Today's post brought to you by. . .

. . . Kleenex.
. . . vitamin C.
. . . hot tea.


Yup. That's right. I'm ringing in 2008 with a terrible cold. And, I've heard that you share with the people you care most about, so I've also given the cold to Brad. We are going to be a bundle of fun tonight.

I could never just leave you with a pile of misery, so I thought I'd share my design team work for Scrap-tastic for January. Enjoy!

Noah and Chase's latest studio picture mixed with a little Basic Grey and so some KI lace cardstock and some Noteworthy and a little American Crafts.


Found this totally fun file-folder-type paper from Autumn Leaves on a LSS. Stole some inspiration from the Studio Calico January gallery.


I've had a few Prima Paintables lying around for awhile. I finally played on Saturday. I can't lie-it was putsy but turned out so very cool!


Last, but not least, a Maya Road sheer mini-album. This was a scary little project, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Nicky loved it, too--it was her Christmas gift.


Happy 2008, my friends.

Vaca Update

I know you are all just dying to hear about the progress I've made on my vacation list of things to do.

Thing # 1: Scrapbook.
Haven't really gotten to this yet. But, I have cleaned my scrapping room and have a hot date with the fantastic Stephanie tomorrow. I can guarantee that there will be loads of paper cutting, journaling, and embellishing.

Thing # 2: Bake cupcakes. DONE!
Check. Last night I whipped up some brownie cupcakes and accessorized them with bananas foster and ice cream. YUM.


Thing # 3: Sleep late.
Does 6 a.m. count as late? I have this scheduled for Sunday.

Thing # 4: Watch movies.
I am quite sad that I have not gotten to this yet. Maybe Sunday or Monday.

Thing # 5: Read books that are not about being a teacher.
Starting to think this list of things to do was awfully ambitious. I haven't gotten to this yet either.

Thing # 6:Stay up late to buy this. DONE!
This I most definitely accomplished. Plus, there was tons of hilarious chatting. A girl has to have priorities.

Thing # 7: Get a pedicure.
The toes are still looking horrendous. But, if a certain camera-toting, mac-and-cheese-loving, IL-living someone pays me a visit sometime soon, I think this might just be in the cards.

Thing # 8: Dream about the Girls Vaca. DONE!
I've accomplished this.

Thing # 9: Screen my phone calls.
I haven't been home enough to necessitate this.

Thing # 10: Time with friends. IN PROGRESS!
Spent Wednesday with the fantastic Miss Angela. Am headed to the mall to shop and lunch with Nicky and Natie in just a bit. Already mentioned tomorrow's scrap date with Stephanie. I think I'm doing well with this item.

There have been a few other things accomplished that were not on my list.

Unlisted Thing # 1: Clean
I seriously think I might actually be able to serve a meal from my kitchen floor. The house is very clean and organized (bonus). I filled the entire back of the Escape with goodies for Goodwill yesterday. One last little tax deduction for 07.

Unlisted Thing # 2: Develop an addiction
Chocolate-banana-peanut butter. Bananas. Nutella. Honey. Wheat bread. Panini-ed.

Unlisted Thing # 3: Online shopping
What was already a bad habit has developed into a serious addiction. Plates and alphabet stamps and camera case and scrapping supplies. It is getting to be a problem. I think I might have to start disposing of the boxes at work to keep my little addiction a secret from Brad.

What's keeping you busy these days?

To all. . .

Merry Christmas to all and to all. . .

a holiday filled with simple beauty.
(Antique spools of thread saved by my grandmother. Photo inspired by Em.)



time to relax and reflect.
(a Christmas gift from a dear friend.)


a bit of indulging.
(A very-proud Natalie brought me with a Christmas gift from her and Katelyn.)


gifts abounding.
(We went a little over-board with the wrapping.)


laughter.
(We heard our jumping abilities made a few family members giggle.)


treasured time with friends and family.
(The oldest and the youngest granddaughters with their dear grandfather.)


NOTE:
There are several Christmas things that just did not quite get finished. So, if your card or gift or holiday greeting is still on my to-do list, have no fear. I will come through for you.

Merry Christmas, my dear friends.

Things to Do

I have two more days of work before I have eleven days off work. Tonight I present you with a list of things I will do during my vacation.

1. Scrapbook.
To prove that I will scrap, I share a few goodies I've made but never shared. Sorry for the horrible pictures of them.
2. Bake cupcakes.
How can you not bake cupcakes when someone sends you this?

3. Sleep late.
I'm secretly hoping to get some new pajamas specifically because I want to be able to sleep late in comfort and style.

4. Watch movies.
I'm thinking about:
P.S. I Love You
Kiterunner
Juno
Any other ideas?

5. Read books that are not about being a teacher.

6. Stay up late to buy this.

7. Get a pedicure.
It's been awhile since my toes have looked pretty.

8. Dream about the Girls Vaca.
It's only a month away!

9. Screen my phone calls.

10. Time with friends.

I will be a new woman Friday at 3:05.

Sunday Funday

What a day!

The B.'s came for breakfast.


Brad and I bought Natalie these completely adorable pink furry boots (with a matching outfit). I, of course, could not wait to give them to her, so she ripped into them this morning.


We Christmas shopped. In fact, we are done Christmas shopping! And, of course, we had to buy a few things for ourselves along the way including an ice shack which Brad just spent several hours assembling in our living room.


And, last but certainly not least, I leave you with a few shots of my Christmas journal. I am only done with six days (I should be done with 16), but I am plugging away. . .

It Takes a Village

Turns out it takes a village to be ready for Christmas.
Team work was totally the name of my pre-Christmas game today.

Stephanie and I teamed up for Bake-a-palooza 2007.

(Before Bake-a-palooza even started today, there was plenty of team work. Josie and A.Amy both suggested some killer recipes for our treat-filled menu.)

What I'm hoping is the first annual baking extravaganza involved more than seven hours of intense measuring, scooping, recipe-reading, cookie pressing, and baking.

We made:
Bourbon Pecan Balls
Chocolate-y Frito Goodness
Pretzel Candies
Peanutbutter Kiss Cookies
Glazed Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Spritz Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Andes Candies Brownies
Chocolate Cheesecake Streusal Bars

We were going to make peppermint shortbread cookies until we realized that neither one of us actually purchased the ingredients we needed to make them. There's always next year.

Of all those recipes, only one--the Spritz cookies--did not turn out. They refused to be pressed in the cookie press, got burned, and just, overall, did not taste particularly fantastic.


And would you believe that the Spritz cookies are the only cookie-pictures that are actually on my camera (there are other shots on Steph and Karl's camera). Quite frankly, we were too busy baking to take a whole ton of pictures.

That is not where the Christmas-cooperation ended, though.

The Christmas Tree Picture
For this, I thank Em and Brad.

Based on this website, I got the brilliant idea that tonight was the best possible time to learn to use the manual settings on my overly-fancy camera to catch the perfect shot of our tree.

Lots of consulting with the manual and a phone conversation with Em later, Brad and I managed to figure out f-stops and shutter speeds and ISOs and a few other things to get a few cool shots (touched up with Photoshop).




Thanks to Stephanie for the baking.
Thanks to Emily for the photo tips.
Thanks to Brad for his expert tripod work.
Without your expertise and patience and kindness, I would not be on my way to a happy holiday.

My new friend

We (correction. . . I) have a new friend.

She's living in my house,
and she goes with me whenever I go out.
(It is entirely possible that she even travels with me from room to room in my house just because I'm not quite ready to ever let her leave my side.)

She's beautiful and slightly festive.
She's appears elegant, but when it comes right down to it--she's really fun.
She's giant (I wouldn't want an exceptionally small and thin friend. It would make me jealous.).
She loves all the same things as me and, in fact, offers to carry around all my stuff for me.
Brad really does not understand the importance of our friendship.

Meet my fabulous new bag. I named her Phoebe.

Okay. I absolutely must go.
It is time to get ready to take Phoebe to bake cookies with Stephanie.

Hey, Good-looking!

Whatcha got cookin?

We made a great dinner tonight. Thought I'd share. . .

Sesame Chicken
(from December 2007 Everyday Food)

• 3/4 C brown rice
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove, chopped or pressed
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 C cornstarch
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks
• coarse salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced

1. Steam broccoli. Prepare rice according to package directions
2. Make sauce. Combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic. Set aside.
3. Whisk egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium high heat. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally until golden and opaque throughout, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and chicken.
5. Return all chicken to the skillet; add reserved sauce and scallions and toss to coat.
6. Add broccoli to chicken. Serve over rice.

It was totally light and yummy tasting. The only change?
I might double the sauce recipe; it was just a little dry.

As if that was not enough cooking goodness. . . emails are flying like mad between Stephanie and I. The menu for the Christmas baking extravaganza is almost complete. I believe we still need something minty-tasting.

11 Lessons on the 11th

It's been a strange day, a very strange day. It seems like it's time for a list.

11 Lessons on the 11th

1. Brad must really love me. Otherwise, I'm not quite sure why he'd let me--even encourage me to--take crazy pictures like this (BTW, happy birthday, Brad!):
2. ALWAYS check the "To" before you send a snarky email. I was the victim of some major email bullying today when someone tried to send a mean email about me to everyone but me and accidentally just sent it to me. Make sense? No worries, though. I sent a brilliant response and have been having evil laughs about it all day. Bwahahhahaahaah.
   
3. The drive to work is much better when you're not all alone. (Not to mention the whole saving the Earth element of carpooling. It makes Al Gore smile.)
4. Don't sweat the small stuff and appreciate gifts you're given (that is a story I won't go into detail about).
5. Memphis rocks. Even though he does rude things sometimes (rarely) and is not appreciated by everyone--Memphis rocks.
6. I won't die if I get a B (or an A/B). But, it sure did feel good to know that I secured the A.
   
7. It's hard to be at work when you know your friends are not (Em and Brad!).
   
8. If you don't put licorice in a ziploc bag it gets crunchy (I discovered today that my emergency work stash of licorice was crunchy beyond edible).
9. The world does not revolve around me. Repeat that with me. It's something I really need to work on.
   
10. I have the best friends. Angie's emails and funny anecdotes have totally gotten me through yesterday and today. Did you know that she and I are recruiting Giada to be our new best friend?
11. A fantastic new haircut and a little color makes everything better.

One more thing. . . It's my Tuesday for Tips and Techniques at Scrap-tastic. Check out the cool sneak peak of a sheer mini I made for January.

Now, I leave you with a question. . . I'm having a cookie making extravaganza with Stephanie on Saturday. What do you suggest we make?

I've Been Nice!

Okay. So, I'm not quite sure how entirely true that is.
I do always try hard to be nice (most of the time, anyway), but I'm not always successful.

Anyway. . . Lately, some things have happened that make me think I must be much more nice than naughty.

Today the mailman left me an absolutely amazing package from the fantastic Greta. She is my swap partner at Studio Calico and is definitely in the running for the coolest girl of 2007 competition.

I could not possibly capture all the fabulousness in photos, but that did not stop me from trying.

As if the package from Greta were not enough. . . yesterday the UPS man left me a totally fun box of goodies from the ever-amazing, Christmas-loving Josie.

Do you see the cupcake spatula? And the lipgloss? And the fantastic red ornament? THANK YOU, Josie!

And, if that wasn't enough to really get you in the holiday spirit, I am proud to present to you (drumroll, please). . . the beginning of my Christmas Journal.


We're leaving in just a little bit to pick up Miss Stephanie and her hubby for a dinner date with Angie and Mike followed by a ride on the Christmas Bus. It's a Christmas-light cruise on a double-decker bus featuring adult beverages. I've been calling it the Griswold Bus. More details about that tomorrow. . . I promise.

I leave you with one last gigantic thank you to Greta and to Josie. Thank you for knowing me well and taking the time to find the perfect goodies just for me. I am so very fortunate.

December Goodies

My DT work for Scrap-tastic for December.
All were created with the Fun and Festive kit.





I haven't scrapped in about two weeks. It's killing me. I need to find time to make something. ASAP. I have an increasingly bulging plastic crate of Christmas goodies just waiting to be made into my Christmas Journal. The pile includes these. I'm especially excited to use them. Must. Scrap. Soon.