Thanksgiving in photos...

(And a few words...it's me, after all).

I know what you're thinking:  Thanksgiving is still 5 days away.  However, yesterday was the annual Thanksgiving gathering with Louis' family.  They began celebrating the weekend before the holiday years ago so to make it hassle-free without competing other get-togethers and family celebrations.

We were assigned a vegetarian dish and a dessert.  Enter:  pies.  Pot pie and chocolate pie!  Warning:  this post may make you hungry.

Yum!  As the recipe mentioned, this pie wasn't too sweet.  Topped off with homemade whipped cream and some cocoa powder sprinkled on top.  Reminds me of the French Silk Pie I used to eat at near-weekly trips to Bishop's with the fam (anyone else know this place?  I hated it as a kid!  The cafeteria line, having to wait for an adult to carry my tray to the table...)

And pot pie!  Funny thing is, I sort of remember hating pot pie as a kid.  But guess what?  When you're an adult you can omit the things you don't like (peas!).  This is a Moosewood classic.  We don't have the cookbook, but found the recipe here.  It is very time-consuming, but there's something totally relaxing about chopping all those veggies on a slow Saturday afternoon.  I also love remembering wedding gifts (since we got sooo many kitchen gifts!) while I cook.  Thanks to E for the lovely bowls and Kim for this awesome red cooker that goes right from stove top to oven!

It was a delicious Thanksgiving #1.  T-day will be spent down in Iowa; that is, if the forecasted snow allows us to make it south.  And I'm pretty disappointed to see that their highs of 60s turn into 40s mid-week, but it's still double what we're looking at.

We've been hunkered down inside all day since the streets are topped with ice, but it might be melted enough to venture out...and this is only the beginning of winter.  Sigh.

Raking one day, shoveling the next.

Oh, Midwest.  You and your weather are so finicky.  It was 70 degrees in Minnesota on Wednesday.  This weekend, we're under a winter weather advisory or warning (or who even knows the difference between all of those?  Bottom line:  there will be snow.).

Louis was a total skeptic, but when I heard the forecast yesterday, I made sure to get as many of our remaining leaves on the ground raked up.  I'd rather deal with them now than in April, right?

I woke up this morning, remembering the outlook.  I sort of thought, "Yeah, right.  Nothing will have happened."

Then I drew back the curtains and saw this:

I let out a tiny scream.

I feel bad for the neighbor's tree.  Just when I was commenting how nice it was to still have some leaves on the trees and in this gorgeous golden color we see for so little of the year.

Our tree wasn't quite ready either.  Sigh.  Neither are we.  Yes, it's beautiful.  Yes, it's peaceful.  But could it wait at least another month?  I've already got Christmas being shoved in my face everywhere I look (someone please tell me WHY there is already a Christmas radio station BEFORE Thanksgiving?).

I guess I have to go...I need to find my mittens and hats and actually drag out my winter coat and not the in-between ones.  I'm pretty sure it's only supposed to rain in Iowa this weekend.  It's only a matter of time before my Dad calls...

Lantern love.

I have a fetish.  I love lanterns and I'm not afraid to admit it.  Case in point:  the two new lanterns I've picked up in the last two weeks.

Two weeks ago Louis and I took the day off together.  Among trekking around a state park on a fabulous fall day I also convinced him to make a stop that was not at all on the way home:  Hastings Gift, Garden, and Floral (website does not do this place justice).  Completely random, I know.  I think I've gushed about this place before.  It is part farm/garden rusty junk, part antiques, part new-but-looks antique (pure love, in my mind).

In my "I have to save my money for the next Cottage House sale" I almost walked outta there empty-handed, which pretty much looks like a kid being told they can't have anything at the toy store.  But then we went back because there was the lamp I really liked, but no price tag.  I set a price in my head and said I wouldn't go over.  And then I did, but only by $7 after tax.  I am such a sucker.

But, c'mon, how cool is this?!  (Or maybe it's just a lantern-lovers thing?)

The photo of that cute couple next to it sure doesn't hurt. :)  I also love that it is a three-way lamp.  I am such a freak about good lighting and since we live in Minnesota and DST is now really setting in, I need as much (fake) light as I can get.  I'm not sure about the lampshade.  Even though it was brand new it seems too big for the lamp and drowning out some of the light.  And I just can't have that.

Today is a day I have been counting down for a month.  A return trip to The Cottage House (my first store love, behind Hastings GG&F).  I went with my work bestie and we had a lovely time!

After seeing a multitude of lanterns while antiquing in Hopkins, MN, last week I had to snag this reasonably-priced one today!  $6, in case you were wondering.

I don't know much about lanterns, actually.  This one was made in the Czech Republic (as stated three separate times on the lantern).  See?  Okay, maybe you can't really see.  I need a new camera (hint, hint, Louis). :)

Not sure what I'll do with this little guy, probably dress it up a bit for the holidays.  I'm thinking some garland or a big red ribbon.

Lantern love!

I'm more than excited for my weekend, especially after having a one-day weekend last week due to a work event.  I'll be working from home in the morning on things that just couldn't fit into this week's hours, then tomorrow night we're off to the Third Annual St. Joseph Worker Program Taste of Thanksgiving.  Yummy fall foods to taste, wines to drink, live and silent auction goodies, and the fabulous SJW women and staff! 

I'm thinking a return trip to the Cottage House (unlike last time, I didn't feel the need to turn over my entire paycheck to them today, but after leaving I'm thinking of a few things I spied that I could put to use/turn into gifts).  And on Sunday, oh boy, three other neighbor couples have invited us to take part in a progressive brunch.  What say you?  We'll move from house to house eating one course after another.  I'm pretty psyched to get to know these people better, check out their houses (hello, I need to see what HoHub's siblings look like), and eat and drink!  We're in charge of second course:  fruit and mimosas.  Bring on the weekend!

Hello, cupcake!

Normally I'd lament the end of the weekend, especially one that also ushers in the end of Daylight Saving Time, but not this one.  Tonight wrapped up a big work event that has been lots of work in the making.  Whew!

So before I eat my celebratory cupcake, I thought I'd share one of my latest projects:  fabric flowers!  Now, this isn't the first time I've created loads of fabric flowers.  I made these green beauties as boutonnieres for our readers and all the dudes in our families for our wedding.  And they took forever.

Yet I wanted to make fabric flowers again.  I've been loving the big poofy flowers and bib necklaces that are all over etsy...and I'm thinking ahead to Christmas gifts.  I had an idea in my head of what these would look like.  And just to prove that not all of my crafts succeed at first...

There's version one...a lot of twisted, fraying going on.
Version two...sort of, not quite what I want.
Version three...getting there, sort of.

Then enter blogger tutorial.  Whew!  It still took a bit of effort, but I followed along with this straightforward fabric rosette tutorial.  And Louis bought me a glue gun so I could make 'em.  Yeah!

It took a bit of practice, each one getting better than the last.  And then I made a whole fleet of them!  Or 9 or 10.  How many is a fleet anyway? 

And so much for Christmas presents since I've used them to make things for myself.  Meh?

A little grey/cream combo.

And a shade of yellow I'd like to call goldenrod.  Pictured here with my fab colleague Amy at said work event.  (Thanks to my father-in-law for taking pictures at the event!).

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a less hectic week...and some commitment-free evenings for crafting. :)  But now, I do believe I have deserved a cupcake!

"give thanks" bunting

It's been a rough week.  Thank goodness for crafting to get me through! Back when I picked up the supplies for the birthday bunting banner, I also snatched a pack of fabric quarters that were primary colors with a subtle leaf print on each.  They would be perfect for my "give thanks" banner!  I've slowly been working away at this one and just put the finishing touches on last night.

The only changes I made since the last banner were to make my triangles a bit bigger since the letters felt scrunched before, I used a different font (Cicle Semi, downloaded for free on dafont.com), and rather than sewing the triangles to the bias tape, I took the lazy route and used fabric glue (why did I not think of this before?).

I love it.  Thank goodness I don't believe in decorating for Christmas a day before December 1 because I never want to take this down.

Halloween, Part II

I've learned a lot about Halloween this year, mostly the differences between Minnesota and Iowa Halloween.  I've lived in Minnesota for four+ years now, and this is only the second time I've had the opportunity to hand out candy.

In Iowa, we trick-or-treated the day before Halloween.  Thanks to the Internet, I discovered this is only common practice in parts of Iowa, Ohio, and New England, though we never referred to it as Beggar's Night.  There are also set start and end times.  Not here.  "When it gets dark out," I was told. 

When I was a kid, we'd usually start around 5:30 and go until 8 (this was also back in the day when DST had already kicked in, so it was plenty dark at 5:30).  My brothers and I could come home with a huge plastic pumpkin full of candy in this short amount of time.  We were dedicated.  And loved love candy.

But enough reminiscing...our first trick-or-treater, the next-door neighbor kids, rang the bell at 6:30, just at dusk.  The last kids came around about 8:15.  In total, Louis handed out candy to 42 kids, I handed out to 1. : )  Some of the kids were scared of his costume!

He's the Phantom of the Opera (sans cape)!

While Louis was doling out the treats, I was whipping up a very Halloween-appropriate dinner:  pumpkin sage soup.  I love cooked pumpkins.  They just glow.

As I was pureeing the soup in the blender, I gave Louis a good scare.  The pressure from the whirring soup caused the blender top to pop up just enough to give a good splatter and to burn my palm.  In a "my hand is burnt" panic, I left the blender on and ran to the sink.  From an onlooker's perspective, I can see how this might appear that I lost a finger or two...

But all was well in the end.

So I guess that's it for Halloween 2010.  We'll be better prepared next year, buy less candy, and Louis's costume promises to be scarier (we'll be better established in the 'hood by then, you know).

So here's a little treat for you.  A roundup of some of my best costumes!  (I recently scanned all these for our wedding slide show.)

I loved this one.  Those Boo glasses glowed in the dark.  And I remember (my mom) RIT-dying my Keds green for this occasion.  The little turtle nostrils-ahh!

My aunt made this poodle skirt.  It was originally for a ballet recital.  And that large plastic pumpkin to my right would be at least 3/4 filled by the end of the night.  I'm also pretty sure the cat-carved pumpkin, second step, belonged to me, which is weird because I don't think I've ever liked cats.

And lastly...

Cheerleader Minnie!  The saddle shoes, the skinny colored belts, the leggings...so cool!  Thanks, Mom, for some seriously awesome childhood costumes.

Happy Halloween!

I bet you found yourself wondering what we're up to on our first Halloween in our new home.  Well...

We bought a pumpkin at the Farmer's Market a few weeks back.  It did not survive the squirrels.  I figured it was because it was small and maybe they could more easily sink their teeth into the thinner skin.  Louis bought me another pumpkin.

And then this happened last weekend:

Squirrels=2.  Us=0.  The neighbors confirmed that is a bit of a squirrel infestation in this neighborhood, confirming my statistical analysis.  All the other homes I've seen have pumpkins aplenty on their porches, but you drive down Hubbard and all you see are chewed-up pumpkins.

We tried.  Yes, we could carve that part out, but truth be told:  I hate carving pumpkins.

I do love bringing a sense of the seasons/holidays into the home, though there hasn't been much time for decorating.  However, thanks to Retail America's need to push Christmas merchandise onto the shelves earlier and earlier every year, all fall decor is on sale.  We snagged this festive table runner at 60% off!

And since our neighborhood is loaded with kids, we're expecting plenty of trick-or-treaters to come by tonight.  Now, I can often procrastinate, but when it came to buying Halloween candy I purposely did not buy it ahead of time so that I would not eat all of it.  Louis and I went out on Friday to pick up some treats.  And wouldn't you know it while there were some bags left, most of it was being shoved out by Christmas candy.  We're the new neighbors.  We have some impressions to leave on the minds of children and their parents, so 1) We can't be those people that hand out Brach's candy (sorry, but we all know it's not that good) and 2) We cannot hand out red and green wrapped candy (too soon).

Don't worry.  We rummaged the Halloween section AND the candy aisle.  And went back again today for more candy [because 3) We can't run out!)].

So there's the loot.  Louis will be handing it out in costume.  I'll be counting the number of kids and charting my favorite costumes.  Updates to come...