Flexible Flyers

When it snows I think of one thing...going down a big hill, head first, on a 1988 Flexible Flyer. What a rush and no better way to do it than with your best friend!

PROJECT 365: JANUARY RECAP

As I have mentioned several times, I am participating in Project 365--where you attempt to take a picture every day of the year!  It's gone great so far and I am enjoying it. 

I decided at the end of every month to recap that month's photos with a collage.  Of course there will only be a few photos from each month, so here's January's!

Photo 1:  Our tea obsession...I also did a post on this
Photo 2:  GPS guiding us home
Photo 3:  My handsome man at the gas station...ha
Photo 4:  A bacon and swiss cheese sandwich with PINK LADY apple slices

As you can see, our January has been fun ;) Bring it on, February!

Snow Day and Scones

Today was the perfect day for trying out the scone recipe I've been wanting to attempt.  I found the recipe HERE and in preparation for this snowy weekend, went out and bought the ingredients I was missing.

The recipe calls for sultanas, which are golden raisins, but I just am not a fan of raisins of any sort, so I made PINEAPPLE scones...yummm.  I just bought dried pineapple and chopped that up to put in my scones for added sweetness.  They turned out great!

  

Dough and egg wash

  

And the finished product.  Yes, they are small..I should have made them bigger.  And some of them are odd shaped.  But hey, they were still yummy!

Then after a breakfast of scones, we let Bella out to play in the snow...then we joined her.  Bella LOVES the snow and could stay in it all day if we let her. 

  

"Do I really HAVE to go in?"

And this is how we spent the rest of our afternoon.  Tea by the fire and good books, followed by naps :)  Ahh...snow days!

Friday "Foto" Funny--Crazy Eyes

Please take a look at Bella's eyes.  She's a special dog...

I really love this photo!  Haha...she's crazy! Happy Friday and hopefully snowy weekend!

Captured: COLORS

For this, "You Capture," over at I Should Be Folding Laundry, the goal was to capture color around you during this winter bleakness.

Here are some shots I managed to capture:

An amazing salad...delish!

 

A yo-yo quilt my grandmother made for me since I was born and kept until I was married--she's the best!

 

Colorful jewelry in my glass dish.

 

Dinner! Zucchini and tomatoes.

 

A colorful painting, by my grandmother, of course.  And a sweet tea pot.

 

And I found some gorgeous berries outside!  Isn't that red beautiful?  But I guess if you know me, you wouldn't be surprised that I am attracted to all things red..haha.

So that's the color that is spicing up the winter bleakness around the Palmer place.  Hope it adds a little brightness to your day!

I gotta feeling...

And it's a great one.

Have you ever just found an old cd in your car, like months (or years!) later?  You know, that cd that you put away because you listened to it FAR too much and you wore out (as in listened to them over and over) all the songs on the cd.

Then you pop it in and you hear all those great jams again...that you just used to love so much...

I just did that and it was a great feeling!  Kinda like when you put new sheets on your bed, or when you just finish eating that PERFECT stack of pancakes...

Have you guys ever had a great feeling like that?

Marvelous Mosaic

Today's Creative Blog is hosting a "get your CRAFT on!" for bloggers to see other crafted items out there in the blogosphere.  So I thought it'd be fun to join in :)

I actually made this a little while back, but have been thinking about making another mosaic again (as soon as time allows!). 

I took an old window from my cousin's house and painted it, then distressed it.

I then had a blast smashing lots of 25 cent or less mugs, plates, dishes (from Goodwill) to glue onto the panes of the window.  I also bought some square tiles and rounded stones from Michael's to add a little bit of charm and iridescence to the window. 

After that, I used grought to fill it all in...then I wiped off the excess and let it dry.

Jason and his dad helped wire a piece to the back so that it could hang (it's heavy!).  And now it resides at the end of our hall.  I just love all the colors!  Isn't color great?

Mosaic is intimidating sounding, but so fun to do.  I've also done a table and now I want to do a picture frame and/or mirror.  I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Happy mug-crushing!

Latest obsession...

The past couple of months Jason and I have been obsessed with tea. And by obsessed I mean I even went so far as to order tea online at twinings.com. Crazy, I know! But we love it...

My favorite is the Spiced Apple from Twinings (it may be seasonal), but Jason and I both are a fan of Tazo 's Red Apple tea as well. Just add a little honey and a small packet of Splenda and you are good to go. And, did you know, local honey (like that found at Whole Foods) is supposedly good for your allergies? I will let you know at the end of April if that is really true. Let's hope so! :)

So in keeping with Project 365 and trying to take a picture a day, I attempted to capture our recent obsession (now if I could only understand shutter and aperture better..urgh).

That's our tea jar, filled with our favorites: Cranberry Green, Peach, Herbal Unwind, Spiced Apple, and Red Apple.  Oh yum...go grab a cup of tea ;)

Please watch this...

Watch this video about Haiti.

Mark Driscoll and several other pastors went down to Haiti and this is the video they've compiled to help bring awareness to the situation in Haiti.  Go check out his blog, also, because there are several other videos on there about Haiti.

It is eye-opening and will certainly wrench your heart.  Be praying!



And we just found out our sweet boy Wanderson (previous post on Haiti) and his father, George, are alive and well!  We are SO thankful!

Foto Funny + cookie lovin'

This a combined post--both a FOTO FUNNY and story of my love for cookies.

Around the Palmer house, cookies and sweets are typically not a mainstay.  However, once in a while, one member of our twosome will get a "sweet tooth" craving (and by one member, I will go ahead and confess, it's usually me)

This time, the sweet tooth fairy delivered a craving for cookies (my favorites being plain-jane-but-ever-so-amazing chocolate chip cookies), but this time I went with gingerbread cookies.  We just so happened to actually have a bag of gingerbread cookie mix in the pantry (yes, I cheat when I make cookies--one day I will learn to be a baker!).  So I went to town mixing and cutting gingerbread cookie shapes--stars and gingerbread men.

Let's just say that those cookies are nearly gone already ;)  It doesn't take long for us to devour some cookies!  But now, alas, our only remaining cookie mix is gone and until the next craving (hopefully a while from now), we will be cookie free at the Palmer house.

I did manage to catch this 'lil guy trying to escape the cookie escapades.

And what do you do when they runaway?  YOU EAT THEM!!!

(disclaimer: please forgive the overuse of parentheses and the cheesy-ness of this post! :)

A perfect day for...

A nice jog outside in this amazing 60-something degree weather!  A light breeze + warm sun + NO ALLERGIES= perfect time to jog (notice I didn't say run, I WISH I were a runner...but nope, just a jogger :)

Listening to the ipod.  And particularly listening to the ipod while jogging.

Driving with your windows down.  Don't you just love the breeze?

Throwing a worn-out football with your dog.

And most importantly, dwelling on our amazing Savior, Jesus Christ.  It's hard not to think about Him with the sun shining bright, but oh how I desire to dwell on Him daily.  Just a pondering...

(FYI, I did stage this picture.  I am participating in Project 365 and sometimes I stage pictures to look back on...and to practice with my camera still..haha.)

Cutie pies

Today I finally got to see Ben and Tera's precious new Golden Retriever, Bailey.

Now, I'm not the biggest animal lover out there, but I do have a soft spot for cute puppies.  So without further adieu, here is BAILEY, the precious pup...

Isn't she adorable?  I think that face is priceless.

And because we just so happen to think that our pup is precious too (even though she is no longer a pup), I thought I'd share a picture of our Lab, Bella...

 

Sadly you can see the massive amounts of hair she sheds (look closely at the rug)...the vacuum and I have become best buddies...but that's ok, we love her anyway!

Ok, enough puppy lovin'...time to watch 24 (night number 2!)

Friday "Foto" Funny--Flame Face!

I've done it again...

I meant to post this YESTERDAY.  Ah, oh well..here's Friday's Foto Funny (A scene from last weekend)!

HA!! Jas's face could not possibly make me laugh more than it does in this photo!  You never know what photo possibilities will arise around the Palmer house (particularly when there are marshmallows and fire involved :)

Can't help it...

Just got a phone call regarding Haiti and it's people and I can't help but to think back to last year when we were there in April.

My heart is burdened for the burdened...oh to be there...

My sweet boy, Wanderson

 

 Precious children

 

And look at the joy!

Fervently praying for the people of Haiti...

Help for HAITI

If you haven't yet heard, Haiti endured a devastating earthquake today.  It was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and is supposed to have been VERY damaging.  We all need to keep Haiti and the Haitians in our prayers.
Go here to check it out and read more.

While we're on the topic of Haiti, Ridgecrest is raising money for "Stop Hunger Now" (mentioned in previous post) which will make meals strictly for the people of Haiti.  Anyone can give money to help out (25 cents/meal)---so a dollar can give 4 Haitians one meal a day!  They need it now, just as much as ever!

As Christians, it's essential we support our brothers and sisters in Christ--be it through praying, serving, or financial means.  Haiti needs our help!

Cornhole Tourney!

If you've never played the fun game of Cornhole..you should!  It's quite fun and corn-y ;)

This weekend Ridgecrest had it's first Cornhole Tournament to raise money for "Stop Hunger Now" (an organization that makes packaged dry foods for kids/families in need).

It went over well for never having happened before..great turnout!

Cornhole boards lined up and ready for the action!

Some of the players waitin' their turns..haha..look at Al's face!

And everyone getting their game(s) on!  The guy in the blue on the right (along with his partner) won the tournament and the sweet prize that went with it.

It was a fun time.  Schedule YOUR cornhole game today! (Do I sound like a tv advertisement yet? :)

Friday "Foto" Funny--Armpits Anyone?

So this year I want to work on being better at posting "Friday Foto Funnies."  I like the idea of funny "fotos."

Here's a pretty funny one, I think!

I caught a little nap action going on.  Take a look at that perfected napping style--arm behind head, closed eyes, and pursed lips.  Precious ;)

Birthday Dinner with the Muffin Man

We celebrated our "Muffin man's" birthday (ok, that's Nathan, Jason's bro-in-law and my whatever-he-is :) tonight.  He had a birthday yesterday and we joined Marianne and Nathan for a dinner tonight at Piazza Italia, a sweet restaurant in Brightleaf Square (check it out, I had the fettucini gorgonzola--yum!).

Here's the birthday boy himself--with his better half (my sis-in-law!)

After a great dinner we headed to M and N's house for some ice cream cake (did I mention she made it? delish!) And it was colorful.  I am a big fan of color!

It was a fun night!  Happy Birthday, Nate! (oh, and he has been labeled "Muffin Man" for this post because he really likes muffins :)

Dinner Date with Grandpa E

Tonight Jas and I took our adopted "Grandpa" Elton out to dinner.  I know you guys are wondering WHERE we took our awesome 91 year old friend.  Drum roll..please...duh, duh, duh, duh...C&H Cafeteria!  And yes, I am one of those "youngins" who really likes C&H.  Jas just likes it alright.  I, on the other hand, happily would go there often (call me strange, I'm ok with it ;)

He's a way cool guy and we're pretty sure he knows EVERYONE in Durham.  After all, he's lived here 91 years!  That's crazy...crazy cool.

Here's a picture we captured with him post-C&H deliciousness:

I think the flash kind of caught him off guard.  He's da bomb!

So what do you guys think about C&H?  Do I have any other fellow old school restaurant fans out there?  I know I'm weird..but hey, it's really hard to beat those amazing fried zucchinis!

Have your cake and eat it too!?

So it's a well known tradition that you're supposed to eat your wedding cake on your one year anniversary.  Follow me for a second... Let me set the stage.

Jason:  filing papers away for the new year
Me:  cleaning out some old papers/cards

Randomly..and out of the blue...

Me: We forgot to eat our cake on our anniversary!
Jason:  Let's eat it!!

Well, better late than never, right?  Haha.  One of those things we'll look back on and remember, I guess :)