10 days until Christmas!!

Survival Tip #9: If it is gray outside, enjoy decorating inside.

I am beyond excited for Christmas! This is the first year I have purchased my gifts for Vander before he bought mine... he has wrapped all of mine while I am still waiting for his to come in the mail, but that is besides the point. I am typically a last minute shopper, but not this year. Most of it is done, and the house has been decorate for a while now. 

We haven't been able to buy much in the way of decorations until this year because we've been more preoccupied with buying gifts than decorations, but this year I had the green light to go all out. After 2 hours at Target I managed to purchase some garland, a wreath, some little odds and ends and various hosting supplies (we're hosting 2 parties this year). I even made my own tree skirt (got to love felt by the yard). The thing I am the most proud of though in our center piece.

Now it is not normally on our floor, but I was trying to find a bad bulb so the 1/2 lit string was already plugged in. I bought a really cool vase and filled it with various gold and clear ornaments. I was inspired by the glass floats that people collect. 

I also purchase some frames and took pictures of ornaments and enlarged them to 8x12. The one below and the primary picture when you open this site (O Holy Night) are two of them.

I also framed this photo from our tree cutting adventure last week in a 5x7 frame:

Finally I couldn't help but print our annual "this is our tree we're about to cut down" picture.

It was really fun to decorate! We've already hosted our bible study party and tomorrow night is our family "Boobie Prize Party". I will explain more about that later :)

Hope you have had as much fun decorating this year as I have!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

Survival Tip #8: Help others to celebrate your friends.

I was just about to post a Christmas post when I noticed I never published this one!! It's a little old now, and since writing it Baby Colette was born! Congratulations to Dane and Christina!!

In November I decorated for a baby shower to celebrate friend from church, Christina. I've been given opportunities to help with decorations for a few events this summer and fall and I have discovered I really love it! It is so fun being creative and stretching myself to thinking up different ideas. Janet, the shower host, gave me free reign to do what I wanted to decorate which was so fun! From facebook I knew Christina and her husband Dane have a green, brown and pink nursery for their little girl so I used that as a launching point. I like to be inspired by phrases or songs when I decorate, so I used "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" in coordination with the colors.

Inspired by a friend's decorations for a 1st birthday party, I bought a pad of scrapbook papers that were girly and matched the nursery colors and cut them into circles. I then embroidered them onto various green ribbon and wrote "C" for what is the baby-to-be's tentative first initial, or cut letters out.

The vases you see are filled with sugar, tea (loose leaf), and candy to mimic the rhyme, which was written on circles on the table. I also used Baby's Breath for the flowers, which seemed appropriate for a baby shower : ). I also purchased some receiving blankets that matched the nursery to put under the vases. In case you are in need of cheap vases, these are only $2.99 each at Target!! Super great deal!!

The shower was a lot of fun, and lots of women from our church came. It was so fun to be able to celebrate Christina as she gets ready to welcome her daughter into the world!

 Christina with Mollee, and her mother in law Denise.

 Em, Lou and Olivia

Christina with a sweet gift! Baby girls get the cutest things!

Adulthood Comic

Survival Tip #7: If the cold weather keeps you home-bound, read something funny to pass time.

Sorry for the lame-o post title. I am feeling pretty sick, and distracted by snow, and I literally can not think of a better name.

My friend Cindy posted recently a list of blogs she really likes to read, and Hyperbole and a Half was one of them. I started reading it and find it really funny. Especially this post about becoming an adult. I definitely identify. I won't lie, I can be pretty lazy.


*Some of you may not find this kosher. I find this hilarious.

**Cindy is an amazing artist, and has started selling some of her paintings on Etsy. Check it out!

Motivation

Survival Tip #6: Find joy in small things. Survival Tip #6.5:  Try not be a klutz.

Good way to get a paper finished: get fake nails. That click-clacking of your nails is so satisfying to hear and feel while typing, thus motivating you to type your little, pampered heart out.


Bad way to get a paper finished: get fake nails. When you jam your right index finger-nail on the stupid, heavy, metal, heart key chain you used to love, while getting out your keys to go to Starbucks to complete your typing experience with a vanilla latte, it hurts like bahgeezis and makes typing just a little painful for the following letters: h y n j u m. You don't realize how many words use those letters until you feel a little jab of pain when you push the key down.

Happy paper writing to those of you who are in my end-of-quarter research paper boat! Go get your nails done.... or don't.

Percy Jackson: Not Just For Teen Boys!

Survival Tip #5: When it's not nice outside, read a good book.

So I found a book series that I can not get enough of. The Percy Jackson series is written by Rick Riordan and is definitely geared towards a younger audience, but it is an excellent easy read. I was first introduced to the series by Vander. V loves to read books that his students read because it freaks the kids out when he is able to drop info about it into their discussions. This was especially true with the Twilight series. I keep thinking that I won't like the books he's reading because their juvenile, but then he proves me wrong.

The Percy Jackson & The Olympians series imagines that Greek mythology is real, and that the gods are creating children with mortals; this is how heroes (like Hercules) are born. In Riordan's world, heroes are often dyslexic with ADHD because their brains are wired to read ancient Greek and fight monsters. By the time heroes reach their preteens they start to encounter monsters who try to kill them, so they start going to Camp Half-Blood to learn how to survive as heroes. Sounds like a perfect read for preteen boys right? What I LOVED about it is Riordan's writing style! He writes from the point-of-view of Percy, a new hero who is possibly one of the most powerful hero. Percy's internal voice is sarcastic and witty. When Riordan encounters a transition in the story, he does so in a way that makes you smile or laugh inside. Here is a quote from the first line of the fifth chapter in the second book "The Sea of Monsters":

     Ever come home and found your room messed up? Like someone helpful (hi, Mom) has tried to "clean" it, and suddenly you can't find anything? And even if nothing is missing, you get that creepy feeling like somebody's been looking through your private stuff and dusting everything with furniture polish? That's kind of the way I felt seeing Camp Half-Blood again.


I love that little interjection of "hi, Mom". The books are so enjoyable to read they are perfect for those of you that like to read before bed. I recently read "Say You're One of Them" by Uwen Akpan. Fabulous book, but it's not a great feeling to go to be crying every night for two weeks. These books on the other hand, were addictive and I felt good when I put the books down to sleep.

So, if you're looking for a fun easy read, pick up "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan. Then tell me you did and we'll talk all about it. :)

Disclaimer: I have not seen the movie based on the book, but I heard it is nothing like the book and pretty awful. So if you've seen the movie, read the book anyways.

A Fall Tradition

Survival Tip #4: Appreciate Fall

I have been meaning to post this for a while now, but haven't put the effort into getting the pictures off our camera. One of mine and Vander's favorite fall traditions is walking Union Ave near our house. In the middle of the Avenue is a large median you can walk along without fear of being hit by cars and in the fall it is BEAUTIFUL! The trees along the median are tall and deciduous and quite festive. The houses on either side are cute to admire, as most houses are in the North End. I LOVE my neighborhood, btw. Here are a few shots from our walk:

Loved looking up!

An idea from Vander, which resulted in a face full of leaves for me!

Can't you see why this walk screams of fall!

I love fall in the pacific northwest...

Halloween 2010

Survival Tip #3: Take Advantage of Opportunities to Celebrate!

What a lovely Halloween it was this year! It started out with a super fun time in the older nursery at church, and ended with a really peaceful evening at home! I felt so lucky to have a day filled with people I care about, and lots of photo opportunities. After church I was able observe Kathy Absher shooting Louisa's senior portraits. I loved getting to spend time with Lou and Kathy, and it was really great to observe Kathy and her husband Tom work together to get some great shots captured! Here are two of the ones I snagged myself:

lovely Louisa

Wright's Park, About 2 blocks from our apartment. It is BEAUTIFUL this time of year!

Immediately after the photo shoot ended we grabbed lunch (greek fries, if you love feta, you gotta try em!), and then rushed off to get pumpkins. Yes, it was Halloween day; I won't deny we procrastinated this year. And we certainly felt the affects of waiting until the last minute. We always get our pumpkins from a specific farm where Vander and the guys hunt ducks and geese every year, so we were quite surprised to pull up and find the farm closed. CLOSED?! This could not be! So we walked up to the house and found out the patch had closed early because of top rot problems. We decided to look anyways, and unfortunately, they were not exaggerating. The tops of all the pumpkins were rotting out! We managed to grab a few gourds for pumpkin bowling at church and for ourselves, and that was really it. I look forward to every Halloween because it means Lou, Emily and I take our traditional pumpkin patch picture, but with the top rot disappointment, it was okay that Emily couldn't make it. :) We'll try again next year.

our "pumpkins"

That night we went to church for a Harvest Party the youth put on for the kids at church. Vander ran a fishing game where the kids threw their poles out over a blue tarp, then a student would clip candy on the end of the line and the kiddos would "real" it back in. Sometimes, for the older kids, they would first clip on a shoe or some "garbage", but Vander would have the kids throw it back and it would be replaced with candy. I helped Louisa run the face painting booth. One of my favorite customers requested a moustache... so cute!

In front of the fishing game, in our costumes.

It was a really fun night! So many kids came from the church is ADORABLE costumes! Afterwards, we headed home and Vander watched football while I carved my little gourd. Inspired by Vander, this is how it turned out:

Can you tell it is a football? It was a little tricky to carve on such a small pumpkin, but it was worth it. I look forward to carving pumpkins every year!

So that was basically our Halloween. Busy. But really fun! I hope to post soon with some pictures from a recent fall walk with Vander, and also of some decorations I made for a baby shower. Now if I can just post before it becomes a week late!

Macaroni Heaven

Survival Tip #2: Make and Eat Good Food

I really enjoy cooking, but since I have started working full time AND going to Master's classes two nights a week, it have become more difficult to do so. I keep telling myself I just need to (fill in the blank in just about anything) in order to make time for cooking, and then life happens. So unfortunately for my kitchen appliances, Vander has a lot of cereal and frozen foods for dinner during the week. Thankfully V is so understanding, supportive and encouraging that he never makes me feel guilty.

Lately Vander has been encouraging me to use Saturdays as an opportunity to make the meals I want to make, even if it means we have dinner at 8pm... like tonight. I wasn't planning on having a late dinner, but I got home from shopping with Emily and ended up taking a 3 hour nap! I finally woke up because I was starving, otherwise I don't think I would have woken up until tomorrow! So, I got up at 5:45 (pray that I can fall asleep tonight!), and went to the store to buy ingredients for Fancy Macaroni, by Ree, the Pioneer Woman. Let me tell you, she had me at sauteed onions and bacon.

Yum. Goodness right there. The recipe is so super incredibly full of deliciousness, it was well worth the wait! It is super rich so I think next time I will leave out the 1/2 cup of half & half, and instead of sauteing the onions in a stick of butter I will just use some chicken stock. Vander and I ate about 1/4 of the baking dish, and then decided we would throw up if we ate another bite.

Here it is cooking. I'm drooling thinking about it (and my stomach is pleading not to fill it anymore). So super yummy, it smells like fondue when it is all done... gruyere and fontina cheeses...

Okay, I'm back from reminiscing about how good it was. What are your favorite recipes? You know, those ones that are worth the time and energy to create? This one can be found at: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/12/fancy-macaroni/ Try it when you have a chance, and can stand to gain a few pounds. :)

Fall Girls Vacation!

Survival Tip #1: When The Weather is Getting You Down, Take a Vacation

This weekend the Corley women celebrated Louisa's upcoming 18th birthday by escaping to our favorite ocean getaway: Pacific City, OR. It is a long, five hour drive out to the coast, but when we get there we always settle in right away. We stay at a rental home owned by one of June's coworkers that is the perfect size for all of us.

We first started going the weekend after my sister Chelsea's wedding, (August, 2009), and haven't been able to stop finding reasons to go back. After the initial August trip with the whole family we returned in November for Emily's graduation trip, and then the whole family went again in April for Emily's birthday. Pacific City is a slow place to take a vacation; just a few shops and restaurants, one espresso place and a HUGE dune. We did not climb it this trip because it rained the whole time, but it is a staple of each visit.

I was so sad when I realized that I had left my camera at home, but we basically just relaxed the whole time so there wasn't too much to photograph. We got coffee, watched movies, and made fleece blankets... and I struggled to write a paper. The trip was much too short but it was worth it to spend time with the women I love so much!

Here are a few pics from previous trips to give you a feel for it:

On top of the dune at sunset

From our trip last November

Ocean view

What did you do this weekend?

Here goes nothing!

Okay, I've done it. I'm blogging now. I hope to use this blog as a way of keeping friends and family up-to-date on what is going on in my life. I'm nervous there won't be much to mention, but I'll try! At the very least I will try to post some pictures regularly!