Super Hero Wedding Post @ Green Wedding Shoes...

Please visit Green Wedding Shoes blog to see all the fun details. Oh how I wish I could have made the cake toppers for this one! OH how I wish I had been invited!!!

Wedding Cake Toppers Peg Dolls...

Congratulations to Rodrigo & Rachel...

More custom wedding cake toppers available at...

Love BoxES ShOP...

Peg Doll Wedding Cake Toppers...

Congratulations to Christopher & Nicole...

Custom Cake Toppers available at...

ThE LoVE BoXeS SHoP...

Finds...

I was tempted, but couldn't buy one of these in California. Who can lug home a suitcase full of rocks? But, in person these are so beautiful. Some California artist has used copper wire and a bunch of sea polished rocks and chunks of recycled glass to create these "things" I don't really know what they are called, but you hang them outside and they accentuate the sound of the rain. Many of you are tired of the rain, but I love it. I just pretend that I live in Ireland. :) So, I kind of wanted one of these, but didn't have anywhere to hang it so I took a picture instead.. But lovely.. right?
Also, I have a new face cream.. huge jars cheap at Costco.. does a great job of keeping the exema off my face so far...(ooh how I hate the exema! ..it's a constant battle).
Then, there are the new short sleeve Thomas Pink shirts for summer... They are so beautiful. I would never buy a $200 shirt.. but, I love looking at these. They are sooo pretty!

Little Timmy...

I have a lot of news good and bad. The bad news is my little nephew Timmy is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. He will have part of his colon removed. I wish that he didn't have to have it. He is so tiny and I'm asking that you remember him in your prayers.. he's been in our own every moment. He's been through a whole lot in his first little week of life and we already love him so much. Since we are major nervous wrecks anyway, I'm really proud of Alicia. She's been really tough. The good news is that we are very hopeful he will make a quick and full recovery.

The more good news is that brother Stephen was quoted in the New York Times today. (An article in Brigham Young University Law Review last year speculated that Justice Breyer, who attended Oxford, may turn to the O.E.D. “out of nostalgia for his alma mater.”) Stephen's paper for the BYU Law review... The Dictionary Is Not a Fortress: Definitional Fallacies and a Corpus Based Approach To Plain Meaning is simply brilliant. We're very proud of him.

Life is a roller coaster... sometimes I feel like you can't possibly hold on tight enough.

Bear Flag Fish Company...

Whenever I travel, I try to do some research about the best places to eat. I love the little one-off places that are out of the regular tourist beat, but beloved in a neighborhood. This place is it! If you travel to Southern California... stop here. Fresh, fresh, fresh food. Get the chips and salsa because the salsa is perfect and everything else we tried was amazing. Prices are very reasonable. Atmosphere is non-existent (kind of a dive). Can be crowded.. and may be great for take out. Good for families.. healthy children's menu.. and you'll finish what they don't eat. Fish.. perfect.
Bear Flag Fish Co. site has a menu...

And, if you walk just up the street about a block.. there's some killer desserts including chocolate bundt cake at Alta Coffee Shop.

Come with me to Roger's Garden's...

It feels like a secret garden.. California Style
Wouldn't you love to hang this just outside your window?

or have a Saint to pray over your flowers?

These little clumpy violets were so sweet.

Zinnias in a row with not one petal out of place.

Tell me you can't buy happiness? For forty dollars you could have this beautiful bougainvillea to blush at you every day... Sigh...

I love how they mix up the colors making them all more vibrant. Geraniums are huge in California.. Not these lovely geraniums, but some of the plants remind me of Dr. Seuss. I love them all though.. especially the crazy purple trees that line the streets in Long Beach.

Pink Dahlias.. bold and delicate at the same time.

I don't remember the name of this purple one.. but it's dream-like.

The Victory Garden is an idea perfect for our time too!

I don't know what type of succulents .. but they are lovely.

The past decade hybridizers have been bringing back scent in a big way. Some roses almost have a spicy scent. I wish this page was scratch-n-sniff.

The roses even grow over your head.

Of all the fun things I saw on my trip, this is the one I'm dreaming of... strawberry pots for the north fence line. Pretty and sweet.

Lobelia in four different shades.

Wouldn't it be fun to eat a 4th of July picnic on Starfish dishes?

Are these Orchid too amazing to be real? I'm not sure. There are silk flowers too, but if you don't touch them, you'll never be sure... so I don't. :)

The gardener here knows color and texture.

I so wanted to bring you this basket of blue... But, I hope you enjoyed looking at the flowers with me. They make my heart sing!

Beautiful Indian Bride & Groom Cake Toppers...

Congratulations to...

Fahran & Sidra

find more custom wedding cake and birthday cake toppers at....

LoVe BoxeS SHoP...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame..

Custom Boxes available...

LOve BoXeS SHoP...

The Profits of Doom by Kyle Smith

Paul Erhlich, reminds me of the scripture verse...
Moses 7:33
33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;
Paul Erhlich is the person who made a fortune for himself by telling everyone else that they shouldn't have children. The planet couldn't handle it. The population movement is the father of the current environmental movement notably because Mr. Erhlich was wrong about everything. Not that being wrong has hurt his career any. Why? His verbiage is popular with the progressive elite of both major political parties.
In Sunday's New York Post, Kyle Smith makes a little fun at the doomsdayers who use scare tactics to gain fame, fortune from public monies and to further destroy freedom. The article is well worth a gander.

Big Top Circus Treasury...

See the entire collection HERE...

& LOVe BoXeS SHoP... HERE...

The King's Speech...

Interesting, inspiring and the best ever movie to watch with good friends.

Just a few interesting side bits. The Duke of Windsor would have made a terrible king. He was amoral and lazy. His instincts about just about everything turned out to be wrong in the end including the fact that Mrs. Simpson would entertain him for life. He began to think of her as a great bore after not too long.

Speaking of the Duke of Windsor... I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us. ~Adolf Hitler

That Albert ascended the throne and became a leader to his people during the dark days of WW2 is a great blessing to the world and makes this story all the more inspiring.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett...

This book is a breeze to read in one way. You are so engrossed, you can't put it down. Stockett has a talent for writing dialogue that is entirely engrossing. You can hear the soft, lilting accents in your head as you read them on the page. And, you love these maids. Who doesn't love a person who makes the best out of an awful situation, who acts with courage and friendship when the world seeks to tear them down?

But, the character of Skeeter has so many problems. She's two dimensional. She misses Constantine, her former maid and starts this writing project seemingly w/out any clue about the dangers to those involved. She gets involved with a guy.. almost engaged to one who has no idea about her political views and constantly lies to him when she knows that he's been seriously heart-broken by another honesty challenged woman. She doesn't seem the least bothered by any of that.

There were editing problems.. like Skeeters dry, brittle and frizzy (pubic more than cranial is the term she used) hair that she grows long and straight in the end... The entire character of Celia is fleshed out just to be dropped in the end.

Then, there is just this feeling that the story doesn't come close to telling what it was really like. I think of Billy Holiday singing Strange Fruit.

What this novel does really well is show what entitlement does to character. Those who profit from what they have not earned and services that they have not paid for suffer in kindness and compassion, have an over-inflated sense of self and a general lack of good will. It reminded me of this verse from Moses...

Moses 4:25

25 By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground—for thou shalt surely die—for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou wast, and unto dust shalt thou return.

To me, that's a commandment to contribute. Does that mean you can't hire a housekeeper, get your car detailed, your lawn mowed, your hair cut etc... ?? No. You just can't do those things while you keep the housekeepers, detailers and hair dressers out of the libraries and public schools while teaching your children that they are dirty and ignorant. You have to recognize honest labor, pay for it and honor it.

I once went to a restaurant with a good friend. Everything she ordered was sold out. The waiter was new and inexperienced, overly talky and less than polished. But, my friend refused to be unkind. After she ordered something for the 3rd time and found the item unavailable she said with a big smile, "Just surprise me!" She refused to be unkind. How do you treat the people who wait on your table or change your oil? My friend was once a waitress and so was I. It's good to know what it's like on that end. It changes your perspective forever.

The book shows that nothing is free for everything has an exacted cost, that even as we contribute as much as we can, we are still in debt and doing our best in helping each other is the only way to peace of mind and integrity.

Tesla: Master of Lightning...

I have to admit, I fell asleep in the middle of this film (due to extreme exhaustion and not the film). But, what I saw was interesting and inspiring and tragic. C and c both LOVED it! It is fascinating to know a little about the personalities who are responsible for so many of the comforts and conveniences we enjoy today.

More than a biography, this program explains some of the science behind cell phone technology and other things. Very interesting.

Nanny McPhee Returns...

I just adored this little film. It was very sweet and when you consider the pigs that "swim stylishly" and the baby elephant then I think this one trumps the first one. See it!