Monday, January 31, 2011

The Story!!

Hey everybody!!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  We had sunshine and warm sunny days both Saturday & Sunday!!  We got out and enjoyed both days, so I'm sorry I didn't update my blog until today.  This is a photo of my son and my husband, dragging the canoe out of the French Broad River yesterday ~ ah...Life is Good!!
Now, about this...Although I can't be 100% sure I made this pendant, I'm pretty sure I did.  A couple of years ago one of my customers in New York contacted me when I used this image as a background for one of my necklaces.  The image is a painting by Mark Ryden called "Rose".  

Friday, January 28, 2011

We have a winner!!!

Whoo hoo!!!  Ozzy grabbed your name up and took off running!  Congratulations!!  You won those awesome earrings from my last post!  Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!

It's been a crazy week peeps!!  I'll update my blog this weekend and I'll tell you why...but just to keep you guessing, it has something to do with him:
and this:

Have a great weekend!!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"But you've reached them, and I've always wanted to reach people. I'm the first one to say I love my fans because they love that I took a chance." ~ Steven Tyler

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

"Free Stuff" - Laissez le bon temps rouler..

It's almost carnival time!!  One of the things I miss about Louisiana [a little bit] ~ Mardi Gras! One of the biggest "free" parties in the world!  Where you can go and get a bunch of free "junk", which is totally worthless and useless, but at the time you would die or kill for!  It's something that gets in your veins...it's hard to explain, unless you experience it for yourself.  But, if you won't be able to attend this years festivities, you can at least try to win a pair of these:
I named them "Carnival Time" ~ and all you have to do to win them is comment on this blog post.  Let me know if you've ever been to Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday in New Orleans and what you thought about it!  Ozzy will be picking the winner Friday!  Good Luck!!
So how about a Mardi Gras freebie for everybody!  The Tabasco website has an awesome "Mardi Gras Screen Saver" that you can download for free.  It's your own personal parade, including beads, cups and a full marching band from Iberville Parish!  The parade goes on and on...you'll be ready to put your arms up in the air and scream, "throw me somethin', mister!"  I've been enjoying this little parade on my computer for years.  The dancing girls crack me up...but not nearly as much as the street sweepers that roll by on the end!  I know you'll enjoy it, too!  Laissez le bon temps rouler [let the good times roll]...Good luck in the drawing!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance” ~ unknown

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tuscan Potato Soup & A Winner!!!

Congratulations to my Aunt Patsy!!!!  Lita picked her name to win these awesome earrings!  I hope you enjoy them! And that "Winter Soup" was awesome!!
 
Thanks for all of the recipe suggestions everybody!!  I made this awesome "Tuscan Potato Soup" tonight...suggested by Melanie!  OMG ~ it's sooooo good!  I only changed a couple of things...instead of using tubed sausage, I used a link of mild smoked sausage [you know, that Louisiana gal in me has to eek out now and then], I used a can of Kale, instead of fresh [I like the canned better...don't know why, I just do], I did use 2 cups of 1/2 and 1/2 and I added 2 tablespoons of flour to the 1/2 & 1/2 and stirred it up real good before adding it to the soup.  I just prefer a thicker soup.  I heated up some Ciabatta Bread, tossed a generous pinch of monterey jack cheese into my bowl and voila!!  Yummy!!  Thanks Melanie!!!  And since this soup is so awesome, I thought I would share it with ya'll ~ enjoy!

Tuscan Potato Soup: This is like the potato soup they serve at Olive Garden with sausage and kale.

Ingredients:
1 tube of sausage
1 onion
1 large carton of organic chicken broth
5 or 6 potatoes (I use a mandolin to thinly slice them uniformly for a quick cooking time, but this recipe will work even if you just want to cube the potatoes)
1 tb. chopped garlic
3 or 4 stalks of kale, chopped into small pieces
1 carton of half and half/heavy cream (optional)
salt, pepper, and other seasoning to taste.

Preparation:
1. Crumble and brown sausage in a dutch oven or large pot.
2. Drain some of the fat and add diced onion. Saute until translucent.
3. Add chicken broth and use empty carton to add same amount of water.
4. Add garlic and spices.
5. Add thinly sliced potatoes. Decide if you need to add more water after the potatoes are submerged in the brothy mixture. I always end up adding another 1/2 carton of water.
6. Cook soup with medium heat for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender with a fork.
7. Reduce heat and add chopped kale and optional cream.

Cook for an additional 10 minutes with cream and kale before serving. Easy peasy!

Warms the heart & the soul ~ life is good!
♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or bread in it." ~ M.F.K. Fisher

Friday, January 21, 2011

Love, love, love!!

So, you're probably wondering where the heck I've been!  Honestly, just snowed in, hunkered down, tired of the drab and freezing my butt off!  And, in that order!  I'm posting a photo of my gorgeous white rose, blooming in the Spring, hoping just the thought of it will warm me up and make me smile.  And, it did and it does!!  Hope it does the same for you!
Most of you know that I'm totally addicted to Photography and PhotoShop and Flickr and Facebook [well, facebook not really that much].  I've been entering photos in contests and trying to post a new one every day in the Flickr group "365 Days of Photo Manipulations".  These fish are one of the ones I posted last week.  I named it after the Pink Floyd song "Wish you were here".  I love it!!
 One more Spring photo - daisies, my favorites!

With all of the contests I'm entering, I've decided to create a separate blog for my Photography.  Please take a look see, if you're interested.  And, if you're really interested, you can follow that blog. Eventually, I'll be posting some textures, actions, templates and other things you can download for PhotoShop!  It'll be awesome!! Thanks!!!
No worries, I am still making jewelry.  These are some of my newest earrings.  I love the faceted glass, so gorgeous!  And just for being so patient, I'm giving a pair away!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite winter time soup is!  I'm thinking I may need to make a big pot of soup tomorrow...warms the soul and the heart.  Lita will draw the winner of the earrings on Monday!  Good Luck & have a wonderful weekend!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy.  The amount of work is the same." ~ Carlos Castaneda

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I Heart Faces --*Smile Photo Contest* -- My Entry

My beautiful friend, Shyla ~ on her wedding day.  The prettiest smile I've ever seen, by far.  This is my entry to the "Smile Photo Contest" on:






I hope she wins [fingers crossed].  Thank you I ♥ faces!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow & Clothes Swapping!

More snow today!!  We've gotten about 8 inches so far and it's still coming down.  This is a picture of my son, Broc ~ out playing in it.  Being from Louisiana, he's never seen this much snow and he's really enjoying it [for now].
 So Saturday night my friend Eatherley hosted the annual "Ladies Clothing & Accessory Swap".  We had a blast!  There were about 30 of us total, swapping clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry and other accessories.  I got a couple of hats, a really beautiful scarf, some new snow boots and some cute ruffled panties!  So much fun!!  But these two were hilarious:
I think every little "risque" garment was tried on by one of them.  To funny!  But this is what had me laughing today:
 did you know that squirrels tunnel through the snow and pop up here and there, just like little groundhogs!  They are so funny.  This little fellow has snow all over his head.  My "cuteness" for the day!

Stay warm peeps!!  Hope you get some "fun" snow where you are!
♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence." ~ George Eliot

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Cuteness...

Thought I would share some cuteness today, since it's such a cold, drabby day out. I don't know about you, but I just can't get enough of cute little puppy photos...but this one is my favorite, by far:it was in an e-mail I got from a friend today. So cute!! And, of course, the new Turkey down at Shadowbrook Farm is way cute, as well [in his own ugly sort of way]. Enjoy!!Happy Wednesday!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

“Love is like wildflowers; It's often found in the most unlikely places.” - unknown author

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Voting has begun!!

"Best Face of 2010" voting has begun! Please click here and vote for Jack #193!

And lucky guesser [Leslie] guessed "chicken feet" for this weeks "guess it" photo:It's going to be way harder than I first thought to come up with something "tricky" every Tuesday, but I'm going to try my hardest! And don't forget, to play along, post will be on my Facebook page. Thanks so much!! Happy Tuesday!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!" ~ Anne Tyler

Monday, January 3, 2011

I Heart Faces -- Best Face Photo of 2010 -- My Entry

This awesome photo website and blog I stumbled upon recently (I Heart Faces) is having a photo contest for the best face photo of 2010.


I decided to enter this photo of Jack, our dear friends little boy. He is just so adorable...you can see why he quickly became my absolute favorite photo of the year.Starting on Tuesday about noon CST and continuing until Friday at 5 pm CST you can cast your vote for your favorite. I would appreciate your vote for Jack [entry 193]!! Thanks so much!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The only love worthy of a name is unconditional." ~ John Powell