Witch, Please

(borrowed from GreenWoman then from moonfirewolf then from Kelly)


Here are the things I don't care about :

I don't care what the name of your religion is.
I don't care what the names of your gods are.
I don't care how old your religion is.
I don't care if your great-great-whatever grandmother passed down your famtrad Book of Shadows under the watchful eye of the Inquisition.
I don't care if an entire civilization worshipped your Goddess for ten thousand years.
I don't care if you made Her up based on manga or Tolkien or a dream you had.
I don't care where you place your altar.
I don't care which direction you call Earth.
I don't care how psychic you are.
I don't care if you're smarter than me.
I don't care why you eat meat, or don't.
I don't care how many shields you think you need.
I don't care how your childhood trauma made you a powerful magickian.
I don't care if you spell "magic" with a k.
I don't care if you were an Atlantean Magus in your last life.
I don't care if you're brand-spanking new.
I don't care how much you hate Christians.
I don't care how many degrees you have.
I don't care if people call you "Lady" or "Lord."
I don't care if you're King of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat.
I don't care if you can read minds or light candles with your breath.
I don't care how the world owes you a living.
I don't care if you've been studying the Craft for thirty years or thirty minutes.
I don't care what your totem animal is, especially if it's a wolf, raven, or unicorn.
I don't care if you can trace your lineage back to Gardner.
I don't care if you think I'm a moron, fraud, or basket case.
I don't care how many books you've read.
I don't care how much or how little money you have.


What do I care about?

I care that your religion has made you a kinder, more compassionate person.
I care that you can hold down a job.
I care that you're growing past whatever happened to you as a child or last year.
I care that your gods help you become stronger without coddling you.
I care that you are willing and able to adapt and change as your life does.
I care that you care about the Earth.
I care that you care about someone and something outside yourself.
I care that you practice your religion with devotion and reverence.
I care that you respect others' paths.
I care that you never stop learning.
I care that you can conduct adult relationships with respect and understanding.
I care that you get how hilarious life is.
I care that you know when to ask for help.
I care that you realize that someone will always be smarter, more powerful, and more together than you.
I care that you realize it doesn't matter, because tomorrow you'll be smarter, more powerful, and more together than you were yesterday.
I care that you have reasons for everything you do, even if those reasons are purely intuitive.
I care that you can admit when you're wrong.
I care that you know you're both a tiny speck in a vast universe and a rare, precious jewel in the darkened sky.
I care that you're making a difference.
I care that you know when to speak and when to shut the hell up.
I care that you are seeking a relationship with Deity and with Nature.
I care that you are healthy.
I care that you're contributing to your family and community.
I care that your capacity for love and joy increase with every passing year.
I care that you believe in yourself.
I care that you're doing the best you can.

Crazy Wisdom Tea Room

I stopped in to one of my absolute all time favorite stores yesterday. Crazy Wisdom Tea Room in Ann Arbor, MI. It's just one of those magical places where you can find just about anything.

I ended up getting a few things. A book about Isis, A Mandala Healing Kit, a really, really cool book named The Rose Labyrinth, a silver ankh, and a chakra flower pendant. It's really pretty. Actually looks like this one, but with a clear center stone.


This store is such a cool place. You can go in and find any book on any new-age/paranormal topic. Native American, Goddess, Egyptian, Sufism, Vegan living, Yoga, fiction, etc. Not to mention the extensive tarot and oracle deck section, the incense and stone sections, to name a few. Then once you finish your shopping you can head upstairs to the tea room. Order a pot of tea, maybe something to munch on and snuggle up with your new treasures. Or you could sit with a friend and watch the world pass by on the street below.

Plus, they have a Tea with the Fairies that I'm going to take the Wee One to when she's a bit older. And apparently the Fey are as enamored of the place as I am. After all, the decided to take up residence.


There's a whole Fairy Door tour in the city, you can watch a little snippet by the artist himself below.



For those interested you can check out all the locations and a little bit more about the fairy doors here.

30th Birthday Extravaganza Giveaway

Whew! Last weekend was a fun but very alcohol soaked time. I was doing okay on Saturday evening until everything hit. But apparently I was my usual happy-go-lucky self. Which is better than the alternative.

Though many props to my wonderful, amazing and patient hubby who pulled over, cleaned up and put me to bed. I hope he'll never have to do that for me again. Ugh.

That said, here's a pic of me from the start of the evening. Luckily, there's no photographic evidence of the end of the evening....well that I'm aware of. ;)

And without further ado......


Drumroll please.....

























So the winner with the most entries is Sara from Sara's Organized Chaos. Woot Woot!!!


























And the winner drawn at random is Dawn from Domestic Witch. Rock on chica!



Congratulations ladies. I'll be in touch with you to get you your gifts.

I'll post later what the giveaway winners won. I'd kind of like them to be a bit surprised at some of the things they'll be receiving.

Giveaway Reminder

Here's just a friendly reminder to post any of your Random Acts of Kindness or Easter Eggs. You have until 11am tomorrow to enter.

Crocs + A Sleeping Foot.= Accident Waiting to Happen

Okay so a few summers ago. Back when Crocs were fashionable. I know, I know. Scary thought. But anywho, it was the off-time in my office, so not many people were subjected to my awful fashion trend.

So, I go in to work and am checking my email with my legs crossed. I'm in there about a half hour or so. Then my boss is free. So I stand up to go see her. I figure, sure my foot is asleep but I've had no worries walking on it before. No worries right?

Wrong.

I ended up tripping over my foot. I heard a pop and flew out of my office.

My poor boss hears me yell and looks up to see me fall out of my office. Yes. Fall out of my office.

Of course, she and the other secretary come running to see me. I'm fine. My ankle is a bit sore, but not too bad. Not broken or anything. Which was a relief.

After about 10 minutes I decide to walk to the nearby pharmacy. While walking (in the rain mind you) I'm thinking to myself. Man oh man. My ankle's starting to stiffen up and it's starting to really hurt. (Dur. you just flew out of your office woman.)

I walk in to the pharmacy to get an ace bandage and a heat compress. As soon as I get up to the counter to pay I take a moment to look down at my ankle. It's the size of half a grapefruit. I, being the wimp I am, start to feel like I'm going to pass out. So I sit down next to the counter and breathe.

It's taken 3 years to get my ankle back to looking like normal.

Moral of the story. Don't wear crocs. But if you do, take it from me, don't walk in them with a foot that's asleep.

McAfee FAIL

So today at work, I'm on the phone trying to help someone and I get a pop up box that tells me my system is automatically shutting down in 30 seconds. A half second later I get a warning from McAfee saying there's a virus alert.

I immediately shut down my computer with the power button. I've had my share of scares with viruses and I know enough not to click on anything.

I start up my computer again and the same thing happens.

A few seconds after the second start up, my boss comes to my office, notices my computer and walks away saying, she's got it too.

I turn off everything again and I run out of my office asking if anyone else is getting the same message.

Turns out that it's stupid, fucking, McAfee geniuses that decided to send an update that attacks a benign file that's required for Windows to operate. And of course, my computer as are many others in my office set to automatically download any updates.

Fucking mess. That's what happened. My office and many others came to a complete standstill. Wouldn't be so bad, if not for a few things:

1. There are no longer any processes that are done completely non-digital.
2. The last time I backed up my computer was about two months ago.
3. It's one of the worst times for my office to have this issue.

However, all is not lost. I did have a few good things happen because of this:

1. My boss sent me and the other secretary out to lunch with some cash.
2. I was able to clean my office.
3. I was able to finally get to some much needed filing.
4. I finished my book.

So I guess it wasn't all a FAIL. I just hope that the problem is easily fixed. I really don't want to have to replicate two months worth of work.

Favorite Book: Dance Upon the Air

Every spring I find myself coming back to this trilogy of Nora Roberts. It's a quick read, and I know exactly what's coming. But there's just something comforting in re-reading a well-loved book.

I love the theme of magic that runs through this trilogy as well as some of her other trilogies. In fact, there are three sets that I try to read every summer. The Three Sister's Island trilogy, the Key books and the Garden books.

Such a wonderful way to ring in the season. A good book, a nice cup of tea and a snuggly spot to while away a few hours.

What's your favorite book that you absolutely have to read each year?

Also, don't forget about my giveaway. You have until this Saturday at 11am to get your entries in. There will be two winners. One for the most entries. (You can do multiple random acts of kindness.) And one chosen at random.

There are a few Easter eggs or random things to do that can give you more entries. (Hint - check my giveaway tag. It might clue you in on an egg that no one's gotten yet and is really, REALLY easy!!!)

RIP - My Boo!!!!

Metamorphosis

A caterpillar asked God, "What happens when I die?"
God replied, "Have you seen the butterfly?"
The Caterpillar, "Yes, do I have to die to become one?"
God said, "No, not really. A part of you dies, but another, stronger part of you continues to live - it just changes forms."

Author Unknown

My sweet cat Magnum (Boo, Bud, Mags) has passed on. He was my confidante. We got him when I was 13 and he helped me through all my trials of growing up. Whenever I was upset at my family or friends. Had boy troubles. Problems at college. You name it he was there to help. A sweet purr, a snuggle and life was just a little easier.

I know you missed your sister Chelsea. And now, you two are off on your next big adventure. Though I'm sure Chels isn't too happy to have to share you with Skipper.

Together again!

I know you'll visit me from time to time. Thanks for sharing your life with me. I LOVE You!!!!

Birthday Memory #1

For my 10th birthday I had a slumber party. It was a blast! I ended up getting a whole slew of stuff from my friends. I remember getting two copies of Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl album that year. But the most interesting for this story was the gift of Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth perfume.

I can't remember how long I had that stuff. I swear it sat on my dresser for a year or two. I wasn't a girlie-girl really. So I never used perfume.

Anyways, when my brothers and I would goof around. I would occasionally to spray them with it. It annoyed them and it was just sitting there.

A few months after that first spray, I ended up having it taken away by my mom. Apparently my brother decided to chase us around with the spray. However, he didn't realize that the person in the bathroom was my mom. So he thinks he's all clever and decides to start spraying a cloud of cheap, stinky perfume in front of the door. Out walks Mom.

Mom - Choking on the ghastly stench: "Why does it smell like a brothel in here?"
Bro - Still spraying it in front of her: "I don't know."
Mom - Not buying it: "Give it to me."
Bro - Still spraying and denying the existence of said perfume: "What?"
Mom - Still not buying it and wondering just how stupid Son thinks she is: "What you have in your hand."

Needless to say, I wasn't really upset at losing it. Besides, it made for a great story.

Loving my LUPEC Sisterbroads!!!!

Okay, so I'm a member of a lovely group of women called LUPEC. Which stands for Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails.

It's such a fun group. You get together once a month, one Lady hosts. She comes up with the theme, drinks, appetizers, everything. You come dressed according to theme and try out some cool retro drinks and get to hang out with a bunch of fun-lovin Chicas! Plus, you get to come up with fun Drink nicknames. Mine is "White Lady." And if everyone's hosted a meeting or to switch things up you go on "Field trips" to bars. To release the drinks you love back into the wild!

This weekend...well tomorrow night to be exact. My sisterbroads and I are going to hightail it out of town for a Cottage weekend trip to celebrate out 1st year anniversary!!! We've been doin this for one full year ladies. And it's been a blast so far!

For those of you that aren't in LUPEC, it's not difficult to start a chapter. You can always comment here and I can give you the 411.

And since I'll be away all weekend, I don't know what sort of internet access I'll have. But don't forget about my birthday giveaway, remember the person with the most entries gets one of the two prizes!

Hummingbird Cake from The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Some of you might know this, some might not. But Sarah Addison Allen has written three books. All of her books contain magic and food. Sometimes together.

Anywho, my Sister-in-Law and I made one of the cakes that she mentioned in her new book The Girl Who Chased the Moon for Easter Sunday.

Hummingbird Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped firm ripe banana

Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together. Add eggs and oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and pecans. Stir in the bananas last. Spoon the batter into three greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in 350 degree oven, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a standing mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until ingredients combine. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix.

Alternatives

We changed a few things in the recipe. Instead of:

• 2 cups of Sugar in the batter. We used 1.5 cups of Agave Nectar. (Even though Agave is a low glycemic index sugar we used it more for personal preference.
  
• 1 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil. We used 1 1/4 cup Applesauce (I just had an issue with that much oil.)
  
• 4 cups of powdered sugar for the frosting. We cut it and did 3 cups powdered sugar to 1 cup powdered milk. (This was to cut the sweetness of the frosting.)
  

I really liked the cake! It was very, very good. I was a bit surprised that it's a three layer cake. And it was really dense. Or maybe our version was since we swapped out ingredients. If anyone else makes it, I'd love to hear if your's was dense or not.

I unfortunately was out of it when we were making this and forgot to take a completed pic. But it was very pretty and very tasty!

Here's a little Easter Egg for all of you for my Giveaway. If you have any great ideas for recipe alternatives. Like the ones I mentioned above, you'll get an extra entry in my giveaway for each that you post here.

Dying Eggs

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. I know I did. I think the Wee One did too. I know she loved finding all the Easter eggs and having her first ever Pink Bunny Peep. Oh boy did she like that! I'll have to keep an eye on her with sweets, I can just tell. ;)

Last weekend was a mad rush all over the place visiting with all the different family groups. This was one of the many events we did this weekend.

Here's the crew dying Easter eggs on Friday.


And here's the result of our labor.



The Sis-in-Law and I had a great idea of what to do with the cracked eggs (hard-boiled of course). We made Egg Salad sandwiches for us all to eat. And yes, the Wee One loved it. Not that I'm surprised. She likes so many different things.

30th Birthday Extravaganza Giveaway

I will be turning 30 this month. So to celebrate, I figured I'd spread the birthday lurve to my lovely readers! Therefore, I will be giving:

• London Jeans denim tote bag


• Variety Puzzles magazine


• Toblerone chocolate bar


• Saunders Dark Chocolate Fudge sauce


• Moleskine mini journal

• And more !!!!!

Way to get it:

• You must follow me and mention it below.


• You must have an email address or blog address so I can contact you if you win
  

Additional ways to get it:

• Blog about it and post blog address in the comments section of this post.
  


• Do a random act of kindness for someone (borrowing a great idea from Domestic Witch.)


• Find some of the easter eggs in my blog.
  

Specifics:

• There will be two count them TWO winners!!!
  

• I will award the prizes on April 24th.


• One will go to the person that has the most entries.


• One will go to a person chosen the old fashioned way. (Names in a bowl and chosen by the Wee One.)

• International Readers should feel free to join in. I will ship anywhere.