beer & pretzels
Hands down, my best trip of 2009 was my trip to Munich, Germany in October.
Two days of travel, two days of work, and one-and-a-half days of being a tourist. I've never packed so much into a trip before. I actually didn't even have time to be jet-lagged!
Here are some of my favorite shots from Munich.
fruit stand
sweet couple in the Garden
breakfast at the train station
wooden birdhouse
resting bicycle
beautiful fall leaves
via www.gwenbell.com
I'm totally going to take part in this! Tonight I'll play catch up on the first three prompts. You should play along too! Comment with your blog url so I can read your 2009 memories too!
Last year, I was smitten with the Starbucks Christmas decorations. They all featured balls of yarn and were and so cool... yarn wreaths, yarn topiaries, yarn swags- it was a knitter's Christmas dream! I was especially obsessed with the wreath, so I shop hopped, asking if I could buy or have any of the decorations after the holidays and was told "no" by multiple stores. After my last rejection, I said to myself: "NEVERMIND! I can do that myself!"
I went to my local craft store and bought a wire wreath form, ornaments, and multiple skeins of green yarn. I also went through my stash and picked out green yarns I wanted to include. I wound three balls of yarn and gave up. The holidays were over after all.
Enter Christmas 2009. I was talking to my crafty girls via email and the subject of handmade wreaths came up. I told them my story of the elusive Starbucks yarn wreath. They encouraged me to give it another go. I decided to check online to see if anyone else had made one. Duh, of course there were people who had made it! After reading about 25 tutorials, I decided to use this one over at Inspired Kara's blog. She made it sound SO EASY. AND she introduced me to the concept of using styrofoam balls as the yarn ball bases. GENIUS! I honestly did not think of that on my own! And when I mentioned it to the crafty girls, Sooz responded with this gem: "Of course it was styrofoam balls!! You weren't going to hang up FULL BALLS OF YARN WERE YOU????? Holy crap that would be SO EXPENSIVE!" Sooz knows how to keep it real. (LOVE HER!)
But I digress.
I wrapped the styrofoam balls last night and tonight I set to work GLUING THE HELL out of them with my hot glue gun. I glued them to the metal wreath form, I glued them to each other, and then I glued the ornaments to the yarn balls. I glued so much I ran out of glue sticks. Then I went back and reinforced the yarn to the wreath form with floral wire. I think I want to add a few more small balls of yarn and a few more large ornaments. I definitely don't want to go overboard though.
So, you decide... here's the original Starbucks wreath:
and here's mine:
So internet, should I add more yarn balls and ornaments or STOP TOUCHING IT & HANG IT ALREADY! Let me know in the comments!
My dinner turned out fabulous! Everything was perfect and so tasty!
I'm still thinking about the awesome stuffing!
The Menu:
- Salt & pepper turkey
- Simple stuffing
- Mashed potatoes
- Homemade gravy
- Roasted brussel sprouts
- Orange cranberry sauce
- Cole Slaw
- Mashed rutabega
- Rolls & butter
- Olives/Celery with Cream Cheese
- V8
After dinner, I took my parents for a drive. I showed them where my office is located, we drove through the ASU campus, and then down to Historic Downtown Chandler. It was weird to see everything closed for the day!
When we returned from our sightseeing drive, it was time for pie. The pumpkin pie was served with the obligatory tub of Cool Whip!
Now the kitchen is closed. :)
We've changed our plans for tomorrow. We'll be staying in town instead of making the trip to New Mexico. We've got Mimi's Cafe on deck for breakfast and then we'll hit the movies to see New Moon, of which I have heard mixed reviews. Ahem.
In any event, it was a lovely day and I hope yours was as well!
I've been scrambling this week to get ready for the holiday weekend! My parents are flying to Phoenix from Florida tomorrow night to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with me. This trip is my Christmas present to them and like a good overachieving first child, I have packed their trip full of activities.
Thursday, I am cooking the traditional Thanksgiving feast. I've asked my dad to help me put up my Christmas tree and decorations after dinner, which I think will be a fun way to spend the evening.
Friday, we're taking a trip to see my grandfather in Las Cruces, NM. Depending on our mood, we might drive back Friday night or we might stay the night.
I promised my mom that we'd see New Moon at some point and I know she's looking forward to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe, so we'll probably do that on Saturday and then Sunday will be a day trip to Sedona to see the red rocks.
I drop them off at the airport on my way into work on Monday, so it will surely be a whirlwind visit!
I'll leave you with a picture of my Thanksgiving table. I set it tonight to cut down on the Turkey Day prep that always seems to be so overwhelming.
To you and yours, I wish you a delightful Thanksgiving filled with food, family, and fun.
Hmm, not sure how I feel about the new trend of matte nailpolish. For $7 I might have to try it out. Looks like a trip to Ulta is in my future!
Carrie Bradshaw’s teen diaries are on their way to a bookseller near you. On Tuesday, HarperCollins released the first image of the cover of Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries, a young adult book series set during the teen years of the Sex And The City protagonist.
And it appears Carrie got her start as a style maven during her days as a high school standout.
The book reveals Carrie’s first love, her relationship with her mother, and explores how the beloved fashionista discovered her love of writing.
“Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd – she led it,” the publisher said in statement in September. “It was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene.”
The first volume of The Carrie Diaries is scheduled for release April 27, 2010, just a month before the theaterical release of Sex And The City 2.
via oakvillegroceryarizona.com
Really excited to hear that the Oakville Grocery Co is opening shop in Scottsdale. The foodie is me is jumping for joy!
Check out the website and sign up for their mailing list: http://oakvillegroceryarizona.com
Put on your matching hat, slip under the muffin top of your Cupcake Car, and let the world figure itself out for awhile. Get (or give) the sheer, joyful chaos of a gift that is mind-blowing, triple-dog-dare, double-infinity forever cool. Make the kids or grandkids literally squeal with joy. Bring it to work and buzz the breakroom. Crash parades! Putter about the ‘hood. Ever had a crowd of kids chasing after you just for the crazy gleeful heck of it? (No worries, the top speed is a comfy-safe 7 mph.) What’s it made of? A 24-volt electric motor, a heavy-duty battery, sheet metal, wire, fabric, wood…and mad genius. Launched at Burning ManSM as a cooperative art car project, the Cupcake Car sprang from the fevered mind of Bay Area artist Lisa Pongrace and her less-rules-more-laughs posse of artists and techno geeks. Yours will be tricked out with your favorite topping, so start thinking flavors. Call 1.877.9NM.GIFT for details.
