but can’t skip out on some of the favorite holiday traditions! (sorry, the camera’s been hanging out in it’s bag…so it’s cell phone pictures today, [...]]]> i’m just getting a few things in line while we prepare for being with lots of different family over the course of the next couple weeks.

but can’t skip out on some of the favorite holiday traditions! (sorry, the camera’s been hanging out in it’s bag…so it’s cell phone pictures today, without any fun filters like instagram…hurry up android app market!)

ok, so this might not be christmasy, but since moving in, ava has discovered the one heater in the apartment. not only does she stand by it whenever it’s on, she’s got it figured out to rotate and change sides. funny girl.

since we couldn’t drive over to be with my parents this year, they came over for an early couple days of christmas with us instead…and i wasn’t going to let my mom come and go without her and i making her traditional lace roll up cookies. she’s made them every year as long as i can remember, and before that her mom did as well. i don’t know if it was our batter or using a different oven new to both of us, but they were kind of giving us heck. it’s a precarious procedure of melting the batter in a saucepan, baking for a few minutes, and RIGHT before they harden, you slip them off the pan and roll on a dowel to make a delicate lacy tube. painstaking, but so tasty.

portland has a historic street that since 1925 all the houses on this lane go all out with lights. also, each home is a quaint turn of the century cottage with steep pitched roofs and adorable doorways and yards. it’s a citywide tradition to either drive, walk or carriage ride down the street…we took our hot chocolate in travel mugs with my parents and a couple friends and walked the lane. maybe one of my favorite new traditions this city has offered us.

don’t you just love christmas cards!? even in the midst of having an address change, we’ve been lucky to receive a few. we have to go on a walk to get the mail, or get it on our way home from driving somewhere, and it’s kind of fun to only go every other day or so to let them build up. in the moment of licking and stamping and addressing you wonder why we go through all of this, and then once they start popping into your mailbox you get such happy feelings of seeing all your family and friends out in the world send you a little christmas cheer. here’s ours for you:

what’s your favorite holiday traditions leading up to christmas?

just taking a moment over here to think about my sweet girls. my sweet great dane girls. i don’t doubt that god utilizes his creation to bring us joy…because these two make me happy.

just taking a moment over here to think about my sweet girls. my sweet great dane girls. i don’t doubt that god utilizes his creation to bring us joy…because these two make me happy.

owning a dog is not always a joy. there are the expenses, the destruction of your favorite things, the repetitive ‘no’ when you are trying to find a rental, the difficulty of just carefree leaving to go somewhere, and the poop. oh the poop.

but those all somehow get outweighed when they bound to the door getting wiggly with excitement to see us returning home, the snuggles whether i am asking for them or not, the sense of protection, and the constant source of entertainment on boring weeknights when they are silly and easily teased.

i love that these big girls (i’m pretty sure they both weigh as much as me, or more), have big hearts. gracie can be needy at times, but all she wants is just to be next to you or in your lap. and ava loves giving you bedroom eyes while she gets up close and personal to your face. i’m very curious to how they will act when we start a family, when they are not the only ones getting attention. but for now, they do get all of our attention, and on a gray cloudy day with little on the agenda, i thought it was fitting to bake them up some homemade treats.

i like that this recipe (courtesy martha) is incredibly simple ingredients and incredibly simple instructions. i didn’t feel like i needed to get fancy with add-ins or flavors because when it all comes down to it, they just love the plain ole milk bones. i don’t think most treats on the market are all that nutritious anyways…why then would they be called treats?

i have had wheat germ on hand from making granola bars and if you don’t eat it, i recommend trying to incorporate it into things here in there…baked goods, on your cereal, etc. it is crazy packed with nutrients and benefits. as for the brewers yeast, i have never bought it, and it is not equal to baking yeasts so i used oatmeal instead.

simple homemade dog biscuits
from martha stewart

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup oats (instead of brewers yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup low-sodium canned chicken stock, plus more for brushing

1. set oven to 400 degrees. whisk together dry ingredients together and set aside.

2. place oil in a large bowl. add stock and flour mixture in three alternating batches, beginning and ending with stock and mix well. add more flour if needed if dough is too wet.

3. roll out dough to about 3/8-inch thick on a floured surface. cut out biscuits with a cookie cutter of your choice, or use a knife to cut your own shapes. remember to keep in mind the serving size you want them for the size of your dog. i got about 18 cookies with a cutter that’s about 4 inches long.

5. transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets until all dog has been used. i even baked the scraps left because honestly, it’s not like they’ll know they are not in the shape of a bone.

6. bake biscuits 10 minutes. brush with stock; rotate baking sheets, and bake 10 minutes more. turn off oven and let sheets stay in oven for about an hour and a half to completely dry and crisp up. i actually opened the door a few times in the beginning of the drying time to let out heat as i didn’t want the cookies to continue to cook too much more (some of them got a little over done).

7. store in an airtight container – start getting your furry friend to do some tricks for you!

sleep in, just enough, and don’t make the bed.

make sure we get to enjoy the day with our favorite people.

go on a walk that really takes [...]]]> recipe for the perfect day of playing:

sleep in, just enough, and don’t make the bed.

make sure we get to enjoy the day with our favorite people.

go on a walk that really takes it out of ya, and then collapse on some cool grass.

follow the sun around the house and try and lay in it every moment.

watch the world go by.

when mom’s not looking, sneak into the chair we’re not allowed on.

see if dad will sneak us some food while he cooks.

when the day starts to wind down, watch our favorite show america’s funniest videos, or maybe the westminster dog competition.

don’t forget to whine to mom and dad when it starts to get late that all this relaxing has made us ready for bed again…

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually [...]]]> wil and i went our separate ways the last two days!

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually every other month between me and cassie who joins). it was lame to add two days to the tally of being apart from wil, but before realizing that, i knew i wanted to take advantage of my last chance of visiting atlanta and our usual design stops.

wednesday we leave at 7 am, and it’s a 4 hour drive…we head straight to the design center…walking through showrooms looking at furniture pieces and different lines, requesting fabric samples to take back, and any other odds and ends that we are looking for at the time. it’s always really enjoyable to see things in person and also match faces with names of the people we talk a lot with on the phone.

it also made me curious if whoever i might work for visits the seattle design center and what that might be like.

we wrap up right at 5 when it closes, and usually have a great dinner…last night was no let down. we more often than not will shop for an hour or two- this time we visited the mall (usually it’s philene’s basement). but thursday has in store a very early start with lots of walking, so we honestly go back to the hotel and go to bed very early!

now, i know wil and all those starbucks folks are used to getting up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but it’s not so easy for those of us who are used to getting up 2-3 hours later. it’s rough! but we do it not so much for the deals, but by getting to the antique market while everyone is literally pulling stuff off the trucks, you are ensuring you get the best stuff before someone else! we wake up at 4:45 nashville time, and get to the buildings at about 6…

here is not long after we arrived in the south building…this row of vendors was just starting to unload. carolyn was checking out the size of a chest to be used for in a powder with a sink. it didn’t work.

this is maybe 3 or 4 hours later, and mind you, this view shows about 1/15th of what this building holds, plus a 2nd building of the same size…the ‘booths’ in this building are less defined, except for those hanging blue signs of letters, and tend to look a little more sparse than the north building because the south tends to have large furniture pieces and the north all the lighting, and other piddly things like silver, jewelry, books, etc. and it’s kind of madness the whole time. the economy has hit it, with usual vendors not showing up, or repetitive inventory, or just less inventory like this picture shows…more often than not you are maneuvering between pieces close together.

there’s definitely a lot of interesting nice pieces, but there’s still junk and stuff you wonder why someone bought that thinking someone else would want to buy it from them… our favorite usual dealers are either european, or go to europe themselves.

one very specific thing about scotts is the food. there are ‘food courts’ all over, and it’s all junk! this one is particular makes the whole center smell sooo gross..greasy southern food. just think about smelling fried catfish at 9 in the morning. pleasant.

oddly enough, after a lucky morning after buying a bunch, the power went out in the whole building while we were trying to look at oriental rugs. instead of picking a rug in the dark that we thought was brown and unroll at home and find out it’s like hot purple or something, we left about an hour early. i was quietly thankful, because usually the last hour is the hardest on my feet and mental endurance.

we got to nashville earlier than usual, and i made my way to our quiet home…i don’t want to get myself all down, but it’s really weird sitting at the computer just waiting to hear for the dogs to come up the stairs and see me.

wil, on the other hand, made it to brevard! yesterday was full of goodbyes and last social endeavors…golf, lunch, driving around, dinner, games. and i got a picture from his phone last night…

we decided in the last week to actually let the dogs be on the couch since it was the end of their time with that couch, and who cares! gracie had definitely tried to establish this for the last….well, forever, so you can tell she was all over it, and i don’t think ava quite gets it. : )

it looks like wil might have been stuck in some traffic, but he’s there! i asked him to take a picture of our cabin, so i will share. or maybe he can! maybe we can separately update the blog while we have our own adventures. that’d be fun.

open house today. had three different groups of people come through. we still worked the same amount and were out of the house for the same amount of time for a regular single showing, so i would have only been disappointed if no one showed up.

hey, that’s 3 [...]]]> a house update…no news.

open house today. had three different groups of people come through. we still worked the same amount and were out of the house for the same amount of time for a regular single showing, so i would have only been disappointed if no one showed up.

hey, that’s 3 more potential buyers. our realtor was still there when we returned, and got the lowdown, and said it was all positive…one of the couples loved loved loved the house, and had already placed an offer on a short sale house with the bank, which means they could still have 3 months to wait, and maybe liked the option of this house as a plan b if they decided to withdraw.

but no offer is still no offer. we are patient.

prior to us putting the house on the market, i knew in my head that i’d be stoked if we were even able to sell it by the end of the summer. but since we’ve had so much interest right off the bat, the positivity has actually caused anxiety over not getting an offer yet.  ugh!

and this time is all going way too fast.

wil leaves in like a week and a half and i just can’t handle that realization. him being gone, and how much stuff we potentially have to do and pack before he leaves.

it hurts my head thinking about it.

but we’ll probably have another open house next weekend, or the next. there are just too many variables to why people do and don’t come to open houses, so it makes sense to all of us to just keep getting it out there and available to show. maybe people are on vacation that weekend, maybe the weather is too cold, maybe the weather is too hot, maybe people ran out of time seeing other open houses. you just never know.

but it gives us time to just keep packing, keep tinkering with the age and look of the screened porch (what we feel like is the only thing that could distract people from all the positives), and keep keeping the house clean.

i love having an always clean house! love it.

and the dogs love getting to go in the car so much. i think ava officially thinks that she gets to go everywhere with us now, but we have happy worn out dogs whenever we return. and they keep somehow getting treats from us because wil and i feel bad for disrupting their routine so much.

being in the car is treat enough though right? i’d say yes based on their faces.

if only they know they have 4-5 days straight of this in the next few months…

unfortunately this morning is the morning that the city has decided to trim the trees in our neighborhood that are near power lines.

with that said, ava has gotten into a [...]]]> poor wil…he’s got the day off after 11 days in a row of working and he specifically requested to sleep in late this morning.

unfortunately this morning is the morning that the city has decided to trim the trees in our neighborhood that are near power lines.

with that said, ava has gotten into a barking tizzy every ten minutes or so with all the action…probably since about 8:30ish…the big orange road work sign seems to be getting her worked up the most.

i’ll be very suprised if wil has actually been asleep for the last hour.

sorry hun…

not only had i not even deleted the images from christmas off my card yet, the only pictures i have taken since christmas are the few of the oscars statue…i literally had 8 photos for the last two months prior to today.

you could totally title every blog in the month of december with a christmas song, there are so many different ones. i wish i thought of that december first!

anyways, the entire point of this entry is just to tell you it snowed last night. and [...]]]> …but i’ve got my love to keep me warm.

you could totally title every blog in the month of december with a christmas song, there are so many different ones. i wish i thought of that december first!

anyways, the entire point of this entry is just to tell you it snowed last night. and how excited i am.

as we grabbed a couple 4 o’clock starbucks drinks to hold us over after the long days we’ve been having, it was starting to sleet. it’s been very rainy and muddy the last few days, so sleet just made it yuckier.

and then, an hour later, (in the darkness) cassie and i thought the grass at the office actually had a slight tint of white amidst the wet…as i continued east and got home, there was at least an inch of so of snow all around!

i honestly think i smiled the whole drive home (*smiling’s my favorite!*), even being stuck behind terrible drivers who don’t know how to drive in snow (or anything wet for that matter!)…and was excited to see the snow increase with every mile instead of the latter.

i was the first to drive on our little cul-de-sac, so i did a kristen version of a donut to feel cool and turn into the garage.

it’s not going to stay, because it’s just too wet and not cold enough in the forecast…the ground underneath isn’t even frozen in our yard, so it’s a big mud pit already, but feels so christmasy and home like!

the dogs are nutso about it, which in turn drives me nutso. instead of doing their usual bathroom that is on the minute every morning, they just want to eat and run around like goofballs. the second we came inside this morning, gracie usually trots back up to bed, but she just stood at the door, looked at me and play barked. what a brat!

i need it to snow again this year, not on a workday, so i can have time to take pretty pictures…because i only have this one i just took out the upstairs window…just as proof.

and here’s a cutie sleeping ava just to make you feel all snuggly and comfy this weekend.