John Singer Sargent: Secret Agent

Re Re RE worked the story idea. Trying to appeal to my husband (my muse).

The Dramatis Personae:
John Singer Sargent

A 9 out of 10 on the gorgeousness scale. Dresses immaculately. Not only a talented painter, but a hard worker. He's a brilliant strategist. He understands how to read the emotions that play across a person's face and capture them in paint. He's an expatriot who spent his childhood travelling around Europe so he speaks four languages without an accent. His loyalty to his country and his extraordinary gifts catch the eye of the U.S. Secret Service (at the time their main task was investigating counterfeiting). So he's kind of a proto-CIA agent. At the time this story takes place, he has been living in Paris for ten years and is a rising star in the art world hoping to take top prize in the upcoming Salon (the cultural event of the year).

Amelie Gautreau (Madame X)

Spoiled daughter of a Creole family who may or may not have stolen a wagon load of gold in the last days of the Civil War. She is a professional beauty who married Pierre Gautreau ostensibly for his money. Her great goal in life is to scale the heights of European society and plumb the depths of sexual taboos. Above is the painting Sargent did of her.


Sargent is assigned to investigate the missing Confederate gold. To do this, he infiltrates the Gautreau household as a portrait painter. After arousing the lustful vengeance of Amelie and the suspicion of Pierre, Sargent gets some bad information that leads him to the Gautreau bank (which is a trap). He prepares to rob the bank, aided by Tesla, and while casing the joint, discovers a counterfeiting gang operating out of the bank. As he trails one of the gang members, he gets beaten or shot or something and seriously wounded. How does it end? He breaks into the bank, realizes the gold is gone and he’s trapped. Okay, I know how it ends, but I can't just TELL you that? I've got to show you.

Re-worked the story idea: here are some pictures!

Here's the new one-line synopsis: A lonely society wife tries to win her husband's love by commissioning a portrait.

Here's where she lives: Lochnaw Castle in Scotland (it's in the lowlands on its own private little loch surrounded by woodlands. There's a ruined medieval castle on a small island in the middle of the lake. What that has to do with the story? Nothing, it's just cool.)

Here's the portrait:

Here are more details on the plot:
It is Scotland in the Gilded Age. The aristocracy and the empire are in decline. Gertrude Vernon made a brilliant match socially, but she and her husband deal with their grief over their childlessness separately. Not accounted any great beauty, she tries to improve her taste and culture, and decides to commission a portrait of herself and her husband in the hopes of bringing them together.John Singer Sargent, the most popular portraitist on either side of the Atlantic, arrives at the estate to do the painting but finds her alone due to some totally believable plot twist :P This leaves Sargent and Gertrude alone for hours and they end up falling in love. Her husband finally returns and he and Gertrude see each other with new eyes, and she must decide between her ideals and her impulses.

Writing again

I haven't wanted to announce it or officially post any word counts but after a month of working on this story I'm still really excited about it, so, it's official, I'm working on a book. It's the story of an artist in the 1880s. It's got the depth and drama of Rembrandt and the mass appeal of Thomas Kinkade. I think it will have a slightly sad ending. Actually I know it will have a sad ending, but I hope the reader cares enough for the characters so that they are sad. I'm handwriting it, so my word counts are just estimates. I'm also doing the National Write a Novel in a Month competition. Just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing writing.

What's for Dinner?

This is the place to post ideas about what you want to make. Depending on how organized you are, maybe add an ingredient list and I'll try to get a handle on the food bill forecast. I don't know how much money will be in the pot (haha pun), but if you can make dinners for $25 and breakfasts for $10 that would put the food total at $280. It might end up being more than that, and that's ok, just keep the cost in mind. (There's no way we can keep Christmas dinner to $25)


If I'm way off base, let me know. Each couple gets to make 4 meals. Only one meal a day though. We'll work out the schedule later. The reunions I've been to where this worked, we did a brunch and an early dinner. Snacking in between obviously as needed. However, if the majority of the Mann family wakes up at 7 and wants a full breakfast right then, let's do that and have a snacky lunch or dinner. Let me know what you think.

This is also the place to beg others to make food you can't but really want for the holiday. Such as me begging someone else to make cinnamon rolls. And mashed potatoes.

Stocking Tradition

My favorite traditions for stockings is this: on Christmas eve we all write something we love about each person and put it in their stocking. Then, on Christmas morning everyone has 8 love notes, and it just warms the whole room.We have done this in my family for most of my life.

Look how cute this one is!

Your Presence is our Present

No presents for us please. I've been dreading bringing this up, because so many people show love through gift-giving and receiving, and I don't want to hurt their feelings. Look, we're all making sacrifices to get together, and if we can come away from it with happy memories, an extra five pounds, and maybe, just maybe, a swell family picture, that is good enough for me. For us, the big wall-to-wall toy fest is birthday time. So, please don't feel like you are expected to haul anything to Texas, and let's face it, you probably won't have much to haul back.

Camp Christmas!

Okay folks, you know who you are! Two grandparents, Four parents, two sisters, four kidlets. In a three-bedroom house! We've had some great suggestions so far by phone and email such as getting a family photo done while we're together and looking for someone in need of a house-sitter. I know there are lots of things to think about (sleeping arrangements, eating arrangements, gift-giving, and entertainment). This week, let's focus on entertainment. Here are some things we could do:
Make big Signs for Santa
Nativity story
Dreidle with gold coins or candies (yeah, I know it's Jewish, but it's fun)
Service project (scavenger hunt, go caroling)
Christmas carols
Quilt a denim quilt
Gingerbread houses (graham crackers or the real deal)
Santa Lucia tradition
Family History or Personal history storytelling (maybe video a grandparents interview?)
Seminars or Workshops where we share something we've learned this year. Galveston (cookout on the beach, old Kemah boardwalk, Moody Gardens $$$)
Sidewalk chalk, fun backyard stuff, Arwen in kennel in backyard?
Talent show (Anyone seen Dan in Real Life? Go rent it right now!)
Couple dates (take an afternoon off, leave kids at the homestead, take car)
Sports day at the park (tennis, basketball, soccer)
Rent some bikes and go for a bike ride through the forest ($)
Boats on the lake ($)
Nasa
Also, our Museum of Natural Science is having a huge Chronicles of Narnia exhibit. It would be about $20 per person, so unless you're all nuts about it, we don't have to do it. (I think Elizabeth and I should sneak down there though)

I know when you're traveling, you are more tired than normal, so I'm not saying we have to do all of this by any means. (Is it too ambitious to have at least 2 activities scheduled per day?).

Come back often to see more updates and toss in your 2 cents.

Spicy sundried tomato pasta

This is one of those recipes you can dress up or down. I've cut out a ton of fat from the original recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It called for prosciutto to be cooked with the onion but if you can stand to save 6 bucks, I don't think the splurge is as necessary as the sun-dried tomatoes.

2 T butter, 1 onion, 1 bay leaf, pinch (or more) of red pepper flakes. Cook until onion is clear. Add salt and 1 t garlic, cook for 30 seconds. Stir in 2 T tomato paste and 2 oz. sundried tomatoes. Cook and stir for 2 min, then add 1/4 cup water mixed with 1 T balsamic vinegar. Also dump in a can of crushed tomatoes (14 oz). Simmer partially covered 25 min, or until spoon leaves a trail. So this would be the time to start the pasta water and relax.

Once you are happy with the consistency, you have a few options: 1. add 1/2 cup cream and 1 T basil or 2. add 1 T basil, remove bay leaf and blend it into a smooth kid-friendly sauce that clings to all kinds of pasta. Plus, the sundried tomatoes can be kinda fugly looking, so pulverizing them in a blender brings us back to our happy Disney-like dinner.

Now, if you're like me, you're looking at those opened jars of sundried tomatoes and tomato paste like "now what?" Well, this may not be the most creative way to use up resources, but you could always quadruple the ingredients and it would use up a whole can of tomato paste and the 8-oz can of sundried tomatoes I buy. If you don't put cream in this, I would imagine it would freeze beautifully. It would probably make 3-4 pounds of sauce!

Baby Food Success!!!

After six weeks of cajoling, Charlotte has finally swallowed a spoonful of solid food! We tried every day (what's that, 42 tries?) with rice cereal, jars of carrots and squash, until finally I broke down. My baby will only eat homemade warm vanilla pudding!

So, that's what I feed her.

It's kind of like saying, "My infant will only fall asleep to the sounds of Eminem blaring in his room. So that's what I play."

Ohh the sickness. She's doomed DOOMED to unhealthiness...

Although, at least she has good taste. I do whip up some mighty fine vanilla pudding.

Cool parenting idea and a giveaway

Sterling and I read this great book called Discovering your Child's Strengths. In it, it suggested keeping a strengths journal of your children. I had been keeping a journal of my kids but it was more like, "today you had your first haircut" or "this is something cute you said." It was nice, but it was a little fluffy...and when things seem meaningless or froo froo I find many excuses to avoid them. But having the main theme of the journal be strengths finding and talent spotting, both my husband and I are having more fun writing in the journals.

One of my favorite people in the world (though she probably doesn't know this) is Erin Mylroie. My first experience with Erin was last August when my husband's grandfather passed away in St. George UT. We were literally homeless and jobless and I was newly pregnant (hence kinda sick). We happened to be on the way to UT so I could live with my family for a few weeks while Sterling found a place to live or a job or something. Erin's husband is my Sterling's cousin on his mom's side. So basically she opened her home to six adults and three children who were barely related to her for an event that was not even close to related to her. Oh and this was with 30 hours of notice, maybe less. AND she already had plans for that weekend because we woke up to find that her friend fom Alpine had come in for the weekend. My mortification turned to amazement as she handled the oodles of people with grace and love. Oh and did I mention the super delicious food she shared with us? She shares them with the world on her blog. Every recipe I've tried of hers has been awesome! Check out her orange chicken posted in January.

She runs the blog Prudence Pennywise and I probably spend more time checking her blog than my own. Right now she is doing my favorite thing of the year, "Cookie Bookie Week". Plus, if you visit and leave a comment you will be entered into a gift certificate giveaway. So go click on her link on the right.

Summer is finally over!

Ohhhh the relief. Now it should start to cool down to a temperature that can sustain carbon-based life. Yesterday was the perfect start to the new season. Drizzly, cool, breezy. Not even that humid. Like I finally got to crawl into a giant AC unit. It being the first day of Fall, we dragged out our jackets and went splashing through the gutters.

Hasta La Vista Summer! Get away for another year!We also had a fall kickoff dinner with maple-glazed pork chops, mashed potatoes (thanks Honey!), sauteed apples, and apple turnovers. And the ubiquitous Adrienne Mann family celebratory drink, Guarana!

Weird apple turnovers made with Phyllo dough (my first ever phyllo dough experiement). The filling was good, but the dough basically tasted like paper.
Elle learned "It's Autumntime" (hands separately) and she would play one hand while I played the other, so it was like a duet! Happy Autumn everyone :)

Charlotte milestones

.Baby Charlotte is 6 months old this week. She started sitting up this week by herself. I decided she might as well practice eating solid food, it being a necessary skill for survival at some point in life.


She weighed in at 16 pounds before her first taste of non-mother provided nutrition. So that's 16 pounds of weight she can always blame on me!

Fun weekend!

My brilliant beautiful sister Amelia came to visit this last weekend. Sterling took a couple days off and we shopped and posed for a portrait she is painting. We found a super cool cream-colored dress for only 20 bucks at Dillards. Amelia is the greatest shopper ever! She should be on What Not to Wear.

I am embarrassed to admit we didn't get one picture of her and us together while she was here. But, she took some cute ones of us. She shops, she paints, she photographs...and I'm related to her!

Finally some pictures

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More Sean Connery

We watched The Man Who Would Be King. It's a Rudyard Kipling story but I rented it thinking it was T.H. White for some reason. Oh well. This movie is 4-5 stars for me. It has Michael Caine in it (he and Connery have been friends ever since). It also has a couple of Kazakhstani bottoms in it, so I will recommend it with reservations.

On the 25th, the film icon will turn 79. He has been married to only one woman. Ah, those old-school values.

I hate Michael Jackson

His Thriller video is apparently the uber-coolest thing ever, but all I know is it traumatized my 5-year-old. We watched it last month around the time he died and I was thinking, oh, how silly and 80s. Meanwhile my daughter was thinking "I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die." For the last 6 weeks she has been having nightmares and absolutely refuses to stay on an empty level of the house. That means I can't leave her happily coloring or watching a video or playing piano downstairs. She freaks out and runs upstairs to complain about how bored she is, and of course Sterling follows her. So now I have two bored squirrely kids when all I wanted was to sneak in some peace.

It's Sean Connery Month

Sterling's favorite movie star is Sean Connery. I really like him too. Good old Sean's birthday is this month so we are getting a bunch of his movies from netflix. So far this month we've watched The Anderson Tapes (2 stars) and The Molly Maguires (3 1/2 stars). Neither of us had seen either film. We plan to have a birthday celebration on the 25th.

Prayer + work = success?

I heard a story once about Joseph Haydn. He always dressed in his best clothes before he sat down to compose music, because as he said, he is going before his Maker. Many of the great composers were deeply religious, especially Bach and Brahams. A cool youtube video that I've been watching every other day to get me hyped up to write is this one:

I just finished reading two bestselling novels this week, and I am so sick of foul language, graphic sex and violence being spewed at me. I want my writing to be virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy and lucrative. (Mwahaha love of money love of money....) Anyway, one reason I like the Twilight novels is because they are clean AND successful. Stephen King would totally make fun of me. But really, do I have to write about losers with foul mouths and morals to be taken seriously??

My son's obsession with dinosaurs

For anyone who has seen this month's Friend magazine, the cover a cute cartoonish picture of a pioneer family in a covered wagon. I was looking at with Sterling A. and he could point out the mother, father, boy, baby, and pulling the wagon, a Triceratops. That's what he thought it was. I had to laugh, it made my day.

We are learning about the potty these days. We have a little one someone gave us (EW second-hand kid toilet!) that he likes to use. He gets praise if he sits on it to hang out (he used to be afraid of toilets), and chocolate chips if he does anything. So far it's been liquid success at least once a day, and I am keeping him in diapers. We also have this interesting plug-in lightup toy thing (it's like a TV but with a scrolling picture) he likes to watch while he's sitting. And he doesn't like anyone in the bathroom with him. He says "Don't see me, mom." So I blog while he's in there and celebrate when he's done.

Cultural Genocide

Vintage children's books may not seem like a very important thing to worry about what with Michael Jackson dying and Barak Obama living. But a recent law makes it illegal to sell books printed before 1986 because of miniscule amounts of lead in the ink that could possibly have some effect on your child's intelligence if they decide to eat the page.

This effectively wipes the cultural slate clean. All the classic artwork and traditional values espoused in those volumes are now "dangerous". If you can find a place to buy vintage children's books before they are all banned or destroyed, get them now. I know I will.

Body For Life

This is not me, it's a woman named Amy Young who transformed herself from a similar starting point as mine.
So I would post a picture of myself but I'd prefer you just looked at the cute kids below that have had a helping hand in the interesting shape I'm currently wearing. But there is hope! Since April 7, I've been picking up habits from the Body for Life plan. Basically you eat 6 small meals a day so you're never hungry, and it's a balance of lean protein and whole grains/vegetables/fruits. Basic common-sense stuff. I walked into the hospital 3 months ago at 223 pounds to have my 7-pound baby by C-section. On April 7 I was a very flabby 200 pounds. My waist measured 39 inches, and hips were 59. I think I would wear size 20 pants if I had the time/money/inclination to buy a pair. Now, 10 weeks later I am 182 and I know I've gained muscle. My waist is 36 inches and my hips are 45. I'm comfortable in a size 16. My goal by July 24 is to be at a 31 inch waist and be a size 12 pant. I have no idea how much I will weigh because I hope to be adding muscle. Anyway, I'll be updating weekly if you want to follow all the gory details.

If you haven't heard of the book or the competition yet, check it out at http://bodyforlife.com/ I think it's a cheesy name, but hey, it works.

Sterling and Eleanor in the flowers behind our house. Sterling's about to make a run for the road...

They are good friends. Usually.
My mom made the quilt! She is SO cool. Oh and baby Charlotte's pretty cool too.
My husband saved this picture as "Charly the hottie"....I'm not sure how I feel about that.
She is two weeks old here. Everything she does is cute!

Braids

So I think I found the perfect hairstyle to keep my hair off my face besides a yucky old lady bun. I think I could pull this off because I have thick hair and a good hairline and no bangs. Apparently this has been a trend for a year, so with my luck it'll go out as soon as I figure out how to do it. Here are some samples of celebs wearing various cute braid styles.


The only problem is: How to avoid looking like a Swiss milkmaid? Or worse, this:

As my mom says, when you go looking at celebrities for hairstyles, put your thumb over their face because although you think you're lusting after their hair, it's actually their face that can pull off even the stupidest style.

Valentine's Day

As an object lesson that marriage doesn't guarantee that you'll always have a date for V-day, I spent my Valentine's day re-reading Stephenie Meyer and listening to Jewel. Alone. Waaaaaa

But seriously, I am so proud of my husband for making the trek up to South Dakota to be with his family as they celebrate the long life of his Grandpa Bud. I really admire his devotion to his family.

Gosh, I was going to go on a long list of all the things I love about my husband, but it just seems too personal. All I can say is, this has been the best year of our marriage, thanks Honey!

Easy Baguette

Yeah, I'd have a picture of this if people didn't eat it so fast >:(

My friend who served her mission in France gave me this recipe. Are the more authentic recipes out there? Yes. Are there yummier recipes out there? Possibly, but not probably. Are there easier recipes out there? NOOOOOO And, did you know baguette is French for magic wand? Seriously go turn on your Cinderella movie and watch it in French. Baguettes are magic wands of deliciousness.

This recipe is its own Cinderella story. The dough is pretty ugly, and when you shape the baguettes they can be kind of flat, but suddenly something magical happens in the oven and out come golden baguettes! And all you need is a spoon, a bowl and a cookie sheet, and a tiny bit of foresight (for the rising part).

Recipe for 2 Baguettes
1 c water
2 1/2 c. flour
1 T sugar
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. yeast
1 egg yolk + 1 T water

Mix all together EXCEPT egg yolk/water. Coat a second bowl with olive oil (or PAM) and slap that dough in there. Don't knead it or anything fancy. Cover and let rise till doubled, usually an 90 min to 2 hours. When it's ready your finger poke indent should stay. Turn out onto a floured board, divide in half, and shape two baguettes. Lay them on a GREASED cookie sheet. make the traditional 3 slashes in the tops. Cover lightly with saran wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. Brush with the egg yolk mixture. This is a very important part, don't skip it. If you don't have a pastry brush (I don't) just dip a wadded up paper towel in the egg goo and pat it all over the uncooked baguettes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min or less.

Stourhead Garden

This is one of my favorite places in the world. I spent half a day at Stourhead, it's really close to Stonehenge, about an hour and half west of London. This garden is a perfect example of English gardening philosphy in the 18th century. While the French were manicuring hedges and flower beds into perfect geometrical shapes, the English were cultivating a more wild, natural looking garden ideal. Stourhead feels hidden and mystical. The valley surrounding the man-made lake is studded with little classical temples, a mermaid grotto, and of course the famous gothic bridge. It truly is a living work of art.


England has been called cloud cuckoo-land. Nowhere is this more enjoyable than Stourhead. We huddled on a hidden bench eating our picnic lunch in a drizzle. The lake was an hypnotic piece of fluid obsidian, complete with chips and waves. Then when the clouds passed, the hundreds of shades of green glittered with raindrops all around us.

We climbed up on the temple of Apollo and posed as Greek statues in its nooks.



This pivotal scene from the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice was shot in Apollo's Temple overlooking the lake at Stourhead. http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/screenplay/vi2994798873/

Sterling Jr.'s Birthday

We celebrated my super-hyper-uber great husband's birthday this week. He turned 29. No really, he turned 29. Here is the cake I made from scratch.
It was delicious but I'm not sure if it was worth the three feet of dishes that covered every inch of my counterspace. We truly live in a four-dimensional universe. These dishes had height, depth, length and DURATION. It took a couple of days to quell the uprising.
We also had a rockin party!
Sterling is such a great husband and father (eek, father of three soon). We were so excited to celebrate his life with us.

Books for Kids

Haven't we all gone to the children's section of the library and felt helpless? When faced with 500 square feet of picture books, am I just expected to browse through while keeping my two kids from running up and down the stacks screaming? Is there any way I can join them?

Then there are the selected books on top of the stacks, sometimes they have to do with the closest season or holiday. Are the librarians trying to say these selected books are the best things in the library? It's tempting to just grab a few on display and high-tail it out of there before your toddler has ANOTHER poopy diaper.

Then, you get home and you realize you've checked out nasty bratty kid characters or dysfunctional families or just all-round bad writing. Who needs this?

Do you want books both you and your children can enjoy reading? Do you want these books to have morals and values that your family should emulate? Do you want interesting and beautiful artwork? You can have all that! I'll be posting every once in a while about the great books I've found and tried on my kids.

The Most Perfect Spot by Diane Goode

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Because I love picnics, I thought I'd give this book a try. It was worth it. It's a sweet, optimistic story with a funny ending.


View all my reviews.

Violet Comes to Stay by Jan Karon

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Easy to read aloud. It's not life-changing but it's sweet and tender and even my little 2-year-old son liked to listen to it.


View all my reviews.


1-2-3: A Child's First Counting Book by Alison Jay

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a counting book based on fairy tales. There must be 20 different traditional stories represented as this girl dreams her way from one to twenty and back. My daughter (4) and I loved this book. At first when I read it she just watched while I counted the different things on the page. Then once we realized the different fun layers to this book we read it again and again to find the cute little clues the illustrations give you about what's coming next. Also, and I'm not going to give this book ALL the credit, but she did have a major breakthrough on math and counting at about the same time we read it. So, who knows?


View all my reviews.

Baby name poll

I want a name that has some kind of history (literature or royalty). I don't want something that is too popular, like top 50. I prefer classic and although I love names that end in A (like Amelia), they just don't sound good with our last name, Mann. For instance, Lilia, turns into Lily, a man. It's a sentence fragment. I like 3 syllables, 2 are acceptable, no one-syllable names. Sibling names are Eleanor and Sterling.

Charlotte
Isabelle
Camille
Juliet
Jacqueline
Margaret
Marguerite
Caroline
Margot
Imogen
Elise
Lillian