Monday, November 28, 2011

this and that

penryn, california
penryn4 copypenryn1 copypenryn5 copypenryn3 copy.

How was your holiday weekend?
Did you eat butter and sugar until you just about burst? 
I sure did. 

Yet here I sit, dreaming about all the treats I'll be making over the next few weeks....mmmmm........treats.
So far on my list I have cookies and toffees and puddings. 
Oh my.

My favorite thing about spending time with family, is the late late (LATE!) nights 
(that turn into early mornings) playing games. 
We. Love. Games.
We found a new favorite, called Quelf....have you played it? 
If you have a wild and crazy group (that you are reeaaalllly comfortable with) to play with, I highly recommend it. 
It is crazy and weird and hysterical all rolled into one.
I have the video clips to prove it, and plan to use them over the next few years if I ever have reason to blackmail....
We also like to play Ticket To Ride and Settlers of Catan. 
nerd alert.
I would love to hear what games you like to play--we are always on the lookout for something new.

We really need to talk about The Muppets.
It is Fantastic. 
Capital F. 
I was laughing so hard I was crying, and I cannot stop thinking about it.
Go see it with your family.

Can I tell you a secret? 
I find Black Friday is absolutely disgusting.
that's all.

My sister-in-law sent me home with some kefir grains so I could start making my own kefir. 
This is weird stuff, let me tell you, but I am really excited to get it going. 
I will let you know how it goes.

I can hardly believe it's almost December! 
We are very excited about decking the halls around here. 
The Littles are already asking about our Advent Calendar I made last year....just a few more days until we can start. 

We are currently shoving our faces with the cutest, sweetest, most delicious little oranges that we brought home from Mandarin Hill in Loomis, California. 
I most likely have orange juice dripping down my chin as I type this.


What are your favorite Christmas albums to listen to? 
I love the classic songs, and I'm really enjoying the new 
She & Him Christmas album as we speak.

.....the end.....

21 comments:

carlotta cisternas said...

these photos are beautiful. (almost) all the leaves are gone here...and I miss them already. my thanksgiving was perfection...and yes, I so agree, I find black friday insane. didn't we just celebrate a holiday of thankfulness? why go out and buybuybuy when just yesterday you said you were content? glad to know I'm not the only one ;)

megan kristine said...

these photos are so beautiful! Definitely yes to the muppets.

kylie said...

beautiful.

and who ISNT enjoying the new she&him christmas album?! they sold millions AHEAD of time and EVERYONE (including me, i just made a video to one of the songs!) looooove her. she is just so great.

that being said - bing crosby. emma fitzgerald. i love the classics.

CarrieLovesKeith said...

I'm with you... I LOVE games! Especially played with a big group of good friends. One of my most favorite things in the world...
Our favorites are Catch Phrase, Cranium, Apples to Apples...
I'm totally intrigued by Quelf, but, seriously? $60?! Is there somewhere else I could find it that isn't crazy expensive? :)
For me, Christmas music just doesn't get better than Vince Guaraldi Trio (The Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack).

sheena said...

Carrie I think my SIL got it at Target.....I know she paid $30 for it. There are for better deals to be found!

Hannah Nicole said...

Yes yes yes. I think I consumed more food + sweets over the past weekend than I have all fall. Kinda. Only slightly. We've already started making Christmas treats! I couldn't wait. Chocolate orangettes and meringues and honeycomb candy. So very good. and...YES! We LOVE Quelf! My whole family is a big game-playing one, and when we get together with my aunts and uncle and play, we get really loud and crazyizzle. Ya know. ;) I love She and Him, but for classics, you can't beat Ella Fitzgerald and Dean Martin. :)

Hannah Nicole said...

pretend kinda says kidding and it's all good. ;)

Kimberly June said...

Saw the Muppets. Loved it. I'm talking LOVED! I'm telling everyone to go see it.

A Place to Reside said...

Mahna mahna! Oh dear, I haven't been able to stop singing since I saw The Muppets movie. :-)

austin-sara.blogspot.com said...

beautiful photos as always!! good games??
"Dixit" it is soooo funny! love it

Nellie and Jason said...

Wow...those pics are awesome..I want to go to there.
We play Settlers, Ticket to Ride, Apples to Apples, Eat the deck (recommend not sitting next to significant other for the sake of your marriage during this game ;))...Definitely going to check out Quelf...

Christine said...

I'm so with you on Black Friday. I like new things, but the total rabid materialism is frightening. And, seriously, there are very few details I'd sacrifice my sacred shut eye for.

Beautiful pictures.

summer said...

yaaaay kefir! that IS exciting sheena! i can't wait to hear about it! my sister in law is giving me kefir grains, too!! how crazy.

games. settlers and ticket to ride were definitely played at our thanksgiving as well:) my absolute favorite is Acquire! we typically save that one for Christmas. soooo excited.

music. i typically stick with vintage... nat king cole, bing crosby. i like the vince guaraldi trio (charlie brown music) holiday pandora station. and michael buble's new one is actually really wonderful! we are listening to it on spottify.

thanks for the muppet movie review!!

Mommy Sauri~ said...

I agree with you about Black Friday. So not a fan.

I've used your idea for an Advent Calendar this year. I hope you don't mind. It was really fun to make and my daughter enjoyed making her own envelopes for Christmas notes to her classmates.

Thank you for being so you. I cannot get enough!

Mommy Sauri~
http://casadesauri.blogspot.com

The Rowley's said...

We love Ticket to Ride too! And those pics are absolutely gorgeous.

Heather Louise said...

We play what we call "The Comic Game" because of it's quick-drawn pictures. (1)write a sentence at the top of a sheet of paper, pass it on.(2)receive paper with a sentence, draw a picture of the sentence, then fold the paper so only the picture is showing, pass it on. (3) Receive paper with drawing, write a sentence about the drawing, fold so only the sentence is visible, pass- repeat (4) Repeat 1-3 all round the room, then reveal the progression of each "Comic." Commence laughter.

Ashley said...

We love games here! A few favorites...Blokus, Crazy Bunnies [ridiculously fun!], and Pandemic. Pandemic is great game and you actually work as a team, so there isn't 1 person that loses. That's good for me, because I get a little game competitive. :) Lovely photos and sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving!

Shannon said...

I'm loving me some She & Him Christmas too. We decorated this weekend and the Christmas book advent is wrapped and ready to go. So excited! We love Settlers, but our new favorite group game (also works better if you know the group pretty well) is Things. So funny!

Shannon said...

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you love the Muppet movie, which you obviously did, you MUST get the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album playing in your house. Stat.

Liz said...

YAY quelf! I have heard amazing things about it!!! Glad to hear more good things :)

Ang said...

k - totally delayed response, but we too love playing settlers and ticket to ride with the fam! if you haven't tried it, cities and knights is a great expansion to settlers (uses the same board and all - we just shove all the pieces in the cities & knights box so we can take it to friends houses) ...also, if it's just you and robbie kicking around they have a card game version called rivals for catan that is designed for two-person games. those are my recommendations - oh and HAPPY DECEMBER!