holiday stuff

So the boys are all together and up to their usual antics.

Daniel brought his hat, Bosco, and he brought Sigfreid for Matthew.

Daniel wears Bosco every time we Skype with him in Illinois. Hard for me to keep a straight face. 

 Davy's cranky kitty missed him and has been demanding he pet her pretty much 24/7.

Every year I say I'm going to get a pic of the Christmas tree at the hospital and I never do.

Well this year I finally did, but it's a terrible photo! :/

I even got my toesies all Christmassy.

This year we got 3 small live trees that we could plant after Christmas.

I kept decorations simple, simple, simple - practically nonexistent!

It was crazy getting a new roof, painting the interior, and getting all new flooring during the holidays!

Who's idea was that again? Oh right...................

My brother came to stay with us for a few days too, and it was GREAT to have him here!

Aw, look at Taylor and Davy, all ready to go to Liam's Christmas party :)

 Kitty is not amused.

And Angel......... well, she had a rough Christmas eve.......... I'll leave it at that.

Just for fun I'm going to post a pic of everyone's favorite new bulb NOT :)

Okay, well it's MY favorite new bulb, but it's driving everyone else nuts.

Hehehehe

the Acoustic Walker CD - 2012

Surprise and Merry Merry Christmas to all my wonderful blog readers!

Made with love, given with love :)
Download it for free and enjoy!

xoxoxoxo

all I want for Christmas is you

It just wouldn't be right to let Christmas go by without posting my all time favorite Christmas video!
Hehehehe - ENJOY!!!

for the 4th year in a row... Rochelle's double-dipped rice krispie treats

These will CHANGE. YOUR. LIFE. No, seriously.

Every year I have people asking me to re-post Rochelle's recipe cuz it's SO AMAZING. 

So for the 4th year running, here it is yet again! ENJOY!

• DOUBLE the recipe on the side of the Kellog's Rice Krispies box, EXCEPT...
• use 2 entire bags of regular size marshmallows, and...
• use only 10 cups of Rice Krispies (instead of the 12 a double recipe would call for)
• put the entire double recipe into a 9x13 pan, and condense them till even 
• melt approx. 1 lb. of BULK carmel (not the tiny cubes!) - I use a microwave, stirring frequently
• pour carmel on top of Rice Krispies and wait until everything is completely cool

When the pan is entirely cool, cut the Rice Krispie treats into squares. *taking the entire slab out of the pan and using a large, non-serrated knife makes them much easier to cut. I cut these pretty small - you want them kind of bite size, maybe a bit bigger. I think I ended up with approximately 42 squares.

Melt your chocolate chips (again, I used my microwave, stirring frequently). I used about 1 and 1/2 bags of chips. I used Guittard milk chocolate chips. OH. MY. GOSH. It was amazing. The kind of chips you use really does make a difference - so use your favorite!

This part is the most fun :) Just dip the bottom 1/3 of your squares in that lucius chocolate, and place the squares on wax paper. Pretty soon you'll have an astonishing army of double dipped Rice Krispy treats. Oh my.

Yum infinity.

Chicago trip - post 5: Shopping a.k.a. I can't stop taking pics in Anthropologie

When the sun goes down and all the little twinkle lights come on in downtown Chcago, it's magical!

 The buildings with all their fabulous lighting and architectural details are simply breathtaking

It wasn't hard to get into the Christmas spirit here at all! Or the shopping spirit!

And the next day, that's exactly what we did: SHOPPED! 

The window display here at ALLSAINTS (one of 2 huge displays) blew my mind!

 And then Taylor and I walked into the winter wonderland which is Anthropologie............

WOW

 Everywhere you turned (on all 2 vast floors) it was winter vignette heaven!

 I literally could have stayed there HOURS longer, such was the visual feast - LOVED IT! 

 But after a long day of shopping it was time to say goodbye and head back to California.

We had a terrific late lunch at the Hard Rock Chicago, and headed out to the airport........

 It was really hard to leave, but it had been such a *WONDERFUL* time!

It couldn't have been more perfect! I was SO grateful Taylor and I were able to go!

And SO grateful to the boys for all the fun we had :)

At the Hyatt right before leaving........ I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

And I loved Chicago too - we will definitely be back!

xoxoxoxoxo

Chicago trip - post 4: the Museum of Contemporary Art and the day Daniel tried to take my camera away

 The exhibits at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art were SO. SO. AMAZING.

 After SUUUCH a wonderful night's sleep, Daniel ordered a surprise room service breakfast 

of White Chocolate French Toast and it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!

 Another GORGEOUS day! We hit the streets and walked to the Museum of Contemporary Art!

 This spinning "MOTHERS" sign was the first thing we saw and I know it was made just for ME!

Okay..... it is the MCA Plaza Project by Martin Creed, and will remain there through May 2013

(thanks to Tay for shooting these pics for me! xo)

Me probably saying something dorky to make Daniel laugh, and Davy looking so chic in his pea coat.

The main exhibit featured the works of brothers Rowan and Erwan Bouroullec -

IT WAS STUNNING!

huge, textural, colorful, touchable, integrative, creative, expansive, simple, brilliant....... I could go on!

Truly a visual treat of all their work, their creative process, their inspiration, their applications.

(I actually recognized some of their later pieces!)

The semi-sheer "screen" above is made from thousands of plastic clamps used as a room divider.

The tiny model..... the chair.

 The tiny model atop their simply textured ceramic floor tile.

Another example of their creative room dividers - decorative on both sides

 This tightly woven chair is strikingly simple - 

it reminded me of one of my all time favorite chairs: the Womb chair by Aero Saarinan

 More pieces of their integrative works, with concept drawings covering the wall in behind.

 Anything can be an inspiration :)

Concepts turned into reality - the small green, stackable container table is still produced.

The back side of the room divider seen above 

Another room divider with a different type of connector, this time "tabs" are used -

I really like how one color becomes two, then on down the line flows into several more colors. 

Yet another room of the Bouroullec exhibit, taken through their quirky white, transparent divider 

 A "honeycomb" type divider that was so immense, it reached beyond the second floor!

 Some people I know and know and love looking out the expansive 2ond story window :)

 And now through another of their screens, this time black

 The "MOTHERS" sign is down there spinning around

 Look at these awesome buildings! I love how old is against new. 

If I wasn't so annoyed with the word 'juxtaposition' I would use it here.....

 Right about now is when Daniel had finally had enough and asked to "see" my camera. 

I've been around the block enough to know what he was trying. I created him. 

So I kept taking pics :)

Of course there were MANY more amazing exhibits we thoroughly enjoyed!

I particularly liked Color Bind: the MCA Collection in Black and White

 I encourage you to check it out in person or online!

~

Next up: we shopped AND we dropped!