November 30, 2010

Christmas overload

For products go here

I won't go on and on about how much I HATE the fact that stores and the media cast Thanksgiving aside for Christmas before it even happens. I hate hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I don't want to think about hanging lights the day after I stuff myself with turkey. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and everything about the holiday season - but I enjoy savoring November as well.

It's no wonder that on this eve of December, I've already seen about a thousand Christmas decor posts in blogland. Many are too foofy or chotchsky for me. However, this inspiration board from Eat Drink Chic fits my Christmas style pretty well. What do you think?

November 29, 2010

I'm back!

My dear (few) loyal followers:

Please accept my apologies for the lack of posting the past 12 days. What a whirlwind it has been! In that time, I managed to survive 7 days at Disneyworld, hold a successful Make! session at the NWP Annual Meeting, host 14 for Thanksgiving, watch 12 episodes of Law and Order SVU, make tons of homemade goodies (pickled green beans and carrots are the best!), and relax with my husband, family, 2 cats and 3 chickens. It has been a glorious 12 days....

Love,
Shannon

The NWP Booth at the NCTE Convention


Successful farmer's market bags from NWP Makes!


Dining with Mickey


One of the Thanksgiving table scapes...

November 17, 2010

Catalog Living

Have you ever been to Catalog Living? It is hands down one of the most hilarious mockery websites ever (Hipster Puppies is another). They post the most random quotes onto catalog photos - the rest speaks for itself:


"Gary and Elaine ran down to the water, giggling like children in anticipation of the first dresser of the season washing ashore."

These photos and quotes always brighten up my day, and remind me to not take all of the decor blogs I read too seriously....

November 15, 2010

6 weeks old!

Yay, the chicks are 6 weeks old, and they have a new home!


Paul spent Sunday building the girls a new pen. They have so much room to play and run around and they are peeping like crazy. I'm sad to leave them for a week - I'll be in Orlando for NWP's Annual Meeting. I'm ready to see all of my extended NWP family, but am sad to leave my girls and Paul!

November 12, 2010

Taste of Fall

I'm a big sucker for soups. Pretty much all soups - ones with rice, ones with veggies, pureed, chunky - you name it, I'll dip my bread in it! Fall of course is the beginning of (warm) soup season, and I thought I'd share some soup recipes I'm looking forward to trying soon:

From Craft: Curried Pumpkin Soup with Crème Fraiche

From Local Savory: Pear and Turnip Soup

From Broke-Ass Gourmet: Lobster-Parsnip Bisque

From Martha Stewart: Pureed Butternut Squash Soup

I actually made my own version of this soup last night. It was pretty good, but was lacking a bit in the spice department. I think I'll try Martha's version. It still looks great though, eh?

November 11, 2010

To card or not to card?

I can't wait to have kids - mostly so I can design fun photo Holiday cards! I kid, I kid. Last year, I decided to make a photo card because we had some awesome shots from our wedding that I had to share with our friends and family. After checking out the different options, I ended up using Shutterfly for them, and they turned out great! (in fact, I still have one hanging on our fridge, where it will remain for a while).

This year, I'm thinking about taking a photo of Paul and I in front of our new house. I mean, it was definitely the biggest thing that happened to us this year (and we're so proud of it!) A few of my favorite holiday cards are:





One thing that I look forward to this time of year is receiving a photo wall calendar from my in-laws - Marie also makes them on Shutterfly, and they are so fun to look through! I made a few last year with wedding photos for my grandparents, and they loved them!

One more thing that I like on Shutterfly that I'm considering getting for my brother and sister-in-law - a pewter ornament with their wedding photo in it. Wouldn't that make a great "1st year of marriage" present?

I can't wait to get to ordering...first up though - Thanksgiving!!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! Sign up!

November 10, 2010

38 days (5 weeks old)

Here's a really short video of the chicks - they are getting so big! Foghorn, Leghorn, and Rafiki are all doing very well. We've found out that Rafiki is indeed a rooster, so he'll be going to a new home soon. I'm kinda sad about it, but that just means that I can get a few more in the spring :) Foghorn is still the nicest of them all - she hops out of the brooder when I lift off the cover, and gets onto my index finger where she carefully watches the other two from above. This weekend we're building the garage pen for the winter (they've been in our guest room since their arrival). It's hard to imagine that we've had them for almost a month now!

November 9, 2010

PaperSource Hack: DIY gift tags

I know it's my favorite time of year because the PaperSource Holiday Catalog Edition is here! I seriously cannot walk into that store without dropping $100, so that catalog is my wallet's saving grace. Though I drool over all of the pages, I do save a few for a fun DIY holiday project. Why spend a few bucks on gift tags when you can make cute ones for free? I've only used the PaperSource catalog for this, but I'm sure it'll work for any stationary catalog.

Step 1: Locate your PaperSource Holiday Edition Catalog


Step 2: Find the pages with the examples of their holiday cards. Cut the ones that look good (and that are readable)


This squirrel is one of my favorites

Step 3: Glue mini-card to solid color cardstock (plain paper will work too). Incidentally, these are leftover Papersource notecards from our wedding.

Step 4: Use fun scrapbook scissors and cut around edges. Be sure to leave space at the top for the string

Step 5: Use hole punch to make 1 hole in the top center of the tag


Insert twine, raffia or ribbon...and ta-da!

A bunch of free and cute DIY holiday gift tags

Mania: In phone photos






November 8, 2010

Recap: Giants Mania 2010


It’s hard to believe that it’s been a week since the Giants won the World Series. Wait, let me say that again. The GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

As many of you may know, I’m a born and raised Giants fan. Sure, there have been times when my fan-dom has waned (like when I had Red Sox fever), but the Giants are forever my home team. The last few weeks have been brutal – scheduling myself around game times, drinking waaay too much beer, biting my fingernails, and generally ignoring my husband for anything Giants related. Last Monday, around 4pm, I decided to watch Game 5 in the city. I just had this feeling that they would win it. So, I put on my Tim Lincecum shirt and boarded the SF Bart train (along with many other fans). I squeezed into a bar in with my friends Paula and Quincy and a ba-jillion others. Thank goodness I took the 5pm train – by the time I made it to the city, it was already the 4th inning, and it wasn’t even 5:45pm!

A few beers, a few shots of whiskey, and a few innings later, Renteria hit the infamous 3 run homer that essentially clinched the game. The crowd went wild. It was so loud, I swore I was deaf for about 3 minutes. I was screaming and jumping up and down (much to the dismay of my recovering ankle). It was glorious, and hugs and high fives were presented all around. I won’t go into how great Timmy pitched, Buster’s homerun, B Weez’s last pitch, or Huff mentioning his thong. You all know how it ends. It was epic.

Moments after the game was over, the city’s bars and restaurants were overflowing with people cheering, high-fiving, beeping – you name it, they were using it to make noise. I’ve never heard a buzz in a city like this before – not even when the Red Sox won the World Series (and yes, I can say that, because I was there). Though people were jumping, screaming, and otherwise being rowdy, there was an eerie sense of calm – like a collective sigh had been relieved from the city, and there was nothing more to worry about. I never once was afraid of people going crazy violent like I’ve seen at other victories/rallies. These San Franciscans kept it classy.



Our crawl through the celebrating streets of SF kept us out until around 1am. We made it down to the ballpark, then up to the Civic Center. All along the way, people were cheering wildly, hugging perfect strangers, and sharing champagne with people on the streets. I’ve never experienced this camaraderie before in the Bay Area, and it was so amazing that it was indescribable. Top 10 events in my life, no doubt.

Next up: Rally Parade!

November 6, 2010

I luv Saturday mornings...

It's been a while since I've been home on a Saturday morning and have had nothing to do. Scratch that. I always have something to do, but cleaning and chores always have to be done. Anyway, this morning was a perfect fall morning, and I was longing for a trip to the farmers market. Here's what I scored for a mere $20:


6 persimmons, 2 pomegranates, 1 butternut squash, a bunch of beets, a bunch of celery, a lb of green beans, 2 heads of garlic, a doz organic eggs, a bouquet of flowers, 3 onions, a bunch of kale, a bunch of basil, and a bag of salad.

November 5, 2010

Recovery begins tomorrow...

Cute Overload

This is how I feel today. So sad all of the excitement is over. Almost done downloading photos and writing my Giants post. Need the weekend to recover...

November 2, 2010

World Champs!!



I'm going to write more about my experience watching the San Francisco Giants win the World Series last night, but here's why it'll have to wait until tomorrow:

1. I'm at work, in the same clothes I wore yesterday.
2. These are the same clothes I slept in, minus the Tim Lincecum shirt I had on last night that's now stinky from beer and champagne showers....
3. Not surprisingly I'm slightly hungover and tired, but the adrenaline is still flowing. I'm hoping I can make it to 5pm without falling asleep on my desk.
4. I have work to finish since I won't be here tomorrow (I'll be at the Giants Parade!)

This video will have to do for now. And yes, I was there. It was incredible. I loved every single minute of it!