{image from here}

Does anyone else feel like they”ve been living in this photo this week? I feel like this is what my brain has been wading through since I woke up Monday morning to the insane Twitter feed of the Bin Laden announcement.

This week has been filled with lots of time inside my own head. Heavy, heartbreaking thoughts. Here”s a sliver with a stream-of-consciousness twist.

This week reminded me: I am so far away from America, physically and emotionally. I watched the week from across an ocean, as an outsider.

I feel both wildly patriotic for my home and deeply saddened at the celebrations of death, not justice.

I watched President Obama”s speech to the nation, to the world, really, and it gave me shivers. He looked exhausted, presidential, burdened.

I feel conflicted. I know Bin Laden organised the murder of thousands. He was a terrible human being. He deserved to die. But do we get to decide that?

Imagine the lives changed this week, the soldiers who completed the mission that was heard around the world. The human shield.

I remember exactly where I was when I found out the Twin Towers had been hit. It was surreal. And then it was real. To so many people, it”s still real. They live every day in that memory.

Perhaps they now feel relief; justice has prevailed. Perhaps their loss has eased.

My mother-in-law slots games found us this scripture :

“Tell them, “As sure as I am the living God, I take no pleasure from the death of the wicked. I want the wicked to change their ways and live.” Ezekiel 33 : 11

I feel wary, that feeling of tentative steps in the dark. There”s nowhere to go but forward, but forward may not be pleasant or peaceful.

I hope that the way forward, for Americans especially, is graceful.

***

I”ve been sucking up information about this week”s event, soaking in it, trying to wrap my head around it. These have helped.

The burden shared among many.

Mistakes were made.

“Are we learning anything, or simply spinning harder in the cycle of violence?”

Looking back at the day we were all Americans.

An end or a beginning?

I got sneakily sucked in to that royal wedding on Friday. I was pretty ambivalent about the whole thing during the run-up, but on Friday I found myself getting weepy watching all the coverage.

All those hats at the royal wedding last week got me thinking about some slightly more wearable hats.

I’ve always wanted to be the kind of person who could pull off hats like these.

Hats by Emily Westbrooks featuring a fedora hat

But I’m starting to think the people who pull hats off are just the ones who put them on!

What about you? Are you a hat person? Do you want to be?

***

And here are a few fun and interesting tidbits I came across over the weekend about the royal wedding. Enjoy!

Learning
No Husband of Mine
Cake History

{image from here.}

Happy Friday, everyone!

Do you have big plans this weekend? It’s another bank holiday weekend for us, the second in a row! A girl could get used to four day weeks around here! In fact, this girl has gotten quite used to four day weeks! Uh oh!

Michael’s headed off to Amsterdam for a few days with some friends for Queens Day, so I have the whole weekend for gardening, crafting, baking, writing, and long coffees (or glasses of wine!) with girlfriends.

But before I head off for the weekend, there are a few nuts and bolts I wanted to share about From China Village.

First, I’ve been getting tons of spam, so I’ve changed the comments setting so I need to approve them first. So if you don’t see your comment straight away, just bear with me! I’ll approve it, don’t worry! Unless you are spam, in which case, please leave me alone!

Second, I’ve got a new Facebook page where I’ll be sharing new posts on From China Village, fun tidbits, blog news and a couple great give-aways in the coming weeks. If you could, click over to Facebook and “like” From China Village? Thanks!

And finally, in case you missed From China Village this week, here’s what we got up to!

Extra sweet treats on Monday.
On Tuesday, I pretended we live in a warmer climate.
Jackie O. visited on Wednesday.
And my husband earned major points on Thursday!

Now, here are some fun recipes and links I bookmarked during the week.

I spent way too long drooling over this blog last night. Really, would you check out that Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake? I really wish that was in my freezer waiting for me to kick off the weekend!

And then there is Heaven and Hell Cake. You know what I’d be tempted to do? Lick all the ganache off the top. All of it. That is some shiny, dreamy-looking ganache.

In other, chocolate-free news, I think my weekend needs to involve drinking at least one of these.

Have you seen these cheese pairings? Another amazing, mouth-watering one right here.

Don’t you just want to walk your bare feet all over this? (Scroll down a bit!)

I thought this broad generalization was very interesting. Does it make you want to move here? Move away? Have babies?

Do you ever wish your husband could whip up custom furniture with little/no experience? I do. Often.

This lovely lady has a lovely book in the works! And did you know she’s originally Irish? I love her photos – they’re beautifully medieval or something. And also chocolate cake. We’re back to chocolate again. I think that means it’s time for the weekend, no?

Enjoy your two or three day weekend, darlings!

Yesterday afternoon, my husband walked in the door with a big armful of lilacs. I”m fairly certain I have his mother to thank for it, but I”m not complaining. He still gets major points.

At this very moment, our house smells heavenly.

{image from here}

Lilac is such a beginning-of-summer smell that reminds me of graduations and piano recitals. I vividly remember having a very sore behind during one particular piano recital from a bee sting acquired while picking the lilacs.

I always had trouble getting lilacs to last once they were cut, but here”s a great post about just that – from a Mainer! I love when I happen upon great sites and then find out they”re from Maine!

What about you, darling readers? Favorite summer flowers that bring back old memories?

I find there’s usually one photographer in the family who documents all the moments worth remembering. In our family, it’s me. Which means there are long stretches of time in our photo history where you’d wonder if I existed at all. When I ask Michael if he wants to take a few photos he usually snaps a few landscapes, or if we’re in a museum, he likes to take photos of the paintings. Then I delete them and he never even notices!

With our new camera arriving sometime next week, I’m hoping to get Michael a little more excited about taking some pictures. Maybe even a few with me in them!

And perhaps there’s a chance he’ll love it so much that he romantically wants to follow me around with a camera and take quietly moving photos like these.

{image by Alfred Eisenstaedt}

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I think it’s a long shot, but a girl can hope!

What about you guys? Who’s the photographer in your family? Are you always behind the camera?

Loving this new-to-me trend today.

Surprise treats baked in. I think I’d err on the side of a crunchy surprise, but it looks like you can bake just about anything in a cupcake these days!

{image and recipe from here}

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{image and recipe from here}

And that last link is a whole site dedicated to baking things in cakes and cupcakes. If you linger too long it gets a little nauseating but still very clever! She even bakes mini pudding pies into cupcakes! Wild!

What do we think? Do you bake candies and cookies into your treats?

{image from here}

Good morning, lovelies.

I have the day off from work today and Monday, so I’m going to use the extra time to finish that sideboard and recharge my batteries.

I hope you all have a lovely, peaceful, joyful weekend. See you all next week!

Lame post title, huh? Sometimes I’m all out of clever.

But these bits and pieces aren’t! Check out the cleverness hopping around the interwebs this week!

These carrots make me ache for those soft pipe cleaners. Do they even call them that here?

You would not believe the trick to making these eggs.

These are springy, huh? Dirt ice cream pots. So glad Tesco now sells Oreos!

Loving this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker for Scalloped Potatoes. They were a staple at our Easter dinners and don’t these look so oozy and delicious?

You know what these are? Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs! That sweet potato cracked me up!

Anyone else hungry now?