Can you feel the love tonight?

Last night we had ourselves a cultural experience, no sarcasm at all. We got to see The Lion King, Broadway style, at our very own Barbara B. Mann theater on the grounds of Edison Community College in Fort Myers. It was incredible. I've seen it a few times on Broadway, thanks to chaperoning field trips and visits to New York with my mom. This was Brad's first time seeing it. And after seeing these animals in Africa, it had a whole new meaning for me. It is such an incredible show-- so creative and just gorgeous. It moved me like it always does and tickled my creative itch.







It also inspired me to do something creative, which is the motto of one of my favorite stores, The Paper Source. Unfortunately there are no stores down here, so online shopping is my best bet. I've spent quite a few minutes browsing this week as I need a colorful paper to put on my new desk! Remember that metal table we had powdercoated a while back? We got it back in December, and I just love it. It's silver and beautiful and retro and shiny all at the same time. The only thing left to finish is the top. Originally it had an old linoleum top which dried out and was cracked and curled. We took it off but there is still a metal lip around the edge which framed the top. Well, the lip is too deep to ignore unless you want some killer lines across your forearms, and it's too shallow to put plywood or anything else one finds at Lowe's. So we decided to try plexiglass. I bought two little pieces at Lowe's, two different thicknesses, to try for a few days. The cost of the thicker one, which was the best one, would have been more than $50. Ugh. But we found a nice little unusual shop called The Lucite Outlet. Not so much a chain of stores, since I'm not sure there's a huge market of mainstream consumers for lucite. However, this place cut me a sheet of acrylic in 5 minutes for $22, and I'm thrilled. It's squared on the corners so I need so sand it down a bit to round them, but no big deal. So what will go between the acrylic and the desktop? Well, I could do pictures or a collage, which actually just came to me and sounds really cool. But I need a cool background, so to Paper Source I go. I'm going to order a roll or two of their wrapping paper and it will be just great. They also have paper flower kits which tempt me beyond my limits. I might have to order an orchid one and a magnolia one. I already asked my kind mother to check the local stores near Chicago as they were out of the daffodil kits and I just must have one. (Mom, you're too good to me.)

(10 minutes elapses)

Ooo-- just took a shopping break there. See what I mean about tempting?

In other news, some team from up north made it to the Superbowl. I've never been a huge pro-football fan, but this is pretty cool. I mean, I remember that other time happening when I was 9, and I even knew the whole Superbowl Shuffle. (You know you want to click on it. Go ahead.) "You're lookin' at the Fridge, I'm the rookie. I may be large, but I'm no dumb cookie..."

While I'm certain I'll watch at least part of the game, here's an alternative: The Puppy Bowl. Animal Planet will be showing puppies playing around, with a half time show featuring kittens. Sorry to break your heart, Dad, but I might be a channel flipper that night.

That's all for now. This weekend will be our first opportunity to host friends!!! Sam and Erika and Samika or Erisam or Baby Seaver, take your pick, will be here. We're super excited.