Reenacting with Rachel

I just started reenacting at the Ohio Historical Village with my friend Rachel. The time period we are doing is 1898 (Lark Rise to Candleford/Anne of Green Gables time period). Today was our first day, and we had a blast. We wore period costumes, and brought time period-accurate lunches in baskets. We worked in the General Store/Post Office where we showed school children how to place orders in the old-fashioned catalog, and weigh nails with the scale.

the saloon area of the hotel. =)

1895 Sears & Roebuck catalog

Rachel

me!

old-fashioned camera!

sorting the mail...

reminds me of Laura Timmins (from Lark Rise to Candleford.)

Rachel sorting mail

We had a wonderful time! I'm looking forward to doing it again. :-)

Royal Wedding Party

Thursday night, I went with Josie and Marie to Margaret's house to have a Royal Wedding party. We ate cake and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning watching Prince William and Kate's biography. Then we went to sleep at 1:00am, and got back up at 4:00am in time to see the guests start to arrive for the wedding. We, of course, though unable to attend the royal wedding in London (just too much hassle, you know?), tuned in through the telly and wore our hats. =)

the adorable little wedding cakes (made by Margaret)

The next morning, we ate scones, cookies, and drank tea as the wedding ceremony began.

the Prince William and Princess Kate wedding cookies

We had quite a lovely time. No matter what people say about the Royal Wedding, it was truly remarkable to see all of the splendor of Westminster Abbey, the fabulous array of different hats, and to witness a real-life fairy tale take place, as Kate Middleton arrived at the Abbey a commoner, and left a Princess.

Easter 2011

Valentine Dinner Photos

Before the RBC youth Valentine Dinner, Emily was kind enough to take some lovely photos of Rachel and Stephanie.

SOUPerbowl

Our church had a Pre-SOUPerbowl fellowship last night after church. The youth prepared soup for everyone to taste, and the "tasters" brought canned soup that goes to the homeless at the Stowe Center and other people in need. Then the tasters voted (by secret ballot) on which soup they liked best. Stephanie made Spicy Italian Sausage Soup and won first place. There were 9 or 10 soups there, and the youth have decided to make a cook book with the different soup recipes. Thanks to Andrea for the delicious recipe!



All photos taken by Rachel K.

Crazy about Christmas Cards! 50 free Shutterfly Christmas cards? Yes, please!

One of my favorite things during the Christmas season is opening the mailbox to find a bunch of Christmas cards from friends. I am always a little disappointed when there is no photo enclosed. We try to send a photo Christmas card most years to out-of-town friends and family. There are so many more choices now than there use to be. Sometimes making cards, writing notes, and getting pictures printed to stick in the cards is just a hassle. I love photo cards where you just upload a picture online and order cards with the photo and message printed together on one easy card. I am crazy about Shutterfly’s selection this year. There are tons of clean, stylish designs to choose from. How will I ever decide with choices like this:

and this:


The only thing I have not liked about photo cards is how difficult it is to write on the photo paper if you want to write a note on the back of the card. This year Shutterfly’s stationery cards are printed on premium 110lb. card stock. How handy is that! The search function helps narrow down the design decision – you can search for different themes, 'religious', 'Jesus', 'joy', etc.

You don’t even have to torment yourself trying to decide which cute picture to choose from. You can use several photos at once with these designs:





Shutterfly has a promotion for 50 free cards for bloggers. Read all about it here.
Now I just have to decide which one I actually want to use!

Marmon Valley 2010

please click on photos for better quality