Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

Yesterday I cut off 11 inches of my hair. I am sending 9 inches to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. I am so happy I did it. Thanks for cutting it Talia!

Get Well Isabel

Last Night Kaycie and I made the journey up to Primary Children's Hospital to visit Isabel. We mad a quick stop at Nordstom, Godiva and the mall food court where Kaycie ordered Chicken Noodle Soup and a fruit cup and refused to eat any french fries because she is only eating healthy foods these days.

We had fun visiting with Izzy. She and Kaycie worked on a couple of coloring projects while Izzy told us about all of the things she has been doing while in the hospital. Some of the cool things include ordering from the 6 page room service menu (she was eatting what looked like a very yummy corndog when we got there), visiting the arts and crafts room, getting a stuffed animal from the Utah Highway Patrol, watching movies and the disney channel all day long and Rootbeer flavored Lortab. I think Kaycie was very impressed with the way Issy was being treated and after seeing all the stitches in her neck and head was impressed with how brave she is. More info about Chiari Malformation and photo of more stitches than I have ever seen in my life here.

Cookie Exchange 2008

This past weekend I hosted a cookie exchange. These are the little invitations I sent out. The boxes were filled with Christmas Candy and tied off with a glittery ornament and mini spatula.

Cookie Exchange 2008 was held at my parents house this year so I was able to increase the guest list. I think there were around 20 people who each brought 5 dozen cookies for a total of 1200 cookies...thats a lot of cookies.

I purchased cheese from Liberty Heights Fresh for a cheese tray. My favorite was named Barely Buzzed and is manufactured by a local cheese company the Beehive Cheese Company.


It was a white cheddar with a ground coffee bean and lavender rind. I loved it and now want to try other cheeses made by this company.

There were 4 cookie exchange prizes and here are the results-

Best Cookie-Samantha
Oreo Cookie

Most Festive - Casey and Kendra
Chocolate Punguins and Cherry Mice
(These were so cute why don't I have a photo?)

Creative Ingredient-Aunt Heidi
Carrot Cookies
(creative ingredient carrots)

Cutest Recipe Card-Jill
Raspberry Cookies

Cookie Exchange Favors-

Mugs from Williams Sonoma
cello bag of hot chocolate
dried apple trail mix made with apples my dad dried from his apple tree behind his house.
Thanks to everyone who came to my cookie exchange and start looking for cookie recipes for next year......save the date always the first weekend in December!

Rolling Pins

This makes me want to start collecting vintage rolling pins to hang in my kitchen.

Help Needed......

I am planning on volunteering at the Festival of Trees again this year. If you would like to join in the fun please let me know. We are planning on helping with set up on Monday December 2nd in the late afternoon early evening. It is a lot of fun.

When the economy is getting you down.........

buy shoes and handbags. I just received my very first order from Piperlime. I am such a sucker for packaging and the way this box was packaged is delightful. I love the bright green limes printed on the inside of the box, each shoe box was wrapped in brown tissue paper sealed with a lime sticker and my packing slip was in a bright green envelope. I have the box open sitting by my desk and it is making my day a little bit happier just looking into it.....and I have not even opened up the shoes yet.

Blog of Neglect

So I have spent the last two months on projects that seem to have taken complete control of my life-
If you are interested here they are -

1-Toffee

This project caused me to have a tear filled melt down at work.......such the professional. Please don't ever ask me about it or you may witness a melt down repeat.

2-Secret Project
I can't talk about this yet but here is a photo hint. And no it does not involve me becoming a lingerie model ha....sorry to put that image in your mind.

3-Making the Season Bright
Helping get this place in the holiday spirit. Ho Ho Ho.

4-Chocolate
Yuck! I can not wait until December 26th thats all I am saying.

Faces of Neglect

I have been dog sitting while my parents are in Italy and doing a terrible job. I think the
dogs are missing their twice daily walks with my dad, being hand fed
chicken nuggets and ice cream, scrambled eggs for breakfast, taking
afternoon naps in fresh from the dryer, warmed blankets and long walks
in the mountains. I am such a terrible dog sitter I leave them alone
for 12 hours some days and don't tell I have only taken them for one
small walk. They are so sad and I am exhausted.

Google Search

These are some of the phases people typed into Google and ended up at my blog-

Bakice Sex (what?)
Baking Failure
Best Friends Dog Purse
Janes So Much Betta
See Jane On Fire
They Look Cool in Spanish

Future Beekeeper

As Jake and Kaycie loose interest in beekeeping (one because he does not have time and the other because she got stung on the head and who can really blame her after that) I am taking this as a sign the Riley will be the beekeeper of the family.

November 4th 2008

I spent last night going to a movie theater grand opening where we got free popcorn and soda and watched the movie The House Bunny and then I came home and watched the news coverage of the elections.
One left me wishing I had magical powers and that I could gain back the two hours and the other left me so inspired and optimistic about our future. I will let you decide which one was inspirational........

Harvest Time

One of the best parts of this past summer was gardening with Jake.  He spent a lot of time out in his garden checking on the tomatoes, peppers, beets, basil, raspberries, pumpkins and giant sunflowers. If you saw the size of this garden you would be amazed he could fit all of those things in the small spot he was given this year.   Today was the day to harvest the pumpkins and winter squash.  A couple of weeks ago he soaked the sunflower seeds in salt water and roasted them. They were really good. He already has plans to expand the garden next year.     

Adele -

Did you see her on Saturday Night Live last night? Amazing!

Posting over here tonight.

A Favorite

This is my favorite Halloween/Autumnal movie ever. I need to search for it at my parents house and watch it this weekend.

Let Them Eat Cake.......

How would you like to have your hair done at this beautiful hair salon? I think it is so Marie Antoinette. Maybe I will stop by the next time I am in Australia.

Help Grow Your Soup

I love this. Campbell's soup is supporting American farming through their Help Grow Your Own Soup program. They are donating money to the Future Farmers of America. Go to their web site Help Grow Your Own Soup and click on the red barn. They will be donating $1 for every click. I just did it and they are not very far along so please help out.

Detox

I am going on a total news detox. I just can't take it anymore it is totally freaking me out so I am just going to close my eyes and wait for all the drama to end.

It's about time

So one of my favorite memories of my Italian grandmother's house was helping her dust her collection of Italian ceramic oil jars that were displayed on shelves above her kitchen windows. It is one of my favorite memories of her house along with eating the amazing food she made ravioli, gnocchi, polenta with beef stew, chocolate cake, green salad with the best oil and vinegar dressing ever, I could go on and on.
Eventually these jars made their way down to me and I had such big display plans for them but it never actually happened. Finally a decade, yes a decade, later I purchased these cubes from West Elm and put them up. There are 8 cubes hanging on my wall which I hope to fill with additional ceramic oil jars and beautiful jars of olive oil.

Delightful!

I spent part of the weekend watching the first nine episodes of Pushing Daisies. I loved everything about it......the cast, the story line and witty dialogue, the breathtaking colors and the clothes. Add a little bit of beekeeping, occasional singing by Kristin Chenoweth and pie making and you have the perfect way to spend a chilly Saturday afternoon.

On my Soapbox

I was telling my coworker about wanting to buy a french bulldog and she pointed me in the direction of petfinder.com a site that is dedicated to placing homeless dogs, cats and all other types of animals I suppose. My coworker rescued her Mini Italian Greyhound Ziggy using this site. Love that! This is what I found-

Kendra

Kendra is from a puppy mill and the breeder only sells to puppy brokers and the broker refused to take delivery of her because she was under weight and her ears had not popped up yet. This rescue group took her before she was sent to the auction.

Mercedes

Mercedes was from the same litter and was also refused by the broker because she was under weight and she had a slight mark on her forehead.

What the?????? What is a pet broker and why are they so evil?
Puppy mills make me so mad! I am having second thoughts about ever watching the AKC show again!
Ok I will get down off of the soapbox now.

Spanish Fork Kite Festival

One Friday afternoon a couple of weeks ago I discretely  left work and met Brit, Angie and Riley for the Spanish Fork Kite Festival. No trip to Spanish Fork would be complete without a stop at The Little Acorn for a sandwich and the most delicious french fries ever...and the fry sauce I think I could drink it yumm.  So we had lunch then we drove up to the kite festival. Did you know there is reservoir in Spanish Fork with a sandy beach?  I had no idea.  These guys flying kites in the reservoir were from Florida I guess they travel around the country flying kites.  Who knew there was such a job as a professional kite flyer? 

Love this....

We saw this license plate at the State Fair and I thought it was so cute.

Kaycie the Photographer

When we went to the fair last weekend Kaycie brought her camera and had so much fun taking photos. I had lots of fun taking photos of her taking photos

Mans (girls) best friend a dog or a handbag?

The latest Anthropologie catalog was just delivered to my desk and it is filled with fantastic fall handbags, boots and dogs. It has made me want to buy a black french bulldog and a fabulous new handbag.

Utah State Fair

I have not been to the state fair in years, really it has been years and years.  Last Saturday Angie, Kaycie, Riley and I drove to SLC and spent the afternoon at the fair.

I think most of our fair outing involved eating and I must say how surprised I was by the number of items you could eat off of a stick porkchops, corndogs, sausage on a stick, corn on the cob, chocolate dipped strawberries and the list goes on and on.  

The list of deep fried items was just as long and these were the booths where we spent most of our money.  We started our eating extravaganza at the much talked about deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich booth.  

This booth won the award for the Most Original Food Item......I guess the prize was this fancy clock .
Can you imagine working in this booth all day long it would be such a nightmare.  Look at all of those deep friers you would be so hot and covered in grease all day.   
Kaycie tried the deep fried Oreos which I thought were really good.
Angie and I split the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich which I thought was great on the first bite but by the second or third bite I was a little ill.
My advice on the peanut butter sandwich find someone to split it with and save room for this

fresh cut curly fries!

It was a full on BRICK of french fries with tons of ketchup...oh heaven.  
While we were eating our french fries a family sat down next to us with this delightful funnel cake covered in vanilla cream and chocolate. We were on our way to find a funnel cake and must have been distracted by something because we never got a funnel cake...so sad.
We also tried grilled corn on the cob that was covered and I am talking dripping down my arm covered in butter, lemon and black pepper. It was so delicious.
We did not get around to trying this grilled chicken but I thought it looked and smelled so good. I will be making it my first stop next year.

We, of course, spent time checking out the animals 

Pigs

Cows

And Funky Chickens

 The fruits, vegetables, flowers and preserves are always my favorite exhibits.



I love Kaycie in those glasses and I also love these huge Dahlias.  I am so inspired to plant tons of vegetables and flowers next year I can't wait.

I love the great big best in show ribbons for the preserves were made out of blue gingham ribbon.

No trip to the fair is complete without cotton candy.

On the way home from the fair we stopped by Joy's house for Game Night.  We stayed until the early morning hours playing card games I have never even heard of....31 and Hand and Foot.  What a fun filled Saturday.