Tag: Mr. Michie (page 16 of 20)

April 26, 2012 / 2 Comments

Our Weekend

We had a very busy two days this past weekend. We worked on redoing some of our flower pots in our little street garden. We lost our 4 year old rosemary in the last frost and so we replaced it with a brand new very happy looking little pot of rosemary that sits near our door. I love to run my hands through its delicate branches and smell the sweet smell of rosemary on my fingertips.

On Saturday we went out to run errands. I did a bit of shopping and picked up some things for school and home, while Mr. Michie went to the Library to work on a paper. I picked him up when I was done and the smell of the library just took me back.

This is a very beautiful library. It is fairly new, but they have paid attention to detail and used their spaces wisely. They have two gorgeously lit stained glass windows in the entrance way and display cabinets here and there with small exhibitions inside or pieces of local history and lore.

I have to say, I truly love libraries! What is it about a library? Card catalogues and the dewey decimal system and books bound in plastic wrappers that crinkle when you open their spines, the smell of age rippling out from the pages as you flip through, it all just makes me happy.

So, as Mr. Michie finished up, I stole his phone and did a little photographing of my own. I found a vintage wallpaper book and fell in love with the Kate Greenaway wallpaper page. I have an original piece of hers that Mr. Michie gave me as a Birthday present the year before we were married.

It hangs in our room and is one of the things that greets me “Hello!” in the morning. It is from an alphabet book of hers’, with a pink “J” edged in gold and a little girl who stands on the “J” and holds a windmill in her hand. It is beautiful and delicate and makes me very happy, every time I see it!

After he was packed up and ready to go, we gathered our things and headed to the movies for a date. He took me to see, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It was delightful. A lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon, watching a sweet movie, eating popcorn and holding hands.

We grabbed some dinner after the movie and headed home and just as we were about to walk in the door, Mr. Michie spied this:

Our first olive! It might not look like much, but we have had that olive tree almost as long as we have been married and I am happy to see the fruits of our labors before us, it was a nice gift from Mother Nature on the eve of Earth Day.

April 10, 2012 / 0 Comments

Hanging Out

I hope that you all had a lovely Easter? We did, although it didn’t feel much like an Easter Sunday in the South, as we were cold and rainy in our neck of the woods!

I am going to take a break here for a little bit and enjoy the rest of my Easter Holiday with Mr. Michie.

While, I am out and about hanging out with him, Goose Girl & Foxy have kindly agreed to take over for me and they will be posting in my absence.

Have a wonderful, wonderful week and I will see y’all in a few days….

(Image: LIFE)

Goose Girl & Foxy Day One:

P.S. GiGi has informed that she was up early with the chickens and has already put up a small post, click the image below to go to their site!

March 10, 2012 / 3 Comments

Staying Cozy…

Mr. Michie is working, I have been “Spring Cleaning”, since we “spring” forward tomorrow and we are just staying cozy, because there is a chill in the air.

I think I shall reward myself for a cleaning job well done, by doing a little shopping, I have a few surprises I need to pick up at Cath Kidston and if you go there, you never know what else might jump into your basket.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend, wherever you are!

(Image found here, embellished by J. Michie)

**OOPS! I must be more eager to Spring Forward than I thought! I just read my calendar wrong, it wasn’t little old England that was springing forward this weekend, we still have a bit more of a wait!

February 26, 2012 / 0 Comments

The Artist

Mr. Michie took me on a date Saturday afternoon to see a movie I have been dying to see: The Artist. We LOVED it! And Jack, the little dog (named Uggie in real life), just made the movie!

I grew up watching old movies. I have a weakness for them! Who doesn’t stop the channel when they hear Doris Day belting out a tune, or Debbie Reynolds singing to her true love through the window in Tammy and the Bachelor, or watch Rock Hudson pull Jane Wyman into his arms in All that Heaven Allows, or laugh and cry while watching Myrna Loy and Jeanne Crain in Cheaper by the Dozen and the follow-up with Belles on Their Toes. Not to forget every old Christmas movie ever made!

Spoiler alert: I do discuss the film plot line from this point on, so if you haven’t seen it and want to keep it a surprise, please read no further!

I adore a good old fashioned movie and The Artist is just that. I loved that it was silent, their expressions said so much. They didn’t have to speak, you knew, through the music, through a glance what they were feeling. Even without words, I still felt so much, I started to dislike his wife, even though she never really did anything wrong. After gifting her with a strand of pearls, it was so clever to watch her as her wardrobe first prominently displayed the necklace, it was all cut around it, but as her feelings for him changed the clothes began to cover it up, until it was completely enveloped by her dress.

Hmm, a movie that makes you think, not many do that today. It’s interesting that in talking to some students before the weekend who had seen it, they told me they didn’t like it. We spoke about it and what I finally ascertained out of them was that they felt it was too much to take in, it wasn’t spelled out for them, it wasn’t easy, it was boring because there was no talking. What is wrong with something making you think? Making you question? We as a society don’t do enough of that at times.

George Valentin (the artist) a famous silent film star, bucks at the idea that movies will become “talkies” and the girl he really loves and helped jump start her career is starring in the first “talkie” for the film studio he used to work at it. After a series of events from that point to the end, they realize that each of them feel exactly the same way about each other: they are in love and she ends up rescuing him from himself.

George however, feels he is washed up and can’t belong to this new world of talking movies, but Peppy convinces him and the studio bosses otherwise. The movie ends with their magical dance number, you hear the music and their feet tapping as they move, reminiscent of Fred & Ginger. Once they cut, the crew applauds and the studio executive asks them to do the number one more time, to which for the first time since the movie began we hear George speak. He utters two words : “With Pleasure!” in Jean Dujardin’s delectable French accent and you are charmed beyond belief.

“With Pleasure!”, could be this generation’s: “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse!”; “Here’s looking at you kid!”; “Frankly my Dear, I don’t give a Damn!”; “I’ll have what she’s having!”; “May the Force be with you!” (I had to put that in there for Mr. Michie). It has to go down in history as a famous one liner. You went through so much, you wondered if this would turn out well, would he swallow his pride? He did, they danced, they laughed, the movie ended on a happy note.

I don’t buy into the Oscar hype, I see movies because I want to, I know this is up for a gazillion awards, but as we left Mr. Michie said to me, it deserves every award it is up for and I have to say, I agree. It was enjoyable, it was old-fashioned, it was still relevant now, it was extremely clever, it is a classic.

February 24, 2012 / 0 Comments

Long Live the Weekend!

Long live the weekend and long may it last, for Monday comes all to quickly again! I am going to do a little cleaning, a little hanging out, a little work and spending a lot of time with Mr. Michie, bliss!

I just adored this video when I first heard it and listened to it again this evening, it is too good not to share! It is by Bryson Andres a Alaskan based violinist, who passionately rocks this tune.

Have a lovely weekend!

February 20, 2012 / 1 Comment

What A Weekend!

Oh what a weekend this has been! Mr. Michie took me to see “The Muppets”! I loved it, I have always loved them, I wasn’t sure how much of the original Muppet music they would use and I couldn’t believe when they sang, “The Rainbow Connection”! That is my favorite Muppet song!

Now, I want to make these from Bakerella and have a party:

I got ready for our date, by putting on a layer of “rainbow connection” glittery nail polish over my red nails that Mr. Michie treated me to getting done for Valentine’s Day. The glittery nail polish was courtesy of my Mom and I love it, I feel like I should be going out to a party with it on, it is just so FUN!

We went out to dinner after “The Muppets” to finish our date night and then spent the rest of weekend, resting, cleaning, writing, cooking, baking and munching on Valentine’s candy. We also drank plenty of tea and hot chocolate out of our Valentine’s Day surprises.

Mr. Michie took me to Emma Bridgewater and I bought him the “Red Fox” mug and he got me the “Pink Hearts” mug. My hot chocolate just tastes better out of it! Of course there are lots of snowmen shaped marshmallows skating on the top of my hot chocolate, again another surprise in my Valentine Care Package from my parents! HEAVEN!

I am teaching a 2 hour evening Photography Class at the moment on Pinhole Photography and dark room techniques. I am loving it! And my feedback from the 20 students who have signed up, is that they are LOVING it too! So, I am very pleased.

I got a head start for my next class and made just over 2 dozen chocolate cupcakes for them to munch on during our break, I will make my Nana’s chocolate coffee icing to frost them with when I get in from school, so they will be ready to go.

I was missing home and had a real hankering for Southern Cooking, so Sunday dinner was iced tea, fried chicken, rice and gravy, green beans, creamed corn and dinner rolls. I even made banana pudding for dessert. While dinner was cooking I did a little “pinning”:

and caught up with some e-mails. I have a few to reply to, you know who you are! I also caught up with my Google Reader and I wished that I was on this starry walk with the lovely Susan Branch, doesn’t it look romantic!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend too!

(All images copyright their respective owners, images link to their respective blogs/sites)

P.S. This is my 500th Post! WOW! Thanks for sticking with me through all my ramblings!

February 8, 2012 / 0 Comments

Making My Day A Little Better

This has been a long week! This has been a long Winter term at school! It feels as if we haven’t yet had a chance to just stop and catch our breaths. And I know it just isn’t me, everyone I speak to feels like this.

I had dinner with a friend last week and she said she felt as if Christmas was so long ago, but in reality it really wasn’t. But so much seems to have happened between now and then. So much seems to be going on constantly in our lives and the world around and that is LIFE, I am fully aware of that, but I am ready to just sit still for a little while and be.

Snow is coming and I am hoping for a few quiet days to just listen to the silence. I was catching up with my Google Reader tonight and I saw this post at Breakfast at Toast, it was called “A little something to get us through the day” and it made me smile.

Yes, somehow seeing this picture just made me smile! I really liked this Superbowl Ad, I made Mr. Michie watch it twice with me, he just smiled as I hit “play” for the second time, he told me he didn’t know why I enjoyed it so much, he looks just like that in his boxers and I just smiled back right back at him…

January 3, 2012 / 0 Comments

Keeping it Simple

We are keeping it simple as we make our way into this New Year. We went back to school today and I just wasn’t ready, I needed one more day to finally sit and just be. We were lucky enough to have my beautiful sister and her sweet husband visit us over Christmas and we just never stopped, we had so much fun, but now I am ready to just rest for a day or two.

We officially started our New Year’s resolution last night, inaugurating the event with two brand new mugs that I got in the Emma Bridgewater sale (my sweet sister bought me one, I got Mr. Michie the other: he has the running deer pattern and I have the holly one).

I know that the tea just tasted better out of that new mug, we talked and laughed and ate some chocolate and just “were” for an hour or so, it was a nice way to ease into today. It was as dark as night as we headed to work this morning, the sun didn’t rise till well after 8am. It was dark when we left tonight and bitterly cold, so the evening called for something homey.

We came home and I made a breakfast casserole dish that my sister makes, it was wonderful. The perfect way to use up leftovers, an easy and simple meal to make after a long day and it was comforting to boot.

I think we are just going to stay on this path of keeping it simple and quiet as we enter this new month in this new year.

December 31, 2011 / 1 Comment

The Last Post

My last post of this year! I don’t know where the year has gone, it seems to go quicker and quicker every year. We have had our ups and downs this year, but we are blessed to have each other, a roof over our heads, food on our table and family who loves us.

I pray that 2012 ushers in blessings for you all and a wonderful new start! Speaking of new starts, I know that many people have already or will be setting resolutions for themselves. I don’t go crazy and like Lent, instead of taking away, we try and add something positive in to our daily lives.

One thing we found this year, was that between the very busy schedules we keep at work, that once we were home, we didn’t always set aside time for each other until we went to bed, we always talk before we go to sleep. Well, that is something that is changing and no matter how many papers there are to grade or jobs left to finish, we are going to set aside some time for each other every evening.

The way that we are going to do this, is by taking an idea I saw on the Inchmark blog. She and her husband come together every evening over a cup of tea, they either talk, or play a game. We love playing games and usually have something in paper form, i.e. suduko on the go, we also love just to chat to each other. This was their gift to their family this year.

Making sure that other things do not take over and we carve out time for each other every evening is going to be my resolution this year. Because, all that other stuff, is just stuff, it really doesn’t matter.

“The note read: After the children are tucked in bed and fast asleep, we take turns boiling the water on the stove and getting out the tea bags. We fill our mugs with hot water and let the tea steep, then stir in a little sugar. Tea takes some time to cool, so we sit and talk at the table while we sip our tea and discuss the business of our family. Sometimes we take the time to play a game. After a busy day, it’s just nice to sit down together and talk for a minute. We hope you’ll think so too.”

(All images and the last paragraph of text is copyright to Inchmark)

December 16, 2011 / 0 Comments

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school before the Christmas break! There was snow, it was a half day, Mr. Michie took me out to lunch and now there is cozy Christmas lights on and cuddling on the couch. Oh, the joy of being on vacation! PURE BLISS!

(Painting by Kelly Reemtsen, adapted by J. Michie)