In need of some soul pancakes...

Just happened upon this find...


...the bookstore is calling my name!!

Does your cat Patty-Cake?

Genius. And hilarious.

The turning point...

Well my [impromptu] 5 day vacation is coming to a close (unless snow magically appears overnight and Seattle is thrust into another bout of chaos and closure...but not likely).

It was quite amazing to be snowed in and I feel that I accomplished quite a bit, rested a whole lot, and think I'm ready for routine again...

A bit of justification for staying in and relaxing:

1. Finished two crocheting and knitting projects
2. Caught up to Oct (after starting in May) on my magazines
3. Listened to more of The Memory Keeper's Daughter
4. Learned to play Poker (and lost all my sweet tarts...sigh)
5. Got a big head-start on Christmas presents (and didn't even leave the house on Black Friday)
6. Ordered pictures for scrapbooking
7. Began to catch up on scrapbooking
8. Cooked a whole turkey by myself (and no one got food poisoning!)

I'll miss you snow days!

The Makings of a Feast!

This Thanksgiving Nick and I to tackle a Thanksgiving meal (even though it would be just us). That and I was determined to face my fear of not being able to cook a turkey... and of course, I had to document this!

Everything all set and ready to go...

Our 17lb turkey all rubbed and slathered in this recipe found on AllRecipes.com

Nick and I checking the temp of the turkey...185 whoo hoo!

The finished product...yum! Nick carving our purty bird!

Table set. Our feast included stuffing, green bean casserole, turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce topped off with sauvignon blanc

What would Thanksgiving be without [my favorite] Pumpkin Pie!! (And homemade whip cream!)

My blessings are overflowing - I'm so thankful for the adventures of this year, my dear family and soon-to-be family, friends that stand through thick and thin and a fiance whose patience and love are such gifts.

Thanks be to God!

Wednesday Wishes...

Currently on my wish-list:

Moroccan Oil... i love the smell, shine and softness it gives my hair

A cozy case for my external hard drive...
This fantastic print cover for my iTouch...
AND for the ice to melt so Nick could get over to the west side!

A Snowy Mess...

Well - Seattle dipped into the 20's and tiny little snowflakes began to fall Sunday and then Seattle decided to get serious about this and really started to snow all of Monday leaving a wake of chaos and to my utter delight 3 snow days into the Thanksgiving Holiday!! Glorious! (our joy can be seen above due to closing at noon on Monday by Sarah P. and Sarah C. frolicking in the snowy wonderland)

However, wonderland soon turned into nightmare and Seattle-ites tried to venture home as seen by this video taken on Capitol Hill. Around minute 3:15 might be the reason that Brie got stranded downtown for nearly three hours with the rest of Seattle in gridlock...

I'm happy to stay indoors, sit by the fire and indulge in some much needed arts and crafts time.

Want to go to the circus?

Currently reading (well...listening - thanks Kelley!) to Water for Elephants.

Perhaps the reason I stayed up late last night and slept through my alarm this morning...

AND

just found out that they are making it into a movie coming out in April with such starts as Robert Patterson and Reese Witherspoon!

A maca-what?

Oh my goodness. I keep seeing Macaroons everywhere.

[On Gossip Girl...wedding blogs...in books]

It's a sign that I must try one of these things!

Does anyone know where I can find one of these tasty treats besides Paris?

Hope or Optimism?

A friend of mine, Anita, posted this on facebook and I found it intriguing:

"I think there is a big difference betwen HOPE and OPTIMISM. The two are like night and day. What I mean is this: Hope is what we have when we really believe life can be better. Optimism is what we think when we are afraid life is bad. Hope is true, Optimism is incantation."

It made me think about just what Hope and Optimism mean and how I think of them. I looked up the definitions and found that optimism was described as:

"a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable sideof events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.The belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. The belief that goodness pervades reality."

Hope is defined as:

"the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: 'to give up hope A person or thing in which expectations are centered: 'The medicine was her last hope'. Something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constant hope."

And while I think it's cheating to use the word in the definition, I couldn't help but see that all the definitions of hope seemed to use rather hope-less examples. Yet, optimism's definitions were, how ironic, optimistic! But, I was interested because one of the definitions for optimism is that good ultimately predominates over evil which I say is misclassified as optimism and should actually fall under hope.

Our hope in humanity, in our difficult circumstances, in deliverance from the evil and violence that surround us is that...as Christians...we know the end of the story. Hope is given to us by a Creator who promises justice, restoration, redemption, love and much more. Hope enables us to act now - without fear - to bring about restoration, love to those who need it most, justice for those who are cast aside in culture which in turn is hope to those deeply searching for it.

Optimism is the power to choose that the rain that is indeed flooding your summer wedding will "soon go away". That all will clear up and be well. Hope has deeper things to ponder.

Too far?

In my opinion this is just a little too far...

The new Revlon "Just Bitten" line. With juicy color names such as: Passion, Twilight, Frenzy, Beloved, Crave, Midnight...

Who would have guessed that Vampires would evolve from the scary Dracula-esque horror film frequenter to the definition of seduction and sexy...all in the name of Capitalism!

Cat-tastrophy...

It's been a little over a year since we lost Cammy, but her spunky spirit keeps popping up. Dad keeps talking about her and reminiscing...

I ran across these wonderful cartoons on this blog and have been obsessed ever since. If any of you have a cat you'll appreciate these!! I couldn't help but think it was Cammy reincarnated as a cartoon.

Breaking my own rules

There is this thing called writer's block. When one is stumped and uninspired to write.

But that's not what I suffer from.

There's lack of time to write. When one is so overwhelmed with tasks, meetings and to-do's that to sit and write is just not feasible.

But my calendar is wide open.

I suffer from what I'll term obsessive organization and linear movement. Fancy words for: I tend to overwhelm myself and thus, scare myself away. The more time that passed without words being processed and shared the more anxious I came with how to catch up. Documenting each missed post - categorized chronologically in my brain. So each time I appeared and the cursor blinked expectantly I would try to eat the elephant in one bite - fail miserably and run from the computer without a word.

But I miss this! I miss this enough to stuff my organizational right brain in some closet with a padlock for five minutes and begin in the MIDDLE. To not order things chronologically. To share out of order - whatever inspiration befalls. If I make it to finally catching up with China - I'll be sure to let you know. There's a freedom in that. I am the master of my memories. And, thus, they can be out of order.

Hoping to apply this to my scrapbooking too...

So. "Back in Action" take two.

CMA's are tonight and I can hardly wait to make some comfort food, wrap up in a blanket and listen to some country.