Catalina Getaway

This year we were so blessed that Nicholas was able to get so much time off of work 

for Christmas and New Years. 

We got to be in San Diego with our families for a few day 

then back up to Santa Barbara to celebrate just with the two of us 

and then we met Nicholas' family and some good friends over on Catalina Island to 

celebrate the new year!

Here are a few photos of our boat ride from Long Beach over to Avalon.  

In general I don't care for boats because I get sea sick, but this trip is so easy! It only takes an hour to get to the Island, and the boat is so nice you can hardly feel the water.  

Have you ever been the Catalina?

What did you think of the little town?

Christmas fun.

CHRISTMAS QUIZ (idea found here)

 

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? no kiddos, no Santa
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white only white!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? ALWAYS.

5. When do you put your decorations up? the weekend after Thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Amber's Potatoes (family recipe) and tamales
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? listening to the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD and decorating the tree with my mom and dad.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember if I ever believed in Santa or not.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? OooOoh YAH!
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? white lights, homemade sea glass ornaments and a few randoms from mom.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it, probably because we don't get it here in Santa Barbara...
12. Can you ice skate? Ya.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Nicholas made me a log cabin stocking hook for our first Christmas married and he wrote a poem on the bottom that told me he was taking me to the mountains for a weekend-- so romantic!
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? enjoying Jesus with our family and friends.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? pecan pie has always been my favorite. I haven't had one since we found out I'm allergic to wheat though.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? hum... reading Luke chapters 1 and 2 on Christmas morning.
17. What tops your tree? a silly wood star that is attached to a metal hanger, haha, we need to do something about that... 

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? both. I love receiving gifts! I feel so loved when someone has spent time thinking about what I would like (love language?? I'd say YES). But I also love that in our family we make each others gifts. It make giving really special because you have put so much thought and time into it.

a homemade Christmas gift from my sweet friends Brandon and Nikki

19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? the original ones are yummy the fruit flavored ones are yuck!
20. Favorite Christmas movie? The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
21. Saddest Christmas song? umm... strange question, I don't know.
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Silent Night

Currently.

Seen this on a few of my favorite blogs and thought it was fun.

Obsessing over: TJ's peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream, all the beautiful brown boots this season, white Christmas twinkle lights, fried egg and cheese sandwiches.

Working on: our Christmas card, my last two finals for Fall quarter, a few crafts for this event!

Thinking about: my dreams for next year, Nicholas, where we will live when I graduate, when we will have little ones.

Anticipating: wintery date nights, giving meaningful gifts, more quality time with our families!

 Listening to: Hotel Cafe (so good).

Drinking: coffee.

Wishing: I was better at slowing down, I had more time to experiment with meals, we had more to give to others, next quarter wont be as busy as I think it will, Nicholas was not so tired when he comes home from work. 

the light at the end of the 2 week long tunnel.

I can see it.

My 2 papers will be turned in by Thursday at 2, 

then I have two finals next week and I will be done until January!

That's my light... it's so close!

Until I'm basking in that bright happy vacation light, 

I'm hanging on to the hope that is found in the comfort of these Christmas-y, cozy pins.

Source: marthastewart.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: busybeingfabulous.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: littlewishjar.tumblr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: countryhome.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: pinterest.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Simple things.

Sweet blessings to you this Friday!

I sure am enjoying mine...

November first.

Happy November to you!

Source: blogs.babble.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: pinkorchidweddings.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: theglitterguide.tumblr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: theswenglishhome.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Corn Maze and Squash Shopping.

Nick and I often talk about how blessed we are with the community God has given us in Santa Barbara. In the last 3 years, since we got married and I moved up here, it has been a joy to share in the difficult and the wonderful things of live with our family of friends.
These friends are truly our family.

Pumpkin Hunting 2009-

2010-

{...still need to photoshop Chase in}

 Latest Family Photo-

{baby belongs to momma in the middle}

As always we had a lot of fun- racing through the corn maze (girls won!), taking photos on the big pumpkins, picking out our squash and flavored butters and then going back to our place with a loaf of bread and stick of butter (a tradition we have of getting "gluten poisoning"-- by eating unlawful amounts of toasted bread -- I do not partake).

=)

Yes please.

This months real simple is ah-mazing!

First of all I totally want this> [page 84]

But what I loved most about the November issue is that it was all about the holidays!
Yes I know we haven't even had Halloween yet... but I want it to be Christmas already. Don't worry I'm not forgetting the other holidays, I'm having a Halloween party this weekend, and deeply engrossed in Pinterest trying to create the perfect Thanksgiving board with my sister because we are on decor duty. Its just that I love love love Christmas, and I love to enjoy it for more than just 25 days =)
So go ahead and judge me. I'm listening to Christmas music on Pandora right now and don't feel any guilt whatsoever!!


Have you checked out Minted.com ??
[we will be getting Christmas cards this year!]

Will you be sending out a Christmas card this year?

Saturday Night.

I should be reading 2001: A Space Odyssey right now but that movie was soooo boring I can't get up the courage to even look at the book... 

So instead I've been exploring and here are a few treasures I've found. Enjoy!

awesome diy felt bow tutorial found here.

fun 'subway art' found on this lovely blog

zig-zag accordian rainbow streamers from this blog

and from one of my all time favorite blogs Stylizimo--the butterfly tree--LOVE!

What are you doing on your Saturday night?

Gluten Free.

This upcoming November marks the third year I have been eating wheat free! It was torturous because I was on a veggie fast during Thanksgiving and wheat, sugar and dairy free during Christmas... AHH! I cried so much, we were with Nicholas' family and his Mom and sisters are amazing in the kitchen.

But it has continued to get easier as more and more companies have 

started to create "gluten free" options, 

and many magazines and blogs focus solely on making people like me 

feel like we can eat "normal food". So if you also have a 'special diet' no worries because this holiday season I think I'm going to share some of our favorite recipes on here.

Recently I stumbled across this lovely find...

living without mag

Do you or anyone in your family have food allergies? How has it been trying to readjust your cooking?

memory lane. part 2.

In November 2007 I took a whirlwind trip to visit Nick for Thanksgiving in England.

I wouldn't generally suggest a trip to England for an American holiday like Thanksgiving considering no one celebrates Thanksgiving in England. Trust me, you can't find a pub in the whole city that will serve you a decent turkey meal! Haha, we ordered a "bacon" cheese burger and fries, what they served us was an unseasoned hamburger patty on toast with a piece of deli meat ham on it...

I had less than a week off from teaching for the holiday but didn't mind that it would be a short trip;

I just missed him so much!  

So here are a few of my favorite places and memories from that trip.

I took this picture of Hertford College (Thomas Hobbes and Jonathon Swifts alma mater) from a building across from the Bodleian Library (they, the library police, wouldn't let me in the "Bod" because I wasn't a student at Oxford-pretentious book snobs). Anyway, we didn't let that ruin our afternoon, (ya think I'm still bitter?) Back to the point, I thought the Church was so beautiful that later that night Nicholas took me to evensong at Christ Church which if you can believe it is even more magnificent!

Aren't those flats adorable? I love the yellow one! These are the spires of Oxford... simply gorgeous! (Did you know, Oxford is called the "city of dreaming spires", I didn't, but Nicholas did, he knows everything!)

To make the last night that I was in Oxford really special we went to The Trout which is a swanky pub way outside of the main city area. It was ridiculous trying to get to it--we literally took at least 3 buses and walked a mile through someones pasture (yes there were cows) to get to it--not atypical, I'm learning, for the way we generally find ourselves traveling (more about this later).

The night before I flew home we took a bus to London, so that years later I would have fun touristy picture like this one of us with Big Ben to show all of you!

 

We walked and walk and walked up and down the Thames River ("note to self: if i ever move to England I need to find boots that are cute AND practical for cobblestone roads").

Not only were we both really relieved to see each other that week, 

but while I was there we got a call from Nicholas' parents that his grandfather had passed away, which of course was devastating. 

I think we can only thank our Lord for his timing, 

he knew how difficult receiving that news would be and was so kind to provide a support to Nicholas while he was away from the rest of his family through me. 

When I got home, I started counting down the days until he would be back. My students and co-teachers even made me a paper link chain for each day and we hung it up in the classroom.
I couldn't wait until I would only have a 3 1/2 hour drive to see him as opposed to a 11 hour flight! Its funny how our perspectives change...

holiday

friday I took my last final {hebrew bible} and started my holiday quickly...

the husband and i rushed over to java station to have a cup

with these two lovelies, forgot to take photos--shoot! Then hit Alpha to begin the search

for ridiculous christmas sweater which failed miserably--shoot!! 

but we did pick up two strands of tree lights 

for under three bucks--steal!  

saturday we hosted a fun little party with some good friends, 

alas I forgot to take photos--you've got to be kidding me!

but we stayed up late while i worked on some christmas crafts that i had been putting off while i was cramming for finals. 

sunday went to the early service {so unlike us} because nick had invited a friend

then we went to the girls house for breakfast--amazing french toast with all the toppings including meg's homemade whip cream YUMMY!

we finished the weekend off with a bang at this guy's house...

being born in the 80's gives us an edge...

it's always a party with these girls!