Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sparkling cider



































Market Basket was out.  I needed some to go with shrimp cocktail, baked brie and grapes (and the Bourne trilogy).  I hope no one saw me going into the Wine & Spirits store (and walking out with a brown paper bag).

2012 CALENDAR GIVE AWAY

Leave a comment telling me something fun you're going to do in 2012 and I'll draw a random winner at midnight.

I'm hoping to visit LA (where I was born/raised) -- I haven't been there in 19 years!

Click HERE if you want to buy a calendar.

Happy New Year, ALL!

Friday, December 30, 2011

33 weeks

This afternoon I visited my delightful friend Meg who is 33 weeks along today.

DONUTS


I've been hearing about this donut shop for a few years (from some of my Medford friends) and today finally got there.  Now I know what all the fuss is about.  Delicious!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

A wreath on every window...

...one of my favorite things about living in charming New England.  This house is down the street from me and I admire it every time I drive by.

Oh, the traffic

I call this the Market Basket Beltway.  If you live near me, you know where this is and you know it's a disaster.  They need to fix the light cycles or add traffic cops.  Or do something!  It's a mess.  I try to avoid the M.B. Beltway as often as I can.

A Christmas story

Seven Christmases ago my friend Becky, a young mother of five, was in the hospital.  She had suffered through a few gallbladder attacks and the plan was to have her gallbladder removed the day after Christmas.  I remember talking to her a few days before the holiday and she asked what I was going to be doing on Christmas.  I said, "If you are in the hospital on Christmas, I want to visit you."  She was in the hospital on Christmas and I did visit her.  She was fasting in preparation for her surgery the next day but we talked a lot about food.  We decided that day that when she felt better we were going to Chili's to get their Awesome Blossom appetizer.  Well, we never did.  I saw Becky a few weeks ago and we were reminiscing about that Christmas day she was in the hospital and realized we never went to Chili's and we made a plan that we would go this week.  We went today and to our shock and disbelief, the Awesome Blossom is no longer on the Chili's menu.  Apparently it won "worst appetizer in America" because of its unusually high totals of calorie and fat.  Awesome Blossom or not, we had a fun time at Chili's today (and my meal came with onion strings).

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

We Bought a Zoo

I saw We Bought a Zoo last night and loved it.  The little girl reminded me of Adrienne and Matt Damon seemed like a regular guy.  It's definitely worth seeing.

New running shoes

I drove to the NIKE Outlet (sweet discount) in Wrentham today and bought some new running shoes, however; I only run if I'm being chased.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Monday, December 26, 2011

Evidence of EP Productivity: the quilt



P is for Productive

I'm planning on having a Productive week.  Today I made a quilt for a friend's new baby (and did a few other things including going walking with a friend and cleaning out the trunk of my car).

Florida Pattons on Christmas: they've got hair

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Recipes (take 2)

A few years ago I tackled my recipes and put them in sheet protectors and notebooks.  I have a list of projects to work on while I'm on vacation (3 days down, 8 to go!) and tonight I worked on my recipe binders (don't hassle me about having 8 binders, OK?).  I had a big stack of recipes that needed to be filed (or tossed) and I got caught up while watching "It's a Wonderful Life".

Christmas gift for Kimberly



I borrowed Ian and Colin last Saturday and we went to Mentomy Rocks park to take some photos as a gift for Kimberly from her boys.  She's going to pick a few that will be enlarged and framed.  She called me a few minutes ago and she loves the photos.

Christmas visits



Saturday, December 24, 2011

Luke 2









My sister-in-law Kim made this origami nativity for her brother's family.

More favorites





Tonight's the night

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas gift

My creative coworker Diana made this for me.  I love it.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Picasa's new features

There is a new feature in Picasa called Cross Process.  It makes this...

...look like this:













...and I really like it.  You may have noticed.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Making bretzelis








I'm making bretzelis tonight. They are labor intensive but worth it. Click here to read about my history with these Swiss cookies.