Turkey Day rapidly approaching

Who knows how to roast a turkey? I hope I do, with a little help from the food network, my new roasting pan, and my 12lb turkey in the fridge I hope to do a pretty good job on my first whole turkey. Giada DeLaurentiis (the one Greg says has a big "head") has a recipe on her page that looks delish, and I saw her make it on her show, so I am feeling pretty confident. As T-day draws nearer I am getting nervous because we have us, Jen, Matt, Amanda, Katie, and a student who attends PBA who's parent works at HOPE coming over for dinner, and I really hope I don't mess up the turkey. The star of the show is the turkey! My guess is that we are going to have SO MUCH other food it wouldn't matter if we didn't have a turkey anyways, but I hope it wont have to come to that.

Here's the menu so far...

Appetizer:

Spinach pin wheels

Main dish:

Citrus Turkey

Sides:

corn casserole,

green bean casserole,

sage sausage stuffing,

rolls,

mashed potatoes and gravy,

sweet potato dish.

Dessert:

Pumpkin pie

white chocolate cranberry cookies.

Isabella's Blankie

Here is my latest creation fresh from the dryer. I love all the puckers the washing of the fabric makes. Hopefully they'll love it. I used Amy Butler fabrics, some scraps I had left from other projects and some newly purchased. I made up the simple sawtooth star pattern and went from there, pretty simple, and very girly.

Anyone want a dog?

Mya got a taste for leather last night. Not just any leather. My favorite black flat dress shoes with the cute buckle. I wore them to the basketball game last night so I am sure they had the fresh taste of foot to them too which she just can not get enough of. It has been a while since she has destroyed anything (remember the highlighter incidence) but why does it always have to be my stuff, I wondered where she was for a good hour when I was calling her and she would not come, I just assumed she was in her crate or chewing on one of her MANY MANY bones we got her so she would not destroy random stuff. What can I say she is a chewer. UGgg...so when I noticed the wreckage I called her a "stupid dog" told her to go to her crate and left 20 minutes early for work without realizing it. So I am not sure who got the worse end of the punishment.

Sorry hunny, but I need some new shoes now....

Giving thanks...and sailing.

What are you thankful for? What has God blessed your life with? Since this is the season of "I want" let's not forget what we do have and take for granted.

I had a long conversation with one of my baseball players yesterday and he was asking me a lot about my marriage, then he just blurted out are you happily married...truly happy (these kids get really personal sometimes). It made me glad that I could answer that question honestly and say I am VERY happily married to a man I have been with for over 8 years, a man who strives to live his life as a man of God, and a man who I trust and I know always does his best to be the best husband for me, and someone who I know would eventually make a wonderful father (if it is any reflection on how he treats the dog). But as our 4 year anniversary is coming ever closer I am glad that we have held true to our vows and I really do love him more every day.

Our recent sailing adventure with Eric & Betsy and Matt & Amanda here are just a few of the pictures I had promised a while ago.

I am thankful for them...
and My fellow Michigander friends too!

That is just my short list....But what are you thankful for? How has God blessed your life?

What Thanksgiving

I've decided to skip from the spooky background straight to the Christmas theme. I have started the christmas music and shopping so there is no denying I am in the Christmas swing of things around here. We will be hosting some good friends for Thanksgiving this year, and I will be trying my hand at roasting a turkey in hopes of having something eatable and with plenty of left overs .

Since I am trapped in a perpetual summer down here, I have no real concept of "fall" or any season for that matter. Since, we went to the big Christmas tree lighting festival on Saturday in CityPlace (which was more like a Miami Dolphins festival it was horrible) I am really looking way past Thanksgiving and on to "The most wonderful time of the year." Plus, my name is HOLLY, how could I not love Christmas? Anyone wanna see some very real looking fake snowfal come on down every night in CityPlace 100% chance of snow (it really is realistic, kinda soapy and not fun when standing in it, but it looks real)

Day late dollar short...

Sorry...busy falling off the planet, there is no food in the fridge, and a pile of laundry to do to show for it...

But here is something that is bound to make you smile. Beautiful day right before Halloween. So we took our little lobster to the beach.

"can I be done now?"

She loved her costume and so did all the beach goers.

We finally have our house to ourselves and I am catching up on my crafting, as the Christmas season is creaping ever closer I have the music blaring, and preparing for a fun Thanksgiving with my friends and FL family. I have picked up a few extra Tennis tournaments for some Christmas $$ which is such a blessing but taking up most of my time, I mean who doesn't like to get paid for sitting and watching some of the best Jr tennis players in the country? Ok...until next time.

Woohoo! Holly finally fixed it so that I can post things to this blog! Maybe she won't go changing the name then to something like "Quilts R' Us" or something crazy like that!

So to all of you blog stalkers out ther (you know who you are and we love you all), yes I am still alive!

That's all for now, enjoy the warm temps and sunshine! (we will for you at least!)