*GUSH* aka "Why you should go buy Molly Wizenberg's book"

FYI: I am writing to you from my parents house - my temporary home until Matt gets back from tour. Moving is officially OVER! Well...at least for a short while.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg, of Orangette bloggy fame. I must admit, prior to picking up the book, I had not been a regular Orangette reader. I knew of Orangette, but I had just never stopped for a good look around. Then I started reading reviews of Molly's book on blog after blog, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, they must be on to something good."

After reading A Homemade Life, my conclusion is this:

WHERE THE HELL HAS MOLLY WIZENBERG BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

Seriously. It is so terribly cliche, but I laughed, I cried and I devoured the book like a piece of chocolate cake after a three day fast.

Let me explain why Molly, and subsequently her book, is so awesome.

Each chapter is a short, autobiographical story. The way that she writes about her life experiences and the way that she writes about food are inseparable. Molly's prose is casual, like reading letters from one of your very best gal pals. The book has all of the lovely qualities of a great blog - terrific writing, but short and easy to digest. Each of the chapters culminate in delicious recipes. These recipes are very much main characters in Molly's life and her writing. So often at the end of each chapter I found myself thinking, "Dear God, that sounds so delicious, I want to go into the kitchen and make it NOW!"

*SPOILER ALERT*

The bottom line is that Molly is a like-able person, so, as a reader, I became very engrossed in her story. Tears literally splashed down my face onto the pages describing her father's painful battle with cancer. Then later on, I "HURRAYED" out loud when Molly gets together with her husband Brandon.

*SPOILER OVER*

Not convinced yet? Let me just throw out some titles of the recipes that I'm itching to try. Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystalized Ginger, Butternut Soup with Pear, Cider and Vanilla Bean, Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots... Do I really need to go on?

Often throughout Homemade Life, Molly describes her late father as someone who had love and enthusiasm for life and everything in it. This is clearly an inherited trait, and Molly's zest for life and the kitchen is contagious.

So what are you waiting for? Go. Read. Cook. Laugh. Cry. Live life to the max.

Handmade Holiday Crusade Announcement

Announcing the Holiday Handmade Crusade theme for July!

Your theme for July is: Save the Summer! Save a little sunshine for the winter holidays by saving a piece of summer. You can literally do this by trying your hand at making jam, or canning some homemade pasta sauce. How about pressing some beautiful flowers into a frame? Inspired by the summer beauty around you? Sketch, paint or photograph your surroundings and frame that in a recycled frame from Goodwill.

Entries to be eligible for the raffle are due on July 31st by midnight EST

Prize winner for June will be announced ASAP!

Want to join in the year-long crafty goodness and have the chance to win fabulous prizes? Read all about the Holiday Handmade Crusade here.

Be crafty and prosper,

<3 Your Craftastic Christmas Crusader


P.S. If you are visiting from Gingerbread and Snowflakes, hello! Thanks again for the mention, Pam!

Neo in New York

Just four days after the Boston debut, ten of the Neo girls, plus myself departed New England and headed towards New York City!

We were there just two and a half days. Here are some of the sights that we saw...









On day one we pretty much checked into our hotel and headed straight to City Center a few hours later. We arrived for our technical rehearsal and discovered quickly that like most of New York, the building was old, not air-conditioned and HOT! Warming up was not an issue for my dancers at all.

Our "dressing room" was nothing more than a stair landing with these neat-o old wooden lockers. Hey, you've got to start somewhere right?!

You can see the lockers on the left...



The company teched...





Then we found out that my piece was the show closer for both evenings. Primo spot!

So they performed...beautifully...





On night two - the of age ladies in the bunch went out for a night on the town to celebrate! We went to this great bar called Faces and Names right off of Times Square. We might have celebrated a little too much, since we returned to the hotel room at 3:45am and did not go to bed until 5:00! There is a reason that they call it "The city that never sleeps!"

After a good long rest, and some greasy spoon breakfast, it was homeward bound for the New England girls.

For me, this is where the fun stops.

About 10 minutes outside of the city, I was following an 18 wheeler going about 50 MPH, when I saw a HUGE bump in the road, like a frost heave, the size of a milk crate. Since I was behind a truck, I saw it at the last moment and had no choice but to go over it. And over it I did go, and flew through the air Dukes of Hazard style in my little Jetta and came down with a crack. Immediately we knew that we had done some damage to the car, but we didn't know what. I had to pull over three lanes of traffic and check it out (PERILOUS!!!)

When I got out of my car I discovered that the bottom half of my bumper was 3/4 of the way ripped off and dragging underneath. Lovely. With nothing to secure it, I had to get back on the highway and drag it some more, to the next exit. The we got duct tape (classy) and taped it up and hit the road again. I haven't even gotten it looked at yet...because I don't even want to know how expensive it's going to be!

Then, when we got back on the road in Connecticut, it took us 3 1/2 hours to go 75 miles. Aaaaaand, my car is a standard. Clutch, brake, clutch, brake. So irritating. We left NYC at 1:30 and we arrived in New Hampshire at 9:15. It took us almost eight hours to make a 4.5 hour trip!!! Not fun!

However, that aside, having my work performed in NYC was thrilling. Lifelong dream - checked off and done! Now I'm dreaming of going back, again and again and again.

I've already started working on my next piece, which is to a live version of Distant Lover by Marvin Gaye. I'm pretty psyched about it - maybe I'll try to get some rehearsal video up to give all of you a sneak preview.

More soon - maybe some craftiness :)

Dance for World Community

I literally started this post over a week ago. When I finally catch you up on all of my adventures, you will understand why I haven't posted until now!





On June 6th, my recently resurrected dance company, Neoteric Dance Collaborative, had the pleasure of participating in the first annual Dance for World Community Festival, hosted by Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre. We arrived at 11:30 and did not leave until 10:30 at night!!!

The festival featured free performances by local youth troupes and dance companies, near forty total! There were four different performance venues within the block, so there were always four stages presenting something simultaneously. There were also free dance classes, in all genres and levels of dance. There was an entire street dedicated to informational booths devoted to dance and other social causes, environment, gay and lesbian task force, shelters, etc.

Here are some shots of our booth:





DWC was also Neo's Boston debut, which was quite exciting for us all! Here are some of my favorite performance shots:

















After the performances were done for the day, the event culminated with a "Dancing in the Street" party, featuring a variety of local musicians.



It was then that we met some b-boys from Losst Unnown, and we had a little dance off. (They win, HA! Although, they were impressed when I pulled my leg over my head and did a split. HAHAHA - no big deal - I wish I could spin on my hands on pavement, much more impressive!) They were friendly and awesome guys, and whooo boy could they dance!



We busted it as well...



As I looked around me at the end of the evening, I was amazed to see, little tween ballerinas, still in their pink tights, bouncing around to an African band, my own company of contemporary jazz dancers breaking it down with the b-boys, it was like something out of a cheesy dance movie...but it was really happening. I was just awestruck at that very moment soaking in the incredible diversity of people there dancing in the street. All so different, but with one thing in common, the desire to move, the need to speak with our bodies, and bring some beauty and joy to the world.

It was a very good day.

Next up, we traveled to NYC for the big City Center debut! I will try to post soon.