December Daily-It's not always Merry and Bright

This week has definitely had some highs and very lows. I debated about whether or not to put these thoughts to a post, but I think it helps to me keep things in perspective.

Between Saturday and Tuesday I attended 3 funerals 2 of I did not know the individual, but felt the need to be there.  All 3 of these people left a huge impact on those they encountered.

A couple weeks ago I received the sad news that our realtor had passed away, Cary had mentioned when we began to actively search for a house that her cancer had returned, but I had no idea that it would claim her so quickly.  Our last text was in late August, and according to her sister she organized a family reunion out of state in October and by November her illness had taken over.  There were hundreds at her memorial service and many spoke of the impact she made not only professionally, but personally with her work with her son's scout troop.  She was a hard worker, and such a cheerful fun loving soul who will be greatly missed.

A co-worker's son had been diagnosed with cancer about a year ago right when he was getting ready to play starter for Vanderbilt University.  Turner became ill after his dad had transferred from our office, but we received regular updates on Turner's condition.  There was hope that he would get well enough to participate in an experimental treatment, but his health began to decline rapidly the last month or so of his life.  Turner was only a year younger than PJ, so dealing with this has been very hard.  It's not something you want to have in common with another parent.  Like at Cary's service there were hundreds of people that came to show their support for the family, and speak about the impact Turner made during his short life.  His parents work colleagues, members of the SEC Commission, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Tech and high school teammates of Randy [his dad], church and high school and so many others attended.  It was heart warming to hear the wonderful things that were said about Turner's character, his smile, and how much he meant to so many.  He made such a huge impact in such a short time, and it reminder me much of what was said about PJ.

Tuesday, I attended the funeral mass for a recently fallen officer in DeKalb Co. which hit close to home in so many aspects.  I have not attended a service for a fallen officer in almost 30 years, not because of lack of opportunity, but because of emotionally draining they can be.  Steve is wrapping up his 30 year career as a police officer and there were many days I worried about his safety.  I also work with about 75 sworn officers and have encountered countless more in my job.  Our office has a close relationship with the DeKalb Co PD, and I felt like I needed to be there to not only show support for the family, but also the 1,000s of officers and recruits who were in attendance.  Officer Flores was born the same year as PJ, and so a connection resonated once again.  The attendance included elected officials at the local, state and national level, and the one's who spoke did not use this situation as an opportunity to politicize the tragedy of losing this officer, but rather spoke to his sacrifice and how our society needs to examine itself.  No finger pointing-such a nice break!  His academy classmates of which there were only 4, including Flores, spoke of how his bright smile and sense of humor is what they will miss the most.  Again, another individual that made a huge impact on those around him in a very short amount of time.

It is not all doom and gloom for me this week as I was very fortunate to have some fun family things on the calendar to help me get over these sad humps during a time when it was sorely needed.  Sunday feature our 2nd annual cookie baking at Karen's lots of good food and company!  Monday after Turner's service I met Steve, Ron and Karen for dinner which was followed by an evening of jazzy Christmas tunes sung by Joe Gransden and his Big Band and featured Francine Reed.  So great, and the Roswell Cultural Arts Center provided a very intimate setting.  I'm looking forward to more events here AND it's so close to home!

Wednesday featured more food and music.  Mary blogged about our Wednesday at the Opera with a lunch prelude and cocktails afterwards.  These are some of the important folks who help keep me grounded and uplifted.  As I journal each morning to remember those who need an extra prayer and thought of encouragement.  I am reminded of how lucky I am, that there are those who are suffering a great loss this holiday season, and to extend peace, grace and mercy to those around me.  Finally, take nothing for granted and see each day as a gift. 

Sophie and I have completed our 3.5 mile exploration, and I am off shortly to visit with my dad's oldest sister and my 2 oldest female cousins then hopefully a car wash/detail and getting my hair done.  Dinner will definitely be snacks and a glass of wine-here's to more merry!

December Daily-Cocktails and Cookies

Sprouts had beautiful and delicious blackberries ridiculously cheap so I decided to use some of them in the weekend's cocktails.  Friday I made what sorta resembles the Blackberry Bourbon Smash.  I used a sugar cube and lemon juice because I didn't have any plain simple syrup or limes.  I muddled the sugar, lemon juice and blackberries together then added bourbon, crushed ice then topped with a craft soda I had handy cause I didn't want to open something else.  I also didn't have mint, so there was no garnish or extra flavors.  It was very tasty so I made myself a second one-cause that's what you do right?!

Yesterday I muddled the blackberries and topped with prosecco, it really didn't need anything else. 

Today we Mary, Katie, Polly and I gathered at Karen's to bake lebkuchen and exchanged cookies.  The holiday favorites were well represented with the candy cane cookies, orange balls, short bread snowflakes, orange spice cookies, spritz, oatmeal/cranberry, rugelach, gingerbread, hay stacks, chocolate bark, and M&M cookies.

While our family has always exchanged cookies during the holidays last year was our first year to bake the lebkuchen together. 

Charlie also joined us this year and I think he enjoyed "shopping" for cookies to take home!  

And as always there was great food and company.

December Daily-Party time

Today was our annual Christmas pot luck lunch, and once it's over I feel like a huge weight has been lifted.  There is usually over 100 people that come and most of them either contribute a dish or money to cover the cost of the meat which is smoked by one of our investigators.  For my part it's really just coordination, and no heavy lifting, but still as any hostess would say, they want to make sure the food is good and everyone enjoys themselves.

These tables were laden with lots of great food.  When someone mentions what a success the party is I always tell them it comes together because everyone does what they say they will do, and they do it the way I tell them!  Honestly, I work with a great bunch of people who when things need to get done they are always there to help.  I'm also grateful for each day [and year] that goes by and these men and women make it home safely to their families.  Until next year  . . .

December Daily- Time on my hands and a surprise.

Due to the potential of black ice most of the schools in the general area and government office had a delay in opening.  This included my office, so instead of having to be out of the house by 7 am I didn't have to leave until closer to 9- yea 2 hours to "kill"

I slept about 10 minutes longer and rode my bike [indoors] for and extra 30 minutes.  With my other extra time I decided to cast on Caitlin Hunter aka boylandknitworks Birds and Ships cowl.  I got the yarn at the Ann Budd's Spring Knit for Fun retreat, and I think it will be perfect with this pattern.

Also, I "discovered" on Sunday that we have Starz-we've had cable at our house since July-so where have I been not to know this?!  This meant I can get caught up on the Outlander series.  I only made it part way through season 1 so I have a lot of of tv watching to do.  I figured if I ride my bike 4 times a week + watch a bit at bed time I should be caught up by the end of January.  I understand there is another book in the works, so I'd love to have the series watched.  There are supposed to be at least 2 more seasons produced and I really hope that they cover the books to date. 

I've just finished prepping a turkey for our office Christmas lunch and 2 pans of stuffing.  Now I gotta set my alarm so I can get up and put the bird in the oven so it's ready by 6:30.  Hopefully I'll remember to take a couple photos from the party.

December Daily-The Weather Outside's been Frightful

Doing a little catching up.  Saturday Mary and I met up for a bit of knitting, catching up and coffee.  My "game" plan for the rest of the day was to get started on my baking and lounge around. However, my other SIL Karen wanted to get together to watch the MLS Championship game, so off we went to what's becoming our favorite Mexican restaurant to watch the Atlanta United defeat the Portland Timbers-it was so exciting and the company couldn't be beat!  Ron is holding the white scarf-then Steve, Me, Karen and Pedro.  I'm knitting Essex- a Berroco pattern out of stash yarn; I was really in need of a new project, and  12" of ribbing is perfect for watching a soccer game.

Sunday was a full day of baking and addressing Christmas cards.  I got about half way through both tasks and will have a bit more to do between now and Saturday.  I doubled the recipe for the spritz cookies so there would be enough to send to Andrew-by special request!  Our sun porch is proving to be a great place to cold store items.

As far as the weather, we are NOT enjoying the cold wet weather we've been having the last few days.  Walking Sophie has required rain boots, an umbrella and a towel.  I can't believe Christmas in in 2 weeks!  Andrew will be coming in Christmas day for a few days so I guess I need to get a menu together!

Happy Monday-even if it's been a bit wet

December Daily- Cheers and Cheerful Greetings

At lunch I went to Tuesday Morning [again], I was hoping to find a tree topper and candles for the mantle, but didn't see anything that would work.  The other day I saw some lovely Spode China Christmas pieces, and sorta passed by as I don't really need Christmas dishes and having everything exactly the same isn't quite the look I'm going for; HOWEVER, today I saw the Spode stemless wine glasses and my resistance failed me.  I also saw a regular glass in the same pattern and decided I'd get one of each so I'd have something special to use during the holidays.  I'm sooo tempted to go back and see if they have a few more of both styles so that I can use them when we have company.  I can't decide-I did make a festive cocktail in the glass using my first batch of homemade gin. 

 Pretty tasty- the cocktail recipe includes:

1 oz of spiced simple syrup
1/2 oz of lemon juice
2 oz of gin
top with ginger beer
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice-shake then serve over crushed ice. Not too bad!

The botanicals I used for the gin are:

2 T Juniper berries
2 Star Anise
2 Cardamon pods
2 Black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
The recipe also called for coriander seed, but I only had ground, and wasn't sure how it would impact the taste.  I look forward to trying other combinations such as lavender, lemon and rosemary.

So far we've gotten 3 cards-2 have been from the UK-I love the stamp withe silhouette of the Queen and the other of the traditional red post box.  I hope to get some of my cards out this weekend, but we shall see- I need to do some baking and hopefully some knitting.  Happy Friday and Cheers!

December Daily-A few of my favorite things

I have a couple Christmas-y wine bottle stoppers but this one is probably my favorite.  I don't even remember where it came from, but I think he's super cute.  I also bought 6 bottles of 19 Crimes and prosecco at Costco today-so I'm definitely smiling like he is!

Sending Christmas cards-this year I've opted for regular Christmas cards vs a letter or a photo card.  The photo didn't happen and I want to get my cards in the mail sooner rather than later.  I've done a letter the last 2 years, so I think it's time to switch things up a bit.  I found some really cool retro ones at Tuesday Morning.

Amaryllis watch 2018/2019 will include 2 pots.  The one from last year [on the right] did fantastic in our apartment, so I'm hoping I've discovered another great spot.  My cutting/sewing table is not the prettiest, but I think it'll provide the perfect morning light.  I may end up moving them both back to my desk, but will keep tabs on them for now.

December Daily-Holiday Baking

When I was a kid we didn't bake cookies at Christmas in fact we didn't have much by way of traditions except for putting up a tree. Since Steve and I have been together we've continued the tradition of his family of baking and sharing cookies using family recipes.  Needless to say over the years I've made a TON of cookies.  One year I made 17 different kids of cookies, but in recent years I have scaled way back on my baking.  Today was day 1 of holiday baking and I started with gingerbread.  I used Southern Living's gingerbread cookie recipe and I'm pretty pleased with the results.   I also took the time to measure out the dry ingredients of the rest of my baking which will include spritz [special request by Andrew], chocolate bark, oatmeal cranberry cookies [half are for a co-worker as her Christmas gift], gingerbread biscotti, and Karen's pecan/cheesecake bars that she made at Thanksgiving.  I may add one or two more cookies to the rotation, but we'll have to see.

This is what happens when you can bear to roll out the scraps and use one more cookie cutter, but you can't stand the idea of wasting the dough!  They do make great nibbling.  Are you baking anything this season?  I look forward to sharing cookies with our new neighbors.

December Daily-Up on the house top

I have always wanted Christmas lights on our house and this is the year that it happens.  Steve put up non-twinkling colored lights.  I'm sure the fact that our house is one level and our roof is not that high played a part in this getting done.  The photo isn't the best, but maybe I'll get a better one before they are taken down.  Now I just need to plan a day where I'll go and look at other people's lights.

December Daily-Road tripping and a new addition

when I found out I was going to travel to South Carolina to facilitate training I made a point of seeking out a place where I could get an ornament for our tree.

The pineapple is a symbol of hospitality across the south and the Caribbean.  Apparently in Charleston women would hand a pineapple, considered a luxurious fruit, to show that their husbands had returned home.  I had a vase [not sure if I still do] that had a pineapple etched into it from my first trip to Charleston.  I thought this ornament so fitting, not only to represent my trip to SC, but also the hospitality that I try to extend towards our guests.  After my training session I went downtown and explored the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, so interesting.  I wish I had more time, but since the parking meters downtown only allow you to pay for 1 hour at a time-made exploring very difficult when you have to dash to put more money in the meter before it runs out- ugh!  I saw Rainbow row, ate a delicious lunch and cocktail [I had the Garden and Gun], maneuvered cobblestones and rode back to my hotel with the top down.

Shrimp and Grits for the win!

A lovely fountain by the Ashley River

I would love to go back and explore some of the historic homes, but for now I'll enjoy my pineapple ornament.

December Daily-Ready for the holidays

I think we are pretty much ready for the holidays.  The tree is up, decorations are out and we just saw a Christmas themed play at our favorite community theatre- Stage Door Players.

I made great use of our pool table [that we inherited with the house] to spread out all of our ornaments and decide which one's would be used going forward and which ones would be retired until Andrew is ready for a tree.  I put notes in the boxes of ornaments I have sorted and wrapped along with the date the sorting occurred.  I did purchase and ornament in Charleston which I will save for another December Daily post.

We still need a tree topper so I think I will see what I can find that will be "just right".  I'm also hoping to add Roswell and Kennesaw State University ornaments to our collection.  While I really like having a live tree this one is truly the perfect size for our house and Steve was able to put it up in like 5 minutes.

We are in our 3rd season as subscribers to the Stage Door Players, and while we're no longer 10 minutes down the road on a Sunday afternoon we're still less than 30 minutes.  Sunday matinees are providing to work very well with our schedule and new location.  This year's Christmas production did not disappoint. 

Hopefully I can keep up with a daily posting through Christmas.  There are other things around town I hope to do, and of course, we've got our girls cooking baking/exchange and family gathering planned.  Tomorrow I hope to mix up the first batch of cookies.  I'm going to give gingerbread a go- stay tuned!

Sunday morning exploring

Most weekends I take Sophie on a very long walk- we "call" it exploring and we usually walk 4-4.5 miles. Our route is pretty much the walking around Roswell that I did as a kid. Last Sunday Andrew took the dogs to the dog park and I asked Steve if he wanted to join me; I knew we'd go a lot faster without Sophie smelling all the trees, bushes and lamp posts! He was a bit hesitant when I told him how far we'd be doing and we ended up walking 5 miles total. The day started foggy-this is our view from our kitchen area.  Our tree is just to the right and I love that you can see it from the walk way.

Part of our route was through the Old Roswell Cemetery which was established in the early 1800s.  I have grand, great-grand and great-great grandparents buried here.  I'm hoping to get more involved in the preservation of this cemetery next year.  Love how the fog makes it feel eerie.

One of the Victorian homes on Canton Street, it has a lovely stone wall around it separating the property from the sidewalk.  It was all decked out with large sized Victorian figurines.  I tried to capture it, but I think I probably should have been across the street. I think this was built and occupied by one of the mill supervisors, but I forgot to take a photo of the marker for the house.  This street is filled with old homes that have been converted to offices and boutiques, but a few are still private residences.

Steve wanted to explore the area around city hall.  We had seen this pumpkin on a trailer on a side street near our house-so apparently Roswell does a Great Pumpkin thing-not sure how we missed it, but we will definitely be on the look out next year.  Steve wanted me to stand by it for scale- I'm 5'1 so-yea that's a big pumpkin!

We continued over and around towards Big Creek; this runs parallel to where the original Roswell Mill was located.  It is also part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area and we walked along this until we took a detour toward our house.  The trees were so pretty, but I'm sure by now the leaves are nearly gone.

I hope to post more about our exploring and hopefully this winter won't be so cold and wet that it keeps us indoors.  There are several things already on the calendar of events that should provide enough blog fodder.

Three on Thursday-Totally Random and that's just fine.

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I blogged last.  I plan to do December Daily so maybe that will get me back in the habit.

My 3 on Thursday

I'm in a hotel room in N Charleston, SC that's just North of Charleston.  I'll be facilitating training tomorrow for a few hours then heading home on Saturday.  Since I drove here I brought my own bottle of wine and snacks.  I get free breakfast during my stay and have a HUGE room.  What's not to love?!

I brought a ton of knitting 'cause you know I might get stranded while I'm here.  I also have my kindle and I downloaded a couple books so I think I'm set if it unexpectedly snows here.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving week with Andrew and Cocoa at home- there was beer drinking for Black Friday, a last minute cocktail "party" and an early 60th birthday celebration.  Our tree is up, my house is clean and most of my Christmas shopping is done.  I've also DVR'd lost of Christmas movies cause I usually end up missing them.

December will include lots of thing I love family gatherings, a play, a musical, hopefully a puppet show, visiting a historical home, baking cookies  . . . .

Here's to a season full of joy-and extending grace and mercy to our fellow humans.

Tiny Moments Tuesday-a little pampering

I spent my lunch hour today getting ready for our family lake vacation.  I also treated myself to a non-polish manicure too!  I got a kick out of seeing 2 gentlemen next to me also getting pedicures [and 1 manicure!]  Happy Tuesday- one more work day before it's vacation time!

Sometimes Monday

Finds you getting closer to being organized and ready to get back to crafting.  The to do list for the weekend was long, but luckily it was pretty flexible on deadlines.  I didn't have to leave the house or return by a specific time and could take the time needed and not feel any pressure.  Saturday morning was a bit cloudy, but a great place to enjoy my morning coffee and fold towels- cause that's where everyone folds their towels right?!  Sophie heard our neighbors chickens for the first time, and I'm teaching her to get used to the sound so she doesn't disrupt their laying.  We headed out for our exploring walk and I chose a route that would put us at the Roswell Farmers Market at the end which is closer to our house.  I got some wonderful tomatoes, a cucumber and peaches.  I am planning more trips before it shuts down for the fall.

We walked by/through the Smith Plantation-on our way home.  I used to cut through this property on my way home from school. It was still a private residence at the time like Barrington Hall [which was close to where my grandparents lived] so I have never been inside.  I'm really looking forward to touring these properties soon.

 Saturday included far too many hours shopping for rugs and towels.  I am a bit traumatized by trying to shop with other shoppers in isles that are not big enough for this activity!  I manged to survive and I had a nice glass of wine before I tackled my other chores.

Sunday was my day to get started on unpacking my office/craft room.  Sophie and I went on another long walk, and I think she regretted the route she "decided" to take.  Steve had to attach the hutch before it could be moved into place, and he also took care of the one in the guest room, so I was able to unpack some books and get that space looking more guest welcoming.

Here's are the before shots.  Everything was mostly in piles, but I've been without a dedicated desk for at least 2 years, so I'm trying to maximize the layout so I can work at my desk and sewing table.

 While I was unpacking one of the crates with fabric I came across this lovely fabric which I had purchased 3+ years ago, and I'm hoping to find the coordinating fabric so I can make a quilt.  I may do this to go on our bed as we are in desperate need of a new duvet cover and these colors would look great with the wall color.  Whatever I do it'll be something simple so that a) I'll actually finish it and b) it'll be finished sooner rather than later!

 After shots-still some organizing to do, but I need to some organizing items in order to completely empty the crates.  I am sure Ikea and the Container Store will be able to help with this phase of the project.  I significantly paired down my fabric stash after we moved to Dunwoody as I had collected fabrics that were what I liked and would perhaps use sometime down the road.  The top shelf are the Christmas fabrics I've collected that I didn't want to part with and hopefully I can complete a couple small quilts to use during the holidays.  The middle shelf are fabrics that have I intended to make project/tote bags, or is enough to make a small project.  I'll have to get my friend, Brenda, to help me with these.  She's been doing a ton of designing lately.  The bottom shelf for now is holding loose patterns.  I had to put my knitting/quilting books in the bedroom for now, but the goal is to have everything in this space.  In the drawer are kits that I had purchased and just never got to, or just forgot about!   My lofty goal is to empty this hutch so that I can have fabrics for garment and small quilt projects.  I'm hoping Mary will help with the garment making and that we'll have a chance to visit this new store in Midtown this fall.  In the closet are my project/tote bags and my quilting/sewing supplies and WIPs.  I'm going to go through this box before I start any quilting projects and decide what I want to finish and what I'm not ever gonna finish.

 What remains to organize is the yarn stash which I think is not too out of control.  The WIPs are only project recently started, so no long languishing projects.  The crate at the far left is actually empty and has my embroidery stuff inside.  I plan to use the cubby that was in my closet and put my stash in that until I figure out my storage/work space needs.  There are 2 boxes of desk/sewing stuff that I need to go through, but I'm going to need another table or drawers before I can call this totally finished.

 I also emptied the last few boxes of photo albums that are on the book case in the basement guest room.  It felt great getting so many boxes out of the house, I still have a few that are kitchen/china cabinet type items, so I need to put some thought into what will stay and what will go.  I think this we a weekend well spent!