Check out this adorable proposal story!

Lost in Translation (this post can also be titled, "Free Entertainment")

I have always heard the phrase, "Lost in translation," and although I knew what it meant, I didn't know to what extent. Today, I found out just how hilarious some things can be when you translate and then retranslate. 
Just for fun, I started playing around with Google translate, and I laughed my head off at some of the things I came upon. For instance;


English: Hippos love their pig friends and go to pig parties whenever they can make it. 


Then I translated it into Dutch. It came out looking like this;


Dutch: Nijlpaarden houden van hun varkens-vrienden en ga naar varkens-partijenwanneer ze kan maken.


On Google translate you have the option to hear someone say the phrase in dutch. It's definitely very entertaining, so you should try it.


Then I thought to myself, "What if I translated the Dutch phrase into English? Would it mean what I wanted it to mean?" So I gave it a go. 


Dutch: Nijlpaarden houden van hun varkens-vrienden en ga naar varkens-partijenwanneer ze kan maken.


Translated into English; Hippos love their pork and friends go to parties where pigs can make them.


I must say, when I saw it fully translated, I literally laughed out loud. Mara Unni heard the commotion and came to see what I was laughing about. When she read it, she laughed out loud too. I hope you did as well. And after reading this post, I hope you'll spend some time at Google translate. 'Cause you know, it's free entertainment. :D

"Strangers," Miss Boo said once, "are just your friends that you don't know yet."
-Time For Miss Boo

Macaroons

While Mom, Rachel and Mara were in Paris this past May, they went to the famous Pierre Hermé to get macarons. Not only were they utterly exquisite to look at, they tasted divine! I quickly became a fan! I’m completely fascinated by how the simplest of ingredients can create such a scrumptious treat, and have been wanting to try out a recipe. Coming across cannelle et vanilla has inspired me to take one onJ Her pictures are bee-yoo-ti-ful and her recipes look awemazing!

When we were in St. Louis, we went to the Art Museum in Forest Park. The stairs in the back of the museum have mirrors on both sides of the wall, and when you look in it you see yourself x thousand. It's pretty neat!

A Day in St. Louis

Two weeks ago, Mara Unni, Exie, Havalah, and I went to St. Louis to celebrate Rachel's birthday. Hosanna and Havalah had a lot of fun playing together-so much so, that when it was time for us to leave, Havalah was almost in tears.

Rachel wanted to eat at Jilly's Cupcake Bar for lunch. We all got sandwiches or quesadillas and the serving sizes were so large it was almost impossible to finish! The cupcakes were absolutely amazing. Sadly, I can no longer remember the names of the cupcakes we bought, but one (maybe this one?) was lime, another one lemon (possibly the one below) and the third some sort of aloha islandy flavor. :D

First Day of Summer!

Summer! Oh yeah, baby! Doesn't it scream picnics, homemade ice cream, water parks, camping, grilling? Already we have had a uber awesome water fight and mom just bought corn on the cob so that means a cookout sometime soon! And today Havalah suggested we bike down to our local gas station and get ice cream. I think it is a very good idea, and we will probably do it sometime this week! ....I want this summer to be relaxed, but also, completely filled with all the aforementioned fantastically fun things. :)

(Photo from, A Summer Picnic Wedding)

Joshua Quote

Joshua: "Naomi's the BEST SISTER EVER!!!"
            [looks sideways at me] "No offense, Keturah."

The Lion and the Echo

The King of the Beasts, deep in the wood,
Roared as loudly as it could.
Right away the echo came back
And the lion thought itself under attack.


"What voice is it that roars like mine?"
The echo replied, "Mine, mine."


"Who might you be?" asked the furious lion,
"I'm king of this jungle, this jungle is mine."
And the echo came back a second time,
"This jungle is mine, is mine, is mine."


The lion swore revenge if only it could
Discover the intruder in the wood.
It roared "Coward! Come out and show yourself!"
But the fearless echo replied simply ". . .elf."


"Come out," roared the lion, "Enough deceit,
Do you fear for your own defeat?"
But all the echo did was repeat
"Defeat . . . defeat . . . "


Frightened by every conceivable sound,
The exhausted lion sank to the ground.
A bird in a tree looked down and it said,
"Dear lion, I"m afraid that what you hear
Is simply the voice of your lion-sized fear."
-Brian Patten

Marshmallows!

I've been wanting to make homemade marshmallows, and just haven't gotten around to doing it.....BUT! after surfing the internet looking at things of interest, I came across these delightful photos, and decided I'll have to do it soon. :)

Fly Me to the Moon

I really like the song Fly Me to the Moon. It's so simple and sweet! There are a lot of versions of it. Wikipedia lists a whole bunch of people who have sang the song. My two favorites are by Julie London and Jang Geun Suk.

                     

For Tom . . .

Happy Happy Birthday! You're an awesome brother-in-law!

I think most of you know by now that I have a thing for giraffes. :) I recently discovered a book by Roald Dahl called "The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me," and I sooo want to read it!

Yesterday I went to St. Louis with Mara Unni, Exie, and Havalah for Rachel's birthday. On our way to meet Rachel at the Container Store, we stopped at Whole Foods Market and stocked up on (delicious) vegan jerky! Per Rachel's request, we ate lunch at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe (the cupcakes were AMAZING!) and then went to the St. Louis Art Museum! At the art museum there was a painting of fishes swimming in the Hao river and a placard was beneath it with this dialogue:


Zhuangzi: "See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!"


Huizi: "You are not a fish, how do you know what fish enjoy?"


Zhuangzi: "You are not I-so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?"


Huizi: "I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish-so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!"


Zhuangzi: "Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me how I know what fish enjoy-so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao."




p.s. pictures of the trip will be posted sometime next week, because Exie has the camera and is attending a horse camp!

Did You Know?

• A giraffe's tongue is purple(black) to protect it from the hot African sun! 

• MY PARENTS ARE GONE FOR THE WEEKEND AND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A FOOD FIGHT IN THE HOUSE!!!!!! Oh. Maybe not. :')
• The average chocolate bar has eight insect legs in it. Ugh, that's hairy. 
• A study found that those who believe they are receiving undeserved injustices in their life are 55% more likely to have a heart attack. Therefore, the best thing you can do for you heart is to get over the idea that: "Life isn't fair."
• It is illegal to walk across the Minnesota-Wisconson border with a duck on your head. -Law of Minnesota
•  People do live underground!
• During World War II, the Navajo language was used as a code in the Pacific War by bilingual Navajo code talkers to send secure military messages over radio. This had the advantage of being an extremely fast method of encrypted communication. The code was never broken by the Japanese, who were mystified by the sounds they intercepted. Navajo was chosen as a code language not only because it is very hard but also because there was no published grammar or dictionary of the language and because native speakers were readily available. Nearly everything that a language must do is done differently by Navajo than by English. For example in English, we only mark one person on the verb--third person singular, present tense (I read --> he reads) with a suffix. Navajo marks all of the persons with a prefix on the verb.
• CHAR­GOGAGOG­MAN­CHAR­GOGAGOG­CHAR­BUNA­GUNGAMOG, Is another name for Lake Webster in Massachusetts. Carazy, right?

For My Sister Rachel . . .

 . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 

I hope you have a fantabulous day! :D

Wanna see something beautiful?

Two Videos

Lacemaking in Lefkara, Cyprus via Etsy



Beauty Through Bamboo via Seesaw.

June

June is here, the month of roses, month of brides and month of bees,
Weaving garlands for our lassies, whispering love songs in the trees,
Painting scenes of gorgeous splendor, canvases no man could brush,
Changing scenes from early morning till the sunset's crimson flush.

June is here, the month of blossoms, month of roses white and red,
Wet with dew and perfume-laden, nodding whereso'er we tread;
Come the bees to gather honey, all the lazy afternoon;
Flowers and lassies, men and meadows, love alike the month of June.

Month of love and month of sunshine, month of happiness and song,
Month that cheers the sad wayfarer as he plods the road along;
Spreading out a velvet carpet, green and yellow, for his feet,
And affording for his rest hours many a cool and sweet retreat.
-Edgar A. Guest

Scotcheroos!

I had never eaten a scotcheroo until last month when I was at a friend's house and they served it for dessert. It was delicious! We immediately added the recipe to our family faves and Qix has made it several times. I don't want you to miss out on this spectacular dessert so here is the recipe:
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups crispy rice
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
Mix corn syrup and sugar over medium heat until hot (don't let it boil!). Add peanut butter to hot pan. Stir in crispy rice. Cool crispy rice mixture in greased 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips and spread over crispy rice. Let sit till firm, then enjoy!




P.S. I just now figured out how to schedule a post so it will be published at a certain time (I know, it took me a really long time :D)!!!!!

"We're free Narnians, Hwin and I, and I suppose, if you're running away to Narnia, you want to be one too. In that case Hwin isn't your horse any longer. One might just as well say you're her human." -Bree the Horse

June

My first thought when starting to write this post was, "Today is the first day of June! YAY!"

Then I realized it was 12:50 a.m. Today is now the second day of June. How did I miss the first day? It went by way too fast. Oh well! I would like to wish you a very happy June! (we'll just pretend I said on the first day. An hour late shouldn't make too much difference :D)

(photo credit: luckyshot at caedes. click on photo for link)