"What's the matter with the men?" - a musical venture

Because it is Valentine's Day and we are all single (and most of you are single) and because we love singing/lip-syncing/the Broadway version of Cinderella, we thought we'd give you a bit of a treat. Suppose we had a variety show: this might be on it...and it's the first take so do forgive us. ;) Hope it gives you a laugh!

Love,

Rachel & Sarah

Culinary Cabaret!

Hey guys! Check out the brand-new news from the sister-blog, Two's Company that I share with Sarah! :)

Okay guys! I am thrilled and excited to introduce to you to the new blog series starting here on Two's Company! This series will be called "Culinary Cabaret" after the line in Disney's "Be Our Guest" which runs: "Beef ragout, cheese souffle, pies and puddings en flambe! We'll prepare and serve with flair a culinary cabaret!"Essentially, this series is a challenge you all will be able to link up with any week you'd like! It will run for 52 weeks (hopefully 52 adjacent weeks...we'll see how that works out) which is a year. The idea is that each week I'll post a theme, and you will have a chance to make one new recipe (or a variation of an old one) that fits the theme. Themes could be as simple as "Indian", "Greek", "Italian" or as complex as "Pixar Movies", "Downton Abbey", "Autumn", or, hey, something as crazy as "Oxford don". Sarah and I will chose one new recipe a week and blog about it--and you'll do the same!

And for those of you who are sitting there looking at this post thinking, "Aw, gee, I don't think I can be that creative," all I'm saying is that it is one recipe a week. Not a whole meal. It won't be expensive because, hey, people in India don't always have a ton of money and if you've got some watermelon and some milk and ice you can make a melon lassi that would fit that theme and not cost a dime. And besides--a challenge isn't supposed to be terribly easy. It's meant to be doable though, and I thoroughly believe that one new recipe a week is doable. I will be posting the theme for the week on Mondays and you will have until the following Monday to link up with your post and recipe. Not only will Culinary Cabaret improve your own creativity, but we can serve as inspirations for each other! And remember, linking up once does not mean that you have to do all 52 weeks! I would love to see you anytime throughout the course of the challenge. So please spread the word, and if any of you are wizards with blog buttons, feel free to make and share a button about the challenge. I want to get as many people involved as possible. :)

Looking forward to breaking out my skillz,
                                                          Rachel

The Long-Awaited Coffee-House Part One! :)

I am sorry to have neglected this blog recently, but the truth is that the business of planning, preparing and executing two large fund-raising events within twenty-four hours of each other put quite a damper on all things blog-related. But I DID keep my tablet charged and I DID take pictures so there you go. I suppose I ought to start at the beginning because this isn't a very coherent update for those of you who aren't on Facebook and haven't been constantly told updates about our coffee-house fundraiser event and the following yard-sale.

Wednesday was a prep day with things like making the chocolate chip cookie-dough cheesecake, organizing piles of decor in the four categories: (Hipster, French, Coffee-Shop, and Vintage), and packing all the items for the garage sale in the garage. (A very large feat, that.)

The coffee-house was first. Thursday we spent the day cleaning the house, and in afternoon I swung out of our driveway, picked up Matthew and then drove to Petersburg to meet Josie and her momma. I also wore my awesome but hipster polka-dot sweater and straightened my hair. I look like such a kid when I do that!

We got home, unpacked, and spent the night watching This is the Army which swung us on with fabulous music till midnight. The we collapsed into bed, and the morning came way too fast for anyone's taste.

Friday morning.

I had a slight panic moment seeing how light it was when I woke up--I thought I had slept the day away. Turns out it was only 7:30 and I had nearly 12 hours to pull off my brain-child project. Josie was absolutely invaluable in boosting the skills and things that Sarah and I have in moderation. We would arrange a corner and it would look good, but then Josie would come, tilt her head, furrow her brow, rearrange something and it would look perfect. We totally rearranged the furniture, took down all previously existing decor, and re-did the house. So much so that when one of our team-guys came in he said, "Hey. You guys should keep your house like this. It looks really cool." That made me happy, because this guy is at our house at least every Sunday, and oftentimes in the days between.

Friday we literally spent all day on our feet. We felt like tree-toads, walking all over countertops and table-tops and using tape for everything. I swear tape is a modern miracle. Honestly. Scotch-tape held up 80% of our decorations! I ought to buy stock in the company and then go around demonstrating it as the party-planners best friend. ;) I'm going to do a whole post on the decorations and how we made what we made and how we spent not a red-cent, but I don't want to overload you so today you get the general push through of the weekend. One quick mention of our method, however: we asked for $5.00 at the door, and then priced the drinks and baked goods cheaply. The most expensive item was "The Neverland" which was a coffee milkshake loaded with whipped cream and sprinkles that cost $3.00. Funny thing is, that and the "Poor Edith" (a simple, plain caramel latte) were the most popular items. We made a killer off the Neverlands. Will definitely be selling those again if we do another coffee-house sometime.

The rest of the team arrived at 5:30 and we had nachos and then got down to business. (but we didn't defeat the huns ;) and I trained my team of baristas. There was a vaguely frightening moment when I started to doubt anyone besides the team would show, but then the people started streaming in and the kitchen filled up craziness from Justin, Daniel, Tim, Emma, Sarah, and I, and before I knew it people were leaving and it was 11:00 PM and we had made well over $200.00 from the thing! I was shocked and pleased when I saw how God had blessed our efforts! The whole time it kind of felt like grabbing at the wind because it was Sarah and I planning this thing kind of last minute and not knowing if it would fly, but God gave it wings enough. After everyone had left, Josie and I perched on hard chairs in the dining room (don't ask me why) and talked until at least midnight again. Wow....noticing a pattern here.

We tumbled to bed and were awakened before the sunrise to get the yard-sale set up and together.

It was supposed to start at 9:00, but people started coming at seven-thirty and didn't stop till 1:00. Again, the Lord totally blessed the method of the yard-sale. We stuck all the items in neat rows and told people  to make a reasonable offer and then pay up and take it away. By the end we had made at least $600 which brought our grand total for the weekend up to $870.00 which exceeded (by a bit) the amount we had gone into the weekend needing!

This means our trip is fully funded now! We are going to Romania and it is paid for and we will have an amazing time and we will come back!  Hallelujah, and a huge thanks to those of you who helped us all the long and tedious way to raising our funds! Those of you who came and donated your time and money (Josie! <3) and those who put effort and time into helping with the decor (Jill! <3) and everyone in between! This weekend was crazy and fun and hectic and I am exhausted now on this cold Monday morning, but it worked. To quote a very very sappy movie, "Never despise meager beginnings."

So thanks, ya'll, and stay tuned for a post with more pictures, awesome details, and How-To-Plan-This-Party-Yourself. :D

Sunday Photo-Shoot

I keep a running list of Things I Need To Do in the blogging world that often includes filling out tags, scheduling guest-posts, formulating interview questions, and many another task that falls to those of us who contribute to multiple blogs. One of those tasks was taking a couple specific photos for a friend, but when Sarah and I went out, we turned it into a real photo-shoot Just For Fun. Sarah was a gem, forsaking her church-friends to trot across the field and play with the sunshine, and so here are the fruits of her labor. :D

Since we were lacking nice back-drops, we thought we'd attempt the sky. I suggested standing on a five-gallon bucket so I'd be taller than Sarah...

But that didn't work, as it was much windier and shinier up there. So I thought if Sarah stood on a bucket that might work....

Not so much. There was still a glare.

This is me, demonstrating how to fix that glare with a sheet of paper.... hee-hee.

So we turned me around into the shadows...

And then we retreated into the woods where we got the best shots and were able to film the video.

"Sarah...there's a tick. Sarah! A TICK!"

 I then attempted to look cool and author-ish with my writing journal all splayed out.

I succeeded in looking cluttered.

So we stopped taking pictures/videos of me and Sarah did a few "selfies"

^ Very cool Black Friday earrings that jingle like dog tags.

Heyyyy. At least it's not the Duck Face.

How was *your* Sunday afternoon?

Voting, Camp, and Running Away

Hello everyone! I know I was just gone and you will now think that I'm never home at all, but I am here to inform you that I'll be gone (and computer-less) for the next 5 or 6 days. I'm working on a Generation Joshua Student Action Team (SAT) with a group of nearly 100 students up through election day!
Since I'm going to be away from home on election day, that means I got to vote early! :)

Matthew, Daniel, Sarah, and I all voted in our first presidential election together!

In other news...I had oodles of fun making decorations for my table at camp...

my co-counselor's idea to put the greenery behind the paper roses. :)

Some of the things my girls and I did together...

Hiked the mountain...

Knotted my co-counselor's hair all over her head to make it curly...

Oh yes! And I turned my whole cabin into "orphans" for talent night.

WE LOVE YOU MISS HEFFINGTON!!!! ;)

I love this picture. It totally looks like a Broadway cast picture. And I make the perfect Miss Hannigan, don't you think? :P 

"I want you kids t'clean this dump till it shines like th'top of th'Chryslah-buildin'. Now get to work!"

The dazed counselor...I think I had just realized how strange I looked....

Our Andrews Sisters pose...

Aaand on the way up we stopped on the state line between VA and NC to take this picture...

Look! Real live twins! <3

Good times. Good times. Well, I'm off so y'all have fun without me, K?

No fits, no fights, no feuds, and no egos.

Well some of you know that my sister Sarah and I are very close. We are generally full of awesome-sauce and personality conflicts and chumminess and those random, precious sister-moments like when Minny (The Help) mentions that Crisco gets rid of dark circles under your eyes and we look at each other at the same exact time.

Some sisters who like to sing and dance are like this:

But Sarah and I? We're of a Broadway-er turn of mind...

(please watch this 2 minute video. It's our favorite.)

My romanticism and her practicalities balance one another out. We're opposites and the same all together. We share jokes and fun and laughter and pretend-we-aren't-crying-in-movies. Sarah's logical and I am not. She's a total ham, but shy in new situations. I'm less of a ham {Well I am!} and more out-going in a new social clime. She blogs awesomely at Two's Company where I join her from time to time, though not as often as I should, leaving her the burden of entertaining our group of followers. I have loved having a sister this close in age to me! She is 18 and  I am 20, but we feel pretty compatible...for instance, I never feel that I can really boss her around. ;)

She has weird ideas for things like cinnamon-face-masks. 

She and Pinterest are like this.

She likes guys to have "good hair" for some reason...

She sings and plays the piano and can put on a man-voice when requested...

In short, she's my sister and I wuvs her.

Family Portraits: Noodleblonde

You all don't know my family that well yet. Of course you have probably read my "Lovely Family" page of this blog, but a line about each person isn't sufficient for you to know them. :) Thus I am going to go through the members of the great big family God has given me, (in no particular order) and let them have their fifteen minutes of fame. After all, how can you really know me unless you know the people I'm around 24-7? It just doesn't compute.

This is the sister right below me: Sarah. Alias Noodleblonde. Alias Cece

You will know her as...Sarah or the Nocturnal Why, depending on which of our blogs you've been reading. Sarah and I have a special relationship. We are [nearly] complete opposites, and yet this is why we fit so nicely together. I tend to be a dreamer, a wisher, a hoper. Sarah tends to be practical--more concerned with figuring out how it will happen than deciding that it should happen.

She is a quiet debater, as anyone who stays up late with her will find out: Why? Why is the moon sometimes invisible at night? What direction is North? How do you know?

Which brings me to the second point. Sarah is a night-owl. She squirms when anyone mentions early bedtimes.

Sarah loves coffee (we are united in this.) and making unheard of projects like Black Forest Cake.

She's always up for a challenge and will do something just because someone doubted her ability to do it.

She always wins the no-smiling-no-blinking game.

She always wins the wish-bone tug-of-war when we make chicken or turkey.

Sarah is an excellent photographer and documents our life and God's beauty with her...her...oh yeah.  Konika Minolta. (Or something like that. :P)

I can always count on Sarah to find the best pins on Pinterest before me so that I have to re-pin all of her pins. ;)

I can always count on her to understand my random train of thought.

She can carry on a conversation with me made up (mostly) of period-drama quotes.

She anticipates my reaction to things so that I don't feel the need of reacting. ;)

She has a gift in music.

She is my Coastal-baking buddy and is not afraid to belt out songs in her man-voice so that my own  softer soprano can carry the girl-part.

She deciphers my unofficial sign-language as if she was fluent in it. (I believe she is.)

Another lesson I often learn from Sarah is that of being silent. She isn't an introvert by any means, and yet she isn't always the one talking. Sarah has a spirit of cheerfulness and gratefulness that is always inspiring to me. She's up for a challenge so whatever the trial of the moment is, we can generally count on her to roll up her sleeves and step right in. She has that gift of being still and knowing that He is God. She is the Mary in the moments where I'm feeling like Martha. She challenges me to enjoy the little things in life constantly. 

Oh. She's also good with money. So good she won't spend it. 

That's a bit of Sarah, and that's only part of why I love her so much! :) 

The Little Pieces

I love the little pieces of Big Family Life. :)

...Singing "On the Street Where you Live" in man-voices with Sarah...

...5 year-old Grace running to me crying and saying, "Benjamin is singing the ominous song!"...

...The fact that the kids can organize a full-out baseball game at any time just using a few of the 17 kids living on this piece of land...

...Comparing how far we are through our current reading project with a sister...

...Kids stealing licks from the cookie-dough bowl...and me threatening to cut off their fingers. ;)

...Singing "Amazing Grace" [William Wilberforce style] with Sarah while the kids are trying to do school, and watching them stare at us like we've lost it for good this time...

...baby giggles...

...baby dimples...

...baby yawns...

...babies in general...

...The Magnificent Wardrobe swap with sisters and Mama...

...finding that my siblings have slipped into my fictional characters without asking permission...

...making a meal and having it monstrously appreciated...

...sharing that, "I know what you're thinking" look with a sister...

...Quoting period-dramas and movies in general...

...the stinkin' amazing sense of humor most of us were endowed with...

...commandeering a vase full of brilliantly colored daffodils [picked by a sister] and falling asleep with them on my nightstand in a sheen of moonlight...

...watching the romantic scenes in North & South and realizing that not all of us girls could lay claim to Mr. Thornton, even if he was real. :D

Yep. Life's good.