The Chill of Winter

Above - Hollywood searched for crumbs on the floor, but all she got was a fake leaf stuck to her nose.

Tomorrow is December 1st. I realize that this is not the official start of winter, but doesn't it feel like fall is over? It's strange...while it is currently in the 70's today, the weatherman is threatening snow predictions tomorrow morning. The leaves are off the trees. Christmas lights are up everywhere and it seems that every time I look at the calendar at work, I am trying to figure out exactly how to schedule the work to get it done before we leave for the Christmas holiday.

Many people are not big fans of winter, but I am not a winter-hater--especially not this year. Looking ahead, I've got Christmas and New Year's to spend with family and friends (and a day trip planned in New York City). January will bring a weekend trip to Las Vegas. February or March will bring a skiing excursion to Colorado (plus, I'm a sucker for Valentine's Day). Somewhere in there we will throw a SuperBowl party and before we know it, it will be sandal season all over again. (Which reminds me...I am really due to take off my toenail polish and get a new pedicure. My toes are pretty sad looking, but I've been afraid to get a pedicure with my still-healing ankle. 6 weeks later, it is STILL swollen.)

I feel that this has the potential to be a great winter. So I say, bring it on! Let December come blowing in. Let the snow fall. Let's dig out those flannel pajamas, warm socks and hot chocolate because come on...isn't this really better than bathing suit season?

Bundle up, raise a glass of cheer and sign those Christmas cards--December is here!

Black Friday Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! Now that the eating and the shopping is done, have you thought about what you are thankful for? Here's a few things that I am thankful for, but this is just scratching the surface...

I am thankful...

• For my husband, family and friends
• That I live in a country where we have more than enough to eat and we can have a holiday where the main activity is food consumption
• For cheesy potatoes with a crushed corn-flake topping
• That the first season of Grey's Anatomy was on sale at Circuit City and my husband was willing to fight the crowds to get it for me
• For an oversized dishwasher
• For diet cranberry juice
• For my health
• For four consecutive days off with no traveling involved
• For scented candles
• For my healing ankle
• For sleeping in
• For watching movies over and over that you know and love
• For old holiday memories
• For making new holiday memories
• For flannel pajamas
• For unconditional love from my dogs

and finally....

• Thanksgiving Day leftovers

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

The Spice of Life

One of the things that I registered for upon my engagement back in 1995, was a spice rack. I received a fine spice rack containing 24 spices, and I loved it. Over the past decade, it has served me well and I found myself refilling the bottles and using them to my heart's content. I would use them in pies and desserts, new recipes I would try, or just to sprinkle over pizza. However, after ten years, I thought it might be time to replace the 24 spices with totally fresh bottles filled with completely fresh spices. We just spent the last few hours at Kroger doing our Thanksgiving shopping and I thought it might be a good time to pick them out.

Picking them out took a while. I gave considerable thought (much to my husband's dismay) to the spices I was choosing. Did I want to get rid of a few of the ones I seldom used and replace them with some other new and exciting choices? Do I keep all of the standards or mix it up a little? Decisions...decisions. Eventually, I walked away with my top 24 beautiful, new glass jars of McCormick spices and I was thrilled.

I had no idea what a great feeling it would be to bring home new spices. I opened the jars and smelled them. Mmmm, the basil made me salivate. The red hue of the paprika was so vibrant and beautiful--I almost wanted to match a paint color to it. My old ginger was cakey compared to this new jar and for that matter, my old oregano, dare I say it...faded! I even bought a jar of celery salt for no other reason than the fact that I remembered my Mom using it on something, and it was delicious, although I have no idea what it was she used it for. (I plan to ask her tomorrow.) In any case, just opening the jar and inhaling the scent was worth whatever I paid for it.

For me, on this very day, I found great happiness and beauty in a new, fresh, alphabetized, spice rack.

Holiday Nostalgia

The Christmas season is practically here and I really, really, really love Christmas.

Christmas just makes me revert to being a child all over again. Happy memories come rushing back of living in a house full of 8 people, 2 dogs and a cat. Decorated trees, cookies, Santa, shopping, family, hanging stockings, cold weather, midnight Mass, the Nativity...I love every aspect of this holiday.

For some reason, whenever I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas or the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas, those feelings come back stronger than ever. I could watch them 100 times over and I feel like I am six years old again, every time. There is that sense of innocence, hope and love in the air that just doesn't feel the same at any other time of year.

For me, the Christmas season just never gets old. I'm glad it's here once again!

What Should the Caption Be?

Every now and then, a person just has to ask themselves...what is wrong with my friends?!?

Fall in the South

I love this time of year. Autumn in Tennessee is the best.

I get to celebrate my birthday.

The temperatures are more comfortable for dog walkin'.

The trees look amazing. Seriously. Isn't God one heck of an artist?

Yup. I love this time of year. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Happy Fall Y'all!

Forget the Number and Enjoy the Cake

Birthdays are strange days. Some people hate them. Some people love them. For some people, I think it just depends on which birthday it is. Saturday will be number 36 for me.

I think the thing that surprises me the most is the "How did I get here?" part of it. There are so many parts of my younger days that I remember so vividly. It just doesn't feel like I should be here already. What happened to my 20's? Does that mean that age 70 will be here just as quickly?

Then there is the media. I remember reading an article recently about 36 being the age of the "peak of beauty" for most women. This brings up multiple questions. Does this mean that after Saturday, any hope of being beautiful is unachievable? How am I supposed to feel a year from Saturday? What about a decade from Saturday? All of this spins in my head, while everyone celebrated in the media is looking skinnier and skinnier and younger and more buffed and more and more plastic.

We're all getting older. It's inevitable. We've all heard the line about it being "better than the alternative". So, as I approach 36, this is how I feel about it:

I am going to use whatever creams, scrubs, sunscreens, haircolors, vitamins, etc. that I can to look my best for my age, but I am not going to worry about the lines on my face. I am not going to worry about a number on my driver's license. I am never going to be as skinny as the girls on the runways in Paris, (nor would I want to be) but I am going to watch what I eat, work out, and do the best I can with the curves that I have.

The fact of the matter is, we are all aging better. If Kirstie Alley can wear a bikini on Oprah in her 50's then doggone it, I am looking forward to my 50's. Age is just a number and a birthday is just like any other day.

Except I think I like birthdays better--because there is cake.

Who knows...maybe that's the key to personal peace with aging. We just have to forget the number of candles and just enjoy the cake.

Faith Hill Link

Here is the link to the video of Faith Hill's reaction to Carrie Underwood's win at the CMA's that I discussed in my last post:



Faith's Reaction




Enjoy!!

CMA Awards with Kim Paisley and Faith Hill

My Two Favorite Moments:

1 - Brad Paisley's wife calling herself "knocked up and blind".

2 - Faith Hill's reaction to Carrie Underwood's win of Female Vocalist of the Year. Holy crap. Did anyone else catch that?!? Someone PLEASE put that out on You Tube.

A Few Strange Days...

Ok, so I haven't been blogging for a few days. I have my reasons.

First of all, my computer is upstairs, and since my foot injury, I haven't been going upstairs very much. Not being close to a computer definitely cuts down on the blogging. However, I am completely off of my crutches and out of my big, giant, ugly, black boot and now just wearing a small ankle brace. My blogging should now increase.

Secondly, life has been a little hectic. Here's what has been going on:

First, we hosted a Halloween party at our house on October 28th.






Then, of course there was the clean up of the aftermath of the Halloween party.




On Tuesday, (Halloween Day), my place of employment asked us all to dress like pirates. I'm not sure that I am ready to announce my place of employment on my blog, but there is a reason why we had to dress like pirates that is company-related, believe it or not.




Later that night, we handed out candy to trick or treaters and my husband made our house so creepy, that one kid's mother rang our doorbell and said she was trick or treating for her three year old because he was too scared to come up on our porch. Red flood lights, multiple fog machines, music, strobe lights were all involved in creating the final effect. It looked great.



This past Friday night, we attended a wine tasting in downtown Franklin with multiple friends. We've done this several years in a row and it is always a good time. They close down Main Street in Franklin and you get to taste a different wine in each store, shop or restaurant up and down the street. However, this year, I had the brilliant idea of barely eating anything most of the day to "save calories" since I would be eating and drinking more than usual that night. Not smart. I don't recommend going to a wine tasting on an empty stomach. There was plenty of food there, but by the time I ate, I already had far too much to drink, and it didn't really help. Let's just chalk up Friday night as another learning experience. In any case, we still had a really great time.






In fact, one of my friends liked his drink so much, he proposed to one of the vendors right there on the spot!



On Saturday night, we were invited to spend time with some friends at a "chill with chili" party. Again, it was a great time--and this time, I stuck with Diet Coke and Diet Sprite all night. The chili that I ate that night was the first food that I was able to successfully eat all day.

Now it is Sunday afternoon, and I am still in my pajamas. I am tired and all I really want to do is stay home and catch up with my TiVo.

It was fun while it lasted, but dang, I am kind of relieved that this week is over.