Picture it: 2011

Pardon me for borrowing from Sophia Petrillo. So, the last post was kind of a bummer and I felt like I needed to end the year on a more positive note. Inspired by my friend Amy's year-end blog post, here are my favorite photos of 2011.

January:

February:

March:

April:

One of my favorites from the entire year and I still can't believe we were actually on a MD beach (and had a GORGEOUS day) in April:




May:







June:





July:



I didn't take this, but I still love it.



August:

Racing pigs!






September:





(Eek - slim pickin's in September!)

October:







November:





The pic that made me an Instagram addict (I'm eclemrush there, btw):



December:



Our holiday card photo:



Anyone remember this list of 2011 cooking goals? Yeah, me neither, apparently. I only made one thing! Ehh. I gained plenty of weight this year without making most of those yummy ideas, so it's probably just as well. I did a decent job of mining my magazine subscriptions for recipe inspiration, though.

I may not have cooked as much as I wanted or blogged as much as I intended, but I'm honestly pretty happy with my photography progress over the past year. I have a metric ton of room to grow, obviously, but I'm also kind of content with where I am now. How did you do on your 2011 goals?

Not with a bang, but with a whimper

Seems to be how we'll end this year. Despite my high hopes and excitement for the holiday season, five illnesses (including stomach viruses on Christmas day) in two weeks put quite a damper on the festivities. In addition, my great aunt, the single loveliest 93 year old woman ever, passed away a week before Christmas. So, things have not been terribly jolly in these parts.

Regardless, let's look on the bright side.

My aunt was not only a lovely senior citizen, but holy cow would you look at this toddler portrait? The cuteness. It is staggering.



The Peanut adores his "big gift" - a tool bench.



Even nights spent sick on the couch can be cozy with a terrier-shaped lap warmer and twinkling Christmas lights.



We are now almost, very nearly, better. So we can hopefully look forward to starting the new year with a bright new outlook.



Happy 2012!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

And I am digging it. Even if it means taking a half day of annual leave just to accomplish a trip to the damn post office (Tip: If you're going to ship something heavy, like, I don't know, a box of wine, not that you would because that's illegal, use the flat rate boxes so you don't spent $46 dollars (!!!!) on shipping. The nice lady at the post office may remind you of this but you won't want to unpack your illegal box of something-that-is-not-wine in front of her, so you will foolishly spend $46 rather than reveal your liquid secret (which only cost $20 to buy). Also, Merry Christmas to my brother. Here's hoping your gift makes it on base.).

Anywho, postal exploits aside, things are shaping up to be quite merry around here.We've already visited Santa - he flew in by helicopter to the College Park Aviation Museum. And my squirmy little toddler patiently waited in line for over an hour (so, that's like five days in toddler time) to see the Big Guy. But the Big Guy had candy and was seated a few feet from an elevator with buttons and chimes, so patience was indeed rewarded.








And our tree is up and decorated! Chris and I have a tradition of imbibing hot spiked drinks and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" while we trim the tree.








We also stopped by Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. The Peanut was not terribly impressed with all the pretty lights (I'll post some of those later), but he was enthralled by the miniature trains. They were decorated with an odd assortment of plastic figurines, including Homer & Marge toys, a slew of Sesame Street characters and My Little Ponies. It looked like two decades worth of Happy Meal toys were put to good use.



Also, in case you're wondering - my mounted police obsession continues, unabated.



Wait. That's not festive enough. How bout now?




Muuuuch better. Hope your days are merry and bright!

(But screw Christmases being white. I have no use for snow.)

Roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with bacon

I feel like it's cheating to even post this as a "recipe" because it's so damn simple. But I had to see it in an issue of Everyday Food before I knew about it, so I figure I would pay it forward.




Roasted Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes with Bacon
Adapted from Everyday Food, October 2011.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 2 good size potatoes (yukon or red), scrubbed and cut in to 1"ish cubes
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in to 1"ish cubes.
• handful of fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss everything together on a rimmed baking sheet. 
2. Roast for about 30 minutes, toss around half way through.

Dear Diary

Oh, internet. I have so much to tell you!

Thing 1:

I MET MARTHA STEWART. No shit, y'all. It's true! Well, I didn't really "meet" her. It's not like we chatted and compared prison poncho patterns. But I did listen to her speak on entertaining here in DC and then she signed my copy of her new book. I told her that her pen was a very pretty green. The end.  She didn't offer me a job but she also didn't sue me for stealing her name for my blog. So I guess it was a draw.


(Thanks to Suzanne for the photo!)

Thing 2:


I upgraded my camera body! I'm so fancy now. It's a Canon 7D and it is fanfriggintastic. The little joystick-like focus button is blowing my mind. The only downside is that it makes me lust for good glass (lenses) even more, but I think I can make do. For now. Did you hear that sound? I'm pretty sure it was Chris winging our check book at my head.


Look at my cute little baby Rebel on the right! It's like his cooler, cuter older brother is home from college.

Thing 3:

I am totally and completely ready for Christmas! Not ready in the sense that I am actually ready, with my cards sent and my presents wrapped. But ready in the sense that December is officially welcome in our house. Space has been cleared for our tree. Our wreath is hanging on the door (okay, mailbox. And three feet next to it is a super naturally hardy pumpkin). Presents have been selected, if not wholly bought. Official Peanut Christmas photo has been shot.



That's not him. That's me. I also went back to brown hair. I'm not sure that deserves it's own Thing, though.

Kiss ass

Yesterday, my toddler told me to kiss his butt. I really thought I had a good ten, maybe fifteen years before I heard those words. In this instance, it wasn't back-talk from a surly teenager, it was just a two year old asking me to kiss a boo boo, but it made for a very conflicting moment in parenting.

Picture it: we're merrily playing in the living room when he backs his tiny tush in to the coffee table.

Peanut: Owww! Mama, kiss it!

Me: I'm sorry, what?

Peanut, looking all sad and pointing at his traumatized heiny: My butt, Mama! Kiss MY BUTT!!

Me, trying very, very hard not to laugh in my poor, pained toddler's face: Whoa, dude. No. I am not going to kiss your butt.

Peanut, now extra sad because magical medicinal mommy kisses were being withheld, has real pain in his big brown eyes: KISS IT MAMA!! KISS. MY. BUTT.

At this point, I had to start negotiating because I knew one thing - I was not kissing my child's ass (not now and hopefully not ten years from now when he pretends not to know me in the mall). So, I tried to casually blow him a south bound kiss and that didn't take. Eventually we settled on me leaning down, kissing the palm of my hand and then patting his hind end. Instantly, the butt boo boo was healed. I wish I could say the same for my ego.

Instagramatic Sunday

Dogs and sticks and woods and creeks and Gangy.