Sweet Nest

24 December 2010

Moments Such As These

And this is the view of two girls hugging their grandpa for the horseback riding lessons they've just received for Christmas ... whilst riding Pops bareback. Sheer, unbridled, little girl bliss.

Off to go enjoy more moments such as these. Merry Christmas.

22 December 2010

A Little Bit Naughty and a Whole Lotta Bit Nice

"A harmony of unexpected contrasts: the intensity of dark chocolate and the delicate seasoning of hand harvested Fleur de Sel sea salt crystals." (Translation: "blah, blah, Dark chocolate, blah, blah, Fancy french salt that is super, super good, blah") The best $3 chocolate out there, if you ask me. And. You can get it at Target.

To all husbands out there ... this is an excellent stocking stuffer idea. I'm just sayin.

A Flurry of Festivity

A day full of last-minute shopping, meal-planning, grocery gathering, and general anticipation. This year, the children have taken an active role in gift planning. So interesting to notice how it has increased their level of excitement. The ol' adage, "It is better to give than receive" certainly has wisdom behind it.

Of course, if your husband brings home some Christmas flowers ... the receiving is awfully nice.

20 December 2010

A Home-Day and Corduroy Happiness

We had to cancel some anticipated plans today in order to stay home and get healthy. Nothing too bad, but throaty coughs and persistent sniffles that just need a day at home.

The result of our self-imposed home-day is plenty of time to work on projects. Christmas cookie dough is chilling in the fridge and a viewing of White Christmas is bringing smiles and spontaneous dance sessions.

It has also brought time to work on some sewing projects all in lovely corduroy. Oh, corduroy. I forgot how much I love you! You are sturdy, soft, washable, and so very sweet. Perfect for dresses for both little girls ... and big girls too.

For you see, I stumbled upon a corduroy dress at the magical Anthropologie. Normally, this is a store I view as fantasy-land and explore it much like one would in a dream or a good novel. However. This time there was a massive clearance sale going on (the kind with a "take an additional 25% off the lowest marked price" ...) and a darling little dress that was cheap. I'm talking Target cheap! The only problem? A size too small.

Humpf. What's a girl to do?

Corner a sales-girl in the dressing room and demand for utter honesty. "Tell me. Does this look like I squeezed myself into a too-small dress? And don't be nice. I mean it. Don't you be sending me out of here looking like a stuffed sausage."

She said it looked good. And then another lady gave an unsolicited comment of approval. And I decided to believe them. So I bought it. (Insert giddy, maniacal laugh ...)

It actually fit nicely in most areas, just too tight in the arm-holes. Not a surprise since I have man shoulders. (I'm serious. I do. Like a burly dock-worker. I'm sure I could haul up a ship's anchor by hand.) No problems moving, sitting, walking ... but if I had to reach upwards or across my chest, the teensie arm-holes with their vicious cap-sleeves would just about sever my offending limbs.

So today I spent a little time deconstructing and widening arm-holes to accommodate my upper-torso beefiness. Ahhh...much better.

Now it's time to get back to work on some sweet corduroy dresses for two little girls who still have very lovely and proportional arms. Here's to hoping that the man-arm genes don't reveal themselves in my innocent progeny. It's a good thing they are learning to sew ...