Friday Featured Art: Michael Albrechtsen

Michael Albrechtsen is an artist from Utah who now works at Hallmark.  He painted the murals in the Kansas City temple, and they are so beautiful.  He really captured the beauty of the landscape in that area.  I am really enjoying learning more about his work.  (The painting at the bottom is one of his field studies titled All's Well.)

Thursday Text: Pretzel Making at Home

When we were in Missouri, we found this book at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.  Pretzel Making at Home by Andrea Slonecker features fabulous pictures and great instructions for making soft pretzels, hard pretzels, and all kinds of dips.  I'm excited to try it out!

Hopewell Quilts

Hopewell quilts were featured in the latest issue of Sunset magazine.  They are beautiful, simple quilts made by two friends in California.  They are very pricey, but you can always visit their site for inspiration!

Family Proclamation Printable

I taught the lesson in Young Women's on Sunday, and it was about strengthening the family.  I was excited to find this cute printable of The Family: A Proclamation to the World on LollyJane.  It's available FREE in different sizes with brown or pink type.

Friday Featured Art: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

When we were in Missouri a week ago, we visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.  We had only been there once before and just remembered that it was a small museum with some nice Asian art.  So we were pleasantly surprised to discover that they have a really great collection.  I'll have to share some pieces in the coming weeks, but many of you may already know some of their most famous works - the huge shuttlecocks that adorn the lawn.

Thursday Text: I Remember Nothing

Our latest book club topic was personal essay, so I read I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron.  I like her insight.  As with I Feel Bad About My Neck, there was a lot of name dropping - but she lived her life in New York City among many famous people (admittedly, I did not know who a lot of them were...).  I enjoyed reading her thoughts and stories.  I found it especially poignant since it was the last book that she wrote before she passed away.  The last segments are lists of things that she would not miss and things that she would miss.  I will miss Nora Ephron!

Jhumka Earrings

In Chennai Express, Deepika Padukone is often seen wearing fabulous earrings.  I tried to find out more about them and learned that the traditional Indian style is called jhumka.  Below is a sampling of some from the Etsy shop Rumi Collections.  So pretty.

The Big Snit

The Big Snit is an animated short from the National Film Board of Canada, and it's hysterical.  My late husband had a DVD with a bunch of their little cartoons on it, and we would watch The Big Snit and laugh until we cried.  Good times.

Friday Featured Etsy Seller: Islay's Terrace

I saw this Paris print on the front page of Etsy the other day.  Isn't it lovely?  I love the movie Sabrina, and this quote is so true.  Islay's Terrace is an Etsy shop that features cute prints and fun embroidery.

Thursday Tunes: Chennai Express

Last week we went to the opening night of the Bollywood film, Chennai Express.  It was a lot of fun.  Bollywood films tend to have bright colors and lots of music and dancing (that sometimes has little to nothing to do with the film...).  The third song (below) has a dancer who was not part of the film other than this song.  Oh, and the actors are all lip-syncing - but it's all so colorful and fun!