flip flops and christmas

ugh!! it was so warm today, flip flops were in order. i have a hard time getting into the christmas spirit in this gloriously perfect weather. i crave rain and wind and snow... but still managed to complete most of my christmas present crafts, some baking (this is amazing!!) and have cookie dough ready to bake off on christmas eve. whew!!


the potential lunatics are a local kid punk rock band that we recently met up with, they are soooo awesome and i can't wait for my two camp fire groups to meet with them next year. they are home schooled and so very mature, talented, confident and self assured. watching emma i was inspired to look into guitar lessons (yes i will be starting in january) and i am reminded of my love for "the brat" and other punk rock girl bands of the 80's.





liz and our neighbor friend lauren took over the "bar" serving up soda and water.


here is a cool shot of emily. she is in the student council and recently met the mayor of long beach where she was asked to bring christmas cards for the local childrens hospital... well she took it to heart and spent hours writing up cards... begging to stay up late to finish just one more!!! i saw a real "camp fire spirit" in her and i am so proud of her!
Last, i have made a new animal to sell, snakes!! i am hoping they will be a big hit at our local crafty store. pictures to come soon!

Handmade Christmas 2009

So, keeping with tradition, we are doing our handmade christmas again. I came up with three ideas for our camp fire meeting (and was lucky enough to have Jen help me, yay!!) We made compound butter (herb butter: chives, basil, salt smooshed together) which was a big hit and so easy to make. Decorated soap (something i did back in the 70's with my mom, just modge podge paper on to a bar of soap) which was also extremely easy and fun and made book plates out of name tag stickers, stamp and doodle with the words "this book belongs to" written on. I think they came out great and this weekend the girls and i will do our christmas elf routine making gifts for everyone, i am really looking forward to it!!








thanks Jen! xo

christmas spirit

i must apologize for the horrible photos (probably for the last year now) on this blog... everything is taken from the phone camera as i have become incredibly lazy with downloading my "real"camera (which isn't working right anyway for some reason). this photo is no exception


our jaunt around the neighborhood in the "big red bus" an old english double decker that cruises around town on streets with light displays. it was fun, cold and helping me get into the christmas spirit this year. here's to lots of cold and rain and snow!!!

belmont shore parade 2009

    
so we survived another christmas parade, i had parents in charge of both my groups and i can tell you delegating is the way to go!

dad's donut day

my girls love their daddy!




dad's donut day was today, chris spent time with the girls at school. mom's muffin day is not far away for me.

i am enjoying "coal country" tonight, not really "enjoying", but learning a lot and feeling tearful and energized too. i lived in virginia for about a year and a half and west virginia was a gorgeous place to visit, i have many memories of traveling through that area. i highly recommend a look if you get a chance. the appalachian mountains hold a special place in my heart and i just don't see how ANYONE can say coal energy is good. alternatives have been out there for decades and we need to embrace green energy. it seems so obvious to me but... we'll see.

portland thanksgiving continued

 
beach beach beach




seaside beach (i guess the locals don't like it, but we had fun!)


my gorgeous portland cousins


our room at the Kennedy School


coolest stop on our way to the vista house


eating dinner at the Oregon Zoo (we went to the "Zoo Lights" which is a cool light show my cousin Liz turned us on to)


cool art work... we met the artist Mary Topogna, one of my favorite experiences this trip


Her work is found here, we saw many of her cool creations throughout the Kennedy School. Hoping for some inspiration!

portland thanksgiving

quick peek of our recent trip to portland... more to come...hopefully!! so busy getting ready for xmas now, so behind, so crazy!


we stayed at the Kennedy School, which is a hotel made from an old schoolhouse. it was the most amazing hotel i have ever stayed in, hands down, i would highly recommend it to anyone. the place has a great restaurant, tons of beer (with it's own brewery), several fun bars (detention hall and honors bar), a fantastic movie theater (you eat pizza sitting on couches in a huge auditorium and watch brand new movies for free), amazing artwork, lots of history and the rooms are crazy fun (chalk boards all around and your closet is the old cloak room). it was inexpensive as well. the vibe is pure fun and the staff were super nice.


it was hard to get pictures though, dark dark halls.


we did several road trips: here is one to the gorge, vista house and several waterfalls






we took a drive to the coast (my love, the beach!)






we did a search for the "goonies house" and stumbled on it


plus a super cute siam mix kitty


views driving to the beach through farms were awesome as well




ok... if this post isn't kooky enough... back to the beach (cannon beach, another goonies movie spot)


ok, more to come... xo portland!