today was sort of an uneventful day. we needed much rest after our long day of candy-making yesterday, however, that was not coming this morning. we had a photo shoot with the tirschman family bright and early. it was a great shoot and we had a nice time. (you can see more about that shoot on shawn's blog here).
the afternoon consisted of napping and wrapped up with family dinner with the grimes and partos at cracker barrel.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
{holiday daily: day 3}
today a long-time family christmas tradition continues...candy making at mom-mom's house. on this day every year my entire family gathers at my grandmothers to spend the day making our (secret) recipe family christmas candy. this candy is a huge hit with everyone i know and has been for years. people that we know wait patiently for this candy and hope that they will be one of the lucky receivers of a small batch for a christmas gift. it is an event that i look forward to every year and it is a huge bonding experience for our family and something that no one else i know does. this year shawn tagged along for the second year in a row and we were lucky enough to have amber come along to help. she was a hard worker and loved every minute of it! she has been a self-proclaimed "christmas candy lover" for many years and was excited to finally get the behind the scenes scoop on how it all came to be. here are some photos of our sugar and sweetness filled day...
Friday, November 28, 2008
{holiday daily: day 2}
on a day when most people are rushing out to the stores at god-awful hours of the morning, i have (mostly) opted out of that today. instead, i decided to devote the day to relaxing and crafting. shawn's sister, amber, did manage to get me out to target and michael's for a few things, but it was short lived. about mid-afternoon i met amber and shawn's mom and then stole amber away to come home with me to get some crafting done :)
it took us a little while to actually get to the crafting, eating had to happen first! pru and brian and brigid and alex ventured over to the proving grounds with the kiddos to visit the ordnance museum and check out all of the super cool tanks. so hunger had definitely settled in after checking out all of the tanks and our (mini)shopping extravaganza. alex and pru had suggested kfc for dinner, but i can't eat kfc. then amber suggested hickory dicks, our most favoritest fried chicken place. since it is at least a half hour away, i declined that suggestion. i lost this battle when shawn came home from work about five minutes later and when he heard about fried chicken and made the same suggestion amber did (i guess great minds really do think alike :) ) and it worked out nicely for us, because everyone LOVED the chicken. We enjoyed another nice "family" dinner around the table and got to the festivities.
amber and i had a few different things we were working on and the rest of the gang decided they were going to tackle rock band! now, i would have thought that alex would have been the one who rocked it, but that assumption would have been a little off. brigid grabbed the microphone and sang her little heart out.
it was a lot of fun to watch shawn and alex and brigid enjoy themselves so much. amber and i continued crafting while we all watched juno together, one of my new favorites.
while amber worked on another munny and some cute little felt purses,
i began working on my cute holiday garland.
i also finished a scrapbook page, my first in a while, i was inspired with all of this holiday goodness surrounding me to finally scrap all of my holiday pictures from last year.
we had a lot of fun and our crafting carried over into the wee hours of the morning. i have had so much fun with amber and our crafty endeavors lately, i am so glad we are getting to hang out and it reminds me a lot of the times we used to hang out when we were teenagers. i look forward to all of the times we will get to spend together in the future :)
as much fun as the last three days have been with all of our company, i am definitely going to miss having everyone around. we always have such a nice time when we are together and the kids are so much fun. i would be lying if i said that i didn't miss sean over the last few days, but i am very very happy that we can all still spend time together and make new memories...i think sean would be very pleased :) i hope that everyone has had a wonderful thanksgiving!
now it's time to get ready for christmas....... :)
it took us a little while to actually get to the crafting, eating had to happen first! pru and brian and brigid and alex ventured over to the proving grounds with the kiddos to visit the ordnance museum and check out all of the super cool tanks. so hunger had definitely settled in after checking out all of the tanks and our (mini)shopping extravaganza. alex and pru had suggested kfc for dinner, but i can't eat kfc. then amber suggested hickory dicks, our most favoritest fried chicken place. since it is at least a half hour away, i declined that suggestion. i lost this battle when shawn came home from work about five minutes later and when he heard about fried chicken and made the same suggestion amber did (i guess great minds really do think alike :) ) and it worked out nicely for us, because everyone LOVED the chicken. We enjoyed another nice "family" dinner around the table and got to the festivities.
amber and i had a few different things we were working on and the rest of the gang decided they were going to tackle rock band! now, i would have thought that alex would have been the one who rocked it, but that assumption would have been a little off. brigid grabbed the microphone and sang her little heart out.
it was a lot of fun to watch shawn and alex and brigid enjoy themselves so much. amber and i continued crafting while we all watched juno together, one of my new favorites.
while amber worked on another munny and some cute little felt purses,
i began working on my cute holiday garland.
i also finished a scrapbook page, my first in a while, i was inspired with all of this holiday goodness surrounding me to finally scrap all of my holiday pictures from last year.
we had a lot of fun and our crafting carried over into the wee hours of the morning. i have had so much fun with amber and our crafty endeavors lately, i am so glad we are getting to hang out and it reminds me a lot of the times we used to hang out when we were teenagers. i look forward to all of the times we will get to spend together in the future :)
as much fun as the last three days have been with all of our company, i am definitely going to miss having everyone around. we always have such a nice time when we are together and the kids are so much fun. i would be lying if i said that i didn't miss sean over the last few days, but i am very very happy that we can all still spend time together and make new memories...i think sean would be very pleased :) i hope that everyone has had a wonderful thanksgiving!
now it's time to get ready for christmas....... :)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
{holiday daily: gobble gobble}
thursday, november 27
turkey day has come along once again. and this year i was ready to celebrate this holiday with the same zeal and enthusiasm i did a few years ago. last year, shawn and i refrained from celebrating thanksgiving. we had a nice quite dinner of fried chicken and a relaxing day of going to the movies and taking pictures downtown. we just weren't in the holiday spirit last year. this year, however, is much different. i wanted to open my home back up to the carabines and do thanksgiving right. so last night pru and brian and brigid and alex and david, emma, and grace showed up at the house to spend the next few days, just like it used to be. sure, things are a little different this year, and this is the first time any of them have been to the house since sean passed away, but, it is so nice to have them here and i hope they feel the same.
today was a great day of eating and catching up. the kids have been working on crafts and playing the wii and the adults have been scavenging through the black friday sale papers and chatting with one another.
the turkey was delicious and the meal went off without a hitch. for dessert, we fired up the chocolate fountain (yum-o) had an array of pies, including a few apple pies that jackie and i made together on monday. the carabines were here of course, the partos were all here, and the grimes clan came over to join us for dessert.
the wii was a big hit with the kids, especially david. mom mom even played along. everyone enjoyed some friendly competition and had a great time.
here are some photos from the day, not the best, but they will do...
turkey day has come along once again. and this year i was ready to celebrate this holiday with the same zeal and enthusiasm i did a few years ago. last year, shawn and i refrained from celebrating thanksgiving. we had a nice quite dinner of fried chicken and a relaxing day of going to the movies and taking pictures downtown. we just weren't in the holiday spirit last year. this year, however, is much different. i wanted to open my home back up to the carabines and do thanksgiving right. so last night pru and brian and brigid and alex and david, emma, and grace showed up at the house to spend the next few days, just like it used to be. sure, things are a little different this year, and this is the first time any of them have been to the house since sean passed away, but, it is so nice to have them here and i hope they feel the same.
today was a great day of eating and catching up. the kids have been working on crafts and playing the wii and the adults have been scavenging through the black friday sale papers and chatting with one another.
the turkey was delicious and the meal went off without a hitch. for dessert, we fired up the chocolate fountain (yum-o) had an array of pies, including a few apple pies that jackie and i made together on monday. the carabines were here of course, the partos were all here, and the grimes clan came over to join us for dessert.
the wii was a big hit with the kids, especially david. mom mom even played along. everyone enjoyed some friendly competition and had a great time.
here are some photos from the day, not the best, but they will do...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
{holiday daily}
well folks it has been a while, but i am back, and hopefully for quite a while this time. i have decided that after seeing this idea for a a december daily album i wanted to try one of my own. well, seeing as how i am so busy with all of the new crafty adventures i am trying i would be too busy to actually assemble an album right now and add to it daily, i am going to try to complete mine right here on my blog. instead of just completing a december daily, though, i wanted to extend mine and make it a "holiday daily" to include thanksgiving, since some of my most important christmas traditions occur before december actually gets here. so i am hoping that i will be able to keep up with this and post stories and projects and pictures and lots of holiday goodness to document this wonderful time of year, something new everyday. happy holidays!
Friday, November 21, 2008
{happy today}
today there are lots of things that i am happy about...
- took the day off work to get the house ready for thanksgiving
- woke up to the first real snow of the season! it snowed for about three minutes earlier this week, but that was all. this is actually quite a little squall and has actually covered the grass! i will try to post some pictures later on.
- my good buddy kevin is coming to look at my broken shower door today and *hopefully* be able to get it fixed by next week so i can move back in to my own bathroom!
- this weekend promises to be quite exciting. hoping to be able to get some crafty things completed and create! create! create! woke up with LOTS of great ideas this morning!
- saturday we are hosting MUNNY MADNESS with some friends. we will be creating our very own munny dolls which shawn and i have been wanting to do for a long time now...still not sure what i want to create, if you have any ideas, please send them my way before tomorrow!
- sunday we are going to take my little sister out and take some photos, then it is birthday dinner for my dear grandmother
well i hope that everyone has an inspired and fun weekend!
- took the day off work to get the house ready for thanksgiving
- woke up to the first real snow of the season! it snowed for about three minutes earlier this week, but that was all. this is actually quite a little squall and has actually covered the grass! i will try to post some pictures later on.
- my good buddy kevin is coming to look at my broken shower door today and *hopefully* be able to get it fixed by next week so i can move back in to my own bathroom!
- this weekend promises to be quite exciting. hoping to be able to get some crafty things completed and create! create! create! woke up with LOTS of great ideas this morning!
- saturday we are hosting MUNNY MADNESS with some friends. we will be creating our very own munny dolls which shawn and i have been wanting to do for a long time now...still not sure what i want to create, if you have any ideas, please send them my way before tomorrow!
- sunday we are going to take my little sister out and take some photos, then it is birthday dinner for my dear grandmother
well i hope that everyone has an inspired and fun weekend!
Monday, November 17, 2008
{so inspired}
i have been so inspired by the class i am taking with elsie flannigan! we are in week two of a six week time together and it is absolutely awesome! my weeks are generally too busy to work on any of the projects, but i was able to spend a lot of time on friday night working on last week's projects which included painting a new journal, creating some new journal entries, and creating a mini album - which i have only done once or twice before and never like this. i forgot to take pictures of my new journal which i love so i will have to post that later this week.
but for now, i can post the mini album pictures. this was a book i made to show some of the pictures of my sister jackie and i together when i visited her in san diego in february. enjoy!
this was so much fun to make and i can't wait to make more mini albums. i also can't wait to make more of the projects for this class.
in other news, this weekend was a blast! friday night shawn was home working on the nistico's pictures so i spent the evening cooped up in my scraproom listening to my favorite music and crafting away. it was so nice to spend that time, i haven't done that in a long time.
saturday shawn and his sister, amber, and myself ventured down to baltimore for the holiday heap craft show sponsored by charm city craft mafia. we had such a great time. there was so much eye candy, and it was so nice to see all of the different handmade goodies that each crafter had to offer. i got a few prints for my living room and a cute handmade purse and a few awesome cards to send to friends during the holiday season. after the show, we went to hampden for lunch at cafe hon which shawn and i have wanted to do for quite a while. it is such a great little place. after lunch we visited a fave store of ours atomic pop so we could each buy a munny to decorate at our munny decorating party this weekend. you can see the munny here...munny (i will have to update to include photos of the finished product after the decorating party).
sunday we had a photo shoot with zach and stacie and simon howes here at the house. we were shooting christmas pictures for them. we had so much fun with the three of them and the pictures turned out great! we are having so much fun with our recent shoots. particularly those involving the little ones (when did kids get so darn cute?!?!?) we concluded the weekend with our usual grimes/parto family dinner at outback steakhouse, which is always such a nice treat!
this week at school is american education week and i expect to have lots of visitors in and out of my classroom all week, joy of joys! wish me luck!
but for now, i can post the mini album pictures. this was a book i made to show some of the pictures of my sister jackie and i together when i visited her in san diego in february. enjoy!
this was so much fun to make and i can't wait to make more mini albums. i also can't wait to make more of the projects for this class.
in other news, this weekend was a blast! friday night shawn was home working on the nistico's pictures so i spent the evening cooped up in my scraproom listening to my favorite music and crafting away. it was so nice to spend that time, i haven't done that in a long time.
saturday shawn and his sister, amber, and myself ventured down to baltimore for the holiday heap craft show sponsored by charm city craft mafia. we had such a great time. there was so much eye candy, and it was so nice to see all of the different handmade goodies that each crafter had to offer. i got a few prints for my living room and a cute handmade purse and a few awesome cards to send to friends during the holiday season. after the show, we went to hampden for lunch at cafe hon which shawn and i have wanted to do for quite a while. it is such a great little place. after lunch we visited a fave store of ours atomic pop so we could each buy a munny to decorate at our munny decorating party this weekend. you can see the munny here...munny (i will have to update to include photos of the finished product after the decorating party).
sunday we had a photo shoot with zach and stacie and simon howes here at the house. we were shooting christmas pictures for them. we had so much fun with the three of them and the pictures turned out great! we are having so much fun with our recent shoots. particularly those involving the little ones (when did kids get so darn cute?!?!?) we concluded the weekend with our usual grimes/parto family dinner at outback steakhouse, which is always such a nice treat!
this week at school is american education week and i expect to have lots of visitors in and out of my classroom all week, joy of joys! wish me luck!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
[things i love today...]
...i am finally feeling a little better after a nasty illness and missing three days of work
...fall is in full swing and halloween has passed with thanksgiving now on the horizon, beginning to think about all of the things i am grateful for this year and preparing for having family around this holiday season
...getting ready to take a few classes with some of the people that inspire me
elsiecake class
stories in hand
...a new president has been chosen, and man does he inspire me. watched his election night speech last night on youtube, definitely struck a chord with me
...preparing for two photo shoots this weekend, my cousins and shawn's cousin
...the cute little charlie brown christmas tree that shawn bought
...my sister has moved back home! jackie and jay have a lovely little house in the city that we helped them move into last weekend, very excited to have her back home
...my sister's dog remus is the most cutest little dog ever! very spunky, makes me miss my little brutie a whole lot
...this video, came across this today. i am loving this song right now and when i saw this it brought a giant smile to my face...
...fall is in full swing and halloween has passed with thanksgiving now on the horizon, beginning to think about all of the things i am grateful for this year and preparing for having family around this holiday season
...getting ready to take a few classes with some of the people that inspire me
elsiecake class
stories in hand
...a new president has been chosen, and man does he inspire me. watched his election night speech last night on youtube, definitely struck a chord with me
...preparing for two photo shoots this weekend, my cousins and shawn's cousin
...the cute little charlie brown christmas tree that shawn bought
...my sister has moved back home! jackie and jay have a lovely little house in the city that we helped them move into last weekend, very excited to have her back home
...my sister's dog remus is the most cutest little dog ever! very spunky, makes me miss my little brutie a whole lot
...this video, came across this today. i am loving this song right now and when i saw this it brought a giant smile to my face...
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