What Goes Around...

Today, I bought a cloche. It will be my Christmas hat. I used to wear cloches quite often years back when they were in style - I don't wear hats very well, but cloches apparently are good for my head shape. Then cloches went out of style, or so I was told. I was very happy to hear that they are back in style this season!

Just a little something that made me smile on this extremely dreary day!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Or, it would, if it weren't over 60 degrees outside. Its no secret, I'm a bit of a Christmas fanatic, but I must admit this warm weather is dampening my seasonal spirit just a bit. I'm pushing through, though! This weekend, I finished a felt wreath that I started at a recent crafting get-together and hung it up on the front door. It looks pretty awesome on the newly painted blue door, and I love that whenever I open the door I hear jingle bells!

I also brought the boxes of Christmas decor down from the attic, and as the coming week progresses, I hope to get most of the decorations up in the house. And then next weekend - THE TREE! I always get a little pint of egg nog to have on hand for the evening I finish decorating the tree. After I get the last ornament on, I pour myself a little glass, turn the tree lights on and listen to carols in the soft glow for a while. Its impossible not to be in the spirit at that point. My own little tradition that works like a charm every year!

Jingles everyone!

Rare Occurrence

I'm not going to lie - mushroom risotto and roasted broccoli might be one of the most un-photogenic meals known to mankind. But, I made this risotto and broccoli, and it was pretty darn good! So, G (who helped me eat said risotto) thought it was worth a blog post. Well, here you go! Its a rare, rare occurrence that I either a) cook, or b) cook something well. Enjoy it!

Chillin'

The new fridge, which makes the old stove and range hood look pretty bad. Geez...it never ends!

After two years of intentionally trying to get my old refrigerator (and by old, I mean ancient) to die, it finally did last weekend. I used to kick it, shove hot food into it, never vacuumed the coils, just generally abused the thing in the hopes that it would give up and I could get a new machine. Well, apparently they made refrigerators to survive the apocolypse back in the early 1970's, and the old girl just kept on truckin'. Until last weekend, that is. Naturally, when the fridge decided to give up the ghost, it would be while I was out of town and had left two full bags of ice in the freezer, leftover from a summer cook-out. So, I came home about midnight last Sunday to find about an inch of water allover the kitchen floor, and a fridge full of defrosted meats and spoiled foods. It was nasty to say the least. So after a couple of hours cleaning it all up, I went to bed, consoled with thoughts of shopping for a new refrigerator.

And shop I did! The next evening I went to just abought every appliance store in the area. It was exhausting, but I learned the hard way back when I bought my washer and dryer that you really should never purchase appliances on-line. In the end, I got a fridge at Lowe's. Shocker. The price was the best, and they do free delivery and haul away of the old fridge. Unfortunately, Lowe's customer service leaves a bit to be desired. The fridge was suppsoed to be delivered the next day. After 2 additional days, no less than 6 phone calls, and one late night trip to Lowe's to physically show them what fridge I had ordered (yeah, seriously), it finally showed up late in the afternoon on Thursday. And its a beauty!! It makes my kitchen look better...and really makes me want to get started on that kitchen remodel that I've been mentally planning for 2 years.

Hmmmm....

The Royal Treatment

I call this one "Blue Door with Cat"

Paint samples in the summer-long testing phase.

From left to right, they are Indigo Streamer, Royal Navy, Blue Coal and Twilight Purple. And yes, I am aware that in this picture they look like the exact same color.

After literally an entire summer of debating over color choice, I finally re-painted my front door this weekend. I finally selected a color called Royal Navy (I was somewhat bummed that it didn't have a more inventive name, but what are you gonna do?). It took a lot longer than I actually thought it would (turns out there actually is a bit of a method to painting a panelled door, FYI) and I might still have another step in the process (the addition of a coat of super-shiny polyurethane to make the door look very House Beautiful), but all in all I'm pretty happy with it! Now I have two more doors to paint before winter sets in. Anyone wanna lay bets on whether I'm actually going to get it done??

Finally!

An original water fountain, installed in the 1950's.

After many years of kicking myself for never taking in the fall foliage in Shenandoah National Park, I finally got to check it off the list this past weekend. The parents were visiting, so we drove up to the mountains and drove the central section of Skyline Drive, stopping to do a couple of the short hiking trails and take lost of pictures at the waysides. The leaves haven't completely changed, but there was a lot more color than what seems to show up in these pictures.

We also stopped for lunch at Skylands Resort, one of those old-school national park hotels, with a lodge and cabins and everything. The food was kind of amazing, and the view from the dining room was spectacular. I had to take a picture of the drink menu - thought G and the beau might be interested! The national parks are celebrating their 75th anniversary, so EVERYTHING is Great Depression-themed up in Shenandoah - kitschy, but in a Great American Road Trip kind of way.

Next time, I'm taking a horseback trail ride. I used to do that kind of thing all the time back home, and seeing all the horseback riders in the mountains this weekend made me miss it. What a way to see all that scenery!

Win Some...Lose Some

Wins for the Summer of 2011:

7 radishes

2 heads of broccoli

1 fig

3 pumpkins

Losses for the Summer of 2011:

1 ornamental cherry tree

3 peppers (crushed under afore-mentioned cherry tree)

3 bags of zinnia seeds (not a single plant appeared after planting)

All in all, I'm going to call it a draw!