Remembering: Holiday Favorites

I saw this fun survey over on my good friend's blog, and thought I would post it here. Also, because I have been overwhelmed with unpacking and holiday shopping I thought this would be an easy post. Enjoy!

Favorite Holiday Cookie: sugar cookies, using my great-grandmother's secret recipe.

Favorite Winter Breakfast: I'm not a big breakfast eater, but when the mood hits me I love homemade biscuits with apple butter.

Favorite Winter Meal: Pierogi, a traditional Polish dish. The hubby's maternal grandfather is of Polish descent so this is also a family recipe. It is a treat because it takes days to make and we only have it once a year.

Favorite Seasonal Winter Veggie: sweet potatoes, any way you cook them

Favorite Seasonal Winter Fruit: fresh NC apples

Favorite Seasonal Dessert: eggnog milkshakes

Favorite Holiday Memory: at the church I grew up in, they hold a midnight service every Christmas Eve. At the close of the service everyone lights their candle, the lights are dimmed and we all sing 'Silent Night' by candle light. Magic.

Your Goal this Season: to give consumable gifts, meaning the gift has to be eaten, experienced or used, not just stuff to sit on a shelf.

Favorite Holiday Song: 'White Christmas' by Bing Crosby

Favorite Holiday Movie: I love all Christmas movies but 'White Christmas' and 'Love Actually' are tied for first.













Looking Forward to this Holiday: I am excited about spending our first Christmas in our new house where we can finally get a real tree, hang stockings on the mantle and put a wreath on the front door.

Favorite Holiday Book/Story: 'The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree' by Barbara Cooney. It is the story of a girl and her mother, going through hard financial times, making themselves the perfect Appalachian Christmas.

If you fill out this survey on your own blog, please comment below with a link so I can read yours too! Let's get to know one another a little better this holiday season.

Making: A Difference

Nothing makes me sadder than the thought of a cat or dog in need of a home. I just read over on Hamburger's House (a doggy spin-off of the always great Young House Love) that a grayhound racetrack in Wisconsin is closing and no longer has a use for its beautiful racing dogs. If the dogs aren't adopted they will be put down! For the full post click here. Please pass this on to anyone and everyone you know who might want a rescue dog or wouldn't mind spreading the word.

Every dog spared is a step in the right direction. Help get these pups a home for the holidays!

Living: 10 Things You Don't Know About Me

Inspired by John and Sherry's recent post I wanted to do a little write-up of yours truly. So without further ado, I present:

10 Things You (probably) Don't Know About Me

1. I have a good ear for mimicking accents and voices. The hubby jokes that he first asked me out because I can talk like Chris from Family Guy.

2. I have a hairline crack in one of my front teeth from face planting on the blacktop in elementary school.

3. I have a knack for movie and TV trivia. I hate to brag, but I kick butt at Friends Scene-It.

4. My underwear drawer is divided into 5 sections, each with its own purpose and folding style:
---Briefs [laying flat] - daily wear
---Boxer Briefs [square fold] - to wear under skirts
---Old Briefs [square fold] - just for Aunt Flo
---Thongs [too damn small to fold] - because some outfits require them
---String-Side Bikinis [rolled] - back-up undies... I don't like them but there's nothing wrong with them so I refuse to throw them out.

I'm fairly certain this means I'm crazy.

5. I knew I wanted to be an architect when I was 10. I confirmed this on my 8th grade class trip to Washington DC. All my friends took pictures of themselves but I took pictures of columns, skylights and friezes. Yes, I've been a nerd a very long time.

6. I am very particular about organization (see #4). I have been known to rearrange the dishes in the dishwasher if they're not stacked the 'right' way. I know, they don't get any cleaner my way, but I can't help it.

7. I am terrified of medical needles (IVs, shots, etc) but tattoo and piercing needles don't bother me in the slightest. I know this because I once fainted because of an IV but I was cool as a cucumber when I got my piercings.

Proof: I used to have an eyebrow ring. Don't laugh at my hair, it was halloween.

8. I have a mild blood clotting disorder. It has never, ever had any effect on my life but it means I'm not allowed to give blood.

9. One of my strengths (and one of my flaws) is that I plan everything before I need to. I'm not pregnant, but I've had baby names picked out for years. I decide what I want to buy before I have the money saved up. We haven't even closed on our house, but I've already bought furniture for it and I know what colors to paint it when we move in. You get the idea.

10. I am a terrible multi-tasker, and not in a good way. I normally have 2-5 craft projects going at any given time. This is hardly productive but I always get distracted while I'm in the middle of working. Most things get finished, but there are 1 or 2 projects that have hung around for years, just like that scarf I started knitting in January of 2004 that's sitting in the bottom of my closet.

So did anything surprise you? Anything you're dying to know about that I didn't mention?

NOTE: I wrote this post many weeks ago, and I've been saving it for a slow blog day. I just realized that some oy my statements are incorrect. We've already closed on the house and already got it painted. But the idea is still the same. Carry on.

Organizing: With A Little Help From My Friends

Boring tasks are so much more enjoyable when you have help from friends and family. Yo-Yo is quite the "helper" himself.

Here he is packing some boxes...

... and here he is laying down carpet tiles.

I apoligize if you don't find this as funny as I do. I promise this isn't turning into a crazy cat-lady blog. Well, not entirely.

Organizing: Small Victories

I just want to say that today is Monday and I am thankful I made it through the weekend in one piece.

In hindsight, it was probably a little over-zealous to try and cram so much into one weekend. In case you're not convinced that I'm crazy, here's what went down over the 4-day weekend.

Thursday:
- food prep (mostly figuring out how to use a mandolin - they are awesome)
- eating lots and lots of food
- football on TV
- showing family around the new house
- packing, packing and more packing

Friday:
- the big move, for which the truck showed up at 8 a.m.
- visting with family and friends who came to help - I now know movers don't want any help. They have their system and you are just in the way.
- Harris family movie - The Blindside was so good. I highly recommend it.

Saturday:
- Pre-football breakfast
- NCSU vs UNC (huge rivalry, for all you non-Southerners) at which I screamed my head off
- Hicks family Brunswick Stew (10 gallons!) and mom's homemade banana pudding

Sunday:
- hooking up appliances
- first home-owners trip to Home Depot
- finally a bit of relaxation while I worked on Morgan's invitations

So yeah, I'm a wee bit tired today. That being said, I have to celebrate the little things. Is my house unpacked? Not even close. Is my closet organized? Big fat nope. But I did organize my scarves last night.

Like I said, it's the little things.

I hope you all had a more restful holiday than I did.

Living: Wish Me Luck!

If you're a fan of praying or thinking good thoughts, send some my way. Today is the big moving day and I'm hoping it's relatively stress free!

If you like to specialize your prayers/good juju, here's my wish list:
- that we actually get packed in time
- that nothing breaks
- that I make it through the day without stress crying
- that boxes get put into the proper room - I really hate it when boxes get dumped wherever

As I mentioned earlier, once we get over the hump of moving I hope to have lots of home beautification projects to share with you. Stay tuned!

Making: Memories Part 2

To follow up this morning's post, I thought I would tell you about a tradition from my side of the family: the green vegetable.

Five or so years ago, my Mom was preparing Thanksgiving dinner. This was to be the first Thanksgiving dinner she celebrated with her boyfriend (now my step-dad) Bruce. Mom wanted it to be perfect. Whenever she entertains, everything has to be just-so. The crisp linens, the charming decor and the well-thought and balanced menu. A key to this menu is that there has to be something green on the plate, for nutrition and a pop of color - a plate full of neutral colored food is just dull.

On the other hand, Bruce is notoriously picky. The only green vegetable he will eat is canned, french-cut green beans - not plain canned or frozen french-cut. Mom looked all over for his favorite but couldn't find it - apparently this variety of beans is quite elusive and hard to find.

Jump to the morning of Thanksgiving. Mom still hadn't found the beans. Bruce was okay with this, willing to forgo vegetables altogether. Mom would not be dissuaded - "There has to be something green!" In a moment of frustration (I'm sure a kitchen timer was beeping) she sent Bruce and I to the grocery store and told us not to come home until we found something green.

Bruce and I had no idea what to buy. Neither of us wre keen on vegetables. The few I would eat he hated, and I didn't like the few he could stand. Then, wandering through the holiday section, Bruce had a brilliant idea. M&M's were green. We bought a family size bag of red and green holiday M&M's and headed home. Before we showed Mom, we spent a few minutes separating the red from the green, then presented her with a bowl full of shiny, green M&M's.

It wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but it was clever and she does love chocolate. The "green vegetable" was a big hit with all the kids (and vegetable avoiding adults) and has since become a fixture of her Thanksgiving table.