The Butterfly Hat...

No one seemed to like this butterfly hat that Princess Beatrice wore to the latest royal wedding... but I loved it!

Here's a better photo.

Sticky Brown Rice and Veggies...

This is really an easy one. Make your rice. Chop any veggies you like and steam in a microwave safe container in 1/2 inch water for 4 minutes. Combine everything and add lite soy sauce, sea salt and pepper.
This is my favorite brown rice. I love it! It's now available in bulk at Costco. It makes a healthy brown organic rice that turns out as yummy as your favorite sticky rice every time.

More Manly Tooth Fairy Delivery..

See the truck here
and the tractor here

There is also a pirate and a captain toothless..

Circe's Trees...

Circe has written another masterpiece. Don't miss it.

P.S. Get a box of kleenex first.

Harry Potter...

We finally finished the whole series last night. I feel like someone should give me an award. I loved books 1-3 (you know.. the short ones). I am not a series person, with the exception of Jan Karon's Mitford series, which I adore, I have a difficult time if a series is longer than 3-4 book and usually move on.
And, Rowling can write teens. If they did one more bit of whining.. I was going to send them all to time out! But, the ending was great and c is really happy with me for sticking it out (I didn't whine) and it all goes back to the library today! Hooray!

Prince Caspian...

Little c and I have listened to this series several times on recorded book from the library and they are wonderful. In the film, they had to add just a bit to Prince Caspian to make it a full-length feature film, but for the most it was a fantastic job.. the kiss and the lame theme song at the end weren't quite on target and the Lion made a comment that I didn't think fit.. but for the most part it was really great.
It is more intense than the first film a bit and quite violent so you have to know your child.

Bella...

Bella is a story about a man who has done a terrible and thoughtless thing for which he cannot find redemption. He is haunted by a mistake that has shattered his dreams and left him broken.

In a moment of revelation, he finds a way to help another person who struggles with her own demons and in an act of selfless service begins to find a way back, a way to heal.

Bella is a visually and spiritually moving film. I just cannot recommend it highly enough.

Easy, Healthy & Cheap Eats...

I wanted to make a collection of recipes... not fancy recipes because I'm NOT a cook. These are just going to be easy non-time-consuming recipes and they have to meet 2 other criteria so I don't know if I'll be able to add one every week or not. It has to be pretty healthy and cheap because I like to spend my food budget eating out!

This is my version of Pasta Carbonara

White sauce:

1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon flour 1/8 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 3/4 cup milk In a small saucepan melt margarine or butter. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Add milk all at once. cook and stir over medium heat till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 min. more. Makes 3/4 cup ..

Pasta:

Whatever type you like.. cook until done

Veggies:

Also whatever you like. I used sweet petite frozen peas and zucchini and yellow squash chopped up. I put them in a microwave-safe bowl and cook them in the microwave in 1/2 inch water for 4 minutes

Combine everything with 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway below!

Giveaway Friday...

This contest is for the whole OWL package. Owls fluttered into

ThE LoVE BoXes SHoP

some time ago.. you can find them HeRe and HERe

Enter your name just once one the comments below and I will draw a name Monday Midnight EST. Spread the word. :)

The randomly picked number is: 4

IAMLOw Wins! Congratulations! Please e-mail me @

love.boxes@att.net with address info! :)

Be sure to come back this Friday for another

Giveaway day!

Belong to Me...

This is a book about how people become yours simply because you choose to love them. The characters are real individuals... so unique that their 3 dimensional qualities remind me of the writing of Charles Dickens. There isn't a sentence that comes out of the mouth of any of the characters that doesn't truly belong to them.

Marisa de los Santos is so talented in her ability to express emotion and especially the elusive emotion of love that her writing made me want to weep and cheer at the same time.

"When he looked up, he said, 'Clare told me about Christmas.' And I swear the boy's face began to shine. I recognized what I saw there; that a person's name could be infinitely precious, that just saying it could make you feel singled out for glory."

My favorite passage is about when one of the characters is six years old. Everyone is swimming at the community pool, but she is afraid of the water and cannot join in. Her eight year old future husband comes up to her and says kindly, "you're missing the whole point of summer," and offers to teach her to swim. And, she talks about how his touch made her feel safe and how she learns to swim and then she says, "When I was no longer six years old, when I was a grown woman whose belief the possibility of safety, while far from shattered had suffered the inevitable hard hit or two, Teo's touch did not displace fear as absolutely as it once had. But it was still true that his skin on mine worked a kind of instant, inexplicable possibly chemical magic. When he touched me, the world fell into alignment -- a laying on of hands, a chiropractic of the soul-- the threat of drowning evaporated, and hope cast its light. I know this sounds dramatic, but what would you have me do about it? Some things are dramatic. Put it this way if you prefer; under Teo's touch, I could believe in happy endings. Or middles. Or beginnings."

There are so many good books, but one of the qualities of great book, in my opinion, is one where the great beauty of the language and the truth of it makes you want to open your heart a little wider and be just a little better. So, if you're looking.. this is one of those rare books.

Good Manners Thursday...

It's just rude to be late, or as our current President has put it, "late is rude." So, I apologize. Good manners Thursday is late again. We will try to do better next week ... again.

Did you know that at an English wedding.. "hats are aways worn," according to Debrett's? My English friends will be shocked to hear that I own 1 pink and 1 red beret.. and no wedding appropriate hats. Hats are really not worn in America since the Kennedy's were in the White House.

But, it is important to wear a lovely hat to an English wedding and it can be "as fanciful and extravagant as the wearer wishes."

However, if you are sporting a very large hat, it is appropriate "to keep social kissing to the bare minimum." Imagine the disasters that could occur.

In addition to this small bit of hat wisdom. I wanted to share something really helpful and one of the most violated rules of etiquette in modern society. Circe explains it like this...

RSVP means call if you can't come to thank me for inviting you, and call if you can come to ask what you can bring!

In addition to what Circe said, Alexandra Stoddard suggests that you make your decision about whether or not you will be attending said function in a timely way.. meaning within a day or two and get back to the hostess who may need to make other arrangements to complete her party if you are not attending, but who needs to know quickly either way (I will try to find the reference on that).

On a funny personal note. When little c was about 3-4 years old, she was addicted to "Martha Stewart Living" and she called Martha by this full title every time she referred to her, "Martha Stewart Living says, ..." etc and watched her program faithfully everyday. One day my mother was getting ready for a fancy girlfriends luncheon at her home. c was thrilled to see all the fancy little treats and pretty tableware... and was trying to finagle a way to help set the table. In her tiny little voice she said, "Nammy, how many guests will you be expecting at your party?"

I don't see much of that little social secretary these days, she is interested in Nancy Drew, super heroes and dogs, but I'm hoping that underneath the latest layer of playground dust that little person is still in there somewhere.

Father's Day Idea #3...

If you need a shirt to go with your cuff links.. this one from Land's End is fabulous and priced very reasonably... It says that it's "no iron"... mmmmmm.. I have NEVER found that a shirt didn't need an iron. I just don't believe in it.. but, it does iron up beautifully and stay ironed! It looks nice all day.

Father's Day Idea #2...

If you want to splash out...

a pair of beautiful Thomas Pink

Cuff Links... They are my favorite!

wrapped in a Love Box... if the message inside isn't just right.. let me know I have a few others...

Father's Day Ideas... #1

For the Fly Fisherman...

Find it here.

Granny Chic Dresses..

I love that blue dress in the back with the spots.. I would love to wear that!

Dan In Real Life...

I must be the last person to finally see this movie. I'm not a huge fan of The Office and so I didn't run out to see this film, but it's brilliant! The writing and the acting are perfect. The characters get under your skin, even the minor characters. John Mahoney and Diane Wiest play Dan's parents and they are just so wonderful that you wish you could adopt them. When the family breaks into the morning Jazzercise routine and make that believable, you are officially in love with them all. Dan is hilarious stuck in the "special room" with the dryer that always seems to have someones sneakers banging around in it while he's trying to sleep.
I think this has to be the best romantic comedy written in 10 years. I shouldn't have rented it, I should have just bought it.

Shackleton...

Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.

~Ernest Shackleton

Our book club read a book about the life of Ernest Shackleton and his polar ice explorations several months ago and I wanted to see this film ever since. And, the film was pretty good.

The story reminds me a lot of that in the film Apollo 13. Shackleton and his crew set about to be the first to which would carry the British flag across the continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea by way of the Pole. They fail at that goal. The rescue is the extraordinary story of Ernest Shackleton and the men of the Endurance.

Just one of the amazing parts of this story is when Shackleton decides that he must reach South Georgia in order to save his men. This he must do in just a small life boat and 800 miles of open ocean. Once he reaches South Georgia, he finds himself on the wrong side of the island and has to become a mountaineer which is an amazing feat in itself, made all the more amazing by the fact that he has very little to eat.

Kenneth Branagh does a fantastic job playing the part and showing Shackleton's truly unusual leadership skills.. the film is worthwhile just for this. Shackleton has an interesting way of hiring people. He thinks their personalities as important as their skills. Every man is required to do every job. When men become negative and have a poisonous attitude during some of the worst parts of the journey.. he keeps those men close to him. He knows when to treat people with kid gloves and when to be tough.

This is truly an amazing story of an important explorer. Don't miss.

The Glass Castle...

The world needs more Jeanette Walls. I loved her book. It is the Horatio Alger story of our age and proves that it is still possible to achieve anything in this country.
I had a difficult time with her parents. They seemed to be such broken people in so many ways with just a few sparks of light and intelligence that came through their dysfunction.
Obviously the father had his reasons for being un-well. The mother either had some unholy childhood herself or fell into what I want to call a mental illness when she married... what else can I call it when a mother does not have an intense desire to feed her children?
The parents left me scratching my head. Maybe they did the best they could with the inner resources they had. I don't know. But, the loyalty of the children to one another and their desire to pick themselves up and then help each other succeed amazed me. I found that part of the story inspiring.
I loved the part of the story where Jeanette was working for the jeweler and found out that he was keeping part of her salary for himself and how she then took a watch from the store, but later returned it. She had an ingenuity in the way that she survived and she had a desire to do honest work and wasn't afraid of it, and she had integrity; a recipe for success.
I'm sure there are scars. I'm sure that you don't survive that kind of childhood unscathed. But, I am so amazed at where she went in her life. And, I wondered as I listened to a story on Sixty Minutes about the Millennial Generation entering the work force.. how many of those coddled children could survive if times got really tough. And, I wondered about my own child. I hope that I am teaching her to work.

Giveaway Friday...

This contest is for this little ribbon note book and a few other fun things.. A package of bluebird postcards from the shop, a fun blue sharpie and a lime green pencil to mark up your notebook.. some carnival tickets.. fun to make lots of things with... and a fabric flower pin from The Gap.

Enter your name just once one the comments below and I will draw a name Monday Midnight EST. Spread the word. :)

Good luck!

Congratulations to Shelese!

Don't forget to come back next Friday for another Giveaway Day!!!

The Queen...

This was such an interesting film. I wondered how accurate it was. I do remember The Queen's speech on television. Princess Diana's death was such a sad thing to me.. as was much of her life. I remember following her engagement to the prince in all the magazines and I remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch her wedding on television. She was a fairytale princess.. just when I was at an age when I wanted to be exactly that. I still have my 'Princess' book by Robert Lacey that I was given for one of my birthdays when I was little and I still love it. I just adored her. But, she really taught me that adage that "all that glitters is not gold." Out of the public eye and without so much it may be more possible to find real happiness...

Still, I hope in the eternities she will have the peace and happiness she seemed to be searching for.