Daily Doily

Currently.

I saw this on Sometimes Sweet + she saw it here + I'm going to play along...

Obsessing Over:  Getting a Christmas tree + pulling out all the ornaments from the attic.  I don't have that much longer to wait.  I think we are going to go tomorrow night :)  Yay!  I'm excited about dancing to A Very She & Him Christmas on the record player + decorating the tree.

Working On:  Our advent calendar.  Our tradition is to do a different holiday activity each day (or try to).  

Thinking About:  I love this time of year + all the special memories from the past years.  Two years ago, Zac + I planned a special night with our mom's to go to Starry Nights (a holiday light show).  I made homemade vegetable beef soup + my mom opened a few bottles of wine.  Well...they all got a little tipsy, so we didn't go to starry nights.  But...Zac told me he wanted to marry me that night + he told his mom.  I was one happy girl that night + it makes me all warm inside thinking about it now :)

Anticipating:  Going to visit Zac's Dad in Ft. Lauderdale.  We are going to see My Morning Jacket in Boca Raton + I can't tell you how excited I am to see them again!!!  We always have so much fun when we visit.  It will be fun to be in Florida at Christmastime.  

Listening To:  Whatever Zac is watching on t.v. + him yawning.

Drinking:  Water.  Not too exciting.  I'd like a hot chocolate though or hot cider or I'd even settle for some hot tea ;)

Wishing:  That these feelings last forever.  I wish to be this in love with my husband forever + still have the magic holiday feeling forever + having it with our kids one day.

What about you?  I'd love to see if you play along.

 

Christmas Music...

...to check out:

 Hue & Hum Christmas: (check out their lovely blog too)...

...and this sneak peek video:

Xmas Movie Soundtrack:

The Civil Wars // Tracks In the Snow- Single:

A Very She & Him Christmas: (I already own this one, but I'm waiting to listen to it when we decorate the tree):

I can't wait!

My other favorite Christmas songs/albums are: 

D.I.Y. Yarn Wreath

Have you seen these yarn wreaths all over pinterest + blogs?  I knew I wanted to try to do a Christmas one.  It was super easy + didn't take as long as it feels like it will at first.  I bought a foam wreath form from Hobby Lobby (don't forget to print off the 40% off coupon!) + some yarn that had some less traditional colors (gray, chartreuse + rhubarb) that I liked.  I ordered coordinating felt from here.

Tie or glue the end of the yarn to the wreath form + start wrapping.  This skein wrapped around about 3/4 of the way, so if you only want to use one color then buy 2.  I finished the top part with some yarn I already had that matched.  I actually like the way it turned out + prefer 2 colors. 

I used this tutorial to make the felt flowers.  I like that you make the outside wavy (i think it looks better than straight cut).  I cut leaf shapes out of felt too + then I did a loose back stitch around the edges to add more visual interest + a more finished look.

I used a hot glue gun to glue the leaves + flowers to the wreath.  I found some matching flower ribbon in the studio (i think it's by love, elsie [from YEARS ago]) to tie the wreath to the hanger. That's it!

It makes me happy every time I see it :)

Happy Thanksgiving

This year was Zac + I's first Thanksgiving as a married couple :)  I'm so thankful to have such a loving, accepting, supportive, uplifting man to spend the rest of my life with. 

We went to Zac's aunt's house for Thanksgiving.  I made a cheese ring with strawberry preserve filling. 

I hope everyone had a happy day + much to be thankful for :)

We're about to watch Serendipity!  I'm so excited.  I wish that would become tradition, but I have the feeling Zac is only going to watch it once.  Haha.  He even might fall asleep.

List of Artists

I found this list of artists in my studio (probably from college) + I thought it might be fun to look them up + write a post about it.

• Tim Forcum:

• Mary O' Malley:

• Ann Tracy
• Betsy Stirratt

• Cara Tomlinson (who I already did a post on)
• Molly Gunther:

• Jackie Tileston:

• Nina Bovasso:

• Darren Waterston:

• Sarah Emerson
• Cara Enteles:

• Jennifer Sanchez:

• Laurel Sparks
• Annette Davidek:

 

• Nancy Blum:

• Maija Fiebig:

• Amy Ruppel
• Niki Kelce:

• Julie Evans:

• Reed Danzinger

Ok.  That's enough for today :)  Who are some of your favorite artists + what inspires you to paint?

Pumpkin Cake Balls

I made these for our work's potluck + everyone loved them!  It was super easy since I used all store bought items.  Here's the "recipe":

I mixed 1 1/2 pumpkin cake rolls from the fresh market with about a cup of duncan hines creamy homestyle cream cheese icing (the cake roll already had cream cheese icing between the layers) until the cake was moist.  You could make all this from scratch too :)

Then I used a cookie scoop + my hands to roll the mix into 1" balls and place on waxed paper.  Put them in the freezer for an hour or so to harden. 

Melt some orange candy melts (I bought mine at Michael's) in the microwave on the defrost setting + stirring every 30 seconds (directions on the bag).  Dip 4" lollipop sticks (bought at Michael's) in the mix about 1/2" and then stick halfway through the balls.  Then dip the balls in the orange candy melts until they are covered and place back on wax paper.  They dry pretty quickly.  You could put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process if you wanted.  Then I melted some green candy melts for the leaves + put it in a ziplock bag with the corner cut to make a piping bag + piped some leaves :)   

I've realized that I'm not very good at writing recipes :) haha.  I hope this makes sense.  I placed them on some pretty gold doilies + transported them in a cake box!  It made about 30 pops.  I can mark that off my 28 before 29 list.  Make cake balls

 Here's what I had for lunch today:

Yum!  The turkey, dressing + gravy was my favorite (of course!)

Vera's 5th Birthday

Sweet "Eringlo's Firepink Wildflower" Vera Lynn Palmore Overbey (she has some names, huh?) turned five (35 in human years) yesterday.  I took her to three dog bakery on Saturday since they are closed on Sunday.  She had so much fun smelling everything.  Her favorite thing is to jump on the counter + get a fresh treat dipped in icing!  I got her a new racoon toy, red velvet pupcake, 2 peanut butter puptarts, turkey patties (for Thanksgiving) + a bone with her name on it.

She didn't really like her bone, but she LOVED the red velvet pupcake!  I sang her happy birthday while Zac laughed at me :)  He tries not to "claim her" as his, but secretly he's madly in love with her.

I thought it might be fun to post pictures from all of her birthdays so far :) She's spoiled rotten:

 

Sketchbook Project :: Hiking

On the left side is still a receipt + baggage claim ticket from my Cali trip, but on the right side is our permit to go hiking + a sketch of the trail we went on:

I sketched my shoes on the ride home + on the bottom right is a cutout of a topo map of the trail we went on.

You can read more ab the sketchbook project here.

Silly Vera

 Zac + I gave Vera (our soft coated wheaten terrier) a bath last night.  I'm pretty sure she hated every minute of it.  She was so excited when she got out.  The wheatens that I know hate to have their beards wet + they do this funny scooting across the floor, couch, etc. to get it dry again.  Here's a video of Vera + all her goofiness last night, haha:

Fall Creek Falls Video

You can see the video from last time in this post :)