dec. 9, 10, & 11-playing catch up

seems to be the story of my life the last couple of weeks, but i know i'm not alone with trying to get the everyday routine stuff done, along with the holiday stuff. i've done a picture a day, but have just now had a chance to blog about them.  on thursday, i paid a visit to full moon records in virginia highlands-awesome place, i bought pj some VINYL LPs! aerosmith, meatloaf, blondie, billy joel, steve perry, and lots more, i hope he likes them as much as i enjoyed reminiscing about my teen years. this store was so cool and i loved it's location, this is the kind of urban living i could enjoy.  the evening was beautiful not too cold, found a great parking spot, had dinner and then headed towards my house and finished my shopping.

next up dec. 10. since we had a retirement lunch planned and i was going to be at our church's youth dinner, i knew i'd need to change my walking time, which meant changing to 5:40 AM! at least it was 32 degrees, so with my multiple layers i was really okay, and there was no wind, i changed my route a bit-ponce de leon is not very well lit at that time of day-i enjoyed a walk from  my office to p'tree and 14th to just north of spring street, and then back to the office.  it was early and cold, but it felt great getting out there first thing for a walk.  as i passed colony square hotel, i noticed the fountain was still running-ooops, guess someone didn't think about turning off the water, but it made for a lovely early morning photo. i'm amazed at how well my i-phone take photos.

dec. 11, of course, no saturday would be saturday without me spending hours in the kitchen. today was the day to do some baking for my food gifts. i love to give and receive home made goodies.  in the past i've done as many as 17 different kinds of treats, but not this year. the hot buttered rum was such a hit last year that i made a double batch for my quilt club ladies, and my bosses at work. we still have plenty left for us too! this receipe was given to me by mary, and it's one of our favorites. i made ina's rosemary cashews, pumpkin pie spice pecans, butterscotch/chocolate & peanut bark, chocolate/peppermint and & almond bark, and peppermint  marshmallows. while i was in the kitchen i also prepped for sunday and monday's dinner and got the pizza fixin's going. we normally have pizza on fridays, but with last night's party, we deferred to saturday. needless to say i'm EXHAUSTED, but am so glad that the gifts bought are wrapped (still no tags or bows, but that will come), the food gifts are packaged and ready for delivery, and i won't have to cook again until thursday!

i'd like to say that next week will be more relaxing, but our office party is on wednesday, and i'm in charge of that so there will be cooking, decorating and prepping, but i'm so looking forward to our family gathering next saturday, still so much to do, but i've really enjoyed the holiday season this year.