Stripping the Floor

I ran out of stripper before finishing the floor and stairs so

I went to the local paint store and got 5f5 which was similar to Klean-Strip andI think was the most effective of the products I used.

I also picked up some non-toxic remover from the paint store which they said customers had been raving about, although the less toxic aspect was nice it was not too effective. However I did use it on the stairs which are a different type of wood than the rest of the floors.

I think the stripping is done... next step a second attempt at sanding!

Bourbon Truffles

Ugly holiday sweater, bourbon & cookie party.... who could say no?

The thing about holiday cookies is that they most often do not involve chocolate. I also wanted something easy and that would incorporate the bourbon party theme so I looked up bourbon truffle recipes and the easiest one I found, which is the one I ended up using was a Martha Stewart recipe.

They ended up being just what I was looking for and the only chocolate sweet at the party!

Holiday Ornaments

I bought some glass balls to decorate and worked on a variety of decorating ideas....

I have a lot of random nail polish and thought it could be fun to do some kind of color swirls inside the balls so when there was light behind them then would have a glow. So I poured nail polish in and swirled it around to decorate some of the balls. The problems with the nail polish were the smell and it actually took quite awhile to dry.

I also wanted to try to get a crane suspended in the balls so I did a few with cranes with small tags that either said 'fly' or 'peace' It was a bit more difficult than I expected to get the cranes in but with patience it worked. I have since decided the ones with the 'peace' tag are probably better as there is irony in the crane being trapped in the glass ball with the word 'fly'

I also tried using paint pens and painting the outside of some of the ornaments and then putting a curled piece of paper suspended inside with text on it. In this case the paper says 'enjoy the season'. I also made some with simple snowflakes on the outside and the words 'winter wonderland inside' along with some white glitter.

You can see more of them in my etsy shop.

Farm Share

Last year we joined a farm share for a winter season and liked it so much we decided to do it again. Since the farmers market ended last week it's great timing that I got to pick up our first share today! We go through Enterprise Farm who for their winter share work with farms along the East Coast since there isn't much that will grow up here in the winter.

I made a salad with some of our farm share produce and some things we had on hand.

• kale
• cabbage
• green peppers
• grapefruit
• pomegranate seeds
• fennel
• olive oil
• salt

Kale Salad

I never thought about eating raw kale (usually I would saute it) but it is actually quite good. And we had some kale in our garden that needed to be harvested.

Quick and easy raw kale salad:

• fresh (raw) Tuscan Kale
• fresh squeezed lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt
• walnuts
• freshly grated hard cheese

cut kale into thin strips, squeeze lemon on top, put a little evoo, add salt, throw in some small walnut pieces and top with grated hard white cheese

Get in the Spirit

One of my goals over the weekend was to get in the holiday spirit. We did some evening wandering to look at holiday lights and ice skaters... My bus back to Boston didn't leave until 1 so I had some more time to wander around before the bus ride back.

I wandered through some holiday markets, enjoyed a hot apple cider in Bryant Park while watching the ice skaters and tried to take in the holiday spirit to find inspiration for holiday decorations, gifts and cards...

Take the Train

I was sorry my sister could not come to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws and was determined to get to spend some time with her so I took the train from Brattleboro VT to New York, NY.

It was a long ride, about 6 hours - I could have flown to California in that time - but there was a lot to look at and not too crowded so I had a nice relaxing trip. When I studied abroad I really enjoyed taking the train to get around and rarely think to do it in the States. If you're traveling somewhere I would recommend checking out the train!