Giraffes

Waaaaay back in April when I was participating in M3’s 30 posts in 30 days I asked people for some blog ideas.  Most of the requests were for recipes and more pictures of Maisie.  I’ve made a good effort in getting more recipes posted over on Cook Lisa Cook and I hope that everyone is enjoying them.  I also managed to post a lot more to this blog, 163 days in a row of all things Maisie and though my daily posting stint ended I’m doing my best to keep posting pretty regularly. 

One different request came from my Utah bloggy bash 2006, 2007 & 2009 as well as Beijing travel pal Julie.  She asked me about all the giraffe stuff in my house and how my interest in giraffes got started so that is today’s post and sorry Julie that it took so long.

I have no idea where my love of giraffes came from and I’ll say that I don’t collect them as I don’t go out searching for giraffe items nor do I buy giraffe items all that often but I do seem to have a good number of giraffe items in my home and come to think of it, in my wardrobe.

I think that my very first giraffe is the large one in this picture.  In our previous home we had a big foyer and when I saw this guy, right away I pictured him in that foyer and so it was a done deal.  Funny as I’m writing this and thinking about when I got him, I couldn’t tell you the year or even the season but I know for a fact that it was the day after I was rear-ended in Eammon’s SUV.  The other-guy’s insurance provided a rental SUV and I remember being thankful that they did same-for-same as I never would have been able to fit the giraffe into my old Volvo.

It was a year or so later that I saw the medium sized giraffe and it happened to be on sale for a great price so I figured it would be a good companion to the larger giraffe.  The baby giraffe was a gift.  Maisie says that we have a Baba, Mama & Maisie giraffe, a perfect giraffe family for our family.

This painting was also purchased when we lived in our previous home and it hung in the guest bedroom.  Now it hangs in the little foyer of the Master bedroom suite.

In the Master bedroom there are two giraffes, both named Gregory.  Back in 2001 Eammon gave me the larger giraffe for Valentine’s Day and I’ve slept with him ever since!  When we started the paper chase for Maisie I thought that it would be fun for her to have her own giraffe so after searching online I found one being sold on Ebay so I purchased him.  I didn’t give the giraffe to her right away but once she got a bit older and started wanting my giraffe I brought out her baby giraffe and she decided that they should both have the same name.  So we have matching big & little Gregory giraffes. 

Maisie’s bedroom had lots of animals but mostly giraffes.  There were more giraffe items in her nursery when she was a baby, a giraffe shelf, a giraffe height chart and her bedding and window treatments had giraffes but those things have moved on to new homes.  I have almost finished changing over Maisie’s bedroom from the safari themed nursery to her Princess palace.  Only one thing remains to do which is to replace the animal mural with a Cinderella’s carriage and then I’ll hopefully take some new pictures.  I mentioned to Maisie that I was taking all the baby stuff and animals out of her room and she said that she wanted to keep the big animals so since she still wants them, they’ll be staying for a while.

Maisie has some other special giraffes in her room.  This adorable pink giraffe was sent by our friend Julie along with a wonderful giraffe dress which Maisie loved to wear and which she unfortunately outgrew otherwise she’d still be wearing it because we loved it.

I purchased this yellow chenille giraffe for Maisie as I thought it was so cute and girly.

Maisie loves moving the big giraffe from her bedroom to the family room so that she can play on him.

This little cutie used to sit on the fireplace hearth in our previous home and he also sat on the hearth in this home…well until Maisie and all her toys came along and took over that space.

No room is immune from a bit of giraffe, these are some finger tip towels in our first floor guest bathroom.

In my kitchen I have giraffe salad serving utensils that a friend gave to me.  I’ve never used them but for years now they have been displayed in the pig chef’s pitcher.

While in Beijing we went to the cloisonné factory and this vase was calling my name but it was a tiny bit more than I had wanted to spend.  I hemmed and hawed but with a little nudging from Julie telling me that I’d regret it if I didn’t bring it home, I made the purchase.  And she was right, I would still be kicking myself if I hadn’t made this purchase.

I do have some giraffe clothing including a giraffe jacket, clogs, a shirt and a cute little skirt but no pictures of me wearing them…oh well.

Finally, the cutest giraffe around was from way back in 2008 in my Where’s Maisie post.  This was the one and only time that Maisie wore the costume…oh well, she was so cute as my little giraffe.

Maisie asked if I would make a special treat for her and I thought that she was going to ask for something candy filled or with frosting but no, my girl asked if I would make some Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon.  I’m telling you, this stuff is like crack, one taste and you’re addicted.  I promised her that I would make some soon but as she nearly downed an entire pound last time, this time I’ll double the recipe so that we don’t get our fingers bitten off should we try and take any from her.  Click on the picture to be taken to the recipe.

While you’re checking out the crack bacon recipe please also take a look as some of the other wonderful recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook including: Mango Lassi, Stir-Fried Asparagus with Water Chestnuts, Ginger & Cashews, Curried Roast Chicken Pieces with Spicy Sweet Potato & Carrots, Grilled Corn & Bacon Pudding, Oriental Chicken Salad, Potato Salad with Bacon, Coffee Crusted Steak, Home Style Chicken Curry, Watermelon Frosty,  Mango Gazpacho, Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Long Beans with Walnuts, Blacksmith Pizza, Rhubarb Crisp, Laksa, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Aloo Gobi, Mint Lassi, Red Curry Chicken, Lamb Curry, Grilled Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Baked Egg Cups Two Ways, Thai Peanut Salad, Holy Guacamole, Cantaloupe Agua Fresca, Wallaby Darned, Piggy-Out Cookies, Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, Long Beans with Garlic, Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad, Grandma’s Teriyaki Steak, Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, Red Chinese Long Beans with Peppers & Red Curry, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake Fig & Watermelon Salad, Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, Grilled Prawns, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Roast Beef & Garlic Herb Cheese Sandwich, Layered Crespelle with Bolognese, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil, Jamaican Jerk Meat Pies, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Velvety Mac & Cheese, Welsh Cakes & Tom Yam Ghoong (Spicy Shrimp Soup).

Enjoy!