(a wintery scene from a storm in January 2009)

As 2009 draws to a close and being a complete lover of making lists, I naturally have to write my resolutions for the coming year.  Being able to keep them… well, that’s another story.  However, I have noticed that I was able to keep many of my goals from 2009 throughout the year, so I will attempt to complete more of my goals this time around.  And perhaps by making them more public (posting them on my blog, instead of my notebook or rolling around in my head) I will be more apt to keep them.  With a mix of simple and lofty goals alike, here’s what I’d like to focus on for 2010 (in no particular order):

1.  Finally take that sewing class.
2.  Add some food to my garden (at least a few veggies and fruit).
3.  Take a week off soon with my husband to recharge my “battery”.
4.  Cook more often and plan ahead for meals.
5.  Finally get colleenellse.com up and running.  Finally start taking freelance letterpress work.
6.  Be able to pay off more debt as well as save.
7.  Go camping.  Perhaps in Acadia.
8.  Walk everyday, and break it up with jogging several times a week.
9.  Train for a 5K race.
10.  Visit my brother-in-law when he moves to Cali this year.
11.  Be more creative.  Don’t forget why you went to art school.
12.  Practice yoga again, even by myself at home.
13.  Donate more to charity than last year.
14.  Enjoy the moment.  Don’t stress out so much.
15.  Create a budget and stick to it this time.
16.  Move.
17.  Learn how to better use my camera, instead of relying on picnik to fix everything.
18.  Read more.
19.  Don’t forget to say “I love you” to my husband and family everyday.
20.  Visit Europe with my husband.

Yes, #20 is pretty lofty for me financially, but I can dream, can’t I?  If The Secret really is true, than I better think big.

I’ll be back on Monday to continue my blogging journey in 2010.  Wishing you all a restful New Years holiday!
- Colleen

These winter shots by bloom-grow-love are really speaking to me today.  I love their color palette, and the quietness they convey.  It makes me think of walking through my backyard on a winter’s night and remaining still, just listening to the quietness that always follows after a snowstorm.

{images shown belong to bloom-grow-love}

Last week’s Christmas celebrations had a wide range of emotions for me.  At it’s best, I was savoring time spent with my visiting extended family (particularly two of my cousins whom I’m best friends with and rarely do we all get to be together), watching the excitement of the kids in the family opening gifts, and enjoying a delicious challah bread french toast breakfast Christmas morning.  The worst: worrying over buying and finishing gifts last minute on Christmas Eve (I never seem to be able to learn from last year’s stresses), totally stressing out over my nephew’s stocking which I sewed incorrectly multiple times, and never eating the cider brined turkey I was so looking forward to (and invested so much time and money into).  Yep, that’s right… no turkey.  We listened to Emeril and took the turkey out at 160°, which we learned the hard way that it was still too early (but because I was frantically trying to sew a stocking, I wasn’t paying attention to the turkey and just told my husband to take it out).  My Mom assured me to simply put it back in the oven at my mother-in-law’s house, but after it had been out of the oven for about 1.5 hours, it took forever to heat back up again and never reached 180°.  I also forgot to bring more stock to baste with and the turkey began to dry out.  At 8:30 pm when it was time for dessert, my husband and I gave up.  I figured at least this weekend I could make turkey soup with it, keeping it out on the freezing cold porch, but thanks to Mother Nature it reached 50-55° on Sunday and it was not cold enough anymore to be safe to eat.

Going into 2010, I’m once again reminded that I am not perfect.  Although I am quite the control freak as well as a perfectionist, I am human and we all make mistakes.  Nothing can ever go as smoothly as we’d like, especially during the holidays.  I’m an a true romantic with visions of Christmas being as beautiful as a holiday card: snow slowly falling and I’m sitting by a cozy fire, carefully and quietly stitching up a handmade gift while Bing Crobsy plays in the background as I soak up the warmth of the holiday spirit.  This has never been the case, I don’t know why I continually think it will be.  I need to remember that many of my projects have a certain amount of stress and frustration involved as I try to figure out (usually last minute) how to complete them.  Life isn’t like Little Women where everyone sits by a fire, singing carols and giving simple gifts (with not a bit of today’s overcommercialized, guilt ridden “did I buy a gift for _____, because I can’t be caught without something for everyone”, holiday in sight).  I had an inkling that it might not be the best idea to try a new recipe (a turkey, at that) on Christmas Eve, but figured I would have the whole day to cook away in the kitchen.  I am a stubborn New England Yankee, liking to do things myself and trying to “do it all”, regardless of how much free time I have, and always wanting to make things from scratch (because obviously, homemade is superior to anything else – yes, I’m being sarcastic).  What I’m realizing is that as often as my husband says it to me (and I usually tune him out only to be cursing out loud and begging for his help once I’m up to my knees) is that I spread myself too thin sometimes, and I’m hoping this is something I can remember and learn from as the New Year approaches.

Even though my turkey clearly won the battle, I ripped out more seams and restitched things more than I could count, and cursed the holidays while frantically cleaning and getting ready while already being late, there were successes.  I managed to bake four types of Christmas cookies (which I received many compliments about, which helped to fix my bruised kitchen ego), finally and successfully finished my nephew’s stocking in the knick of time, and made a heartfelt, handmade gift with my nephew for him to give to his parents, who loved it more than any of their other gifts.  My attempts at enjoying the simplicity of the holidays didn’t necessarily work this year, but there is always the next time.  And with the happy holiday memories I do have, along with the ones I’d rather forget, I will move forward into 2010 and remember to enjoy it to the fullest …while not burning myself out.

{for more of my baking photos, check out my Flickr}

Today I will be spending a special “auntie and nephew day” with my oldest nephew and one of the things we plan on doing is making Christmas cookies.  We’ll be making yummy sugar cookies and perhaps we’ll do a Christmas craft together as well.  Even though I’m looking forward to bake with him, the point was to be able to spend some special time with someone I love.  And tonight when our day is over, you can guarantee that I’ll be baking away in the kitchen, with my four different kinds of cookie dough ready to go (sugar, chocolate chip, molasses, and cardamom).  I think it’s the sweet things that make holidays extra special!

I’ll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging to enjoy my favorite time of the year, but I’ll be back here on Monday.

To those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas!  And as always, Happy Holidays.

{cookie images belong to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia}

I’ve never made a turkey before (my Mom has always cooked it on Thanksgiving), and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a brined turkey.  I’ve talked to several people about how they cook their turkeys and many of them swear by brining, so now my interest has been peaked… what’s this brining business all about?  After watching this clip of Emeril’s Cider-Brined Turkey on Martha, I think this Christmas Eve will be my first attempt brining and baking the large bird.  After successfully making a roast for the first time this past weekend, I think I’m up for the challenge.  I have the entire day off so I’d rather make something special and use a recipe I haven’t made before since it is Christmas Eve.  We’ll see how it goes… I hope I’m not cringing at these words on Thursday, stressing out and wishing I had just made a lasagna instead!

{image shown is not the Emeril recipe, but is another cider brined turkey that looks very successful. the image belongs to mintyfreshflavor}

We had our first Nor’easter over the weekend, which blanketed much of the Eastern coast of the States in inches, if not feet, of snow.  We ended up receiving about a foot and a half of the white stuff, and luckily it wasn’t too heavy to shovel.  We were fully prepared to be snowed in for a day and I made a “spoon roast” with roasted fingerling potatoes, carrots, and sauteed spinach for a Sunday dinner (Wholefoods had an amazing sale on the roast and it was my first time cooking one).  I also got many of my holiday to-do’s done and watched several favorite movies (including this favorite Christmas one).  The best part of the weekend (besides staying in my pj’s during the entire storm) was being with close family and knowing that this storm will make one of my holiday wishes come true… it really will be a White Christmas!

{for more of my snow images, check out my Flickr}

With this the last weekend before Christmas, I have a few things to wrap up but thankfully it’s very manageable.  Today I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie and molasses cookie dough (and froze both, to save until Wednesday’s bake-a-thon) but I still have sugar cookie and cardamom cookie dough to make as well.  I’m very excited to have a special “auntie and nephew” day this coming week with my oldest nephew, where we’ll make some cookies and maybe work on a Christmas craft project together.  For more to-do’s, I have a Christmas stocking to finish making for my new little nephew (but have finished the embroidery, so I just to sew it together).  I also need to put aside a night to wrap all of my gifts, which thankfully aren’t too many.  We focused on the kids in the family this year: on our niece, nephews, and several of our friends little ones.  We also decided this year to sponsor a child through a non-profit and focused the majority of our gift giving on a little five year old boy whose family needed some help from some “Christmas elves” (and we were more than happy to contribute).  I encourage everyone this year to give or donate in any way that you can during this holiday season, especially for those who need it most.  I’m trying to remember the real importance of Christmas and get past the crazed, retail shopping race for everyone-you-know until four in the afternoon on Christmas Eve.  Helping make Christmas special, mainly for the little ones that love it the most, and being thankful for the real gifts in my life (family, friends, my health) is my new frame of mind for this special time of year.

{for more of my at home photos, check out my Flickr}

This month my beloved grandparents have been married for 60th years – quite a feat for anyone.  A few days after Christmas with all the extended family visiting, we are going to have a fantastic party to celebrate, including having my grandparents renew their vows (I am beyond excited for that).  When my aunt came to me and asked if I would letterpress print invitations for the party, I jumped at the chance.  The colors of the invite, red and gold, coordinate with the party’s color scheme as well as with the holiday season.  I chose typefaces and illustrations that were elegant for this momentous and festive occasion.  My grandparents haven’t actually seen the invite yet, but I think we’re planning on presenting it to them framed, a keepsake of what will hopefully be an incredibly touching and memorable night with family and close friends.

{for more images of my letterpress work, please check out my Flickr}

If this isn’t the most perfect gingerbread house, I don’t know what is…  Actually, maybe I don’t know since I’ve actually never made one.  However, I will provide you all with a link on how to make one.

{images belong to fine little day}

Who knew cutting boards could be so pretty!  How could anyone actually use them – I’d surely hang mine on the wall in the kitchen.  Check out the other lovely things from Fine Little Shop.

{images shown belong to Fine Little Shop}