November Book Giveaway

I wanted to do something different and fun with my blog going into the holiday season. I thought about giving away some of my merchandise, but in the end that just is giving away my merchandise, maybe it doesn't appeal to everyone. I read around different blogs and got some ideas and decided on a book giveaway. I'm really going to theme the whole month around it.

I have added an Amazon Carrousel to the sidebar of my blog. In it are books that appeal to lots of different people and they are all books that I have some sort of connection with. Blogging for Bliss, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Road, The Vegetarian Lion, Friday Night Knitting Club, and Crazy Quilting the Complete Guide. One person will win their choice of any of these books. Three other entrants will win my best selling business card cozy from my shop DestinationHandmade.

How to Enter?
There are many ways you can enter and more will be posted throughout the month.
1. Follow my blog (simple!)
2. Tweet the contest, please include @retrochique in your tweet so I can find it.

Let me know by commenting that you followed/and or tweeted.

Stay tuned during the month for more ways to enter, reviews on all the books and book related gift guides!
Have a great day! Jamie.

The Things You Gotta do to Have the Flu

I have just been through a week of sickness with my husband and daughter.

Husband comes home sick last week "ohhhhh, arrrg I don't feel good" rolls around bed making moaning noises, coughs on everyone, in general is a miserable human being, I was so sorry for him, but with time and care he is now back at work (thank goodness).

Sunday night daughter starts with the moaning, face hurts, fever.... ugh.

Our General Practice Doctor retired last year to do pro bono work at the county clinic, I applauded her for it. She is a fabulous doctor and we loved her. That doesn't help me find a new one though. After many calls to area doctors I gave up. No one, especially during flu season would see a new patient. I wasn't even sure it was the flu. Chloe acted like it was a sinus infection, something she has had in the past but her fever worried me. So it was off to the Take Care Clinic at our local Walgreens. We were on the waiting list for TWO Days! Eventually when we got in the doctor told me she did think it was the flu. One of the strains this year presents as a sinus infection. She did the swab and Yes, it was the FLU. She managed to get us the Tamaflu and wow it is fantastic! Dear Daughter is much better and asking when she can take her flu medicine again!

Well the flu is nothing to mess around with so try to be better prepared than I was! Make sure you have a doctor or clinic you can go to and even if you don't think it is the flu, go to the doctor, drink lots of vitamin C fortified drinks and other fluids, keep happy and healthy this Fall ! A few tips I got while there, I'm sure you have heard most of them.

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe ).

3.*Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5.*Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6.* Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Tips Compliments of Dr. Vinay Goyal

Monday Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Review on Tuesday

My 11 year old daughter has been beside herself waiting for this movie to come out. Evidently it was heavily pushed in elementary school a couple of years ago and she had fond memories of the book. We couldn't go see it the first weekend so we went this past weekend. My 14 year old was too cool to go, so my husband suggested that they go to a scary movie together while I took my daughter and her friend to Meatballs in 3D no less.

We got our corny glasses and went into the theatre. I let them pick their own seats while I sat on the aisle near the top. Of course they sat front row. They loooooved it. I on the other hand thought it was typical Disney. Mom dies, dad has trouble communicating, "the man" is the villain. etc. I found the use of color a little over the top. First scenes are dull tones, food portion of the movie's candy colored. Almost nonexistent use of blue except for the heroes eyes. I also have to confess that food and I have a love hate relationship and I left feeling a little nauseous, the 3D effect not helping matters!

My son and husband used questionable judgement and went to see Sorority Row. In a surprise move my son got up and left the movie 2/3 way through and met us in meatballs, saying and I quote "Mom that movie was full of Ho's" (is that the right spelling?).

that was our weekend at the movies!

What Woman Doesn't Love Shoes?

I had an especially successful day of vintage shopping this week. I found lots of different things, but, my most prized "find" this week were some 1960's pumps. I'm sure they were from the same original owner, since they are the same size and similar styles and she had great taste!

Classic pump style but they have huge amounts of 1960's personality, find them now in my etsy shop retrochique.

While I'll never know much about this lady and her life I read a blog post this week about another lady and her family and their quest for shoes and the wonderful friendships and connections it has created for them! Read about Shelley and her family and their quest for shoes here, it's an old fashioned story about the always special process of getting your back to school shoes!

Late Movie Reviews!

Okay I know it isn't Monday, but I've been super busy. We did find time as always to go to the movies though and continuing with the romantic comedy theme we say "The Ugly Truth" and we saw a kind of comedy, "Funny People".

First "The Ugly Truth". This was a cute show, very predictable but well done. Katherine Heigl has quite a following and she has a scene that really updates the famous "When Harry Met Sally" "I'll have what she's having" situation. Very funny stuff. Gerard Butler is cute in a kind of tight t-shirt but messier Simon Cowell sort of way. Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins area super funny too. Bottom Line - Harmless show to see with your husband that will make you both laugh.

Funny People, I either love or hate Adam Sandler movies but this one just kinda left me lukewarm. Don't get me wrong, some of it is very funny and touching. But when they try to deal with the messy parts of life it gets tedious and painful. The ending is predictable and unsatisfying. I loved Seth Rogen and some of the other more minor characters. Eric Bana in particular plays a schizo husband very out of character from his past roles. Soooo I'm of the opinion that unless you are a fan of this gang, apatow, sandler, rogen, wait until DVD. Oh, and by the way it is extra long, 2 1/2 hours.

When I Went to College.....

When I went to college…….

If I needed to talk to my dad during the drive back to school I had to stop at a gas station and use a quarter in the pay phone.

If I got lost I stopped and asked for directions or asked the navigator in the passenger seat to look at the paper map.

Class registration meant standing in long lines in an auditorium, not waiting up until midnight to be first at online registration.

Eating at McDonalds meant actually having to have cash, not a piece of plastic.

Listening my favorite song in the car meant shoving a piece of plastic and magnetic tape into the hole in the dash and hoping that it didn’t get eaten.

Getting new “friends” didn’t involve facebook or twitter.

Turning in a term paper meant typing it on a typewriter and going to class and physically turning it in, not uploading from my laptop to a website.


Do you have a college difference? Leave it as a comment! Thanks.

Lemon Blossoms and Leatherheads.......

It was such a beautiful weekend here in Houston we couldn't bear to spend time in the movies so I didn't get to see either of the movies on my current list of must see, Fast and Furious or Sunshine Cleaning....

Instead late Friday we looked at the netflix arrivals and saw Leatherheads. If you love George Clooney or even if you don't, take a peek, it's probably worth it. It's silly and fun. Renee Zellweger is okay and John Krasinski from the office is cute and redeeming. If you are looking for something to add to the Netflix lineup it is a good one. If you liked Clooney's O Brother while it isn't as good it is in a similar vein and should be satisfying! ON the super satisfying as chocolate scale I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

If you happened to see Fast and Furious PLEASE comment and let me know what you thought!

ON to Lemon Blossoms

My daughter and MIL watch Paula Deen together and got this recipe from there. My daughter so wanted to make it so yesterday I gave in and we bought the ingredients. Paula Deen's recipes are sooooo decadent in terms of butter, sugar, etc I think I gained a pound just reading the recipe, but if you are looking for a snack sized item for a luncheon, shower, food gift etc this one is it. If you like lemon even a little they are delicious and pretty easy.

Lemon Blossoms
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Prep Time: 12 min Inactive Prep Time: 1 hr 0 min
Cook Time: 12 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 5 dozen
Ingredients

18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix

3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix

4 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze: 4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons water

DirectionsPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel
To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.
With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

One helpful hint. Use the Pam spray on the tins generously! Otherwise they self destruct when you try to remove them. This is also a messy recipe, so be prepared!

Have a great day!

Back from Hiatus Monday Movie Review

Okay, I know I've been gone from the blog for a while, but had to take a post Oscar break! What did we see over the weekend? no not Duplicity, not Love ya Man, but Knowing...... It was the family choice, what can I say.

I do like Nick Cage though so I went hoping to see a good movie. I expected a supernatural thriller but got something different with the entry of some waxy looking individuals bearing shiny black rocks (still don't know what those were about) and got a not very satisfying ending. It was decent acting from Cage and the others and it sort of gets you thinking about natural disasters but on the whole -

WAIT FOR THE DVD

See you next week with another movie!

Monday Movie Review! Slum Dog Millionaire

Okay, I saw this movie a while back and loved it. It uses a gameshow as a great vehicle to tell this boy's story of growing up in the slums of Mombai. It tells us about his devotion to a girl from the very beginning to finally ending up with her against all odds. It is the ultimate feel good kind of movie, boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl in the end and in the process as a by product gets rich too!

The acting is great, the setting a bit exotic for an American audience and the vehicle "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" just familiar enough to make your comfortable with the way the story moves along.

I assume it will be re-released with it's win last night, so go see it. It is rated R so and has a couple of disturbing scenes, but, all in all a great show!

How to Make a 125 by 125 Button Ad

With ads in blogs and project wonderful becoming so popular it’s important to have one of those square clickable ads that you can insert. Project Wonderful makes it easy, you just need the art, they put the link with it. But what if you want to put an ad on your own or a friend’s blog?

I figured that this couldn’t be too hard and instead of paying for it I thought surely I could find out how to do it if I spent enough time.

After googleing several different times and reading several different posts and “free” websites that I came across I did indeed find two posts that when combined made sense of what to do. Since I didn’t know the first thing about it I will explain it from the very basics.

You need an image you like for the ad. I used a product picture that I took. I inserted text for my store name and cropped and resized it to 125 square. I use Irfanview, a free software available on the internet, for this but there are lots of other softwares that do the same thing. There are two parts of the ad process.

1. You need to park this image on the internet somewhere that is always “on” - a host for the image. I used photobucket, you could also use flickr or a similar service. You need to make sure that they give html code for the image when you save it. In photobucket it is the third of the four lines they give you underneath the image in your album.

2. You need to write a string of code that includes this HTML for the photo and the url of the site you want to go to if you click on the picture.

This string of code is what you insert in the HTML add a gadget field on blogger or other blogging sites.
The string will look something like this:

Replace the caps with your information. This is what mine looks like for the retrochique button

LOCATION OF THE IMAGE FILE….is the HTML line from photobucket.

The first time I did it I copied and pasted in word until I thought I had it right and then copied and pasted the code into my blog. I was really happy when it worked!

Please leave a comment if you found this helpful. I will post about how to animate your gif button (make it flash different images) next week.
Thanks!

Monday Movie Review - He's Just NOT That Into You

Okay, last weekend it was my husband's pick, this weekend in honor of Valentine's I got to pick the movie. I chose He's Just NOT That Into You a movie I had wanted to see. I read a lot of chick lit, but, this movie I had not read the book for so I was very curious. I love the lineup of stars, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johanssen, some of my favorite female stars and Ginnifer Goodwin, someone I don't know much about is in the film also.
On the guys side, whew, Ben Affleck, Justin Long (apple commercials and Accepted; a highly recommended DVD, but that is another review), Bradley Cooper (don't know what he was in but what great eyes) Kevin Connolly (Entourage).

The movie switches back and forth between the different stars and their different situations in their entangled little world. That makes it a little choppy. Some of the dialog is great, if you've seen the trailers you get the gist of it and there is more in the movie, it isn't just the best parts in the commercial. Most of the situations at heart are very serious, facing up to the committment of marriage, facing up to falling for someone, facing up to not being loved back. Not all of the vignettes end in a traditional happily ever after either. For my husband and I who are both over 40 it really contrasts the difference in the dating world today and when we were in college.

Bottom line, as a lover of chick lit, I really liked it. My husband didn't like it as much but the ever curvaceous Scarlett Johanssen (I give her a 10 on the jiggle factor) should help any guys enjoyment of the movie.

Have a great week!

some valentines quotes and cute kittens....

A few valentine's quotes for a chuckle.....

I just love to do special things for my wife on Valentine's day. Like open the door for her when she puts all the laundry in the washing machine, or plug and unplug the vacuum as she moves from room to room cleaning. Guys, it's these little thoughtful things you can do to have a marriage such as mine.

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.

Sales ad at a store: ‘You are my one and only’ Valentine's cards, now on sale: 4 for $5.”

" Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots."

Monday Movie Review More Oscar Movies

Okay so I wanted to see He's just not that into You but instead my husband won out and we saw the Wrestler. Okay I was never that much of a Mickey Rourke or Marisa Tomei fan, but they both gave fantastic performances and she looks pretty awesome (she is naked for 1/2 of the movie). The whole problem is that I go to the movies to a. escape b. be entertained or c. be made to think. This movie really didn't do any of those, it isn't uplifting and certainly isn't anywhere I want to escape to. My husband really liked it, but I think he liked the underdog aspect of it more so than the actually story and the fact that Mickey Rourke has gotten such great feedback from it. So bottom line, unless you are into seeing "performances" pass it up.

We also saw Revolutionary Road. Another not too uplifting film, but it did make you think and featured two other great performances by Leo diCaprio and Kate Winslet. If you are into vintage, awesome stage sets, wardrobe etc. it is worth the price alone. I did make me think about re-inventing ourselves and how we have to do that throughout much of our lives. Kate's character was "stuck" looking for that feeling she had when she was first married instead of building upon and growing into her life. It ends tragically but not unpredictably. Bottom line here, good performances, if you are going to see Oscar films this is should be higher on this list than The Wrestler.

Just my opinion, I'm not a professional movie reviewer! Have a great week!

Sopapilla Cheesecake As Promised!

Had this as our desert on Super Bowl Sunday, really yummy....

cream cheese (3 pkgs)
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cans crescent roll dough
1 stick butter
sugar cinnamon (1/2 C sugar 1 tsp cinnamon)

Step1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9x13 in. baking dish (although I used two round pie pans....)

Step2 In a large bowl, mix together all 3 packages of cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, & 1 tsp. vanilla.Set aside--this is the filling.

Step3 Roll out 1 can of the crescent roll dough as a sheet into the bottom of your 9x13 in greased baking dish. Press together any gaps so that dough does not come apart at the seams.

Step4 Spread filling out evenly on top of the bottom layer of dough.

Step5 Roll out 2nd can of crescent roll dough as a sheet and carefully lay on top of the filling. Again, press together any gaps at the seams so that the filling does not ooze out.

Step6 Pour 1 stick of melted butter over the top. Spread with pastry brush if you wish.

Step7 Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon together with fork. Sprinkle this mixture evenly across the top.

Step8Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes

UPDATE - I'm starting to stock my new etsy store , take a peek let me know what you think, http://www.destinationhandmade.etsy.com/ thanks!

Back in Action and a Winner!

Hey! It has been way too long since I've been here! After an insane December from which I'm still kinda zonked I'm back to creating and blogging. I'm going to continue my project of revamping my store and marketing and need to pick the winner of the name my store Contest!

The winner is Stacie Brown! You get $20 in my ridiculously low stocked store! No really it should be up to level in a couple of weeks, or you can also use it for custom....Back to work! Have a Great 2009!

Keys, Phones and Tickets, Growing Up!

My 18 year old came home for Thanksgiving last week. He is a first semester student at Kansas City Art Institute and is adjusting to living away and far (we are in Houston Tx) from home. He had a wonderful time visiting friends, family and in general being a kid again. Saturday came to soon for his dad and I and we put him on the plane wondering at how we made such an amazing guy. About an hour later we were reminded that no matter how amazing he is he is still adjusting to living independantly!

5:30 - Plane leaves Houston for Kansas City

5:35 - Grandma finds his dorm key at her house

5:40 - Send him a text telling him so he will know when he lands, dorms don't officially open until tomorrow there may not be anyone there to let him in.

7:40 - Frantic text from son asking what to do, call him and advise him to call all friends in dorm and see if anyone is there, if not try to find security.

7:45 - Call him back to tell him to stay in hotel, Continental Airlines answers his phone, evidently he left it in the bathroom. Braindead airline employee doesn't think to page him until I ask him to.

7:50 - Son calls has phone now, sounds rattled.....

8:00 - Son calls again, "When did I park here at the airport?" has lost parking ticket to pay with.

9:00 - Son calls for final time, got lost on the way back to school but did find RA to let him in his room

9:05 - Mom pours massive glass of wine........

Parenthood is a wonderful thing that never ends......

My New Name!

Thanks to everyone who submitted names for my Shop/Brand!

Here is a list of my families favorites!

1. Exit Strategies
2. Accessories2Go
3. Crabby Traveler
4. Destination Handmade

I'm having a contest to pick the name!

To enter leave a comment with your number choice and e-mail if you aren't logged in. UWIB members can also post directly. If you aren't familiar with my shop and want to look first it is www.retrochique.etsy.com. The prize is $20 Free in my shop. Entries will go until December 5th. Winner will be chosen randomly. Thanks for your help!

Super Supplier!

Have a need for some zippers? I have a great supplier that I found on the etsy heart-o-matic http://www.majaba.org/ . Side Order Crafts sells zippers really cheap! They are from .40 to .70 cents and great quality. You may not find every color there, but if you are like me you don't always know what fabric you are going to be sewing on from day to day so I've gotten into the habit of keeping a group on hand in basic colors, that way if I need a khaki, black, navy or beige I'm ready to go. They ship really quickly too, link directly to paypal and seem to be really friendly, so if you are a crafter that ever needs zippers go try http://www.sideordercrafts.com/

Twittering or Not?

Since I'm sort of new to the online promotion and marketing of my etsy store, I thought I would review some of the things I come across as I journey along that road. It has been an eye opening experience so far. Today I'll post about Twitter.

Twitter is something I came across in an etsy thread. The author was raving that it was the only thing she could actually say she had gotten a sale from. I looked at it and it really seemed harmless. You make a short profile and poof you are twittering. Like magic people will "follow" you. Basically all that means is that when you make an entry on your home page it will appear on theirs. If you elect to "follow" them back, their entries will appear on your page. You end up with a page full of random and not so random comments on everything from merchandise to what to have for dinner. There is an @ function so you can reply to someone specific but it still appears on all your follows pages.

Entries are called updates and are limited to 140 characters. Most etsy sellers that I have run across use it to promote their merchandise posts, treasuries and blogs. Some are manic about it and definitely tire you out. Some are very sincere and don't overuse it. Then there is a group of "marketing gurus" that tirelessly post useless things that most of us as sellers have already thought of. There is your sprinkling of really scary people too.

Bottom Line - Twitter is a fun social networking thing that can get you clicks if that is what you are after. I haven't had any sales from it, but have met some really creative people and had fun online with it. It tends to suck up time. If you have limited time, for sales, put your time elsewhere: If you are looking for a fun diversion that might help defray stress, intro you to new sellers etc it is well worth it.