Congratulations to Kim D., our very first Babs Blog giveaway winner! Hurray, Kim! Kim D., please email the Babs Blog with your mailing address and we'll get that Paper-Source giftcard sent off to you. :)
Barbie is 50 today! Her real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, but she goes by Barbie. (We personally think "Babs" would have been a much better nickname.) If you are a Barbie fan, do a quick google search and you'll be astounded to learn of the 50th birthday bash Barbie is having. Where? In Malibu, of course, in a mansion decked out like the Barbie Malibu Dream House. Designer Jonathan Adler has spent six months figuring out how to deck the house out in the most "Barbie-like way." And famed party planner Colin Cowie will be throwing the very pink party. (Sigh) She really does have it all, doesn't she?
Yesterday was Babs' birthday. No, her daughters didn't forget, but we were away from the blog yesterday and didn't get a chance to post on it. Shame on us. March 5 is a very special day. We cannot express how happy we are that our Mom was born. And we cannot express the joy that comes from having a Mom we can honestly say we love, like, enjoy, miss, and look up to. We know not everyone has parents they enjoy---we are so blessed! We chose a pictures of Baskin Robbins icecream instead of a birthday cake, because we know that Babs was probably wishing for 31 flavors on her big day! :) (Nobody appreciates icecream more than Mom, and probably now more than ever now that she lives in Liberia and a scoop is harder to come by these days!)
Hi, everybody. Kari here.
We miss spring. Thankfully, living in California affords us an earlier spring than most. As a matter of fact, today the sun is shining and little buds on trees are already pushing here and there. But still, nights are cold, it's foggy, it's still not completely spring. We've told you that entertaining is a great way to beat the winter doldrums. But did you know that recent studies have shown that fresh flowers actually improve moods? We could've guessed this on our own as we grew up in a house that frequently had fresh flowers and, yes, beautiful flowers in a vase seem to elevate a room. Our mom, Babs, is an avid gardener. Her yard has always been full of pretty things to bring inside: heirloom roses, lilacs, citrus blossoms, etc. But not all of us have a garden that looks like it should be on the pages of Martha Stewart's garden issue! So...the grocery store to the rescue! Check out the two photos above. The top pink roses are a grocery store special and they do a great job of bringing a little "spring" into the room. The bottom photo is a random mix of white roses, white tulips, and yellow tulips. Again, grocery store finds. If you need a little lift while waiting for spring to show up, try fresh flowers! You don't even need big bouquets; buy one bunch at the grocery store and divide it into several mini bouquets so you can place flowers on your bedside table, on your bathroom vanity, on the kitchen window ledge (to cheer you up when you're doing dishes!), etc. (Put flowers on your grocery list, and you won't forget next time you head to the market!)
The two of us gals are, technically, 100% Dutch. At least, that's what our ancestry is. Truthfully, our family is pretty much as American as can be. We don't speak Dutch and we don't have many Dutch recipes---it's been too many generations since our ancestors came to the United States. However, in the community we grew up in, many families had closer ties to the Netherlands and, therefore, had preserved Dutch traditions better than our family managed to. One of those traditions is Oliebollen on New Year's. Many Dutch-American families will gather today, New Year's Day, and share homemade Oliebollen with each other. The stuff is kinda like the Dutch version of doughnuts. If you'd like to try the recipe out, you can find it right here at allrecipes.com. Our family never made the stuff...but sometimes, as kids, we were lucky enough to be invited over to a friend's house where Oliebollen was being prepared. It's pretty good stuff!
Merry Christmas from the Babs Blog! We wish you a beautiful celebration of our Savior's birth! As you can see by the "Christmas card" above, the two of us Babs Blog sisters are spending Christmas in very different spots. Jill's view from her front door shows snow in Grass Valley, California, and Kari is enjoying Christmas in Maui this year with her husband's family. Two very different types of weather and scenery---but nonetheless, we will both be celebrating this beautiful time of year with loved ones. We hope that your Christmas is meaningful and peaceful, wherever you are celebrating this year. Please join us back here on the Babs Blog in 2009 for more fun ideas and chit chat!
The Babs Blog has been gaining popularity! We are quite excited about this and are thrilled (yet somewhat baffled) that people are actually reading our ramblings! The Babs Blog has readers in almost every state of the Union...but we are asking for your help.
We'll be back on Monday with more Babs Blog goodness...but we are signing off tonight for a long weekend. One of us will be finishing her bathroom renovation this weekend and the other will be jetting off to New York City for the weekend. Both of us will be taking a little Babs Blog Break as we will be away from our computers. We wish you all a beautiful fall weekend. If you are hosting a Halloween shindig, we hope you'll take photos and send them our way so we can pass your brilliant hostessing ideas on to others. If you are simply taking the kids out for some trick-or-treating, we hope you have a safe weekend with lots of beautiful family memories. Above all, remember to enjoy the people you spend the weekend with---that's one of the biggest lessons we've learned from Babs. :)
