christmas cookie time

today, rachel invited me over for some baking. we made these chocolate cookies, covered them in white chocolate, then sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. i'm not sure what they're actually called, but think peppermint bark and thin mint hybrid. so good!

ornament exchange!

so here is my little pineapple ornament. many hours of hand sewing sequins, but it was fun to give it away. time to get started on next year's ornaments!

(please forgive my less than perfect photos. i was running on stress and having camera issues yesterday).

october came and went

i've been terrible about posting but it's hard to tell if anyone ever reads this.

october is my favorite month and i had a pretty relaxing one. had some visitors from the east, threw a party, and have been doing my best to be a runner again.

hoping to share art and crafts and recipes soon...

fall is in the air

i love martha! i found some beautiful pumpkin carvings on her website whilst browsing for holiday ideas. i am not sure if i have the patience to tackle these lace inspired designs, but i'll definitely make a trip to the pumpkin patch to look for green pumpkins.

the show

red, white, and blue

this morning we were treated to blueberry pancakes before heading to the traditional 4th of july parade in quissett. norah and cassie were classy band members (both on tambourine) while trevor, his grandmother, and i were onlookers.

after the parade, we joined the rest of trevor's family for a bbq with hot dogs, beans, potato salad, watermelon and pimm's cup. so good.

now i'm thinking of dozing off before round two.

rainy days and thursdays

goes to washington

memorial day weekend was really fantastic. we arrived at bwi ("beewee") at 8am last friday and spent the entire, and i mean entire, day seeing monuments and memorials and museums. sensory overload hit around 5 o'clock so we headed to virginia where we stayed at sam (deborah's cousin) and brenda's home for a few days.

the white house was of course beautiful, and was of course surrounded by protesters. i got a peek at mrs. obama's garden and the gardener but the grounds were otherwise still.

there were plenty of veterans out and about (especially vietnam vets on motorcycles) paying their respects, and i couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and sad while wandering from memorial to memorial. although i was up to my eyeballs in tourists and pouring sweat (and i'm from california?!) it was difficult not to be swept up by the power of each quote or scene.

we spent a fair amount of time at the national gallery of art, where we ran upstairs to see ginevra de' benci by leonardo da vinci. that excitement came and went as trevor and i found a comfy couch to hang out on, as 3:30am wake up calls are not usually our thing. i could have easily spent a few more days concentrating on museums and galleries alone-- luckily that trip is just a short plane ride away.

happy easter!

becca, trevor, and i spent some time dyeing eggs this morning. beforehand, the easter bunny brought my parents some gifts-- the wee succulents are for my mom's desk and my dad got a new cd to rock out to. we couldn't resist baking more cupcakes. this time we used neon food coloring for the bright frosting and "grandma" sprinkles to top them off.

there's nothing like staying in your pajamas, drinking mimosas, and eating chocolate all day.

easter basket cupcakes

becca and i had some fun baking today. these were a special treat for everyone in my mom's office.