Thanksgiving 2010

Theodore bleeds purple!!!! :)


The beautiful centerpiece!


The cheesecake!!!!!


The chocolate cake.

Feel free to read about the recipes HERE.

BIG photo :)

Erik helps dad hang their lovely new (LARGE) canvas in the living room! :)


Before/After.

A big wall calls for a big photo!

New couch :)

Out with the old:

And in with the new:

(Erik takes it for a test drive)

Long story short, we acquired a new couch for the basement. It's another sectional. More oversized than I'd get for upstairs ... but it's super-comfy and great for downstairs. :)


Esse, of course, takes it for a test drive, too.

This is a pretty amusing series of photos of Erik + Esse.

Halloween 2010

Went again to Highland Ave. for Halloween this year. Loving the powercat pumpkin. :)


Erik went as "super-annoying Chiefs Fan."

Jekyll/Hyde

I.Don't.Want.To.Know.


Theodore's come up a few times to visit us. Esse, of course, is sure to check out the situation.


This is all of the sniff of Theodore that she wanted.


Theodore keeps asking me to teach him how to play poker, but he settled on the colors/numbers of Uno.

We got a dog

Well, it's happened. Our cat has been unseated as the "only pet" ... she's not thrilled about it, but taking it better than I expected. She hasn't clawed our eyes out or attempted to slit our throats as we sleep. She even goes outside to run around and then willingly comes back into the house!


Meet Bailey. She's 13 months and FULL of energy.

We were fortunate enough to adopt her from friends in town who just didn't have time to take her on long walks and such.


For the longest time, I have resisted getting a dog. Erik grew up with dogs, but I don't have much (read: any) experience with dogs on a long-term basis. With the cat, she went into the litter box once and that was the beginning and end of training. It was SO easy. I wasn't sure I had the patience to do house training and puppy training.

We lucked out with Bailey, though. She came potty trained and with all of the basic commands.

This actually reminds me of the book "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" .... it's been called "the next great American novel" and I have to agree. It's fabulous. It's about a boy and his dogs ... well, I won't bore you. But the dogs are "Sawtelle dogs." They come fully trained. Seriously, I could go for that! Get the dog a little older, but they have already been well-trained. SIgn me up! Oh wait, we already have that! ;)

I have a little more time and have a LOT of catching up on blogging to do ... so stay tuned!

The secret to silky hummus

Last night I was in a dizzy tizzy, trying to not freak out too much. I REALLY wanted to get to bed early, but no such luck. One of the reasons was I was making hummus.

I don't want to brag, but I get a lot of compliments on my hummus. Which got me to thinking about it. What did people like so much about it? I think it's the texture. Which is interesting, because the last time I made hummus, I was in a bit of a hurry and wasn't completely satisfied with the results.

So here's my secret: I use the dry beans and of course soak over night. Then on the cooking ... the recipe says about 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's quite long enough. Last night, I cooked my chickpeas for a little over 3 hours. No joke! But the result was silky divinity! Of course, you have to keep adding water as it cooks. But the results were sensational!

Oh, and about yesterday's crazy list. I've decided since it's just a few days until Christmas and I haven't put out the Nativity set, it's just staying in the box this year. I am a lazy bones about putting them away, so the Advent wreath will have to do. Besides, we got a new painting of the holy family in the Nativity scene, so it's represented in some way.

Overwhelmed

I have not yet:

• purchased all of the gifts I intend to give for Christmas
• pulled any sort of list for the Christmas cards
• mailed said Christmas cards
• done my grocery shopping for Christmas Eve dinner
• mopped the kitchen floor (seriously, this needs to happen. It's wretched)
• put out the nativity scenes
• made the yogurt
• made hummus

I need a clone. And I don't have kids to contend with.

I'm trying not to spaz out. Really. We don't have 26 events to attend over the next 10 days. I am thankful for that. Somehow, this year things just crept up on me.

We've been reading Advent reflections, and I'm really trying to let the message and purpose of this be my focus .... well, hoping anyway!

What I really want to do tonight is lie on the couch and be a vegetable. But there are chickpeas on the stove and there's yogurt to make. AND floors to mop. I'm just hoping I can accomplish all of this rather quickly so I can take a little chill time.

3.5 years

It was the 3.5 year trifecta. Well, not exactly a "trifecta" by the dictionary definition. But by my own.

What the heck am I talking about?

On Saturday, my youngest brother graduated from college. Three of us kids have graduated, each taking 3.5 calendar years (more about the "calendar year" distinction later).

The bulk of the fam schlopped up to Illinois to watch "Baby Paul" graduate from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. The weather was cold, there were snow piles on the ground and girls were walking around in moccasins with no socks. Yes, winter in Illinois. ;)

I got to thinking about this whole 3.5 years. I pounded through college in that amount of time. So did Robin. And also Paul.

Why the heck would we do such a thing? Well, for me it was because I was so over school by about the 7th grade, I couldn't wait to be done. I was ready to hit the ground running and start living life. Robin? Well, I asked her over the weekend. Her response was along the lines of "it was fairly easy to take the summer classes and so I decided to do it that way." Paul? He was in the same boat as me. Maybe not sick of school since the 7th grade, but plain ready to be OUT of college/the papers/exams. But bring on all of the fun projects! ;)

Those of you who know us know we're a competitive bunch. I didn't actually *intend* to start a "graduate from college in 3.5 years" sort of thing, but it looks like it happened. I'm not sure if they felt they had to keep up?

Here's the competitive part of it: I did it in 3.5 calendar years, but in THREE academic years. Full of myself, right? I won't deny it. Paul tried to tell me he did the same .... because he spent a semester in Taiwan. I say NO DICE!!!!! Baby bro, you were taking academic classes and getting credit. I don't care if it was totally easy. I dropped out of college for a full semester and didn't get a lick of college credit for the semester-long internship I had. So there's our competitive edge.

I do have photos to share ... but haven't had time to download them quite yet. There's an especially cute one of Robin cheering with Baby Theodore. :)

An un-bucket list item

I never "formally" added this item to my "bucket list", but it's something I've wanted to do for quite some time. I've wanted to do something for clients for Christmas, but haven't really gotten it together ... until this year!

This year, I went to Crate & Barrel and ordered almost 3 dozen ornaments .... for the clients we photographed this year!


There were A LOT of them!


The allure of the C&B ornaments is that they have the current year on them. So if this was the year you got married or engaged, you'd have an ornament with your photo and the year.


Let's just say I was "THAT PERSON" in line at the post office. The person you didn't want to be behind!!!!! ;)

The response has been sensational! It's upping our customer-service game and letting people know we're thinking of them. It also helps with word-of-mouth advertising/promo, too. :)

Another thing I'd love to do for wedding clients is give them some sort of gift or "thank you" for booking with us ... and it'd be easy to do chocolates or candy or something like that. BUT here's the reason I keep holding off: it seems once girls get a ring, they go in search of the dress, and consequently start obsessing about "fitting into the dress" ... so giving sweets doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm certainly taking suggestions for this one!

GET OUTTA THE WAY!!!!

Editing through wedding pix/combining images Mike and I took ... and there I am (far right, clipboard under my arm), flat in the way.

Advent

Some of my blog-friends are really getting into the spirit of Advent, and I have to admit, it makes me want to, too!

In years past, the advent wreath has come out, but that's about it. But this year, I wanted to do more. So I picked up the little blue prayer/reflection book our parish has and we've done pretty good about lighting the wreath and reading the reflection. It doesn't get any fancier, I'm afraid, but even though it's a small start, I'll take a start!


Monica rocks the socks off of creativity/planning for Advent.

My friend, Mary, also has been doing some great Advent-related events with her kiddos.

One last Advent tidbit.

I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday and was passing the candle section. A woman had a few purple candles in her hand, and I quipped "replenishing the Advent wreath?" She looked up and smiled. "Yes," she said. "I've been to Target and all over the mall, but nobody has advent wreath candles." She was able to find them at Hobby Lobby, though. For any of you looking to re-stock for the trusty Advent wreath, there you have it (our Hobby Lobby is open far more than our local Catholic bookstore).