so I may be procrastinating...

(image from here)

...since I have successfully bought the elements of gifts, but no real gifts yet. I have bought tons of felt, ribbons, seam binding, sequins, patterned paper, gift labels, blah blah blah. I have my ideas laid out and here goes (also, apologies to anyone who wants me to wrote about anything not related to christmas for the next couple weeks, its probably not going to happen):

WARNING: IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE ON MY GIFT GIVING LIST, DO NOT KEEP READING!*

Basically I am going to make stockings for everyone and fill them. I have bought lots of fun fabric and ribbons, etc to decorate/make the stockings. I'm going to fill them with little bottle of wines, infused alcohol, cookies, biscotti, spice rubs, candy, journals, etc etc etc. Then specific little gifts for people like ornaments, snowglobes, jewelry, journals, bookplates, etc. (trying to make the majority of these handmade)

also, tonight I am going to IKEA. I am going to decorate the crap out of our house!!!!

aaaannndd...in trying to keep this a daily thing, here is today's DIY:

cinnamon candles**
white pillar candles
hot glue
cinnamon sticks
ribbon or raffia

hot glue the cinnamon sticks (vertically) to the sides of the candle. tie with ribbon. smells fanstastic when you light it! for extra pizazz, give with a matchbox covered in holiday paper!

*this does not apply to Ryan. He gets a freebie since I accidentally saw one of the things he got me yesterday. oops.
**I have officially given these to everyone on my list already so I feel weird making them again.

(cue the jaws theme)

so there I was innocently making turkey stock and there it was.

so there I was innocently making turkey noodle soup and there it was.

so there I was innocently stuffing my face with leftover pumpkin spice cookies and there it was.

so there I was innocently lounging away my friday on the couch watching 'diners drive-ins and dives' while drinking tea and cringing at Guy Fieri's awful catchphrases and there it was.

the holiday season is here, people. and for some reason, it seems way earlier than last year.

I have officially bitten off all my nails.

I spent all of Saturday with my best friend shopping for things to make gifts with (meaning we went to the fabric store, antique store and to savers). I did buy a chunk of things yesterday at jo-ann fabrics too. yet I feel so behind! I am in a panic! no decorations up, no completed gifts, some kind of event every weekend until christmas, yikes! why can't I get a couple days of relaxation post thanksgiving before christmas shows up and ruins my laziness er relaxing?

in the spirit of the season, here is one of the gifts I made last year for your DIY pleasure:

spiced wine:

• 1 orange, sliced
• 1/2 lemon, sliced
• 1 vanilla bean
• Peel from 1 orange (orange part only, removed with vegetable peeler)
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 750-ml bottle dry red wine (such as Côtes du Rhône or Merlot)
• 1/2 cup framboise eau de vie or brandy
• 6 tablespoons sugar

Combine sliced orange and lemon, vanilla bean, orange peel and cloves in large glass jar. Pour wine over. Cover and place in cool dark area for 2 weeks. Be sure to strain so family and friends don't choke on cloves. Add framboise and sugar to wine; stir until sugar dissolves. Pour mixture into wine bottle or decorative bottle. Cork bottle and place in cool dark area for at least 1 week. (Can be made 6 weeks ahead. Store in cool dark area.

to give as a gift: go to salvation army. buy tons of fun knitted sweaters. wash. cut off sleeves. sew one end of sleeve. insert bottle of spiced wine. thread ribbon through sweater or tie one on. hand to recipient. hope they haven't given up drinking.

Law & Order mix

hope all my American readers had a lovely thanksgiving yesterday & godspeed if you are one of the crazy people who go shopping today. I am staying inside and making turkey stock and maybe finalizing a Christmas list. so heres my mixtape masters this week! sorry I've reused a couple artists but I was trying to stick to a theme:



Who Is It?- Bjork
What Light- Wilco
When You Were Young- Killers
Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
How Soon is Now?- The Smiths
Why Can't I Be You?- The Cure



Create a playlist at MixPod.com



For more Mixtape Master madness, peep the playlists on these blogs:

Hi-Fi Weddings One Cat Per Person Tylre. Ten Thou Bride Fashion Under 100 Jo, Rooting another damn life Savoir Weddings Fancy Notion Dead Flowers Casa De Kaloi Bunnies’n’Beagles My San Francisco Budget Wedding Existing Between Reality and Dreams

Be a Mixtape Master. Email Angie or Ashley to get in on it.


also, special shout out to the wonderful Anna who is getting married this weekend! congrats my dear! I know you will have a wonderful & amazing day!

thanksgiving's greatest hits

alright peeps, I'll probably be up to my elbows in flour, vegetable peels, brine, etc tomorrow and won't be able to post anything so heres my last post pre- thanksgiving (I will be doing a mix masters on friday, I have 2 weeks worth of mixes done!). so on that note, I thought I would do a compilation of some of my favorite recipes I made from years past:

1- Bon Appetit- Cranberry Sauce
2-Bon Appetit- Roast Turkey
3-Epicurious- Sausage Dressing
4-Epicurious- Green beans
5-Bon Appetit- Game Hens
6-Bon Appetit- Apple Crumb Pie
7-Bon Appetit- Sweet Potato Gratin
8-Real Simple- Lamb and Butter Beans
9-Real Simple- Apple Walnut Tarts


now for the cover artwork:

nah...too overdone

(image from here)

getting better...

(image from here)

ah! perfect!



happy thanksgiving my friends!

songs of the season

this is the second year we are hosting thanksgiving in our house, which means I have 4 more days to make the house sparkling clean and 4 more days to make it smell like seasonal cinnamony magic*. last year we had about 30 people and this year is looking more like 15-20. goals this year: make food better. I of course bought probably way too much food but I am super psyched to make turkey enchiladas and mashed potato gnocchi with leftovers! so here's the breakdown:

turkey
mashed potatoes (the usual, mashed with butter cream & chives)
peas
green beans
carrots
stuffing (trader joes)
biscuits (from a tube)
cornmuffins (jiffy mix)
apple pie (so glad I canned apple pie filling in the fall)
cranberry sauce

do you guys have a favorite holiday food? mine might be everything. I really like all turkey day food. I should probably wear something loose fitting.

also, has anyone had the pumpkin silk nog? I am curious to try it...

so anyways: last year, as I peeled millions of potatoes with my sis, I listened to middle cyclone over and over. I love love love that cd any time of year but now it has a special space in my holiday line up too. I put it on in the car today when I ran my seasonal shopping errands (I even started making christmas gifts today! stay tuned I'm going to start posting christmas diy ideas from past years after thanksgiving!)



do you have songs that remind you of the holidays?? besides you know, actual holiday ones?

*also, why are there not mini pumpkins left to buy? its still the season for pumpkins right? how am I supposed to do a sad attempt at decorating now????

black is the new black mix

so I was going to write some kind of awesome post since I have been taking a little break from the internet (my comeback post if you will). but alas, just like so many much anticipated come back tours, this is going to be pretty lame. basically, at a loss for what to write about, I googled myself (for any fellow 30 Rock watchers, not that kind of googling) and found nothing too hilarious. so here ya go, kids. my mix for the week*:



Black Mirror- The Arcade Fire
Black Star- Radiohead
Blackout- British Sea Power
The Black Angels Death Song (cover)- Beck
Black Cloud- Morrissey
Black Sheep- Metric
Black Thumbnail- Kings of Leon
Man in Black- Johnny Cash



Music Playlist at MixPod.com

---

For more Mixtape Master madness, peep the playlists on these blogs:

Hi-Fi Weddings | One Cat Per Person | Tylre. | Ten Thou Bride | Fashion Under 100 | Jo, Rooting | another damn life | Savoir Weddings | Fancy Notion | Dead Flowers | Casa De Kaloi | Bunnies’n’Beagles | My San Francisco Budget Wedding | Existing Between Reality and Dreams

Be a Mixtape Master. Email Angie or Ashley to get in on it.


* sorry for the late entry. anyone else have issues with scheduled posts? this is the second week I scheduled something and it did not work.

oh hi

kinda over the internet lately (but not you, my dears!). need a few days off. will be back to my normal commenting & posting self soon enough. hope all is well with youz guys. ciao for now.


(via the always wonderful dreamcats)