And a very merry Christmas to all...

...and to all an incredibly short Christmas summary in the form of very few phone pictures. We're pretty tired around here. But for all of the best reasons. Except for a lingering cough for our poor sick baby; that is not one of the best reasons. Sigh. Almost there. I'm extremely grateful for all of my helpers over the last week and really miss them. Love you, family.

Presents are pretty cool, Dad

We bought chocolate chips with the intent to bake goodies...but so far they've only served as a toy for the baby.

Story time with Auntie Manda!! Please also observe the proximity of the cat to this situation and chalk it up to a Christmas miracle.

Christmas is exhausting, y'all. Also, I'm totally about to outgrow my space egg swing. Yeeps.

Showering, no shampoo needed

Last weekend...ok, wait, make that weekend BEFORE last since time is completely disappearing and sneaking away from me...I got to spend the afternoon surrounded by dear family and friends at this only-comes-around-once kinda thing known as a bridal shower.  And it was absolutely fantastic.  Craig's mom flew in, the amazing Dana made the journey from Virginia, my MOHSOB (maid of honor sister of the bride, duh!) trekked halfway across the country, Mom & Dad (although no boys allowed at the shower!) drove down along with a wonderful aunt and cousins...and then there's all the people here in the oven who made it a point to be there, too! 

To celebrate me.  Well, and this Craig guy.  It was pretty awesome.  Mexican food, margaritas, Bob Armstrong, and absolutely no games.  I'm not really a games kinda girl, especially when it comes to...myself.  But I do love board games.  Excessively, actually.

It goes against every ounce of my being to NOT take pictures at an event, but my goal here was to actually be present and enjoy the time with my family and friends. Which meant no picture-taking allowed - just soaking up the moments and memories.  Therefore, all of these pictures are courtesy of the amazing Sarah and her fantastic fixed lens that I just might go out and buy for myself.  And she's a pro at uploading and Picasa sharing in a timely manner.  Just one of the many, many reasons I love her dearly.

That being said, here's the one picture I'm contributing to this event, which was taken on my phone mere moments ago with a nifty little diddy known as Vignette, which I've completely fallen in love with.

Love love LOVE these invitations so much!!  Carolyn, you do good work.

And now...thank you, Sarah, photographer extraordinaire!

That sweet, crafty Sarah went and made me the cutest apron...with a "P" in the corner!  I think I wore it for half the shower.

Wonderful Sarah friend person crafter photographer amazing.  Just summing her up.

Diana was an absolute pro with the cake balls.  For bringing them AND for serving them so beautifully.  What a fantastic friend!



Ok, yes, I was enjoying my margaritas.  Amanda looks perhaps a touch concerned.

Quite a pile to work my way through!



My beautiful, amazing, wonderful beyond words bridesmaids (MOH and sistah friend is sitting next to me stage right, of course).  Love these girls more than you can ever know.

A giant thank you to everyone who could be there!  I had such a fantastic time celebrating with all of you!

Lawyered!

A few weeks ago we made a journey to the forest to celebrate an EXTREMELY important event...Amanda's graduation from Duke Law!!  I can't believe she's knocked this out - I mean, where did the time go?!?  At any rate, super proud of my sissy and super excited to go see her and my family (yay for mommers and dadders!) for a weekend of celebrating.

First order of buisness was a law school family BBQ in the gardens at Duke, and since it didn't actually rain on us (phew!), it was a lovely event.  Plenty of delicious food, the chance to meet Amanda's law school peeps, minor forest/garden adventures, and wonderful family time.
 

Thanks for taking our picture in the forest, Craig!

This was all pleasantly follwed by chillaxin at Amanda's with a board game or two (I love games!!  and these people indulge me) and admiring the pretty awesome Duke quilt my mom made for Amanda.  It's enormous!!  And amazing!

The next morning we also had some dress adventures checking out bridesmaid dress options (don't worry, we totally didn't make the boys come in with us for that one), and to reward ourselves for tackling a wedding-related task, we of course had burgers for lunch.  Bull City.  Soooo tasty.  And especially tasty were the duck fat fries.  Cue music of the angels.

Also cue music of the angels for our rockin' mini-van.  It held everyone and all of our stuff comfortably and was actually a quite enjoyable ride for the weekend.  Even if it was a mini-van.

Now it's time for...the hooding ceremony!  Held indoors at Cameron, thank goodness, because it actually did rain during this one.  What's the hooding ceremony?  I'm calling it the occasion where mere robes become adorned with an epic hood that will choke you if you don't pin it carefully.  Specially reserved for those who have completed extra years of intense schooling.



I think I'm in the right place!  We'll see!

Offically hooded and making her way across the stage!  Goooo Amanda!!  Also gooooo zoom lens!

She's hooded, and so are all of her awesome friends!

Proud and happy family with the hooded lawyerette!  Also, the purse is totally Amanda's and not Dad's, although he can really rock a pink clutch.

Double lawyer power!

A celebratory dinner at Dos Perros (yay Mexican food!) followed, and then fast-forward to the next day for epic, all-school, all-inclusive graduation ceremonies, AGAIN with the threat of rain...come on, forest, let up on the rain!

There's not a building on the Duke campus that can hold all of these people, so we were hanging out at the football field, which they totally enhanced with fake buildings - Carrie observed "lend an air of Harry Potter" to the event.

They actually did have ponchos handy in case of rain, which was very thoughtful.

She's all graduated!!

Aren't we cute at the football field?

Always Red Raiders...even when we're at Duke, oopsie.

And back to the law school to claim this VERY important piece of paper - yay for Amanda!

The picture extravaganza has exploded on Facebook, of course, and then there's the ENTIRE album on Picasa for your viewing pleasure.

Major congratulations to my sissy!!

Is there anything better than butter and sugar?

That may not exactly jive with the healthy living plan, but just go back in time a little bit, mere days ago, to the festive holiday season and your favorite things about it.  What's that you say?  Snow or time with family or giving and receiving or the general joy of Christmas?  NO.  These are NOT your favorite things.  Your favorite things are fudge and sugar cookies and toffee and cornflake cookies and homemade chocolate covered cherries.  You're welcome.

Sugar cookies are obviously WAY better with festive holiday colored sugar.  Although these sugar cookies don't really help at all because they are ridiculously delicious and I could eat twenty at a time.

The Cookie Whisperer's face of joy as she pulls out a perfectly baked batch.

Yes, I'm aware that I look somewhat ridiculous.  Ridiculous-LY ADORABLE!!  Ok, anyway, it's my grandmother's apron and a crazy elf hat from who knows where, but I can't help but get into the holiday spirit when cookies are around.

There's really my sister to thank for most of this deliciousness.  She's pretty awesome when it comes to baking/candy-making adventures.

A-town highlights, Turkey Day Eve edition

I've been up since 5:00 AM EST, which is not the most awesome thing in the world given my general distaste for embracing the early morning hours, which also means that my brain is a little mushy right now.  So you're not going to get anything overly witty or informative today, just a quick rundown of the day's highlights.  Some of which are kinda ridiculous.  That's just how I am.

Item #1:  I'M ON VACATION!!!!
Item #2:  Never having flown Continental out of Reagan before, I wasn't sure what to expect from that terminal...but I was pleasantly surprised to see an Einstein Bros just waiting for me.  Not so pleasantly surprised when my "pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, please" turned out to be a pumpkin bagel with HUMMUS on it, which I didn't discover until I was at the gate with no time to get it fixed.  DISGUSTING.  WHO DOES THAT?!?
Item #3:  Relatively uneventful flights - always a good thing.  Amused by the pilot on the Houston-Amarillo leg who announced "Ok, take a seat - we're about to go really, really fast."  I like it when they mix it up a bit.
Item #4:  Lunch at Tacos Garcia makes me really, really happy.  You just can't get this stuff on the east of coasts.

Chips and queso are sooooo tasty!  None of this "cheese dip" business!

Item #5:  You know those ridiculous little machines at assorted restaurants and grocery stores that sell silly things like fake tattoos?  Amanda and I chipped in a quarter each to buy ourselves a sticky wrecking ball.  Yes, it's as goofy as it sounds.  But it's provided us with more entertainment than you would think for a fifty cent outlay. 

I'm aware that I'm ridiculous.

Item #6:  I hadn't touched Wii Fit in a year.  But this afternoon I did.  And I'm gravely concerned with what I've done to my body in the last year.  Implementing personal health program ASAP.
Item #7:  "ASAP" for aforementioned personal health program means after Thanksgiving.  I baked two pies tonight.  I love love LOVE baking pies.
Item #8:  We had one of those really beautiful Panhandle sunsets that you miss when you're gone.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, y'all!

Pencils of justice!

My sister made it out of the forest and came to visit last weekend!  We had a lovely time doing important things like exploring historically significant buildings, marveling at the awe of our nation's capital, AND...shopping.  Struck a nice balance, if I do say say myself.  One of her few DC-ish requests was a stop at the Supreme Court, which sadly isn't open to the public on weekends, so we hustled ourselves over there as soon as she got in on Friday afternoon.  Side note: it's kinda fun to hop in a cab and say "to the Supreme Court, please!"

We missed the last guided tour by a few minutes, but still had an hour or so to wander the hallowed halls of justice, which are so SO impressive...

...and we spent probably more time than is necessary admiring the set of self-supporting spiral staircases, which are just entirely too cool and lend themselves nicely to fun sister shots...

...and then we also found cool sculptures of the justices (justii?), and I had fun taking pictures of those because I take excessive pictures of absolutely EVERYTHING...

...and then because we were short on time, we cut short the educational/awe-inspiring part of the trip and headed over to the most important part - the gift shop, of course!  There we found quite possibly the most awesome board game ever...

...as well as PENCILS OF JUSTICE!!  How awesome are these?!?  Ok, probably not quite as awesome as I make them out to be, but any double-eraser pencil that basically functions as a Supreme Court gavel is pretty outstanding in my book.  These, of course, are the only thing we actually purchased.

Then, since we had some lovely late afternoon fall lighting in our favor, we had to do some Supreme Court photo shoots.  Good times were had by all, I assure you.

Then we went hunting for squirrels on our way over to Union Station....

...and stopped for some lovely shots of the Capitol, which also has its very own reflecting pool.  You're not so special, Washington Monument!

A delicate balancing act!

Upon our arrival at Union Station, we immediately had to ring the Freedom Bell.  And it actually did ring a little bit! 

After stopping by the convention center to pick up our tickets to see Paula Deen at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show (yes, the Queen of Butter!!), we headed in the general direction of home...and dinner...but not without a stop at a bar I've been meaning to vist, The Passenger.  It's a very cool bar that mixes very cool drinks and serves really tasty tiny olives and Marcona almonds.  I'm kinda in love.

Then we had some tasty Thai food for dinner and did exciting things like make a grocery list and go to Whole Foods (where we almost got stuck in the parking garage - not cool!) and chill to the "Gilmore Girls."  That's just how we roll.

We slept as long as Harry would let us (silly kitty!), then enjoyed some cake for breakfast along with LOTS of coffee and even more "Gilmore Girls," and then we pulled ourselves together and walked over to the convention center to take in the food insanity.  It will never cease to amaze me how people line up for free samples of ANYTHING.  Let's just say Amanda and I were big fans of the Northeast Beef Promotion Board (or something like that...I missed their actual name), where they were handing out STEAK NACHOS WITH GUACAMOLE.  And no one was lining up for this.  What is WRONG with you people?!?  At any rate, that satisfied us as we fought our way through the hordes and into the "theater" to check out Paula Deen in all of her buttery hilariousness.

And she did not disappoint.  This woman is a hoot.  I mean, truly ridiculous and quite entertaining.  We enjoyed her antics for about an hour and a half while also taking in the delicious smells of Thanksgiving that were wafting our way...cornbread dressing and glazed ham (I'm sure she would have opted for turkey, but seeing as how Smithfield owns her these days, it was most definitely a Thanksgiving ham) and sweet potato gooey butter cakes, oh my!

Then, time to escape the crowds and take in a quick afternoon snack at Busboys and Poets before heading home to embark on a tapas adventure.  We rounded up three kinds of Spanish cheese and a couple of cured meats and sliced French bread and scooped out quince paste and olives and grapes and then attempted to recreate patatas bravas (which I LOVED in Spain...and I'll tell you about them...I promise) and madengrilled chicken skewers and some of the most amazing cookies ever in the form of salted-almond honey wafers, which had me very concerned when we were attempting to make them happen...but they turned out to be delicious and amazing.  Oh, and of course there was sangria!  Then we had a couple of boys come over to eat all this food and watch football and have game night.  It was awesome.

Bobbing for apples, sangria-style

Quite a spread!  And yes, I made cheese signs out of sticky notes and toothpicks - it made me so happy. =)

Sunday was reserved for shopping adventures.  After all, what are sisters for?  Oh, and we also ate more cake.  Kinda perfect.  Great weekend.  Photo spread available here.