Holiday happenings {late}

I'm having battles with my computer and it's winning!

My holiday photos are late but I wanted to get them on my blog for family to see and memories to be held.

We had a great 4th of July! It was relaxing with no pressure and filled with family time and catching up with old friends. 

The day began with a festive overnight french toast bake ~ sooo yummy!

Bentley was happy to oblige with his holiday bow tie. Not so much, he tried to chew it off!



A blueberry mojito. Cheers!



Having everyone involved in the kitchen is secretly a favorite of mine. The conversation flows and silliness escapes creating fun
memories.




The cute pail idea came from none other than Pinterest. I filled them with a few fun goodies, candy, sparklers, and necessary tools for the lobster dinner. I made crab sugar cookies in two different sizes. The larger one on the bottom was dressed in polka dots. These were a cute addition to the table and a great take away.





Dinner was New England style ~ lobsters, corn on the cob and a roasted potato and pepper salad.

We had mini fruit pizzas that Morgan and Nicholas made in the pictures above.



It was a fabulous being with family and friends. To top all the greatness off, I snuck in a quick afternoon nap ~ pure luxury!

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Crazy Train

You know it's been too long when you have no idea where to begin. I've been on the crazy train for months. It just doesn't slow down long enough for me to jump off!

I'm going to throw in some pictures, a few blurbs, and hope you can read between the lines and get the big picture of what's been going on in my little neck of the world.

Nicholas came home to go skiing in Vermont then headed down to spend a few days with me. Time with him was just what I needed! As a nice suprise, he was making dinner for me when I got home from school one evening. Such a sweet boy! We had a great time together, I really enjoy spending time with my son. I'm very proud of the man he is becoming!

We had quite the snowfall ~ blizzard! It lasted two days and left us with almost 3 feet snow. It was beautiful! I'll be honest, it was nice to be snowed in for a few days with no schedule! I was able to tackle many projects that I've been meaning to get to. Nicholas was bummed that he was back in North Carolina and not up here to take advantage of the fresh snow cover.

I made a few goodies for my friends and family. It wouldn't be a special day if I didn't make sugar cookies and homemade candies. This year I made heart hand warmers for my teaching buddies. If you worked in my school, you'd appreciate the need!





I have to be honest, Valentine's hasn't always been a holiday I've looked forward to or enjoyed. I've always done special things for my son and students but didn't really like all the hype for adults ~ expensive dinners out, the expectations of flowers, or expensive gifts and so on. My husband began the tradition of making dinner for me at home several years ago~ as in shopping, cooking and cleaning the kitchen. It's the greatest gift. Now I LOVE Valentine's day :)





I'll close with one of my new recipes ...




I've been experimenting with overnight baked oatmeal. The one pictured is apple and cranberry ~ yum! This is part of my new plan of eating cleaner. I'll go into that other time since this is getting rather long.

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First Snow

There is something so magical about the first real {as in more than just a dusting} snow of the season. 
It's soft white blanket covers all the brown and barren from the final days of fall. So pretty and peaceful!

 The forecast was to have flakes flying by afternoon. I waited ... and waited ... and waited. NOTHING! Just when I was about to give up hope, white fluffy dots began to float from the sky. YAY! Snow brings out the kid in you. After dinner I talked Kevin and boys into a walk through the neighborhood.
  s
 

Bentley wasn't into stopping for pictures. We tried to get him to look at the camera. Nope!

 
Let's get this show on the road people!

 Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!



The homes in our subdivision look so pretty dressed up for the holidays. I just wish my photos were better. It's rather difficult to shoot a camera, walk a dog and not slip on the snow and ice. 



Pretty lights in the window just make it so warm and cozy!



Heading home to warm up by the fire.

 

Just in case you needed a closeup of these delicious treats from my cookie exchange. They are so yummy.

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Sandy's Aftermath

* I am sending this via my phone so please excuse any mistakes, and I'm sure there will be plenty! Monday arrived with an eerie dawn and worked its way to intense! We awoke to a slight breeze but nothing over the top. We lost power on Monday a little after 9am and by mid afternoon it was getting scary. There were wind gusts of 80 miles an hour! By mid afternoon the winds and weather were wild! I was upstairs organizing my closet, my lantern light, when I heard an extremely loud crack. I ran downstairs as fast as I could fearing the tree was going to land on our house and me! When the tree landed the impact shook the entire house! Thankfully it missed our home but ripped all the power lines off the house. It will take a significant amount of time to get that all back in place. Once high tide hit, with a full moon, things intensified well into the early morning hours. Neither one of us slept! Morning brought the realization of 5 downed trees ranging in 40-50 feet, many branches, all the leaves. Even with our damage, I am well aware that many others are far worse off. Many lost their homes and some their lives. My heart and prayers go out to them. School continues to be canceled due to power and road ways being blocked by downed trees. There will be no ghost or goblins trick or treating at our doors this evening. Halloween has been postponed until next week for safety reasons. To be honest, I'm not sure it's safe for me to have all this candy in my house with no other distractions! Boredom invites needless snacking! :) Thank you for all your kind words, sweet emails and prayers. They have been greatly appreciated!! For those of you celebrating, have a safe and happy Halloween!

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Hurricane Sandy

Let the wind and rain begin!

* the patio furniture is put away

* yard lanterns secured

* garage rearranged

* generator prepped and ready to go

* essentials on hand {see photo}

* house is clean {OCD}

* laundry done {OCD again}

The evacuations began this afternoon and the closings list has grown lengthy as the day has gone on.

My school, as with most schools on the coast, announced their closure early in the day. This was a huge relief since we have many rivers and streams near our home that quickly flood and make it nearly impossible to get to our subdivision. This was the case in the last hurricane and I almost had to stay over at a friend's simply because our district didn't make a safe call early enough.

At this time, our town and all neighboring towns have shut down in preparation for the storm. There is a strong sense of being in a ghost town. Only essential personal will be required to report Monday morning. I give the decision makers a lot of credit for making these calls, they are not taking any chances when it comes to people's safety. Thank you, it is greatly appreciated!

I am extremely thankful that my husband is home and not on travel which has been the case with serious storms in the past.

How the tables have turned, my son is calling and checking up on us to make sure we're safe in the impending storm :)

So sweet, Nicholas!

Keeping all those affected by hurricane Sandy in my prayers!

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Overwhelmed

This one word sums up how I've been feeling the past few weeks. I'm in hyper-drive the minute my feet hit the ground each morning.

Here are a few reasons why ...

Our lower patio is under reconstruction. A new drainage system is being put in place to alleviate water in the basement during heavy downpours. 

The second family room in the basement is in the midst of being remolded. The carpet was ripped up after the great flood of 2012 and new tile is being laid. I think it will look lovely once it's completed.

Our contractor, known as my husband, is doing all the work. His talents are impressive but his *real* job has been keeping him hopping so the home projects aren't coming along as quickly as desired.

Just keeping it real here ...

Our cook {aka Me!} decided to try out new recipes for our party that required the use of every single pot, pan, appliance and utensil in the kitchen! It's blurry but you get the gist.

In every day life, I'm crazy busy at school. I have a very challenging classroom this year. It's going to be a very fast past school year with lots of activity.

For my so called *free time* I'm taking a class, more on that later, this semester. I'm really enjoying it but the additional time and work load demands have required me to pull energy from other areas.

This past week I was dealt a health scare that has me going in for more testing. I'm concerned and nervous which isn't mixing well with everything else that's whirling around in my life.

Oh, how could I forget, this weekend we are having nearly 70 people in our home for our annual Oktoberfest party and our home looks like a bomb just exploded!

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Change of Seasons

I know, I know, it's officially fall but I'm just not ready to accept this minor seasonal detail.

Remember when you were a child and everything was the best because you were young and carefree? Well, I had one of those summers. It was the best! 

I've been really bad about posting so I'll have to do a highlight of the season. Our summer was filled with fun times, great friends and family ~ a recipe for the best summer ever! :)

We spent a fabulous day at the Americas Cup Series. It was a gorgeous day. The weather was absolutely perfect! There was a light breeze, it was sunny and low humidity. It was so nice to have a laid back day with Kevin.

*I learned the hard way of the importance of good {as in not the cute and fun ones} sunglasses after spending the entire day in hazy sun reflecting off the water. I burned my retinas and am still paying for this many weeks later!*

We celebrated holidays and many special times. 

My sweet son surprised me with a package of Lilly goodies.  It was filled with all the important essentials for days at the beach! Yup, I raised him right :)

I'm going to miss dinners on the patio with fresh farmer's market goodies. Not to mention my favorite summer sipper ~ ruby red grapefruit margaritas. 



We were so fortunate to spend lots of time with good friends {welcome baby Graham} attended local events, and got away for a great vacation compliments of my husband planning.



Best of all, was the time I spent with my family! I love them tons. If only they didn't live so far away.  Nicholas wasn't exactly "feeling" like photos after his day of golfing {and they say girls are the emotional ones ~ Ha!}


The weather hasn't made too big of a shift towards fall yet so I'm trying to hold on to the warm sunshine filled days and ignore the reports that we are in for a cold snowy winter. 

Yes, denial is my best friend! :)

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Change Of Plans

Our weekend calendar was packed full of fun as of Friday night. 

Saturday morning arrived and wiped it clean.

~Beach and boating were cancelled~
~Sailing slipped away~

~Golf with friends was minus one~

~Dinner at friends home postponed~

~Labor Day cookout put on the back burner~

I headed off to our local market to join the holiday shoppers. My cart items definitely weren't like the others! 

One of us {husband} is celebrating the long weekend with a nasty case of stomach flu. 

Poor guy!

While I'm a little disappointed that we are missing the last few days of summer fun, I'm taking full advantage of the time to work a few projects. 

I stayed up way too late last night to finish The Kitchen House. 
It was a great read!

Happy Labor Day!

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Celebrating Us

Today is our special day ...

I feel so fortunate to fill my days and share my life with this magnificent man !




My guy is ...

loving
kind
compassionate 
funny
thoughtful
patient  
hardworking
considerate
humorous
intelligent
serious
practical
silly
romantic
helpful
creative
sensitive

My sweet husband surprised me with an early anniversary celebration while we were in San Francisco earlier this month. Our accommodations during our stay were fabulous. To add to the excitement he researched and made reservations at an amazing restaurant with such a touching sentiment.

He is so sweet and romantic!







We had an incredible evening and it was topped off with an unexpected appearance from Hubert Keller!





Yep, he's a keeper! ;)


Happy Anniversary Sweetie! 
I'm looking forward to spending many more loving years together.

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