Weekend Mirths

It started out as a simple country weekend. Friday night I cooked us up some country fried steak (if you're interested, I recommend this recipe for country fried chicken, substitute cube steaks at your leisure), we lazed around, and then Saturday we broke in Jeffrey's gun.

{a really, really excited Jeff Jeff}

{my carhart is pretty sexy, right?}

At least 200 bullets later, we felt sufficiently American, and had gotten Jeff's scope all dialed in but the crosshairs had split-so we had to return it and get a new one which means more of the same fun to come. Only with much less bullet waste this time.

Saturday night we finally decided to leave the country behind and take our chances on the big city. We got all cleaned up and headed into Salt Lake to see the comedy troupe, The Left Field.

{Rose Wagner Theatre, were the show was held}

We laughed so hard...I'm pretty sure I cried and I almost stopped breathing all together once. If you'd like to see such a spectacle, the DVD will be for sale sometime we were there for the recording night so you might even get lucky and see me gagging on my own air as I laugh most attractively......if I had known I'd be laughing so much I would have payed more attention to when it comes out. If I had cared more I might not have laughed so grossly for now it is recorded for eternity. Oh well. Good times.

Monday we had the family over for a game and movie night. I found out I am not nearly as good at Scattegories as I used to be-Jeff and I used to dominate. I'm blaming my lack of domination on the nuclear waste that got dumped in my body for 7 months. Oh well. Good times :)

Seriously though we had a great night with my brother and his wife and our cousins. We ate two whole batches of caramel corn and a whole lotta swedish fish.

I also finished a fabulous art project I've been wanting to do for some time. More to come on that, but here's a sneak peak:

I hope your weekend was lovely. Thankfully the next one is fast approaching....

Annie Get Your Gun

I may have failed to mention that Jeffrey finally got his Christmas present last weekend, one that he hoped and hoped for, and all he has talked about all week long is using it this weekend.

This is what all the excitement is about:

{this somehow looks wrong on my blog, right?}

Yep. I got him a gun. A Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic with a scope. A big thank you to my cousin Kaitlin, who happened to buy one of these for her husband, who then let my husband shoot it, which then made him obsess over getting one, which meant I heard about it for three long months, and now, it has a home in our home.

Cool fact: It's actually MY gun. It's registered in my name because that was the easy way to do it, but I'm nice enough to let Jeffrey use it every now and then :) So really, this post could be titled, "Rachie Get Your Gun," cuz I love me some target practice.

We're pretty excited about it.....I hope you all ("y'all" might work better here, substitute it if you like) can share in our down-home, back-woods happiness. God Bless America.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Daily Tidbits

I love tidbits. Tidbits are akin to nibbles, so naturally I love to nibble on things-especially really tasty things, such as the lovely ideas available courtesy of our friend, Martha Stewart.


Dabbling in Martha's recipes and taking peeks at the various crafts her magazines showcase is a guilty pleasure of mine. I'd rather read Martha Stewart's Living than Us Magazine anyday. Sadly, I've never bothered to actually subscribe to the magazine, because frankly, as much as I love Living, I love shoes and such much more. However, just the other day I discovered that you, and I, and everyone can get friendly emails of recipes or craft ideas from our dear friend Martha. This link will take you right to the page where you can select what emails you'd like to receive as daily (or weekly) tidbits.

Then get busy enjoying!

{craft: tie-dyed leggins (!!!!)}

{recipe: lemon meringue cupcakes}

{organization: double-duty closet}

Make a Wish!

This a great year for wish making, and I especially can't wait for 11-11-11...I've got to think of a big one for that!

However today is a good warm up exercise, so at 1:11 today, 1-11-11, please excuse me. I'll be busy making a wish.

Hope you have a great day!

Winter Semester has begun!

Along with Winter Semester, winter weather has finally descended in Utah Valley. Due to the inclement weather, and since it's hard for me to sit through a single class period without some kind of online browsing, I've recently turned my attention to lovely winter coats. Because, let's be honest, when all you wear for five months straight is a coat, (a). who cares what you wear underneath it, and (b). you can never have too many.

Varying Degrees Coat, ModCloth

Rolvenden Coat, ModCloth

Let's Go Upstate Coat, Ruche

Collar Me Impressed Coat, ModCloth

Exception to the Rule Coat, ModCloth

Toast of the Town Coat, ModCloth

Black and White City Paper Tweed, Ruche

Cute as a Button Coat, Ruche

European Studies Coat, ModCloth

Cottage in the Woods Coat, ModCloth

Tipped Faux Fur, Juicy Couture

Once Upon a December

So prior to finals week I basically had a month of exams, then finals week came and Jeffrey and I had three days to take 5 finals each. Then we needed to pack up for a much, much needed Christmas break vacation. Oh glory. It was fabulous. Everyone kept exclaiming, "This is soooo great!". And it was. It might have been the best vacation ever.

We started out at my parents' house, where nostalgia overwhelmed me as soon as I stepped off the plane in Cleveland. I hadn't been home in a year and a half, and so home had never felt more like home. I love my parents' house. I love my old room. I love how my mom has the whole house decorated for Christmas, and how she never forgets to put flowers in my wall vases to welcome me home. Everything about going home felt so special, peaceful, and rejuvenating.

After a week at home, the family all went down to the Outer Banks and due to some unexpected weather, we had a lot of time to do the things we never get around to doing in the summer because we're too busy frolicking on the beach. So we visited 4 lighthouses, took a ferry to Ockracoke Island, the last stand for the pirate Blackbeard, watched movies in the theater room without feeling one bit guilty about missing sunshine, flew kites, jumped from the hot tub to the icy pool and back to the hot tub again, searched for shells at all hours of the day and night, and drank many, many mochafauxpucino's in the ship watch.

Since when I look at blogs I'm always looking for the pictures, I've decided to provide you with a photo essay from the greatest vacation yet.

bon apetit!

Cutting down the Christmas Tree!

{this was a first for Jeffrey and Robyn}

Black and White

{ the girls}

Christmas Eve

{we saw thousands of Nativities, this one is made of newspaper[!]; traditional chimes playing}

Christmas Day

{big presents this year: a semi-automatic .22 for Jefe, a big shiny nice camera for me}

The Outer Banks!

{the night of our arrival; usually the trip takes us 10 hours, with the wild weather it took 14!}

First day at the Beach

Family Pictures at the Currituck Light house

Ice Breakers-as the days got warmer the ice on the bay melted back farther and farther, and so one day we decided to take the paddle boat out and see how far into the ice we could paddle. Let's talk about how that turned out to be a major workout...my buns and thighs are still feeling the gratitude.

The Most Glorious Sunsets

As another brief overview of a 2-week vacation where we did more things than I could possible list, let alone be expected to remember with the sort of memory I'm dealing with these days here are some other great highlights:

• Met my best girls at Beans Cafe for breakfast. Two hours later we all realized we were still sitting around chatting.
• "The game of....Things"-it's so fun! you have to try it out; it's a new family favorite
• Ocracoke Island-the cutest, sleepest little southern island. We found an adorable art gallery, drank orange cream sodas, visited the lighthouse and milled around almost the enitre island.
• Climbed to the top of the Currituck Lighthouse-over 200 stairs!-and looked out on the wild blue yonder
• Rode bikes to the beach
• Went shell collecting at night. The tide was so low there were sandbars exposed and we found tons of "rare" shells like angel's wings, baby's ears, conchs, huge clam shells, and bunches of mini shells

(and yes, in case you're wondering, we all wore the same Outer Banks sweatshirts ALL week long-with pride)

Time Passes

Have you ever noticed how easily time sneaks away from you, even when a thing like time is so familiar to us it seems like we never let it out of sight? What really surprises me is not just how quickly time sneaks past, but how easy it is not to notice the passage of time. It's only when I stumble upon obvious markers that I really feel, and internalize, that time moves on, with or without my recognition.

Such a stumbling occurred last week when my family (now a whopping 8 people!) traveled to our familys' beloved beach home in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Despite the unusual snow cover, I spied this tree, a tree that has happily sat behind our beach home for what I suddenly realized, must have been many years.

{dear southern oak}

I know this tree well. I remember when my granparents first bought the land to build the beach home on and we all danced around the plot, this tree was there. I remember when I accidentally launched a bracelet into the bay, that tree was our marker for where we started searching. We have swung on this tree, climbed up it, posed in front of it, sat in its shade, and now this southern oak is growing into true Southern Beauty.

I have a few New Year Resolutions, one of which is to learn to savor the moments of life. I learned last year how fickle life can be, and while plans for the future are both necessary and good, the future means nothing if we cannot learn to not only exist, but be in the present. It will be hard to focus on each day and treat it a treasure, and to avoid fretting about the next day and month and upcoming years- especially since I'm a major fretter- but I sure will try. And starting today, I can't wait to get re-acquainted with my sneaky old friend Time.

Hallow Weekend Mirths

We had the most amazing weekend.

It started out with a Draper family traditional Halloween celebration. On Friday night, we made doughnuts and washed them down with some heavenly spiced apple cider while watching the Disney classic, "Ichabod Crane".

{family, devouring doughnuts}

{spiced cider}

Saturday night was our friends Tim and Audrey's Halloween party...fabulous!

{a flapper, a muskateer}

{Tim and Audrey, Me and Jeff Jeff}

I love parties. And the only thing I love more than a party is a really good party. Audrey knows how to throw a really good party! See for yourself:

{awesome decor}

{cute, and tasty, treats}

{games! shane won this one, you can just the determination in his face}

As the perfect cap for a wonderous weekend, we spent a delightful Sunday afternoon in God's Country (for those of you who don't know, this is Coalville, Utah...at least according to my aunt who lives in Coalville!), being with family and spending valuable time with my uncle who will be moving to Virginia for a couple of years to work. I love visiting my family in Coalville, it's always so nice to get out of the city and breathe the fresh air, see uncluttered mountains, and ride around on four wheelers shooting jack rabits. Ah yes, good times.

This weekend was a much-needed break from our routine, and it was fabulous.

P.S.-please don't go all PETA on me for shooting rabits. It's a very valuable form of pest population control, because, come on, you know about rabits...