Christmas Breakfast!

We started off our Christmas with a delicious breakfast this morning. We made porridge, cranberry nut muffins and mimosas! It was amazing!! I've got to run to our first Christmas celebration so be looking for a Christmas breakfast recipe soon.

Merry Christmas!

Secret Santa, How I Love Thee

One of my favorite Christmas activities is participating in Secret Santa at school. This year I had a VERY generous Secret Santa. Along the way I received an adorable "Let it Snow" sign to hang on my classroom window, a funky Santa pen, a pooping/singing Christmas cow and my final gift(s) was a super cute and warm blanket, a dog (I wanted a real one but am satisfied with this fun Fido) and the move Julie and Julia (which is the best movie of the year). Thank you Secret Santa! You made my Friday night very enjoyable :)

Cookie Weekend 2009: Done

One of my favorite weekends of the entire year is the weekend where my mom and I get together to bake Christmas cookies. We bake, and bake, and bake. The first year we made about five different cookies on a Sunday and had so much fun that we decided to extend the weekend to two days last year. This year my mom came over on Friday and just left (it's 5:30 on Sunday) and we baked over 15 different kinds of cookies! Crazy! Some of our favorites this year were mini cheesecakes, double chocolate kiss cookies, peppermint bark, santa's sugar cookies, and strawberry pastry twists. One of our favorite finds this year was Taste of Homes Holiday Issue. They had MANY simple and delicious recipes we tried out this year and all of them were a success. Try their cranberry nut fudge recipe. You won't regret it. Happy Baking!

SNOW DAY!

Today was the first snow day of the year. When I woke up this morning I was hoping to stay in my pjs all day while watching movies and reading a good book. Well, I did stay in my pjs all day and I did watch a movie but it turned out to be a BUSY day! The first batch of cookies were baked, mail was organized, soup was made for dinner and now I'm finally sitting down to enjoy this beautiful tree skirt I quilted this fall for our first Christmas in our new home. Isn't it cool (and you'll also see my beautiful kitten on the skirt)!

Happy Snow Day to All and to All a Good Night!

The Holidays are Here!

Jon and I had an awesome but busy weekend. We started off the festivities by heading down to Chicago for their Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was awesome! We had such a good time. Hopefully we'll make that into a new tradition--plus we were able to make it to my parents' in time for a huge Thanksgiving feast. Yum!

The night before, Jon and I happened upon an outdoor German Christmas village in downtown Chicago. I got this yummy spiced warm wine and we had a brat for dinner. We also found a beautiful ornament to take home with us to remember our fun Thanksgiving mini-vacation.

A Taste of Decorah

I just got back from one of my most favorite places in the world--Decorah, Iowa. There is this brand new (to me) restaurant and it was fabulous! If you're ever in the area, make sure to check out McCaffrey's Dolce Vita. The pizza was absolutely delicious and the ambiance was inviting (the owner even sat down to share a glass of wine with us as we finished our meal).

Pumpkin Cookies

I'm thinking back to this past weekend when my mom and I made some delicious pumpkin cookies for my great aunt's 80th birthday. They were delicious! You can find the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies Issue. I'd definitely recommend!

Winery Tour

Today my husband and I went on a field trip to visit a couple of wineries in Iowa. It was a blast! We stopped by Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque. It was fantastic! We each got to sample five different wines for $5.00 and take home our wine glasses. The little sampling bar was cute and I found a bunch of gifts for upcoming weddings.

We also happened upon Park Farm Winery. Isn't this a picturesque scene? We wish we would have been able to visit two weeks ago to see the leaves in full bloom. Here Jon and I were invited to a complementary wine tasting where we each sampled a couple of different wines.

If you haven't had the pleasure of going on a wine tour, try to find a local winery and try one out soon. We love visiting local wineries and seeing all that they have to offer. We end up finding delicious wines at very reasonable rates. Cheers!

Christmas Cards Galore!

It was a VERY successful weekend. AJ and I were able to get a ton done on our Christmas cards.

AJ created these beautiful cards, around a line from Silent Night.

She first cut out different pieces of fabric in the shape of a star and handstitched them together. She then handstiched all of the starts onto her cards. Lastly, she stamped "Son of God Love's Pure Light" on the inside. Gorgeous!

I created fun Christmas tree cards--super simple! I just cut paper trees and sewed them onto colored paper. I took a needle and threaded the loose ends to the back of the paper and glued them to cardstock paper. And I added a sparkly star to finish off the tree.

It's Friday! And we all know what that means. . . time to start working on my Christmas cards! My dearest friend, (affectionately known as) AJ is coming all the way here from Minnesota so we can have a crafty/girly weekend. Yay! We have only two items on our agenda 1.) make Christmas cards and 2.) RELAX and catch up!

Last year around this time we flew out to NYC to visit our other totally awesome friend, Jo. It was a blast! This little weekend won't be as crazy-cool but we'll make it work.

Check back later this weekend to get a glimpse of our cards!

Let the Crafting BEGIN!

I have decided to (try) to become a domestic goddess. That's right; I am going to make amazing dinners (at least one new recipe a week), make cute Christmas cards and start quilting. Do we think I can tackle this project? Who knows! Only time will tell :)