Stunning Morning Views

The views from our upstairs deck this morning were stunning, when I looked to the left I saw this:: And to the right this is what I saw::
Beautiful! Have a wonderful weekend!

Back from the Bay

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Originally uploaded by deetlesbird

We returned from our short but sweet trip to the Bay Area today...it had been a while since the husband and I had spent any time in my old stomping grounds. He actually considers the area where I used to live to be his old stomping grounds too because he spent so much time visiting me there when we were dating and engaged. As we drove through old neighborhoods and past old haunts, the husband was waaay more nostalgic than I would have guessed. It was kind of cute that he felt that way about being in some of the places where we fell in love. We also had the chance to spend time with some of my family as well as one of my dearest friends from high school and her husband and little girl. It was a good time! I have some catching up to do with work and also with a few more Christmas gift preparations...time is getting short, so I've got to get cracking. I'll share as I make progress!

Snow Days

A few pictures taken Monday morning of the beautiful snow around my house. I was supposed to be subbing for a 5th grade class at a local elementary school that morning, but after several crack of dawn phone calls, that job was cancelled. Instead I had a morning at home, so I made cinnamon rolls and bacon for the husband for breakfast, spent some time cleaning out the chicken coop, and went for a walk around the property a bit, snapping photos and following tracks left by little (and big) critters in the fresh snow...I think the husband and the birds were all pretty content with Plan B, I was a little disappointed, but it was nice to have a day at home before going out of town.

Ornament Exchange Goodies

I mentioned last month that I was participating in an ornament exchange hosted by Sarah of Small Fox. Well, yesterday was the day that some very lovely ornaments arrived in the mail for me. The husband and I are going to be down in California for a couple of days, visiting some family and friends, so I thought I'd share pictures of the lovely ornaments I received for you to enjoy while I'm gone. I've decided that participating in the exchange was a blast, I'll definitely do it again. It was fun to make ornaments and to have the anticipation of receiving ornaments handmade by other ladies all over the country. The best part was that I made my owl ornaments out of materials I already had, so my only cost was postage and time, not bad!

Between 31.5 and 32 I want to...

Today I am 31 and 1/2 years old...six months from 32.
In the next 6 months before I turn 32, I want to:

Learn the words to the song "I'll Fly Away" by heart
Learn to knit
Get my seeds started in the greenhouse and in the ground on time
Plant even more sunflowers than last summer
Keep my home neat and organized
Read six books (or more!)
Find (or possibly start) a local book club
Continue to work out 5 out of 7 days each week.Continue to weigh myself on Monday mornings and watch that number go down!
Master a really good creme brulee recipe (now that I've gotton my "creme brulee toes" wet!)
Make bread from scratch (at least) twice a week
Sign up on time to be a vendor for one really busy farmer's market
Try one new recipe every other week (at least)
Continue to sell my handmade items in local shops
Make 2 new friends

By the way, this is my 200th post...wow! That went fast! I am thinking that after New Years I'll have a celebratory give-a-way...stay tuned for that! For now I'm still up to my eyeballs in preparations and gift-making for Christmas. We are heading down to California tomorrow morning in fact for a short but sweet visit to my family. I still have a few more things I am working on for that - yikes! Hope your week is treating you well so far!

Weekending

The weekend was full of many great moments.

The first snow of the season began to fall on Sunday morning.A family dinner party to renew friendships with the lost and found.

Their little chicken feet prints in the snow made me smile.

The hens continue to lay, though four eggs a day is now more typical than six, I blame the cold.
Snow makes pretty things prettier and ugly things a bit mroe attractive.
Feels so good to get packages taped up and off to the post office.

Delicious wood fire oven pizza on an afternoon date with the husband.

Zumba on Saturday morning, making for my 6th day of working out in a row!

Cozy, romantic, accomplished, contemplative, accomplished, grateful, relaxed, tired, intrigued...yep, it was a good December weekend!

Cozy

This is such a cozy time of year.