Packing up some stuff...

I did get some boxes packed yesterday!

Things are looking a little bare around here...
It is a windy blustery day here! LOVE those kind of days! All of my Christmas shopping is DONE, most of it is wrapped. I still have a couple things I ordered online that need to arrive. Still need to finish my Christmas cards though =/ almost forgot about those. Guess I need to get those done before I start packing the crafty studio ;)

If it's windy where you are, don't blow away! Have a great day!

Thanksgiving wrap up...

 I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving weekend! We had a very relaxing 4 days =) Last Wednesday I made the cranberry sauce for dinner on Thursday. I received this recipe several years ago from a friend and have been making my own cranberry sauce ever since. Last year I began substituting agave for the sugar and can't tell the difference.

 This is what it looks like when it has cooked for about 10 minutes.

 Then I just put it into jars for easy storage and gift giving.

 I also made the candied sweet potatoes on Wednesday. I used both sweet potatoes and yams.

 I received this recipe from my sister in law, I did substitute agave, but still added the brown sugar. These are the best, the hubby LOVES them.

This year I baked only one pie. Since it is just the hubby and I, we don't really need two pies! haha! So Pumpkin it was... made with agave and wheat crust. YUM! The pie was baked on Wednesday too.

 I made a few little changes to my center piece...

 set the table using cloth napkins and cute little place settings =)

 On the back of the hubbys I wrote what I was thankful for...

 He knows me too well, he immediately turned it over to read what I had written.

 Yum, dinners ready!

 The candied sweet potatoes ready to be eaten.

 One of my Pottery Barn inspired candles...

 A full plate of food!

Pie for dessert, with homemade whipped cream... 

We spent the day in our jammies, it snowed and was cold... Scott did go out and shovel the driveway and to buy me a newspaper so we could look at the Black Friday ads. By the time dinner was over it was raining and most of the snow was melted =) gotta love that.

Today I have a mountain of laundry to do, some groceries to buy, I am going to try my darndest to pack up at least a couple boxes of books from the bookcases downstairs. Take down Thanksgiving decorations, and finish wrapping the last of the Christmas presents.

I am going to try to make a batch of chocolate covered cherries too! Guess I better get moving!

Have a fabulous day!

Brrr, baby it's cccollddd outside!

 16. 16 degrees outside as I type this. Bbrrrr! I thought I left these temperatures when I left Nevada! I understand that they are at 0 degrees and are expecting -6 and -13 later in the week, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining! I took the picture above on Friday. Before it snowed! I couldn't resist the white caps on the water.

So what have I been up to?  Umm, NOT packing stuff up! haha! My friend Andrea came over and sewed the coffee sack pillows last week.

 She did an awesome job! The sacks were not the easiest fabric to be working with.

 She brought lattes from SB which was soo sweet of her.

 She is leaving in January... I am going to miss her!  Isn't that pillow Cu-ute?! So Pottery Barn ;)

 I have been trying to finish my Christmas presents for the year. I have made 5 necklaces for special people in my life...

 I can't show ALL of them, but can show you a couple.

 Thank you to my very sweet friend Jessica for teaching me how to make these necklaces, so fun to make. You may remember the purple one she made for me, which is perfect, I love the purple starfish that are in the waters here.

 It snowed Friday night, YUCK!

 We woke up to about 4 inches.

 And clear skies, which means COLD!

 The color of the water is soo blue with the snow and clear blue sky.

 The hubby shoveled Saturday morning.

 Sunset was gorgeous Saturday night. The hubby and I ended up having a HUGE crab dinner. I bought 5 pounds, just a little too much, so we had crab cocktails Sunday night!

 I finished my coffee sack bulletin board, it will be so pretty in the guest bedroom.

 I finished my pillow too! I failed to get a picture of my first batch of fudge for the season, but will take a picture of the next batch.
I went to my first and second Bikram Yoga classes, thanks to my friend Lisa for letting me go with her. I was worried about the heat, but I just breathe through the few moments of panic that occasionally hit me and so far so good! EVERY muscle in my body hurts though!

Today is a pamper day. Getting my hair colored and cut, and a pedicure and my nails done, woohoo! So no yoga, but I will go again tomorrow. This is the sunset from the front window Sunday night, GORGEOUS!
Have a great week, and stay warm!

Random November 16, 2010

 Yesterday I finally couldn't take it any longer and lit a fire in the upstairs fireplace. It really wasn't that cold outside, I think it was 50, but it was raining and we were expecting a wind storm. Okay and I had a new Christmas magazine =) and a big mug of chai tea!

 A few years ago my Mom-in-law and Dad-in-law sent us these pine cones for the fireplace that are coated with something that makes the fire all different shades of blues, greens and purples. I absolutely love to use them, both inside and outside when we use our fire pit.

 This is my new favorite salad... baby greens, roasted chicken breast (cubed), almonds, sliced apples, Gorgonzola cheese, topped with olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Yummy good, sometimes I stuff it into a pita too!

 We had quite the wind storm last night!

 I really thought with all the noisy branches hitting the house, roof and windows that there would be more downed branches.

 The nice thing is that all these branches will get used in my Christmas decorating =)

 While I was out photographing all the branches and piling them up, I noticed even more mushrooms.

 These are so tiny and cute.

 See?

 Of course, I still love these ones. I know my friend Jessica has these growing in her yard too.

 The front one almost looks like a button mushroom.

Kind of a boring post I know. I just haven't been feeling very creative so far this week. I've kind of had a tummy bug for a couple days. So I have just been hanging out reading Christmas magazines, a book about composting (I plan are starting in the spring) and studying up on chickens.

picture from heatherbullard.typepad.com

picture from heatherbullard.typepad.com

We have decided our house will be going up for sale January 15, 2011! So be prepared for some final home improvement posts, and a few days of silence while I am busy packing up things in boxes ;)

Have a pleasant day,