Owl Always Love You

Happy Friday!!  I've been waiting all week to wear this outfit.  Fridays are jeans days at work. The tank top is one of the ones I got on mega sale from the LOFT.  It was one I got the same day I got the pink shirt from a couple of posts ago.  It was after a stressful morning of trying to get out of downtown after dress rehearsal while the Tulsa Run was going on.  Every way was blocked!  I called my husband, frustrated.  He had his handy dandy map pulled up and was trying to help me get out but everywhere I turned was barricaded.  It was rough.  Tears were shed, steering wheel pounded.  It was not one of my prouder moments.  All I wanted to do was to get from point A to point B as easy as possible.  Of course, all of the 'east as possible' routes were blocked.  I had to go WAY out of my way to get out and around and to the LOFT where my mom and a friend were waiting.  Actually, they were already there and I just invited myself along.  That was before I knew it was going to take forever to get there.  And once there, in the presence of Mama and her friend Marianne, I could relax.  And buy things.  I got a cute blue dress, two tops and a necklace.  All under $40!  Like I said, things were on mega sale.
 
    Once you buy things on mega sale, it's hard to go back to buying full priced items.  I hardly buy full priced clothing any more.  I'm a sale girl through and through.  And there's nothing wrong with saving a buck or $20 here and there.

  The owl necklace was a Christmas present from a roommate in college.  It's funny.  She and I got each other the same necklace, but she gave me a gold one and I gave her a silver one.  Win-win situation!  That same year, and from the same group of roommates I also got another owl necklace, a wooden owl totem pole (which is really cool and unique!  I'll have to post about it sometime...) and an owl t-shirt.  Hmmm One would think I like owls or something...though 'like' might be a slight understatement.  Our guestroom is decorated in owls.

  The earrings.  Yes, those are .22 caliber shells.  Made by my honey.  Who crafted all of those metal links himself and put them all together.  Gifted them to me in a little green jewelry box.  They were the icing on the top for my Steam Punk costume that year.  I have loved them and worn them ever since.  Such a crafty Husband.

  Thank you for stopping in!  I hope you all have a fun, fashionable and crafty weekend!!

Bring on the Cheer

 Though today isn't as gloomy as the past two days have been I still dressed the coziest I've dressed all week.  Checkered flannel shirt under a cozy sweater, paired with a pencil skirt, boots and my favorite coat.  As you can see in the background, I've already begun putting up Christmas decorations! Yes, I'm one of those.  One  of those that puts up Christmas decor as soon as Halloween is over.  I just love it!  It makes me so happy.  You can't listen to Christmas music or put up Christmas decor and be sad.  It brings great cheer and joy.  All of the evergreen garland, red bows, raffia, snowmen, Santa Clause figurines...ah!

The dining room has, once again become the holiday decor headquarters.  I haven't quite gotten to the point to having everything out of tubs yet.  I want the decorating process to be special.  Filled with Christmas music, warmth and hot apple cider, not put it up as quickly as possible.  

As I've said before, I have lots of new ideas to implement this year.  I hope to step up my Christmas decor and take it to the. next. level.  Oh yeah!  I look forward to being able to share it with all of you.  Thank you for reading along!

Perfect Fall Day

 Saturday was such a beautiful Fall day!  Mom and I got to spend the first part of the day at our church Christmas choir retreat.  We had a workshop with the amazing Dr. Bill Green and his wife Linda. (You can read an amazing article about them here.)  They were both a big blessing to have.  Dr. Green led the choir for many years at Oklahoma's Baptist church camp, Falls Creek.  He is most known for his rendition of  the song "Life is so sweet and my joy is complete, for I'm 'Saved, Saved, Saved!'"  It was really inspiring to see how much our choir stepped up.  I am very much looking forward to our Christmas production in mid-December!!
     We had our retreat at a beautiful Episcopal church tucked away amid the colorful Fall leaves in Sand Springs, nestled along with a duck pond where a lot of Sand Springians go to feed t he ducks.  It was truly a perfect day.

 {Top, necklace: the LOFT-here and here; Sweater: from my Mother's closet.; Jeans: Old Navy; Purse:Target here}

Gobble, Gobble

Happy Monday, y'all!!  This weekend I took down all of my Halloween/Fall decorations.  For some reason, I'm extra ready for Christmas this year!  But don't think I'm completely skipping over Thanksgiving.  I did leave up our dining room centerpiece and added a hand crafted turkey made by my late grandfather.  Mom and Grandma would always find craft projects they loved at craft fairs and would buy one to bring back for Grandpa to make.  He would do all the woodcutting/woodworking and they would do all the painting/decorating of it.  So this turkey holds a special place in my heart.

{Big bowl of leftover Halloween candy since we had NO trick-or-treaters.  Call me crazy, but the more readily available candy is, the less I will eat it.  We still have a mostly full bowl of dark chocolate kisses that I got for Husband's birthday back in September. (Well, minus the several several pieces our doglet snuck out during the night when he thought we wouldn't notice.  I noticed.  I heard his little dogtags clinking against the metal candy bowl...)}

Waving Goodbye

 And so we wave goodbye to the close of another fun Halloween season.  I got ready for work early today so began the process of removing some of my Halloween decorations and preparing them to be packed up for another 325 days until next September. (Halloween decorations go up mid September at our house.)  I put out the one thanksgiving decoration I have.  I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

    Next begins the process of sorting through Christmas decorations, (I know, I know, I did the unthinkable and mentioned Halloween and Christmas in the same post,) deciding what to keep and what I can share with my sister and her new apartment.  Finding things to add and sorting through the numerous Christmas craft projects that I would like to do.  Not to mention the list of inside winter projects that Husband and I have lined up. (Built in bookcases and built in entertainment center?!?!)  It will all be a fun process.  For some reason I am already in the Thanksgiving/Christmas spirit, but don't worry, I'm not quite to the point yet that I'll start the non stop Christmas music.

                                             {A Peacock, a kitty cat, and a marathon runner!}

                                         {Miss Farmers.  Yes, I had a midday costume change...}

{I had a delicious bowl of assorted chocolates all ready for trick-or-treaters last night.  We had none!!  I was very sad.  I had put up purple lights around our front door and everything.  *sigh* guess that just means more chocolate for us!  (Like we need it...)}

Bomber Jacket

Happy Wednesday, y'all!  (I refuse to call it happy h day.)  Today is nice and dreary.  To cheer me up I went with a neutral colored sweater with a lacy camisole, cozy leggings and boots, and my bomber jacket.  I'd been wanting this jacket from Target for so long.  The first Black Friday I actually got out for was with Husband and Rayah Sunshine and her husband.  This was their Christmas present to me.  I have loved it and used it a lot ever since.  For a pop of color I added a bright turquoise and gold necklace that I got at Vintage Market Days when it was here in town earlier this year.
  The iPhone case is another one that I made myself. You can read about it in an earlier post here.  It's my Halloween case.  I guess I'll have to be coming up with a Christmas one before I know it.  This hear has been going by so quickly!  Our one year wedding anniversary is going to be in 12 days!!  That's so hard to believe.  It hasn't felt like it's been that long.  I told Husband that there must be a time conspiracy afoot and that it's been increasingly getting faster.  Thanksgiving, then Christmas will be here so soon!  But until then, I think I'll enjoy my Halloween decorations just one more day.  Then I'll be putting them away and beginning the process of sorting through my Christmas decorations!  I have a lot of fun new ideas for this year.  I can't wait to share them with you!

Applesauce, Applesauce, Applesauce!

When Husband and I visited his other set of grandparents that live in New Hampshire, not only was I very excited to finally meet them, but I was also very impressed with all of the food that we had while there.  They live in a beautiful old house up in the mountains.  Their land, which is across the road from them has maple syrup pipelines that they have someone harvest and bottle.  We got to take a couple of them home with us and we have been enjoying it ever since.
  That night for dinner we had some delicious slow cooked ribs, a plate piled high with potato salad and a bowl of homemade applesauce of which I couldn't get enough!!  For breakfast the next day we had homemade waffles heaped with strawberries, whip cream and Maple syrup.  Mmm, it all makes my mouth water just thinking about it!!!  I'll share the applesauce recipe with you.  It's so easy!

Ingredients
About a dozen apples sliced and cored. (My crock pot will probably hold only 15 sliced apples.)
2 cups water
Ground cinnamon
Sugar (as always, I used Splenda)

Directions
1. Slice and core apples and put in crock pot. (As pictured above, I used a handy dandy apple corer/slicer.  Made it go by a whole lot faster.)
2. Pour water over apples, and cover.  Cook on high for 2 hours.
(The house will start to smell pretty good!)
3. Being careful to handle the hot apple slices, mash through a colander (of which I did not have so I used a strainer,) to make sure all of the skin is removed.
4. Pour apple mash into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
5. Stir in cinnamon and sugar to taste.
(For added presentation when serving applesauce, garnish each bowl with a cinnamon stick.)


ENJOY!