Happy Halloween!

A few things to report...

1) Ries looks real cute in her Halloween witch costume and "Trick for Treats" t-shirt.







2) My Mom sent us a funny Halloween card yesterday!





3) Although we live in a neighborhood FULL of kids, we get about 3 kids that come around on Halloween night. Leads me to believe they think this is the "poor" neighborhood that gives our crappy candy and they cross the street for the "McMansions" and the full size candy bars. Guess that means I'll be left with a bowl full of Peanut M&Ms and Reese's.

Hope you have a good Halloween!

Yearly Photobook

Every year I create a book full of photos from our shared adventures throughout the year. It's probably one of the best things I ever decided to do, and I do indeed look at them frequently. They're on a shelf in our living room and lots of visitors look through them and comment on how it's such a great idea and something we'll treasure forever- they're right! It's so great to look back on the times we shared with friends and family, recall moments from those times, and overall be thankful for those times. Looking back at this year, we were apart of so many great memories- Christmas with our families, Amy & Jerry's Wedding, surprising Brian's parents in Arizona, New York City, 4th of July at the Lake, Chicago with our families, and Las Vegas for my brother's birthday. Here is the book I made for this year.

Click here to view this photo book larger

It Was A Lovely Weekend!

I must say, it was a great weekend. It was the first Friday in months that I was in the office, just due to some scheduling with co-workers, and I must say, it certainly gives a different feel to the start of the weekend. I felt a bit more productive, maybe, even though it was so hard to get out of bed this morning. That can probably be attributed to my hour and a half nap Thursday night at about 7:30 pm, hence keeping me awake until 1 am. Ugh! I didn't mean to fall asleep, it just happened.

Or, maybe I didn't want to crawl out due to the rainy, chilly temps and a nice warm Ries keeping me warm and snuggled under the covers. Whatever the reason, I made it out, pulled on some jeans for "Casual Friday," picked up a hot chocolate en route to the office, went to Target on my lunch, had a productive work day, went to the mall for a bit this evening, and then came home to watch a night full of skating and gymnastics on TV while putting pictures in an album and making some Christmas gifts- perfect! Yes, Christmas gifts! I now have bought three gifts so far- one for Brian, Mom, and David.

My good finds at LOFT and J.Crew on Friday night were:


$10 and change with discounts and coupons from LOFT


$19.99 marked down from $79.50 from J.Crew

Saturday was another great day. I have to say, being out and about I really noticed that the fall colors are so striking right now. Absolutely beautiful! Our neighbors have a gorgeous tree that is yellow on the underside and bright red on the top. I love it! I enjoyed sleeping in to start off my day, just what I like. Then, I had a pedicure at my favorite little place, Ten20 in Boulder, and finally joined the girls in Denver for an evening of fun! I even caught some late night gymnastics and skating on TV again- love that Universal Sports is broadcasting all of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating events!

And finally, to Sunday. Unfortunately it isn't quite as beautiful here today- gloomy and 60 degrees. I'm attempting to make a little project out of some branches that we had to cut down, so I did some spray painting. We'll see how it turns out. I also made a trip to the grocery store to acquire ingredients for a "multi day" meal. I dislike cooking as it is, so when Brian is out of town I make meals that can last for several days. Last week it was Macaroni/Bacon/Green Pepper/Onion/Tomato (it's a family thing) and this week is Spaghetti and Taco Salad (or Tacos). Not sure that the rest of the day will hold anything exciting, which is fine by me. Curled up on the couch in sweat pants with a good book, and later Brothers & Sisters, sounds great!

Merry Christmas 2 You

I can't believe I'm dedicating an entire post to Mariah Carey, but this is worthy in my book. I think it's a safe bet to say that this album goes hand in hand with the holiday season. Who hasn't belted out Mariah's famous "All I Want For Christmas Is Yooooooooouuuuuuu" tune while driving down the road on a snowy December day? In my case, perhaps on a late October day because I am one of those who will listen to Christmas music the minute the local "we play holiday music 24-7" station makes the switch over to "all holiday, all of the time." Well, come November 2 I will have a whole new set of songs to get in the festive spirit with. I'm sure this one will be just as great as her last!

Nate Berkus Show - Ladder Shelf

When I work from home a few days a week I can listen in to the TV. Sometimes Ellen, Oprah, and now Nate Berkus. I love the way he used a salvaged ladder as a shelf on yesterday's show. We have the perfect spot for it, now I just need to find a ladder!



I seem to have a fixation with projects utilizing old ladders, because I've mentioned this one several times before. I still love it!

Ideas for Old Calendars

Over the past few years I have bought some very pretty calendars. What is one to do with the beautiful images that remain after the year has passed? In these two instances, I am easily able to remove the actual calendar piece from the art, but I can't figure out what to do with them.





For the travel images I've thought about doing something along the lines of Mrs. Limestone's Passport Art:


But, to be honest, Brian has a pretty fantastic passport and I'd really like to save parts of this idea for displaying actual passport pages somewhere down the line. I guess I could pepper in some travel graphics though, since I don't plan on fully adopting the "framed blocks" concept. It's still not winning me over as the best idea though...

For the letter press images, I've given thought to perhaps something like the wall of art John & Sherry did in their office/guestroom/playroom. But I would need to acquire many more pieces of art to display. One year's worth of graphics wouldn't cut it.



The wall in front of my desk is already pretty busy too. I have quite a bit going on. Here's my current view:


I would need to do some serious streamlining if I was to ever have art ledges up there.

Neither idea seems exactly right, and I just can't wrap my head around what to do with the pages that keep piling up in my filing cabinet though. The lightbulb has not gone off yet and I've been thinking about this for a long time now. Any recommendations? I would love to see other ideas!

I think that I've found my calendars (one for home and one for office) for 2011 as well! Check out this Linda & Harriet calendar here and here, and just like this past year, Parrott Design Studio (they did the above mentioned/pictured letterpress that I have this year). Their calendar should be posted next week. Just for kicks, another one of my favorites as well. I had one of Michelle's at the office this year.

A Headboard Project

I teased way back on June 5 about a quart of black paint that I had purchased for an upcoming project. Well, we were slow to start and then slow to finish, but I finally have results! In June, I purchased an old door from ReSource (for $15) with the intent to turn it into a headboard. There were a few snafus, such as a hole where the glass used to be.


This was after we had already cut some off of the top and bottom of the door, so it was the proper size for our queen bed.


When we did some of the trimming, we were left with some panels. Bingo! I can glue these back together and pop them into the old space where the window was.


Here Brian is measuring out the 4 x 4" posts that were going on each side.


Trim for the side that we didn't end up using. Had to go with something flat and plain so the corners wouldn't look funny.


Trim for the top.




Support to affix the door to the posts.


Yes, I can and do use power tools. Sometimes. For pictures sake.


Have the supports fixed to the posts.


Looking good!


Attaching the trim with wood glue. Thanks for getting Brian those clamps for Christmas Dad, they came in real handy!


Putting that "newly crafted" piece into place.


Lining up the screws with the post and the bedframe.


Getting ready to make the final attachments.


Before


After


Detail shots.







Overall, this cost just over $100 for the door, paint, trim, posts, and hardware. I will say, with all of the cutting and calculations, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. But, we built it! How awesome is that? Certainly makes it well worth it in my book! Now onto the rest of the room...

Lovely Fall Weekend

What a great weekend we had! Friday we went to our favorite brew-pup (Bull & Bush) for a birthday happy hour in Brian's honor. About 15 of our friends joined in the fun for a few hours. Saturday we slept in and then went to watch the awful UM vs MSU game. Michigan, please find some defense. Later that evening we went ran a few errands to Target and the pet store, and then went to see The Social Network. We thought it was really interesting. I would recommend it! Today is a rainy, gloomy day- spent in sweats and cozied up on the couch all day long. I left the house long enough to grocery shop and Brian is now gone for night 1 of 3 of the Phish concerts.

I've already consumed 2 of these and have only had them in the bowl for an hour. Not sure why I thought it was a good idea to pick up a bag. I eat the Krackle and Milk Chocolate ones only. Apparently that means Brian eats the others, even though he "doesn't want to."



We have some friends coming over for chili, beer, and sausages before Tuesday night's Phish concert. Sounds like a perfect man fest. I'm nicely cooking up the chili tonight so it will be all ready for Tuesday. No other major plans on our agenda for the week. We are going to Vail next Friday - Sunday which should be nice, I think. I thought it would be a perfect fall weekend but they got a few inches of snow up there on Thursday night. So maybe it will be a winter-y weekend? Oh well, too late to back out now. Then, Brian leaves again for another work trip. I think once that one is done, he will have been gone for 3 1/2 out of 6 weeks- yuck. We still haven't gone to Salt for his birthday dinner, so perhaps we'll do that one night this week.

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Jeans Follow-up

I'm happy to report that I was able to solve "The Great Jeans Debacle" this weekend, but not without much wasted time and energy, that's for sure! My search included trips to:

Levi's
Old Navy
Gap
Banana Republic
American Eagle
J.Crew

Two places that were on my list that I did not hit are Nordstroms (my wallet thanks me) and Urban Outfitters (I've heard great things about the BDG jeans). At my third stop, Old Navy, I tried on just about every style in the store. I ended up bringing home the Sweetheart style and they are keepers. I can't say they are fantastic, but I can say that I was sick and tired of trying on jeans, they fit, and they are the proper length, so I am done. I couldn't even muster up the energy to see what Nordstroms or Urban Outfitters had to offer. It was a full day and half of searching.

What all did I discover during my numerous fitting room visits? I can't remember what was wrong with Levi's. It could have been that the sales girls were completely un-helpful. Gap's various styles just didn't fit. The major problem was the big gaping space along the waistband in the back- I hate that. Banana Republic doesn't sell their jeans in lengths so they were way too long. J.Crew's had the gaping waistband issue and just didn't flatter. American Eagle was just a moment of desperation, but as I expected they were all low, low, low rise jeans- still designed for their target audience of high schoolers.

These Old Navy "Sweetheart Jeans" will probably be gone in about a year, just around the time I'm in need of a new pair- my biggest frustration with stores. But, for the time being they should carry me through the winter months, and at only $20 on sale, the price really can't be beat. If you order on-line, is appears as if they are $14.99- oh no, I'm sure this indicates that they are about to be discontinued! I should probably order another pair!

Fall Cheer!

A few weeks ago I made this wreath, and finally put it on the front door. I also bought the cute scarecrow for $8 from Walmart, the small bale of hay from Hobby Lobby, and I'm on my second round of Mums. I think I may have been a bit ambitious a few weeks ago and bought them when it was still too hot. I just replaced the larger one yesterday. My smallest one is hanging on, and don't look too closely because the medium one is 3/4 of the way gone. Oops. The festive gourds came from the grocery store yesterday. $5 for the whole lot of them.

I Love Freezing Meals

By now you all probably are well aware of my love of cooking. Ha. Not. But, it is necessary for survival, so I attempt to make it as easy as possible. My latest attempt at making life easier is to cook double batches of meals and freeze one half. That way, in a few weeks when I need to make something for dinner I can just pull it out of the freezer and presto, dinner is served. I love that!

Of course, this typically only works well for what I'll call "liquid/sauce based meals" such as soups, chili, sloppy joes, and the like. I also learned not to freeze milk based items, such as my beloved Ham and Potato Soup. It separates and possibly curdles when you reheat. Oops.

So, what's on tap for double batches this week? Sloppy Joe's/BBQ and Chili. Makes life much easier if I do say so myself! We'll also be pulling a batch of spaghetti sauce out of the freezer, cooking some noodles, and sitting down to eat in less than 15 minutes. Glorious.

I'm always on the look out for easy meals to freeze, so please feel free to share if you have any good ones!