I Love to Scrapbook

I am not going to mention the 34" of snow we received on Sunday into Monday,

or the fact that I have not left the house in 6 days. 

This will be a jolly post about my most favorite thing in the world to do "scrapbook"!

I am sooooo far behind (I was actually working on pictures from September 2008) 

that this summer I decided to start another book for "now" pictures. 

Off to Michael's I went, coupon in hand, to pick the "perfect album". 

As I went through the books like a giddy school girl, I realized, I have MOST of them. 

I did however find a beautiful album that I did not have and picked it up for a mere $ 15.00, 

with my 50% off coupon, of course!

I did get started on my summer 2010 album 

and would like to share pictures of the pages I have finished here...

The first page of the new book...

Cape May, New Jersey

Cape May Zoo

Horse drawn carriage ride with Tucker

and relaxing on the rockers at Congress Hall

Lunch at The Carriage House & Tearoom Cafe`

June 11, 2010

Hold On To Your Hats....Blizzard 12/27/2010

I'm not sure words are necessary...

this is how we do snow removal...our driveway 7 a.m., I am soooo glad we kept the loader!

The "nest" plus a little snow!

The driveway, I think...

this IS the driveway!!

the deck - with snow - I think you get my "drift"...pun intended!!

Christmas 2010

Christmas came and went, pretty quickly. 

Mike came early, 10ish and stayed till about 10 p.m., that was the highlight of my day. 

He shares my love for all things Christmas. 

I really enjoyed my time with Mike and Chuck and Santa was awesome!

 We had lasagna and baked ziti for dinner, 

it wasn't great BUT the pre-dinner food and desert was awesome. 

Now it's time to share my pictures...

 presents...

Mike

I thought Santa did an awesome job on the stocking!

I love these guys...I missed Scott soooo much!!

Appetizers...this was the best part!

Spinach Dip with Pumpernickel Bread

Shrimp Cocktail

Fresh Veggies

Cheese & Pepperoni

(I gotta get a new tablecloth...seriously, what was I thinking!)

place settings...I made the little trees/place cards, don't be jealous.

Lasagna, baked ziti, meatballs and garlic bread...too much?!?!?

Desert...

Refrigerator cake - Chuck made this, I taught him, 

my Aunt Dot taught me.

I love you Aunt Dot, I make this every holiday, just for you, I miss you so much!

Apple Crisp - seriously amazing -

me, rockin Wii
I let Mike win BUT not without a sweat

last frame, three strikes - that's a "turkey" baby!



Another Bake-A-Thon

I baked Christmas Cookies again today....all day. 

There will not be any cheery post about how much fun I had, here's the pictures...

I am sooooo glad to be done!!

Movie Fun

On Saturday, we went to see The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johhy Depp,

the popcorn was excellent!!

Christmas Fun

Do you think I have enough sprinkles/jimmies/colored sugar?!?!

I brought the aforementioned cookies to my infusion today....

they were a BIG hit (smile)!!!!!

Christmas Cookies

I baked today.....all day and I am exhausted. 

No fire alarms, no burnt cookies and everything tasted pretty good. 

There are cookies missing, 

Chuck said "the kids ate them", is he kidding, our boys moved out years ago.

Gone are the days of blaming them for everything.

First I made our favorites (just in case I ran out of steam)

Almond Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

yummy ingredients, I'm not sure which one this was.

I started off with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. 

Pictures of all the ingredients, progress pictures, in the oven, cooling on the tray, 

you get the picture, (pun intended). 

By the time I got to the last batch, there were no more pictures or smiles, 

just an overwhelming desire to throw out half the dough, sigh...

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Almond Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

Cappuccino Blossoms

Christmas Butter Cookies

The plan was to post all the recipes, 

but I only have 4 shadows following my blog and I know for sure that 3 of them don't bake.

So I figured it might be pointless to post the recipes, since I already have them.

Peach Dump Cake

Ridiculously Easy



Click here for the recipe

I thought it was time for a baking post since my blog promised recipes 

along with adventures and so far it is mostly adventures. 

This is definitely in my future, 

my niece Stephanie calls this "Peach Dump Cake" 

because you dump all the ingredients in the pan and vola you have heaven, 

so as soon as we finish the gooey butter cake I made on Saturday, 

I am making this, details and pictures to follow!

Adventures in Who-ville

The adventure continues on December 7th, 

the day after our fun filled and very cold day on the Potomac. 

We started the morning with a lovely buffet breakfast. 

I am not much of a "buffet, all you can eat" kinda girl. 

I am more about quality then quantity, 

but this was the only option for breakfast

and it was included with our "package" so the buffet it was. 

I was more excited when I saw the stately man behind the buffet 

making omelets and there was NO line, 

so the buffet started looking a wee bit better. 

The omelet was pretty darn good as was the entire breakfast, 

so my belly was happy, therefore "we" were happy. 

After breakfast we wandered the streets around the resort, 

took a few more pictures... 

like we really needed more pictures, and again...freezing outside 

but it was really difficult to dampen my spirit as we were off to Who-ville!! 

Literally!! 

We had tickets for noon and tried to go early, 

11:30, I was pretty excited BUT once again 

we ran into a stately man who was not having any part of that...

"we don't open till noon" he said without smiling"...

you will have to come back then". 

Really, I thought, it's 11:30, is that not close enough?? 

Apparently not, so back outside we went (again it's freezing) 

for more pictures. 

It was finally noon and time for Who-ville...

hold on to your hats as this. was. amazing. 

Time for the pictures...

Chuck and I with the Grinch...

It is 9 degrees inside
they give you those lovely blue parkers so you don't freeze. 
I was so excited, 
I never buttoned my jacket, or put on my gloves or my earmuffs...
I felt like a kid again! 
This was so fun, 2 million pounds of ice sculpted into 10 colorful,
 walk through scenes straight out of the pages of Dr. Seuss.

Chuck

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

North of Who-ville

The Grinch's Frozen Lair

The Grinch creating his Ramshackle Sleigh, reindeer and all!

Mount Crimpit

Me sliding into Who-ville

Chuck sliding into Who-ville

Christmas Eve in Who-ville

The Grinch stealing Christmas from the Who-houses

Christmas morning in Who-ville

Christmas morning in Who-ville

Christmas morning in Who-ville, the beef's still frozen

Nativity

Merry Christmas

Amazing "peeps tree"...made entirely of Christmas Peeps!!

Now that's a lot of pictures!

The end...for now!
      

Gaylord National Resort!!!!!!

Get ready for the most amazing adventure EVER!!!!!! On December 6th we headed south in our 4 wheel drive sled, destination.....Gaylord National Resort on the National Harbor/Potomac River, east of Washington DC. We arrived at the resort about 2 p.m., our beautiful room was ready and our exciting adventure began. First we discovered the National Christmas Tree just blocks from our resort. It was windy and really cold so we paid for 10 minutes on the parking meter and ran to get these fabulous shots........

National Harbor Holiday Tree.........

the "awakening" this picture was Chuck's idea.........

but....i had to do it also........

Next it was back to our glorious room to peel off all those heavy clothes and explore the hotel. Let's start with the Tree of Light. A 60 foot tall tree made entirely of synthetic "candy" glass. Each night the atrium comes to life with an extravaganza that heralds the arrival of nightfall with Christmas music, a light show and dancing fountains that shoot 60 feet high (o.k.......so that I copied from the brochure). 

synthetic "candy" glass tree.........

When you look up, you are amazed by the 150 foot tall curtains as they "dance" to choreographed music, just like the real Northern Lights.  

twice nightly indoor snow.........

day time view of the atrium from our room.........

 night time view of the atrium from our room.........

4 restaurants, and lobster (smile)......this. was. amazing!!!!!!

the Christmas Trees in the lobby were beautiful and abundant!!!!!!

Chuck felt it important to mention that we took about 50 pictures in this exact spot, at several different times. It was a busy place, with a lot of people who were completely oblivious to what we were trying to do, which was take a great picture, ourselves, using the camera's timer. Some people stopped to ask if we wanted them to take it (that was after we had photographed their rear ends) we politely said "no". We always sport very fake smiles when we smile at strangers!!!!!

There was an indoor train ride for the kids, visits with Santa (I refrained) and nightly movies by the pool. We tried the movie but Chuck just was not having it AND it was a little warm by the pool. They had the best hot chocolate ever and I will never admit to how many cups I drank!!!!