A little turkey and some mistletoe...

...Or, if you're Vicki and Mandy it's mizzletoe, but I digress. I don't know if it's the holiday spirit, or the excessive amounts of chocolate, or all the photo and design work I've had lately, or the decorations around the house, or the fact that it's the first Christmas in our house, but the weekends have been spectacular lately. I have to give the weekdays some props too, I suppose. But these weekends, man.

Thanksgiving bits
Dan and I had a four day weekend from the 9-5 jobs and I took a little break from the photos, too. Since we were home on Thanksgiving, the kitties thought it was Saturday and begged for their routine weekend treat - wet food. We held out until the afternoon and gave them a turkey and gravy dinner before we left for our own turkey dinner with Dan's family. I think they enjoyed it, no mind that Urple looks like she's going to clobber someone and eat them as well.



For the holiday full 'o food, I chose some new recipes. Last year I tried a new recipe of orange glazed carrots (or some crap like that) and they were awful. I had to redeem myself among the in-laws. I made a corn casserole that could rival Don Pablo's corn cakes, some of the most delicious marshmallow brownies ever, and some oreo truffles. We visited my family on Friday for a second turkey dinner and took some of all three recipes there, too. I think the carrot fiasco is well behind me.


With the final two days of our extended weekend, I ACTUALLY CRAFTED. Mandy and Chris came to see our house for the first time, and after lunch together the girls went craft shopping while the boys played video games at home - big surprise. We almost talked the boys into shopping with us, but they were too smart for that.

Anyway, back to the crafting. Mandy and I decided to do Ali's Daily December album idea. I still haven't figured out whether this was a good idea since I made the book and have been taking pictures, but haven't had time to fill it. I had a lot of fun, though, and got to use some paper and things I had on hand with some printed digital papers.

In between crafting, Dan and I also put up the tree that Sunday and watched a couple movies. Time actually seemed to slow down. Best weekend in a long time.


Other bits
This 10-22mm beauty was delivered this past week, along with some other goodies we ordered. It's an EF-S lens, but that's okay for now because both of our cameras are compatible. Read: we don't want to stockpile EF-S lenses. If we ever buy a 5D or other full frame camera, they don't fly together. This is our first wide angle lens and I am in love. I can stand in my front yard (versus the other side of the cul-de-sac) and get my whole house in the shot, or stand right in front of the Christmas tree and get it in the shot with our fireplace on the opposite wall. It's fabulous. Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM.


Not taken with 10-22mm, but pretty all the same. The snow finally stuck this weekend!


More decorating this past week...we pulled out some old things and bought some new things. Garland makes its way down the stair banister, candle lamps shine out the windows, little details are all around, and the tree doesn't have ornaments on it yet but I could leave it and be happy.


This weekend bits
It was another good one around here. I had photos to finish editing, Christmas cards to design and order, and other projects to finish and order. I finished all but two things on my list. One of those is designing our own Christmas card, which is quickly turning into a New Year's card. As much as I love these little projects, I'm REALLY looking forward to getting them done so I can work on the 2009 rollout for Rye Designs. And I'm REALLY REALLY looking forward to having almost two weeks off work at the end of this month for my plans.

Welcome December.