Christmas

Secret Santa is usually my least favorite thing.  I love giving gifts but hate obligatory gift giving, especially when the gifts you are giving are to someone you don't know very well.  However, work is struggling with morale and playing as a team so I thought this year I should play;  I was lucky enough to pull the name of someone amazing!  

I sent her on a scavenger hunt for about half a dozen gifts but wanted her final gift to be something truly special.  (This is the part where I love giving gifts to someone I know.) A mother of 5 beautiful girls, 4 of who are dancers, I printed her Facebook cover photo, framed it, and added 3D tutus.

I truly loved this once it was done…and was really glad that my friend did too.

Other creative gifts I gave out this year…

• Ornament and twine was bought at Michael's Craft store; tiny Bailey's bottle was purchased at a local liquor store; hot chocolate and marshmallows can be purchased at any grocery store.
• "You will do better in Toledo" glasses can be found at Jupmode; bags and ribbon were purchased at Hobby Lobby; Christmas colored m&ms can be found almost anywhere :)

Christmas costume for touring an elementary school and handing out candy canes…

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our annual Christmas party…this year's theme "You will do better in Toledo".

Ugly Christmas Sweater Top Hat

It's been two months since my last blog post and, while I'd like to say it's because I've been very busy (which is true), it's actually because I've honestly been VERY lazy.  Being busy brings out the laziest of lazy in me.  I've been on "winter vacation" for the last two weeks and instead of doing anything constructive, I've spent my days lounging on the couch with Maggie in my new footie pajamas, watching reruns of Supernatural and Bones.

While I wasn't lounging on the couch, Brad and I had a busy two weeks.  Here are just a few of the things we did:

Met some old friends and sampled craft brews at Brewfest.  Winterfest was a 2 week event in downtown Toledo, where they turned the local AAA baseball park into an ice rink for a few outdoor minor league hockey games.  During this time they held many other events at Fifth Third Field including Brewfest.  Brad and I had a really good time but it was freezing out on the concourse where the event took place.  Also, they ran out of most of the beer before nights end.  Of the beer we did try I'd say my favorite was Chocolate Sombrero from Clown Shoes.

Ice skating at Fifth Third Field.  During Winterfest they also opened up the ice rink for "community skates."  Brad had never been ice skating before and the last time I went, I was probably around the age of 12.  We managed to not fall once during the entire hour of skating we were allotted! I even managed to snap this picture of us on the rink. 

Lights Before Christmas at Toledo Zoo. We've made it a tradition to visit the Lights Before Christmas every year.  This was the first year they had reindeer on display.  We stopped to see the reindeer and wandered around viewing some of the lights but it was cold and overcrowded so we didn't stay too long. 

Charlie Brown Christmas village.  Brad and I started a tradition of making gingerbread houses before we were even married.  They never turn out perfect but we always have fun creating them.  We don't like to create the same thing in back-to-back years, so when I saw the Charlie Brown themed kit I had to have it!  I like the cut-out characters you get with the village but they were sort of hard to cut out.  They also didn't give us quite enough of the white "building" frosting and the red frosting wasn't sticky enough to use for assembly.

Western themed surprise birthday party. Our friend Kevin turned 25 and his mom threw him an awesome surprise party.  She made cool centerpieces for the tables (pictured right) and gave out western themed party props (the bandanas, glasses and badges you see below).

Ugly Christmas sweater party.  Our friend Ryan hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party at a bar downtown.  It was a good time but our "ugly" sweaters looked like dress clothes in comparison to some of the other guests. They must have been planning for months.  Truth be told my outfit was kind of "dress clothes;" I wore a black blazer over my shirt and this cute "ugly" top hat, which I created myself.

Is it me or do I totally have a "Scrooge McDuck" thing going on here?

The top hat was a last minute decision, and when I say "last minute" I mean Brad was sitting on the couch ready to leave while I ran upstairs plugged in my hot glue gun and created it from scratch (literally).

Remember these hats from my "Tutu Adorable" post? I used one of these plastic hats at my base as well as left over tulle from the tutus.

Here's what you'll need:

• Cheap plastic hat
• Christmas Ribbon
• Tulle
• Glue Gun (and sticks)
• Scissors

Like I said, this was literally a last minute idea/project, so there aren't any pictures of the steps, but I made it up as I went along and it's supposed to be "ugly" so get creative!

I glued the ribbon around the hat first, then I cut approximately 3 inch squares of the tulle, twisted it in the center and glued down the twist. I glued the tulle down all along the rim and on the top of the plastic hat, inside the ribbon "wrap".

Warning: Hot glue isn't a creative name, it's called that because the glue is HOT. Also the tulle is very thin, you will probably burn yourself and get your fingers stuck to the glue through the fabric - so be careful. Also the hot glue melted the plastic hat a little.

This project would probably work just as well with craft glue (which wouldn't melt the plastic).  Unfortunately my last minute decision didn't leave me with enough time to wait for glue to dry. 

The plastic hats came with chin straps, but I don't much care for those. As a preference I glued felt to the bottom of the hat along with a metal hair clip. Again, this was just a preference, the rubber band chin strap would work just as well.

Comment any questions, as I know the instructions are lacking!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours!

PS - It's still Autumn

Halloween is officially over and apparently that means autumn is as well - at least it seems that way when it comes to all things pumpkin, which is strange to me as pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving thing and still a month away.  It was weeks ago that stores sold out of pumpkin and Octoberfest beers and replaced them with Christmas ales.  You couldn't even get fall beers for your Halloween parties!

Well I have news for you, big conglomerates pushing Christmas on me…I'm not done with fall yet so please stop pushing mocha and peppermint on me, stop with the snow filled Christmas commercials and absurdly loud Christmas music.  I happen to enjoy autumn and everything that comes with it and plan to draw it out for as long as possible…or at least through Thanksgiving.

With that said I'd like to write about something I find perfectly autumn-ish…apple picking.

I thought it would be a fun date to go apple picking, so Brad, Maggie and I headed up to Erie Orchards.   (My favorite places to go are places that Maggie can tag along too!) It was so funny to hear all the kids yell with glee “look at that dog!” especially since Erie Orchards has a petting zoo full of cute baby goats, which aren't typically seen in everyday life.

Along with the petting zoo, there is a pumpkin-shaped bouncy house, pony rides and a playground for the kids.  There are several craft shops, you can purchase pumpkins, and there is food for sale including apple pastries (the doughnuts are delicious!) and cider.  We went for the apple picking though.

When we inquired about the apple picking, we were told “it’s the end of apple picking season” and out of 12 varieties of apples, there were only 3 varieties left to pick (who needs 12 varieties of apples anyway!)  They were slim pickings near the front of the orchard but the deeper we went, the more apples we found.  We picked about 1/4 of a bushel.

1/4 bushel of apples is a lot of apples for 2 people to eat so of course we cut them up and made dessert!  We started with an apple crisp. I found this recipe at Chow.com.

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 lbs Apples. Peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2-3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, separated
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons, COLD, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

 Directions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat an 8x8 inch baking dish with butter
• Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Toss to coat and place in baking dish.
• Mix together brown sugar, oats, flour and remaining salt until combined. Using your hands, blend in the butter pieces until small clumps form and the butter is well incorporated.
• Sprinkle the topping over the apples
• Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes.  Let cool 30 minutes before serving.
  

This dish was amazing and it's perfect for autumn…or any other time of the year!

Happy Halloween! (a little late)

Dorothy and Toto…Huge THANK YOU to my husband for drawing an amazing OZ

Glass Blowing

About a month ago, Brad and I attended the last Art Walk of the year here in Toledo.  For those of you that don’t know, Art Walks are held on the last Thursday of the month, usually during spring and summer months and take place in downtown and uptown Toledo.  Local vendors line the streets selling art, jewelry, clothing, etc. and many of the shops open up their doors as well.  One of the shops we entered along the way was Gathered Art Gallery, a glass blowing gallery and workshop.  We looked around the shop and stopped for a while to watch as they did a demonstration.

I went home that night and like Gathered’s page on Facebook.  I’m so glad I did!  It was just a few weeks ago I saw in my Facebook newsfeed that Gathered was offering glass blowing classes!  I saw a class to make pumpkins and I signed myself and Brad up immediately.

The class consisted of approximately 20 people and 3 instructors; Ian, Mike and Adam.  They first made their own pumpkin, demonstrating what they would be doing as instructor and what they would be asking of each student.  Then they took students one at a time and created glass pumpkins. 

You get to choose from the selection of any color you want to use; I chose vanilla for my pumpkin and amber for my stem.  After the instructor gathered the hot, clear glass from the container I got to step in and help; adding color and helping shape the pumpkin using different tools to make the glass round,  adding ridges, blowing air into the center, and affixing and curling the pumpkin’s stem.  It’s quite actually a pretty interesting process.

Brad adding color to his pumpkin

Brad blowing air into his pumpkin to shape it

Ian shaping my pumpkin

Adding the stem

 Ian, Mike and Adam were great instructors! They were helpful, patient and extremely knowledgeable.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions about any part of the process!

Once the pumpkins are created you have to leave them at Gathered to cool down overnight.  I picked our pumpkins up the next afternoon. 

I love my pumpkin and plan on taking more of these classes in the future! 

You can sign up for a class or get (at least) 8 of your friends/family together and book your own private workshop.

Here is a list of upcoming classes (All classes are from 6-9 pm)

Oct 30 - Ghosts $45

Nov 6 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 7 - Mini Pumpkins $30 or Snowmen $40

Nov 13 - Mini Pumpkins $30 or Snowmen $40

Nov 14 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 20 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 21 - Pumpkins $45

Dec 4 - Ornaments $35

Dec 5 - Snowmen $40

Dec 12 - Ornaments $35

Dec 13 - Snowmen $40