It's finally here!

My tree has been up since last weekend, but this week has been full of white elephants, secret santa's, and sugar plum fairies. So I am finally getting some pictures up... just in time. My camera doesn't take dark pictures very well, but here we are:

My tree looks like its on fire..... I also got two new ornaments for my tree. I bought the first on Etsy.

It is hand stitched by fariada in France, she even included some crocheted pieces and other goodies when I ordered from her. I'm in love with this little heart.

Todd and I went to Balletwest's Nutcracker on Saturday and it was incredible. Their sets and costumes were so fantastic. ...So I had to get a souvenir, this is him in full action:

I made macadamia butter popcorn last night to go in Christmas packages, it's so yummy, when you don't burn half of the syrup - which I did - and then put too much salt in the new batch - but hey, half of it turned out really great. Now that that's all done, maybe I can retire for the rest of the winter.

Macadamia Butter-Crunch Popcorn
Makes about 30 cups

25 cups popped popcorn (from about 1 cup kernels)
4 cups raw whole macadamia nuts, about 1 lb (toasted)
1 ¼ cups packed light-brown sugar
5 tbsp light corn syrup
10 tbsp (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter
1 ¼ tsp coarse salt
¾ tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 200˚. Put popcorn in a large bowl. Add nuts; set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a gentle simmer, about 4 minutes. Stop stirring; continue cooking until mixture lightens in color, 5 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda.

2. Pour sugar mixture over popcorn and nuts; toss to coat. Transfer to rimmed baking sheets; bake stirring every 20 minutes, until almost dry, about 1 hour. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

-Martha Stewart

Spill your (holiday) guts...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate! Every year I always trick myself into thinking that I might like Egg Nog, I mean it's tradition, right? and I try it and I always hate it.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps all presents that aren't a mountain bike.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put your decorations up? the middle of December when school finals are over with.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Mashed potatoes and gravy
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: There are so many, but mostly just being with my family. I can only remember all of the silly tricks we would play on each other, I think it's because we would laugh so much ...like that time my brother gave our little sister a log for Christmas.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My brothers, sister and I were awful about searching out presents. So when I found some presents before Christmas that later "came from Santa" I confronted my mom about it and she told me the truth. But then I told my brother, cause he had his suspicions too.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Just one, we usually try to give each other something really funny for Christmas Eve, so we can stay up laughing and playing.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? White lights and matching ornaments, I know I know, I'm supposed to have this big gaudy thing and I always did when I was growing up but now I can't resist trying to actually make my tree look pretty.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it when it snows on Christmas.
12. Can you ice skate? A little and then I fall down.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My favorite gift isn't a Christmas gift. It's my grandma's wedding band that I received for my wedding.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? being with family
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? pie
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Just that everybody gets together. My family always makes a point to be together on Christmas and it just doesn't seem like Christmas without that.
17. What tops your tree? This year it is a dove.
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? It's nice to receive presents but I Love giving presents much more.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I have a few, but I have a particular version of Ave Maria gets me everytime.
20. Candy Canes... Yuck or Yum? Yum

Socks... of the baby persuasion

Having been soooo busy, I have barely had time to do my homework, let alone knit. But I figured out what to knit when I have no time to knit but need to for my mental well being. So these little punk rock socks went to Kaia, my friend Chelsea's new baby:



They were so quick! I actually made them a little bigger than the pattern said just because I could not believe a human foot could be so small. And of course when Chelsea put them on, they were a little too big... But this pattern is so easy and has sizes for all baby's and little kids. The are also very basic, so you can change colors easily, add stripes :) , or whatever your heart desires.

The Great Pumpkins

Are you impressed with our amazing artistic abilities? I know I am. My pumpkin is the one with the face (because jack-o-lanterns all have faces in my mind), Todd is a bit more creative with his patterned pumpkin.

But as in life, so in pumpkins - its what's on the inside that counts. I don't have a pretty picture but I have a nifty-quick recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. *note they're still pretty good if you can't stand to wait 24-48 hours for them to dry out :)

I am a living, breathing, working machine. This week has consisted of work, school (French test), and more work. My company just had a trade show and released 3 new lines. The process is supposed to go - someone else (not me) makes a packing slip for shipping and I make the bill and charge. But this week, because of an unavoidable illness, I have been the packing slip and A/R lady - keeping me at my computer for a straight 8 hours a day. Possibly the most confusing part of this arrangement is that I keep thinking "I've already seen this order... Is this a duplicate... oh wait, no I made Packing slip for it earlier." OK so I know this is probably boring if it even makes sense - but it's what I've done all week. The good news about all this work is that the product lines that are the source of all this excitement are freakin' awesome. You can see them at My Minds Eye. The Christmas line is my favorite. I am a sucker for anything relating to Christmas - I just love it. And I'm mildly aware that this may be what my holiday spending is related to. Not Christmas presents, but Christmas themed candles, paper, ornaments... and so on.

Christmas knitting

I love Christmas knitting, it means that as you knit, which is extremely entertaining by itself, you also get to think about the recipient: how much you love them, how much they will love you after receiving this precious gift and so on. The bad thing about Christmas knitting, is that you can't post pictures of what you've been making on your blog! Oh well, I have other things to share. This is actually really cool.

Because it is handknit

And Handspun and Hand dyed. It's so much more satisfying that way. I haven't been up to much besides knitting, although today we did get out for a walk around the Aves. It's such a beautiful neighborhood and there are some great colors showing up.

That's all for now, stay tuned for the great pumpkin(s)

Ce week-end, J'ai babysit le chien

Ok, so maybe I'm not saying it in the right tense - but I was surprised to find that when I said, "I have babysit the dog this weekend" to my French teacher, she didn't correct me - hurray for similarities in the French and English languages! But that isn't my only triumph - I got Trusty to sleep (Ok maybe he decided to sleep) for a couple hours this weekend:

So I got some good knitting time in while he snored away on the couch. And I finished my newsboy cap from Stitch n Bitch Nation.

This hat is so soft it drives me crazy, I spend more time petting it than anything else - not sure what else to do with it - I guess it's my kitten (thanks Yarn Harlot)

Oktoberfest

Snowbird Ski Resort hosts a annual Oktoberfest, so we rented a room at the Inn and went up on Saturday - sort of a late birthday present for me :). They had their usual musicians and as always, the adorable little old couples in full German dress showing up all the young people on the dance floor.

One of the reasons to go to Oktoberfest is the food! I had potato pancakes and vegetable sour cream soup, which was so delicious - I ate it so fast I had no time for pictures. But Todd was having a time with his saucy paprika chicken and kraut that I was able to snap a picture.

I need to make the vegetable sour cream soup and I've managed to find some recipes online for the soup and the potato pancakes. The pancake recipe seems the same as Oktoberfests but the soup definitely did not have bacon in it - a true testament to the amount of vegetarians in Utah - restaurants have to support us ;)

The next morning we went on the tram ride to 11,000 feet. There's a little bit of snow for September in the mountains and at the resort.

But obviously we are safe from snow in the Salt Lake Valley - at least for a little while.

Even though it's been fairly similar each year, I still love going up to Oktoberfest. Where else will I get to see people of all ages doing the chicken dance and hear songs about how you can't buy beer on Sunday in Provo?

Buffalo

I forgot one of the funniest parts of our trip. We were walking around Springdale, the town just outside Zion and we happened upon an elk and buffalo farm. We paid $2 for a bag of alfalfa pellets and these little beggars, well huge beggars, acted like they'd never been fed in their lives. Their tongues were cracking me up, I've never seen a buffalo tongue before, it was quite surprising. At one point the buffalo wrapped his tongue clear around Todd's arm and totally slimed him! I thought it was hilarious, I don't think Todd did though.

Zion... Finally!

Going on vacation is the great part - it's the coming back and dealing with all the homework and errands that were put off because of the vacation that makes it really hard to get pictures posted on the web. Anyway, Zion is absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever been. And a perfect setting for our 1st Anniversary. Even the motel (Cliffrose Lodge and Gardens) we stayed in was beautiful. It was landscaped with rose gardens, had a hot tub with waterfall and a pool and the view was great.

view from our balcony at Cliffrose Lodge

Staying at Cliffrose also had us just a short walk from the entrance of Zion. So the first night we walked down to the park shuttle and took a short hike to Weeping Rock. Water up to 1700 years old cascades down through cracks in the rock to create the weeping effect.

Todd said this hike was totally worth it because of the tarantula we saw on the way back. I think it was worth it besides that, but I was really amazed at all the wildlife that was just roaming around while we hiked.

We did more hiking than I've done in a long time! We went up to the Emerald Pools and down to the Narrows - just to the mouth, though, I wasn't ambitious enough to tackle that this time.

Middle Emerald Pools

The real hike was the 2.5 miles to the top of Angel's Landing which we did on the morning of our anniversary. I've done it once before and just jetted up the mountain, but I must have lost some of endurance since then because it was a pretty tough hike for us. We made it, though, and it was worth every step.

This was one of the best vacations ever and truly fitting for an anniversary. Zion should be real life and I'll go into the office a couple weeks a year.

Zion Canyon

Hallelujah! It is Fall!

I've been waiting for September to bring cooler temperatures and my favorite season of the year. Yet it's the beginning of the 2nd week in September and this 90 degree heat is a little confusing. Why is it so hot?! A trip to Red Butte Gardens confirmed my hopes, though. These colors prove that we will not roast for too much longer, hurray!

Fiber Festival

I'm starting to catch up with myself, I'm now at last weekend - but still looking forward to next weekend! Anyway, last weekend I went to the Great Basin Fiber Festival with Tan and Laurel for a dye class. I don't think I'm ambitious enough to try what I learned by myself - it's more of a group project... But I came out with some awesome yarns and roving, a couple did go muddy, but they're still kinda pretty anyway.

Laurel's dye bath

Kate's roving

I got to take this baby home, it's a skein that Cherry handspun for me for Christmas, Angora and something else. It's probably the best thing I dyed. Although, I'm spinning up some of the cashmere roving I dyed and it's turning out really great also.

Llama obstacle course

It was an awesome day and I even managed to escape the festival without breaking the bank. There was tons of shopping and I wanted everything of course, but I managed to avoid it with the idea that I was already taking home lots of "new" stuff from the dye class ...This idea helped, mostly.

So what do you do when you have 3 bags of veggies from Grandpa's garden and the weather has just started getting cooler? Make chili of course! So the nice fall weather only lasted a weekend and then it got hot again, but I don't mind... this chili is awesome any time of the year and it's good for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World.

It's not my recipe, but I think that if I make it enough I'll be allowed to adopt it as my own.

Jumping right in...

We took a trip to Idaho at the end of August, which I am just getting pictures for. The main reason to go to Idaho was to see the fam and float the Boise River.

We spent most of the float on the river, yet some of the float was spent crashing into trees and bushes along the way, but Todd saved us, and I only got drenched twice - two more times than anybody else...

Our noble captain

Picnic in Julia Davis Park

After our picnic in Julia Davis Park, which runs along the Boise River and houses the Boise Art Museum, zoo, rose garden and strange events... We encountered some interesting contraptions at the Tour de Fat:

The tires are all for show

You could hear this bike coming

The next day, we traveled to the property where I grew up, which is constantly changing with all the new development, but it still gets me feeling all nostalgic. There are a few places I consider my home, but this is where I actually did my growing up.

There was a lot of talk of Todd and I moving back out here and I have to admit that it's really tempting, but I think I've turned into a Salt Lake City girl, I love my theater, art galleries, mountains and shopping, of course. But as Maya Angelou has said "You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right"