planning for St. Paddy's Day cooking

so currently I'm planning on cooking up some Corned Beef, Cabbage, and other goodies...including trying out some mashed Turnips. :)

Which means WAY more food than I can actually eat. (Of course I'll keep & use my leftovers. :) But if *anyone* in the area wants to join me for eating this feast, let me know. Soon!
:)
Consider this your Invite.
:)

If I can borrow a crock pot from my mother (since mine apparently will be used by my roommate), then I'm planning on cooking this up on Wed, March 17th. If I can't get the crock pot in time...then either I'm cooking this another way than with the crock pot or I'm cooking this meal on another day. :)

Finally Got a New Phone!!!

So today on my lunch break I *finally* broke down and got myself a new cell phone. I've been putting it off for a long time, but I decided that Enough was Enough - It's time to Make a Decision and get it over with. (I can be so indecisive, I know :). And now I've done it.

I re-upped with T-Mobile, and managed to get grandfather'd in for the new contract with a lot of my old contract terms (YES!!) and just added a Data (Text/Web) on top of it...plus managed to get my AAA disccount with made the monthly price definitely more reasonable. (Whew!)

So - all in all - I'm quite excited that I finally have a snazzy new phone. Yay!!!
:)

(p.s. - I got the Motorola Cliq, which works on Google Android. And Yes, I still have my same number :).

Dolly Madison Special on PBS - Tonight!!! (check your listings)

Hey all! In case you didn't know, PBS is premiering Dolly Madison on American Experience tonight!
("The American Experience," at 9 p.m. It's on KCET, channel 28 for some of us).

Below are 2 different emails I got today about it airing tonight! So far I've checked out one of the Behind the Scenes Online segments (1st one listed - with the Costume Designer) and really enjoyed it!

:)

Thanks to Val & Dana for both getting the word out about this new special about to air!

-=-Rebecca
aka - Miss Violet Johnson, Johnson Oak Inn (47 Oak St)
www.HistoricalCitizens.org


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Val
Date: Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Subject: [CGWcostumers] Dolly Madison on PBS and making her costumes & turbans
To: CGWcostumers@yahoogroups.com



PBS is premiering Dolly Madison on American Experience tonite, but unfortunately for us San Diego folks, it won't be on for two weeks. My friend, Angela Burnley, of Burnley & Trowbridge, Williamsburg, pointed out the behind the scenes videos on the trailer at PBS' website.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dolley/ The trailer starts up immediately but you can click the pause button. (IT HAS SOUND)
Move your cursor over to the right of the black screen and some boxes pop up, with Behind the Scenes- Dolly's turbans, that show them making them from straw hat crowns, and with the costume designer.
Great stuff!!
Val



------------------------





---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dana
Date: Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 4:54 PM
Subject: Dolley Madison special on "The American Experience," Monday night at 9 p.m.
To:

Fellow Colonial Folk,

She served as hostess of the White House for 16 years, under two administrations.

Dolley Madison, as the wife of the secretary of state, organized the White House social functions for Thomas Jefferson (who was a widower) for eight years. Then, when her husband, James Madison, succeeded Jefferson as president, she was White House hostess for eight more years.

And what a hostess she was! Such charm, such grace. She was the Jackie Kennedy of her time. An invitation to one of her parties was a prized possession.

She was very helpful to her quiet, scholarly husband. The social bonds she created, quickly became political bonds for him. There were those who said that the reason he won a second term as president was that everyone loved his wife, Dolley.

She was considered quite a looker in her time. James Madison always referred to his wedding day as "the luckiest day of my life."

Do you know who the first president's wife to be called first lady was? It wasn't Martha Washington. And, it wasn't Jackie Kennedy. It was Dolley Madison.

When she passed away, that was the largest funeral there had ever been in Washington, D.C.

So, when someone asks you what you are doing tomorrow (Monday) night, the answer, of course, is watching the Dolley Madison special on "The American Experience," at 9 p.m. It's on KCET, channel 28.

Happy viewing,

Dana Parker

P.S: In case you want to see a preview, or how they made the show, or to find out how the bodice and stays were the 18th-century version of the Wonder Bra, check out:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dolley/

DP

time for a change in hair...

Ok, I'm pretty much ready for a change in my current hair style - but what? Part of me wants to do something drastic...like get a Bob haircut. :) My sister-in-law told me a while back she think it'd look good on me and obviously it stuck.

Also haven't dyed my hair in a while either.

So, should I dye it AND cut it? :)

Only problem if I do a drastic hairstyle, is that it'll make doing up my hair for some of my reenactment/costume events more difficult. And I might have to buy new hairpieces to match whatever color I dye it (if I dye it).

Playing with hair can be expensive.

But my current hair length/color/style is annoying me.

So, any suggestions?

Tommy & the High Pilots @ Ground Zero Pics online

DSC09582
Originally uploaded by marcailgaelyn

On Saturday, Feb 20th, Elizabeth McCash, Gretchen Foltz & myself drove up to USC to see Tommy & the High Pilots perform at a student run coffeeshop (Ground Zero). We got there just as the first band was finishing up, but managed to snag seats/a table for the second band - which turned out to only be 1 member of the band (other member had a grandmother's birthday party he had to attend - so decent excuse for not being there :). 2nd band was the Martyrs (from Santa Barbara, I believe) - they're on Myspace at myspace.com/sbmartyrs.

Considering it was just one guy on stage for most of his show (he had a few special guests come onstage for a couple of songs to play with him), he was pretty decent. I'd listen to him again. :)

As for the Pilots, they rocked - as usuall! :) Tons of energy on stage! Crowd was definitely in to their playing too. Definitely a great show - so glad I came. Plus I got to give them a bunch of home-made cookies & lemon squares. ;-)

The lighting during the show kept changing, so that made taking pics (& occasionally videos) interesting/challenging. There were a few shots that might have been ok except that the spotlight completely washed a few people out. Also, while my location in crowd (front & center - in front of stage) was ok for most of the sound and photo-taking...it really didn't pick up the sounds center mic very well. Bummer, cause that means that the recording didn't pick up the harmonic when Tom was playing (during their cover of "Desire")

Anyways, that's my thoughts for now. If you haven't checked them out, you should TOTALLY try out Tommy & the High Pilots. They'll be playing at the Viper Room (in LA) later this month (March 25th - email them to get in FREE)!

For More Info on Tommy & the High Pilots, check out: http://www.myspace.com/thehighpilots http://www.facebook.com/thehighpilots http://twitter.com/TheHighPilots
http://www.youtube.com/thehighpilots

Oh, and back to my Pics!
Here's the link to my Flickr set of the Pilots @ Ground Zero
(all pics & video) : http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterbec/sets/72157623376003445/

To see the Videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MarcailGaelyn

And if anyone wants to try listening to them, I have some of their demo cds to pass out - just contact me. I'll get one to you. :)