Thoughts on Chivalry

I love getting flowers for any reason or for no reason. Actually, scratch that. I don't like it when people give flowers as a way of apologizing, because then I would start dreading flowers because it would mean something bad had happened whenever I received them.

When I think of flowers, I think of back in the day when flowers were an integral part of wooing a woman, along with chivalry. What do you all think of chivalry?


I personally love it - I feel treasured and honored when my husband opens doors for me, and pulls out my chair when I go to sit down at the table.

In this day and age, I know that a lot of women dislike men opening doors for them, and doing all those things that made women swoon in the 1950's. Some women see it as men thinking they are incapable, or weak - but to me it's an act of service and honor. I know that when Brian does those things for me it isn't a rehearsed gesture. It's a natural reaction to how he feels about me. He respects me and wants to do things for me, and one of the ways he shows that to me is by being 'chivalrous'. A lot of guys have it all wrong. They feel like they have to do all those stereotypical things to woo a woman when they first start dating, and then when they get married - they drop the act and the woman wonders what happened. I think that true chivalry is when it's an extension of the man's feelings towards the woman he loves, not when it's something he feels he needs to do to create a good impression.

However, I do think that women can also do these kinds of things for men. I respect Brian, and have no problem doing any of those things for him either. If I see a guy walking down the street carrying a lot of heavy items, I'll offer to help him - just because I am a woman doesn't mean that I can't do that. And if I am leaving a store and there's a guy behind me, I will hold the door open for him. I think there needs to be a balance in this, there shouldn't be one gender getting more respect than the other. I think this world could use a little chivalry, don't you?

Korean, Zooey Deschanel & Chocolate Ganache

I was tagged by the lovely Tonya behind the awesome Kotori blog.

What's your current obsession? Collecting Tea Cups and mismatched plates.

What's your weirdest obsession? Texas Grapefruit before bed every day. I almost can't sleep without one. And note it's the Texas variety that I am obsessed with, they are so sweet, and not ridiculously bitter.

What are you wearing today? Jeans and a tank top.

Why is today special? Brian proposed to me one year ago from today!

What would you like to learn to do? speak Korean

What's for dinner today? Chicken and Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

What's the last thing you bought? A Chocolate Raspberry Tart with Dark Chocolate Ganache (one among a few desserts).

What's your favorite weather? When it's warm but breezy, and when everything around me is a bright shade of green.

What's your most challenging goal right now? Deciding where to buy a house!

What do you think about the person who tagged you? OK, the first thing that drew me to Kotori was that Tonya has AMAZING taste - her home is gorgeous, and a lot of her decorating details are do-it-yourself (I have bookmarked some of her ideas for when we get our own place). Tonya also has really great recipes that are so easy to make! Tonya is basically a creative genius, and is willing to share her secrets with us bloggers!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? Back in my homeland - Australia. Specifically in the town of Noosa, where i used to live. Right on the beach would be lovely!

Favorite vacation spot? I loved Santorini in Greece, and Switzerland is gorgeous too, and I loved New York. Too many good ones, but those are the top three!

What would you like to have in your hands right now? A pair of airline tickets to Australia.

What would you like to get rid of? National Debt.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? California to see my family.

What's your favorite thing about the city you live in? Houston is so diverse and has so much culture! Theatre, museums, parks, events, shopping, you name it - it's here (ok, no snowboarding - but I only did that once or twice a year before I moved here anyway!)

If you had $150 now what would you spend it on? A room at a cute little bed and breakfast for the night.

Do you admire anyone's style? Zooey Deschanel. She always looks so pretty in a quirky, unique way. Not like the usual generic Hollywood clones. I don't know who to give the kudos to - her or her stylist if she has one.

Describe your personal style. I love feeling girly. So even if I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I will add feminine touches like a necklace or dangly earrings and heels.

Who's fashion show would you want tickets to? I am not really in-the-know about designers and who designs what. I see things I like but have no idea who designed them!

What are three live shows that you have seen? Wicked on Broadway, the Vienna Ballet Company in Vienna, and Cirque De Soleil's Mystere in Las Vegas.

Now the rules of this tag:

1. Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention.

2. Tag 7 other people you would love to learn more about. Here's mine:

- Maggi
- Maki
- Pamela
- Nicole
- Lindsey
- Jo
- Photojoy

(Also, the lovely Blog Oh So Beautiful Paper is hosting a giveaway - go check it out!)

Our Little Swapping Gifts

For those of you who are new to this blog, I hosted a Springtime Swap at the beginning of April. For those of you who are unfamiliar with swaps, please see this post for how it all went down. And for you Swappers, I am so sorry that it has taken this long for me to post about it!

My partner was the ever-awesome Tiffany of Chocolate and Sunshine Every Day, and I loved what she sent me! Her post about the swap is here.

She knows that my favorite color is green, so she sent me a gorgeous mother-of-pearl coated green dish that I simply adore. It is utterly gorgeous, and I keep staring at it, even though I have had it for almost a month now. Also included were some cute post-it note sets in bright springy colors, and some postcards from her home city (she knows I love to explore and travel, so sending me pretty postcards definitely added Fort Wayne to my list of to-go places).

For my gift to Tiffany, after getting to know her better through talking over emails - I sent her some spice mixes. She loves to grill and experiment with cooking, so I sent her two different spice mixes that I hope she likes the taste of! She is also into playing cards with her family, and watching comedy shows on TV with her husbo, so I included a note card set with illustrations of all those things. I liked how they turned out so much, that I decided to add them to my Etsy Store also. And then lastly, to make it a little Eastery - I made her a little rabbit. I have never made a stuffed toy before, but it was a lot of fun. I included a little story about the rabbit - talking about how she is the daughter of the Easter Bunny and misses her Dad each year when he goes away on Business delivering Easter Eggs.

I have loved looking at all the participants' posts and photos of what they sent and received. Here are links to the posts of some of the swappers so you can see their lovely swaps. For the rest of you swappers who aren't on this list yet, just comment or email me to let me know when yours is up, and I will link to it.

Lisa Sarah Pamela Anna Christine Cee Lindsey Stacey Joy Jo Kimberly Mummekkan Tina
Mary Ann Sabrina Maggi Carlita

I will be hosting the Summer Swap in June, and will be posting the details toward the end of May. It was such a great way to connect with other people and get excited about snail mail! I hope that you can play next time!

(PS - the random winner from the last post's giveaway is Little Tiara. Can you please email your mailing address to me at spotty_zebra@hotmail.com ?)

Making Meals and a "Pay-It-Forward" Giveaway

I am by no means a fabulous cook. I enjoy cooking for the people I love, but my cooking skills are nothing to rave about, but I love to try out new and easy recipes that make it almost fool-proof for me to be a bad cook. The other day I tried out a recipe for Shrimp Tostadas from Everyday Food, and it was FANTASTIC! It turned out so well! It's a really quick and easy meal to make - perfect for lunch or a light dinner, and just right for Spring. All you do is sprinkle some tortillas with cheese, put them in the oven for about 5 minutes until they turn into crispy tostadas. Then just fry up garlic, chopped zucchini, shrimp, spring onion, lemon juice, pepper, and cilantro and then mix it all up and top the tostadas with it. And it's perfect if you add a dollop of sour cream to the top!

Speaking of Spring and Food - it's barbeque season. I grilled up a steak this weekend, a really nice cut of beef. When I was younger, my family ALWAYS had their steak well done. Any sight of pink would freak my parents out, and so even though I had never tried it, it freaked me out too. But when I moved here to the USA, some friends convinced me to try Medium. The Pink definitely intimidated me at first, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now onto the "Pay-it-Forward" part of my post.
On Lindsey's blog, she had posted about a Pay-it-Forward project that she was participating in from the blog Dabbled. It's such a fun idea. Whoever participates makes something for the first five people to comment on their blog, and those five people have to take note of the following to receive their little giftlet:

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you. (Be sure to leave a working email!)

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own blog to pay this forward.

So there you have it folks. The first five to comment on this post and agree to do the following (mention that you are going to do the "Pay-it-Forward" Project" in your comment so I know) will receive a little something made by me.

And for the rest of you who don't make it in the first five, or aren't creatively inclined to make things for others, I will also make a little condition-free something for a sixth person that will be randomly chosen from all of your comments.

And a question for you - how do you take your meat? Well done? Medium-rare? How?

Rice & Florentines

God certainly showed us His weather-producing skills this weekend.

On Saturday the skies unleashed buckets of water down over Houston. Not pretty little Spring Showers, but full-on sheets of rain that totally drenched us. I haven't seen it rain like that before here in Houston - it was fun darting from shop awning to shop awning, trying to escape it.

But then on Sunday, God wiped the canvas clean, and instead painted a bright blue sunny sky. It was a complete 180 from the dark gloom of Saturday's sky. I literally woke up to the sound of birds chirping. We decided to take advantage of the weather and explore the campus at Rice University, which is about a 10 minute drive from our place. We had heard that it was a beautiful college.


And the rumors were right. It was gorgeous!
Brian is actually thinking about going back to college and getting another degree for fun (he loves studying and researching and learning new things). His company not only pays for their employees to go back to get further college education if they want to, but also pays them a reward for doing it! They figure that if their employees are happy, they will be better workers, so they let them choose whatever degree they want at whatever college they want, even if it has nothing to do with design engineering. It's great! So Brian is thinking of doing another degree part time.

After exploring the lovely grounds, it was time to relax. On the way home, we spotted a cute little chocolatier, so of course we had to pull over and pick out a few sweets. I spotted some Florentines, so they were definitely on my shopping list.


I have two questions for you. What do you like to do when it rains? And, secondly, how do you like to end a great weekend?

My New Collection

The weather has been so lovely this week. Perfect temperature, nice and bright outside, so I decided to have breakfast by the pool.

I was inspired last week by Stacey, through a blog entry posted by Lindsey. Stacey collects tea cups. Remember when I posted here about how I had never had a tea set before? Well, now I am collecting tea cups. This morning I had my coffee in one of my new little pretties, and it looked so cute that I decided to grab my two other ones and take some pictures of them so you could see how cute they are.




This also inspired me to collect dishes and bowls - but not in sets. Just single ones. I like the idea of mismatched plates at a dinner party. Not all from one big set, but different ones, each with their own character and charm. So no more sets for me. I can't wait to grow my collection!



(Springtime Swappers: I will be posting up everyone's links really soon, just waiting on a few more, and once they are up, I will blog about it all for you to see.)

Flowers That Greet Me

Management at our apartment complex decided to plant new flowers all around the grounds. They are all so bright and pretty. I feel like it was a little Easter gift to us from them. So every morning when I go downstairs, I am greeted by clusters of lovely blooms, all eager to greet me good day. It's little things like this that remind me just how fortunate I am. I love the little indicators in our everyday lives that show how blessed we are. It's the tiny things, like having the cool co-worker that tells you jokes throughout the day, or the bus driver who waits an extra minute so you can hop on, or the newly planted flowers in your apartment complex.



What greets you every day that makes you realize how blessed you are?

California, baby!

Brian booked our tickets to California the other night. We fly out there in June, and I can't wait! My little brother Symon is graduating high school, and we definitely wouldn't miss that for the world!



I am so excited to be catching up with my friends and family out there. I absolutely adore California, and it's totally unexpected, because when I first moved there from Australia, I had no idea how amazing it would be. I love how it has the beach, it has the mountains, it has the fields - it's so vast. Some of my memories of California are: struggling to find parking by the beach, but then finally finding it and having amazing beach barbeques; picnicing in the park behind my apartment; window-shopping in Old Town Pasadena; latte-lapping at four coffee shops in one day...




I also had another idea of how to spend one of my days out in California. I am not sure how this will pan out, or if anyone is interested, but I was thinking it would be cool if we had a Southern Cali Bloggers Meetup. I am not sure how many of you live in SoCal, or will be there in June, but I just thought I would throw it out there. I am still nutting it out in my head. Not sure if it will just be a social thing, or if we'll do some workshops together - anyway, if there's enough interest, I will plan something, so let me know.

Also, a lot of people have been asking about when the next Swap will be. The Summertime Swap will be in June, so check back towards the end of May for details.

Easter Eggery

Grocery Stores become the mecca for impulse buying over Easter. Suddenly the Chocolate Aisle triples in size, oozing out into neighboring aisles like an infectious disease. And then we as shoppers, catch this disease, and bring the delicious chocolate egg goodness home, where we then either digest it, or pass it onto our friends and family. I love it!



But my Brian is immune to this. He isn't even tempted by the Lindor eggs that we pass by. He's actually bent on minimizing our dessert intake (!) and that means chocolate eggs are not even on his radar. He said that dessert socially is fine, but I normally make some sort of dessert at home after dinner about 3 times a week, and that is now out. Thankfully he loosened up on this, and says that if we stop with all the cakes and cookies I bake, and have healthier, fruity desserts, then that's ok. So the other night I grilled some peaches (and snuck some brown sugar on top along with the cinnamon) and made some frozen yogurt to go with it. It was heavenly.




Can you recommend to me any fruity or healthy desserts that I can make?

Wisdom's Farm Weekend

This weekend, Brian and I went away on a little trip with some friends and had the most amazing time. We went to this little farm out near College Station and when we got there, I was blown away by how tranquil and beautiful it was.




The 30 of us all just bonded, explored, shared great food and great stories. We played card games, cooked together, and sat around a warm fire at night and made s'mores. It was such a gorgeous setting, I felt like I was in another world, tucked away from civilization.

On the drive home, Brian and I noticed a line of cars pulled over the side of the freeway. It was odd, because there were no buildings or significant landmarks that we could see, so we pulled over to see what this was all about. There was a wall of trees behind the cars, but once we pushed through them, a gorgeous field of flowers opened up to us. It was a secret garden, hidden to passers by, and I couldn't help but be in awe of this beautiful display of God's craftsmanship. It was utterly breathtaking.




If it weren't for that line of cars along the freeway, we never would have stumbled on this lovely little secret. We were the last car to leave, so once we left, the little field again was a secret to the hundreds of cars zooming along the freeway.

I came home feeling refreshed yet tired all at the same time. It was an amazing weekend.

Springtime Swap update: Hey Swappers, don't forget to email me (spotty_zebra@hotmail.com) links to your swap posts when they are up! Thanks! I got my Swap from Tiffany and it's so pretty! I will blog about it once I get your links.

Toys

I am quite sad that toy stores these days are full of so much junk. Generic, mind-numbing babysitting tools are what they've become. I love toys, especially simple toys. At 28 years old, I can still spend hours building lego houses, and playing dominos. In fact, I wish I still had a lego set now, the closest thing I have to a toy now is the cute little duck on my dashboard in the car, he keeps me company.

Our niece Abigail is turning 7 soon, and we are trying to figure out what to get her. Brian always wants to buy educational toys, which is great, but I secretly want to get her a Tea Set. Not a plastic fake one, but a lovely pretty one. She's old enough to take care of it. Growing up I had almost all the toys I had ever wanted, but one eluded me. A pretty Tea Set. All my life I have never had a real Tea Party, and I want one! I mean the Tea Parties where all the linens are white, all the guests are in pretty dresses or tweed suits, all the sandwiches are tiny, and with little tea cookies and cakes. I want the pretty cups and saucers, and have the cute little sugar cubes. I have a very specific vision of what I want it to look and be like, it's still in my head from when I was Abigail's age! Maybe I want to get her the Tea Set so that I have an excuse to throw my dream Tea Party. Ooops, that's a pretty selfish gift. Maybe we will stick to Brian's Educational Toy idea after all!



Did any of you have that one toy that you always wanted but never got?

Open For Business

Hear ye, hear ye! The "City of Dionne" Etsy store is now officially open (imagine trumpets sounding, and me cutting a ribbon outside the front door). If you look to the right, you'll see my shiny new Etsy link, and here's the website for you to bookmark: www.cityofdionne.etsy.com



I still have lots of goodies that I want to add, but for now I am just starting with Card Sets and Stitch Prints. I would love for you guys to take a gander and give me some feedback!

In celebration of this grand opening, I wanted to do a little impromptu Giveaway.
Most of you bloggers out there I am sure are aware of 'Blog Awards', and I have read mixed reviews on the whole concept on different posts throughout the blogosphere. It's when people mention blogs that they really like, and then they post up a little image that the winner can then put on their own site to show that other people thought they were special. I have been given a few of these, but never remember to keep the little award jpeg. But as I have mentioned in previous posts, I am a snail mail girl. So I want to send my 'award winners' a gift instead. I designed this little card set specifically for bloggers like you out there:

So the winners will each receive a pack of these cards, and that way they can mail a little note of appreciation to their bloggers of choice.

The "Your Blog Teaches Me New Things" Award goes to.... Pamela Susan.
Almost every time I go to her blog, she is posting up a creative tutorial. I love her enthusiasm for what she is teaching us, and all her projects are a lot of fun!

The "Your Blog Inspires Me to be a Better Person" Award goes to Melissa at Operation Nice.
Her blog is a daily dose of feel-good. If you ever feel like you have lost your mojo, go to her site and she will definitely have an inspirational story posted to give you your groove back! She makes me want to turn words into action!

The "Your Blog Makes Me Giggle With Glee" Award goes to Katie at Color Me Katie.
Katie is always posting about some hilarious photo shoot she has done, or whatever the latest that the 'Improv Everywhere' bunch is up to. I loved this project, and this one, and this one... there are just too many!

The "Your Blog Paints My World With Pretty Colors" Award goes to Tina at Luphia Loves.
Tina is always posting up gorgeous photos of interiors, fashion, art, nature, vacation spots, the works. And all the images are utterly gorgeous, and take me to another world. I stop by her site for my Pretty Fix.

So winners, please email me your mailing addresses (spotty_zebra@hotmail.com), and I will make sure to pop a pack of these cards in the mail to you. These cards are also available in my brand spankin' new Etsy store!

Oh, and what do you think of my business card?

Springtime Swap Update: Hey Swappers, don't forget that today is the mail-by date for your goodies. Please email me at spotty_zebra@hotmail.com when you have blogged about it, so I can include the link on a future post.