There's a friendzy going on over at solteronita's place, check it out if you're looking for more LJ buddies.

I've recently discovered Meow Cosmetics and their mineral foundation is excellent. Two minor quibbles - their web design is a little funky (have to remember to keep scrolling down) and their naming convention for the foundation colors is a little silly. (I was using Sweet Libertine but they seem to be on hiatus).

Not much going on, how about you?

Normally I'm not that jazzed about fruit-based desserts. I'm more of a chocolate fan. However, our market has had great fruit and I have run into a couple of tempting recipes that have changed my tune somewhat. I have a strawberry buttermilk cake in the oven and wow does it smell great. The lemon zest! It looks more like a pie, but whatever. I think I'll just fix jalapenos stuffed with cheese for dinner so we can fast-forward to dessert. For breakfast Sunday I made this cherry almond dutch baby (no actual babies were involved) and it was fab. I couldn't finish my slice but it kept well for dessert the next day.

My Pinterest collection of recipes is here. At the very least check out this recipe for macaroni and cheese - it's my go-to when feeding a crowd.

Defiance: Just finished Season 1 last week. I'm not into the political plotline, I'm much more interested in the backstory and the aliens' cultures. I think a couple of the characterizations were off (Kenya, Mayor Nicki) but I'm ready to watch Season 2 when it gets started next month.

Elementary: We started watching this a few months ago, and stopped for some reason - not because we didn't like it. I am surprised at how good it is. We're still in Season 1. I love that Watson doesn't take any shit from Sherlock (unlike the BBC version, which is good, don't get me wrong).

Penny Dreadful: Just watched the premiere. I am intrigued and would like to subscribe to its newsletter.

Mad Men: I gotta be honest, while I love the look of this show, (I love the clothes, obvs) and the glimpse it gives of the recent past is fascinating, it is tough to watch. While the women have their hangups, the men are just so utterly unlikeable. It's the same problem I have with Game of Thrones - the world is miserable there. I don't expect everything to be rainbows and lollypops, but it's so devoid of any joy or pleasure or fun. We made it to season 3, where Betty confronts Don. Maybe I will just fast-forward so I can look at all the clothes.

We found out only last week that there was a steampunk con only about 3 hours away, so we made plans to day trip it on Saturday. However, after I woke up at 5:30 to start getting ready I realized I didn't really want to drive that far, have to figure out where to change clothes, that sort of thing. Turns out Jeff felt the same way, so we went back to sleep. The rest of the day was pretty productive; we went to a local park to shoot footage for his next music video, he made some spotlights, I graded and did some office reorganization.

In a good news / bad news event, they are remodeling the English department this summer, but that means we have to pack up all our books and papers. This is a little traumatic for me, I have trust issues to begin with (especially where my books are concerned), and I found out that when they remodeled the history department last summer some of their possessions went astray! So I only trusted the uni with things that could easily be replaced, and photographed the interiors of each box, and numbered each box - told you, trust issues. I had to figure out what I would need for summer writing and first thing in the fall, so I've got those labeled, and that's where the office organization came in. I liberated a bookshelf that has just been stashed in a corner for my home office. Most of my stuff is here, I have a couple of floor lamps (I hate fluorescent lighting) and a couple of boxes to bring home, but since I have to sit in on senior capstone presentations this week, I'll have ample opportunity to bring them home.

Sunday we went to a vintage base ball game for a picnic lunch. I'm not up on regular baseball, much less the vintage variety, but it was still fun. Jeff (who never does anything halfway) packed sandwiches in wax paper and decanted root beer into blue glass bottles. At the end of the game, the captain of the home team thanked us for dressing up for their event, so that was cool.

I have been dragging pretty much all semester. I realized about two weeks ago that I had recently stopped taking a multivitamin (trying to save some money, and what good do they do?). It may be a coincidence but I went back to taking them and my energy has returned.

Just in time too - I bought a bunch of spring bulbs and we might have snow showers this week, so I've been digging holes all over the place. I have about 15 daffodil bulbs and 9 tulip bulbs to plant. I've been tracking what I have planted this year over on The Pintrests if you're curious.

Most of my posts are locked. I have my reasons. Not exciting reasons, but I have them. If you would like to be added, please comment here, maybe let me know where I might know you from or what we have in common, etc. Thanks!

Downton Abbey fabric!!

DOWNTON ABBEY FABRIC!!

Awww, and just when I have to stop buying fabric, too. I'll have to ask for some for my birthday - wouldn't it be adorable to have an apron in the Downton Portrait (logo) fabric?