Where Did the Time Go...2012 Year End Round Out...

Hello everyone! Wow what a wild 6 months this has been. 6 months? Did I really just say 6 months?

I hardly know where to begin but I know I must or we'll never get anywhere will we.

First let me say that I've missed you greatly. I've wanted to keep in touch, I truly have. Thankfully now the app I want/need to use has upgraded is now easier to use than a few months ago.

I know pictures are more interesting than a long winded commentary so let's begin...

After bringing Saige home from the hospital and after my mother left to go back to Ohio we lost power and in the summer heat that was NOT fun, especially with a one week old. We were forced to leave the house in search of food and cooler temperatures.

Saige was a trooper but by her 2 week Dr. check up she had lost 2lbs and was admitted into the NICU at Children's Hospital in DC. Que major parental freak out.

After more blood draws than an adult could handle, what seemed like hundreds of tests, a weeks worth of sleepless nights not leaving her side Saige was finally given the all clear by her Dr.'s and was able to return home to the utter delight of her parents, family and friends. During her hospital stay she was the concern of people across the country and even internationally. This little darling is loved far and wide. We will NEVER forget the love that we received in this thankfully short lived time of need.

We returned home and settled into a comfy routine.

Our little Monkey! After being called Button for nine months it seems that Monkey is now a term of endearment used most often. So is Miss Wiggle Pants McGee!

 

In September I took Saige for her first trip to Ohio. I couldn't think of a better Birthday present for my mother than some quality time with her first Grandchild. Saige was 3mths at this point and it only seemed appropriate to give her her first Carmen Miranda Headpiece. I'm jealous of the fabulous way she pulls off this look!

 

After our trip to Ohio we were off to Ocean City MD for her first ever beach trip. Bear needed to go for a Surveying Conference so we tagged along. I know she won't remember this trip but I'll have fun telling her all about it some day.

I wasn't about to leave without getting this "toes in the sand" picture.

I had this in mind the day I made the hotel reservation.

This next picture is a milestone and one that I missed!

I laid her on the blanket on her back as I had done umpteen times before and I walked into the kitchen for a drink of water. Upon my return this is the site I was greeted with.

SHE'D ROLLED OVER AND I MISSED IT!!

So proud of herself. And she hasn't stopped being on the go ever since.

I've discovered that this little Monkey is one independent woman. The moment I bought handles for her bottle and gave it to her she no longer needed me. Que sad mommy face.

This pic was taken 2 minutes after handing it to her for the first time.

"I don't need help mom, I can do it all on my own"

Finally at the end of September she was starting to nap longer and I was able to take that time to go into my still trashed, never unpacked studio space and begin to clean, paint and organize. Slllllloooooooowwwwly it's coming along. It's still in pieces but much much closer to being useful. 2013 is going to be the year of the studio so watch out!

Apart from being independent this girl is tech savvy. She LOVES anything iPad, smartphone etc. I still have a hard time thinking about how she'll never know a world without iPads, iPhones etc. CRAZY! I still remember our first computer, a comador 64!

The studio was starting to come along by the end of October and I had completed a dream of mine to have one whole wall painted with chalkboard paint. Bear couldn't wait to christen it.

Come November things were settling down into a nice routine family wise but then one day I woke up to some new friends in my backyard.

The neighbor behind my house is Grape Creek Farm LLC and she raises heritage turkeys. I LOVE these turkeys. I love listening to them gobble, how they run up to the fence when I walk outside, how everything seems so fun to them. Well it seems that they love my yard as well. And I wouldn't have tattled on them but well you see, the pic below is of them crossing my fence into my front yard! Yep, they were about to make a break for the great free unknown. So I had to tattle and help toss them back over their fence. Sorry turkeys.

Thanksgiving found us supporting the neighbors farm and purchasing a turkey for our Thanksgiving meal.

Oh how delicious it was.

This is one of my favorite pics. Saige is always giggling, being a ham and making me laugh.

Yes, her feet are this blurry in person as well. She NEVER stops moving, NEVER.

After Turkey Day it was time to get ready for our first Christmas Season as a family.

We Decked the Halls and though friends and family are spread far and wide we brought them a little closer to us by making a batch of Famous Daddy Mac Deth Nog or as I like to call it...

MacGrog Nog!

(Bear says it's like a cookie you can drink)

Here in MD we rarely ever get snow for Christmas. Normally the snow holds off till late January and February when it unloads on us in blizzard after blizzard.

But this year we has a Christmas Miracle! SNOW on Christmas Eve! It was gorgeous!!

The next morning found me up in the dark and outside photographing.

Narnia!

After everyone was up we settled in to unwrap prezzies! I carefully photographed Saige unwrapping each gift she got from relatives then emailed them the pics in order to help them feel a little closer to us than hundreds of miles that separated us.

She enjoyed every crinkle of the wrapping paper.

And of course toys that light up and make noise!

Finally, despite the chaos of my studio/office, year end paperwork for the accountant and a teething 6 month old I was able with the help of a wonderfully supportive husband to finish a painting! The painting I had imagined for my annual Holiday Card.

THe cards may have been late but I got them out before New Years so that counts right?

This year has been a wild ride.

I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store.

It's gonna be awesome!

 

 

Random December Highlights And Mentions...

I thought that I would post a few random things from this month.

Early in the month we had a bit of snow. Just enough to say hello.

I found inspiration in a bit of coffee on the counter and I went wild with the fun!!

I painted the design for this year's Christmas Card using coffee and then embellished with a touch of watercolor. Then scanned it into my computer for a bit more fun.

Christmas Card Production Line. Staining each card with a coffee ring. This is only part of the pile I made :)

My fabulous friend Jennifer Moore of Indulgent Health has a cartoon named Jenny Quips and now you can get her on T-shirts!!! I absolutely LOVE mine. She is adorable and makes everyone she meets so happy, won't you go and get yours today? JennyQuips.com

Weiner has finally discovered that if she turns around on the loveseat, she can survey the whole neighborhood. She says it's better than cable, "Next time on..."When the neighbor gets in the car..." She's utterly addicted.

I made Chicken Paprikash for the first time and man oh man was it delicious!

Oh we aren't just interested in dinner around here! Desserts baby, that's where it's at. We held a Tiramisu contest and we both agree that the smoothness of the Kahlua is nice but if we combine it with a touch of Brandy then we think we'd have Thee Perfect Combo.

Living with Hard Wood Floors = Cold Feet

Our solution?

You guessed it, awesome rockin fuzzy Crocs. Never seen these at the store before? Well that's because apparently they keep all the cool stuff online! The Bear says he's never shopping in an actual store ever again, online is where it's at.

My first Morning Dove.

I simply had to run and get my camera. What a way to start the day.

I hope that all of you have had a wonderful December filled with Kindness, Joy and more Love than you could ever hope for.

Cheers,

And may it only get better from here!

Snowman V Snowman, Battle Royal of Blizzard 2010...

After being snowed in for many days, it appears that some creative person found a way to stave off killing those he/she was couped up with by tapping into their creative and very comical side. Please, come on an adventure with me and see what Beanie and I discovered this afternoon on our unsuspecting Poo Walk. You won't regret it, I promise. While making our way down the freshly shoveled sidewalks there appeared to be something Red in the snow. What could it be? Perhaps a dropped pair of gloves, a scarf, a hat? What?

Oh my, what cute snowmen! But wait, something's wrong. There seemed to be a scuffle underway.

Oh My!!! I was a Full Scale BATTLE!!! WAR WAR WAR! BLOOD EVERY WHERE!!!!!!!!!!!

Swords were crashing. The fresh white snow was running red with Snowman Blood!

It appeared that it was the Blue swords Vs. the Orange swords. It appears that the Orange swords were taking more casualties.

Battle Axes were dropped by the wayside as the mortally wounded took their last gasps of freedom.

Helmets were blood spattered as the victors raised their arms in Victory!

So dear readers. Let this be a lesson to us all. Days and days and inches of snow later, even Snowmen have their breaking point.

(No matter what the situation, apparently, there is ALWAYS time for art)

Bean Reporting Live from Blizzard 2010...

Gee, does this sound like Deja Vu or what? Barely 2 months ago I was reporting live from Blizzard 09. Well that one was about 17 inches of snow. This time we got 20 inches and in our old town on Frederick MD our friend Leah reports 30 inches, and that's just 45 mins away from here. This is crazy considering that 2 weeks ago it was hitting 70 degrees and I was wearing a Sun Dress around the house. The Weather Channel reported that the snow would begin to fall on Friday at 10am and Lo and Behold we spotted the first snow flakes at 10:17am and they just kept a comin. Now "Princess" Beanie will only do her, ahem, "business" if you take her for a walk. Now after that much snow the only thing to do is to suit up and take her out front of the building to find a tire track to walk in. It seems to have done the trick! The snow was so deep she could barely see out of the tire track over the snow.

Here's the front of our building in the trench that I personally shoveled just to be able to get out of the door. Beanie was not happy with me for taking what she thought was a very long and unnecessary time to take a stupid picture!

Here's what my car looked like after my FIRST attempt at snow removal. Just this amount took hours till I finally gave up. I did finally manage to free it today after many more hours of work. Why, where was Brian you ask? Well we won't get into that, we'll just say that I was up and out working at this early and we met in the hall way when I was finished and he finally got curious! He made up for it though by VERY thoroughly cleaning my kitchen. I mean what a great job! He scrubbed and took the gas stove top apart and got every little last bit of grease and baked on goodness off. He's truly the hero of the hour. I'd rather shovel snow any day than tackle that job! I love you my Bear!

Last blizzard we went out and took pictures to share with you. Well this time around we thought, "You've seen one you've seen them ALL"! So this time we stayed in so I don't have any great photo spread to share with you but I do have some nice "Complimentary Color" Night Photos from my porch to share with you.

So Breathtaking. There is nothing more lovely or romantic than to sit on the porch with the love of your life, in the dark, quiet calm after math of a Blizzard.

I wish my neighborhood was this magical all the time.

This brings us to our "Lessons fo Being Snowed In with a Loved One" section. Luckily The Bear and I are very well versed in spending long periods of uninterupted time together so it hasn't been as painful as I imagine it has been for some of you. But there do come times of uncontrolled laughter over absolutely NOTHING that funny, and food creations that end up so gosh darn yummy, your tummy SCREAMS Uncle like it's Thanksgiving. You let The Bear loose in the kitchen and you know it's not gonna be good for the waist line. Like these Cheesy Bacon and Scallion Fries served with Ranch Dressing, for dipping of course.

Or this first ever Homemade Thai Bubble Tea! Ya, that's right. Oh man was that good. I made from scratch Chicken and Rice Soup to keep us going and we ended up running our of crackers. Well Bear to the rescue. He got so bored today that he went online, found a recipe and make crackers from scratch! Yes FROM SCRATCH! That's what a Blizzard will do to a person.

What did the Blizzard make you do?