Anatomy of a Thanksgiving dinner plate

[ note: this was my brother's plate ]

Thanksgiving happiness and giving the house a holiday makeover.

Although tomorrow is the first day of December, the apartment looks like Christmas Eve. Packed up all the orange and yellow and pitched the pumpkins. This weekend, we got an early jump on getting into the holiday spirit. Went to Target, Arne's, Party Boy, Ross and Jo-Ann's, and purchased: lots of ornaments, the most fantastic star tree topper: a real Christmas tree (yee!!), stockings, red and green candles, lights and garland, wreaths, holiday hand/kitchen towels... and a bottle of champagne + cranberry (bye bye Mimosas, hello Poinsettias!) to celebrate! The inside is complete, sans the green garland/ white twinkle lights for the bannister and the bunting..but we'll get to that. This week we'll work on the outside! CHRISTMASTASTIC. And did I mention how amazing it smells in there? oh. amazing. I just want to bake/cook all day while listening to Bing tell me how badly he wants a white Christmas.

Photos to come!

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Turkey day?..Couldn't have asked for a better weather. It was absolutely beautiful in Covington this past week, and we all really enjoyed the day filled with the best food and family visits. Hope your holiday was wonderful!

WANT HIM. SO BAD.

too bad he was @ starbucks 2 years ago. MISSED!!!!

no, i have not painted my living room walls red and green yet... but....

My lunch hour yesterday was spent at Hobby Lobby gathering materials to make my first holiday bunting. I found the tutorial here. Per her site, I needed jute or string, iron-on adhesive and fabric scraps. Easy enough.

I chose a yard each of 3 Christmas prints (50% off!), a green holly berry/pine cone, a red and white snowflake print, and a white "Merry Christmas" print. I cut 7 1/2 " wide triangle shaped pieces but will do larger pieces next time! (this bunting is 13 triangles long) and I glued (iron-on adhesive) the pieces 1" apart along the jute.

The whole thing took almost 2 hours, which seems like long time, but I've never made one of these things before and had the kitchen floor as my workspace (throw in a meddling kitten and it takes a little longer..). After hanging it, it seemed like 2 hours well spent. It really brightens the room and I think it will look good hanging above the tree in the little bay window area.

Felt nice to make my first Christmasy thing of the year :)

night out!

Our night out on the town this weekend!

good day for a little boardwalking

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous so Ryan and I went down to the Kemah to see what the boardwalk was like before his plane ride back to Omaha. The day was filled with good seafood, rollercoater and ferris wheel rides, exploring, relaxing in the sun, boat watching, playing in the big fountain and watching old ladies line dance.

airport surprises

For about 30 minutes, I was able to meet up with Michelle at Bush Intercontinental on her layover between San Diego and St. Paul. Ryan's flight to Omaha departed @ 9 and Min's @ 9:10 so it was perfect. We met up in terrible terminal C:

Me: C is crap. I don't even think there's a place for us to meet up and grab a beer.

Mom: I have beer.

Me: You smuggled a beer into the airport in your purse?

Mom: I have 6.

Me: You smuggled a 6 pack in your purse?

Mom: No... we have a cooler.

awesome.

and so...me, ryan, mom, dad, michelle and michelle's friend from St. Paul drank St. Arnold Christmas ales in a Ford truck in the parking garage of Terminal C.

Texas is fantastic.

hair today, gone tomorrow.

[ i hope that entry title doesn't bring bad omens...]

By no means am I making ANY kind of comparison... but if they could do it in the 1950s... why can't I try? I mean, there have been so many advances in haircare in the past 50 years... right? ( right?)

I mean.. I've had blonde hair before but this is silly. I've never gone this bold with it and its so much fun.

Here's to hoping it decides to stay in my head.

Motivation

...to learn to make something other than a damn blanket or scarf [ because we all know that a blanket IS a scarf only longer and wider and you just keep going...].

homemade holiday smell-good

Dad's been making this for as long as I can remember. On chilly holiday mornings the scent fills the house, and its so wonderful. This is close to Dad's recipe, but I sort of improvise my own based on what I have in the house and whatever scent I want to be strongest.

As soon as the temp drops below 70, its on the stove, simmering away pretty much every evening. I absolutely love this smell and the warmth and comfort it seems to give the house. Its extra easy to make and you can tweak it to bring out whichever spices you love the most!

In a small pot 1/2 filled with water I put:

orange peel

very little bit of lemon juice

cinnamon sticks/ ground cinnamon

ground allspice

ground nutmeg

whole cloves

very little vanilla

very little almond extract

ground ginger

This is just my little mix for fall/ winter 09, and there's no set QTY of each ingredient to use, just sprinkle a little bit of everything in, and see how you like it. If you want the cinnamon or orange or clove to be more prominent (my favorites), go nuts! Just let it sit on the stove and simmer.. you'll have to add more water eventually , but when you do, then re-up your spices.

It really does make your house smell like you're cooking something amazing.

Enjoy!

[google image]

"Don't think of other people when we kiss".. and other requests from the 70s.

So heartfelt. I mean, what was going on in 1976? Did girls just swoon over guys that forget her birthday, were occasionally cold and heartless and very noncommittal? Who would want to receive something like this as a gift?

[ alright, fine. yes, I am pretty much digging on her dress in this one right here....ugh...]

but still... YEESH.

wishes

I'm loving this. How hard could it be to find a really good branch, paint it and suspend 2 thin chains from the ceiling? It would be fantastic to bring a little of the outdoors inside to brighten a space- would love to display my vintage dresses that I've been collecting as room decor instead of hiding them away in a dark closet, waiting to be worn. [they could certainly pull double duty, they're very coloful & multi-patterned/ textured!]

Hurrah!

You have suffered enough and warred with yourself, it's time that you won...

Friday night was The Swell Season show [Glen Hansard of the Frames and Czech singer Marketa Irglova] thanks to my friend Lee! Dad and I took Mom as a belated birthday treat. It was a great show and I think Mom really enjoyed herself ; there was a period of about 6 months when the soundtrack to the film Once was never removed from the car, and I was happy she got to see them play live. Below are a few shots from the show and a tiny [shaky] video of them playing Falling Slowly, which won the 2007 Oscar for best original song.

[ a little Houston pride we saw on the way into the venue ]

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Happy birthday to me? Still!

Received the loveliest gifts from my wonderful friend Amy (via Brooklyn) for my birthday!

Two handmade Cuckoo clock kitchen towels from Sara at Girls Can Tell. Absolutely love them and I love Amy for supporting a small business/artist! I'm so happy to have such a unique accent for my kitchen.

so.. i think i love this

found on wonderful worldwide webs today via this blog, Katie Cupcake.

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

Called Paw Paw today for Veterans day. It's strange how when talking to him on the phone, I can smell his aftershave.

He told me he was out feeding the birds: the cardinals, jays, not the hummingbirds though, they fly to Italy when it gets cool. I told him I'd like to go to Italy.

And he told me to hop on the back of a hummingbird and go.

Photo left: Michelle Knoll- Omaha beach, Normandy 2008 [written in sand: For Paw Paw 1944]