Holiday Bucket List

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Holiday Bucket List

*1. Make a holiday craft with the kids
*2. Drink something festive
*3. Listen to Christmas music
*4. Buy wrapping paper
*5. Search for positivity
*6. Donate to a good cause
*7. Mail Christmas cheer
*8. Gather with friends
*9. Buy pine oil for the diffuser
*10. Go to a special service
*11. Give thanks
*12. Decorate
*13. Add a new Christmas CD
*14. Leave a message
*15. Buy new pjs
*16. Write thank-you notes for the team
*17. Bake for loved ones
*18. Go see A White Christmas on stage
*19. Listen to A Christmas Carol
*20. Watch "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" with the triplets and Mason
*21. Pick out Christmas cards
*22. Take a nap and stay up late wrapping presents
*23. Spent time with siblings who are home for the holidays
*24. Go see Christmas lights
*25. Read the Christmas story
*26. Take Abby on a lunch date
*27. Random act of kindness
*28. Clean and purge
*29. Stay up late
*30. Make a resolution

Celebrating The Fourth

I had an absolutely lovely holiday weekend celebrating the Fourth of July! :) Incidentally, it also crossed my mind several times how much I hated this holiday when I was in retail hell. Fourth of July meant mad rushes that cleaned out the shelves, angry customers, backed up lines, and - starting way earlier than it should - extremely drunk people. I didn't have to work on the fourth this year, but even if I had, it wouldn't have compared to that at all lol!

The fun started on Thursday with a "patriotic manicure" session for Abigail, Anna, and I.

Abigail looked through a lot of ideas on my phone and decided she wanted blue polka dots with an American flag on her ring finger and thumb.

 

It took me about half an hour and half a dozen toothpicks, but I made it! She loved it and was actually impressed (which I did not expect from my little perfectionist!).

Anna wanted a dark blue manicure with an American flag on her thumb, and a firework on her ring finger. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

After doing everyone else's nails, I was done (plus - I have such poor coordination that I can barely paint my own nails, nevermind doing designs on myself). I did a simple red, blue, and white-gold mani and had fun rocking it all weekend! (I got tons of compliments, too! Love it!)

 

I did have to work on Friday, but as soon as I got off I did a mad dash through Wal-Mart to buy drinks and supplies, and that evening Dad, Maggie, and I lugged a cooler of drinks and a huge tray of chocolate covered strawberries to the lawn of St. Mary's College to enjoy the River Concert. Over the day, more and more friends decided to join us, so by the end we were sharing our blanket with Linda, Sam, Ben, Cris, Anna, Mark, and Paulina. People came and went as their schedules allowed, and we had a great time relaxing, eating our strawberries (so. so good.) and enjoying some wonderful music.

 

 

One of my goals this weekend was a trip to the farmer's market to check out the prices and see if I could get better deals on produce (verdict: yes), so on Saturday morning I called Cris to see if she wanted to come along (she did!). We walked around and I snagged a head of romaine lettuce (so much fresher than the supermarket!), mixed red, green, yellow, and orange peppers (5 for $3!), tomatoes, heirloom carrots, and strawberries (not that great a price and nowhere near as good quality as supermarket). I also swung by the Amish stand and snagged a miniature shoefly pie (which was no good - I ate half and ended up giving the rest to dad. I need to make one myself!) and gingerbread (which was amazing!). We also tried the homemade lemonade (which was okay, but not incredible), patted the puppies, and generally enjoyed our little excursion.

 

 

Sunday was a quiet, low-key, much needed day of rest. Breakfast was this omelette, STUFFED with chopped peppers from the market and a sprinkle of extra-sharp cheddar (so, so good!). I worked on cleaning the house with frequent breaks, and got everything pretty squared away by the end of the day.  That evening Maggie and I ordered pizza and watched The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. (Which we loved after the first two minutes. It's just a beautifully shot film.)

Happy New Year!

Several weeks ago, Allen came home from work with the news that "his" restaurant was throwing a huge Chinese New Year's bash. Lots of special food. A big to-do. Reservations definitely required, and the chef/owner had told him to let his family know in case we wanted some, because he expected to fill up quickly.

 

Since it was the same night as our church's big event for hunters (um... yeah), none of my family was able to make it, but I texted Crisy to see if she wanted to join me - and she did!

 

I originally had 5 o'clock reservations, til I remembered I had to teach, so we switched to the 8 o'clock slot. This ended up being a good thing, since I locked my keys in the car at swim and had to get my mom to drive all the way down to let me back in. :( And then the other teacher for my preschool class was gone, so I had to teach five small kids by myself, and I was a little frazzled, so an extra-long hot shower was obviously required. ;) But by the time we arrived at Sakura, got a table, and settled in, I was looking forward to enjoying new food, the pleasure of Cris' company, and a generally relaxing night.

 

Our first course arrived - isn't it pretty?

 

 

And we were all set to try all the different foods, until the owner came running out and explained that we could not eat it until we had thrown all the different components up in the air and shouted "Yusheng!"  which apparently would ensure us good fortune and prosperity in the coming year. :)

 

Most of the other people in the restaurant went at this with solemn good will, but we were seated next to a table of... how shall I put this?... *cough*rednecks*cough* and pretty soon Crisy and I were laughing as we frantically threw food in the air with our chopsticks (the owner was quite insistent). And Cris lost a chopstick. But no matter.

 

After we'd munched on the Yusheng for a bit, we were brought a platter of "treasures" - dumplings, balls, etc, filled with various fillings both sweet and savory. This course symbolized all the riches that we will get in the coming year!

 

Then we were brought rice wine soup, symbolizing long life.

 

Almost immediately after, we were brought a plate of filling and another plate of rice wraps, and instructed to make our own wraps. I managed to make mine unassisted, as our host was at the other end of the room, but by the time Crisy started making hers, he had returned, and clearly disagreed with her technique. So she got a wrap-making lesson. ;)

 

Our host and Crisy, wrap-making

We were brought a coconut, gingery beef with rice (this was, hands-down, my favorite course!), and then a lovely sweet-potato-and-sweet-filling rice cake, and we figured we were done.

 

But nope - there was more!

 

Next we were brought a mango-leaf rice, mushroom, beef, and bean dumpling. And Allen ducked out to say hi. :)

 

Isn't he a good-looking chef? :)

Then the meal ended with a bowl of cold lychee soup, which was really lovely!

 

After dinner we each received cards with information about the animal of the year we were born in, and wrote wishes on red envelopes to hang on the branches of the decorated tree.

 

Us!

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and hope to do it again next year, hopefully with more people at our table!

Valentine's Day Ideas

I really love Valentine's Day (it's only two weeks away!!!), which some consider odd since I'm single. :) I don't care, I love celebrating with my other single girlfriends, hanging out with my family, and spreading some love around!

One of my favorite parts of this holiday is making Valentines with Abby for her classroom party. We started this tradition when she was in preschool, and I hope we carry it on for many years to come!

Here are some of my favorite valentine ideas for kids:

Butterfly valentines
(Abby and I made these for her class party last year. So adorbs!)



I'm so glad we're in the same school!

You make my heart glow!

Valentine Flowers!

Love bugs

Lollipop as balloon

Valentine "crackers"

I wish I could show you my absolute favorite-est valentine idea, but I can't, because I'm going to be giving them to my loved ones and I don't want to spoil the surprise! :)

Our "dinner and games night" club has already decided that our meeting in February is going to be Valentine-themed; in lieu of our usual dinner, we're going to just do desserts and finger-foods (mm!), play Valentine-themed party games, and do a Valentine exchange. Since I'm hosting, I can't wait to deck out the trailer in tons of pink, white, and sparkles! :)

I'm collecting games for us to play, such as a "Matchmaker" game, a candy-hearts Connect Four, and this one -

Stacking Heart Challenge: Making a tower of hearts isn't as easy as you think. This racing game creates shouts, cheers and laughter. You'll need to buy plenty of small conversation hearts, I recommend a few bags. The object of the game is to build the tallest tower in the allotted amount of time (30 seconds should do). When the time is up, the kids count the hearts to see who is the winner. Then the next to players have turn. This game is usually a big enough hit for each player to request another turn. (From Spoonful.com)

Single ladies, I'd love to hear from you about how you celebrate Valentine's Day! Do you hang with your family?  Do something special with your girlfriends? Good ideas are ALWAYS welcome! :)

Pinned: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming up and I can't. wait. It's prolly gonna be one of the last holidays I get to spend at home with my sibs, and since we made such a big deal of it last year, I'm so looking forward to it this year.

 

So naturally, I've been scouring Pinterest for some good ideas... lol!

 

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Abby and I made these adorable butterfly valentines for her class party next week. Cept we added gold pipe-cleaner "antenna" which I think are just too cute! :)

 



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What a cute little Valentine's Day gift! I can think of quite a few tea-loving friends I have who would love a custom tea bag with a little "love note"! :)

 



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If I hadn't JUST decorated my door for Valentine's Day yesterday, I would totally be making one of these!

 

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I made these cute little candy machines for Christmas, but they'd be equally cute as V-Day gifts!

 

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I. LOVE. THESE. Especially for my lil people. :)

 

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I'm thinking this would be a great way to surprise whoever I draw for V-Day - do this to their door with a "what I love about you" note on each heart :)

 

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Ach! So cute!

 

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Again, I can think of a gazillion friends who would love one of these adorable bookmarks!

 

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If I were throwing a V-Day party this year, I would be making a million of these as decor!

 

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I can't help but think of my BFF, who LOVES books :)

 

 



2013 - A (Very Brief) Recap

2 - new things I tried this year:  growing my own (small) garden, and raising chickens
0 - traffic tickets or car accidents (yay!)
1 - new friend made this year (hey Joe)
3 - years that I've had my amazing job!!!   It gets better every day :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Just to clarify, I am part of that lovely demographic of single and as of yet unattached folks, but that doesn't hamper my celebration in the least. :) While I look forward to experiencing and celebrating romantic love in the future, in the present I have tons of loved ones to celebrate with!

For a single gal, I got lots of love today. The celebration started off at work, with the "love of my life," Abigail! Her 'rents got her a whole bag full of V-Day goodies - princess stickers, DVD's, books! We immediately got started watching Cars, but I can't wait to watch Ratatouille with her!


I brought her a gift I've been working on in the evenings lately. It still wasn't quite finished yet today - I have a few stitches left to put in it! - but I brought it so she could wear it to her V-Day playdate with cousin Lily today.

Let me just say - this was so much harder to make than it looked. In the end it turned out quite a bit misshapen, but of course the Abster made it look adorable. She loved the "flower heart" :).
Her mommy brought me home a dozen roses! I feel so absolutely blessed to be in the position I'm in - it's not every day that you get to work for honestly amazingly, caring, thoughtful folks. I had fun arranging these roses to go on my bedside table. Don't you love the luxury of a dozen roses?

I also have these three beautiful lavender roses that my friend's fiancee sent home with us after her bridal shower. So pretty!


My Dad stayed up late last night designing these homemade valentines. :) Each of his children got one, with a special note inside listing some of the character qualities he most appreciates in our lives. :) This is one "love note" that's definitely going into my keepsake box!

This is the last of my Valentine's Day projects... didn't they turn out nicely? They're super simple and make perfect coasters.

Tonight's yoga class was sooo much fun... I know, I know I say that every time, but today may have taken the fun factor off the charts! I was dreading going, since I'm still not 100% feeling great, and my energy is very low, but once we started I was able to everything and it felt terrific. No coughing up a lung, either! Also - I randomly decided to attempt Chaturanga and I did it! I couldn't do it again, but I was super psyched that I was able to do one all by myself!

We started class off with a session of food meditation - this is sooo useful for me, to really practice thinking about what I put into my mouth in a thoughtful way. Then we warmed up and spent the rest of the class doing partner poses. So. Much. Fun. :)

Finally, we ended class by getting a massage. :) Class ran really late, so I skipped out on the last meditation to go home for a fancy dinner with the family - crystal, candles, and a yummy meal of salmon and rice pilaf.

I've been noticing a little more single angst in the world this Valentine's Day than I normally do. While, as I said, I look forward to someday being in love and married, it seems sad to me to spend the day focusing on what you don't have instead of what you do. If you are married (or, as some of my friend, preparing for "imminent marriage", lol) remember that after God, your marriage is your most important relationship. Set a good example for those of us who hope one day to be in your shoes!

For we single folks, I've been telling myself constantly lately that every day is an opportunity to prepare for my future, be it as a married woman or not. I want to get as many character flaws worked out as possible BEFORE going into marriage, and I want to develop as many positive traits and habits as I can.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"And by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one for another!" - John 13:35

Christmas Recap

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas, because I sure did! It was a very non-stressful, relaxing time of fun with family.

I had so much fun this year watching the kids open their gifts - I've officially grown up now, I guess. :) I did get some pretty amazing gifts, though - season 2 of Sanctuary, a gorgeous star necklace (love my star jewelery!), a stack of crochet magazines, and this very special gift from my sister, Elizabeth.

Any guesses? My grandmother saw it wrapped up and guessed toiletry case, but it's even more special that that!

It's a crochet hook case! I've been needing one sooo badly... I had a little plastic one that I've outgrown with my many hooks, and I was actually looking for one on Etsy last week, but couldn't find one in a style or print I liked. I love this one!

Now on to the gifts I GAVE! I've wanted to blog about these for a long time but couldn't!

I found some African Red Rooibus tea - Anna feels called to the mission field in Tanzania and loves all things African. After the chaos of gift-giving had died down somewhat, we brewed a big pot to try. The verdict is that this tea is not for everyone - it has an earthy, slightly astringenty taste to it with a lot of different flavor notes. I personally love it (and luckily so does Anna!). I'll probably run to the store to pick myself up a box this week.

I also got her a "scenes from Africa" calendar and a charm bracelet with African charms (lions, giraffes, hippoes, etc), and something for her treehouse -

A fan and a light! It was pretty hot out in the woods this year, even for Anna. :) This fan runs on two AA batteries and attaches via carabiner OR magnetic plate. I'm looking forward to seeing her use it!

I spend almost as much time picking our Christmas cards for everybody as I do gifts. I love finding everybody the perfect card that expresses just what I want to say!

So when I found this card for Anna, I knew it had to come home with me. :)

I knew I wanted to get Mom a firepit this year, but after doing some research, I declared it out of my price range. Lo and behold, on Black Friday they had this one on a terrific sale and I ended up paying a fraction of the original price.

Since Mom just got a gazebo this year, I'm pretty sure it's gonna get put to a lot of use! Right now it's holding a bunch of tealights in the living room. :)

My father is impossible to shop for. As a family, we got him a GPS this year, but I wanted something personal, too. We were standing outside last month at AnnMarie Gardens and I noticed that his hat had holes in it! He defended his fashion choice saying that it was the only thing that kept his ears warm. I bought some wool yarn and modified a pattern to make an extra-long cabled cap (so that he could fold more of it over around his ears). He put it on Christmas morning and immediately said, "OOH, this is WARM!" :) Anna promptly declared he couldn't wear it until he threw out the holey one. :)

I got Maggie several seasons of The Pretender, and the last season of Gilligan's Island, and this mug. :) She loves her bees! Last year we found her a bee pendant, and for her birthday last year I found her a bee wallet.

We have never been much of a gaming family - we had a family rule after getting our very first gaming platform, a Wii, that all games that came into the house had to be primary movement-based (i.e. no crashing on the couch with a controller). However, since Ruth's asthma has confined her to the house so much this last year, we decided to break the rule a bit and get her some games that she could enjoy when she couldn't be outdoors.

I have to say, it kills me a little to see everyone looking so "glazed" lol! Give me my Wii Fit anyday!

After spending a lovely time at home, we headed over to Chris's house for our celebration with my mom's family.

We have babies in the family this year! Little Kat enjoyed cuddling with Granddad! AND she arrived wearing the cap and bootie set I made her - made my day! Isn't she the cutest little Christmas elf here?

Abigail was far too busy playing with her Christmas presents to care that we were here much, lol. She got barbies for Christmas and spent lots of time dressing and undressing them, and playing with their hair. :)

Isn't she adorable?!?! :) Of course I may be a little biased.

Leslie, Kat's mommy, and Cecelia, grandma to little Zoe, got down on the floor so the two cousins could get to know one another better. :)

So cute!

Zoe seemed to like the cap and bootie set I made her for Christmas... Isn't she adorable?

We had a lovely Boxing Day today... The snow started yesterday afternoon and was still going strong this morning. I think we got about five inches, though the last time I went out was several hours before it stopped for good. No way were we going out in that! :) So I got my Christmas wish - a Boxing Day spent at home with the family. We had a totally great time playing together all day, in the snow, with new board/card games, watching television, and just hanging out. Anna got out her sewing implements and cut out a new quilt, and I pulled out a hook and some yarn and my new crochet mags. Very cozy. :)

It's back to work for me tomorrow - I'm glad! I missed my baby! :) And I know we'll have so much fun playing with all her new toys tomorrow. The only thing I'm a little stressed about it getting there in the snow. Two friends of mine have had accidents in the last few weeks, and my best friend was sharing with me today how they began to go to church only to turn around and go back home (they have snow, too!). Hopefully the roads will be pretty cleared and all will be well!