So for those of you who don’t know, I met Jenny back in 2002 when I was living in Switzerland. It was one of those crazy fate meetings and we’ve been good friends since. After I moved to Austin and Jenny moved to Switzerland seeing each other in the flesh has become a treat. (Also to clear up any confusion, Jenny’s mom, Karen, is who I’ve been working for lately.) Well, Jenny has been in the country for a while spending time with family and we got to hang out for a bit. Here’s the three of us at Hula Hut!!

Jenny always has good words of wisdom to pass on and stories that make me laugh or drop my jaw. While we don’t get to see one another often, I cherish the times we do. Seeing Jenny reminds me of all the amazing goals I had at the ripe old age of 20 living atop a mountain in the alps. She also is a true Texan go get ‘er and helps to recharge a persons resolve. We hope she and Chauncey have safe travels as they trot the globe over the next few months and look forward to the next meeting!

Well I found some amazing blackberries at Costco the other day and I had to have them. HAD TOO! I made blackberry limeaid and blackberry bread pudding. Yum! Sorry to make you hungry!

We had Julie over tonight and Sean used his new grill for the first time. He made baba ganoush, roasted onions, potatoes, and fennel bulb. He also roasted polenta and Julie helped to make a spicy cheese spread. MMMM!!! I think I like this new grill! Sean was also very fortunate to receive grilling tools from his brother for Christmas, so no burnt fingers and the grill is now all clean. Thanks Evan! Here’s some photos of the chef:

Well we rang in another year! Sean and I had a few friends over for the evening. Nothing too big, just some good friends, good food and great conversation. I made shrimp boil this year… with all the fixins’. Friends brought other goodies and we ate well. I however was distracted most the evening and only took a photo of the trifle I made. Oh well here it is in all its glory:

Not to make you jealous, but it tasted as good as it looked. We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2010!!!

Sean and I made our way bake to Lake Jackson last week after a few days of cleaning up around the place… and last minute shopping. Who knew buying a house would put us so far behind in gift buying and card sending. Well we made it there safe Wednesday evening to enjoy a belated birthday celebration with Sean’s family. He got some man tools!

Christmas Eve day we spent catching up with old friends. I miss seeing Beth!!! We had a lot of fun playing with Hazel and catching up with Beth. We will get to see Adam all together one of these days. After catching up we headed to my Pawpaw’s house, where I was supposed to cook a nice meal. Well… I got food poisoning somehow and well it wasn’t pretty. Sean saved the day and from the comments of others I know it turned out great! We also opened presents with my Dad and Pawpaw, yea for more tools! Then we proceeded to talk politics and weddings… who would have thought.

Christmas Day Read the rest of this entry »

Yep that’s right people I’m opening a small canning business and this week the fruit to be so canned is…. Oranges!!! I’m making marmalade for holiday gifts. I can taste it on toast and melted over ice cream now. Yum! I forgot how much fun canning is. Its a bit repetitive but the fruits of your labor are so worth it! I also made some lemon curd and orange curd. Just call me Martha!!!

Today was Sean’s 27th birthday. I think it went rather well. I bought him a grill (which is quite hard to put together buy yourself while baking a birthday cake . He was pretty excited when he got the charcoal chimney starter even though he didn’t realize it wasn’t the whole gift. He is a pretty easy man to make happy!! We ended going for pizza at Home Slice with a few friends. Low key, the way the man likes his birthday. Then we went for what has become our tradition and walked the trail of lights. It was much scaled down this year, but the memories are there to keep it rich and warm. Sean’s birthday and a 150ft tree makes me ready for eggnog and wood burning fires.

This weekend Sean and I traveled to Lubbock to watch Evan graduate from Texas Tech University. We had some nice dinners with the family and some good conversation with the graduate. We are so very proud of Even. We can’t wait to see what life holds for him next. We love you! Here’s the graduate and one of all three graduated siblings.

We’ve spent the last two days baking goodies for the Santa House that is held out at The Sharp Family home every year. We’re so blessed to know such wonderful people and to get to help with such an awesome event. I’ve been kind of hum drum and bah humbug the last couple of weeks and this is always the ticket to get me in the spirit. Monica, Melissa, Pat and I baked, stirred and dipped for two days. Then Sunday we finished up and put things in place. It was a beautiful day to celebrate! Aaron took some photos which I will try to get and post soon.

Well this weekend was full of fun stuff. Sean and I had some much needed RnR Friday and most of Saturday. I love sitting on my rear!!!

Then Saturday afternoon I went to a baby shower for a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. I’ve known Justin since freshman year of high school, and I met his wife, Nichole, my first year at community college. They’ve been married since 2004 and are now expecting their first little one. She is due the first half of January, but you know babies… they’ll get here when they please. We’re very excited for them and can’t wait to meet their new little girl.

As for the rest of the weekend it involved home repairs. Sean did his first home improvement project! Yea hubbers!!! He installed a new garbage disposal. The one that was already there was very old and loud. When you turned it on it sounded like our house was about to take off. Sean did some research and bough a new one and installed it Sunday afternoon. Its so quite that when the water is running you can barley hear it. It also takes up a lot less space under the counter. Score one in the home repair department!!!