Off Topic - Article to Share

This is completely off topic from my usual posts, but I'm wanting to share this with my family & friends - in case any of you have ever found yourself asking certain questions like I have lately. I found this article and it has answered some of the questions that have been nagging at my heart lately. I think it's a really great article. I'm grateful to have stumbled upon it.
That's all.

It's called:
How can I be sure I'm truly saved?

Smörgåsbord

I have blogger's block.

Have you noticed?

Can't think of anything good to blog about these days.

Well, actually, I think of a lot of things, just not many good things.

Driving home in the storm we had today I was thinking - maybe I should just post a smörgåsbord. Here are things I've played with posting about lately. Little topics. My smörgåsbord.

• A smörgåsbord is Swedish for "large heterogeneous mixture" {or buffet/mixture of foods}. And how appropriate considering I'm Swedish {well, of descent}. My Grandpa used to call me his "Svenska flicka" {Swedish girl}. His father was quite Swedish {hence the Erickson, which I'm told used to be spelled Ericsson.}
  
  
• When chosing a bank, DO go with Key Bank. DO NOT go with US Bank. {Why? I love Key Bank. My business and our personal accounts are with Key Bank. They're great, and recently were rated very high for customer service. US Bank on the other hand, well thats a whole other post. But ask me sometime and I'll be happy to enlighten you on how those criminals swindled us out of hundreds of our wedding gift money. They're evil.}
  
  
• My Favorite Songs of Spring 2009 is a hang up between Love Story by Taylor Swift {who is the cutest darn girl that ever happened, after Eisley of course} and Pirates from The Blue Sky Project.
  Pirates is a song based on this commercial - which I've loved loved loved ever since the first time I've seen it {so much I had to go hunting down the composer on AdTunes.com}:
  
  

They made a whole song out of it, WONDERFUL:



And I have to post the Love Story music video, too, because I am equally in love with it - it's chock full of regency era romanticism:

Click Link - embedding video is disabled

• Peonies are in season. :::sigh::: Approximately two weeks out of the year I get to enjoy my favorite flowers in real life instead of just in pictures. They're so delightfully shabby pretty.
  
• Eisley is walking. Sort of.
  

• I actually wrote a blog post about guacamole the other day. I'm glad I decided not to post it. It was lame {lamer than my smörgåsbord}. Who blogs about guacamole?
  
  
• I got a birthday gift in the mail already. From Anthro! A 15% discount card. Not that big of a deal but the adorable little envelope it came in was super cute. If you don't have an Anthro card, make sure to sign up for one, they're free and come with perks.
  

• Speaking of my birthday, it happens to fall on Justin's first Father's Day this year.
  
  
• I drove past a tornado last weekend. On my way down to a family dinner with my family I was taking the "scenic route" and it was really stormy. I saw what looked like a tornado but I wasn't sure. It was a couple miles away, some people were pulling over but I didn't. It went away soon after that. I didn't actually know it was a real tornado until Justin told me later that there was one down there. Weird.
  
  
• At the said family dinner my parents recently confessed that they actually pulled the "replace the dead pet with one that looks just like it" stunt with my pet fish. I had always thought it was amazing that Cocoa lasted like 9 years. {Who does that with fish? My parents, apparently.}
  
  
  That's all. Did you enjoy my smörgåsbord?

Now hopefully my blogger's block will past soon or we'll be stuck with more of this...

Wait, one more thing. Do you get Showtime? If so, you should be tuning into Nurse Jackie. It's really good. So far.

EISLEY

A few facts.

The name Eisley means "cheerful".

It is an Americanized version of the Swiss surname "Eisele".

In Star Wars, Mos Eisley is a spaceport town.

Eisley is currently ranked #4286 in popular girl's names.

Eisley is pronounced "eyes-lee". Not "ice-lee", or "ees-lee".

IF...

If you were to ask me how it feels to have a store owner excitedly buy a couple of my paper garlands at A Paris Street Market I would say,
"It feels great!"

If you were to ask me how it feels to see my handcrafted paper garlands in the store window at Park Meadow's Mall the very next day I would say, " ".

Yes. I'm speechless.

I just ended up today at the mall on a total whim and decided to go get a quick glance at the store - Cali & Mo's - of the owner's I met yesterday. I'd been there before and it's an adorable boutique. If you like my stuff even just a little bit, you'll LOVE this shop. I love it even more now ;-)

Market pics are below.

Miss California: my new hero

I'm not trying to start a debate here, but I just have to say, Miss California is my new hero. She stuck to her guns under HUGE pressure. I think it was incredibly unfair to give the poor girl a completely loaded questions - no matter which way she answered she would have upset people. This is a touchy topic in this country right now.

My opinion - I don't care whether two gay men living together are able to get the same tax and social benefits as my husband and I. However, to me marriage is a religious sacrament that I believe God intended to be between a man and woman only.

Finally, I adore the level of class and poise she exhibited. Whether you agree with her or not you have to admit she made her opinion known in a much more respectful way than Mr. CRASS P. Hilton who just offended millions of women by using the "c" word. For shame!

Thanks Tip Junkie...

I was featured {again} on the Tip Junkie Blog. Thanks Tip Junkie! I love you too!

{ Love, Actually, Is All Around }

Do you know what my very favorite Christmas movie is? No, it's not Scrooged, A Christmas Story, or Elf - although those are all great ones. It's Love, Actually. I freaking LOVE Love, Actually.

I watched it the other day {probably for the 20th time} and I swear I love this movie more each time I see it. It's got an amazing cast with my very favorite actors (Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, COLIN FIRTH, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Kiera Knightley...) and the stories in it are just lovely.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend renting it for the Christmas season this year. Here's a couple of my favorite clips - but beware, they are *SPOILERS* - so if you haven't seen it, just watch the last video which is the trailer (and does not do the movie justice).