Birthday Presents

I scored this year with some great presents, from my mother and the Mr.

I'm dying to share them with you, so I'm going to get right to it.

This amazing set of classic novels was from my mother. She purchased them at Deseret Book. They are beautiful and appear to be quite good quality. The books include: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Secret Garden. The last two I listed I've never read, so I'm excited to crack them open when I have a free moment. And by free moment, I mean, when the semester is over and I can read for personal enjoyment.

These books have already found a nice, cozy home on our bookshelf. Now they're just waiting for me to open and explore them. Waiting. They're waiting and I'm waiting. Ah! Can you tell that it's practically killing me to not have the time to read them right now?!? Patience is a virtue...


There's a bit of a story behind this cookbook. Michael and I were in Borders a few months back, reading and browsing. Michael looked around the entire store while I, of course, made a B-line for the cookbook section and remained there for the entire hour or so we were in the store. No surprise there as I compiled a huge stack of cookbooks I was interested in, and started reading each one like any other person would read a novel.

As Michael and I were walking out of the store, we stopped in the bargain section and apparently, he showed me this cookbook and I thought it was way cool. (I said apparently because I actually don't remember that particular event of our day in Borders) Anywho, Michael remembered and purchased the book a bit later, saving it for my birthday MONTHS later. He hid it in his office where I wouldn't find it. Sneaky sneaky.

Long story short, he gave me this HUGE novel of a cookbook for my birthday and I love it! It has 1327 pages which is the most I've ever seen in a cookbook. Course, it does say that it's the "Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking", so that kinda explains it. One thing that is super cool about this cookbook is the way the recipes are categorized. All by season. So, if I want to cook something in Winter, I can go straight to that section and find a recipe that coordinates with what ingredients are currently in season. A.k.a. healthy and fresh. Also, there are special sections for particular meals that are cooked on Holidays in Italy. I might try something new for this year at Christmas!


This last present made me giddy and literally jump for joy. Those who know us, know that Michael and I love Le Roi Soleil, a French musical about King Louis XIV, The Sun King. The music is amazing, as is the staging and entire spectacle. We included the song, "Je fais de tois mon essentiel" on our wedding CD because it's special to us. I guess you could say it's "our" song.

Well, I bought the CD from the musical for Michael's 25th birthday and we listen to it quite a bit off and on. We've never been able to find the DVD in the US, so we kind of gave up on locating it any time soon. Until now. Michael had the brilliant idea to search Amazon France and found it! It came to us straight from Paris. The only problem we ran into is the region issue with the DVDs (as France is in a different region than the US), they won't play in an American DVD player. But, Michael, being the computer smarty that he is, found a program which would allows us to play it!

We watched most of it last night and it really is spectacular. Seeing the sets, staging, and acting combined with the music makes so much more sense and brings the whole thing together. It is fantastic.

I LOVE my birthday presents.