Big News!

the Ravenna Girls have been accepted to our very first craft show. While it might seem like one more thing to add to a crazy holiday schedule, we found a local neighborhood show that should be the perfect place for us to get started with non-online sales.

The craziest part is that it is coming up in just a couple weeks, so we’ve been working to beef up our inventory and with that comes crafting and with THAT comes an early influx of festive music. I’m fully feeling the festive Christmas spirit early this year and already there is so much eye candy around the web to get your mind started. One of my faves so far is the new digital issue of Sweet Paul Magazine. I’ve clipped my highlights to get your Christmas heart a-fluttering!

Bright and cheery wrappings

These wrappings would be gifts in themselves!

Awesome idea for repurposing sweaters

Light and modern ideas for a holiday brunch

Head over to Sweet Paul to check out more holiday delights. Light a fire, turn on your holiday tunes, and get into the season!

Also, if you live in the Seattle area mark your calendars for the Ravenna Holiday Craft Show.

Sometimes I wake up ready to go on Saturdays.  B usually thinks I am nuts, but a little morning french press usually changes her tune.  Plus, fresh scones, straight from the oven.

YUM!

Mixed Berry Scones

inspired from SmittenKitchen

2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces of butter, in 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup fruit — I used mixed NW berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and marionberries) that were frozen.  I let them sit out of the freezer on the counter for 10 min before adding to batter
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375°.

Mix together flour, b. powder, b soda and sugar.   Add COLD cubed butter to bowl and mix until the butter and flour mixture are the texture of coarse cornmeal.   I also sometimes use my fingers to incorporate the butter mixture.  Then add buttermilk and fruit and lemon zest & juice, mixing on the lowest speed until the dough just comes together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface piece of parchment and knead gently a couple times. Pat dough with your palms so it is roughly flat and the same  thickness.  Then cut into squares but dont separate the dough. Cut those squares again on the diagonal, creating triangles. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if you’re using it on top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned.

Best fresh from the oven, warm and fruity.

Best served around here with french press coffee steaming in your mug, underneath a blanket while catching up on your DVR.

…for Christmas that is.  We fall into this start-too-late habit every single year.  The past two years I was saved a bit by circumstances beyond my control (reduced work hours in 09 and the epic snowstorm of 08 which left us home for days)…

This year we aim to be more prepared.  Supplies are purchased/we already had them…. some rough lists have been made…now we must just work work work to the Christmas music. 

Now – I know what you are thinking here….  show us your craft!

The thing is… I am pretty sure most of our friends and family read this blog.  {well maybe not my dad, unless it is about home improvement projects… but frankly, I would never give him a wreath or a set of napkins etc etc etc.   Although I might this year if he continues to not give me a proper list with more than one lame item on it. }   Ah I digress.

Handmade Christmas idea roundup from some bloggers that I follow via my google reader:

Twig & Thistle’s Pine Cone Garland

via twig and thistle

Really adorable Patchwork Stockings over at Inchmark Journal.

via inchmark journal

Oscar and Ruby’s Snowglobes

via oscar and ruby

Jones Design Company’s NONNA wreath…

via jones design company

And last but certainly not least.. a Christmas favorite around here….Our very own Felt Evergreens:

via ravenna girls

After the holidays – let us know what YOU made this year, and we will do the same!

{really I am just beyond excited because B told me we could watch Eloise at Christmastime tonight.   I am bouncing up and down with excitement.}

What a week this has been! Lots of work, some fun with the girls, and certainly a lot of productivity, but oye, i’m exhausted.

Spotted this hideaway over at House of Turquoise and wish after long weeks I had a mountain meadow hideaway just this charming.

This is going to be a fun weekend full of a celebration of birthdays (both mom and baby), some crafts around the house, and hopefully a good bit of time in front of the fire. Get some rest, friends!

For those of you who don’t know, B and I both lived in New Orleans for five years while we got our architecture degrees.

New Orleans was this place that started out as simply where I went to school.   Then, slowly, it became a place I loved.  I cannot describe in, put it in words, but I have a feeling for that place that I’m not sure any other place will ever hold for me.  I felt this way before the storm, but really was hit with this overwhelming feeling afterwards.  That old saying, abstence makes the heart grow fonder?  It is so true.  SO true about New Orleans.

Recently B and I took a trip back for Tulane Homecoming & Alumni Weekend.  I didn’t realize how much I needed that weekend.  How honest to goodness relaxing it is to go somewhere that you know your way around, know great place sto go, have great friends along with you.  How much I miss New Orleans.

{all photos by B and D!}

{look what they got outside the new university center!}

I love how my tastebuds light up in my mouth, how amazing every little thing you eat is.

{beignets at Cafe du Monde first thing after arrival}

I love how relaxed I feel.

I love taking a walk in the late morning with a bloody mary in one hand and a camera in the other.

I love how the old and new somehow come together and beauty grows out of them.

growing at lafayette cemetery

{lafayette cemetary old fallen grave markers}

I love Tulane, and how great they treat their alums (hello, unlimited free drinks and yummy free food two days in a row…)

{the first photo in this post is just one result of the Tulane Alumni Party photo booth!}

I love hearing the music, live right there.  And I love that after the concert concluded, Tulane had a fireworks show, right on the quad…

I love that in October I wore shorts and skirts and summery dresses and was hot.

I love that we watched the saints outdoors at the Bulldog.

{watching saints v cardinals outside at the Bulldog Uptown patio. Abita Amber in one hand, burger in the other...}

{bulldog's new fountain on the patio which we think we might replicate in our yard!} ha

I love how fun it is to spend time with friends there, to talk about the great fun we had in college. 

{b and d at the alumni party}

{watching the tulane football game at the dome}

{who dat?}

because really… Some things happen only at Tulane, only in New Orleans.

{happy vacation made possible by all the friends that flew in from around the globe to join the fun, all the friends that met up with us while we were in town, and the friend that let us stay at her place!}