Christmas Meme

I aboslutely love the holidays and this year we have all of our Christmas shopping done already so we can sit back and enjoy the holiday season!  I saw this Christmas meme on my SIL's blog and in the spirit of the season I wanted to play along too.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Usually hot chocolate but every now and again I get a craving for egg nog.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
They are wrapped and don't usually come out until Christmas morning. 

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White lights on the tree.  I've never had lights outside, growing up or even now that we have our own house. I would absolutely LOVE to have them on the outside of the house one year. Slowly working on convinving my hubby to put some up someday.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? 

No I don't. I don't even know where I'd buy one to hang!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Unless we are out of town, we put them up the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
So many but I would say posole or tamales from either one of my grandmas.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? 

Helping put decorations up, particularly my mom's nativity set.  She bought me my very own for my birthday this year!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember, must've been around 1st or 2nd grade.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Definitely! If we are going to stay over at my parents we usually open up all our presents on Christmas Eve so we don't have to pack them also. This year, he combined my birthday and Christmas gift which I was totally peer-pressured into opening on my birthday! I can't complain, I love wearing my new pretty-shiny earrings!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

This year we cut our own tree down at a local farm and while they shaked, baled and loaded it for us we went in their cabin and warmed up with cider and cocoa. So much fun and definitely a tradition we will be doing in the years to come! As far as decorating, we have 2 sets of decorations we switch year to year. One is blue, silver, and white; the other is red, brown, and bronze.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? 

It looks pretty but I sure don't like driving or walking in it.

12. Can you ice skate?

That would be a negative.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

It was a scooby doo watch my parents got me when I was probably 4 or 5.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

Remembering in the midst of the holiday crazy what Christmas means to me.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Peppermint bark. LOVE.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Putting up Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music.

17. What tops your tree?
Depending on which ornaments we put up, but we have 2 stars, one is glittery silver the other is a bronze metal trim with a pearly surface and has lights inside.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Absolutely hands down love giving.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? 
I like candy canes... broken up and made into peppermint bark!

20. Favorite Christmas show?
I don't really have one I'm more of a Christmas movie lover.

21. Saddest Christmas Song?
The Christmas Shoe song, usually makes me cry. 

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Way too many to list but I'd say O Holy Night.

SIL liked the idea of this meme having 25 questions, since Christmas is on the 25th, so she added three more questions:

23. Favorite Christmas movie?

Elf. "Why are you smiling like that?" "I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite."

24. Do you cook Christmas dinner or do you go to visit family/friends?

We usually go visit my parents on Christmas so I help my mom cook. We are hoping to save up to fly back east to spend Christmas with my in-laws next year. It's been too long!

25. Favorite holiday picture book?

It's all Christmas movies for me!

How to Knit Video

I'd been working on a project while visiting my auntie and her mother-in-law, but never learned to cast off before we had to head back home.  So after a little bit of searching, I found this super cute knitting tutorial on pinterest recently.

After watching it a few times, I was finally able to finish my scarf and made some matching fingerless cuffs!

To make the cuffs (the lion brand free pattern):

CUFF (make 2)
Cast on 15 stitches.
Work in Garter stitch (knit every stitch on every row) until piece measures about 8 1/2 in. (22 cm) from beginning.
Bind off, leaving a long yarn tail.

FINISHING
Fold knit piece in half. Thread yarn tail into blunt needle. Sew sides of Cuff together for about 2 in. (5 cm). Leave next 1 in. (2.5 cm) unsewn for thumb opening, then seam remainder of sides.
Weave yarn ends into inside (wrong side) of Cuff.

tea and scones just around the corner!

This past weekend was spent running lots of errands and working on to-do lists. I even started another sewing project, but more on that later. I was able to convince my husband I really do need my china out of storage and in our kitchen.  He wanted to wait until we had a hutch but I say they shouldn't sit in a box and collect dust.  So yesterday, we took them out of its careful packaging and cleaned them up.  I can't wait to be able to use them now (on special occasions!).  And maybe even cross off #28 from my list :)

strawberry cake

A while back, my hubby and I went to the local u-pick farm and picked 2 flats of strawberries! Lots of jam was made and this cake too with the leftover berries! So good, I couldn't help but go back to it for seconds :)

Strawberry Cake
from Martha Stewart

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
3. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

grilled shrimp tacos

Now that summer is finally here, we try to avoid turning the AC on in order to avoid high energy bills. Which means grilling is in full force.  This was a recent meal we made on a lazy Saturday which came together really quickly. The crunch of the tacos and shrimp, combined with the coolness of the "crema" and heat from the tomatillo salsa make this one of my newest summer favorites.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos
from Real Simple, serves 4

1/2 c sour cream
3 tbs mayo
3 tbs milk
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1.5 lbs shrimp, peeled
3 tbs butter, melted
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 limes, quartered
kosher salt
8 6-inch corn tortillas
2-3 c finely shredded green cabbage
bottled green tomatillo salsa

Directions
Heat grill to med-high.  In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayo, milk and cumin. Set aside.

Skewer the shrimp. In a small bowl, combine the butter and garlic.  Brush the shrimp with the garlic butter.

Place shrimp on grill with the limes.  Cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until the shrimp are opaque and limes are browned.

Remove from grill. Lightly salt shrimp.

Grill tortillas for 30 seconds on each side, then place inside a paper bag to keep warm.

Pull the shrimp off skewers; divide evenly among tortillas.  Top with cabbage, sour cream sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a squeeze of lime.

4th of july weekend madness

This 4th of July was so much fun! My childhood friend, who I call "Beebs" flew in for almost a week of girl time.

We started off with a night at Mark Broussard and met up with the newlyweds. I was quite bummed Mr. Broussard didn't sell hardly any tickets. Emily (who I call "Baybee"), her husband Pat scored us some awesome seats in the VIP area.

We spent several hours shopping, which I haven't done in a LONG time and ate some delicious Indian food.

We took lots of naps and spent some time out on the lake fishing. Well, hubby was fishing....

 Beebs and I were relaxing!!

We watched a lot of terrible reality tv and pampered ourselves with pedicures.

 

We got frozen yogurt (possibly more than once) and hit up the driving range.

We got dolled up and spent a night out on the town.

We walked around a beautiful local park.

And finished off the weekend with a bang (literally!) and watched a very fantastic firework show!

Such a great and memorable week I had with my Beebs and Baybee!!

Oops I did it again

Over 4th of July weekend (recap coming soon, hey better late than never!), I cut all my hair off again. I was starting to get headaches from the weight of it and was going through hair products like crazy so I decided I wasn't going to go through the entire summer being miserable. Besides, my husband likes short and sassy anyway!

Before....

After!!

June 20th, 2009

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13:4-8a, 13

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Happy Monday! I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! It finally stopped raining and we had some beautiful sunshine.  Saturday morning, I went with a couple girlfriends to the farmer's market and picked up a few bundles of rhubarb. I'd been eyeing a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe in the Farm Chicks book for a while. And coincidently, The Farm Chicks Antique show was this weekend. There were so many adorable things to look it, it was quite overwhelming. My favorite vendor was Spool No. 72. They had the cutest dresses! I can't wait for next year's show! I might try going Sunday when it's less crowded though. 

As for the pie, it was delicious. The perfect balance of sweet and tart.  And I get to knock another thing off my 30 before 30 list :)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

from The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen

2 disks Grandma's Pie Dough

1 1/3 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 1/2 cups)

1/3 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (about 1 cup)

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Heat the oven to 375°F. Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside in the refrigerator.  Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness and use a miniature star cutter to pierce it, or a sharp knife to cut slits in it. 

Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and flour in a large bowl, and transfer to the prepared pie pan; drape the pierced rolled-out dough over the pie.  Trim the edges of both crusts, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang.  Fold the dough under, lighting pinching to seal.  Crimp around the rim and refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Bake on the center shelf of the oven until the crust is golden brown - 45 to 55 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Nutrition per serving - Protein: 5.2 G; Fat: 21G; Carbohydrate: 52.6 G; Fiber: 2.6 G; Sodium: 121 MG; Cholesterol: 68 MG; Calories: 412.

WILW 6.1.11

A few things I'm loving this week!

I'm loving Marilyn Monroe.  In honor of her 85th birthday today, I've been catching up on some of her movies. I watched Niagra with my auntie this past weekend and thought it was wonderful.


http://www.imdb.com/

I'm loving frozen yogurt! I think I had it 4 times this past weekend...yum!


http://www.weheartit.com/


I'm loving the farmer's market! I can't wait to start canning jams and salsa again :)

http://www.weheartit.com/

I'm loving that my peony buds are so huge and nearly close to blooming. Peonies are very dear to my heart.


http://www.weheartit.com/

 What are you loving this Wednesday? Be sure to link up!

thoughtless thursday 5-26-11

I love going to watch my husband play on our church's men's softball team. He gets so into the game; he's sad their season is quickly coming to an end. And so am I, I like to sit amongst the other proud wives cheering on our men!

I saw Wicked recently and it was pure AWESOMENESS! Sure it was a little distracting when an older gentlemen sitting nearby kept tooting but it was still a wonderful show.

Aloha!

We're back from a lovely weeklong stay in Maui for our very delayed honeymoon! It took us nearly two years to get there but it was well worth the wait. I couldn't have dreamt how perfect this trip would be, but we seriously had the best time!  We spent our days lounging on the beach and doing tourist-y things like visiting the aquarium, attending a luau, and probably my favorite was a sunset dinner sail cruise.  A few photos from our stay...

Lounging on the beach at our condo



Reading a book while soaking up some sun

 

Our stop at Kihei Beach

 

Makena Beach

 

Fresh coconut from a local



Sunset sailing dinner cruise

Stealing a kiss during our cruise



A beautiful Maui sunset

 

Bird Aviary at Kula Botanical Gardens



Kula Botanical Gardens



Walking around the gardens



Watching our last sunset

As they would say on the islands, Mahalo!

Happy List 5-2-11

My happy list this week is all about BLOOMSDAY! This year we were expecting sunshine and warm weather, and yesterday did not disappoint. What a great blessing after having bizarre weather leading up to the event.  I was nervous all weekend with my "what-ifs" worrying about my injury but my husband did a great job smoothing over my fears. My childhood friend, Sarah, came from out of town and joined in on the fun.

 There were SO many people!

I didn't get as many pictures this year because I was so focused on trying to finish the race and not giving up to walking the entire route. I didn't do much training for the race, hoping I could minimize any inflammation in my post tib tendon. And I definitely felt the lack of training as it was so hard to keep a jogging pace.  But I definitely pushed myself like I've never pushed my body before and although I didn't do as great in my time as last year, it was so rewarding seeing that finish line and knowing I didn't give up! And Hallelujah - no falls this year!!

370 days until Bloomsday 2012!

What's on your happy list this week? Be sure to link up.