Laurin Evans' personal blog about life, kids, food, fashion, writing, blogging and nearly everything else.

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July 30th, 2010

I have always wanted to have my own little shop. As a teen I worked in my mom’s gift shop Under-the-Hill in Natchez, MS, helping tourists coming off the paddle wheel boat cruises buy cookbooks, souvenirs and one-of-a-kind gifts lovingly curated by my mother. I spent hours hand-tying bows for the gift shop’s signature gift wrapping, and excitedly unpacking shipping boxes filled with the interesting items she bought at Market.

Owning a shop like my mother’s has been in the back of my mind for years, but there never seemed to be a right time. These days, with the amount of start-up, inventory and overhead costs that are required, opening a brick and mortar store is a risky proposition.

When I heard about the OpenSky concept of having an online shop of curated products that you promote on your blog, I signed up immediately. Being an OpenSky shop owner is free, as is being a supplier, and there are no inventory costs because the products your readers purchase are shipped directly to them from the supplier.

One of my favorite parts of blogging is sharing with my readers an amazing find or brilliant product that makes my life as a woman and a mother easier, more enjoyable or more stylish. I swear it’s almost a compulsion. When I find something great, everyone I know hears about it.

Instead of posting affiliate links to products I mention on my blog, I will have a link that pops up to allow readers to purchase the product right at my blog. Of course, I will also have a shop on OpenSky where readers can browse all of the special products and items that I have chosen to offer. Sounds too good to be true? No, it’s just very forward thinking by the OpenSky folks. I will learn even more when I attend the OpenSky presentation at BlogHer ’10 next week in New York, where a new platform will be introduced.

On August 10th, my very own shop with OpenSky will open its virtual doors for business. This is going to be fun!

Making Her Happy

July 12th, 2010

In a moment of complete and total capitulation, I let Erin get her ears pierced this past weekend. After telling her for months that she had to wait until she is much older, I gave in.

Her very best friend recently got her ears pierced and OMG, how could I refuse her after that without officially gaining the title of Meanest Mom Ever/Crusher of Childhood Dreams? This line of reasoning obviously doesn’t apply to future situations like curfew, dating, wearing hoochie clothes and the like, but it finally occurred to me that it’s just pierced ears.

So we set off on Sunday for Claire’s, with Erin fairly vibrating with joy and not an ounce of fear. We had an extremely traumatic experience when she had to give blood a couple of years ago and I wondered if her bravado would eventually collapse and we might return home piercing-free, or with a single pierced ear. It turns out that Claire’s avoids that outcome by piercing both ears at once. She didn’t even make a squeak.

After some celebratory Dippin’ Dots, we left the mall with Erin happily sporting tiny square cubic zirconias and with me feeling pretty awesome, actually.

Stolen from Avitable – Asinine Questions

June 11th, 2010

I saw this on Avitable’s blog today and just felt like doing it.

1. It’s 2AM and you are not home. You are more than likely:

In the ER.

2. What’s the last thing you spent more than $100 on?

Repairing our AC. Doesn’t count? Okay, a trip to Whole Foods.

3. What do your bank checks look like?

I use one per month, so they are the standard ones.

4. Where did the shirt you are currently wearing come from?

It’s a white (natch), sheer, batwing tee I got from one of the secret sale sites I haunt. Probably Rue La La or Ideeli.

5. Name something that will be on your Christmas wish list:

Perhaps the iPad or a new lens for my Rebel.

6. What color is your toothbrush?

White with black bristles and accents.

7. Name something you collect and tell us about it.

Candles. I try to quit them, but it doesn’t work. I’ll light up the house like I’m having a seance just so they’ll burn down and I can buy more.

8. Last restaurant you ate at. Who were you with? How was it?

Crabby Bill’s for a 7 year-old’s birthday party. Service and food was great. Kid behavior was hideous, like stab yourself in the eye hideous.

9. Who was the last person you bought a birthday card for?

My husband.

10. What is your worst bad habit?

Driving all the way to Tampa just to go to Alessi Bakery, where I buy elaborate iced sugar cookies that are $2.50 each. I do this more than I’d like to admit.

11. Name a magazine you subscribe to?

Lucky.

12. Your favorite pizza toppings?

Goat cheese, spinach, extra cheese.

13. Whose number were you looking up the last time you used a phone book?

For a business that can come clean my grout.

14. Other than family, who is the person that you love most?

My friends.

15. What is the last thing you cooked?

Grilled salmon with Chai Thai Teriyaki sauce.

16. Name something you wouldn’t want to buy used?

Shoes.

17. Which shoe do you put on first?

Left.

18. What is the last thing you remember losing?

A point and shoot camera with a lot of pics on it. I’m still not over it.

19. What is the ugliest piece of furniture in your house?

An antique Victorian barrel chair with orange fabric that I plan to have re-upholstered soon. It’s been three years and my husband doesn’t believe me. But then it will be the most beautiful piece in the house.

20. Last thing you bought and ended up returning?

A shirt from Target that was too small.

21. What perfume/cologne do you wear? If none, why?

La Vanille in 4 different scents.

22. Your favorite board game?

Scrabble.

23. What was the last board game you played?

Candyland.

24. Where did your vehicle come from?

The Honda dealer.

25. If a movie was made about your life what would the theme song be?

“Because I Got High” by Afroman. Just kidding.

26. You’re sad, who can cheer you up easily?

My friends, including the fabulous ladies of Skype.

27. What was the color of the bridesmaid dresses of the last wedding you went to?

Green. I think. All I remember is the cake.

28. What house cleaning chore do you hate to do the most?

Cleaning the toilets the men in my family use.

29. What is your favorite way to eat chicken?

Buffalo nuggets dipped in blue cheese.

30. It is your birthday. You hope the cake is?

Huge. Chocolate with peanut butter buttercream from Publix.

I Think I’m Grown

April 29th, 2010

Today’s theme at Girl Talk Thursday is “What did you want to be when you grew up?”

I knew the answer to this question at a very early age, I just ignored it for over thirty years.

Putting that aside for the moment, the first red herring career I decided upon was being a veterinarian. I was constantly reading as a child. I was the one with a paperback wedged inside my textbook at school, and the one in bed with a flashlight every night after lights out because I just had to finish a book.

The series of books by James Herriot, the pen name of an English country veterinary surgeon and writer, made a large impression on me. I just knew my calling was to be a large animal vet. At the time, I was living on an historic plantation in Natchez, Mississippi and had three horses of my very own. Things were working out nicely until I became a teenager and nearly overnight lost interest in anything not directly related to getting through high school without being eaten alive.

In college I blindly followed the lead of one of my guy friends who was an accounting major and planning to go to law school. I signed up with the plan that an accounting degree plus a law degree equaled big money, despite the fact that I despised facts and figures with a passion. I didn’t say it was a good plan.

Luckily, an internship with my hometown’s District Attorney the last semester of law school allowed a passion for criminal law to blossom and saved me from the fate of crunching numbers as a tax attorney at a big firm. After graduation I moved to Tampa and landed my first real job as a felony line attorney at the Public Defender’s Office. I loved it, but it wasn’t really a forever job. It was the ideal training ground to be a litigator, though, and I moved on to work at a law firm, and then to my own firm with a partner.

My years as an attorney never gave me a sense of fulfillment, despite the fact that I was fairy good at what I was doing. I stopped working for a while to have kids, then worked in real estate off and on. Real estate paid well and was the perfect flexible job, but it never felt like a perfect match.

When I became aware of the world of blogging, I jumped right in and it felt like a revelation. Finally, an outlet for all of my creativity and a way to get the gratification of publishing that my unfinished books, screenplays and sitcom pilots weren’t providing.

It was only when I started a blog and began freelance writing that I recalled my first passion from long ago. I was a writer in first grade. I wrote a short story about a classmate’s brother and asked to read it to my class. Asking to speak in front of my entire class was so not my nature growing up that I know with certainty that writing and needing to share my work was a powerful force in me.

I was not able to tap into my true calling until I was 42, but that’s okay, at least I know I am now grown.

Madeline Spohr

April 7th, 2010

One year ago I did not know Heather and Mike Spohr, or their young daughter Madeline. I had seen Maddie’s picture many times during my daily travels around the Internet. How could you not? It was clear that little girl had made quite an impression on a huge number of people, despite her tender age. I remember pausing to take in her beauty whenever her face appeared on my monitor.

The news of Maddie’s death at just eighteen months old last April was a stunning blow. I didn’t know them personally, but my heart broke for their family. I didn’t know at the time that I would come to know Heather through writing for Aiming Low. I just knew a mother and a father had suffered an unimaginable loss.

The Internet came together in an amazing outpouring of love and support for Heather and Mike and the March of Dimes. Last year my friend asked me to walk in the March of Dimes’ March for Babies, in Maddie’s name, and so many of my friends and family generously donated. I am walking again this year to raise money for the incredibly worthy cause of babies born too soon, and I hope you will once again help.

You can also help by donating to Friends of Maddie, the non-profit the Spohrs started to help the families of critically ill babies by easing the transition into NICU life and providing an ally until the end of their child’s hospital stay.

Being Crafty

April 6th, 2010

I got a burst of creativity last week and made an Easter wreath. I have been wanting one of those egg ones for a few years, but every one I have ever seen is so plastic and cheap looking. So I went to Michael’s and took matters into my own hands by getting some cool ribbon, a foam wreath, a bag of eggs and a bunny thingy. To make it a bit Florida-esque, I added a starfish from my collection.

In other news, I adore my glue gun. I’m not going to turn into that lady who hot glued every decoration in her entire house, but I do get such satisfaction out of creating things with that nearly invisible glue, and fixing things. I was able to fix Erin’s Easter basket in a flash when the handle pulled out on one end. I have skills.

Please to enjoy my homey little wreath. It makes me smile.

Stalking Big Game

February 23rd, 2010

Earl the Cat is an indoor cat, and that is probably a good thing because he is seriously overweight. I don’t imagine Earl would stack up favorably to some of the rangy outdoor cats I’ve seen around our neighborhood.

I’m sure the instinctual prey-killing part of his brain is dulled from never getting to roam. I catch him sitting by our patio doors at times riveted by the birds on the fence and the occasional heron that bird-walks around our pool. He vibrates his mouth in the strangest way. I have yet to capture this on film, although I’ve tried. He ate a lizard once and I’m pretty sure that was the only creature ever to fall into his clutches. Until last night.

Having finally fallen asleep after a couple of hours of listening to my husband’s snores, I bolted awake to a wailing meow from Earl that could only mean he had caught himself a mouse. I’ve had quite a few cats and it is always the same with them. They stalk, they capture, they screech for you as if to say Behold, humans! I have fulfilled my cat destiny and killed your house vermin!

I was exhausted. And pissed. My husband can sleep through any midnight announcement from the kids, from a wet bed to vomit. And now, a dead mouse. Or half-dead. You never know what you’re gonna get.

I crept out of the bedroom, toward the sound of Earl still mawwing and growling his excitement. He was hunched over on the throw rug by the door out to the pool, guarding his trophy.

I turned on the light, hoping I was dealing with the intact corpse of a recently deceased rodent and not, as has happened with my other cats, a grotesque torso or mauled head. I cautiously peeked around Earl’s protective paws and learned neither scenario was to be. Continue reading Stalking Big Game

OMG Just Post Something Already

February 16th, 2010

Haiti is still quite relevant, of course, but I am tired of looking at that post title in Comment Luv as I leave my nuggets of comment wisdom around the Internet. I’ve been a little busy, what with flying off to my hometown to see my mama who broke her hip.

Mom is in good spirits, although not at the times when she’s told how much physical therapy she is going to need and how she will have to eat more than ice cream and Taco Bell if she’s going to make the best possible recovery.

I was terrified when I got that call from my brother last week. Ever the drama llama, he first says EVERYTHING’S OK. SHE’S FINE. JUST A LITTLE PROBLEM. I’m wondering who in the hell he’s even talking about and then, Mom fell and broke her hip and…gotta go, the doctor is here. Click.

Processing. Processing. Freaking out!

On the next call he says, I JUST SAVED MOTHER’S LIFE! A STUDENT NURSE CAME IN AND SAID SHE WAS THERE TO GIVE MOTHER HER DIABEETUS MEDICINE. BUT I SAVED HER. Mom isn’t diabetic and yes, he calls our mom Mother. From birth. It’s a little Norman Bates.

I wasn’t able to fly out until the next day, and it was torture waiting to see for myself that mom was ok. She was. When I saw her lying in that bed I brushed right past all the people in the room to give her a kiss and a hug. This is the first time something medically super-significant has happened to her and it made me feel like a child again.

My brother was there. He had been helping my dad with everything, even spending the night there with Mom on a hospital cot. He looked tired. Understandably so. Fighting off student nurse assassins (there was a second attempt on her life with diabeetus medicine) is hard work!

My brother is the opposite of zen-like calm, but he sure is entertaining to me. And it’s all about me. Just ask him. Also, and he’s going to kill me if he reads this, he paraded around the hospital in the most enormous coyote-fur coat I have ever seen, one of two fur coats he wore last week. I asked him if it was cat fur. I can needle like an eight-year-old in times of stress.

So, mom has a 10-inch scar and a titanium hip ball, the part she damaged in the fall, which was the fault of the Ugg boots she was wearing at the time. The toe caught on the carpet in her bedroom and she fell. I guess the bottom line is that it was all my fault because I gave her those Uggs somewhere around 2000 after they were one of Oprah’s favorite things. Let’s just say it’s all Oprah’s fault. She has deeper pockets.

Mom kept her iPhone by her side or on her ear pretty much the the entire time, when my brother wasn’t moving it out of her reach to keep the room organized. By the time I left she had finally figured out how to get broadband service on her computer because the hospital doesn’t have wi-fi. Mom is a full-on nerd.

Also, SNOW! It started snowing last Thursday night and continued until the next afternoon. I woke Friday morning to one of my favorite things in the world, utter quiet and going to a window to see a blanket of fluffy snow outside and snowflakes floating down so peacefully. You see the white glow before you get to the window, and it is just magic. I can’t wait for my kids to see snow.

An Easy Way to Help Haiti

January 15th, 2010

I’m sure you have heard of this: Text “HAITI” to 90999 and $10 will be added to your cell phone bill. 100% of the money goes to the earthquake victims via The Red Cross. What could be easier?

I did this last night. Make sure you reply “YES” to the text you get in return, so your donation goes through. Go to mGive.com for more information.

Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie – the “best ever”

December 26th, 2009

I am forced by my family to make the same apple pie for every holiday. I love all kinds of pie and like to change it up. Chess, pecan, banana caramel, sometimes pumpkin. Does my family like any of those kinds of pie around the holidays? Nope. They insist on this apple pie ever since I first made it about eight years ago.

I found Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie on AllRecipes.com by googling best apple pie recipe ever. I add best and ever when I google recipes because I find that people who make that bold statement about a recipe are rarely wrong. It had so many glowing reviews that I had to try it, and it seriously is the best apple pie I’ve ever had.

The recipe doesn’t even call for any spices. I thought that was strange, but spices are so unnecessary with this pie. I made it with a little cinnamon once and my husband was all What did you do to my pie??

Also, I think I should explain the less than food blog worthy picture. My son got up at four am on Christmas morning and wouldn’t go back to sleep. I had to entertain him in his bedroom until 6:30 am when it seemed a more decent hour to let the materialism melee begin. I wouldn’t have been so tired if I had gone to bed earlier, but I fell asleep around 1:30 am because my daughter woke up about an hour before that and announced, “Santa Claus came!” and then, mercifully agreed to come get in our bed.

So my cooking skills suffered a bit the next day. I usually make a lattice crust for the top, but decided to be lazy and just make eight slits in the top. Not nearly as pretty, but it eats just the same. Also, it occurred to me to blog about the pie only after we had eaten half. See all those crusty lumps and bumps? That’s the sugar-butter you drizzle on the top. It really is the best ever. Here’s the recipe with a few of my notes.

Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I use the Pillsbury refrigerated crust.)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
8 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced (Add a couple of Fuji for more sweetness. Eight seems like a lot of apples, but it just depends on the size. I usually use 6. You need enough to make a decent-sized mound.)

Directions

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. (I have never achieved a “paste.” It is still a runny liquid for me, even if I use 1/2 cornstarch.) Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes. (I let it simmer while I prep the apples.)
Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. (I go ahead and pour about 3/4 of the sugar butter over the apples before I put on the top crust. I also use a pastry brush to evenly coat the top crust with the sugar butter.)
Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees, and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.

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