A Good year, 2010...

 
 
 
Goodbye to 2010, you were a good year for our family. Lauren and Taylor got engaged, Leah came home from China and Dave and myself just keep rolling along...we all have our health, our happiness and we are together...what more can you ask for..Happy New Year!

Christmas Lunch at Martha's...

 
Christmas break is a blessing because it gives you time to stop and catch your breath after the hectic holiday rush. Today Martha invited Lauren, Leah, Joan and myself over to her condo for a relaxing lunch. Martha made a great meal and we all had a wonderful afternoon together. Once again, I am feeling very lucky to have such great sisters and daughters!

Decisions...decisions...

 
So Christmas is over...winter blahs will soon set in, and I need a new project...so why not redecorate my kitchen! Have a color scheme in mind, but paint chips can be so hard to narrow down. Decisions...desisions....(Thanks Sandy, this is all because you gave me my MacKensie Childs inspiration pieces)

We start and end....

 
"other things may change us, but we start and end with family."-Anthony Brandt...A rare occurence, our whole extended family together in one place on Christmas Eve...joyous!!

My first pieces....

 
I have always loved this Courtly Check enamelware by McKensie Childs...and I got my first pieces of this pattern for Christmas from my sister-in-law, Sandy...I think I may have to work on getting the canister set that matches...and then, and then......

Lauren's Gift to Uncle John...

 "Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild."-Welsh Proverb...Lauren gave Uncle John a hand drawn portrait of his first grandchild, Mattea on Christmas Eve. As you can see by this photo, he was beaming with pride and little Mattea even knew it was her...a truly heart warming Christmas moment..nice job, Lauren.

One of my favorite presents....

 
This Christmas morning Leah surprised me with one of my favorite gifts...she had my 365 Photography Blog "A Second Glance" published into a book. This is only Volume 1, and she said Volume 2 would be after I completed my 365th day in Feb. of 2011. Awesome gift, Leah!

Scarfin' it up...

 
My niece, Elise, a crafty girl in her own right, made every one of us ladies a fleece scarf for Christmas...so of course we had to strike a pose all together on Christmas Eve. Nice job Elise!!

Happiness is ....

 
a pair of cozy slippers...a gift from my friend, Nicole...and as an added bonus, my cat likes to play with my "happy feet".

Snow on the roof tops...

 
The Christmas wonderland in our hallway is just about complete...I added the snow along all the roof tops of the kids' lockers, mixed in a few snowballs for added pizazz...and I now I am wishing we could get alittle real snow on our own roof tops for Christmas!

Ya gotta just laugh...

 
today has been an all around crappy kind of day...whatever could go wrong did...but I found this picture of Leah and her friend having a good laugh and it made me smile...things ain't so bad!

There is an end in sight....

 
..with only a few more days until Christmas, it's back up in the studio tonight, finishing up last minute gifts...but the end is in sight.

it's comin' on Christmas...

 
...they're puttin' up trees...oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on..."-Joni Mitchell (One of my all time favorite Christmas songs)...kind of sad...but that's what I like.

Lauren's artwork...

 
I snapped this painting in my daughter's office at her home the other night...Winnona Ryder portrait...nice work kiddo!

Phase two of winter wonderland..

 
After making all the 3D snowflakes for the hallways last week, our team embarked on Phase 2 of our winter wonderland beautification project: the snowmen,each individual snowman reflects the child's personality...they hang side by side over their lockers all the way down the hall...love them!

Holiday Cookies for the Homeless...

 
Today all five classes on our team came together in the cafeteria to bake Christmas cookies for the Immaculate Conception Homeless Shelter in Hartford...the parents, kids and teachers/paras really did a terrific job....in all we baked an unbelievable 200 dozen sugar/gingerbread and chocolate chip cookies! We then boxed them up along with holiday decorations and placemats the kids made, for the shelter dinner tonight....the best gifts are homemade and from the heart..<3

The Kennedy Rocker...

 
...finally finished painting this rocker for my sister in law...Christmas present for a little niece, aptly named Kennedy...hope she likes it.

China Doll....

 
I bought this little China girl ornament for Leah last year while she was spending Christmas away from us in China...nice to hang it on the tree this year and have Leah home for Christmas.

Oh yeah...ice

 
..and here I was going merrily along forgetting that it's winter...and then...BAM...ice and sleet appear..let the games begin...can you say "Snow Day"!!

"Yuzz"...

 
"My alphabet starts with the letter called Yuzz. It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond "Z" and start poking around."-Dr. Seuss

Ugly Christmas Sweater..2010

 
Lauren and Taylor held their Christmas Party tonight...and the attendees had to wear their ugliest Christmas attire. Leah threw everything but the kitchen sink onto her sweater...cute glitter kitties, talking santas, pom poms, snowflakes and jingle bells...all that was missing was the baby Jesus and three wise men!

Wild Goose Chase...

 
"If you feel the urge, don't be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for anyway?"-Will Rogers

I'll take one in every color....

 
On a freezing cold day like this, you see these colorful socks and you just know thatthey would make your feet happY!! What's better than that :)

No two snowflakes are alike....

 
Especially when you make 125 of them...we started working on our team project today...a winter wonderland...I think I will be seeing silver glitter until Easter, but it's all good!