Behind the Scenes Photos From Jeremiah Musical

A few behind the scenes pics at Jeremiah Musical yesterday.  Love this photo of Audrey Locher and Lindsay Eagle.  They did great in the show!  It went great...was a full house...every seat was filled and people were even standing at Armstrong Auditorium.  Was a blessing to even be a part of it.  ALL PHOTOS that I took at www. royaltruecolours.com 

Was proud of Justin Bacon...he did an excellent job portraying the role of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar!....ummm he played the dictator part a little too well.  ha, ha!  Good job Justin!

Love this pic of Paula Powell and Katherine Harmon getting some shut eye before putting on costumes and going on stage.  Love the expressions in this photo.....Paula Powell looks like she's thinking...."great, there's Carolyn AGAIN taking photos and I haven't even drunk my coffee yet....leave me alone!"....and there's Katherine who looks like she's thinking, "ahhhh....it's so nice to have a great shoulder to sleep on."

Was so neat that Chrissy Dattolo all the way from Canada, got to perform in the musical.  Love this kid.  She got to dance with the bad Babylonian soldiers who seized the city!  That's her mom Mrs. Dattolo with her.  A family reunion week for them it has been!

That would be me.  I can't remember who took this photo, but thanks to whoever did.  I really loved my costume.  Thanks to Mrs. Cheryl Davis for making it!

The kids really enjoyed being in the musical...this is them during the musical when other parts were on stage and we were waiting on our turn to hit the stage lights!  :-)

This sleeping bag bump is Alexa Turgeon....she was smart and took a quick cat nap right before the show started.  Was a busy and intense weekend for everyone.  Not a lot of time to sleep or socialize with visiting friends and family b/c we were practicing for show Sat. Night, Sunday morning, quick lunch and then showtime!

 ....and now we have a hand showing.  :-)

 Sarah Icasiano, friend and AC student smiles with Lindsay Eagle after just "suiting up" for the show.

Love this pic of Jordy Rouzer....with the shopping bag in the pic, and the way she is posing in her costume, it looks like she's trying to bring the ancient style of women back into fashion.  :-)!  Not a bad look!  ha, ha!!!

 

 Hannah Estebat eats an apple before showtime making sure not to get any on her beautiful white dress!

Teens Ansley Welsh, Ashlynn McLain, and Brianna Weeks relax before showtime.

Abby Benedetti smiles in her "evil Babylonian" costume with Jordy Rouzer taking a quick cat nap in the pic, 

 Edwin Trebels poses in his get up for the musical!  Loved his costume!

 Jamie Hawkins smiles for my camera before heading on stage for showtime!

 Really like this pic of Olivia Culpepper and myself..taken before showtime! 

....and the Jeremiah Musical was a perfect opportunity for me to buy a pair of cute sandals!  Wore these in the show.  So comfy and only $10 bucks...found them on clearance at the shoe store!

Few Pictures from the Morning Tea this Weekend

A small glimpse of all of the food we had...just one side of one table.  It was like a breakfast all you can eat buffet!  Now this is a "real tea party"!  :-)  ALL PHOTOS from this are up on my password protected site:  www.royaltruecolours.com

Conner Brown and his family..wife, son, sister in law, and niece and nephew.  Is it acceptable to be so proud of your friends?  :-)  So proud of him....I have known this family since 3rd grade..grew up together in Texas..can't believe we are all still friends and now know their kids too!  Conner did a FANTASTIC job portraying young Jeremiah in the musical yesterday!  Go Conner!!!

My friend and AC student Jamie Hawkins is enjoying a precious moment with her newest niece born to her sister a few months ago!  Precious moment esp since her family doesn't live here....was so nice having them in town.  Jamie was in Jer. Musical too, and those of us involved didn't have a lot of free time, so hopefully she got a few more precious moments in before her family had to return to Louisiana last night.

Mr. and Mrs. Wakelin, minister and wife from South Africa, smile for the camera.  Traveling the world has been such a blessing!  I met them YEARS AGO when I traveled to Africa.  Fabulous couple that sets a great example!

 I love this pic!  Little Noah Hilliker looks so happy in this pic standing in front of his Grandma Hilliker.  This weekend we were saying how the Hilliker family is always so happy!  Love that family!

 Ava Falk watches me out of the side of her eye while her dad Dwight Falk holds her.  I love this little gal....one of my favorite kids! 

I FINALLY met Debbie Icasiano face to face!  Love her personality!  She and her husband came from their home country all way from the Philippines for a visit!  Ian, her hubby, shown, chose a fabulous wife!  That's Monica Antonio, Debbie's cousin and AC student, in the pic too.  Three fabulous people.  They are on my A list.  :-)!

 I like this pic...all about family.  Love how Mr. Hilliker is smiling at his sister Mrs. Flurry.

This gal, Savannah Macdonald, is definitely one of my fav gals and I miss her being around since her family moved to England a few months back..  Use to babysit for her when she was ity bity!  Glad she could come with her parents and even got to dance in the Jeremiah Musical yesterday! 

 Daniel Welsh looks fab in black suit with the bow tie!  Great picture!

Dawn Lesser visiting from North Dakota poses with Jennifer Vejil and her daughter Alexis Vejil!  Alexis Vejil is one of the cutest little girls around....definitely on my fav kid list. :-)  Vejil's are a great family!

 Mr. Malone chit chats with AC student, Victoria Terrell's, teen sisters.  Lovely family!

 ...and here's lovely Victoria Terrell....enjoying having her family visiting from North Carolina for the weekend!

Absolutely LOVE THIS PIC of Jon and Becky Diesner....remember their wedding photos from a few months back?.....they still look happy as ever!  Great having them in town visiting from Northern California!

Latest Miracle!--"Almost Killed in an Almost Car Wreck"

Above is a stock photo I got off the internet, so it's not the road in this blog post.

One day I was on the interstate going about 73mph.  Suddenly, the truck in front of me slammed on brakes for some reason, so I had to slam on mine.  I was taught that you always drive 2 car lengths away from the car in front of you, and on this morning, that stood me in good stead, gave my car enough time to slow down.  Well, I looked in my rear view mirror when I heard the sound of screeching tires on the SUV BEHIND ME which was NOT 2 car lengths behind me but right on my bumper practically, and realized it was slamming on its brakes to keep from hitting me.  The domino effect was happening!  Everything went into slow motion, I kept looking and obviously there was nothing I could do but hope the SUV didn't slam into me going over 70mph or I would have been dead in my little compact car.  Well, it looked like they were definitely coming in for the kill, pun intended, when they all of a sudden swerved off the road into the median grass, then I was worried they were going to get killed themselves, so I kept watching, and then to my dismay there was a concrete wall in the median in front of them, so they only had so many more seconds they could go in the median before they either lost control of their SUV on the grass and flipped, or they slammed into the concrete wall.  I was praying, and then all of a sudden about ONE SECOND before they would have slammed into the concrete wall, their SUV just stopped.  By this time, all traffic behind us had stopped.  WHEW, I THANKED GOD for saving me and the people that swerved off the road to keep from hitting me.  Definitely a miracle, I should have been dead that day and so should have the people in the SUV!  I have to admit, at first, I was mad at the truck in front of me that made me slam on my brakes but then I realized it was a domino effect, and they had to slam on their brakes for probably a car in front of them, and the SUV behind me was probably mad at me, and so forth.  We definitely need God with us whenever and whereever we go.

The Mosquito & the Safari Netting!

This morning I woke up chipper in my room shown in the picture above; I'm a big morning person and was excited about getting prayer time in with God as usual.  WELL, as soon as I started praying this VERY OBNOXIOUS mosquito decided "to join me."  It was buzzing around my head making it impossible to focus on prayer, and.......(cont. below)

.....it was then that my Zebra guest bedroom came to mind with the big safari canopy netting that I received from Australia YEARS AGO simply for decor was actually going to be used other than decoration.  I picked myself up and finished praying under the safari netting in my guest bedroom mosquito free!  The canopy netting now has really grown on me, I think I will be needing netting for my own bed now.  It will have to be tan in color to match though.

Where are New Designs and Recipes?......

Since I've been finished with the cookbook project I'm taking a much needed break from my hobbies even.  I am using this month to practice the piano and flute; instruments that haven't seen my fingers in way too long!  Next month I'll work on the sewing designs again.  Also, still doing the no TV for now.  My Aunt Mary, world's greatest Aunt, mailed two NICE designer ladies suits to me.  (shown above and below)  I've already worn the one above in Armstrong Auditorium and got tons of compliments.  I'll have to take in the sides on the one below...it's a little too big since I've lost weight w/my diet.

As far as recipes go, I don't even want to think of creating any more right now although I had heard before of gourmet chefs using fish with eggs, and I had the notion to try it, so I scrambed my eggs with wild salmon that I seasoned.  Have to say, it was so yummy!!!  Unexpected yummy!

Testing Productivity & Mindset & Character

Now that the big cookbook project is done and published I'm testing personal productivity & how it affects my mindset; going without turning my TV on for 1 month. Like results so far; but only .5 wk in! So far in .5 week my observation is that I have more meditation time on the things I've studied and learned that day (personal productivity there), and more sound sleep at nights too (humm...maybe my brain is not cluttered with the extra stuff I've seen on TV, ha, ha) which the better sleep leads to even better more intense prayers each morning being more alert.(better mindset)  I'm really looking forward to the final observation at the end of the month!  :-)  No, I've not gone crazy or become one of those anti TV people, this is just a one month experiment testing out my own character and hopefully growing in it too.  After the month is over, I will treat myself to some kosher TV once again in moderation. 

E-Book Edition of The Cookbook of Culinary Elegance Now Available at:

E-Book link:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Cookbook-Culinary-Elegance-ebook/dp/B00AP5O3E4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1355860759&sr=8-3&keywords=the+cookbook+of+culinary+elegance

It's FiNALLY HERE--AVAILABLE FOR SALE on Amazon!

I am very happy to FINALLY announce that printed copies of The Cookbook of Culinary Elegance are NOW AVAILABLE!  This Sunday it will become available as an e-book as well.  My family and I have decided that 20% of each sale will go to the Armstrong Auditorium Building fund!  Check it out for sale on Amazon at:  http://www.amazon.com/Cookbook-Culinary-Elegance-Features-Ingredient/dp/1481007386/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355499508&sr=1-3&keywords=the+cookbook+of+culinary+elegance

The Cookbook of Culinary Elegance!

Got the last proof back from Amazon yesterday and so excited.....The Cookbook of Culinary Elegance is almost ready to be distributed.  All of the prepress is done and approved...I just have to finish the e-book part of it which will only take a few minutes since I already converted the files in the correct format.  EXCITED!  Above is me holding my proof copy that arrived yesterday!  Two years of so much cooking now in my hands and this was a special project b/c my dad and I did all of the recipes.  I have also decided that 20% of each sale will go to the AA Building Fund.

Honey from the Mc Carty's & Homemade Roasted Almonds from Anita Burks!

 Excited to have made my first purchase from friends Matthew and Christy McCarty.  They "raise" their own bees and extract their own honey.  I was THRILLED to get in on their last batch extracted and have to say, I have NEVER in my life tasted honey with SO MUCH FLAVOR.  It's delicious!  Makes me wonder what they do to the honey in the store even if it says raw and natural!  See their label below.

Anita Burks brought me over a healthy treat at the end of the work day yesterday at my desk.  She soaked raw almonds overnight, and then roasted them in her oven in coconut oil and sea salt.  Yummy!  Thanks Y'all!!!

Mens Necktie Designs

Mens Leopard Necktie.  Very silky to the touch.  Designed this tie two years ago gave original to friends, and just made another TWO last week.  One will be for sale at CCoatsOfManyColours and the other will up for grabs locally.  My personal favorite tie design.  :-)

 front view

FINALLY finished this tie that I was able to design a few months back.  Very nice fabric.  I plan to hang on to this tie and gift it out.  Not sure who to gift it to, but usually if someone does something nice or I notice they are working hard I'll grab a handmade tie from the stash and gift it.

Speaking Kind Words Goes A Long Ways

It's amazing how treating someone as you would want to be treated and even better goes a long ways.  I was at the post office mailing off a Scents of Happiness order and the mail clerks at the counter looked tired and worn out and weren't being very kind to the many people, especially this time of year w/so many people coming in mailing off packages.  Instead of being grateful for the post office workers people in line were grumbling about having to wait in line so long causing the workers at the counter to get even crankier with customers.  Well, I was NOT trying to be a hero or anything, not my place, and I've done my share of complaining, but I told the lady in line by me that people are so spoiled and how the post office workers were probably worn out and also tired of hearing complaining customers.  She agreed and immediately changed her frown to a smile.  When I got to the counter, I thanked the clerk that helped me and told him how much everyone really appreciated their hard work b/c without them none of our packages would be handled.  Instantly, not only the clerk that was dealing with me, but all the clerks that heard, no joke, perked up and started smiling and treating people better, and the customers that had heard were acting more respectful towards the mail clerks.  As I was walking out of the post office I was thinking how I long for the day when people will live the way of give instead of get and will genuinely build up each other instead of tearing down.

The above photo of a glass of champagne has nothing to do w/this post.....just thought it was neat.  Took it the other night after getting home after 9pm.  Long day.  Wish Melissa Brown had been around to take a decent photo...I was pretty much unsuccessful at capturing the bubbly stuff with bubbles; at least a few bubbles show

Thanksgiving 2012 Group Photo

Our Thanksgiving Group Photo that my brother took with his remote control camera in front of his house.