Beam Me Over Scotty!

I'm going to Scotland in a week.  I'M GOING TO SCOTLAND IN A WEEK!  This is a big deal for me, a homebody who has never even left the country.  It's true.  I'm quite content to stick around home.  Bucket list?  There isn't one.  My greatest travel aspirations might include road trips around the country to see the national parks.  That would be nice.

But my children are very different than me.  Well, at least two of them... so far.  The two oldest.  They get around.  If you have read my blog from the beginning, you know those two boys have lived in Taiwan, Japan, China, (Utah) and now, you guessed it... Scotland.  Glasgow to be specific.  My oldest and his wife (front center and front left in this picture of my family) are living in the West End for a year while he gets a masters in International Politics-China at the University of Glasgow.

And yes, said university looks like Hogwarts to me.

Well, it WAS founded in 1451.

Anyway, something happened last summer and now there's this...

And that's why I'm going to Scotland in a week.

Yes, my first grandchild.

A pale, blond or red headed, freckly baby girl should arrive

about the same time I do... keep your fingers crossed. 

Knock on wood.  Say a prayer.  Whatever works.  

My plans in Scotland are to be a homebody there, too.  

I need to take care of the new mama so she can take care of her new sweetie pie.

No other big plans while I'm there...

well...

Ok... maybe I could sneak out for a little while and see this:

I mean... it's located right on the university grounds.

I'm talking about The Mackintosh House, a reassemblage of interiors

from one of my favorite architects, leader in the art nouveau movement,

and legendary Glaswegian, Charles Rennie Mackintosh!

 Among his gorgeous designs:

The iconic trademark Mackintosh rose,

the 1898 Argyle chairs and the famous 1902 Hill House chair (center)!

I used to have a Mackintosh Rose poster up in my kitchen in Provo

when I attended BYU for Interior Design back when this boy I'm visiting was born.

So, it's meant to be.  I need to sneak over there...

...and maybe on the way I might come across a thrift shop or two...

or a fabric shop here and there.

There's a Cath Kidston in Glasgow.

And not that I've been cruising all over the google map of Glasgow

and obsessed with street view and checking out fabric shops called

Timorous Besties, Mandors, Remnant Kings, or Zum Zum...

or thrift shops with fascinating names like

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor... but, I digress...

Anyway.

We'll see about all that.

First, I need to concentrate on someone who

I used to think would someday look like this:

An early Victoria magazine picture cropped from an article about something vintage that I loved back in the 90s.  This beautiful little girl, whoever she is, is all grown up now.  I used to think if my son and his wife had a daughter, she might look like this.  But now I think she'll be even more fair and more blond.  We'll see, won't we?

Until then,

Cheerio and Haste Ye Back!

Family Update

Wow, it's been a busy month.  Family busy.  Here's the crew after a concert by my oldest son, Lars (The Laohu) at The Velour in Provo, Utah last week.  Yes, we made the roadtrip through Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and into Utah on beautiful Interstate 80 to take Chelsea (on the far right) back out to BYU for her senior year in piano performance.  A bonus was that we got to see Nate (in the purple tee) who is a super senior (in Japanese and business) at BYU and didn't come home for the summer.  Rounding out the group is my husband on the left, Lars' wife, Spring, in the turquoise tee, Keaton (soon starting his senior year of high school) in stripes and me in black.  That's the whole gang.  It was a lot of fun for all of us to have some time together.  And important to get a family pic since some are heading back to the four corners again.  It's only days now until Lars and Spring head to Glasgow, Scotland for his master's degree in International Politics and Nate will be moving to Japan within the year I suspect.  After China, Japan, Taiwan, and now Glasgow, I get a little jealous when I hear moms who get upset when their kids go to school in UW Madison 90 minutes away.  Sigh.  Such is life.  Thank goodness for Skype.  Anyway, I love my kids and I love that they are independent world travelers... I think.

What's the Laohu?  Translated, that's "tiger" - Lars' Chinese nickname.  When he came home from China, Keaton taught him how to create chip music with the gameboy (don't ask).  Anyway, Lars loved it and combined it with guitar and vocals -- the "Laohu" was born.  He composed half a dozen songs and we were all pleasantly surprised when he won a contest to play at Milwaukee's Summerfest on July 3rd on the Cascio Interstate Music Groove stage! Pretty cool.  Now he's actually got an album out.  Wha?

Soon everyone will be where they are supposed to be (if we survive the Scotland VISA drama) and life in Menomonee Falls will finally settle down.  There will only be three of us at home.  I am no longer on the school board.  No more excuses.  The time has come to make RubyLemons what I dream it could be... or not.  Excuse the expression, 'time to poop or get off the pot.'  (Sorry, I feel like that sounds a bit crass.)  So, stay tuned.  RubyLemons will either flourish or fold.  Da-da-da -- dum!

Flower Cookies - Completed

You've all seen these cookie dough balls getting cut up on Pinterest, right? Yeah, well when you click on the picture it always takes you to some bogus link and you never see what they turn out like.  For some reason, I was skeptical that they would be cute and conveniently, when I saw this idea, I had some leftover sugar cookie dough (recipe here) in the fridge just waiting for the experiment. 

I made up some 1" balls and rolled them in pink or blue sugar.

 Then I cut them in half and then those halves into thirds.
By the way, cutting the whole into sixths just didn't work.

If you cut them too deep, just push them back together.

I chose to bake them 'as is' and not do anything for the center.

Here's how they baked up.

Actually, kind of cute and fun.

The backs were colorful and sugary.

Why was I skeptical these would turn out cute?  They were actually adorable and so fun to bite off a petal.  And so easy!  Next time I will add something to the center like... more sugar?  Or a pastel kiss?  Or a frosting dollop?  Or?  Hmmm... I'll have to think about it.  These would be so cute in the right colors for a spring party or a baby shower.  I will definitely be making them again.

Color My World

Sit back.  Breathe deeply.  Relax your shoulders.

Now...  enjoy these early spring love letters

from my Wisconsin garden.  

Don't you love this time of year?