Merry Christmas...

Hello!  Just stopping in to wish you all a wonderful holiday season!  

Enjoy!

Taking a Break

The world has been catching up with me these last few weeks.  Two boys in three different hockey programs, the holiday season arriving too quickly and planning for a huge surprise. 

Now that the boys are older we are transitioning into new and different holiday traditions,  

I envision out holidays (I know I shouldn't type this, but here goes) a little more laid back and not as hectic.  

I'm hoping to enjoy myself a bit more...we'll see.

But with that laid back attitude, I've decided to take a few things off my plate until January.

One of those things is this space.

I love it here and the people that it has connected me to, but I also need to get a few things done.

I will still be around and most certainly, I will be reading your blogs, but maybe not commenting.

I will still be at Flickr, Pinterest and of course at Twitter.

Until January, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I will see you in 

2012!

5 things

Try as I might to post three days a week, I just can't seem to get here.  I've been working hard to stick with a list each day and  not to stray far from it.  Cutting computer time is a major component of making the list work.  Maybe if I add blogging as one of my things to do, I might make it here more often.

 1.  I painted my nails the other day.  For some reason this fascinates my youngest.  

 2.  No, this isn't "occupy upperpond." It's the boys' treehouse, built with their own hands.  It looks a little shabby now that the leaves are down.

 3.  Another warm day for November.  I'll take it!

 4.  Christmas shopping has started.  Sticking to a list this year and trying to avoid trips to the mall.

5.  The cross country dinner was held on Monday.  Matt received his first Varsity letter.  He was pretty excited about the whole event.  I remember the first time I received mine.  I was glad to see that they still hand them out.  A wonderful tradition for any athlete.

enjoy your week everyone!

Making...

"It was delicious, Mom!"

I made this as a tasty treat for the lunchboxes. It was a hands down success. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.

Milk Chocolate Marble Loaf Cake

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup whole milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 cups all-purposed flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 oz. milk chocolate, chopped.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a 9x593 inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl whisk tog. the eggs, sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Melt the chocolate.

Stir flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined. Transfer about 1/3 of the batter (a generous cup. to separate bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into the smaller amount of batter, mixing well.

Drop 1/4 cup of plain batter into the prepared pan and top with 2 Tbsp of the chocolate batter.

Repeat with remaining batter. Do not stir.

Bake in the center of the over until toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. About 65 minutes.

enjoy!

5 things...

Have you been to Habit this month?  Good stuff is happening over there so be sure to check it out.  

Holiday planning has started and I swear I will be organized this year...really, I will.  I have too.  My husband finally set the date for his surgery and it falls right at the beginning of December.  No help from the big guy this year!

I've been picking up my camera again.  I had no use for it in October and it sat on my counter like an ugly sore.  Not sure where the inspiration went, but I'm glad it's back.

Hope your week is off to a good start.

 1.  I'm happy that the mornings are brighter.  Makes for easier mornings around here.

 2.  The painting bug is going around.  Hopefully, I will have pictures soon of my foyer.

 3.  Cross-country is over and Matt did an awesome job for his first visit to sectionals.  Now if I can get him to cross-country camp this summer it will be a huge win!

4.  The weather is still mild around here.  I'm happy with it, but the boys are itching for snow so they can latch on their skis.

5.  I'm sorry to hear that Joe Frazier and Andy Rooney passed away.  Both remind me of my childhood.  

Before cable, boxing was a huge family activity.  I can remember gathering around the television watching the fights. Probably so not PC these days.  And of course, who doesn't remember a Sunday night with Andy Rooney?

enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Making...

I finally made a hat.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions.

I started out making Habitat, but had to rip it out a few times and thought that it was a sure sign that it was not meant to be at this moment. I will come back to it...when it's quiet and peaceful...maybe January.

It's a design by Jared Flood.  

The yarn is Cascade 220 heathers.

I think next time I might make it a bit smaller as it's a bit slouchy.  I'm not one for slouchy.

Oh, and I've made this and this last week.  Both were well received and will be made again.

What are you making?

5 things...

After the snow last week, the sun came out and I went for a drive with my camera.  We have wonderful ridges that over look the valleys that dot the landscape in our town.  The sky was a robin's egg blue and the sun glistened off the newly fallen snow.  The clashes in seasons were apparent as the lake was home to a beautiful cloud hovering right over it.

The snow has melted and we are back to Autumn, but it won't be long now before snow will be part of our everyday life.

To my Northeast friends-stay warm and I hope your lives return to normal soon.

 1.  If you look closely, you can see the sheep farmer taking pictures too.

 2.  Thinking about the holidays and how they will change this year.  Trying to stay positive.

 3.  I'm reading Olive Kitteridge and loving it.

 4.  I have one who does not want to get up this morning and I feel things are going to turn for the worse here in a second.

5.  Starting to think about paint colors for the family room.  Dark cherry floors and woodwork is everywhere.  Any suggestions?

Happy Halloween everyone.  Hope you day is a happy and safe one!

5 things...

I went to a wedding.  This is big for us these days because we are of that age where all of our friends are married...or divorcing.  If we get invited it's usually a work related thing and the young couple has been brought up right: invite the boss and his wife, hopefully they won't attend (we always do) and get a good present.  

The other types of weddings are family weddings.  But, to tell you the truth we are in a lull in that category also.

I digress though.  We went and it was a blog wedding.  Everywhere I looked there was evidence that the bride peruses the interwebs. I even went home to get my camera, it was that blog worthy.

I thought I had more pictures...but you'll get the point.

1. Everything was handmade! The bride is an artist and specializes in woodland creatures.  Her illustrations are stunning.  She made this wedding topper with rice paper and crystallized sugar.  The theme of the wedding was Fantastic Mr. Fox.  The couple are huge Wes Anderson fans and it showed throughout the wedding.

2.  The border was drawn by the bride.  The menu was typeset by the groom who is a graphic design artist. 

 3.  See, I told you.  How many times have I seen these flowers on the web.  I still love them though.

 4.  This menu was amazing.  All hand drawn by the bride.  She has been working over two years on her wedding.

5.  There was a Fantastic Mr. Fox photo booth, complete with bandit masks.  These are Andy's aunts.  I'm sure they wouldn't mind that I posted this picture.  One is a blogger herself!

The wedding was held in the parents' backyard.  If there were thirty people there, that was a lot.  The whole ceremony was over in ten minutes.  They played their favorite music...not the trumpet song.  

As we were walking across the street to the American Legion for the wedding reception, Andy leaned over to me and said, "There's a lot to be said about simplicity."  And, he was truly correct.  Simple is better and it showed in this young couple.

A PSA....

If you left a comment and don't see it, it's because I keep deleting them by accident.  

I bought a new mouse and the wireless connection is not all that great. 

I go to click on what I want and my cursor moves suddenly just as I click. 

Presto! Something important vanishes!

I apologize and hope to get things back in working order soon.

Link Love

Whoa, I've neglected this space for awhile.  October is always busy around here and this year is no exception.  November should see things calm down a bit...and the holidays will be here before you know it.  

Enjoy the links and the weekend. 

See you soon friends!

 1.  I'm saving this!  I always have a difficult time packing for myself.  Probably because I've helped three people before me and I just want it done!

 2. Love. We used to have a table like this in the kitchen. Wish I had thought of the numbers and letters.  But the boys added their own markings to it as the years went past.

 3.  I don't always enjoy her looks.  But this one I like.

 4. I just want to make these for my family!

 5.  My kind of looks!

 6.  How many of these have you read? I was a bit surprised by some of the choices.

 7.  Cute holiday gifts!

 8.  Yes please!  Thank you very much!

 9. Really?  A dj at a baby shower?

 10.  Honey, I've got the perfect pants for you!

11.  And of course, don't forget about Sick*!

Making...

I'm currently making socks.  Boring, stockinette, socks. Last week, I was on my way out the door to hockey practice and realized I needed something to keep me busy and away from all the hockey drama.  I'm not even sure what kind of sock yarn it is, having lost it's ball band long ago.

So, I need your help.  I want to make a cool hat for a special friend that helped me out this weekend while I was away in New York City.  She had to watch Matt and his friend, and two others.  But the real gift that she helped me with was to get Matt to his team bus by 5 AM.  This woman deserves a whole sweater for having this thrown upon her.

She's a funky, down-to-earth sorta gal.  I'm thinking berets are out and beanies are in.

Any suggestions?  What are your favorite hat patterns?

Enjoy the colors! I missed the blue sky and orange leaves this weekend, but was thankful I could wear shorts and tee-shirts while in the city.  

 This is the real color!  No saturation or vibrance touch-ups at all!

I'm over at Sick* today

I'm over here today....come take a look.

5 things

I don't have a lot to say today.  We are waiting to hear about hockey try-outs and we are all on pins and needles.  Ryan was gracious enough to sit for five minutes and let me try different poses on him.  Sometimes I get really lucky.

So..it's October and we are in the swing of things. Thinking about all sorts of things including:

1.  Going on a fun trip this long weekend.

2. A new recipe that we tried and everyone ate.

3.  Switching to red wine...because it's cold outside.

4.  Loving watching crime shows with Matt.

5.  trying to appreciate the little things and not get upset by the big (this is a hard one for me.)

Enjoy the week everyone.

Making...

The last few days found me frantically knitting.  My step-mom asked me to make a baby sweater for a shower that she was attending.  Of course I said yes, and thought I had plenty of time...

oops, when they said October, they meant October 1st!  

You probably are having a deja vu  moment, thinking you've seen this sweater/dress/tunic before here at Upper Pond.

Well have no worries, you have and you aren't going crazy.

 I made the exact same sweater before...here are the details.

 The first time I made this I bought way too much yarn.  Not sure what I was thinking.  I still have yarn to make one more.  Anyone having a baby girl?

Last time I made the 6 months size.

This time I made size one.

I highly recommend this little sweater dress.  It is quick to knit and looks adorable on.

Plus, this little outfit lasts forever.  It can start off as a dress and finish as a cute little top.  

I'm off to knit some hats for charity...I'm done with baby knits for awhile!