Falling (Back) In Love a.k.a. A Lovely Weekend

I am falling in love all over again.

I am falling in love - With my husband, with my family, with the season.

We had an amazing weekend - only a tiny part of which was planned. (Even though we all were a little under the weather.) I don't know if it was the release from stress of Thanksgiving planning, race planning, & house cleaning or the freedom we allowed ourselves from "have-to's", but this is one of the best weekends I have had in recent memory.

Today, we decorate our Christmas tree. It is the ongoing celebration of a weekend that has led us to this point.

Saturday morning we visited a neighbor (I believe she's 11?!) at an art show -- where she was displaying her photography! We bought a great one she took near our house, actually on a path that we bike/run. It is a lovely reminder of her as well as inspiration for our workouts. (She doesn't have a web site but if she gets one up I'll definitely link from here!)

(I also picked up a few other wonderfully crafty goodies - and found some good inspiration as well! Don't worry - I simply won't copy another's art...I wouldn't want someone else doing that to me...but I think it's fine to use similar concepts or pieces for a springboard for my own work! I love supporting other artists and using their work as a reminder to keep busy with my own.) Check this out:

A nice reminder in the form of a bracelet, tied with ribbon and a snap closure.

Another girl had a brilliant idea: Parents will be familiar with all of those leftover crayons at restaurants that generally just get tossed after kids use them once. She takes these leftovers and melts them into new molds....my kids loved them!

After, my husband gently convinced me to try a new restaurant on 4th street -- our local "world-wide cuisine buffet" street. We stopped at The Basil Leaf, a Vietnamese Bistro. Amazing food...enjoyable time (even with our son accidentally knocking a glass of water all over our daughter). SO glad I went - we'll definitely be going back. (Thanks to hubby for pushing me to keep trying new things!)

The afternoon led us to Twin H Tree Farm where we, for the first time ever, chose our own Christmas Tree. (Previous years have seen fake trees & one real tree chosen from the beautiful Lowes shopping area.) While I must admit feeling a slight twinge of guilt for cutting down a living tree, the experience was intimately overwhelming....I'm sure this will become a tradition for our family. We were able to frolic through acres of trees, choose one that they cut down & tied up, and enjoy free hot cider, hot chocolate, and popcorn.

(Dilana's choice of a tree. I hear the Charlie Brown song in the background...)

The only downside was an incident where our 2-yr old daughter grabbed for hot cider while our backs were turned as we were paying and spilled it on herself. That her hand got burned was horrible - even more so was the pissed off reaction of the salesman behind the counter (even after our extensive apologies that cider was on their wood floor). I hate that I didn't react with anything other than an apologetic nature (like demanding a little concern or even an "is she ok?"). Otherwise, the staff were SO enjoyable and fun loving, the other shoppers were filled with joy, and the entire experience? A magical start to our Christmas season.

Which led us to today where we decorated our MASSIVE tree. I'm not kidding - it didn't look so big in the field. We're working on it in bits and pieces, but here's an idea:

I giggle every time I see it...it looks so gigantic in the tiny room.

Ah, here's to being in love. With others, yourself, the world around you...whatever happens to strike your fancy. Here's to recognition and gratitude. Here's to the reason of the season. May it all go on forever and ever.