Daybed in Sunroom
Just received the back-ordered bed cover and shams from Crate and Barrel for the twin bed in the sunroom. Makes it look a bit less bed-y now, and the new fabric matches what we already had on there for the “arm rest” and other pillows which were taken from the guest bedrom Ikea futon.
Happy Holidays Xmas Card
Holiday photo from Costco. I tried to make pretty hearts around our name by using a special HTML character but it turned out as “?” when it printed out. So i had to fix it with star stickers left over from our cookie exchange voting. The portraits of us were taken in our backyard at our old Los Olivos apartment.
Along with this photo, we sent out Butter’s official holiday newsletter titled “The McGirr Purr”. I hope he continues to write one next year for our family and friends – he is a natural born writer that cat.
Stockings are Hung
Stocking are hung over our new fireplace! Christmas tree cones, stocking clips, and pine are new this year as well.
Herr’s Chips
A package arrived today from Herr’s Chips. Lo and behold, upon its opening a massive amount of potato chips in all kinds of flavors emerged! Herr’s chips is only available on the East Coast. My favorite flavor is Heinz Ketchup! The Red Hot was pretty dang hot.
The Inaugural Cookie Exchange
Today we hosted a Holiday Cookie Exchange at our house. Basically it is a party where everyone brings a couple batches of cookies and we all exchange some so we have a variety of cookies to enjoy during the holidays.
Overall the party was a success! It was nice for people to come over who haven’t seen our house yet. We decorated it as best we could.. bought a tree and everything. If it weren’t for the party we probably wouldn’t have done that. For appetizers i made california rolls, cheese and salami crackers, tuna sandwiches cutout as trees, turkey-cranberry sandwiches cutout as stars, spanokopita (frozen from costco), melon balls, veggies, chips and onion dip. Also made some yummy punch made of guava juice, 7up and pineapple juice. I bought a new punch bowl from Crate and Barrel that looks like a fish bowl. I forgot to take photos of all my hard work… but you could probably see it in the background of some of the photos if you look good. Here is the link to the Flickr Photoset.
Here are the winners & prizes from this year:
The award ribbons i designed – spent a good half-a-saturday on these!
Sandy’s fancy Martha Stewart inspired tree display won her Most Spirited!
View her Top Secret Chocolate Cookie Recipe.
Rita’s cute and tasty snowball cookies won her Most Popular.
View her Chocolate Truffle Cookies Recipe.
Angie’s decked out stocking & wreath display earned her Best Dressed.
View her Chocolate Macaroon Recipe.
Charlie (only guy who entered a cookie – on left) won Most Creative! He made up his own M & M and Mint cookie. I forgot to get the recipe from him.
Until next year my friends! Look forward to hosting again and filling my tummy with wonderful cookies.
Cornflake Cookies
Made my cornflake cookies today for the cookie exchange tomorrow. They turned out perfect — just how i remember eating them back in Hawaii. Here is the recipe courtesy of my Mom & Grandma:
Cornflake Cookies
1 cup shortening (Regular flavor crisco)
1 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Add and mix well:
3 cups flour
3 cups cornflakes, crushed to small pieces
1 cup chopped pecans, optional (or any other nut)
Roll then flatten 1 inch balls on to cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Makes about 90 small cookies.
Salamander
A salamander followed my car into the garage this evening. We (Butters, Jeff and I) chased after it with my camera to get a picture as it scurried away under the closed garage door. I actually thought it was a gecko until we looked at the photo on the camera and saw its buggy eyes.
Upside Down Flying Kitty
We always seem to find Butters in odd sleeping positions such as this. Never gets old though… funny kitty.
AFAA Certification Results
After a long day of work, gym and grocery shopping, i finally get home (while still on the phone with my mom) and Jeff hands me a large envelope that came in the mail. After a bit of hesitation and asking Jeff to open it, I rip open the envelope then loudly swear (my mom is still on the phone, yes) as i give myself a nasty paper cut!! Not a good start i think… but luckily the results said i have completed the requirements to obtain my certification! I got 7 wrong answers out of 150 questions. There was no mention of my practical part of the test, but i suppose it went well since I passed. It is a relief, but now i have to keep my certification by earning 15 CEUs within a 2-year period and keep my CPR certification (renewal once a year). Now my next fitness goal is to get more classes to teach since i am only teaching 1 official class per week (step aerobics). I probably will have to apply at another gym.
Chinatown Owls
After day 2 of the design conference, i walked up to Chinatown to find some unique christmas gifts. I scored a vase for Renee and Wayne, doilies for Kathy’s art project, and some cute kitty bowls for Butters. On my way back to the car i saw this adorable set up in the window of one of the stores. OMG!! I contemplated going in there and buying everything! But where the heck would i put all this stuff?!? I don’t even collect owl things but this right here made me want to. Least i could do was snap a photo for my 365, as i tend to do with things i want to buy but don’t!