Charice Pempengco is AMAZING!!!!!

I am SERIOUSLY loving Charice Pempengco and her "cameos" on GLEE!  Wow!!!






Here's hoping YOU have a muse to inspire you as well!!!!!

Rhubarb!!!

Two of my recent FAVORITES came together this weekend...the beginning of rhubarb season and the Minneapolis Farmer's Market!  I have a LONG history with rhubarb.  One of my earliest memories is sneaking into my neighbor's yard in Chariton, Iowa, and stealing stalks of the stuff, then running back to my yard and eating it...right there...no sugar...nothing sweet...just plain, sour, FABULOUS rhubarb (I think I remember this incident because I got my BUTT KICKED by my mom for stealing it!).

I love both (rhubarb and the farmer's market...not getting my butt kicked), and was able to snag some DANDY stalks at a little farm stand in the middle of the market yesterday.  Five stalks for a dollar seemed like QUITE a deal, so I bought three bundles, and have just finished mixing together and baking a RHUBARB CREAM PIE.

Duane and I found a couple of rhubarb pie recipes a few years back, when we were trying to use up a similar bunch, but none of them seemed quite right, so, we pulled a few ingredients from here, and a few directions from there, and came up with the following:
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RHUBARB CREAM PIE
1 ½ cups sugar
2 rounded tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
1 T. tapioca
1 cup Half & Half
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 GENEROUS cups rhubarb (cut into small pieces)
⅛ tsp. cinnamon
sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon for top of pie
Mix all ingredients together and put into pie crust.

Place top crust on filled pie. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and wrap edges with foil.

Bake at 450° for 15 minutes, then at 350° for 50 minutes or until crust is browned, removing foil during the last 15 minutes of baking.
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Here's hoping YOU are enjoying the bountiful rhubarb now popping up at farmer's markets, grocery stores, or in your very own yard!  Oh yeah...if your neighbor has rhubarb, please ASK before taking any...I'm just saying...!!!!

My NEW Favorite Karaoke Song!!!!

Okay....I CAN'T RESIST posting this!!!  I'm now singing this EVERY time I do karaoke!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aGsQ35FndE

Here's hoping YOU have a "go to" song that makes you laugh, too!!!

Devastation in Japan

My friend, Kyl, who lives in Tokyo, spent time recently volunteering with ALL HANDS, an organization that is helping with the cleanup effort in Japan.

Here's the link to his blog about the experience:
http://www.volunteeringintohokujapan.blogspot.com/.  I HIGHLY recommend reading it...wow...!!!!

A photo from Kyl's blog of the HUGE job to be done!!

Here's hoping YOU have the opportunity to TRULY make a difference...like Kyl!!

Weekend in Fairfield

Just got back from a LOVELY weekend in my hometown...Fairfield, Iowa.  MAN, I LOVE that place! GREAT restaurants...GREAT stores...and GREAT friends with which to "catch up"!!!!

Crashing the cast party as soon as I got to town!!!

Tena in front of the mural on Revelations Bookstore/restaurant

Me in front of the mural

Waiting for my mocha

Tena waiting (and waiting...and waiting...!) for her chai

"Into the Woods" starring TENA!!!!

Last day of the "old" Hy-Vee grocery store

I really LOVE Hy-Vee!!!!

Andrew and me at Revelations for lunch

I was also able to stop in at the 40th anniversary open house for Roger and Diane.  It was a TOTAL "time warp", as it was held at the First Baptist Church...in which I spent MANY Sundays (and otherwise!) growing up!

Me and Diane at her 40th anniversary open house

My main reason for coming down was to see my friend Tena play the baker's wife in "Into the Woods". WOW!  She was FABULOUS!!!  I think this is probably the FAVORITE role I've seen her play.  I LOVED her as Miss Hannigan in "Annie", and I've loved every other character she's played, but she has a special "nuance" with this role (which she played about 15 years ago at Spayde Theater) that is very touching and sweet.  I actually CRIED during her last song.  I was SO PROUD of her!!!!!

LaDawn at Vivo...looking GOOD!!!

Outside the Sondheim before the show

Sunset by the Sondheim

Denyce and Eric before the show

Me and LaDawn before the show

Intermission!

Me and Tena after the final performance of the show...did I mention how AMAZING she was in this role??!!!

It was an AWESOME weekend, all around...from mochas and (later) wood fire pizza at Revelations, to shopping the "quirky" stores around the square, to dinner with LaDawn at Vivo, to the play, to brunch with Denyce and Eric on Sunday...a truly FABULOUS visit "home"!!!

Hey! Look at My New GLASSES!!!!

FINALLY went in for an eye exam, and here's the result...!!!!!

I've actually wanted glasses for YEARS...(I won't tell you how many...!), as I've always thought my blond eyebrows and blond eyelashes left me looking really PALE and PASTY.

I'm assuming that SOME DAY, I'll get the hang of the whole "bifocal" thing...right now, I can't figure out WHICH part of the lenses to look through for what!

Here's hoping YOU made a "cosmetic change" recently that helped YOU feel better about yourself too!!!!

End of Spring Break!!!

What a CRAZY week of spring break!!!!  After getting back from Amsterdam, I threw my clothes into the wash, dried them, and repacked for a workshop on pedagogical leadership in New York City. Wow...crazy!

I LOVE New York (I know...how cliche!).  I really do!  SO MUCH TO SEE...SO MUCH TO DO...SO MUCH TO ENJOY!

I got to play tour guide, as several of the people who went (including my superintendent...no pressure there!) have never BEEN to New York before.

It was actually fun to do the "touristy" thing...we hit Canal Street, had FABULOUS food in "Little Italy", viewed the city after dark from the "Top of the Rock", took tourist-y pictures in Times Square, walked through Central Park, took a SUPER FAST tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and sauntered down 5th avenue.

Lynn and Terry at Ray's Pizza

Terry and me in front of Ray's Pizza

Me and Lynn on Rockefeller Plaza

Lynn being a tourist!

"Newbies"!!

Lynn and me on the red steps

Terry, Lynn, and me on Canal Street

Dave, Lynn, and Terry waiting on the subway platform

Ahhh...Central Park in the spring

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dinner...day 2

Lynn being a tourist!

Me being a tourist (and a "ham"...big surprise there...!)

I "bit the bullet", and paid A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY NINE DOLLARS to see "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" on Broadway, and have to say it's probably the BEST "almost two hundred dollars" I've ever spent...WOW!  What an AMAZING show!!!!

Here's a clip from one of the numbers...you can see more at the following link: http://www.priscillaonbroadway.com/video.html!!!  

Will and me before the show

I REALLY loved this musical!!!!

FABULOUS trip....FABULOUS company...FABULOUS chance to explore one of the most AMAZING cities in the U.S.!!!!!

Here's hoping YOU were able to experience the COOLNESS of a great American city recently too!!!!!