I think I should feel older than I do

I came home right before Christmas. My sisters have loved me from day one.

I believe I kept my parents up all night Christmas Eve, giving them an hour or so of sleep before they were awaken by excited little girls. From that Christmas on, I would always be the last one up on Christmas morning :)

Show a little love

It's time to show a little love on my part. Inanimate objects are being neglected in my life: my room, figuring out who owes me what, and all eighty billion pictures I want to share. Blog, I'm starting with you :)

Holiday movies

I love Christmas movies.

These are my current favorites:

-Muppet Christmas Carol

I wrote a twelve page research paper on different film theories using this movie. Yep.

-It's a Wonderful Life

Didn't get why this movie was so popular and what the big huzzah was about. Then I grew up.

-The Shop Around the Corner

This was remade in the 90's with a little movie called "You've Got Mail."

-Elf

Hasn't gotten old yet.

-How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I really like Jim Carey. Went to this movie for my sweet 16th birthday bash. 'Twas awesome.

-White Christmas

Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen? Dancing, singing, "sisters" and "snow?" Yes please.

-Holiday Inn

Just watched this. Fred Astaire is a dreamy dancer. This is the precursor to "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin and has the song in it.

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Be grateful

May your day be filled with yumminess.

And may you feel like this after all is said and done.

Happy Thanksgiving.

'Tis the season

My bro-in-law's birthday (at the end of October) kicked of the Season of Celebration in this family. It is a two month period of time where we celebrate J's, T's, T's, W's, L's, & Mom's birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Nick's, Christmas, and New Year's.

So we are adding to the season by throwing another birthday in there. Starting tomorrow.

Here we go!

Holtom kiddos

I used to babysit these kids when there were only two out of the four.

They are spunky and incredibly intelligent.

From my DC visit this summer.

Halloween

Fall festivities

Does the woman in the last picture look like she is going to have a baby in a month? I say unto you nay. But it's coming up!

Apple cider donuts are delicious. Especially when they are hot and fresh and served with hot apple cider and a blustery cold day.

All at The Elegant Farmer.

Breakfast

Amortentia??

What's he mesmerized with?

Well, what do you get when you take a chemist and marry him to a chemical engineer?

A doctor and a lawyer.

And big time Harry Potter fans.

And potion makers.

I will admit we were all mesmerized by it. He was a little on the scared side and didn't want us to get close.

Nice work Tracy. It was wicked cool.

Watch out Trick-or-Treat-ers!

"Sammy blow out fire"

He tried and tried. Then Wiwi helped and he blew it out "by self."

I should probably add that the Sammy pumpkin (with the hair) was by artiste bro-in-law and he wasn't yet done with it. Just putting that out there for him :)

Fisheye - iPhone style

The iPhone fisheye lens. Don't waste money on iPhone photo apps. Get this instead. (Can you tell I want one?) Only problem is you can't use a case...

Here is an example that a friend of mine took with it:

I love this building

It makes me want to go back in time. NYC.

An October favorite

When I put this on the table at college, it didn't last long. It ended up a bowl with a few peanuts left over.

Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park, NYC

My nana would take my mom and her brother to play in Washington Square Park back in the early 60's. They lived down in Greenwich Village when my mom was really little.

Sailor Sammy

These are from March.

Tea time

My cousin sent me an email with a link for this place in San Francisco. It wasn't open when I was visiting her last year, but you can be sure we would have stopped at least once (she's a bigger London fan than I am!). It's called Crown & Crumpet.

Winner!!

Yay Sarah! Let me know which picture you want and I will send it to you!

Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who participated.

Give it away

Make a comment and a random commenter will win a 8x10 print of your favorite image of mine. So scour the blog and make a choice!

Enter by Friday Oct. 9th at Midnight Central Time and one comment per reader (anonymous comments will be ignored).

Good Luck!!

Strawberries and chocolate

Put balsamic vinegar strawberries and dark chocolate sea salt coins together.

Sweet and satisfying in a delicate manner.

I am a lover of Anne Frank

And everything in/about this video. While in Amsterdam, I made sure to stop at the Anne Frank Museum.

Ballet this fall

Fine dancing, I believe like virtue, must be its own reward. Those who are standing by are usually thinking of something very different.
-Jane Austen-

Check out the ballet this upcoming month in Milwaukee.

Friends' engagements

I have a friend (now married) who was adamant about not being proposed to in a restaurant.

I've never been a big fan either.

But another friend proposed at a restaurant and I think he did a good job.

It was at a fancy restaurant on the 95th floor overlooking Chicago. The ring came in a chocolate box and a message. Then they went for a carriage ride through the city. Nice work Steve!

Where it comes from

My mom took a bunch of pictures (you know, for her blog) and this was one. I used to play with her old Yashica when I was little, pretending to be old and able to take pictures.

It's where I get my obsession.

Nathan & Robyn

This was so much fun. It was in a park and was small and sweet. It rained, then was sunny and hot, then a perfect breeze rescued us. This bride had everything perfectly planned out and was so easy going at the same time. Loved it.

Ryan

Some senior pictures with his drums. He is 6'7" - it came in handy. Plus he is a super nice kid.

Chris

This is my friend Chris. He moved to my neighborhood in sixth grade - two houses down from a best friend. I was his first table partner at his new school. He was the first person I met who had a metal rod in his arm (I didn't know they did that to people).

We were in orchestra together. Middle school classes. High school classes. Everything.

Music genius at the cello. Rock star on electric bass. Quantum science lover (in eighth grade). Academic decathlon national champion. The kind of guy who barely passed high school because it was so boring for him.

One day he woke up and joined the Marines. He now knows Arabic and dialects of Arabic. He is a linguist for the Marines. They love him.

Turned out to be quite the stud in a uniform.

Job Description

My job description as a daughter has a new line: take food pictures for mom's blog.

Classic style

(Hugo Boss "Cary Grant" Tuxedo)

We all know I love old movies and old movie style. Bloomingdales has teamed up with TCM to make classic style known for this month. Check out the article here.

Brew Crew

Ryan Braun hittin' it hard.

Ready to catch a fly ball.

Wanted to wear my glove and hat. Not his.

Look out. The nice lady next to us showed him a ball her daughter caught. And so he threw it.

Kelly and Ben

Mini Burgers

I love burgers that are the size of your face.

But the mini-burgers we had for Labor Day festivities are quite delectable.

Family blogs

My sister has a blog now and so does my mother.

Lindsay's is about the finer things in life that she reads. Outside of a few professors from college, she is the biggest book worm I know.

lindsaysreads.blogspot.com

Mom's is about food and how to salvage all sorts of things to make them edible. Gives you a peek into how I've eaten my entire life.

itsstillgood.blogspot.com

Check them out.

Cereal

Cereal is so much better when mixed with fresh fruit. And in fun bowls.

Finally!!

A new header. I love days off.

Peaches

We like peaches around here.

What are tunnels for?

Calling out "Hello!" and "WOOOOO" at the top of your lungs to here the echo of course.

This was the tunnel under the freeway to get to the Pentagon parking lot. Kinda creepy.

It seems much to easy to get close to the Pentagon.

Home

I've returned from the nation's Capital. I worked and played and saw old friends and went to important places and ate yummy food. But mostly I sweated.

Upon returning home, I realized I have lots to blog:

-The rest of NYC trip (hello! that was back in April!)

-5 weddings. 5.

-One big concert

-Lots of pictures of friends

-DC

short list. lots of pictures. lots of stories.