Exciting news this week, nice mice! Lovely Yira over at Yira Prado Designs is doing a giveaway for Good Mouse, Bad Mouse. She's a new jewelry designer who loves minimalism, and whose goal is to create "...dainty and timeless pieces of jewelry that are simple, unique and affordable." Her work is clean, modern, delicate, and lovely.

Rules:

1. Go to YiraPrado Designs on Etsy and look at the beautiful pieces.

2. Come back here and leave a comment about which is your favorite. The giveaway will stay open until midnight on Thursday, July 30.

3. Mouse will announce a randomly-chosen winner on Friday, July 31. Subject to availability, the prize will be the winner's favorite piece! (How cool is Yira?)

P.S. Mouse's favorite is the pink lady necklace. Mouse likes rose quartz and all its properties.

Mouse hearts Max. Mouse also hearts Maurice Sendak.

GUESS WHERE MOUSE IS GOING RIGHT NOW? Hooraaaaaaay...

(Hermione photo from here.)

P.S. Mouse is not so thrilled. The movie was lovely, but Hermione has become just another beautiful girl. Give her back her nerdiness!

Every time Boyfriend goes out of town, Mouse has fire-related accidents. The teakettle. The fire next door. And now I have burned the eff out of my wrist while getting a baked potato out of the oven. Come back, Boyfriend!

P.S. Why fire? Mouse is a water sign, for crying out loud!

Mouse called her sister* yesterday and Tiny Niece answered the phone.

Tiny Niece: I'm going to have a PARTY! I'm going to sell desserts and have a garage sale and make a bunch of money.

Mouse: Cool! What will you spend your money on?

Tiny Niece: (Excited. Slowly) I...don't...KNOW...

Mouse: When's your party?

Tiny Niece: Did you know that you can always come to our house?

Mouse: Yes. 

Tiny Niece: When are you coming to our house?

Mouse: Sometime soon. But I live very far away. It's hard to come to your house.

Tiny Niece: How about you come tonight, at sunset. Okay, I love you, bye bye.

Sister: Hello?

Mouse: You're having a party?

Sister: Um. We are?

Sigh. More delicious kid stories over at First Milk.

*Country Mouse

Boyfriend, who usually dozes through movies, has stayed awake for a bunch of them lately. Last night he decided to come up with a one-sentence review of everything we watch, and Mouse said, hey, why not a haiku? So here's the first installment, on Rachel Getting Married:

Devastating and
Alluringly heartbreaking
But too cool for school

This is the GREATEST THING EVER TO HAPPEN, by Jonathan McIntosh and brought to you by Kate at Love You Big. You will probably notice, watching this, that Mouse loves Buffy with an undying passion and doesn't really understand this whole Twilight thing.*

*Where is the sex? Vampires are all about sex. Just ask Sookie.

Cachaça

Candied hibiscus flowers

Dried figs wrapped in prosciutto (easy! cheap!)

Hot sauce. Mouse especially likes Nando's, a peri-peri sauce from South Africa, which you can now get at Whole Foods.

Hello hello, nice mice! I had a lovely weekend. The sun came out in time for Mouse to wear her red polka dot sundress and red espadrilles to the garden party on Saturday night, although the shoes didn't last very long. We had a rollicking good time with twenty-six people squeezed on our little porch and in our teensy backyard. It was a Brazilian garden party, mostly because Boyfriend brought back yummy cachaça and excellent tunes from Rio. Mouse cooked a simplified feijoada,* and everyone had a wonderful time. We had Brazilian beer** and many, many, many caipirinhas. Fun summer party!

Caipirinha:

Muddle one whole lime with 2 teaspoons granulated sugar in a highball glass. Add 2.5 oz. cachaça. Stir. Add crushed ice. Stir. Mmmmmm....

*Feijoada is Portuguese for "incredibly complicated meat and black-bean stew served over white rice and with a slice of orange, which it turns out you CAN make without the pig feet." Mouse will share the recipe if you are interested, but it is LONG.

**Brazilian beer, unlike many Central and South American beers, is REALLY YUMMY.

Mouse played hooky yesterday afternoon, to shake off the tired feeling that has been following her around. Instead of work:

1. Went to mall

2. Bought red espadrilles to match red and white polka-dot sundress*

3. Went to movie by myself

4. Ate nothing but gigantic box of popcorn for dinner

5. Drank a Cherry Coke**

It was nice. Happy weekend!

*Hoping to wear these tomorrow, but today is dark and gloomy, so who knows.

**Cherry Coke reminds me of Being Seven.

(Image from the Life photo archive, here.)