post-Christmas update

One of these days I'll get around to getting my Christmas pictures off my "real" camera. For now, here are some more cell phone shots with these updates...

I've baked a lot of loaves of bread from my awesome new bread cookbook!

I've also started making ice cream with my awesome new ice cream maker! Rose loves this new hobby even more than the bread baking. She also, for some reason, likes to eat it out of a tupperware, rather than a real bowl.

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I spent some time this morning reorganizing Rose's bedroom. She got SO MANY toys and games for Christmas - our house is overflowing!! I re-did her old changing table so it's now a dresser, complete with labels (with pictures!) on each basket. (You can see that Mac is keeping a close watch over Mao and Fishycakes, her new fish.)

And I labeled all her toys on the closet shelves. We'll see how long this lasts!

And, since I finally know how to upload videos (I think), here is proof of why you should not give Mac catnip. It makes him crazy stoned!

And, finally, some videos of Rose singing "Let it Go," wearing her princess dress and tiara. While spinning on her "princess plate." And in shades in the second one (shot a few seconds after the first).

Merry christmas!

videos and Rose-isms

I'm still trying to figure out how to upload videos (blogger changed something a few months ago), so please let me know if these two work. The first is Rose enjoying her new guitar from Trula, and the second is her enjoying her new "princess dress" from the Rohdes (she spent about 30 minutes just wandering around the house and singing to herself this evening!)

In other "Rose-isms," I also have these gems:

Rose: "I love spending time with you, Mommy."
Me: "Aw, thank you, Rose! I love spending time with you."
Rose: "Go away, Mommy."
Me: (Um, what?!)

Rose has been fighting a cold, so I've been trying to load her up on various fruits and vegetables. Tonight our "appetizer" was grapefruit.
Me: "Not only does it taste good, but grapefruit is good for your runny rose and your upset tummy."
Rose: "And for my burps and poops!"



Have a great week!

a few random autumn/winter photos

I finally got around to getting pictures off my camera again! Here are a few from Halloween:

And some from November:

And from Thanksgiving:

Four generations!

And one from early December:

At this rate, you can expect to see our Christmas pictures around early March. :)

Weekend fun

It's still on my to-do list to put Thanksgiving pictures (from my camera) up on the blog. Instead, I've been busy doing things like this:

Yep, that's half a batch of freezer crockpot meals. Basically, the premise is that you spent a crap-ton of money on groceries, spend even longer chopping all the ingredients and portioning them into ten bags, and then you don't need to cook again for the next year. (That was all hyperbole, I hope you know. All that work for "only" ten dinners! At least the dinners seem pretty big, so hopefully we'll have leftovers.) Unfortunately I accidentally mis-counted on the chicken front (22 pounds?!?) so tonight we're having Balsamic Chicken with Fig and Herbs with 1.5 times the chicken and twice as much of everything else.  In other words, our ten dinners turned out to be only nine - argh. At least there are eight other nights in the future that I don't have to worry about cooking!

In other news, we also had a fun weekend wrapping presents...

(Mike is a master gift wrapper!)

...eating jucy lucys...

The Nook is my new favorite!!!!

...devouring ice cream...

Rose wanted the green tea ice cream.   <= not my kid!

...and going on a family walk!


Her first time walking on an icy lake!

As I said to Mike this weekend, we have a good life. :)

closet update

(Note: This post could also be titled "Who's a big nerd? This girl!")

Remember a few months ago when I organized my closet? I got rid of all the stuff I didn't feel comfortable in (either because it fit funny or because I didn't love the color), regardless of whether I had bought the item because it was a great deal or because I thought I should hang on to it "just in case."  In these past few months I've noticed that I tend to grab all the color-coordinated things in my closet first, and the few remaining "off" pieces languish in the back until they're the last of my clean clothes - but I'm holding off on getting rid of those pieces until next summer because they are all spring colors and I want to make sure I don't miss them next year. Anyway, I noticed that I'm getting the urge to shop a lot less because I have a better sense of what I own and I have a lot more ways to coordinate the pieces that I do have. But the other night I thought it might be helpful to have a visual reminder of what "my" colors are, so whenever I get an urge to shop I can remind myself of what "fits" from a color perspective. Here's my "color cheat sheet" that I now keep in my purse:

core basics:
     black
     dark grey
     white

central colors:
     dark purple / purple sapphire / plum
     burgundy / merlot / eggplant
     deep teal / turquoise
     forest green / moss

occasional highlights:
     royal blue / dark blue sapphire
     lime green
     light teal

In other words: nothing from the brown family, no blue pants, nothing cream, and mostly fall colors or jewel tonees.


The closet organizing project has also given me a better sense of my style preferences. I LOVE cardigans over t-shirts (long or short-sleeve) - preferably white t-shirts under dark sweater cardigans in the winter, and colored t-shirts with lighter fabric white cardigans in the summer. I'll do blazers sometimes too, to mix it up. And I LOVE scarves (three seasons!), and comfy shoes (think: Danskos).

I hate belts and highheels. I don't like asymmetry. I love sparkles on accent pieces, but definitely not on "core" pieces. I prefer khakis and dress pants for work, jeans and capris on the weekends.  Fleece shirts and yoga pants for sleeping. And exercise tank tops for sleeping, so I have no excuse for not getting on the treadmill in the morning!

And my button-down blouses are usually some of the last to get worn - as much as I want that to be my style, I never find myself reaching for them!  I've come to accept that I'm more of a Eddie Bauer / LLBean / Lands End kind of gal, not an Ann Taylor / Limited / Talbots person. As much as I love the look of those latter stores, when I buy that stuff, I just don't reach for it first - it's a good thing my work allows me to be a little more business casual and a little less business professional. :)

With every word I type, I realize what a nerdy post this is. But I never knew that organizing my closet could be so transformative. It was such a great experience, and I'm totally embracing my nerdiness in saying that :)

(This post was prompted by me getting a HUGE discount offer from Eddie Bauer, and me leaving with only two items - despite the many things that I would have bought in the past because I knew they were a great deal. Success!)

New haircut!

Rose asked for short hair and bangs :)