2011 memories.

January - a special party just for my man and me.

these girls are the most incredible hostesses anyone could ask for!

February - lots of wedding prep.  Don't know how I could have gotten it all done without my friend Bethany.  This is not Oscar, by the way.  Her kitty is his doppelgänger.

March - the most amazing day of my life.  I got married to my best friend.

April - I got chosen to be the page turner for Pete the Cat, a book reading and signing that my brother and I took my nieces to.  This is my awkward face.

May - we were kinda boring during May.  However, we did make it to a party.  So here we are with our friend Burgin.

June - at the park picnicking and listening to the symphony.  Ah.  We're so cultured... haha.

July - I got a stress fracture.  Rocked the boot the best I could.

August - hit lots of rocks floating down the river.  

September - the mister's birthday... his cake ended up looking like a glowing orb.

October - cheeky pumpkin month.

November - I took some fun pictures of the mister.  He started a blog.  AND he got a real grown up job!  It was a good month.

December - my family.  I love them.  I especially love cooking with them.  

It's been a spectacular year filled with love, new beginnings and great experiences.  I hope you have a really wonderful New Year filled with light and love.  Happy 2012!

Oscar loves Korg 8-track digital recorders

he's thinking about the next song he wants to record.

We told him we have a better one he can use, but he prefers the older model.

Christmas dump, part 5... blueberry breakfast cake

oh, Pinterest!  how you inspire me with recipes and projects!

I made this for breakfast on Christmas morn.

it was gone very quickly.

I think my family liked it.

Christmas dump, part 4... creative wrapping

I couldn't help myself.  I just had to hot glue buttons onto my gifts this year!

Christmas dump, part 3... green velvet whoopies

my sister-in-law (not you, Deborah) was calling them Grinch pies as my nephew was downing them Christmas day.  All I did was replace red food coloring with green... maybe something to think about in March???

"my poop was green today from your whoopie pies." - Katherine, my niece

Christmas dump, part 2... DIY sparkle letters

I love handmade gifts.  I love giving them and receiving them.  Here's what I did for my nieces this year...

I came across these chipboard letters at the craft store so I painted them with acrylic paint.

easy peasy.

then a little mod podge and glitter.

I love sparkles!

added a felt flower and some ribbon to the back!

ready to hang on 2 little girl walls!

Christmas dump, part 1... elf doughnuts

I hope you had a super fantastic holiday!

This week I'm posting my Christmas projects that I finished up last week and didn't blog about.

I can't say this was my idea... this has been floating around Pinterest throughout the holiday season.

I thought that since I was spending Christmas with the nieces, it would be a fun project to do (and it was fast, too!)

Cheerios, powdered sugar, candy melts, and sprinkles!

powdered doughnut.

green sprinkles!

setting up for the elves to go back home.

yum yum!!

oscar loves his own reflection

look at that face.  how could you deny it?

snowflakes from junk mail.

inspired by this pin

I always loved making snowflakes as a child.  It was just as fun to make them as an adult.  Especially since it puts my junk mail to good use.  It also makes me feel good to have some sort of snow in my life since it's staying in the 50's and 60's around here.  blah.

Oscar loves wreaths

He just loves Christmas time. He can't get enough.

send me an angel... right. now.

so at our little shindig the other day, I decided to give these a go.  

inspired by this pin.

cream cheese + peppermint extract + powdered sugar + powdered sugar + powdered sugar + just a little more powdered sugar = these little angels

don't you love my heavenly effect?

DIY Christmas dishtowel

I got crafty last week and decided to put some fabric flowers on a dish towel.

(for fabric flower tutorial, click here.)

so I picked up some scraps of red, green and yellow and made fabric flowers (minus the hot glued buttons)

figured out how I wanted the flowers on the towel and then pinned them in their spot.

sewed buttons on.

this keeps the flowers in place.

you have to make sure that you catch the fabric on your needle so be sure that your flower middles aren't too large (or buttons too small!!)

and done.

something that can be easily done while watching episodes of Intervention you've DVR'ed.

it's a really good show.

partay!

we had a little Christmas get together this weekend.

we served a few treats...

simmered some wassail (I also made eggnog from scratch, not pictured)...

handy John hung up my handmade snowflakes...

we put out fresh flowers (time for the cats to throw up everywhere!)...

and Oscar enjoyed some new laps.

Happy Holidays!!!

Oscar loves fuzzy socks

oh, fudge.

I've not been having the best of luck lately with my baking.  Things still taste fantastic, but the look and texture has been a little off.  Really frustrating.  Today we'll talk about fudge.  I'll be posting other awkward treats next week.

marshmallow fluff, butter, sugar, etc... everything's melting just fine!

and boiling up beautifully.

hmmm... a little thick for fresh out of the saucepan, but I haven't completely lost hope.

cakey, crumbly, doo-dooey looking fudge it is.

it's better to taste marvelous than to look marvelous... or something like that.