Playing CatchUp and Waiting for Midnight

Hello All!!!

Sorry for my absence as of late... I have been busy fully indulging myself in all things Christmas. Now it has come and gone and I am staring 2009 in the face. Before we start looking ahead, I just want to show you some of the products of my festivities...

I made three varieties of cookies this year; from left to right: Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Martha Stewart's cookie of the month for December called Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. For my fellow Girl-Scout cookie junkies I highly recommend this recipe which, although labor intensive, will satisfy your Thin Mint craving.

This is an outstanding meal my husband made me. He was recreating a dish we tasted at Bonefish Grill called Saucy Shrimp. It is a creamy garlic lime tomato sauce with kalamata olives and feta cheese. Making it at home is great because you can completely overdose on the Feta. Amazing. I am such a lucky woman to have a man that can cook. My uncle told me that if I can find a man that can cook and dance, hang on tight. I did.

Lastly, these are the results of my adventures in Chestnut roasting this year. I had no idea Chestnuts sweeten so drastically when cooked.

And just for fun, here is a pic of an outfit I loved, but never posted.

And a glance into the new year...
In 2009 I plan to:

- Get all my muscles and tone back! I feel so physically weak and out of shape!
- Wear more red lipstick.
- Finally, finally, finally learn the piano... or start to at least.
- Infuse creativity into my daily wardrobe.

I know it's not much, but it's a start in the right direction. I'm sure I'll think of a hundred more ways to self-iomprove before the week is through.

Now for a long awaited daily tidbit of Useless Trivia:
AULD LANG SYNEThe song, "Auld Lang Syne," playing in the background, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scotch tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days." Have a safe and happy New Years Eve and relaxing January 1!!

Hallelujah, Holy $hit, Where's the Tylenol?

After my week long vacation, I thouroughly misgauged the amount of work to which I would be returning. Seriously. A week later I am just getting my head above water, and it is really adding a sense of stress to my holiday season. Hence I quote a Christmas movie classic Christmas Vacation, "Hallelujah, Holy Shit, Where's the Tylenol?" 15 days left!

I know my outfit isn't particularly Christmassy today, but it fits the weather. This is a tricky look because of the white-after-labor-day misconception paired with black tights... it requires just the right weather for wearing. Thank my husband for the splash of red. See if you can find my humble little tattoo.

Today's Useless Trivia:

There are approximately 25-30 million Real Christmas Trees sold in the U.S. every year. One of them happily resides in my home.

Christmassing

I spent most of my weekend making tids and bits, but most fun of all was Christmassing on Sunday. But first, let's deal with Saturday.

Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a friends baby shower. She is having a boy and requested that each guest bring one of their favorite child hood books for the new baby. I had no problem picking a book, Where the Wild Things Are seemed like the perfect choice, but the rest was a little tricky. I tend to avoid registries, which I hate as a gift-receiver, but love as a gift-giver. I decided to do something a little more fun: tie-dye. Now, what's more fun than that? Well, lot's of things, but tie-dye is pretty darn fun. Even more so when it's baby clothes. Here are the results:

And my favorite onesie:

And the lovely gift basket that I called the finished product.

Hopefully the Mother-to-Be enjoyed receiving her basket as much as I loved creating it!

On Sunday I spent the day Christmassing all over the house. But is it Christmassy enough? I'll let you be the judge. I love the way my tree came out this year... although I never met a Christmas tree I didn't like!

Problem: Display holiday cards in a easy way that shows them all off.
Solution: Garland + Clothespin + Creativity=

Today's Useless Trivia:

According to a 2002 survey approximately 28 million American dog-owners will give a Christmas gift to their poochie pal.

On a side note, you are in for a treat this Christmas, my dog LOVES opening presents!

Olive Thrift

I have been so busy the last couple of days. Vacation is over and reality has taken its place. Yuk. I miss carefree mornings with coffee and palm trees. The only good thing about the end of Thanksgiving is the begining of Christmas. Well, my Christmas count down started in August, but for the rest of you the season usually begins now. Being back in the office is kicking my butt and I hardly have time to breathe during the day, much less blog. After 8 days of relaxation, I guess I had it coming. Another thing coming was my outfit today. After 8 days of comfy pants and jeans I needed to fancy it up a little.

Blouse: Thrifted

Sweater: Thrifted

Skirt: Thrifted

Shoes: Target

Today's Useless Trivia:

Perhaps the best known Christmas carol is Silent Night, written in 1818 by an Austrian assistant priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Day. Saddened, he sat down to write three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music. "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" was heard for the first time at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. The congregation listened as the voices of the Fr. Joseph Mohr and the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber, rang through the church to the accompaniment of Fr. Mohr's guitar. Today, Silent Night, Holy Night is sung in more than 180 languages by millions of people.

Vacation=Palm trees

I am loving my Floridian vacation... and maybe a tad more now that my mom is here too.  I have decided that vacation = palm trees.  And I am certainly on vacation.

      

We have a bit of a "Where's Waldo?" situation here... can you see my husband?

Yesterday we went to Tarpon Springs, a little local, and mostly touristy area, dominated by Greek culture.  It also happens to be the sponge capital of the world, so every store has sponges a plenty.

          

Obviously, we were right on the water.  Here are some more of my favorite shots:

Sand dollars

Spices from the Tea and Spice market.  I picked up some Rainforest tea, black lava salt 

and hawaiian red salt.  Aren't the colors beautifully saturated?

I love the juxtaposition of water and christmas decorations.  Not what I'm used to, but that's

 why I love it!

I was only four feet away from this bird... at the max!  He didn't even flinch.

Today's Useless Trivia:

The average child uses 730 crayons by their 10th birthday.

Wii

First and foremost, I want to give a big thanks to A Cat of Impossible Colour for my second blog award!!  Her blog was what inspired me to begin my own blog in the first place... I'm not sure she knows what an inspiration she is!

Our first full day in Florida was very relaxing.  Just lounged most of the morning with coffee and a plethora of Coastal Living magazines.  I have also had the pleasure of being introduced to my new obsession: Wii.  And I must admit that over the last 24 hours I have learned something invaluable about myself.  I am a Wii bowling champion!  Aside from my four Turkey's (three strikes in a row) I also had a run of five strikes in a row followed up by a spare and another strike.  What!?  Turns out I am a bowling prodigy... at least when the gutters are imaginary.

Here are some shots of what I see first thing in the morning here in my home away from home.  My Mother-in-law has house plants all

 over and it makes me want to test the abilities of my green thumb (that I don't have).  She has orchids and ferns and all sorts of palms.  I love the

 vintage-inspired phone that is on the night stand next to the bed... yet

 another thing to covet.  How could your morning start on a bad note when

 this is the first thing you see?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I can't wait!  My Mom flies in in the morning and she will be visiting with us until Monday morning.  Let the Wii tournaments begin!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the blogsphere!  Turkeys, and stuffing and pies, Oh my!!!

Today's Useless Trivia:

The average woman eats approximately 7 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime!

FLO-RI-DA!!!

Today the hubs and I finally landed in Tampa, Florida to visit his Mom and Step-father.  I am super excited to be with family, and even more excited to be someplace warm.  Today it was in the mid 70's which is a nice change from the frigid Jersey air.  We went to lunch at a restaurant on the beach named Frenchy's.  I was sure to kick off the vaca with an indulgent Mango Margarita.  It's okay, I'm pretty sure that your calorie count is automatically halved when on vacation... similar to when you cry and calories are eliminated altogether.  Here is a shot KJ took of me as the sun had almost set.  It reminds me of a painting I posted in an earlier blog... the real thing is always nicer on the senses.  Posts in the upcoming days will be inspired by the amazing tropic environment and my Mother-in-laws light and breezy sense of style!!

Today's Useless Trivia:

Florida's state bird is a Zebra Longwing and the state day is April 2.