we brine our turkey, a little black river design, my handwriting, and quick and easy

the night before thanksgiving is all about kelly sticking that turkey in our cooler full of salt, pepper, and thyme, with ice and water to keep it cold. we've been doing it for a few years now, it's almost as good as my parents' BBQ'd turkey.

my family was here for thanksgiving. mom, dad, julia, and melissa were driving out from utah. my little brother was in texas for grad school and i just had to be the nice big sister and fly him out to surprise the rest of the family. it was the perfect surprise. :) made me happy. we had a great thanksgiving feast, the perfect foods melded together with the best family makes it a thanksgiving that ranks up there. the only thing missing was my brother-in-law ryan. he had to work. we missed him. i really love my family, they know how to be silly. for example:


i have a new favorite dish. you want the recipe, don't you? it's fresh green beans, steamed until just soft. add a handful of sundried tomatoes, a tablespoon of sundried tomato pesto, 1/2 cup of sliced almonds, some olive oil, and a dash of salt. it is delicious. i made it last year and had such fond memories, i had to try it again. it was a winner. thanksgiving makes me think i could go vegetarian, don't get me wrong, i love the turkey, but all those fabulous side dishes could convince me.

i managed to rope everyone into an impromptu photo shoot in old town arvada. i had a sick papa and a sick spouse, but i managed to get some fun shots of everyone against this great textured wall. even got my sister to take a few of me. i'll be posting some of those later...

but you get to see one of me right now. i did this layout for the journaling challenge (see blog link to the right) using some brand new papers. my friend christine campbell out of canada has launched her long dreamed of paper company, black river designs. she sent me some of her papers to work with, and i am happy to report they are adorable. the colors are so happy and bright, the patterns are nice and small (equals easy to work with), and there's a LOT of variety, you're bound to like side a if you don't like side b. for this layout, i used papers from the bayview road, kelly's garden, and old black river road lines. to see all the lines, click here.



this was the quiz ducky chose for this week's journaling challenge, i thought i'd share my results...

What Your Handwriting Says About You

You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress. You are somewhat outgoing, but you're not a natural extrovert. You think first before you act. You tend to be independent, rational, and logical. You are balanced and grounded. You know how to get along well with others. You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well. You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart. You are a good communicator. You work hard to get your ideas across effectively.

What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?

i would say that is pretty smack dab on.

and i just wanted to put in a plug for the new simple scrapbooks special issue quick and easy photo albums. i was asked to participate with a family reunion style album. it was a lot of fun and now i have a format to use for the reunion next year. i'd be happy if you went out and bought this. there's a lot of great ideas in there, it makes it really easy to scrap a bunch of pictures quickly. but the title probably already told you that...