Month: January 2008

(this is me almost nine happy years ago, getting ready to walk down the aisle…)

I love weddings, and I love wedding announcements. Every year, Mississippi Magazine comes out with their wedding register, and brides take out either a full page or two full pages, in color, to announce their wedding.

When Av and I got married, I wrote our announcement and it was *full* of flowery adjectives. I could not fit enough over-the-top description in. For instance, rather than saying that we took a two week honeymoon to Europe, I wrote in every little town we stopped in practically! When I talked about the meal, I think I even mentioned that for dessert the caterer served a flaming cherries jubilee (if you’re having cherries jubilee, it’s understood that it’s flaming, right!?).

Ohmystars our announcement was just so out there. Well, it was the nicest event I had ever been to (Av’s family paid for the entire thing – we had 225 or 250 guests, amazing flowers, a crazy-wonderful meal) and the whole time I was writing the announcement when we got back home, I was thinking “now this will sound impressive to everybody in my little hometown!”. If I had been more accustomed to ‘big city life’ I think I could have kept it lower-profile while still sounding good! Now that I look back on it, it is just *funny*!

Well, since I’ve been there, I just love to read others’ announcements. Y’all, there are some good ones! While Shug has been playing in his jumperoo, I marked some of the best:

Okay – this I *love*:
“After the pronouncement of marriage, a gospel choir entered the sanctuary and the bride and groom recessed to “O, Happy Day.”
How wonderful would that be!!??

Here are some floral fireworks – in the same announcement:
“Atop each vase were colossal red and hot pink rose explosions.”
and again, later:
“The culinary presentation included three massive black urns with lavish explosions of roses.”

A good start:
“A fairy tale wedding in perfect Southern tradition took place on a crisp November evening under a full moon.”

Okay, if I had been able to give the specific botanical names of my flowers, I probably would have done this too:
“…highlighting thousands of roses consisting of ‘Star 2000,’ Peckoubo,’ ‘Movie Star,’ and ‘Marlyse.’
and those were mentioned again another two times.

I believed in giving the details too:
“…they then enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner of Bryan honey baked ham…”

The grooms had some great cakes – here are a few different ones:
“His cake was surrounded by mosses, cotton stalks, wheat, reeds, mallard and wood duck decoys…”

“The walls were covered with cypress screens and tulle netting and decorated with antique painted duck decoys and feather-covered wreaths and arrangements. Rye grass, grown in individual platters, was used on the tall bar tables, while beer was served from a canoe.”

“…the groom’s two-tiered chocolate cake which paid homage to his favorite hobby, hunting. Camouflage icing…”

“An arrangement of cattails, duck decoys, and shotgun shells completed the table setting.”

“Featured was a ‘trophy’ turkey in a bed of grasses…”

“The groom’s table featured a Bear Bryant/Alabama Crimson Tide motif…”
((how many coaches do you know that have been gone 25 years now and still appear on groom’s cakes? That just goes to show how much we still all love The Bear!))

“Chocolate drizzle and chocolate covered strawberries covered the cake, and it was topped with duck calls.”

“The groom’s chocolate ganache cake was accented with fondant shotgun shells reflecting the groom’s love of hunting.”

“The groom’s cake was chocolate and bore an image of him enjoying his favorite pastime, bass fishing.”

“The groom’s cake was a chocolate-tiered square cake bearing the University of Mississippi emblem and was served under an Ole Miss tent depicting game day in “The Grove”.”

“The groom’s table showcased a three-dimensional chocolate alligator cake…”

((and one groom’s cake was a big bowl of banana pudding. That is my kind of groom!))

I loved all the announcements…especially the ones above, because they – like me – wanted to give the reader a real sense of how crazy-fantastic their day was. And that’s so much fun!

…and the grooms! I love how their part of the reception is reflecting who they are! Knowing Av, if he had it do to over again, he would probably want the centerpiece to be a Krispy-Kreme cake and find some way for the UVA mascot to be there, and have everything look like game day in Charlottesville…

I truly do love weddings. You know, the next time we are in Las Vegas, we are going to look up the kitschiest Elvis-impersonator wedding chapel and go all-out! Extra points if it is a drive-through!

This weekend, I made this year’s Mardi Gras wreath! It took a little time – and a lot of hot glue, but it turned out really nice. See what you think!

Supplies:
styrofoam wreath (I used the biggest one they had at Michael’s)

Krylon spray paint in purple, green, or gold

globe ornaments (I got mine 1/2 off after Christmas) in purple, green, and gold – I think I used about 100 total of three different sizes

hot glue gun & lots of glue sticks

Directions:
Av took the styrofoam wreath outside and painted both sides with purple Krylon:

When it was completely dry, I started gluing on large globe ornaments on the outside of the circle, with the hanger hardware taken off the ornaments. I put the open end of each ornament towards me, since I was working from the back of the wreath and they wouldn’t be seen:

Next, I did the inside part of the circle with medium-size ornaments:

I turned over the wreath, and started working on the ‘right’ side – the side that will face the street – and started gluing on more small and medium-size ornaments until the wreath was completely covered:

…and here it is, all finished! I had to take one ornament off the inner part of the circle so the wreath hanger would have a place to rest, but other than that (which no one will ever notice) I think it turned out really nice!

Yay! Happy Mardi Gras!

Last night started Tu B’Shevat – it’s the ‘New Year of Trees’ which I guess in the most simple explanation, is the ‘Jewish Arbor Day’. It started as an agricultural festival (celebrating moving toward Spring from Winter), and there are two main things that people try to do for the holiday – eat a new fruit, and plant a tree.

I was talking with Av this morning about it – every year in elementary school, he and the other kids would bring $5 (it’s now $18) to send to JNF to plant a tree in Israel.

When Av was 15 and took one of his trips to Israel, part of his trip was to go to a JNF forest – there are *tons* of JNF forests where together over 240 million trees have been planted since 1901 – and he planted four trees, one for each grandparent.

Today, we did three things for Tu B’Shevat – we donated $18 to JNF to plant a tree in Israel, we planted our new pink perfection camellia in the yard.

…and we donated money to take part in the “Keep Mississippi Beautiful Avenue of Magnolias” program that has been going on for over 40 years. For $25, the Keep Mississippi Beautiful organization will plant a magnolia along a road leading into the state in honor or in memory of someone.

Tu B’Shevat isn’t a big holiday, but it’s still something we can do, and it will be even more fun when Shug gets older and starts to think about what he wants to plant. Of course, this is when we should be looking through the seed catalogs and think about what we want to put in the garden this year too!

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Next holiday: Mardi Gras (yay!). Av and I belong to the Jewish krewe, and our parade rolled this past weekend, but we had to stay at home this year for the first time. We’ll be there next year, though! Since we didn’t get down to New Orleans, I decided to order a king cake to be delivered from Paul’s – they make the *best*. When I make ours here, I’ll post the recipe & pics too.

This year one of the things we did for MLK Day was make a microloan through Kiva to a woman who sells cereals (beans, grains, etc) in a bazaar in Khachmaz, Azerbaijan.

I found out about Kiva when President Clinton was promoting his book, Giving, on Martha. One of the organizations that he mentioned was Kiva – they take money that’s loaned to give business owners in impoverished communities the capital to expand/improve. The loan we made to Tamilla will be paid back over the course of 14 months – and she has already successfully repaid two prior loans.

Right now, there are so many people interested in doing this that the organization has had to lower the amount each person can loan to $25 so more people can participate.

When Shug gets older, maybe we can make Kiva part of our tradition and he can take part in deciding who we help. I love holidays, and of course we want him to celebrate and take part in all kinds of different special days.

Tonight starts Tu B’Shevat! Another holiday….

Tinwood (the Arnett’s company that represents Gee’s Bend quilters) had a press release go out yesterday, and their agency sent it to me. Below is about 99% of the statement:

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GEE’S BEND QUILTERS ISSUE STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD

Artists Show Continued Support for the Arnetts

GEE’S BEND, AL – (January 10, 2008) – The Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective and the Gee’s Bend Foundation Board of Directors met on Sunday, December 30, 2007 to affirm the artists’ support of the Arnett family and Tinwood. The artists iterated their full understanding of the damages that the current lawsuits are causing the Arnetts and the present and future of the Gee’s Bend Quilters.

“As President of the Gee’s Bend Foundation, I would like to state publicly that I strongly support the Arnetts and Tinwood. I have worked closely with Bill and Matt Arnett for 8 years and I believe their work ethic is above reproach and unquestionable. They have done wonderful things for the Quilters and our community. It saddens me to hear about such lawsuits being filed against the Arnetts after all that they have done for the Quilters,” said Lovett Bennett.

The Quilters affirmed that they have been working with the Arnetts and their company, Tinwood, for 8 years by agreeing to participate in exhibitions, promoting and marketing their quilts and products that include quilt images. The artists stated that they have participated in meetings over the years with the Arnetts and all agreed that the royalties from the sales of quilts and quilts related-products are to be paid to the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective and the Gee’s Bend Foundation (GBF).

“My experience with Bill and Matt Arnett has been positive since our first meeting. I truly believe that they have been upfront with me and have not taken advantage of me or the community. I believe that all the positive publicity generated by the Arnetts’ work in support of the Quilters of Gee’s Bend has helped bring back the ferry. I truly believe that there are many more good things in store for our community if we stand together with the Arnetts,” said Mary Lee Bendolph.

Contrary to the allegations by Annie Mae Young and Loretta Pettway, the quilters indicated that they were well aware of the products and have approved their production and sale to support the Gee’s Bend Foundation…

“As the director of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective, what I’ve seen since the lawsuits came about has been a decrease in visitors to Gee’s Bend and sales of quilts. At the Collective and when traveling to museums and events, I have had to spend more time telling people that I do not support the lawsuits or the actions of Annie Mae Young and Loretta Pettway instead of talking about the art and our extraordinary history and our good fortune due to the support of the Arnetts,” says Mary Ann Pettway.

The women present confirmed that they have enjoyed the traveling “in luxury” to many states and museums with the Arnetts. The Arnetts arranged for them to stay at 5-star hotels, dine well and be paid fairly via honoraria, per diems, accommodations and airfare or transportation for their traveling and appearances in connection with museum exhibitions for the Quilts of Gee’s Bend and Gee’s Bend the Architecture of the Quilt as well as other promotional appearances as arranged for by the Arnetts.

“For years people have tried to stop William Arnett, a man with a vision, from showing the world that Gee’s Bend quilts belong in museums. The lawsuit may put him in a bind, but it won’t stop him. I thank William and Matt Arnett for giving the women of Gee’s Bend the dream of a life time. I will continue to believe and support the Arnetts and their great work,” said Louisiana Bendolph.

The royalties paid to the GBF, as was agreed to by the quilters since the beginning, was to be held in an account for use for the community good to be determined by the board of directors of the GBF; a statement that was unanimously cheered and reaffirmed by the artists present at the December 30 meeting. It was further acknowledged that the monies paid to the Gee’s Bend Collective, as agreed upon by the quilters, was to be divided among the women and distributed as dividends to ensure that those women who can no longer quilt — because of poor vision or other health problems — would continue to receive funds along with the active quilters.

“Being one of the younger quilters of Gee’s Bend, I commend and most of all appreciate all the time, love and hard work that Bill and Matt Arnett gave of themselves in order to make Gee’s Bend women and their Quilts so loved and respected in museums, galleries and most of the entire art world. I support them 100% percent,” said Loretta Bennett.

In summing up the meeting, the members of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective said that they fully support the actions of the board of directors of the Gee’s Bend Foundation to make their voices heard in order to protect them and their past and future activities from the negative impact on their reputations and earnings that the lawsuits brought by Annie Mae Young, Loretta Pettway and Lucinda Pettway Franklin have caused. It is their strong desire to show to the world their continued support of the Arnetts and the fame and legacy created by the Arnetts that they know is beneficial for all.

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It’s *completely* one-sided, but it is a press release…so…also, this is the statement of the other quilter’s feelings and position so that everyone will know where they stand – so this is the best way right now for them to be heard, I guess. There is obviously a strong sentiment of loyalty and gratitude to the Arnetts.

I really-really hope that this all gets resolved very soon, for everyone involved. It must be terribly scary and sad to be accused of cheating, etc. as the Arnetts have been, and I also feel badly for those few quilters who feel as though they have been taken advantage of (the ones who brought the lawsuits), because they must also feel miserable.

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Has anyone else noticed how much Gee’s Bend: The Women and their Quilts is selling for on Amazon, by third-parties? Amazon hasn’t had any stock in ages, and back in December the lowest price on these was something like $275. Right now, it’s almost $350! Wow!

This is the peppermint bark I made as little presents for our neighbors. I used the Martha Stewart medium-size cellophane bags to wrap them in, and they really looked nice!

Ingredients:
One bag (11.5 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
One bag (11.5 oz) white chocolate chips
2 tsp peppermint extract
few sprinkles of salt
6 regular-size candy canes

Directions:
Melt the semi-sweet chocolate using the double boiler method. Add half the peppermint extract, stir well. Spread onto parchment- or foil- lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with a little salt. This goes into the refrigerator for a few minutes to completely set:

While that was setting, I crushed the candy canes by putting them into a Ziploc bag and banging them with a rolling pin until I had small pieces and plenty of little peppermint flakes. Make sure you do this before the white chocolate is ready to be poured.

I melted the white chocolate (double boiler method), then added the peppermint extract and mix well.

…pour it on top of the already-set chocolate layer, and spread it out with a spatula:

…then before the white chocolate has any chance to set, sprinkle the peppermint pieces all over the top (I also take the back of a spoon and *gently* tap the larger peppermint pieces so they will sink into the white chocolate further):

or blue!

I put the cookie sheet back into the refrigerator (or freezer if I’m in a big rush – this takes no time to set, really) until it’s ready to be packaged.

Here are the bags I used — I’ll just run the ribbon through them and tie.

or: