Tag Archives: holidays

merry christmas from the farm

This weekend we headed out to Wenatchee for the first of the family Christmas celebrations. We had a nice but quick stay with Ken and Cathy and a delicious prime rib dinner.

I didn’t take any pictures myself, but my FIL decided he wanted a family picture and he wanted it to be on the farm. So off we went to the orchard, trying to beat what little daylight was left.

First it was Greg and me. I (brilliantly) didn’t bring a coat with me so I was freezing. Alfred had no interest in joining the family picture.

Then it was all the kids and Mike jumped into the tractor seat.

Then it was the whole family. This might be my favorite picture from 2013.The making-of-the-family-photo photo is pretty awesome as well.

We are already thinking of ideas for next year’s photo.

After we captured the photo we sat around the fireplace and reminisced about Greg and Mike’s late grandpa. I never got to meet him, which makes me sad, but I did get to take home a Grandpa Jerry treasure this weekend. Meet my new brass reindeer. He’s going to be a fantastic holiday decoration when I clean him up.

finding my christmas cheer

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One of my goals for the season is to be merry. I haven’t exactly been a ray of Christmas sunshine this holiday season. I’ve pretty much pulled the plug on 2013 and am ready for 2014.

Then last night I went to our annual holiday dinner and glassybaby exchange. We played a game of one good, one bad, and one holiday tradition. I went close to last out of eleven people so I had a while to think about what I wanted to say.

My good has been stirring in my head for a while but I think 2013 is the year I not only accepted that Seattle is home for a while, but also realized I’m happy that it is. When we threw ideas around over the summer about moving to another state, I suddenly felt a little panicked. What about friends? What about our house? What about our Sounders’ season tickets? This is home now and I’m really happy about it.

I shared a bad as well and was shocked to hear I was not the only one who shared the same thing. Not even close to the only one. When I left SF I had a group of girlfriends and girls nights once a month, not to mention countless dinner, drink, walk, and run dates with my ladies. Last night felt like the first time I was willing to share something deeper than surface level with a new group of people and it was nice. Really nice.

All that to say that this morning I woke up with a little holiday cheer. It’s amazing how one night with a group of good people can really change your outlook. All of these pictures were taken before I went to that party. Now I’m just seeing them in a new, Christmas cheer-filled light.

a christmas wreath

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I wanted to make a wreath this year as part of my homemade holiday decor. We have four windows in our living room and I think it would be fun to have a wreath hanging from each window. Because I’m trying to live in reality, I knew I wasn’t going to make four wreaths this year and decided to make one each year. I found a great tutorial on the enJOY it blog. Just swapped out the fall colors for green, red, white, and gray. IMG_7300_edited-1

It’s definitely too small to replace our usual painting above the couch. It might just stay there this year though. With only one wreath, there wasn’t a good window to put it in without the room looking unbalanced and I don’t want to drill a whole elsewhere that will be noticeable after the holidays. Plaster walls are not the best for putting up seasonal decor. IMG_7302_edited-1

Here’s a view from below. You can see a bit of styrofoam in the top right. I ran out of pins, so I wasn’t able to cover that small section. Next time I’m at Jo-Anne’s I’ll pick up more to finish it, but you can’t actually see it unless you’re viewing the wreath at this angle.

Here’s a view from the side. I didn’t go around the entire wreath form, but enough on the outside and the inside to make it full. I love it! As with most things in my life, I am so not the idea person but I can seriously execute. Luckily I have awesome blogs like Elise’s for the ideas.

It took about 2 – 3 hours over two nights, all done while watching TV and not paying super close attention to what I was doing. Total cost was $19.74. I bought 1/4 yard of felt in each of four colors (bought the nicer felt on the bolt as the tutorial suggested and I have extra of all colors), a box of 400 pins (I probably need about 20 more to fill in the one open section), and a 14″ styrofoam wreath. I bought a pair of nicer scissors for my sewing class; having them was really helpful as I was able to cut through two layers of felt at a time.

playing catch-up with project life

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Over the last two months I got very behind on my Project Life album. I was feeling overwhelmed on how to catch up. Once I decided to go really simple I actually knocked out several weeks in just a few hours. Currently I’m caught up with the exception of one week in November. Not bad since I was behind starting in mid-October.

I combined the last half of October into one spread. We both worked like crazy these 2+ weeks and there were so few pictures. Aside from work, we traveled to SF for a wedding, celebrated Halloween, and enjoyed the newly opened Maple Leaf park.

The long work hours paid off when we spent the first week of November in Hawaii, relaxing and not working.

Again, I fudged the dates a little. We were on Maui from Friday to Friday but it made no sense to divide the trip into multiple spreads to fit my usual Monday to Sunday work. I’m convinced Project Life is most enjoyable if you break your rules frequently.

Because I made a Blurb book for this trip, I kept the documenting here very simple. Just two 12×12 pictures and a very succinct trip overview in some white space.

We had some good times with friends and family recently, especially on Thanksgiving. We also experienced some challenges and while I wish we had not, I’m glad I had a place to document. I’m so glad to be mostly caught up. I love this project but am looking forward to starting fresh in 2014 with a few new ideas to streamline and simplify the process. It’s hard to believe I am editing photos right now for week 49 of the year. It’s gone oh-so-fast, but looking back through two binders full of weekly stories and pictures reminds me of how much we’ve been lucky to do this year.

a winter table runner

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Over the long weekend I finished my winter table runner.

I went with “wintery” colors over more traditional Christmas colors because I couldn’t get a good mix of red and green fabrics that didn’t scream COUNTRY CHRISTMAS across Jo-Ann Fabrics. Gray, burgundy, and gold felt right so I decided to call it a winter runner instead of a holiday one.

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I worked on this for about two weeks on and off and didn’t keep track of the time exactly but my guess is I put in between 4 and 5 hours. IMG_3632_edited-1

I cut the strips and organized the fabric order at 4am one morning when I couldn’t sleep. One benefit of a traveling husband is no one knows you are a weird lady who irons fabric at 3:45am in the kitchen. Except now the internet knows. IMG_7250_edited-2

I’m not posting any of the specific steps because the tutorial I used is from an eCourse I bought and that doesn’t seem like something I should do. It was very easy to follow, though definitely the hardest project I’ve done to date. IMG_7256_edited-1

It is FAR from perfect and I found binding (the burgundy fabric around the outside) very hard. There are no close-up pictures for a good reason! But I love it. The first of my homemade holiday decorations. Now I am on the hunt for candle holders or something else to add to the table. Upcycled, of course.

Project: 3/35
Time: 4 – 5 hours
Tutorial: available in the Get Quilty eCourse
Cost: $32.09 ($25.69 – fabric, quilted backing, thread; $6.40 – 1/5 the cost of the eCourse)

holiday bucket list

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My mini bucket list for the holidays (through New Year’s Day). Short and sweet, perfect for the month of December.

1) Decorate the house. This year my goals are pretty simple: add only new decorations this year that I LOVE and that are homemade/upcylced (good thing Greg does not read this blog because he’d probably divorce me for using that word seriously); spend no more than $100 on decor; spend no money on wrapping (i.e. use up a bunch of stuff I have around the house already); donate all decorations I don’t LOVE at the end of the season; hang Christmas lights outside.

2) Participate in a Jingle Run. I’m not sure if I’m going to run or walk yet, but either way it will be fun. And hopefully it will involve some sort of costume.

3) Take a fun holiday family photo. This is always a goal and maybe I’ll have something to replace the shadow picture from this summer as my favorite photo of 2013.

4) Make Paleo egg nog. I’m not about the Paleo treats, in almost all instances I’d rather just eat the real thing on special occasions. But I don’t do dairy and I love egg nog, so Paleo egg nog it is.

5) Spread cheer. Focus on the positive. Be merry.

five on friday

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1. I have not spent much time in the kitchen these last few weeks and first on my agenda today is meal plan + shop + prep + cook. Well Fed 2 will be getting some serious attention. I’m having so much fun cooking through it I’m already trying to decide which cookbook to tackle next. The practical side of me wants to do another one that I already own, the non-practical side wants to do Nom Nom Paleo’s soon to be released cookbook.

2. I’m so happy about downtime this weekend. We have a reasonable to-do list around the house but it’s mostly holiday related and fun. I’m sure there will be several New Girl marathons mixed in whenever we need a break. Just started Season 2 and we are obsessed.

3. I’m way behind on my 36 books in 2013 goal and totally okay with it. I took on a few new hobbies this year that have taken up time spent reading in the past. I am hoping to make it to 30 (5 more to go).

4. Because I’m on a super minimalist kick, I want to try to spend no money on Christmas wrapping this year. But of course it still needs to look cute. Pinterest makes it seem entirely possible. I will report back.

5. I’m joining with Elise and doing #mileaday. One mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year. I will probably run some and walk some, but for me in Seattle the goal is less about the exercise and more about getting outside every day. Something I don’t do nearly enough of in the winter.

happy thanksgiving

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Our little family has so much to be thankful for this year. I plan to have my attitude of gratitude on in full force as we eat + drink with family and friends this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday as well.

early thanksgiving

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We won’t be cooking our own Thanksgiving meal this year, but I wanted to tinker in the kitchen with holiday food. Last week, Melissa (I’m just going to pretend we’re friends as I work through her cookbook) posted a handful of Well Fed 2 holiday recipes on her website.

First up is Turkey & Cranberry Meatballs. Well Fed 2 has a whole section on meatballs, burgers, and bangers – definitely looking forward to making my way through all the variations. These were pretty good. It’s not my typical go-to flavor combination but Greg loved them. I liked them well enough to eat them for dinner and lunch the next day, so I’d say success. Next time I make a meatball recipe from the book I think I’ll make 12 or so larger meatballs, unlike the 20 – 30 the recipe calls for. The smaller balls would be perfect for a party with toothpicks. Superbowl party with a meatball bar?
With the meatballs we ate Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon. I’m having leftovers right now as I type this. I also happen to be home alone. Not gonna lie, I just licked the bowl. This soup was awesome. I’ve been eating it for breakfast every day with two hard boiled eggs. Sometimes it’s nice to switch things up – I finally ate my breakfast casserole one too many weeks in a row. And an added bonus – this was soup three of five from my Fall bucket list.