Gingerbread Train Making

Riley, Kaycie and I were invited to a fun party at our sweet Aunt
Joy's house. When we arrived the graham cracker trains were all
assembled and we got to decorate them with tons of goodies.
It was so much fun! Here is Riley's train.
Thanks for the invite!

Black Friday

I swore I would never never ever do any sort of door buster sales on the day after Thanksgiving but those darn Target ads brainwashed me and I had to do it.  I talked angie into going with me. We started out at Walmart.  We got there at 11:00 for the sale that started at 12:00.  It was crazy...I loved it. We bought lots of fun things ...none of which I really needed but it was so much fun.  I bought this pillow pet sleeping bag for Ruby Foo .......see nothing I really needed but it was only $7 so how can you pass that up. 

After waiting in line for hours at Walmart , making best friends with our line neighbors we stopped at Del Taco then on to Old Navy (too crowded so we left) then Kohls (stood in 11 degree weather for 5 minutes to get in) and finally Target (no carts for us to pile things in so we didn't buy much here).   Then home around 6am. I never thought it would be so much fun.  I totally loved it! 

Cookie Exchange 2010

Cookie Exchange 2010 was a success!  

Winners were Christy for Christmas Tree cakepops she also won for best display.  

Tiffany also won for her fantastic cups of joy. 

Shauna won for most festive costume. 

It was lots of fun and there were lots and lots of cookies.  I am already making plans for next year. 

My Sad Sad Desk

This was my work desk a couple of weeks ago. Lots of super exciting
projects are here. I am happy to say a lot are finished and have been
shipped or are in the final stages of being finalized and approved by
customers. I am also stating right now that the project in the little yellow bag is going to be the source of at least 3 tear filled breakdowns in January.

Have you seen anything like this

In the latest Barefoot Contessa Cookbook - How Easy is That? she has a bunch of tips and one that I loved was buying a large basket for baking trays. I was thinking it would be good for cheese and cutting boards.  I have been looking but no luck.  Please let me know if you run across anything like this.  

Cookie Exchange Class

Emmy and I taught a cookie exchange class in November. It was so so scary but after it was over I was so glad I did it.  

Emmy worked so hard and did almost all of the baking and brought her fantastic CB2 platters for us to use.  Thanks Emmy

Caramel Apple Dipping Day

A sure sign that the holidays have arrived - it is caramel apple dipping day at the chocolate factory!

Greek on a Cruise

Greek Girl got to spend a lovely week on a Mexican cruise. Catalina Island behind her.
Do you think I could use a quick lesson in photoshop?

Ruby Foo Update

It looks like Miss Ruby Foo is on the road to recovery. How can I
tell? Well as I was chasing her down the street at 4am in my pajamas I
thought she might be getting her energy back. She is getting stitches
and staples removed Friday night.

The Sick Little Puppy

Sunday afternoon I noticed Sweet Ruby Foo was having difficulty breathing.  I called her regular vet Monday morning and there were no appointments until 3 pm.  I ended up taking her to the vet my Dad takes his sheep and other big animals to.  We waited while the vet checked the teeth of a shetland pony and x-rayed a goat.  When he saw us there was a blood clotting test (over 6 minutes is a bad sign) for rat poison, x-rays, a diagnosis of a huge enlarged heart which would cause certain death and then lots of tears.  He sent us to a critical care hospital in SLC where they have a cardiologist who could provide a more exact diagnosis.  

At the critical care hospital there was more testing for rat poison, an oxygen tank, more tears, ultra sounds, the draining of lung fluid and finally surgery for Lung Lobe Torsion (twisted lung lobe) which included partial lung lobe removal and a chest tube. Once on the operating table this was changed to a surgery to repair a diaphragmatic hernia. Sometime in the last 48 hours a lobe of her liver had slipped through a hole in her diaphragm into her chest cavity.  So she spent the night in the ICU at the hospital with around the clock nursing supervision.  My parents went up to visit her in the hospital this afternoon....in the hospital visiting room of course...and she got to come home with them. 

She is now on lots of drugs, half of her hair has been shaved, she is wearing a fancy yellow body bandage and a Fentanyl patch.

2 bits of information -

1-The hospital we took her to was amazing! AVC Advanced Veterinary Care. They have specialists in Oncology, Critical Care, Surgery, Eye Care and Dermatology.  They are open 24 hours for emergency care also.  I hated being there but they were all so nice and helpful.

2- If you buy a French Bulldog buy dog insurance.  They are a genetic mess! I knew this when I bought Ruby Foo and I just never got around to insurance.  And the amount of money you spend for oxygen tanks and dog ICU is frightful. 

Our lesson in the lung formation of a dog.  They thought the top lung lobe on the left was twisted.

In the oxygen tank.

Resting at home loaded up on pain pills.

Traveling Greek-Toronto

Early this spring boy greek visited Toronto Canada.

Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

Moving forward with the goal of making something from every cookbook I own. I have given up on it for a while but I am recommitted.  

This recipe for tomato basil sauce is from the Williams Sonoma book 

The Art of Preserving 

The tomatoes and basil were both from my garden.

This was my very first try at any sort of preserving so I had to go out and buy all of the equipment - giant canning pot with a rack, bottles and misc cooks tools.  I also purchased this tomato press to use.  It was so much fun to use.  I loved using it so much that I am going to try another recipe from this book for ketchup this weekend.  

Traveling Greek-Missed Flight

Boy greek was scheduled to visit Guam but was forgotten and left behind.....so sad. 

B

Guess who is 5 today?

If you guessed the sweetest boy in town you are correct.  

Shopping Treasures from Ohio

Treasures from the Country Living Fair and various malls and antique shops in the Columbus area.  

Nicky-

Kate Spade iPhone cover

Vintage Ohio state plate

Charm necklace made from "found" religous charms

Vintage awesome globe to add to my  vintage globe / map collection

Aven-

Antique brass dragon embossed glasses

J Crew shirts

Corn chowder

April

Lego Star Wars men

Surley Girl Saloon t-shirt

Vintage white scale

Ohio State hat

Sent from my iPhone

Traveling Greek in Italy

Greek girl on holiday in Italy.

Dear Columbus, Ohio Can We Be Freinds?

A visit to your city is usually a treat. However during this visit I
feel like you hate me. Why? Let me tell you why-
1-the worst airplane landing ever or shall I say aborted landing,
circling the airport for 30 minutes waiting for the thunderstorm/
tornado to move on. Then the retry of the landing through black
clouds with bolts of lightening flashing all around us. For sure one
of my top 5 scary flying experiences.
2-getting to the hertz counter only to discover I had reserved a car
in Columbus...........Georgia. They of course did not have any cars available
except a Volvo. So instead of $40 a day I am paying $140 - awesome.
And the seat belt does not work.
3-my phone is being a stupid hag so I fully expect to be phoneless by
tomorrow.
4-locked my hotel key in my room.
5-the lock on my suitcase some how got set and I don't have key

I am now locking myself in my room, crawling into my super comfy Four
Points bed and watching tv. I am hoping the rest of my time here we
can be better friends!

Sent from my iPhone

I clearly have a problem..,,,..

Does one little dog really need this many dog treats?

Traveling Greek NYC

The boy greek touring through NYC with me, Kaycie, Angie and my mom. 

Here he is the in the weirdest and most expensive NYC hotel I have ever stayed in...more on this later.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge after spending a fun afternoon with my friend Tiffany.

Times Square

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center 

One Night in San Francisco.....

I spent one quick night in San Francisco 2 weeks ago for meetings with a couple of my customers.

This was the view out of the window where my first meeting was held. Are you kidding me?  How would you get any work done if you got to look at this everyday? 

This was the view outside my hotel window. I think this was the best "room with a view" that I have ever had in San Francisco....looking right out to Union Square.

"Lunch with a view" - The view as I sat and ate my lunch of sour dough bread and a crab cocktail on Fisherman's Warf...Yumm

Gnocchi Night

A few weeks ago I invited a few friends over and had sweet Aunt Glenda and Shauna teach us to make Gnocchi. We also learned to make fresh mozzarella, french bread and everyone brought their favorite Italian inspired food. There was tons of great food.






Thanks to Lindsey for the iphone video.

Doggy School Graduate

Ruby Foo graduated from puppy school last night.  I have discovered being a dog owner is hard work and expensive. 

Cons of Ruby Foo ownership- 

My house is always a mess-dog toys and shredded paper everywhere.

My carpet will need to be replaced enough said about that.

Chewed up leg on my Pottery Barn bed.

Chewed up antique suitcase.

Chewed the embellishments off of 2 pairs of shoes.

Feeling guilt when she is at home alone all day while I am at work.

Tons of money spent-vet bills to rid her of an unmentionable problem she had early on and tests and x-rays to discover she had a teeny tiny trachea which was causing her to choke and vomit whenever she drank water.  Then there is the growing collection of dog collars, treats and toys.

Pros of Ruby Foo ownership 

So far she is super sweet. 

She forces me to get up early in the AM and take her for a long walk and get to work on time.....well maybe not on time.

She is super snugly and sleeps with her head resting on my neck...I love it

Spending the last 8 weeks going to dog school with Jake and his dog Scout.  

Traveling Greeks in Spain

Girl greek recently went on holiday with my English friend Lucy and her family.

Here she is in a sweet little village.

Hanging out by the pool at the resort.

Chicago Candy Show

I made a super quick trip to Chicago for the candy show......which is now called the Snack and Sweets expo. I found some fun new candies and lots of great new packaging options. I spent most of my time looking for Mexican Candies for a Mexican candy line and European Candies for a really fun line I am working on for a customer.
I have also discovered my new favorite candy

Skittles Fizzled Fruits- Yumm

I went to the candy show alone so there were not any fabulous meals....I just had room service and sat in my lovely room with the most fantastic view of Michigan Ave.

So, after 3 months my doglette finally has a name. She lived for a few
weeks as Betsy Ross but my family could not grasp my vision of having
pets with the names of strong women from US history. I had dreams of a
Brussels Griffon named Abigail Adams, a giant Schnauzer named Harriet
Tubman, and perhaps a teacup potbellied pig named Eleanor Roosevelt.
On a recent trip to NYC I went to a cute little cookie shop, where I
had a delightful caramel popcorn cookie that was amazing.
As I walked
back to my hotel, on the most beautiful NYC night ever, I was thinking about the cute name of the shop, Ruby et Violette, and decided then and there that she would be named Ruby
Foo.
Unless you are Riley you call her Peach, or my mom who calls her
brownie (don't worry she mostly black) or my dad who calls her coyote or Jake who just makes some clicking noise to get her attention. Poor thing is going to be so confused!

Brithday Goal #38

One of my birthday goals was to buy a dog and now I can check that off the list. Sorry my iphone pictures are not great.

Now I need a little help picking a name. Here are the options-

1-Varuka 2-Betsy Ross 3- Capri or Florence (following in the tradition of naming dogs after cities in Italy) 4- Willamina 5-Lola 6-Drusilla

Please let me know what you think.

Don't tell Riley but I don't think her name is going to be Princess Peach I think he might cry. Don't tell Jake I am not naming her after his favorite baseball player....I think he might cry too.