Seems just like yesterday...: 2010

Now that's a green beer!

Check this out! Come January, Boulevard will no longer dump anything into the landfill. They won't even have a dumpster on site! That's awesome! I wish more companies, and individuals for that matter, would get on board with this.

KC Beer Blog: Boulevard of No Landfill: "Boulevard Brewery is going landfill free. They're even getting rid of their dumpster. Whatever waste they produce will either be recycled or..."

Dog Days of the Holidays

Barley is still recuperating from all the Christmas excitement, as are we. We had a wonderful Christmas. I am so grateful to have such a loving and thoughtful family to spend the holidays with. I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas and make it an awesome New Year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

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Precious Things Part 2

I just received the best Christmas gift EVER! For years I have been nagging my mother to let me have her grandmother's china. Her answer has ALWAYS been "you'll get it when I die!" That is until today! They came over for dinner and handed me a small gift bag. They said it was a little something that they thought I could use before Christmas. Inside the gift bag was a single cup from the china set. I was so excited, I just thought they were giving me one cup and saucer to tide me over, until I eventually inherited the rest of it...then they brought in two boxes full of the remaining pieces! This is no small set either. It's a service for 12 and has 16 cups and saucers! Along with two platters, bowl, cream and sugar servers, gravy boat and ladle, dinner plates, bread plates, soup bowls, salad plates, cake plates and some other little plate that I'm not sure what you use it for but it's adorable! I love every piece.

Needless to say I immediately clear out my cabinets and made room for this amazing gift! I still cannot believe my mother parted with this. I know that must have been very hard for her to do. But I hope she knows just how grateful and proud I am to have it. For some reason I have become very attached to this set and I will use it with honor and care. I love you momma! Thanks a thousand times and many more!

Now for a tiny peek of my new huge china set!

Precious Things of Winter

It's a snowy Sunday morning here in the Midwest and I'm listening to a little Tori Amos, thinking about all the precious things in my life. I am so thankful for everything around me. I have a wonderful family, a loving and supportive husband who is not only the love of my life but also my best friend, by far the bestest friends a girl could ever ask for. Yes, I would say that I am a very lucky girl and I try my very best to never take any of it for granted.

This morning I thought I would share some winter pictures with you and some of my favorite Christmas ornaments. A couple years ago, my mother gave me the family's antique ornaments. I know it was very hard for her to part with them and I can't thank her enough. I love and cherish every one of them. Along with my families ornaments, my dear friend Octavia was kind enough to share a couple of her Gram's ornaments with me. I hope she knows just how much I truly appreciate her thoughtful gift. I am very proud to honor her Gram on my tree this year and many years to come.

My favorite window in the house!

Left over gourds from my fall harvest

Merry Christmas Catty Kitchen!

This is my favorite ornament!

My baby mug

This is one of the ornaments that OP gave me. Love it!

Tweet Tweet (made by Octavia Pitts for my 30th birthday)

And here is the other ornament from OP. Adorable!

This year I decided to add some of my antique kitchen utensil collection to the tree.

December = Tim's Birthday Month!

Tim's birthday is just around the corner and this year we're going to have a pizza & pinball extravaganza! My Tim is a pretty talented fella, but he's also quite the pinball wizard.

Check out the high score #3. None only than Mr. Tim LaBeaume. I'm sure he'll try to be at the #1 spot when we go next weekend.

If you are not familiar with CP Pinball, you should! It's an awesome place, full of pinball machines that are set to free. You pay $10 at the door and it's all you can play!

Happy Birthday Month Tim! I can't wait to give you your awesome gifts!!