skip to main |
skip to sidebar
What Love Language do you speak?
This Thanksgiving weekend, I really thought a lot about what God's given me, and I am definitely most thankful for the relationships I have in my life. I've been thinking a lot about the way I show these people my love - how I let them know that I value them and care about them. I realized that a lot of the ways I show love have to do with food. Whether it's going out with friends and enjoying a yummy meal at a restaurant, or cooking up a storm for a loved one - food is prominent. I think I got that from my mum.
Have you ever heard of the Five Love Languages? These five "languages" are the different ways that we express and feel loved. And not just romantic love, even the way we show love to our friends and colleagues. Here they are:
1. Words of Affirmation.
This is the love language of people who need to hear that they are loved verbally. They like compliments and being told that they are loved and appreciated.
2. Quality Time.
This love language is important to people who need to spend time with people to feel loved. They want to sit down with you without distractions and just catch up over a coffee, or have a long phone date.
3. Gifts.
These people like to receive thoughtful gifts to know that they were thought of. It's not about money - they appreciate the fact that you were out somewhere, and saw something you thought they would like, and took the time and thought to get it for them.
4. Acts of Service.
Deed-doing is an important expression of love. These people feel love when you pick up the mail for them when they're out of town, or do the dishes when you come to visit. These people really feel special when you go out of your way to try and help them.
5. Physical Touch.
Hugs, holding hands, appreciative pats on the back - all these things are ways that these people can feel loved. They feel your love when you express it to them with physical contact.
My primary Love Languages is Quality Time. I need to spend time with people to feel like I am loved. I was talking with some fellow "Quality Time" friends the other week, and we all agree that one of the main ways that we can be hurt by others is when we plan multiple times to spend time with people, and they either cancel or never seem to be available. Have you ever met someone that you thought you really clicked with, and then tried to set dates to spend time with them, but they were always busy? After four or five times of that, I tend to give up.
Words of Affirmation are big to a lot of people, but words don't mean much to me. I am often bothered when people say "I miss you! Let's hang out!", but never go to the effort to actually plan that time with me that they said was important to them. Without that Quality Time, I feel like our relationship is being neglected.
So I guess that's the importance of food to me. I use it as a vehicle to spend time with the people I care about. Food to me is about Community. Talking over dinner, cooking with friends...
What about you? What is your primary Love Language?
Poor Brian has been stressed about work lately.
It's the usual stuff - deadlines, meetings, getting everything done in time for the holidays. I've been trying to help him relax more and not worry so much about it. So this morning I made Red Velvet Pancakes. I hardly ever do anything more than toast or cereal for a weekday breakfast, but I wanted to give him a nice start to the day.
I know that he likes to drink tea to wind down. And he likes to read when he's stressed - either a magazine, or his Bible - he told me that he really likes reading the Bible because he sees how God moves and what He's done for other people when they've been worried.
What other ways can you suggest he de-stress?
My Dad isn't your average male.
When he married my mum, he had a "Glory Box" full of stuff he'd purchased over the years for the home he was going to share with his future wife. I am not sure if "Glory Boxes" are common everywhere, but in Australia, it's a box where you start putting away things that you would like in your future home. You might see a lovely tablecloth in a store one day, so you'd buy it and tuck it away in this box to be opened after your wedding day. So by the time you are married, you have a box of lovely items ready for your new home. It is definitely not common for a MAN to have one of these boxes.
I never had a Glory Box. I do like the idea of having a similar type of box that you put away things for your future child. I have been collecting Children's books over the years for my future kidlets, but I also like the idea of putting aside other little treasures. Like some of the loveliness I see at Baby Jives.
Jahje, the owner of this lovely, whimsical store has stocked it with darling handmade mobiles and sculptures, crafted with pretty textiles. When she made her first mobile for her son nearly two years ago, a lot of people asked her if they could buy one, and after the suggestion of a friend who was selling on Etsy, she started to put together her inventory to open up her store.
This talented woman also loves to cook. In her home in Philadelphia, Jahje is always concocting delicious vegetarian meals. She proudly told me that the town she lives in is like a small town, with a "front porch culture", where people actually smile at each other. It's good to know that places like that still exist!
As you can tell from her store, some of Jahje's favorite colors are shades of teal and turquoise with splashes of chocolate brown, and you can also recognize her inspiration is drawn from nature. Spending time in the outdoors with her family is important to her - she even grows some of her own food in her back garden, where she likes to sit and relax and watch the sparrows hop around.
Jahje is giving one lucky reader a custom Single Bird Branch. To enter, please check out her store to get a feel for her creations and let me know what colors you would like to see in her future mobiles. You can also check out her facebook page if you'd like to see more of her work. I will announce the winner next week.
(PS. Jahje is offering free shipping on any single bird on branch mobiles called "A little bird told me" - just type "City of Dionne" in the message to sender when checking out and the shipping price for the single bird on branch will be refunded to you via paypal within 24 hours. Yay!)
(PPS. The winners of the Margrietje giveaway are Tali and Caroline).
One month until Christmas.
I love Christmas shopping. Not the long lines or the schlepping around from store to store, but finding the perfect gifts for people. And of course, Christmas isn't all about the gifts - it's ultimately about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but I do love the seasonal festivities and music that pop up this time of year.
I have so many fond Christmas memories from my childhood right up until last year. They are like little video clips in my head that I pull out from time to time and smile just thinking about. Here are a few:
- Watching my brother with Down Syndrome laugh uncontrollably every year while watching "Home Alone 2". This has made it my favorite Christmas movie.
- Brian and I telling each other we loved each other for the first time; this was the first Christmas that we were dating.
- Waking up on a hot Australian summer Christmas morning to "snowy sled tracks" outside that my parents had made with freezer ice scrapings.
- My parents opening up their home to over 30 people each year to come celebrate Jesus' birthday with our family.
- Mum's zany Christmas decorations.
- The day after Christmas in Australia is the big "Boxing Day Test" cricket match. To feel closer to home, my American friends and I played a game of cricket in the freezing cold.
- Perry Como and Nat King Cole Christmas music.
- Visiting old-fashioned toy shops and candy stores back before Playstations and computers were a household item.
What are some of yours?
(PS. My lovely friend Pamela is having an adorable giveaway! Stop by her Acorn Birthday Giveaway and enter!)
(PPS. Thanks for voting for my dessert from the end of this post! Voting ends Friday. If you would like to vote and haven't yet, check out my previous post at the end for details!)
I have now been baking and cooking for a little over two years.
I remember the first time I ever baked in my life was just a few days before my wedding in October of 2008. I can't believe I had gone so long without ever having opened an oven door! I had cooked before, but perhaps only three of four times was it anything more than "bachelor-style" cooking that only required boiling water, dropping pasta, and a jar of store-bought pasta sauce.
Since getting married, I decided that I wanted to really get into cooking and baking - and have fallen in love with it. After photography and graphic design, it's one of my favorite hobbies. I really enjoy coming up with my own recipes, and also like to discover recipes online that have a fun twist to them.
I made the Lemongrass Vanilla Bean Pannacotta specifically for a dessert contest hosted by Cathay Pacific Airlines. I had originally wanted to make it more complicated and detailed, but one of the criteria for judging is that the dessert can be easily served on a plane, so I decided to keep it simple. I would LOVE it if you would vote for my dessert!
To vote, all you have to do is:
1. "Like" Cathay Pacific on Facebook.
2. Go to the Art of Dessert Tab.
3. Find my dessert in the Recent Submissions section and "like" it.
I just entered last night, but the contest has been on for about a month, so a lot of entries have a big head-start over mine, so please vote to help me advance in the contest to the next round. Thanks, guys!
For those of you interested in these recipes, I can't take credit for the Jerk Chicken Chili recipe (i found it here), and the Beef Wraps are easy - I just tenderized some beef, fried up some eggplant in garlic and salt, rolled up the beef with the eggplant and tied it with baker's twine, and then carmelized the beef in a pan along with some onions. Soooo simple and sooooo good!
I am a Details person.
When I am at a wedding, usually I remember the little details the most. A strand of bunting wrapped around a napkin as a napkin-tie, little bunches of dried herbs tied with strands of ribbon, lego cufflinks on the groom's wrists. Little details like that really make an impact on me.
...........
It's funny, because Brian and I will go to a friend's place for dinner and when we come home he'll ask me something like "did you see how huge their flat screen TV was?!" And I wouldn't have even noticed it. I would say "I didn't even see that they had a TV! But did you notice the lovely handles they had on their cabinets?!"
I appreciate the effort that goes into little details. A shop that I am smitten with that really captures the beauty of small details would have to be the Germany-based store Margrietje Jewelry. 
I am spell-bound by the beautiful whimsical details that store-owner and artist Eva puts into each piece. The tiny hand-appliqued flowers, the charming little birds. Each piece of jewelry seems like a wearable storybook. I am so impressed by her talent and attention to detail. Her inspirations include the natural environment, along with the fun of flea markets, the beauty of song, and even wallpaper!
In addition to creating her amazing jewelry, Eva enjoys reading and decorating. Some day she wants to fill her apartment with re-upholstered, repainted furniture. And with the city she lives in (Herne) being so close to other exciting cities in Germany like Cologne, Dusseldorf and Essen, she has a wide range of antique furniture sources that she can choose from when she's ready to embark on her furniture re-purposing journey. 
See these two lovely pieces above? Eva is generously giving BOTH away! This week TWO lucky readers will have the chance to win one of these marvelous pieces. To enter, leave a comment here telling me about a lovely detail you've noticed in your life recently, and which one of these two pretties you would choose if you won. I will announce the winner next week.
(PS. The winner of the Apple Champagne Giveaway is Madeline. Congrats!)
(PPS. Southern California Bloggers, don't forget that I am planning our third annual meetup for Saturday, January 1st. Email me at spotty_zebra@hotmail.com for details).
Bursts of applause and cheers of "Bravo!"... A stage covered in rose petals and actors taking their bows.
Friday night was my first time at the opera and I loved it!
Three girlfriends and I went to see Madame Butterfly - it was really beautiful. The whole thing was sung in Italian, and I recognized one of the haunting tunes they sung. I had heard it before, but never realized that it was Puccini's Madame Butterfly. It was lovely.
The story takes place in Japan, when a lieutenant in the US army marries a beautiful Japanese girl with a name that perfectly describes her fragile beauty. I won't give away any more details - I highly recommend you go see it!
After enjoying the opera, there was cake to be had. What's the Opera without sweets afterward? So of course I indulged in a rich slice of Black Russian Cake.
How was your weekend, my friendlets?
PS. CALLING ALL SO-CAL BLOGGERS! I am hosting my third annual SoCal Bloggers meetup. Email me at spotty_zebra@hotmail.com if you are free the afternoon of Saturday, January 1st and want more info! Here are links to the previous ones: here and here.
This Friday night I am going with some girlfriends to the Opera.
...
I love getting all dolled up to go out. The dress, the shoes, and of course the accessories. Let me introduce you to Suzy and Luke from Apple Champagne. This entrepreneurial couple sells darling jewelry with a whimsical twist that I think is perfect for me because it's not too dramatic or over-the-top. I don't know about you, but I personally am not a fan of bulky, chunky jewelry - I prefer dainty pieces. What I love about Apple Champagne is that not only is the jewelry dainty and feminine, but it has a quirky side to it.
Living in Los Angeles, Suzy (the creative brain behind Apple Champagne) is inspired by the casual-chi lifestyle of Angelenos, and wanted to reflect that effortless, easy attitude in her pieces. She wanted the jewelry to easily shift from everyday work settings to a night out on the town. Being an accessory-lover herself, Suzy saw that with the economy the way it is today, there was a need for more versatile jewelry out there that could be worn in multiple situations, and hence Apple Champagne was born.
Luke (the business brain of this partnership) and Suzy both favor the color lime green because of it's cheerfulness and pop, and you can see from their jewelry that they like to sell pieces that will add pop to any outfit.
This dynamic duo is giving away a $20 gift certificate to one lucky reader. To enter, leave a comment here telling me what word you would use to characterize the city you live in. I will announce the winner next week.
Imagine it's a cozy Sunday morning.
You're lying in bed and hear the pitter-patter of soft rain outside, and when you open your eyes you can see a smattering of rain drops across your bedroom window. The sky is a soft grey. Not dark and ominous, but not bright and cheery either. It that lovely in-between color that makes all the grass look bright green outside.
...
What's on the menu for breakfast?
We've been having a lot of sweet breakfasts lately. I think because I like to bake, I have an abundance of sweet supplies to make warm and pretty breakfasts. French Toast, Waffles, Pancakes, Scones with jam... sweet breakfasts make me think of fairy tales and picnics in the living room, of eating by the window and watching the rain fall down with Frank Sinatra playing in the background...
Sweet breakfasts seem like a special treat to me. What was the last sweet breakfast you had?
UPDATE: So many of you have asked about the recipes for these. So here they are - come follow me after the jump!
