Happy love day

What are your plans this weekend?  Peter and I are heading up to the mountains to play in the snow, sit by a fire and listen to old records with good friends.  It's our V-Day tradition and this will be the 6th year!  

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day Weekend!  

New Year, new beginnings

I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's tonight!  We plan on keeping it pretty low key because we take off early in the morning to Fort Worden on the Olympic Peninsula where my family rents out Officer's Quarters for a weekend ever year around this time.  Ever seen "An Officer and a Gentleman" with Richard Gere and Debra Winger?  That's where we'll be. 

My favorite New Year's celebration: I was 23, living in Olympia going to Evergreen State.  My roommate turned new bff Rachel and I didn't want to go to any of the parties that year.  All of our other roommates were out on the town, but we stayed home and had a blast.  We put on our roller skates and turned out the lights so only candles and twinkle lights lit the house. We rode around the hardwood floors circling through the house listening to the Pixies "Where is my mind" on repeat as we sipped champagne and Sauza Hornitos Tequila.  To this day I still haven't topped it!

What are some of your favorite New Year's memories?

{Flickr photo credits clockwise from top left: Itz a fine day, Simone Hudson, Magnera, Pink Sherbet, Jared, Medicine Man Sam.}

The Christmas we had

We had a great 4 day Holiday celebration.  My family celebrates on Christmas Eve; we started at my Aunt and Uncle’s house with appetizers before heading to church for a candlelight service. Dinner followed back at my Aunt’s and it was amazing. I wish I had the photos to show you! We had a delicious seafood Cioppino with crusted focaccia bread and a fruit and gorgonzola spinach salad. The soup was for me the best Christmas meal I’ve ever had, with huge chunks of halibut, scallops, crab leg, clams and shrimp in a savory tomato based broth. I made it clear to everyone that I hope we can make this the new traditional Christmas Eve dinner in our family. After letting the food settle we all played the dice-game gift exchange and Peter and I collectively ended up with a 2 layer pie/cake tray and a lotion set.

Christmas morning at my parents was great. My sister and I unbeknownst to one another showed up for breakfast in the same flannel nighty but in different colors, “great minds think comfort!”  We were treated to Swedish pancakes, sausage, ham, delicious bran muffins and mimosas. After breakfast we sat around the living room and went through our stockings. Santa leaves gifts for my sister and I in what were at one time my Grandpa’s thick green wool hunting socks. They have special meaning to us because my Dad and Aunt used them growing up as well. They were the best stocking a kid could wish for, the more you put in them the more they stretched out, leaving room for more and more treats.

My mom loved the photo album we made for her which was a timeline of our wedding day in August. She put so much work in helping us make the day unforgettable that we wanted to give her something to remember it by as well. My dad got a new pair of moccasins, (he can finally throw out the pair where his toe has been sticking out the side for the last 2 years.)  For my sister we gave an assortment of fun things, a red bath robe, photo postcards by Elle Moss, a red lunch bag, and a vintage rose ring from Etsy.

My sister and parents went in on a really cool gift for us; a home-brew starter kit with all the ingredients to make a Blonde Ale! We are pretty excited to give it a try this winter and start making our own beer. We’re thinking of calling it “Meat & Moo Brew”. (That’s what some of the little ones in our life call us when they can’t quite say Pete & Mo.)

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas with family and friends!

Let the festivities begin

Christmas is a week away and I am ready. This is our first year with a tree, in the past we would string lights on our giant palm plant and call it good. We decorated the tree last Sunday while watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and I have been busy wrapping gifts all week and placing them under the tree. My sweet Aunt gave us a wonderful gift to help ease preparing for the holidays...a giant green and red tub full of an assortment of decorations for our tree. 

I look forward to spending time with my family next week.  I love this time of year and I get a little giddy every time I look at our tree lit up so bright.  It reminds me of the excitement you experience as a child, the build up to Christmas morning.  I am relieved that most of my preparations are done and I can spend the rest of the week relaxing before the festivities begin.

What are some of your favorite things about the Holidays?

Turkey Lurkey

I love this time of year...time spent with friends and family enjoying good food, a little red wine...pecan pie...maybe two pieces of pecan pie?!  If you are one of the 'lucky' ones you might even get some of my Aunt Lynda's Escalloped Artichoke Hearts.  This year I will be spending Thanksgiving with my in-laws so it is up to me (the not so great cook) to try and re-create this dish so I don't completely go without.  What are you favorite Thanksgiving dishes?  

Hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!

{Images found via Stardust and Sequins} 

{Top photo credit: Neil Krug}