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A New Year

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New Year

Morning light from our bedroom window.

 It’s a new year, and the beginning of a new decade. I love beginnings. The start of a new school year was always my favorite time of year. I loved setting up my classroom, getting to know a new set of students, creating new lessons, and being back with my friends. I feel much the same way about 2010. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I want to spend my time this year than ever before. I’m sure that’s due to Karen Grunberg’s Reclaiming My Time class at BPS. I thought I would have a project to post today celebrating my thinking and my word for the year–intention–but the project is taking more time than I anticipated. The class, and Karen’s blog, have really helped me think through how I want to spend my time in 2010. Her process has resonated with me, and I’ll share some of it when I share my project.

Intention:
1.  A course of action that one intends to follow. 2.  An aim that guides action; an objective.

I decided “intention” really fit my needs this year. I always make resolutions; I’m good at keeping some of them, terrible at others. This year I’ve made some lists that I’ll be sharing to help me focus on my intentions. As I love new beginnings, I also love making lists. They help me prioritize as well as stay focused. I’m hoping that stating my intentions will help me be more productive. Here’s to a great new year!

Merry Christmas

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It’s hard to believe it’s Christmas Eve. I’m sure by the time we come home from the 11:00 service, I’ll feel like Christmas is here. We’re ready. In fact, I have never had so little left to do; there’s not much else I can do until tomorrow afternoon right before the family arrives for dinner.

When I started this blog four years ago, I really had no idea what I would do with it. Over the years, I’ve come to know many lovely people through the internet. Twice I’ve been lucky enough to meet friends I’ve met through the internet, and they are as wonderful in person as they are online. It’s truly been a pleasure, and I gain so much inspiration for photography, cardmaking, and scrapbooking because of you! Merry Christmas and may you enjoy every minute of your special time with family!

Making a List and Checkin’ It Twice

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Once again, I seem to be ahead of the game. Many years ago, I was often done with Christmas shopping and wrapping by December 1st. Considering I worked full-time and had two busy kids at home, it was kind of amazing. But it enabled me to slow down in December and enjoy the holidays. Then over time, things slipped back to “normal.” But this year I made a list and have been checking things off at a pretty good clip. It helps to be retired!

  1. Decide on which cookies to bake. (Done, chose 12 different kinds; I give away a lot of cookies.)
  2. Write out menu for Christmas Day. (Done. I host Tracy’s family on Christmas; there will be 17 this year. The menu doesn’t change much.)
  3. Wrap California gifts. (Done.)
  4. Mail California gifts. (Done today. It was nice to send them parcel post and know I had plenty of time to get them there by Christmas.)
  5. Wrap gifts. (Only two done for here.)
  6. Decorate house. (Done.)
  7. Inventory baking supplies. (Done.)
  8. Shop for baking supplies. (Done, the grocery bill was substantially higher than usual, but I also bought ahead for some entertaining we’ll be doing in December.)
  9. Make notepads. (Need 5 for gifts; have 3 finished.)
  10. Make calendars.
  11. Compose and print Christmas letter. (Done; I used the Paislee Press Viewfinder frames for the photos this year and love how the photos came out.)
  12. Finish Christmas cards. (All but six are made; the paper I needed to finish arrived on Saturday.)
  13. Sign and mail Christmas cards.
  14. Clean basement tables so wrapping gifts is possible. (Done; my very least favorite job. Our basement is disgusting–part & parcel of owning an old house.)
  15. Finish shopping. (Done, I think; I’m still thinking about changing one gift I purchased for a friend.)

All in all, I’m ready for December. We live in an old house (circa 1930), and it’s just perfect at Christmas. The last few nights, I’ve taken my laptop downstairs and worked in the living room so I can enjoy the tree and the rest of the decorations. After a wonderful November of sunny skies and pretty warm temperatures, it’s been too dark and dreary the last couple of days to get good photos, but they’re coming.

Last year, one of our porch trees was stolen. We had to buy two replacements so they would match and put the one left on our patio table. This weekend I found a bigger tree, decorated with berries, pinecones, and white lights for 50% off at Michaels. I can see it from our kitchen as well as the dining room, and I just love it. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen in December so I’ll probably get more enjoyment from it than anyone else!

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Gifts for California

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For the first time ever, Sarah and Adam won’t be here for Christmas. I am grateful that it took 29 years before it happened, but I know I am really going to miss them at Christmas. Tonight I got all the gifts wrapped, and one box packed and ready to mail tomorrow. These are the gift card holders I made this afternoon to put in their stockings (one for Matt, too). The cardstock is Scarlet Jewel (Papertrey), the ribbon from Paper Source and all the rest is Making Memories Mistletoe collection. The gift card holder was one Kristina Werner posted on 2Peas last year. I’ve made lots and lots of them since I first downloaded the pattern. It’s quick and easy.

Tradition

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For over twenty years we’ve gone out the weekend after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. We always scope out the weather report and try to go on the better of the three days. This year it looked like Friday was the best day. Early in the morning the sun was shining, and it looked very promising. By the time we left, it was cloudy but no rain was expected for another two hours or so according to Weather.com. No such luck. By the time we arrived at Wilbert’s, it was raining, cold, and windy. 

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Wilbert’s was a new tree farm for us, and we were encouraged by the huge size of it. There are six stations where you can pay and quite a nice map of the property. Another nice feature is the cart they provide for carrying the tree in from the field.

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The bad news was the trees were short (we need at least a 7 foot tree) and many of them were simply ugly. Lots of them were totally brown on the bottom. We trudged through two huge fields before we finally gave up–cold, wet, and discouraged.

There was no way I wanted to go home without a tree. We weren’t too far from an old standby, Schoff’s Tree Farm. Two years ago, the selection there was slim, and after 15 years or so, Tracy decided we needed to find a new place. But we decided to try again, and we really lucked out. First of all, the weather cleared.

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Secondly, Schoff’s had just opened a new field of trees and within minutes, we had found a tree the right size and shape.

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While Tracy and Matt were tying the tree on the car . . .

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I looked around for some photo ops, and found a couple right in front of the van.

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On the way home, we stopped at Grossman’s Nursery so I could pick up some poinsettias. I loved the door handles here as well.

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I’ve spent most of the day getting the house decorated. It took a couple of trips to the store to find some candles and a tray for the coffee table display. Tracy is putting the lights on the tree tonight. By tomorrow the house should be ready for Christmas. Now to wrapping gifts and getting Christmas cards out.

Happy Thanksgiving

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We’ll soon be off to my sister-in-law’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Tracy and I were at the gym early this morning in order to work off a few calories before we hit the table. I’m the pie lady for this event. My BIL was gifted an apple pie for today, so this year I only needed to make two: chocolate pecan and pumpkin.

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Have a wonderful holiday! 

For Amy & A Tour

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Amy left a comment asking how I take photos of my cards. We live in a VERY dark house, lovely, but dark with almost no natural light that allows for good indoor photos. I’ve tried lots of things, but have been reluctant to invest in a light box for photographing my cards. Recently, however, almost by accident I’ve come upon a system that is working quite well. My husband bought the wrong florescent light bulbs for our son’s room. They were “daylight” bulbs, and Matt hated them. So I switched with him, and it took a bit of getting used to but for indoor and nighttime photography they have been great. I also use a piece of white foamcore board that I bought at Michaels. I cut it about halfway through so it bends in half and use it as the background. Sometimes I put a piece of coordinated cardstock on the back of it, but often I leave it as is. The white board makes color cast correction in PSE really easy. It looks like this:

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And I get a photo like this:

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While I was at it, I decided to take some photos of my study. It’s a small room which I have crammed with as much stuff as it possible. I’m in desperate need of a major purge again, but I think it will have to wait until after the holidays.

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My desk is an L-shaped desk I bought at Staples ten years ago. It has held up really well and has a good amount of work space. To the right is a stamp cabinet Tracy built for me nearly 15 years ago. Each shelf holds an acyrlic picture frame with stamps organized by theme.

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The bookcases came from Target seven or eight years ago when Sarah moved out and I took over this room. The CD holder is from IKEA and houses my acrylic stamp sets as well as CDs.

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I love my chair from LL Bean. It flips out into a single bed when we need extra space for company.

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Last year I found this printer’s drawer in our garage and refinished it to hold my most used rubber stamps. The table underneath pulls up to counter height when I want to work on a project standing up. I paid $20 for it at IKEA several years ago. It was a great solution for a tiny room. I can’t get into my closet when it’s pulled up, but it hasn’t been a major problem.

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The closet is small but hold a ton of stuff. The racks on the door and the hanging drawers are both from The Container Store. The two units of drawers underneath came from one of the office supply stores. I have to say I love this space. Until I moved into this room, I shared space with the rest of the family. It was fine, but this is great. It’s not big, but we’ve managed to utilize the space pretty effectively. I do have to admit, however, when I’m in the middle of a big project I end up with stuff all over the floor as well. Usually I’m really neat and organized, but I’m not a neat crafter!

Gratitude

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Shimelle’s prompt today for Blogging for Scrapbookers prompted a bit of exploring for me. I was frankly surprised to see that I’ve been blogging since June 2005 and have written almost 500 posts. Amazing. Shimelle asked us to look back to a year ago and see what we were blogging about. It’s a great idea and the first prompt I came to in the November 2008 archives was Thanksgiving. I had made a list of things for which I am grateful and not a one of them has changed in a year. I am one lucky lady and several tragic events of the past few weeks have just made me more aware than ever of all my blessings.

After family, friends have always been at the top of my list of blessings. We’ve spent the last two nights with good friends, eating delicious food, sharing stories, and reminiscing. Tonight’s dinner was the first of biweekly dinners and bridge with good friends. Thirty some years ago we started playing bridge and having dinner every Wednesday night. In addition to the bridge game, Eileen and I made an informal agreement that we would never serve the same meal, so our repetoires of recipes really increased. We had a lot of fun, ate really well, and maybe the bridge game improved. After Matt was born, I couldn’t keep up with a full-time job and two kids so the weekly dinners disappeared. We continued to play bridge in a duplicate group, however, which is now in its 37th year. Last month we decided to reinstate the Wednesday night dinners, but every other week. So nice to come back to an old pattern now that all our kids are grown.

Tonight’s dessert was a new recipe for me, found on the Mommy Coddle blog last week. Absolutely delicious!

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I served it with vanilla ice cream, a bit of homemade caramel sauce, and candied pecans.

Holidays in Hand & An Update on Leaves

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I don’t know why I was surprised. I’ve taken several online courses with Jessica Sprague, and they have all been fantastic. Her free Stories in Hand class was awesome and revived my interest in telling some of my childhood stories. But I was surprised this morning when I signed in for today’s lesson in the Holiday in Hand class and found these fantastic prompts for the month of December.

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The prompts are beautifully designed and so thoughtful. I printed them on matte photo paper, and they look great. Jessica gave us two size options, and I chose the smaller ones which fit perfectly on this little easel. I’m planning on displaying it on my desk, ready to stimulate ideas for my Journal Your Christmas album. Between this and Shimelle’s prompts, I should have no problems finding meaningful ideas to scrap this holiday season. There are still several lessons left in this course, but it’s already been a great experience. Best of all, it was free!

Someone left a comment on this post, asking what happened to all the leaves on our street. Late this afternoon the town crew arrived to “pick them up.” Our understanding is the leaves are then composted by the town.

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I love that they have this screen that keeps the leaves from blowing out of the truck. For the first time in several weeks, we can once again park in front of our house.

November Leaves

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The last few years it has snowed before we’ve gotten the leaves to the street for pickup. Matt brought home the power blower last night and Tracy finished blowing in the dark. This morning he dragged the huge pile from the backyard to the street. It is an amazing pile.

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Here’s the sad part. There are still leaves on the trees.

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Quite a few, in fact.

Sunday Drive

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It was a gorgeous day here in western New York—warm and sunny. After church we drove up to the boat yard to check on the sailboat. I knew our boat was a bit small when we take it out on Lake Ontario, but today I really understood how small. I had never been up there after all the boats had been put up on dry dock. Our boat looked like a toy! But the plastic Tracy covered the boat with has stayed in place so that was good. On our way home we drove through Durand Eastman Park, another beautiful park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It’s still beautiful in November.

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Later this afternoon Tracy and Matt moved most of his furniture and belongings from our garage to an empty garage in Naples that Tracy’s mom owns. There’s still a bit of cleaning out to do, but we’ll eventually be able to park in the garage this winter. While they were gone, I got a few more Christmas cards made–three of each design.

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It’s hard to see in the photograph, but the trees all have a bit of glittery “snow” on them. The star has a tiny Hero Art rhinestone in the center. Both stamps are by Memory Box.

Autumn Decorations

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A few of the fall decorations around the house. We had friends for dinner and finally some sunshine so I managed to get three shots I was satisfied with. More later, perhaps.

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The dining room centerpiece.

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On the dry sink in the dining room.

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On the coffee table.

I wasn’t happy with the shots of the mantle, so I’ll try again tomorrow and add them here then. I’m trying to live up to my goal to post every day—maybe not such a good idea some days.

Neighborhood Walk

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We live just about a block from Highland Park. It was designed by Robert Law Olmstead and is the site of an annual Lilac Festival that draws thousands of visitors each May. When we went for a walk earlier this week, I was delighted to see these beautiful new signs on Goodman Ave.

Here are a few more shots (taken with my point and shoot) as we walked to the park and around the neighborhood.

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The Highland Park Reservoir

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There are still a few trees with most of the leaves still on the tree.

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I love the shape of this tree. There are several old trees in Highland Park that are just lovely.

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Tracy noticed the cool shadows along the sidewalk from the reservoir fence.

Happy Halloween and A Walk in the Park

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Happy Halloween! It’s a cold, wet, very windy and dark day here in western New York. I feel sorry for the little trick or treaters. It’s going to be a chilly night.

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Earlier in the week, Tracy and I skipped going to Midtown to work out and went to Mendon Ponds. Unlike the last few days, it was a warm and sunny day and the walk around 100 Acre Pond was lovely. I’m sure many of the beautiful leaves are now on the ground.

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I took this photo for Sarah who said she was missing the colorful leaves of autumn in California. She spent last week in Malibu at a retreat center for a conference, so I have a hard time feeling too sorry for her. Especially on a dark, dreary day in Rochester. Adam posted some beautiful photos of the Pacific Ocean from the place they stayed on their way down.

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On the way around the pond, Tracy spotted this snake. He thought it was dead until it raised its head!

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It was a beautiful afternoon.

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Adirondack Weekend

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Tracy and Bob have gone to the Adirondacks every September for years. This year Cathy and I decided to go along–not to backpack, but for a girls’ weekend. We picked a great year to go. We dropped the guys off at the trailhead on Friday, and they took off for Mt. Marshall. Here they are, already to take off for their two day hike.

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Cathy and I, however, did not rough it. We checked into the Ledge Rock Motel in Wilmington, just north of Lake Placid. We had a great view of Whiteface Mountain from our room where we enjoyed wine and cheese and crackers, talked, and read.

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Friday night we drove into Lake Placid, ate at the Lake Placid Brewery and did some shopping. There was a great breakfast at the Lake Placid Diner on Saturday followed by more shopping in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. We did get a little exercise walking  2.7 miles around Mirror Lake.

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The weather was fabulous and the foliage very near peak.

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Saturday night we had a great meal at the pub at the Hungry Trout in Wilmington. Sunday turned out to be gray and rainy. Here’s the view from our room on Sunday.

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The hikers were wet and very tired when we picked them up.

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But grateful for the cold beers we brought with us. All of us had a great time. I think this could be a new tradition!