Holiday Cheer

Holiday Cheer!

Is it just me, or does everything taste better in a holiday cup?!  Decorations are up, minus the tree (which we will get when we return from the cruise) and Christmas lights (which Caleb will put up when he gets home from work on Tues!) and Christmas music is blasting ... it is definitely feeling like the holidays!

Thankful.



I am thankful for Love. God. Family. Happiness. Support. Laughter. Health. (Snow!!) to name a few ... 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

White Paw Prints & Cold Noses

I am normally not a morning person, but don't get me wrong, I also don't like to sleep the day away so it is a constant battle with myself in the morning.  This morning, however, I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning - jumping out of bed to see if it had snowed ... and IT HAD!!  Ok, not a lot, but a dusting none-the-less.  And it totally counts cause even my puppies got excited when I let them out to do their morning business.  It is so cute cause they do this funny prance around the yard, like they have a kick in their step (just like I do when it snows!)

I needed some updated pictures of them (yes, I do have current pictures of them, but not in the snow!) so I took them outside this afternoon for a doggie shoot and they did great!  Whats my secret?  Doggie Treats!!  They are so darn cute and I love them both to pieces. 

My lovies - Koda & Miley

When I came inside to upload the pictures from my camera my lil' lap kitten joined me to keep warm and then decided she wanted to check out what all the fuss was outside ...

Happy Sunday!! I'm making homemade Beef Stew and homemade mini cornbread muffins ... YUM!  It sounded so yummy since it is cold 'n snowy out!

Love & the open Sea

Love!

In just a couple of weeks, Caleb and I will be celebrating our 3rd year of marriage in style - a cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  My parents thought it would be fun to get 3 generations of my family together for a cruise to celebrate life, marriage and family.  Mom and Dad celebrate their anniversary just 2 days after ours (December 11th) and my grandparents anniversary is January 6th.  Getting married in winter is not the 'norm' but apparently in our family we seem to think it is the best time of year!  I am looking forward to all the memories we will make, all the delicious food we will eat, and all the photo's that will be taken :o)

Ellen & Joel Tie the Knot!

A great time was had by all - El got married at Univ. of Virginia's Chapel and then the reception was at Stonewall Jackson Hotel.  I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking ...

Painter Plastic & Exotic Hardwood

During the month of October, Caleb was busy building a deck for Skip, a Medic he works with at the RFD.  This was his 3rd deck of the 'summer' but about as different from the other 2 decks (both in previous blog posts) as you can get. 
For Skip's deck, Caleb used Ulin which is an exotic hardwood from Malaysia.  Other than this being a very nice wood to work with, it was prestained (which I was particularly excited about because it saved us so much time!)  But because it was a hardwood, Caleb had to pre-drill each hole and then counter sink the stainless steel screws, which I then came back and filled each hole with epoxy.  I honestly should have had Caleb take a picture of me doing this because it was tedious work!  I was down on the deck with a syringe dripping between 2 to 5 drops of epoxy into each hole trying not to get any on the wood itself.  Oh, and funny story, Caleb makes up a batch of epoxy (which does harden quickly so time is of the essence) and I get about one and a half rows done and sky opens up ... RAIN!  And I'm not talking your typical Seattle mist ... Big Huge Rain Drops.  Thanks goodness that painters plastic was on hand because we made a mad dash and covered the entire deck and all of Caleb's tools.  Luckily, we were successful and the deck was pretty dry the next day when we came back to finish up.  Skip and Caleb did end up throwing one coat of stain on the deck after the epoxy and it really did make the Ulin pop. 

Here are pictures ... enjoy!!


Work in progress - ready for decking!





Oh rain, go away! ;)



thank goodness we had a box on hand!



Skip's deck - Completed!



custom touches

hidden hatch for access to the crawl space & vents



the custom detail on the stairs was my favorite part



oh so many holes to fill with epoxy



East Coast Love

I forgot just how much I love the East Coast.  It has been a few years since I have been able to spend any amount of time there and Fall was the perfect time of year for me to get my East Coast fix.  Fall, back East, is much different than any of the places have lived - Seattle, WA, Durango, CO, Orange County, CA, Reading, PA.  I'm sure no one is shocked that fall in OC is nothing to write home about, but Durango CO has a gorgeous fall.  The beautiful rugged Rocky Mountains with the amazing bright yellow of the Aspen leaves and their stark white trunks mixed with the Evergreens, it's simply breath taking.  I went to school in Pennsylvania for a year and a half and though I hated the grey sky and brown landscape of the winter months, leading up to that was a gorgeous time of year.  Fall in Virginia is identical to Reading, PA... rolling hills of burnt red, orange and yellow for as far as the eye can see.  I spent this last week in Charlottesville and Staunton Virginia and I so enjoyed driving around the countryside. 

Fall is just one of the reasons I love back East - I love the beautiful brick buildings and period houses, I love how everyone dresses up there (preppy but with an added individuality), I love all the gorgeous ivy covered Universities and the many historical sites.  I think being born back East there is always a part of me that craves going back, especially since we spent a lot of time there during my childhood.  I just feel a connection that I have never felt on the West Coast, even in OC. 

Last Sunday, I found myself with some free time so I decided to pop back down to University of Virginia's campus and take a better look around (with my camera!) The campus is absolutely gorgeous and I just loved all the restaurants, bars and shops that surrounded the campus.  So I grabbed my usual order from Starbucks and headed across the street to UVA campus.  There was a bench in the middle of a large lawn area that had my name on it .... so I took a few moments to just enjoy my Starbucks, the crisp fall air, and the gorgeous light that was falling through the yellow leaves.   Here are a few shots from my walk around UVA. 

The Chapel where Ellen got married!!



After making my way around UVA and the rest of Charlottesville I decided to pop over to  Monticello since I had not been there in probably 10 years and it was just 14 min from downtown Charlottesville.  It was late in the day so I was not sure how late they would be open but I knew the drive would be worth it regardless.  Sure enough, when I arrived the late fall sunlight was bleeding through the leaves about to dissappear behind the hillside but I was able to get this shot before the light left. 

More on my week in Virginia in another post so stay tuned!!