Seasoning the New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I have been enjoying a much needed break from most versions of regular work in my life and needed time away from SurLaLune, too, while I enjoyed the holidays with family and friends and worked on some longstanding personal goals. I am feeling refreshed and more invigorated about SurLaLune than I have felt in almost two years since I moved houses and life got really, really hectic.

The fifteen year anniversary of SurLaLune occurred with no fanfare on December 28th but I am planning some fun in January to celebrate since I imagine most of you were off holidaying, too.

I wanted to share my favorite surprise gift of the season. My sister-in-law charmed me with this unexpected set of Fred and Friends Salt + Magic: Salt and Pepper Shakers. I dedicated Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World (Surlalune Fairy Tale) to her and she has actually read much of the book, too. She saw these at a local store and thought of me which is always a cozy, comforting thought. She knows I have a penchant for fun kitchen stuff--like my collection of Zak Happy Spoons--so this gift really hit several high notes for me.

Yes, you magically salt and pepper your food by waving the wands over it. No stars appear like in the image above (smirk) but salt and pepper do generously emerge as you wave them. They are not practical but they are fun. The design would have been more practical by having the shaker holes at the top of the stars to make filling, seasoning, and storage easier but I am keeping these for the fun factor. And because I always appreciate some extra magical help in the kitchen.

New in the SurLaLune CafePress Store

So a few weeks ago hubby John was down sick with a bad cold and very bored but inspired. So I got these! New designs for the SurLaLune CafePress store. I am slowly adding them to the shop and editing and sizing the items that didn't auto populate well. But there are many items now great as they are. And if there is something you really like but that isn't formatted well yet, let me know and I will fix it sooner rather than later,  no obligation.

I am calling this the "Fairy Tales Since Series." Yes, dates can be debated depending on which version you want, but I went with the dates of the best known versions of the tales. And I think they are fun! 

Which is your favorite? I like them all, but the Rumpelstiltskin design is probably my favorite.

And which fairy tale would you like to see receive a treatment like this?

Off Topic Fun: 70 Million by Hold Your Horses!

This has been circulating around my household for several days now and I thought I would share with you in case you haven't seen it yet. I imagine a few of you regulars here will have just as much fun with it as we have had. And playing the game of "Identify the Painting" will take ever so much longer than you think...but be completely satisfying.

And so I present 70 Million by Hold Your Horses!

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

This wins my best music video of the year and decade award already, without knowing what else will come in the future.

Just For Fun: Cinderella looks for missing shoe

I'm trying to decide on a name for these short posts linking to funny, amusing, quaint, etc. articles I find. This one is about a woman in the UK who lost one of her leopard-print Christian Louboutin heels and is offering a £50 reward: Cinderella looks for missing shoe.

Glass slippers have changed a bit in our modern age, haven't they? And these were apparently given to her by her prince (i.e. husband) instead of her fairy godmother...

(And no, I don't know if the image is of the exact style she lost. They are just for a visual. And although I am not a heel wearer--my funky and fun shoes run in the tennis shoe line--I have always enjoyed seeing the red soles of Louboutins. They rather remind me of Little Red Riding Hood, I admit.)

Just For Fun: Snow White lives happily ever after, again

Because it made me laugh: Snow White lives happily ever after, again

Once upon a time, there was a struggling actress who tried to make ends meet by playing Snow White at Disneyland.

The Rancho Cucamonga resident ended up winning $5.2 million on "Make Me a Millionaire," the weekly television show featuring 12 scratcher winners.

Marston, who no longer works at Disneyland, said maybe her role as a fairy tale princess gave her some good karma.

"I'd like to think that," she said. "It was a rewarding job, so maybe I was rewarded for passing those smiles to the kids."

Come on, doesn't that make you smile, too? And hope that she beats the happily ever after lottery winner statistic?

And makes me wish I played the lottery if fairy tale karma works that well. By now, I should have lots of fairy tale karma stored up...