorn. When by standers participate in my made up contests I find even more enjoyment in winning.

So last night we had a Relief Society dinner at the church building. The committee decided to have eight ladies sign-up to decorate one table each. Out of the kindness of my heart I decided to participate in the table decorating and secretly thought to myself that mine will be the best. Since it was a church dinner, I felt that my table should reflect a religious theme. I thought for a few days about it and it finally hit me, Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the World.” If you read on we are told that our light should not be hid under a bushel so I decided that I would have the centerpiece be a tall candelabra surrounded by greenery (bushel) and some live flowers that could be taken home as a favor for sitting at my table.

When the time came to sit my table filled very quickly. I told the ladies that they could take the primroses home and they were giddy. Their favorite part was the candy dishes with Peanut M&Ms and the Cadbury Mini-eggs on the table. It was a nice evening. I did take pictures of all of the tables so I will let you decide if I won the imaginary contest or not.

The first table is mine.

Ice Ice Baby

My friend Audrey called me last Thursday with an invite to go and see Vanilla Ice on the local television show, Good Things Utah. Of course I had to say YES!!! Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to see the great white rapper from the eighties?

Be sure to notice Vanilla Ice looking right at my camera. I know he was thinking, “That lady with the red Sony Cybershot is sooo attractive, she looks so young, does she Botox?”. While I was thinking “What is wrong with his right eye?”

Audrey had to share the spotlight with the crazy pregnant woman (she has the permed hair and denim jacket from the eighties) on the left of Vanilla Ice. Crazy pregnant woman had him sign his autograph on her belly with a Sharpie. Very classy. I’m positive her boyfriend and/or husband was really happy about that. Audrey and I lucked out when Vanilla’s manager whisked us off to the lobby for a personal meet and greet. I would show you that picture, however, I look like I’m trying not to laugh hysterically(because on the inside, I really was laughing hysterically).

Monica

Real Estate Friday

For a mere $29,000,000.00 this could all be yours.

Reflecting the remarkable and renowned personal style of the late Brooke Astor, philanthropist and doyenne of New York society, this residence is an eloquent representation of her distinguished life. It is located on a very high floor at 778 Park Avenue, which was designed in 1931 by Rosario Candela, who is to this day New Yorks most celebrated luxury residential architect. It occupies the entire 16th and part of the 15th floors, resulting in 4 brilliantly sunny exposures. What makes this property uniquely charming is the sheer number of its architectural assets. There are 15 large and beautifully proportioned rooms, 10 of which have at least 2 exposures, many with partial views of Central Park. Additionally there are new French doors opening to 6 terraces, 5 fireplaces with antique mantels, elaborate and original moldings, antique parquet de Versailles floors and high ceilings. The entertaining rooms all radiate off a 30 foot long gallery with 18th century oak floors and include a grand living room with fireplace and a wall of bayed windows looking up and down Park Avenue. The oversized formal dining room has a fireplace and 2 pair of French doors to a small terrace. The red lacquer and brass trimmed library was designed by Albert Hadley and is possibly the most photographed room on Park Avenue. This room features a fireplace and 3 pair of new French doors opening to a large, square south facing terrace.The private quarters are on both the 15th and 16th floors. On the 16th floor is a charming oval study with new French doors to a small terrace. There is also a guest room and a hallway powder room before reaching the remarkable master bedroom. With 3 exposures, including Central Park, a fireplace and 2 pairs of new French doors to a terrace, this master bedroom is truly enchanting. Possibilities exist to expand the dressing rooms and to include a second bath in this suite. On the 15th floor is another master bedroom almost identical to the one above

For the man who loves himself (and the woman that has to put up with him)

Yes, this is really for sale. I found it on a British lighting website. I started thinking about the kind of person who would purchase such a piece & where they would "hang it". If it were mine, I would display it proudly in my front entry. Where would you display it?