Month: November 2014

Hey everyone!

Hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving with all your families and friends!  

As I mentioned in my last post, I took the lead to host Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a holiday I love.  I mean, who doesn’t love to eat all day?!?  

I had big shoes to fill.  My mom and dad always put the best feasts together, and brought us so close as a family because it was just the five of us in this country, and that made our Thanksgivings even more special for me. Now fast forward to us today, well, we are back to smaller Thanksgivings.  My oldest sister is overseas now, and, my older sister annually goes to her in laws in the mid-west, so it makes me feel a big major void.  Though I know they’re happy, healthy and safe, it’s still crappy to not be with them on this festive of holidays. 

But, I am getting used to it.

So, this Thanksgiving was a very special day for me, because I felt all the traditions resting on me for my family’s future Thanksgivings.  This was my first time making our stuffing and capon (we don’t eat turkey!), too, which was a big deal for me.  My mom helped me most of the Wednesday beforehand which was a major help, and I learned a lot.

The day before-My mom helping with the capon!

But, it was all up to me Thursday to make the magic happen…and I think I succeeded!

I got up super early to start on my day. Everything felt so right, and I am so happy (and THANKFUL) to say that all went off without a hitch. From the start our house had a great vibe. Music was playing (I think I danced to Shake It Off like thirty times in six hours!!).  Coffee was flowing. The kids were so happy to run back and forth to the kitchen and TV room to catch the Macy’s float parade (I love they screamed for me to come see Toothless..he’s my new fav!). We were all joyful singing and bopping away; so happy to be hosting our families for the day.

Unfortunately, we did get hit with a snowstorm the day before, but that actually worked in my favor. The girls were stoked to go play in the snow from the second they woke up, and did so for almost two hours after breakfast!!  THAT was a huge chunk of time where I had focus on my tasks solely. Thank you, girls!!

I did change up the menu last minute, eliminating a few things. My father in law unfortunately was too ill to dine with us, and that left a void.  Though he was missed, we had a great time from start to finish.  My husband was a major help, as always, with the post party clean up and our girls were so well behaved I forgot how young they were at times.  This Thanksgiving Day was a fun one.

THANKSGIVING DAY!

Up at the crack of no thank you, but I looked pretty! (first time saying that!)

Me and my girls~

The table all set! Peacock themed of course.

The centerpiece– my turkey with peacock feathers!

My new wine charms for the season.. love them!

My parents arrived and were trampled by our kids.. who started off reading their school Thanksgiving projects

My mom with the girls

My dad and I

Dinner time! We got a surprise lasagna from my mom.. she is the best! We always have lasagna on thanksgiving!!

The table with the bird!

My husband with his Mom.

Late night, pj time

ANNND no holiday is complete without a nap by someone..

xoxox

Hey Everyone!

Guessing most of you, like myself, are gearing up for tomorrow!  My Mom was over all day prepping with me, which was a lot of fun.   As I mentioned in my Girl Cooks Food post, this is my first time hosting Thanksgiving, and I am sorta nervous.

Thanksgiving.  I cannot believe it!  I know I keep saying this, but didn’t 2014 fly so far? It’s already Thanksgiving!!
Slow down time!!  Before ya know it December 14th will be here and bam New Year’s!!

Yes, that is my birthday. In less than 18 days! Best day of the year!! Wahoo!

Well, I wanted to share a trip we made over the weekend to the BAA, Brickbottom Artists Association, in Somerville. The BAA offers gallery shows, artist resources, programs and classes, is housing, etc., and it’s a really great location!

This place has always been on our radar, because, location wise, they are right off of McGrath O’Brien highway, a road we have traveled almost every day since we were in our teens. Our draw has always been the design of the building. It is designed in a way that the corner of the building has amazing large apartments that you can see from the highway facing Boston. This has always intrigued my husband the most. Then last year my husband worked a job inside the building during the holidays. This was something that made him very happy because he finally got to see inside the building at all the artist’s homes/studios. Needless to say, he fell in love with the location. It is right down the street from his office. The buzz of art was everywhere and people seemed really cool; and of course the views from some of the apartments were of the skyline of Boston, everything that he’s ever wanted; to live near the city in an inspiring place.

Last weekend they had open studios for their 27th year, where any of the tenants that want to participate can, so we went. It was real fun. They had a lot of artists, I believe somewhere in the range of 60 artists, that showed all types of art including music. Some of the artists use the space for mainly studio work, others do both -live and studio. Some have really interesting lives, and we got to share in their perspective through their space. A few had large shared spaces, where they are in relationships with another artist and their homes are split studios. The living arrangements were super neat. A lot of talent in those buildings. I had a great time walking around and meeting people.

Here a few snaps of our day. Most times I was so into the spaces I forgot to take my camera out. Heh

Afterwards, we headed to the museum of Science for the girls’ behavior reward. I started this new good behavior reward program at home. The kids get rewarded for doing good deeds around the house or with each other- like not arguing with their sibling, unloading the dishwasher, or cleaning up, without asking. I am trying to reinforce subconscious good behavior so they think about what they do before doing it. They receive tickets at the end of each day. Then those tickets get tallied at the end of each month for a prize (we drew up a prize board). They get a special prize for a certain number of tickets. For example, up to 40 tickets = planetarium tickets, 50 – 60 tickets= omni theater tickets, etc., each tier is a better prize of tickets.   

At the MOS:

Hey Everyone!

Today I am sharing a project that I made 2 years ago, but I only shared on InstaGram, glittered pinecones.  It was such a fun project, super easy, AND super cheap!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Pine cones (any type really, even store bought, but these are White Pine pine cones I collected from the yard-score FREE!)
-A large bowl of warm water
-All purpose glue
-Craft Brush
-Colored glitter of your choice  (For this I found a set of glitters from the dollar store with bronze, gold, rose gold and copper in little packets. Yes, a $1!)

–

First thing. If you find pine cones like I did in the yard, you need to soak the pine cones in that warm water to remove sap or debris.  Soak for a few minutes then let air dry overnight.  The pine cone will look as if it is ruined by retracting, this is normal.  Once they dry the pine cone returns to its normal shape all opened up.

Brush glue along the areas you’d like to adhere the glitter.  If you chose to alternate colors remember to glue only where you want that specific color to adhere first, then work along with the rest of the colors.  Also, glitter from top to bottom and completely cover the glued areas.

For this project I chose to cover a few pine cones in one complete glitter color (gold), a few with the tips in stripes of colors, and a few in alternating tips of color.

The different uses for these are endless. You can glue loops and bows on the stem to make ornaments, or use them as I do. They came out real beautiful and are a perfect addition to our Fall centerpiece!!

TIP 1: If you glitter a whole lot of pine cones in one color, a good way to coat them with glitter is to get a large plastic (for projects only) bowl fill it with glitter then shake the glued pine cones in the bowl.

TIP 2: Using a paper plate for each color is useful.  Add glue, shake on glitter over the plate, then tap off the excess.  You can reuse the glitter left over on the plate.

Seriously!

Hey Guys! Hope you all had an amazing day commemorating our American heroes. I sure did! Even if I worked in the early part, it ended up being a special day.

My family and I took a nice three hour hike in the Ward Reservation area, less than ten minutes from our house.  We had ventured in a part of this 2 years ago, to check it out, and we loved it.  There is so much to see.  My husband had hiked in the Winter briefly, and recently had taken our girls back a few weeks ago, which they were all excited about.  They begged and begged, so today we decided to go for a fun refreshing trekk after all our work was done.

I am so glad I did!

What a way to let the stress melt away and to enjoy nature at the same time. And get some needed unconventional exercise! Being one with nature has to be the best remedy for centering your soul.  I felt so at peace, even if it was chilly for me! We had a real great afternoon, and here are the pics from our venture out in the great wide open.  I decided during the walk that I needed to take advantage of this gem of an area and hike here more often (even alone!).  Pop in the ear buds and climb wherever I can go.  <– I like that idea a ton.

Ok, well, even though it feels like a weekend, it’s not, so I gotta get into Mom mode getting my kids stuff ready for tomorrow.

xoxoxox

She is a hoot. And she looks like my aunt and the holy Madonna mixed into one.

Ward Reservation Map

Dropping this quick blog to recap my dad’s birthday get together.  He turns 75 years old tomorrow, and thankfully we celebrated with him today.  I love my dad!  He is the reason I love funny people. And, he has always been my beacon of light and love; and I am so happy to have this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to him on this big day along with my family!

I love my family.

Buon Compleanno Papa. Ti voglio un mondo di bene!  Spero che hai avuto una bella giornata con noi! xoxoxox

My beautiful parents

My parents and I

My husband and I

With my kids

My parents with my two

then with me!

My nephew

The cousins…

The cousins 🙂

The Birthday Boy! haha My niece brought him her birthday tiara, and I think he loved it.

He is awesome isn’t he?

a homemade card from my oldest

My parents with my older sister and I.

Great pics … but. Minus our older sister.. 😦

The Graceffa clan 🙂

I love my family.

Yup. No party is complete without a nap.

Happy 75th Salvo! 🙂 This cake rocked!

Hope your wish comes true Papa!

Annnd we finally got the whole group in a photo.. whew.

My famiy