A Very Yummy Christmas Eve

A Christmas family tradition (and one of the best gifts you can give), I slaved for hours making chocolate covered pretzels for my family and friends (and myself) on Christmas Eve. With 4 lbs of chocolate and 2 bags of pretzels, they turned out quite good (and my tins were finished by 1/5) and I think everyone was appreciative of them.

After I was done, we dashed over to our first 7 fishes with Lindsay's family - which was both an experience in eating and Italian families. Both the food and company was awesome, and we were so very glad to have been invited. It did make me miss having giant family get togethers though!

Follow that exhausting day by midnight mass and getting tucked into bed around 1:30 - it was quite a yummy Christmas!

Its The Closet That's Coming Out

So what's been keeping us busy for these past few days before Christmas? Not Christmas shopping or present wrapping - but impulse home renovations. You see, I've been on Bo to fix the closet so I had more hanging room... and I all thought we needed was to move the clothes bar up a few inches. Here's the empty closet before:

We realized while at Ikea with our friends how much wasted space we had in our closets - to the left, to the right and above. The interior ceiling cut off where the molding did on the outside. We found out quickly that this was original to the house - when we uncovered lath, brick, and old electric. Here's the closet during demo:

And fast forward past the cleaning and the dust to the beautiful new after!!We love the frosted doors, so even if they are much more modern than the rest of our stuff, we're still happy we chose them.

Here's the "hers" side of the closet - the his isn't quite ready for show yet.

It was a pricey impulse buy (which I'm claiming was a Christmas present to ourselves), but now I can free up the front bedroom closet, and actually get dressed in my own room. Imagine that! We still need to figure out where to put the laundry baskets, but one project at a time, right?

Scenes from the Blizzard of '09

Here's my beautiful dogs having fun in the snow: This photo has to be my favorite:

A nice shot of our proper Bahamaian in the snow... and a decent commercial for ADT!

Dusting off the Black Pearl!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Timely Reminders

Someone in my office thinks this is the best holiday decoration possible... I think its cause for panic. 10 days until Christmas? Where did the year go? Good news - I don't have to step foot inside a mall this year. :)

The Winner of the Christmas Card Race

We got our first Christmas Card in the mail on Tuesday! Its a local artist's image of the New Hope / Ivyland railroad done up as the Polar Express sent by our friends 'KBud'. Isn't it charming? Now we just have to wait for the others - oh, and send ours out to everyone. Bonus points to them for a hand-written note on the inside.

That reminds me that last year I saw a contest in a magazine that had points for each item - if it was a postcard photo you got X points, if there was a typed letter inside, you got another set of points, if the inside of the envelope had that pretty foil you got more points, etc. At the end you tally up your points for all your holiday cards for the season and if you're playing against a neighbor or family member, whoever gets the most points wins. Otherwise its just a fun way to keep track of your cards I guess.

At Least She Shares

I'm proud of Missy for sharing her new present with her brother so soon... :) Why can't they always be this peaceful?

Book Report: Her Fearful Symmetry

Audrey Niffenegger's newest book, Her Fearful Symmetry, was the latest conquest in my literary journeys. I'm having a hard time figuring out this book though; two sets of twins, three married couples, a few ghosts... it was a good read and the main plot was tied up pretty well, but the side stories really left something on the table for me. Given her last book, I expected things to be left hanging out with promise for the main story, which they were. I expected the magic and the discovery of how it works, but I thought that more would be explained about controlling it and the reasons behind it.

I did like the struggle that the people went through dealing with all sorts of love. The love sisters have for each other, new love, parent-child love, mourning for deceased love ones... The challenges and craziness you leave behind when you die. I also liked the unique atmosphere she put them in: London, Highgate Cemetary, an odd apartment building. I liked the use of newcomers to London to help the readers explore if they've never been, and the character Robert's occupation as a historian and tour guide so we could learn about Highgate Cemetery.

I do think, though, that the very end (the last chapter) was bollocks and that not enough was really explained. It felt to me like she gave up on the characters and just needed to put the pen down. Maybe that's because how the end of most real stories occur- people just drift apart. They leave one day, and you don't see them again.

The last book I read of hers, The Timetraveller's Wife, is one of my all-time favorite love stories. Its up there with The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, as well as the Anne of Green Gables series and the Twilight series.

All in all, I thought it was a good read, but I'd really like to have a sit-down with others who've read it and talk it through so I understand or can appreciate why the author wrote it. It was cleaver and a nice story, but I think she could have added some more polish for me. 3.5 Stars for this one.

Happy Birthday Missy!

It's Missy's 9th birthday! We celebrated with gifts of bones and a new huge girly bed for her. She seemed to really love the bed, and Trotter at least loved the bones. Missy just guards them; silly girl. I can't believe she's 9 already! Where did the time go?

Oh Christmas Tree!

Here's our 2009 Christmas tree! Isn't it beautiful? I feel like we didn't put up half the basic colored ornaments this year, we have so many other fancy ones that we didn't need them.

Let the Games Begin!

Addictions and Obsessions are funny things; whether it be diving head first into a new book series (i.e. Twilight), eating my favorite pizza, or playing a new game, I can fall pretty hard for these things. This year, I discovered four new games this year that I'm crazy for.

1) My latest craze is Flood-it (available on facebook and iGoogle for me). The idea is to make the board turn all one color by clicking on a color bubble touching the one you're on. You always start in the upper right, so the green could turn either yellow or blue. If we picked blue, then you could turn your new connected line into green or purple. You have 25 moves to win the small board. Its addictive. My top score is 21 so far.
2) A few months ago I discovered Farmville on facebook after my friends kept inviting me to be their "neighbors". People send you animals and decorations for your farm, you make a profit off of the crops you grow and animals you raise, all to buy more stuff. I'm on level 21, with $83K in the bank. I only got into it b/c my friend Kate and my MIL also play, but now it is kind of a nuisance. I think I'm giving this one up for the holidays.

3) I discovered cryptograms toward the beginning of the year while playing one in the newspaper while on vacation. I LOVE them. They really make me think. I'm only good at the easy ones so far, some I can complete in under 1 minute. They can be frustratingly difficult to get through the pattern if you start off with a wrong letter assumption, but I do enjoy winning them.

4) The best group game I was introduced to (and subsequently had to own) is Apples to Apples. Everyone gets a set of 7 (depending on the number of people) cards to compete with and everyone takes turns being the "judge". The judge turns over the category card (i.e. "Hot"). All other players play a card (i.e. "Brad Pitt" or "Chili Peppers" or "Summer" or "Potato") that they think could match. The judge, not knowing who threw down what, picks their favorite and that player gets a point. Then the next person takes a turn being a judge. Its entertaining for all our friends and family, and can get quite competitive by playing the cards you think THAT person would agree with. If the person really HATED Brad Pitt, then the others would have a better chance at winning. I can't wait to play it again with another large group of people.

And Now it's December

Crazy how time flies; it's December One already! To recap the past few weeks:

Thanksgiving dinner was a success- it was the first year I made the turkey all by my lonesome. Super jazzed though, it was done way ahead of time and tasted GOOD. The past 5 years of training and assistance from my mom paid off! Also made homemade corn bread muffins, corn, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin roll for dessert. All from scratch!! Also brought to the table were the broccoli puff, string bean casserole and sweet potatoes, spinach dip for an app, and frozen mud pie for dessert. YUM-O.

Leftovers are, as always, challenging- but we did discover potato croquettes (breaded and friend potato cakes). Delicious!

To get into the holiday spirit, most of the house lights are up outside and the Christmas lists have been written. We saw my sister appear as the cutest mouse ever in a local Nutcracker ballet.

This week we're getting our tree, I'm going to make snowball cookies, and I've got to start my holiday shopping. I'm looking forward to the holidays - Only 24 days left now!!

When Did Gratuity Become Mandatory?

I just read about a couple from Bethlehem, PA who were arrested for not leaving a tip. Now, the bill was marked with a mandatory 18% because they had 6 other people - but if the service was that bad and they explained that when they paid the rest of the bill, why would the restaurant call the police? Are you serious? In my opinion, a tip should be a tip. You are allowed to sway and/or guilt patrons into paying you a tip, but it is gratuity! you're supposed to be thankful for the service! If you're not happy - you shouldn't have to pay!

This is where we should really take after restaurants in Europe and other countries around the world - where tips aren't given, or if they are they are small - just enough to say "thanks". Heck, there are restaurants that even allow you to pay what you think the food is worth- not what they demand. I really think that people need to rethink their interaction with customers and the quality of service they give. Even if you didn't get the $16, is it worth all that bad media and potential legal fees?

I may not be a crazy out-of-this-world tipper, but i believe that most of teh time, the service isn't out of this world either. If we really tipped based on performance, don't you think the resturants, experience and employees would be better? Guess we know what restaraunt I won't be visiting anytime soon!!

Giving Back (Some More)

In September I donated 6+ bags of summer clothes to GoodWill. That's both a win for the community, the environment and my closets.

Last month I ran an impromptu cell-phone drive at work - collecting 25 phones for Verizon Wireless' Project HopeLine which benefits victims of domestic violence through funding, new phones and donated cellular airtime minutes. We recycled 6 phones and countless batteries and charging cords ourselves which was both environmentally friendly and helped us clean our closets a smidge.

This month we're running a food drive at work, so I've brought in a few cans of soup and vegtables. I'll buy some more things like crackers and toothpaste when I'm shopping later this week for the donation pile.

I'm also thinking about going and volunteering at our town's Soup Kitchen for thanksgiving. Its always a little nerve racking doing something you've never done before, but hopefully it will be a good experience!

The Craziest of Weekends

I'm exhausted from excitement. This weekend we added my future SIL to the family with one sweet proposal by my BIL assisted by a super shiney diamond ring. It was sweet and wonderful and I'm so fortunate to have been there to witness it. Now I get to help plan another wedding (yes, I'm inviting myself to help)!

If that wasn't awesome enough, Kake & Jelly had their little baby girl this morning at 4:12 am. I woke up and checked my Facebook account, and there was her little picture. The fact that my friend has a little girl just made me cry. That was just the best way to wake up; I can't wait to meet her.

Inspired Pop Art

Inspired by Andy Warhol and my cousin Niki's pop art she did of a dog a while back, I decided to do some pop-art of my own for the house. Here's the final for Trotter - didn't it turn out cute? I'm still trying to craft something different up for Missy. Now while Niki actually painted hers, I cheated and used my computer. Cute though, right? I still have to convince the hubby to let me get it printed and hang it in the house. :)

Baby Kakes' first photoshoot

My wonderful sister & I spent Sunday photographing my uber-pregnant friend "Jelly" at a nearby park. The first photos came out beautifully - I'm so proud! It helps that there was a light wind, beautiful lighting and the most adorable and hip pregnant model to make the photos this awesome. Now we just wait to meet the baby!!

Cuddle Monsters!

Missy under all our pillows

Trotter, my own personal space heater

He likes my reading as much as I do

How cute are my dogs? They L-O-V-E me, and I love them and their surprise snuggling just as much. I have the best dogs! (Can someone remind me of that the next time they get out of the yard or pee on something they shouldn't?)

Note to self: This photo documentary also makes it look like I do nothing but lay down on the couch or my bed... hmm.

The day after Halloween, and we're the two-headed cuddle monster!

Again, Missy's the queen of pillows

Another couch cuddler

Would you please put away your laundry?

Whoever said you can never have too many clothes obviously never had to put them away! I'm well on my way to purging anything that doesn't fit, isn't in fashion or is damaged; but these are just 2 weeks of my laundry that I actually wear!

As odd as it may sound, doing laundry is therapeutic for me. Something about sorting, cleaning and the simple folding relaxes me. When I was younger, I used to watch the water churn and slosh in the machine - I loved it! Putting the clothes in their separate wash loads; the noise and the water combined was so calming. I still love putting clothes up on the line - neatly lining them up, making the heavier items were on the end so that they don't pull on the line, then seeing the way they flutter in the wind. I fold everything and put them in organized piles on the bed. Then it comes time to hang up the shirts and skirts, and my love of laundry crumples. I HATE hanging up my clothes - and don't know why! It should be simple, right? I should be able to do it when I'm folding the others and putting away my pants and pjs. That's why i have this giant pile of clothes that I pull from or why it sits in a basket for 1 week while I deal with the messy room.

Possibly its because I have too many clothes and they don't fit in my closet and I have to squeeze them in the drawers. I think hanging and putting away the laundry would be the one chore I would have someone else do if I had the money. Well that and clean up the bathroom. If anyone has any tips and tricks, I'd be open to hearing them!!

Happy Halloween!

Since we don't have a fireplace mantle, i have to make do with a tablescape. What do you think? We spent all day cleaning the first floor - and this is my inspired feastive result to put it all together! While I'm traditionally afraid to light any of our candles, the tablescape is too pretty not to use and for 3 days in a row we've been lighting the candles to appreciate all our hard work. I love the fall!

If anyone has any other inspired holiday tablescapes or mantles, I would love to see it for future inspiration. :)

Walking In My City Shoes

I'm currently in Baltimore, MD for work meetings - which includes a lot of sitting. I do, however ocassionally get to stretch my legs by walking to and from the hotel and the restaurants. Being in a city for just a few days reminds me of how much of a city girl I am. I love walking around cities - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, Boston, San Franscisco... I could spend all day just meandering around looking at the buildings and the people, visiting their little cafes and bars, seeing the way the streets and buildings are meshed together over the years. It makes me wish I worked in a larger walking city! I loved my going to school in Pittsburgh and working in Philadelphia- getting to grab a sandwhich and sit in a park, looking at all the odd local art, seeing all walks of life intermingling. The suburbs are too lonely riding around in our cars by ourselves, only seeing homes and our own places of work. Sure it's convenient, but I miss the hustle and bustle.

I would walk 10 000 miles

Well I would have had to walk that many miles if it wasn't for my the Black Pearl! I'm currently sitting at the local Firestone waiting for her to get her 10,000 mile service... amazing how time flies! Bought in December, we love her more every road trip. The heated seats, remote start, ipod jack and sunroof are awesome. Having leather seats that dont pick up dog hair is a major bonus to. I miss the jetter, but the black pearl will be with us for many more thousands of miles.

In my next life, I want to be a therapy dog. How great would it be to have a job where you were just supposed to snuggle up to someone and let them read to you? http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/22/dogs.irpt/

Actually, one of my 'bucket list' items is to train a therapy dog. There are so many kinds of therapy dogs: seeing-eye dogs, visitors for people in nursing homes, and even companions for people who have severe stress/panic. A few years ago, I heard about a place in the mid-west that raises therapy dogs for autistic children, and instantly fell in love with the idea. I have an intense love for dogs; because we don't have any kids yet, I really consider my dogs as my children. I've seen first hand what they can do for people going through tough situations, and believe whole-heartedly that they are the best thing I have in my life after my family. With my 13 years working with special needs athletes through Special Olympics, I think this would be a great nitch for me, but any therapy need would be okay.

The difficult part is understanding how to train the dogs. My own dogs need to be trained; or rather, I need to be trained how to train them. They're not terrible dogs by any means, but they do have thier quirks. Missy has the tendancy to guard things - me, our groceries, her bone, her toys, my purse, my suitcase, etc. So when my other dog Trotter gets near, she gets jealous and angrilly flips out on him - scarying him into submission. Trotter, on the other hand, is just plain hyper. He has two speeds, Zero and Sixty. Part whippet, he can be the sweetest cuddle monster, or a crazy racing dog. They both bark when people come to the door, think that the couch and the bed are thiers, chase the two cats and bark at anyone who walks by our house or dogs we meet on the street. Its really sad because of how much it limits them to their own house, and it limits us from not being able to take them with us everywhere.

So once I can get my two dogs to behave, I think I could train them or another to be a therapy dog. It would be an accomplishment for me, a purpose for a dog, and years of giving for one or many people.

Wombmate Giftings

Here's the poster that Kate and I made this weekend for our friend Kelly's impending baby. We did the alphabet (her chosen theme) with animals next to each one. It turned out super cute- I'm going to have to get up-close photos to post soonish.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Happy (almost) Halloween from Trotter!

1-year blog-iversary

Wow, its been more than 1 year since I started East Sixth!! I'm so excited!!

As previously mentioned, I wasn't sure I'd keep with blogging, but I've fallen ass-over-teacup (translation: head-over-heels) for it! I love being able to look back on my year and see all the great things I've done, places I've been, foods I've eaten and books I've read. The photos make a blog so much better than a journal. Plus I'm writing for an audience now (hello sisters!), so I can't let them down.


I've written about our vacations to Baltimore and Las Vegas, our home improvements, redoing furniture and craft projects for my friends. Here's my favorite things I've captured from year-one of East Sixth:

• Overflowing Toilets & Free Candy: Funny adventures in Pittsburgh- What could be better?
• There's Nothing Better Than Surprise Muffins: My husband has been so awesome; getting to capture small examples of that is pretty cool.
• Slope-Scapades: I'm going to try & get this new look for my house's front yard next year
• Lovely Notes: My sister's surprise notes all over my house after she dog-sat for us
• Running Aways : Documenting training for my first 5K

Lessons learned: I saw that I fell into a dry spell in January and February, then again in September (although I have a lot of drafts started for then); so when I get busy I tend to forget to write. Hopefully year-two will bring even more dedication to my love for blogging.

Dating My Clothes

I have more clothes than I need, and lately I've been on a serious kick to purge the ugly, worn and ill-fitting from my closets. That being said, I have trouble not buying new stuff as well. I recently bought a few things from the outlets (the sales were just too good to pass up!), including a new pair of jeans from the Gap. I didn't need new jeans, but I needed ones that fit me right. Plus I've gotten so many compliments on my other "Long and Lean" pair from 10+ years ago, that I figured I might as well buy another and purge some of my low-riding college jeans I shouldn't have bought in the first place.

So while I was hanging out my newly washed clothes on the line to dry, I realized that the tags said "Fall 09". Wow, dated clothes? Do the marketers understand that I have a pair of Umbreu shorts from 17+ years ago in my closet that still fit me (thanks to the very elastic waste band)? Do they really want me to purge and buy when I see my clothes are from five plus years ago? Do they really want me to let go of that fashionable mustard yellow turtleneck with the short sleeves because I bought it in 1998? Mustard Yellow is coming back into style people!

Yes, I know silly question to ask of the marketers, but will it help or hurt me? I would probably purge a lot more stuff, but would I buy even more? Would others be willing to pick it up from the Good Will? I can't imagine seeing 1977 sweater and wanting them; but with the right dry-cleaner retro is cool too I guess.

Working It: Habitat for Humanity

Our work let us go to Habitat for Humanity for the day – how great is that? Here’s a shot of me enjoying my new power (and power tools).

Comfort Fooding

I love comfort food: ice cream, bread, stuffing, pizza, mashed potatoes... you name it, its all good. What makes it even better is when someone makes it for you. Seriously, when someone else cooks for me, things taste better - and not just because I'm not a great cook yet.

So yesterday evening, I got home and my incredible husband had made us the most delicous turkey meatloaf, french-cut green beans and awesome mashed potatoes. This down-home food was awesome tasting and extremely comforting. Total cost of $11 for 6 individual meals. (Yay to frugality and leftovers!)

The other nice thing he did was went out and bought us a bottle of "Dog House" red wine - which benefits Guide Dogs For The Blind. (Yay to charity!) The wine was quite good, plus it had doggie prints on the red cork - seriously cute.

I can't wait to have our leftovers for dinner tonight. This has to go on my bi-monthly meal planner!

Blink182 and Weezer Concert

Last night we and our friends went to the Blink182 / Weezer concert - and it was a great show. I do think that I'm getting too old for the lawn seats though (we spent much of the Blink portion of the show avoiding drunk teenagers who thought it would be a good idea to mosh in the middle of families and other reasonably sober patrons).

Anyway, focusing on the positives, the best part of the night was the encore when Travis Barker performed a drum solo that lifted his whole set into the air and spun it around. It was spectacular, like him and Blink182 in general. Here is a video clip from youtube from their WI tour:



It was also my first Weezer concert, and I had tons of fun singing along to their songs as well. It was a throwback to their hayday songs - and good thing too since I don't know any of their new stuff! I'd definately go back to another Weezer show - they were quite entertaining!

Squeaky Clean

I have connections...in the soap business. My brother knows someone who gets free sample products from one of those major beauty/food products manufacturers. These aren't the tiny sample bottles either- they are Sam's Club sized gallons of shampoos, soaps, mayo... you name it! So every couple of months we are being pleasantly surprised by random tubs of beauty products and fooding stuffs; one month we may get 10 sets of shampoos, the next month bars of soap and granola bars. My sister has donated much of her freebees (hotel shampoos and these gifts) to the local women's shelter as well. Whatever we can't use, someone can.

Seeing the 30 bars of brand-named soap on my shelf next to the 18 partially used hand soaps from all the hotels I've stayed at - I can't clean enough to use them all! But I decided to try my hand and turn some of those soaps into liquid hand soaps - something we were running low on - and without the additional chemical additives! Here's the play-by-play:


1: Heat 1 gallon of previously boiled or distilled water until its just steamy.

2: Shave 1 bar of soap until its nice and thin.

3: Add soap to steamy water, remove from heat, blend. Let sit for a few hours and make sure its well blended. 4: Funnel into soap containers.

Technically this can also be used in place of body wash (since they are effectively the same thing) but with out the $12 price tag. So one bar of free soap just saved me $12 any way I use it. It only took 15 minutes to make the soap (without the time to wait for it to sit!). It came out a bit liquid this time, next time I'll use a smidge less water.