Friday Things
1. Our Thanksgiving last week was just wonderful. We loved having a houseful of people, and all of the food turned out fantastic. I’d say that our first holiday was a rousing success!
2. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I went out on Black Friday and bought our very first Christmas tree!! It’s an enormous 9-foot Alpine tree with 1,500 lights, and we just love it. There’s nothing like sitting in the glow of Christmas lights, am I right?
3. This little guy is being neutered today, so fingers crossed that everything goes A-OK. I’m sure he’ll be up and biting everything in sight in no time ;-)
4. He and Einstein are working on sharing… Einstein will take possession of a toy, hang it out of his mouth, and allow Duke to chew on the end. These two kill me!
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5. Have you started any Christmas baking yet? What are you making? My mom and I made a list off the top of our heads and had well over 10 items, and I’ve already thought of at least 5 more things that I need to add to the list. I can never get enough of Christmas goodies!
6. I ordered this Kate Spade mug for myself this week, thanks to seeing it featured on RecipeGirl’s latest post. Seriously, how awesome is this?!
7. I have not been playing nearly enough Christmas music yet; I need to remedy that. I also need to get some Christmas movies on my TV. What are your favorites? I love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Rudolph, the Muppet Christmas… I could sit all day curled up in a blanket with an endless supply of hot chocolate and marshmallows and watch Christmas movies on an endless loop.
8. I have gone off the deep-end and decided to go on an all fruits/veggies/brown rice/lean protein eating plan for 21 days. That means cutting out refined sugar, flour, processed anything, caffeine, etc. I chose to do it after feeling like crap for a couple of months now and needing to jumpstart myself into better eating habits. I thought the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be a good time to do it, plus I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I’m still sampling one piece of everything that comes out of my kitchen, but aside from that, I have been doing well since Monday. I’m withholding judgement until I see how things go, but I’ll definitely let you know how it turns out!
9. We’re right in the middle of the annual 12 Days of Giveaways, so be sure to check BEB each week day for a new giveaway! Right now, you can enter to win a Keurig Platinum Brewing System or Fiestaware Baking Bowl and Prep Bowl Sets. Get your entries in!
10. TGIF! I think we’ll be seeing a lot of puppy snuggles this weekend!
I love Elf and a Charlie Brown Christmas too. I was feeling like crap awhile ago and pretty much revolutionized the way I eat. Most mornings it’s fruit and oatmeal followed by fruit for lunch. Dinner is lean protein, usually wild fish, with vegetables and more fruit. I have to have a little candy at dinner too. I sometimes eat a cookie for dessert and about once a week have a splurge breakfast. It’s easier for my body to process junk in the morning because I work it off all day.
Best Christmas movies or shows…the cartoon version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, the cartoon Shrek The Halls and Charlie Brown’s Christmas…does that mean I’m just a big kid?
Good luck with your healthy eating plan Michelle, very admirable!
My favorite Christmas movie is Home Alone.My kids and I watch it !
I can’t believe Duke is almost as big as Einstein! Wow, they grow up fast! They look so cute together!
Favorite cookies – Jaques Torres Triple Chocolate Mudslide cookies tied with my famous Linzer Tart cookies! And Duke and Einstein are adorable! My dogs play just like that too…Einstein’s role is played by the queen Cailee (border collie mix of 6), Duke’s role is played by Rosie Posie (border collie/irish setter mix, 2 1/2) and “He of Many Names” (Australian Shepard, 11 mos . old). All of our loves are rescues and are so wonderful both with us and each other – especially when there are 2 65 lb. and a still growing 85 lb. pile of fur playing tag in the house! Oh, and He of Many Names – obviously that is not his true name, but we found out after he was home with us for 6 weeks or so that he was deaf. Made him a bit harder to train but now we can all call him what we want whenever we want!
love your blog thanks for sharing
i lost my dog last year after she had a seizure. seeing Einstein and Duke just warms my heart
I am so, so sorry to hear that :( Many hugs to you!
I love sugar cookies with sprinkles on them
Oh my gosh! Your puppies are PRECIOUS!! Seeing them makes me want to get a friend for my yellow lab :)
I love your dog photos, so beautiful!!
Oh my lord, how old is Duke now? He’s so so big!
He’s 5.5 months now! I can’t believe it!
Where did you get your tree? Looking to replace our 9.5 ft tree that we’ve had for 12 years and yours looks like a good one!
Btw, the Duke and Einstein pics keep me coming back every week :)
Hi Jyllzie, We got it at a place called Pool City, which is a local chain in the Pittsburgh area.
Die Hard (favourite Christmas movie)
She & Him Christmas Album (favourite Christmas music)
And Moose Poops. (favourite cookie)
Good for you to take yourself in hand before the holidays. You will see a big difference in eating better. I was doing better, but fell off the wagon so to speak, and put back some weight, and see a big difference in energy levels and overall health. Kudos to you.
I hope all goes well for the little guy today.I say little, but he seems to be almost the same size as Einstein!
Our tree looks just like yours1 9 foot tall, and everything :)
Good luck with the lower lobotomy! Cookies: Russian Teacakes, Spritz and though not cookies I’ll also do several kinds of fudge for gifts (I stock up on butter whenever it’s on sale and use almost all of the stash for Christmas baking and candymaking). Favorite movie and this one is for both children and grownups who still want to be children at Christmas: “The Snowman” animated movie made in 1982, has a song in it that is so lovely it’s heartbreaking “Walking in the Air” and here’s the IMDB description: Wordless (save for the song “Walking in the Air”) animated adventure about a young English boy who makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, only for it to come to life that night and take him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. It’s finally available on DVD, I actually kept an old tv w- vcr setup for years so I could still watch my old video cassette with this movie!
I love Peanut Blossoms and the chocolate ones rolled in powered sugar.