Wednesday, December 24, 2008

merry christmas

Enjoy your holiday!






Monday, December 22, 2008

so cute

look! 5 Bloo kitties!

funny pictures of cats with captions
more animals

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Ten Things

I'm not nearly as eloquent as SouleMama (I'm completely in love with her blog!), but since she asked readers of her blog what we are loving this holiday season, I figured I'd post ten of my favorite things so far:

1. Knowing that I don't have to go back to work until January 5th. Since my birthday is January 1, I'll hopefully go back with a new frame of mind - I'll be older, wiser and calmer :)

2. Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and their annual light festival.


3. Our upcoming annual trip to the Outer Banks.


4. Ina's (Barefoot Contessa) recipe for French Chocolate Bark.

5. Our Christmas Tree

6. The hubby's scrumptious Parmesan and Root Vegetable Lasagna.

7. Our kitten, Blooregard, and his crazy antics.



8. Brie, goat cheese and garlic as well as brie, manchego and pear gourmet grilled cheese samis. Oh, and Dijon mustard on the side.



9. Amish Friendship Bread.

10. The anticipation of starting a new knitting project using Briar Rose yarn.


11. The Downy woodpeckers in my yard.


So...What are you loving this December?

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

gifts

I can't believe how fortunate I've been lately - I've received some amazing gifts in the past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your kindness - I hope I haven't left any gifts out of this post.

My 'Mad Men' Ravelry exchange partner sent me the most wonderful knitty items a week ago. I received an Elsapel bag for knitting gadgets, a skein of cashmere yarn (yummy!!!), a skein of Plain and Fancy "Autumn Leaves," a really cool Eiffel tower pin and stitch markers (I now own something other than the plastic ones!). Jen, seriously - thank you!


Pam, my long-time friend from NC, came to visit us last weekend. Guess what? She brought me 2 skeins of local yarn! Pam had visited Rising Meadow Farm in Liberty, NC and thought that these 2 handspun woolies would be a good gift for me. She was so right - I am so very happy! She also brought us Blackberry Jam and Pear Butter from Greensboro, which I'm dying to get into this weekend. Thank you Pam!!


Leslie, my good Richmond friend, brought some goodies to our girl's get together Sunday night. There is of course a story about the "Chili Dawg" wine and easy cheese (lord knows who thought this up but it's mighty tasty!). She also gave "the girls" Amish friendship bread! I'm so excited - The bread is in this baggie labeled 'Day 1.' Thanks Leslie!


More pix of Chili Dawg with the Richmond girls (pix shamelessly stolen from Anne's site :)

Anne (one of the "girls" in Richmond) made an amazing Apple Pie a la mode with Cinnamon Ice Cream this week! Thank you, Anne!

Kristen made "the girls" some amazing bread Sunday night. The starter has apparently been in her husband's family for 20+ years!

And, last but not least, I need to give a big thank you to my hubby! He spent 3 hours Saturday afternoon making Barefoot Contessa's Boeuf Bourguignon for me & Pam. It was absolutely amazing, so good in fact, that we were busy eating and forgot to take pictures! He also woke up Sunday and made us homemade waffles. Sunday night, he continued his cooking spree and made "the girls" homemade Shrimp and Corn Chowder. What a good hubby he is!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

I love the Purl Bee

Look at these AWESOME ornaments. Thank you, Purl Bee!!!