Pandemonium

Gourmet Thanksgiving

Mike has always wanted to cook a gourmet Thanksgiving (using recipes out of Gourmet Magazine) but I've always resisted because my Mom flies out each year and she is such a superb cook, I've been reluctant to let anything replace those traditional holiday dishes we always have. This year I relinquished my hold on the traditional and we tried quite a few new things. This was our menu:

 

• Smoked Turkey Breast with Pecan Sauce - NEW
• Orange Glazed Ham - old recipe but new for Thanksgiving 
• Cornbread/Sausage Dressing - OLD 
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes - NEW 
• Kale with Pan-Fried Walnuts - NEW 
• Carrots with Shallots and Fresh Herbs - NEW 
• Fresh Berries 
• Pear Cranberry Cake with Glaze - NEW 
• Lemon Meringue Pie - OLD 
• Chocolate Cream Pie - OLD             

Our kitchen was full of fabulous smells and the food was eagerly devoured. The only thing missing was Ski. It didn't feel quite like Thanksgiving without him there. He would have loved all these new foods. He called that morning and said he could talk for 30 minutes but 3 minutes into the call it was dropped and we couldn't reach him again. I was really bummed!!!

Mike did a lot of the cooking. His pear/cranberry cake was incredible. He even cooked two more dishes out of Gourmet Magazine on Saturday when my nephew, Shane and his fiance Katie came over for lunch. I think I know what I'm getting him for Christmas. Something to encourage this new interest. 

My mom, who is a master pie maker, baked 4 pies and they were gobbled up very quickly. 

 

We had a really nice visit with extended family, some of which came all the way from Texas. It's going to be hard to come down off the holiday high and get back to work tomorrow. 

How was your Thanksgiving?

Things I'm thankful for:

I love Thanksgiving.

Love the crisp Fall air.

Love the rich comfort food, especially my Mom's pies and cornbread/sausage stuffing.

Love sitting around the table playing cards for hours.

Love going to the movies the day after Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for so many things, here are just a few:

1. My family. They are my rock. I really miss having Ski around this year. It's the 1st year we won't all be together on Thanksgiving.
   
2.  Friends and neighbors. I am really blessed to have some wonderful friends and fabulous neighbors.  
    
3. My jobs. I met some amazing people working for Scenic Route, 7 Gypsies, Pink Paislee,  and now Two Peas and Basic Grey. I absolutely love what I do!
4.  My house and especially my studio. I love having my own space. I can't believe it's only been a year since it went from this...  to this...
   
    
5. Living in Salt Lake City. I love the mountains, the change of seasons and being in a city that has everything but isn't too big. I love our neighborhood with it's old homes, interesting architecture and our own little wilderness behind our house. 
    
6. Being healthy. I need to exercise more but I'm thankful that we're all healthy. 
7. Most importantly, I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.     

Basic Grey and published layouts

I've been super busy lately working on a new line for Basic Grey that will debut at CHA that I'm really excited about. Time management has been a bit of an issue the past few months, trying to balance working more hours, teaching an online class, keeping up with a busy family and trying to keep my house from being a complete wreck.

I haven't been entirely successful at this as my friends and family will tell you. Ski told me before he left for the Ukraine that I was either "always working or complaining about always working." Obviously, I need to work on my time management skills and also a little bit on attitude. :o)

Here are a few layouts that have been recently published in BHG's Scrapbooks Etc. I love working with BHG's editors. That has been a very rewarding experience the past couple of years.

 

 

Spark 2

So yesterday I went to help out Rhonna at Spark for a few hours and ended up staying the entire day

It was such a fun, creative environment.

I sat in for a few minutes on this class and  learned how to make these flowers from the very talented Kelly McCaleb:

 

 

All the students brought white t-shirts and made a design on the t-shirts with the flowers they made out of a table full of fabrics she had there.

Spark!!!

I just got back from the Spark event that Rhonna, Liz, Margie & Jefra are putting on just about a mile from my house at This is the Place State Park. 

I had volunteered to help them out since it was so close to my house so I ran up for a few hours. They ended up not needing my help so I got to play instead.

What a FABULOUS and CREATIVE event! They had artists of all kinds...fabric, food, paper, jewelry and more conducting little workshops where you got to just play! And the decorations...it's amazing what those girls can put together with just newspaper and every day items that you have around your house.

Besides, Margie, Rhonna, Liz & Jefra, I got to see a couple creative friends who I usually only get to see at the tradeshows- Robyn Werlich & Noralee Peterson. I was also surprised to find a guy from my ward, Jon Lee who is a graphic designer. I didn't realize he had taken a position with Provo Craft.

I was expecting to work, so I didn't have my camera with me but I did have my iPhone so I snapped these shots.

I'm headed back over in the morning to help Rhonna and Liz with their classes, so hopefully I remember the camera this time!

Decorating

We've been in this house over a year and I still don't have much artwork or many photos up on the walls. 

We finally have all the wallpaper down and most of the rooms painted.

It's so hard for me to put a nail in the wall...I don't know why that is!

But...I have made progress.

Several weeks ago I visited my favorite store "Details" (see layout) with my friend Debbie Crouse. 

I love this store!

I even did this layout about how much I love this store!

Anyway, I went back about a week or so ago and talked a couple of the very creative women who work there, Lisa and Marilyn into helping me put together some table designs for my house.

Here are just a few of the things that are now in my house:

In the entry on top the old organ which I've now decided to keep because it looks so good. Two vintage wood dolls, one of my many typewriters, a jar full of new old spools (from pottery barn), a vintage metal yardstick and a old arched window as a backdrop. There are also several books without covers that are wrapped up with white string and have a vintage pencil box on them.

On the dining room table (which I still don't have any art on the walls yet) a bunch of apothecary jars and vases filled with acorns, squash, moss & a partridge, pomegranate - vintage yard sticks & pussy willows, white pine cones and other stuff.

In the family room on the table a wire duomo from Ballard Designs filled with a birds nest and metal bird, two big porcelain eggs and an old corbel.

On our coffee table in the family room which is a stainless steel trunk from Restoration Hardware, I have a hammered metal dish from Pottery Barn with a hydrangea, two vintage law books, a magnifying glass and a wooden hand. Mike wasn't so keen on the hand but the boys and I love it.

And, I got to add this lamp which I love. It has such a cool shade.

Most of these items came from Details with the exception of the ones that got from PB or Ballard and the few that I already had.

My next project is the living room and to get some photos and art up on the walls.

Antique Pump Organ for sale

I'm selling this organ.

I got it for a killer price...$400 and I'm selling it for $350.

Let me know if your interested.

 

Here's a video of the boys playing it.

Catching Up...

Whew! It has been an intensely busy month and I'm was a bit shocked to look at the calendar and see that Halloween is this week.

We've been burning the midnight oil at Basic Grey trying to get all the product designed and out to the various manufacturers so that it will be ready for Winter CHA. Plus, we have some REALLY EXCITING things coming up in the next month...so watch for that.

I'm also teaching an on-going Photo Editing Class using Photoshop Elements at Two Peas. So between those two jobs and trying to keep up with a busy family...I seem to run out of hours to get things done.

Every day I try to carve out a little bit of time to get outside for a walk and just enjoy Fall which is by far my favorite season. It always seems to race by so much faster than Summer and Winter and I hate missing even a moment of the spectacular colors.

We have this incredible little wilderness in our backyard that I love walking through each morning. On Saturday I grabbed  my camera and took it with me. There are also some shots of our neighborhood.

And we still have roses blooming in our garden!

In addition to work, I've been trying to organize my studio, basement (ugghh...way too much stuff) and get back on track with decorating the house. 

We've heard several times from Ski in both e-mails and a phone call. 

He is living south of Kiev about 60 miles in a little town of about 30,000 but he says it feels more like 10K because it's so spread out.

His host mother is Olga, a 50ish woman who lives alone.

He started teaching English at a high school the 2nd day he arrived.

That was a bit shocking for him...not much orientation more like immersion since his host mother speaks no English and most of his students are not very fluent.

He teaches 3 classes to the more advanced English students.

There are 5 other PC volunteers teaching at this school and all of them studied Russian in college so he is the weakest in the language, which he is working hard to correct.

Olga feeds him very large, very delicious meals, lots of fish, vegetables and kashi (a grain) ...he says he eats about 2 lbs of food at each meal.

So he walks to school every day (about a half hour walk) to try and walk off some of that food.

There is an internet cafe in town that is usually packed during the week with the kids who are ditching school. :o)

The buses are unscheduled, meaning that they only leave when they are full so you can be sitting waiting for a period of time.

He enjoys hiking in the hills above his host mother's house.

He sounds happy, healthy and excited about what he's doing.

It's been great hearing from him a couple times a week!

He'll be here until December at which time he'll be transferred to his permanent 2 year post.

I am planning on posting some pics hopefully this week of the house and our fabulous Bank front door. 

Off to the Ukraine

So Ski has flown the coop and is hopefully in the air on his way to the Ukraine.

He left yesterday and spent the night in D.C. and was scheduled to fly out this morning with the other Peace Corps volunteers to Kiev.

Since we haven't heard from him this morning, we think that's a good thing and that he is actually on his way this time.

He will arrive 2+ weeks behind the core group that went (I think there are 7 or 8 from his T-18 Turkmenistan group that got re-assigned here) we don't know if they will have the formal 2 day training the core group got or an abbreviated version before being placed with their host families.

The core group going to the Ukraine was at least twice the size of his T-18 group of 47.

The photos I've seen of Kiev are beautiful. 

It's in the Northern part of the country - so the temperatures will be similar to what we have here in Salt Lake City (highs in the 50's).

We're anxiously awaiting news of his arrival and will update this as soon as we do. From what we've read on some of the P.C. volunteers blogs that went 2 weeks ago, it could be awhile before he has internet access and can e-mail us. 

Altered Book - Mike's 50th Birthday

For Mike's 50th Birthday, several of his family members and friends wrote letters about what they admired most about him. I took one word out of each letter and stamped it in bold print on one of these colorful envelopes that I designed for 7 Gypsies. On some of the envelopes I stamped snippets from each of the letters. I used their book board that I covered and punched everything with their Binderie Punch. I added in ephemera cards and some of the 4x6 shaped photo carousel cards.

You can see more pages here at Two Peas.