Newest postings follow--scroll down...don't miss 'em!

'Kay, so I'm SO thrilled with my new wedding demo that I thought I'd make it even easier for y'all to see it.

Poke this link to see my video!

That's the handiwork of Jensen Wedding Films. Lemme know what you think. I will keep this at the top of all my other entries, so...scroll down...don't miss my newest postings!

Hey, y'all!!  I KNOW you still want some great ideas for your upcoming wedding, and isn't always fun to rub shoulders with other folks walking in the same shoes?  This is also your chance to check out a lovely venue in Sacramento's Delta if you're still trying to determine the location of your winery wedding--Scribner Bend!

The Glitz and Glamour Showcase will be held Sunday, May 23, 2010, from noon to 5:00p, at Scribner Bend Vineyards, 9051 River Road, Sacramento.  Get all the details here: www.GlitzandGlamourShowcase.com

Yes, there's a $15 admission fee (register online for a discount!), but check out all the cool prizes!  And two fashion shows!  There will also be wine and hors d'oeuvres well worth the price of admission.  And the River Road is a really beautiful drive--Scribner Bend is only 15 minutes from downtown Sacramento--take the convertible and pop the top for the full effect!  Moi will be there, as well, and I'll be looking foward to seeing you!

The Dove Lady will be harboring a private stash of her O. Babette's 24 Karat Caramels.  Say the magic words and she'll share!

You didn't ask me what's one of the coolest, most fun things to do at your reception, but if you had I would have answered immediately, "PHOTO BOOTHS!"  I've been to lots of soirees, experienced several photo booths and have seen for myself how much fun folks have.

What I learned recently is something that you wouldn't know unless you're a PP and care about details.  NOT ALL PHOTO BOOTHS ARE CREATED EQUAL.  I realized that the last time I played in a photo booth and saw the resulting photos.  (What's the digital symbol for "thumbs down"?)

The photos were just plain ol' crappy.  And I wouldn't have known that if I didn't have something to compare it to. (please pardon the preposition at the end...I don't have time to rework it...you get the idea)  Since I recently learned that Jensen Films was offering photo booths in addition to their award winning wedding videography, I KNEW Mike (owner of Jensen Films and all around cool guy, talented, and a wholesome family man) was the one to ask.  I know his work well and since day one--he did my original video (VHS!) in 1995--all his work has been first class.  Anyway, dined with Mike a couple weeks ago and had the opportunity to ask him about the differences I had observed in the photos coming out of photo booths.  He answered my question, but I don't remember exactly what he said...something about just using better equipment (see his description on the website).  Mike and I are from the same school: Good Enough Isn't Good Enough.

Trust me when I say there IS a difference.  Now that you know that, have a lookie at www.jensenphotobooth.com.  Read, see, and decide fer yer own self.

If you end up with a crappy photo booth, don't tell The Dove Lady about it.  She warned you.  And if you invite her to your party and have hired a photo booth, she will sit for photos with ANYone, but do not expect her to put on a silly a** get-up. (tsk)  

Read this, find a rebuttal, read that, and then make your own decision:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle

Politics aside, The Dove Lady avoids bottled water at all costs for several reasons* and buys it ONLY in the most extreme emergencies, and avoids such emergencies by preplanning on really hot days.  She LOVES her Tupperware tumblers!!--packs one full of ice, fills in the spaces between cubes with water, and by the time she's finished with her last gig of the day, there might not be any ice, but there is coolish water, right there in her cup holder. 

* Reasons not to buy bottled water:

1. IT COSTS WAY MORE MONEY THAN FREE!

2. It's possible there are poisons that leach out of the plastic into the water, especially when stored improperly (who knows how long it sat last July in that hot warehouse?).

3. Likely, it took a lot of petroleum to ship your bottled water to you (read this article to see how far your preferred bottle traveled).

4. Not everybody is disciplined enough to recycle.

5. If you don't buy disposable plastic containers, you won't have to worry about getting them into a recycling bin or contributing to the land fill or seeing them blowing about the roadways.

6. It takes aLOT of energy to recycle plastic!!

7. If you reuse your disposable water bottle, people who test these things say "stuff" starts growing in them. Reusable Tupperware tumblers go in the dishwasher!

Oh, no.  You got The Dove Lady started.

8. Recyclers justify recycling plastic to make bazillions of flimsy plastic grocery bags that end up EVERY(bleeping!)WHERE!  You HAVE to read this article from the S.F. Chronicle regarding The Garbage Patch--a floating mass of plastic in the Pacific twice the size of Texas and growing!!

9. We MUST boycott those flimsy plastic grocery bags!!  Wal-Mart has the right idea (even though there are reasons why we should avoid those megastores--we should NOT encourage China!!) with experimenting with discontinuing the use of those vile little bags.  Yes, it's hard to train yourself to employ reusable bags, but it's easy once you make a habit of it.  And it's important.

The Dove Lady has to go lay down now.  She's oysgeshpilt.  And no, she doesn't sell Tupperware.

This is really fun.  Exercise your creativity.  No real pumpkins are harmed.  No mess.  No pathetic jack-o-lantern carcasses abandoned in the street leaf piles:

Carve Yer Own Pumpkin

And make sure you know who's ringing your doorbell tonight! 

The Dove Lady loves to carve a real pumpkin when she has enough time to think about buying one before October 31, not to mention, being able to find a perfect specimen.  She likes to roast and eat the pumpkin seeds, too.  But, mostly, it's all too much work/mess/brain room.  So, now she carves online and buys raw, shelled pumpkin seeds at the Co-op.  And she cannot be trusted with Halloween candy, especially MMs and Milky Ways.  And Butterfingers.  Oooh, KitKat.  And Twix!!  And she thinks DumDums and those nasty little pastel sugar pills are wrong.  Just wrong.  In so many ways.

Okay.  Want to shock the (stuffin's) out of your sweet patootie?  Try this:

Scene-- Person A is watching TV on a Sunday afternoon.  Person 1 is either also watching, TRYING to appear interested, attempting to read over the shouting, or is occupied elsewhere in the house, most likely doing something s/he'd rather not, probably having to do with plumbing. Or laundry.

Person A:  You know what?  I can record this game and we can go do something.  It's a GORgeous day!

Person 1: (gets up off the floor)  What?  Are you talking to me?  Really?  Okay, where do you want to go?

Person A:  Let's do something different.  Let's hike over to that little tea house on K, order a pot, and just gaze into each other's eyes.

Person 1:  WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY (insert appropriate relationshipiastical term)??!!

Person A:  You're funny!  Let's go!

Where?  Try Hina's Tea, middle of the 2300 block of K Street downtown.  Your eyes will fly open at her selection of teas and she has samples you can sniff before you order.  I sniffed a few, but was immediately sold on White Divine Temple.  It's white tea (higher in antioxidants than green tea) and a melange of fruit.  Don't be dissuaded by the thought of fruit in your tea.  I like fruit.  And I like tea.  But, not necessarily together.  "Eeewww", I thought.  But I LOVE White Divine Temple!  It smells like Girl.  Flowery.  Like a white divine temple.  What you'd serve at a proper tea party.  Makes me want to go put on a hat. 

Hina's decor is a little stark and contemporary for my vintage, eclectic sensibilities, but I learned a long time ago that not everyone is like me.  Instead of sugar bowls on the tables, Hina has made simple syrup out of raw sugar.  It's brown and beautiful and mixes instantly into your brewed tea.  Even if you, too, have kicked the sugar-in-yer-tea habit, the gesture is to be appreciated. 

Make sure you have time to sit.  My grrlfriend and I made the mistake of having a 6:00 curtain to mind and we walked into Hina's at 5:00...took us 20 minutes to browse/choose tea!  Mistake: gulping hot tea.

S/he won't buy the idea of a tea party on a Sunday afternoon?  This is another extremely cool, different outing to make.  Several of you have commented on my March entry regarding our trip to see the wind mills in Rio Vista.  Okay, get this--I recently learned that those turbines are sitting on land that is owned by a childhood schoolmate, Rick Russell, and his sister.  I had the good fortune to reconnect with Ricky just prior to our elementary school's big anniversary party recently and enjoyed his and Donna's company at the dinner. 

There's something very special about people who knew you when you were a baby.  Who imagined we'd ever be this age?!  It was fun digging up old school memories, as well as talking about new, exciting, grown up stuff we've got going on now.  And Ricky will be a first time father soon!!

Anyway, go share a pot as you plan YOUR excellent adventure.  And promise to look up some old schoolmates.  Start with kindergarten.

The Dove Lady wonders what ever happened to Allisonne Louie, the smartest girl in  first? second? grade who beat her in a spelling bee.  D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T.  She never forgot that, either. 

We're FInally making that overdue trip to Half Moon Bay--our home away.  Unfortunately, it's not because we have the time or brain room to arrange such a getaway.  No, it's because the Saeco certified repair center is in Burlingame, and there's no time to deal with the post office shipping it there and back.  THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! 

If you've been paying attention, we're on our second espresso machine.  Our two-year old Aroma's power switch fritzed recently.  On a Sunday morning!  I'm sure it's just a quick fix, but there are no certified Saeco repair shops locally.  So yeah, we really need a vacation, but it wouldn't be happening if a beloved member-of-the-family didn't need a doctor.

So, this morning, I thought I'd check out the up-to-the-minute progress of the Bay Bridge re-re?-repair so we won't get stuck in Bay Area traffic enroute.  And I stumbled across this video explaining the seismic safety innovations.  It's pretty cool.  That's all.  I just wanted to share.

While The Dove Lady enjoys an occasional latte, her latest hot morning beverage is White Divine Temple tea.  She tries to save the double lattes w/Torani Orgeat for when she really needs the inspiration (cleaning closets, doing laundry...).

I have lots of pigeon stories.  One of my favorites was from several years ago when I was training a flock of babies.  They're very smart, VERY fast learners, but occasionally one will take a little longer to get with the program.

Stuart was missing after a longer training toss.  I train when the weather is comfortable, but he was gone for a week and the temperatures climbed.  And on the seventh day, I got a phone call.  "I found your bird."  Yay.  We talked about how they caught him (easily) , his condition (not great) and then I asked where I could pick him up.  "UCD."  As in the Davis campus?  "No, the emergency room at UCD Medical Center."  Stuart knew he was in trouble and where do you go in a medical emergency?  That's right.  The emergency room. 

Stuart rode home in the truck that day, little smarty, and he got extra special care and extra helpings over the next few week and plumped back up quickly.  He is still a productive part of Whitebird's flying team. 

I've wanted to share that story for the longest time, but my inspiration to finally do so came while watching CNN this morning.  Click here for the short story.  I can't tell it any better.  If you've ever watched pigeons fly, you know they fly in formation.  The video shows exACTly how they do it as that little bird took off with his "team mates". 

The Dove Lady would be delighted to share more "Dove Tales" from her almost 20 year life with her birds.  You need only find her at a quiet moment and buy her a pitcher of...er, a pot of White Divine Temple.

I've already told almost everybody who will sit still for a moment about my new cordless phone.  The short version is: buy Panasonic.  My first cordless phone was Panasonic--I think I just got lucky.  It gave me YEARS of good service.  I had to buy a new battery after I wore out the first one, but then finally, it had served its purpose and went to the recycler.  I held out for years just using my ancient black rotary desk phone on a 50 ft. cord (not long enough) and cell phone.  I even rescued my husband's AT&T cordless phone, but quickly realized he had dumped the PoC  for a reason.

My New Panasonic Cordless Phone is a wonder!!  I knew I wanted a lit key pad.  But!! It allows me to program it to not ring at night, it has the little "locater" button on the base that helps me find it under sofa cushions or in a pile of laundry, as well as the standard phonebook and clock and hands free speaker and a million other things that I don't know (yet) I have a use for.  Model numbers are obsolete as soon as you're handed the receipt, but anyway, my cordless phone is Model #KX-TGA641.  And it's really pretty, too.  Black and silver (what is up with those orange and green phones?!).  We bonded this summer on the back porch over lattes and lengthy calls to friends.

As cool as cordless phones were at one time, they, too, will be rendered obsolete soon, I'm sure.  I consider myself fairly low tech, having resisted iPhones and BlackBerries, and wouldnotbecaughtdeadwithaBluetoothhangingoffmyhead.  But, I do have an LG touchscreen.  And I text on a limited basis.  My husband says I've joined "the other side".  No, no, no.  I still have one foot firmly planted on THIS!

The Dove Lady wishes Alexander Graham Bell (and his colleagues) could see us now!  And neither will you find her MySpacing, Facebooking, Twittering, or participating in ANY online "social networking" scams that collect personal information.  The paparazzi* find her easily enough.

*after "Paparazzo", a character in the Fellini film, "La Dolce Vita".

I got my first whiff of fall this past Saturday.  Lucky brides got a perfectly lovely helping of mild temps and soft breezes.  Autumn is just around the corner.

So, since I was in a fall-ish mood and it was cool enough to cook, I made a pot of lentils and rice.  Lentils are one of the "super foods" and if you don't believe me, I know you'll believe Dr. Perricone (yes, Oprah's Dr. Perricone) who lists beans and lentils as number four on his list.  Low calories, high fiber, and darn yummy, too.

Never cooked lentils?  It's TRES easy.  There are several kinds of lentils...I keep two kinds in the freezer at all times: green and brown.  The green ones hold their shape when cooked properly and are best for lentil salads.  The brown ones get smooshier when cooked and they're the ones I use most since their prep is SO much easier.  Here's a quick, easy, healthy meal.

Lentils & Rice

1 cup brown lentils (#5011 in the bulk bins at the Co-op, green lentils are #5039, today I used 1/2 cup each)

1 cup rice (#5294 is SO pretty!! a mix of brown, wild, Wehani, and other varieties of rice...PLEASE promise you'll never buy white rice again)

1 or two Rapunzel Vegan Veg Bouillon Cubes with Sea Salt & Herbs (one might be plenty for you, so start with one, add the other in bits to taste if necessary)

Wash the rice and lentils and put in a pot.  Cover with water by about two inches.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to a verrrry slow simmer.  Cover and set your timer for one hour.

DING!!  Stir up the lentils and rice and taste.   Here's where you make your seasoning adjustments.  Is everything cooked enough?  If not, add more water just to the top of the L&R and reset your timer for about 30 more minutes.  Make a mental note of how long it took for your lentils to cook on your stove with your equipment for next time.

From The Other Super Foods Department-- Yogurt.  I'm not going to go on and on about super foods, but I've meant to tell you about Greek Gods Honey Yogurt for a long time.  If you like yogurt, you will build an altar to Greek Gods Honey Yogurt.  If you don't like yogurt, try Greek Gods.  My husband calls it ice cream.  Yes, it's loaded, even at 6 oz. per container, so it's not the kind I can polish off in one sitting.  I have a spoonful once or twice a day.  It also comes in 24 oz. containers.  Yogurt was always a staple at my  house...I even made my own back in the day.  But, when Lucerne tweaked their non-fat strawberry recipe, I couldn't find another yogurt I liked.  They were all too sweet, or the flavors tasted fake...Greek Gods was The Universe's answer to my prayers.  Find it at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op on Alhambra at S Street...I hear Raley's, BelAir, and Nugget carry it, too. 

Just So Ya Know--if you're a label reader and a low-cal fan, AVOID ASPARTAME AT ALL COSTS.  It's a sugar substitute, and not a very good one, if ya ask me.  But, frankly, it's poison.  I've meant to tell you about that, too, and the low-cal yogurt talk made me think if it.  They'll sneak aspartame into supposedly healthy foods, so watch the yogurt labels.  And if you're a big diet soda fan, you really need to read about it.  Did you know that one of the side effects of aspartame ingestion is death?!   "Aspartame is the methyl ester of the dipeptide of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid."  Wha?  Read pros/cons of aspartame on the 'net and make your own decision. 

The Dove Lady doesn't need no stinkin' smoked ham hocks or bacon in her lentils.  And she loves sugar...just plain, ol' real unadulterated sugar, like organic-raw-dried-granulated sugar cane juice.  She thinks it's prettier than white sugar, too.

Remember when we talked about personalizing your wedding and making it your own?  A Cookie Cutter Wedding wasn't good enough for this couple who took it a million steps further. 

This made me cry it was just so dang cute, clever, and fun.  We wedding vendors LIVE for these bones brides throw us now and then.  Made my day.  No, year.  No, the last 20!  Keep this handy when you need a shot of joy--JK Wedding Entrance!

Of course, this takes a bit of planning, but if you've surrounded yourselves with joyful friends, even semi-talented, who love you, it could be the greatest wedding gift! 

And wouldn't it be fun to pull this out at the reception?  With apologies to the late, GREAT, Michael Jackson, who LOVED and appreciated immitation (no one came close) as the sincerest form of flattery--Wedding Thriller

Aaaaaand, remember when we talked about hiring a PROFESSIONAL videographer?  It's too bad "JK" didn't have one, though as I said in this "Notes..." entry, even bad video is good.  Good/great/professional video is priceless.  Every moment of your wedding day is once-in-a-lifetime.  Don't let them get away.

The Dove Lady would like to encourage the gods to bestow "JK" a lifetime of continued love and silliness, partly because having fun is big part of a healthy marriage, but mostly because their wedding entrance gave her the greatest kind of joy (the kind that causes her to emote), and makes her stand in awe of the creative genius of mortals.  Good journey, "JK"!

I like Hostess Cupcakes.  Actually, I like most cupcakes.  Okay, I like cake.  Wedding cake.  Buttermilk cake with lemon curd filling and Italian buttercream frosting.  Mmmmm.

Anyway, back to Hostess Cupcakes.  We bring 'em home now and then as a special treat.  Usually I get SnoBalls, but we can rarely find them.  I don't normally read ingredients, because I know what's good for me and what's bad for me and if I want to eat it, I'm going to no matter what's in it.  Until now.  Here's what's in yer Hostess Cupcake (if you don't want to know, stop reading and scroll down to "chicken sweatshops"):

To love someone deeply gives you strength.  To be loved by someone deeply gives you courage.  --Lao Tzu

Okay, now I hafta keep this short, because I spent almost an hour writing (typing) last night only to find it all gone this morning. 

My husband (who is WAY more civilized than I'll ever be) and I took a long-awaited/much anticipated drive yesterday to visit the wind farm near Rio Vista.  I always wanted to see the project in Altamont, but that was further than we wanted to drive yesterday (we'll catch them on our next trip to Half Moon Bay), and besides, hey, there's a perfectly good one less than an hour away!

I got a map of the general area, but couldn't find any specific addresses to plan the trip--"near Birds Landing" was the best I could do.  But, we found them and THEY WERE EVERYTHING I WANTED THEM TO BE!!  I wasn't paying all that much attention in the car, but when I finally saw them in the distance, it reminded me of the time we came over the hill in England down to the Salisbury Plain and saw Stonehenge in the distance.  Sort of.  Okay, promise, keep, short.

Take the whole family.  VERY romantic/educational/andjustplainolbeautiful drive.  Pack a pique-nique.  Make sure you make your final "necessary" stops in Dixon.  (Trust me on this!)  Make sure you have fresh batteries for your camera.  Make sure you took your memory card out of your 'puter and put it back in your camera! (could have been ugly if I didn't have a spare in my camera bag!!) 

The plan:  From Sacramento, we took 80 west to 113 south to Dixon.  Drove 20 miles to Hwy. 12 (there's a little jog in the road, but follow the 113 signs and you'll be fine).  Turned right onto Hwy. 12.  Two miles later, turned left onto Olsen Road (even the Rio Vista Chamber of Commerce didn't mention Olsen Road).  Olsen Road--don't be in a hurry, it's well-maintained, but still, just gravel, and yesterday it was dry.  And there they were--magnificent!  We stopped, took photos, communed with nature, made an addendum to our previously etched Lotto plans, then continued on our route to see more.  The hills were spring green and carpeted in wool.  As in sheep.  Lots 'o.  We got to Birds Landing.  The sign didn't indicate, but I surmised, Population: 12.  Not even a General Store.  No Starbuck's.  If there was a post office, it was in somebody's kitchen.  We continued on what we later determined was Collinsville Road.  We ignored the "Road Ends" sign and continued until...the road ended.  Turned around and since we weren't ready for the adventure to be over, we turned right onto Talbert Road.  More mills, lots, including ancestors (older versions) and at the end of that road--more wool carpeting (I speak excellent sheep, baa-ah-ah-aahh the way!).

We headed back to Birds Landing and decided to return to civilization (Rio Vista) via Birds Landing Road.  That would be a right turn from Collinsville Road, clearly marked "Rio Vista Thataway!"  More windmills, more sheep, and still, hardly ANY traffic until we got to Hwy. 12.  Note to Self: Bring an extra flash card next time.

The wind mills are just cool.  Not only are they majestic and beautiful, but the land is still being used for grazing.  And they're making electricity with the wind!!  And the wind is FREE and will always be there!  (Insert diatribe about our dependence on fossil fuels and don't even get me started on why our mothersfathersbrothersistersfriendssonsdaughters are in the Middle East).  It's so clean and quiet out there that I kept expecting security to demand we vacate the premises.  Never even saw security.  Read more about the Shiloh Wind Power Plant and see pretty pix (we didn't see any horses...just cows and sheep, red-winged blackbirds, and an occasional pigeon).  The whole trip took under five hours and that was at a very leisurely pace AND included a walking tour of Rio Vista (a future pique-nique will be at river's edge), and lunch.

Next stop: Altamont Pass--one of the first wind farms in the U.S!(see somebody else's six-year old photos here--dude spelled it wrong, but I think he's not from around here since he referenced wind speed in meters per second).

The Dove Lady wants to know what time of year is harvest on the wind farm.  She wants to see how they pick it and bale it and haul it out of there.  Anybody?

I saw THEE International Space Station.  Last night!  We had heard earlier in the week that it would be visible in the southwest sky at 7:42, so I put it on the schedule.  I had a 7:00 class, but told my instructor that I would have to leave at 7:42 for a couple minutes to see the space station.  I set my phone/alarm clock to 7:42 (vibrate mode) and extricated myself from the room at the first "brrrrr".  I tried to find the astronomy class at the suggestion of Jeff/Mr. Stephenson, thinking they would know exACTly where to watch for it, but didn't find them.  So I headed southwest and fortunately, there was a clear area so I could see very close to the horizon.  I scanned the sky.  I saw Venus, the North Star, the West Star...  The longer I looked, the more bright objects came into focus.  Were they moving?  I pressed my face up against the chain link so my head wasn't moving, and no, those bright objects were not moving.

I had almost given up when I saw it.  The 7:42 time must have been for San Francisco, because it was almost 8:00 when I saw it hurtling through the sky.  Yes, hurtling.  It was gone in under two minutes.  It was pretty thrilling.

My sister and I were talking the next day and we figured we must have gotten our fascination with the night sky from our Dad.  Some of my earliest memories were of him getting up before dawn to watch rocket launches of Alan Shepard (the second man in space) in 1961, and John Glenn in 1962.  And I watched with him.    

I rarely make time to go out and stare at the night sky.  Every time I do, I tell myself I have to do it more.  Mostly what gets in the way is the cold.  And if it's not cold, it's the mosquitoes (little sons of boogers).  Here's what I posted in way back in July of '03 about a meteor shower.

Lookie what I found--another extremely cool NASA website that tells about sighting opportunities, what, where, when.  It's a lovely way to spend the evening away from the television.  Not that there's anything wrong with television...just something different.  Surprise your patootie with a night out under the stars.  Don't forget the bug repellant.

The Dove Lady LOVES watching tv, esPECially with the love of her life on the other end of the couch, and thinks it can be very romantic, especially when you throw in a box of Raisinets.

She uses the original Avon Skin So Soft bath oil in the spray bottle--the fragrance is tolerable, mosquitoes hate it, and it's not made up of a bunch of poison chemicals.

And she would probably dislocate her arm for raising it so quickly when asked, "Who wants to go for a ride on the space shuttle?" 

AAAAAAND she started her Real Life On-Line Journal Regarding All Things Wedding and More way back on July 13, 2003.  She would never call it a web log nor her postings, blogging.  As you certainly know by now, The Dove Lady doesn't do trendy.