New Friends!

I've replaced my gobbler friends with Christmas friends. Aren't they cute?

Back From The Woods...

Hubby and I were lucky enough to spend the last 2 days in the woods with his family. The in-laws rented a cabin up at Bass Lake to spend Thanksgiving weekend together. After work on Friday we packed up our stuff and headed on up!

The cabin was very quaint and comfy. And the view! Look…

Plus, what’s more fun then spending time with your two favorite, absolutely adorable, cutie-pie twin nephews? Sorry, I just have to brag!

Awww! I miss them so much already!!! They’re so very sweet. They sing and giggle and drool… Miss them, miss them, miss them…

Don’t we make a handsome family? From left to right, hubby, me, dad, mom, Mihran, Vahan, Shake and Paul. So very fun, can’t wait to make it a family tradition!

To top off the great weekend, I came home to find that I’d gotten another blog award! Yeah! Sweeties Jen and Jacqui over here, and Momma over here, gave me the You Make Me Smile award. Thanks guys, you make me smile too! And since I read so many blogs that make me smile, if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged!

Gobble, Gobble

Well… Gobble, Gobble Day is almost over, and who doesn’t love a hubby (and a mommy and step-daddy that remains pictureless) who does the dishes?

I had such a great day. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a house that’s big enough to have my family over for the holidays. I think our home is a bit small, but we make it work!

Like a dork, I didn’t get a pic of the whole bird, all pretty and brown, but I did snap one of hubby doing his first ever carving (great job babe!)…

I tell you what. That brine must’ve done the trick, cause step-daddy declared it was the best he’d ever tasted. That made me feel better about the chocolate-pecan pie that I made for him that he wasn’t too keen on (I don’t think)… The chocolate was just too chocolaty. Later when everyone went home, I warmed up a piece in the micro for 30 seconds, and all melty it was much better.

I also managed to snap a shot of the berry pie and the mashed tators (which were unbelievable, definitely the best EVER, I think my little-little bro could have eaten the whole tureen of them himself! For the recipe, go here).

The berry pie looked very rustic, atleast that’s what I’m calling my messy woven crust… rustic!

Here’s a coupla pics of the table with all the china and crystal…

My momma bought me the butter dish awhile back and we hadn’t realized how perfectly it went with my china. Everything looked so pretty and girly and sparkly!

And now, I’m so sad, I have to take down my turkey friends… Say “bye!” ‘til next year J

Turkey Countdown

Well, I'm having Turkey Day at my house for the first time. It should feel daunting, but I'm actually having a lot of fun getting ready. It's so nice to work at home cause I can throw something on the stove or in the oven while I'm getting paid for an 8 hour work day :) Anyways, first things first. Anniversary pics...

Me and my hubby, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, an eggnog latte, and home-made cheesecake (with home-made whipped cream and caramel sauce)... Mmmm, couldn't have been more perfect!

Now, for the Thanksgiving prep...

You are looking at (from top-left clockwise) supposedly the secret to perfectly moist turkey, a brine. As of right now, I have a big ol' 21 pound gobbler sitting in a bath of salt, brown sugar, tons of herbs and veggie broth. I'll let you know how it works. Then, the yummiest looking chocolate pecan pie I've ever seen, I used the recipe from William's Sonoma's baking book. Then chunks of yukon gold potatoes sitting in cold water getting ready to be boiled, mashed and smooshed together with all kinds of god-forsaken things :) And last, a loaf of french bread and 2 boxes of Jiffy corn bread cubed and drying out for real home-made stuffing. Mmmmm, I can hardly wait to eat it all!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! You guys have been so great and supportive! Can't wait to share the "after" pictures :)

1st Anniversary!

I can't believe I got married one year ago. How does time go soooo fast??? I know I'm going out of order, but since it's my actual anniversary on the 17th, I'm going to go to the actual wedding, and then the rest of the month I'll show you the showers, dress shopping, etc.

Anyways, here're some of my favorite pics from the wedding...


And a close up of one of my favorites :)

I don't know really what to say, except that I'm so incredibly happy, and so very proud of my marriage and my husband. I know that we will have the kind of life together that I always dreamed of. He takes care of me and treats me like every woman should be treated. It is an equal, loving, respectful relationship, and I am so very thankful for it. I can't wait to live the rest of my life with this man!!!

Disneyland!

We made it back after awful LA traffic. Hubby used to live down there so it doesn't faze him, but I HATE IT!!! Oh well... it was well worth it :) Here's some of my favorite pics...

And, here's what I worked on for the Holiday Boutique that's coming up... They're going to turn into lavender eye pillows that can either be kept in the freezer or warmed up in the micro... Cute, huh?
Now, for something wedding... Dresses! Actually just the bridesmaids and flower girls (you'll have to wait for mine :)
All the bridesmaids dresses were the apple color, we just had to try on the colors they had in the size the girls needed. If you can't tell, Biff's (the one in black) has beading on the top to make her special :)

The lil' girls dresses were all the brown color, but then they had red sashes around their waists. They turned out sooo pretty!

Stay tuned for more wedding stuff :)

My New Toy

Here's my new toy...
Isn't she pretttttttty??? I'm so excited! She takes gorgeous pics, and she's PINK! Now, here's my new toy's hand-made case...

See where the arrow's pointing? It's showing you the little button-hole where I can slip the wrist strap through... I need a camera case, I drop things :)

And, since this month is about my wedding... here's a pic of the most gorgeous, 2 dozen long stem red roses I've ever seen... Hubby sent them to me the day I went back to work after he asked me to marry him. They were so big that in order to get them home, I had to open the sun roof in my car and stick some of them out the top!

Sunday, hubby and I, momma, step-daddy and 2 bros are off to Disneyland! Yeah! I'll take lots of pics for you guys :) And, I'll show you what I'm planning on making the entire trip down to sell at a local Christmas boutique that you can read about on my momma's blog here.

Birthdays

Well, since Momma doted on my bro (Love you, little big bro!), I'll dote on Hubby. Hubby and Little Big Bro's birthdays are the 5th and 4th of November, man were we busy, especially since there was also a big Armenian wedding to be attended on the 3rd :)

I know I said I'd do a whole month of my wedding this month, and this is the start... Sneaky hubby, on 11-5-05 (his birthday) he asked me to marry him! I was totally not expecting it!!! I was so happy, I couldn't wait to share the news with everyone! The page above is the night of our engagement... Can you tell I'm happy? Hehe! Here's my favorite sparkly present ever!

He asked me with rose petals on the floor and a Caramel Macciato in his hand (for me... mmmm)... What more could I ask for???

Happy, happy brithday sweetheart! I love you!