Are you interested in miracles?

Because if you are, I would love to share one with you.

Behold, our cast for “The Boy and the Tengu”!!! (Which is one of the films we are shooting this summer for our web series, Clara Tales).

Our wonderful producer Jennie found these kids by sheer will power, hard work and the grace of God. That is a good combination if you are interested in experiencing a miracle. Also, prayer and fasting come in handy!

These kids fill my heart with joy and wonder!

And I love Jennie Brown more than words can ever express!

This weekend we watched “Roman Holiday” with the girls.

When Audrey Hepburn first came on the screen Clara cried out,

“Mom! Mom! It’s ELIZA DOODLE!”

(Clara calls Eliza Doolittle, Eliza Doodle – we think this works and we go with it.)

Millie and Clara dug it.

Except the ending pretty much baffled Millie,

“But WHY can’t they be together?”

Jan and I both took a turn trying to explain – she is a princess, he is a commoner etc. etc.

Nope. Millie wasn’t having it.

I also threw in the idea of how cool it was that they fulfilled their respective duties, she as a princess and he as a journalist, and the ending was sad but filled with longing and that is cool. They loved each other for a day, that had to be enough.

Nope. Millie thought that was bunk.

(She’s kind of got a point and I love her for sticking to her guns.)

Anyway, as we were watching the film Jan and I both jumped on Wikipedia and learned all about the making of the film and stuff.

We learned that this was pretty much Audrey’s first film and Gregory was supposed to be the only one to get top billing. About half way through making the picture he called his agent and said they’d better put Audrey’s name right next to his because she was going to knock everyone’s socks off. This was apparently unprecedented, but Greg was right – this film was a star maker and not only launched Audrey but landed her an academy award.

I also learned that Audrey and Gregory became friends on set and stayed friends their whole lives. Nice, right?

This kind of information is wonderful. I love it. But if you read Wikipedia you also find out how sad and depraved these movie stars lives were/are. And that kind of information makes me feel awfully sad. Perhaps I am a sap – but I know where happiness can be found and these people’s lives, although glamorous, are not filled with very much happiness. Instead they are filled with all kinds of depravity. To which I say, “BOO! HISS!”

I jumped from one link to another learning about a slew of depraved Hollywood actors from the 1950s and then I started to feel depressed.

UNTIL

I followed a link to Frank Capra’s page

What a great man he was! A truly great man. He really stood up for what he believed in and what he believed in was true and good. Listen to this:

“The art of Frank Capra is very, very simple: It’s the love of people. Add two simple ideals to this love of people: the freedom of each individual, and the equal importance of each individual, and you have the principle upon which I based all my films.”

“My films must let every man, woman, and child know that God loves them, that I love them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other.^“

He was a scrappy little immigrant boy who rose to the tippity-top of Hollywood fame and then walked away from it all after WWII when Hollywood started to make movies that were cynical and hedonistic.

I love this man’s films and I love him too.

While reading about him I learned that May 12th is national FRANK CAPRA DAY.

And so, dear friends, I would like to propose that we celebrate it! I want to host a Capra Film festival, and maybe even recruit Bette to make us some awesome t-shirts for us?! And we shall make “Capra-corn” popcorn balls- take that you cynics! And have a MARVELOUS TIME! Yes???? Are you with me on this one? I don’t know, but this is a day that I feel is worth celebrating.

So,

SAVE THE DATE – and come on over for a Capra film festival – on MAY 12, 2013, at Chez Dawson

And let the good times roll!

I miss you.

I really do. I am sorry that I have been such a slacker. I was just reading through several of these blogs written by beautiful, stylish women who’s lives don’t seem real and they kind of tick me off while they simultaneously reel me in, kind of like People magazine only these women’s lives are actually quite virtuous and sweet. But still there is something there that is not quite right. And then I remembered my favorite blog in the whole universe.

Y-O-U!

It’s true, I am just going to come out and admit that I love you the best because you are the record of my life and my people. I want to keep you up because I think one day my kids will actually read this and be so glad that I have a record of their early years.

I am just not sure what to do or how to go about this now that I have a another project taking over my life.

Also, I have started instagraming an that kind of fills the void, but I know, deep down it is not the same.

Hmmm.

Speaking of instagram here is one of my favorites of late.

Fast, easy, fun, addicting. That is instagram in a nutshell.

To be frank, they have been practically non-existent.

But I have a good excuse.

Remember about six months ago I fancied up the playhouse?

Wasn’t that crazy?!

Well, in that post I mentioned that there was a reason for doing this, beyond my general need to fancy things up.

It was because the playhouse was going to be a set for a film that I wrote.

A little fairytale called, “Clara Tale”.

To see the film and learn about the project that is currently consuming all my spare time, and to learn why this sweet little blog has taken a back seat, go to:

www.claratales.com

If you find yourself thinking, “Wow! This is groovy. I wish I could help her make more of these!” Guess what, YOU CAN!

Go here to learn how you can help us:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/48383514/clara-tales-a-series-of-original-fairy-tales-starr

We are trying to raise money, but equally we are looking for what is known as “donations in kind” – meaning if you want to lend us your awesome talents or let us cast your darling children to star in our upcoming films. BINGO, your are hired!!

We are so excited about this project. And if you think it’s cool — we need ya!

Over and out.

P.S. Because of the Clara Tales endeavor – and because my kids feature prominently in the film and website, if it takes off and we end up gaining a big audience there I am thinking of taking my blog private. I don’t mind the occasional stranger happening upon this old blog, but our lives are pretty much on display here so I don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry checking out what we ate for dinner. Ya know?

You may be thinking, “That wouldn’t be such a loss, Liza, as you never seem to post anything here.” But I just thought I’d warn you in case you stop by the blog and find that you can’t get on it. If I do go private you can just email me and I’ll send you the password.

…taking Sunday naps with my Clara Jane!

Now if only I could actually sleep, THAT would be something!

Normally on March 2oth, the first day of Spring hits and it is miserable and cold.

And in your heart you say, “First day of Spring, yeah, right!” or maybe you say, “first day of Spring, my foot!” or even, “You call this the first day of Spring, so why am I wearing my scarf and mittens, riddle me THAT!”

But thanks to Senior Global Warming, today really did feel like the first day of Spring.

And I will tell you what,

it made our hearts SING! (Spring – Sing there’s an original rhyme for ya!)

I will begin by showing you how we celebrated the forsythia, which Millie sweetly refers to as, “Al-eth-ea”.

Clara brought some to me as a gift. And guess who had is eye on it!!

He ate it, of course! It’s the first day of Spring, WHY NOT?!

Millie and Clara had a blast getting these long stalks off of the bush. They were so proud of what they had gathered and I heard Millie say, “I couldn’t have gotten that really long branch without your help, Clara.” You can see, Clara was pretty much BEAMING!

They also made a cozy little house under the forsythia bush.

Ellis like the forsythia so much he ate some of this bush too. He’s not partial.

For those of us who don’t particularly enjoy eating bushes, we had a picnic!

Nutella sandwiches

& Gatorade, darling!

After the picnic I read original version of “The Little Mermaid” to the girls. Tragic? Well, yes, perhaps. But soooooo much better than the Disney version, says I!

While the girls ran around Ellis and I made a few attempts at self-portraiture.

I’m thinking we need to work on this a bit more….

I also attempted to get a photo of the kids together, that went even worse than our self-portraits. (They happened to be matching, you see, and you know that I am a total sucker for matchy, matchy!)

Despite the tears and the ingested botanical delights, I knew the afternoon had been a success because our yard looked like “white trash” when all was said and done.

Welcome, Spring! We salute thee! Our plan is to enjoy you as much as we possibly can!

Guess what, that tiny little room next to the kitchen, the one we lovingly call “the breakfast room”, you know that one, right? Perhaps you have sat in it once or twice? Well, not to brag too much but… it’s FAMOUS!

You heard me, it’s famous.

If you go here (to a hip and groovy site aka “the little green notebook”) there you will see it in all it’s splendor.

So, the cute lady, Jenny, who is the brains behind “the little green notebook” and I have exchanged a few emails. I showed her some of the SWEET home improvement and playhouse improvement projects we have done around Dawesome land and she kinda digs ‘um.

You will see, if you choose to go to her hipster and happening website that I have very carefully taken pictures that OMIT things like the nasty stains that are all over the velvet sofa, also I have managed to make the room look A LOT bigger (cue my evil design maven laughter – Mwah ha ha!)

And if you don’t mind I would very much like to give credit where credit is due. The awesome project which is highlighted on little green notebook was a labor of loveliness that was born of my stupidity, actually. True story! Would you like to hear it?

Okay!

So after an entire YEAR of deliberating I bought one roll, ONE  measly but very expensive roll of wallpaper. I even had to take a special trip into NYC to see it in person because it is only sold “to the trade”. I’m not going to tell you how much it cost me because I don’t want my brother-in-law Ben to know or he might accuse me of being a fancy lady. Because I couldn’t afford more than one roll, I thought to myself, “I will do an accent wall in the breakfast room. It is the smallest room in our house, so it will be perfect!”

The wallpaper arrived and when we opened it we realized that it was so fancy that if you breath on it, you basically stain it for life. I’m not kidding! You can’t even get wallpaper paste on it or it will ruin it. Huh? But it is wallpaper? Riddle me THAT ONE if you can. So, not only is it overpriced, it also requires you to call SPECIALIST types to come into your house and hang it for you.

Oye!!

So my mom who had come to NYJersey for my birthday to help me hang said wallpaper and who had painted the breakfast room to match the wallpaper (yes, it’s true she is THE BEST!) sent out a rescue flair to the allknowing and very savy Liesa Card. Liesa knew all about this type of wallpaper. Yes, she had hung it before, you can’t touch it or breath on it or IT’S TOAST. She had a TRUE fancy lady client who had a whole room full of this kind of wallpaper.

She suggested that we frame it.

Well, we talked to my awesome framer and it would have cost us $700 smackers. NOT in the budget, if you hear me, friends. I am not really fancy, even though my brother-in-law thinks I am.

Well after SEVERAL months, I’m not kidding my framer had these things in her studio for 6 months. We finally figured out a way to frame them for a lot less than $700 dollars.

So go to http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/02/boxed-acrylic-framing.html and read all about it!

See for yourself our little labor of loveliness.

Hazzah!

On Boxing Day we met up with our peeps and were at the MET before it even opened it’s doors.

I just love that place. It makes my heart sing!

Then we headed over to our favorite place to grab a burger!

Great people, great sights, great grubbins.

‘Twas a simply marvelous day!

In case you didn’t get one by mail, here it is for your viewing pleasure on the world wide web.

Front

Back

I love Christmas cards but I hate them.

I love designing one every year. I love getting cards from people. But then when it comes time to send them THAT is when I start to hate them. My Christmas card list stinks! I have three or four and they are all bad, but together they are a total nightmare.

At a certain point in the season, I just give up. Even if I contacted someone and asked for their address, I might not get around to sending the card because I am totally overwhelmed by the whole experience. Or you might have moved and I sent it to your old address. This kind of detail work is not my forte, and then when you add to the fact it’s Christmas time and we have a million things going on, I start to feel buried alive.

Then this year I didn’t order enough (thanks to my crappy lists), so we didn’t send them to our local ward members because I hated the thought of someone getting left out and going over to a mutual friends house and seeing that they didn’t get a card from us and feeling bad. It’s not that I think we are that important, I swear! It’s just that it has happened to me in the past and it hurt my “tender plant”  little feelings. I did not want to hurt anyone, in case, they, like me have”tender plant” little feelings.

If you didn’t get a card from us this year it is NOT because we don’t love you, it is because I am a dork. I hope you can forgive me, it seriously isn’t personal – I just gave up on the cards and decided to enjoy the season.

(BTW, in years past Jan has taken the photos for our card but this years photos were taken by my friend Margie – if you would like her to take your photos go here for her info. She’s great!)

Our Christmas was grand!

Hope yours was too.

I made this little collage to give you a peek into Christmas in the land of Dawesome.

In 10 years of marriage this was the FIRST year we stayed home!

As Christmas fell on a Sunday we got to get dressed up in the middle of the day and go to church. It was awesome! I love getting dressed up for a good cause, and what cause could be better?

Ellis got ONE present this year, and he is wearing it in the center photo. He looks like a fleshy little Christmas Buddha. If such a thing could exist.

I finally got my wish of color coordinating ALL the presents under the tree. (Yes, I should probably see a therapist about my need to matchy-match everything).

Leave it to Jesus to have his birthday be the most wonderful day of the year! The ONLY being whose birthday is all about others!

A few nights ago Jan told us that growing up his brother Kai always wanted to sing happy birthday to Jesus every year and then without fail, somehow managed to forget. So in honor of our sweet Uncle Kai we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

It was really tender.

I think we have a new tradition!

Happy Christmas, everybody!