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.