3 1/2 week vacation: pt. 2

so now I am back from my long vacation and I can finally write about all my wonderful adventures.

week 2 (or day 10) of vacation: Denver, CO.

Robert's aunt and uncle, Laura and Addisu and their daughter Addie live in Denver, they have an adorable house, it was such a retreat for us. Cuddled up by a fire, drinking wine, watching american pickers or talking about Ethiopia.

We also attended a moped rally, for blackblack in Denver, and went to an Andrew W.K. show...that was a bust.

eating Ethiopian and drinking some whiskey. This night is started snowing!

Laura's adorable kitchen.

Adam Mercado came to Denver with us.

A walk in the snow to the local Italian grocery: Spinelli's and the bookstore.

front yard snow: Denver.

Ethiopian goodness.

happy hour: Denver.

Robert's uncle, Addisu is from Ethiopia and he cooks us dinner whenever we come. Oh, it's so delicious! Ingera, and lentils and even Ethiopian music!

Robert and his aunt Laura.

Cooking, of course.

Our trip was amazing, we went up into the mountains as well, I'll be sure to post those next. Then on to San Francisco!

3 1/2 week vacation: part 1

Robert and I have been fortunate enough to take a 3 week long christmas vacation.
Well he only gets 2 weeks, but I get an extra week!
Our first stop: Kansas!


this is Robert's Aunt Pat's Christmas tree. We visited her a few times on our visit.
Unfortunately, while we were in Kansas, on Christmas eve, Robert's great uncle Fritz died. I am sad, although I am grateful that I got to know him, and Robert and I made an effort to see Fritz a few times, every visit. We we fortunate to be in town for the funeral, as Robert felt very close to Fritz.

[Aunt Pat and Fritz with their dog Molly at the nursing home- taken from Pat]

Christmas eve was started with a candlelit service and followed by a great meal prepared by my mother-in-law.

christmas day we played Domino's, my first time ever! I've never known how to play! Please that my hubby taught me, not please that he never let me win.


Christmas goodies: I got a wonderful wool jacket, and Robert got new boots, pants and a holiday sweater (Lacoste, from me:)

lots of baking!

Our next stop: Denver, CO!

carah+cake

last week I had the incredible honor of making my sister and her new hubby's wedding cake!

I secretly wanted to make this cake for them for months, but seeing as he is from England, I wasn't sure how their reception was going to go.

First, let me tell you a little bit about this couple.

Carah: a creative, beautiful, ambitious girl who likes to be sneaky.

James: a charming, loving, and gentle guy with perfect british accent.

How they met: James was here last summer and working at a neighborhood pool as a lifeguard. (which happened to be my sister-in-laws family pool). Carah, not having a pool, decided to sneak into this pool (thus, the sneaky part!) and she started "getting to know" the lifeguard.

Then he had to go back to England, this created a blissful "Skype" relationship between the two lovelies. A couple of short trips to each other later and he was finally here by the next summer!

James decided to pop that favorable question in July, while Robert and I were out traveling. We got the infamous "skype" call and we were elated! Especially when we heard we were all going to Cancun, Mexico for the wedding in October!

They ended up doing a legal ceremony at the courthouse and then we all galavanted off to Mexico for a week in an all inclusive resort! It was so fabulous!

so after we talked about the cake, I made a little "cake tasting" cake. It was adorable!

making the cake!

still working on it!

finally finished!

finally fall.

nashville took way to long to get cold this fall. I love the fall, it's when I am most creative and my soul is flourishing with new ideas! I am most at ease when I can barely come out of my craft room due to too much inspiration!

recently my passion: baby cakes! and soup!

and baby owl ornaments (made from felt)

love my sweet friend linsey! We were on the new's, they were covering a darling tea room located in Germantown, Savannah Tea Room.

german friends in nashville.

being a bridesmaid in a wedding.

ketchup of october and november.

so a couple of things that happened in the past few months....(playing catch up!)

Robert and I got tickets to go our first predators game! It was so fun!

our dog wizard got hit by a car in Franklin and he had a slow, but successful recovery.

Robert and I got to attend a fabulous wedding at the Governor's Club in Brentwood.

Celebrating Lauren and Collin Heston.

my sister was married at the Williamson county clerk's office! (celebration to follow in mexico!)

I got 1 of a few flowers that will be here tattooed for my birthday!

(done by my sweet friend Tiffany!)

I made beer cheese chives scones for Oktober fest.

we started making pies!

and gluten free french toast!

more pies!

and my mom and I went and saw Bob Dylan in nashville, front row! amazing!

peachy long time

Oh gosh it's been so long since I last blogged. But I am back. I have neglected this poor old thing. So I will now be catching up to the last couple of months.

The beginning of September, one of my favorite things was making jam with my momma. We went to the market, bought peaches and canned them! She did most of the work, but I thoroughly enjoyed helping!

this strand of hearts I made was for my sister who was getting married in 50 something days, this was something that I did when I was getting married. You pull off a heart every day until the wedding!

brunch date at our house with some favorites!