{Virtual Coffee}

Good morning.
It took a lot to get out of bed this morning.
It is one of those days when you just want to pull the covers up a little farther and stay there
all day--or for another couple of hours anyway.
It's freezing.
Okay, so it's not actually freezing but it is in the 30's and Winter is officially here.
Blahhhh. I am pretty much never ready for Winter.
Yet here is is. Again.
But anyway--grab a cup of coffee and let's chat.
Pancakes anyone?

So if we were really meeting for coffee today....
I would have to tell you about our shopping trip Saturday.
Saturday we made our annual family trip to Chicago by train.
We have been doing this for....maybe... 9 years or so? I'm not sure but some of
my cousins, several aunts, uncles, my mom, my sister and I all went.
I think there was around 20 of us this year.
We always have so much fun but it is a long, tiring day of shopping and eating.

I love visiting the city and one of my favorite things is to just people watch.
I also love seeing all of the architecture and the the window displays and all that big cities have
going on. I don't think I would ever want to live in a city this big myself, but visiting is fun.
We ate lunch at The Grand Lux again this year...yum. That place is so good.
I got the warm goat cheese salad and we all shared an order of these delicious beignets.
Oh Lord, they are to die for.

1.beignets, 2. my niece w/street performer, 3. niece at lunch (how cute is she?) 4. inside of church

We had to see the huge 26-foot Marilyn Monroe statue before it is gone, I think it is
supposed to be there through the Spring.
You just walk under her and look up immediately, even if you didn't intend to.
Every single person I tell ya.
And this church.
Wow.
They were having a holiday open house so we stepped inside and it is one of the most beautiful
churches I have ever seen in person.
I love churches, I love old churches, it amazes me the work that used to go into churches.

If we were really meeting for coffee this morning, I would have to tell you who I saw
in my little old town on Friday night...and if you knew just where I lived it would be pretty
funny to you.
Ben Affleck was having dinner at a restaurant in town,just a few minutes from my house
and I saw him with my own two eyes.
Too funny.
He was looking pretty shaggy with a full beard and a bit of gray hair, but it was him.
First Matt Damon, then Ben Affleck...wonder who will be next? ; )
So tell me how your weekend was, what have you been up to and are you
in full Christmas mode yet?
We're getting there...now to start making more progress on my shopping!

Thanks for stopping by here today....link up so we can all join you for coffee!

{Virtual Coffee}

Good morning.
Tuesday morning; rainy,  a little chilly and super dreary and just two days before Thanksgiving.
Wow.
I told you last week that I love Thanksgiving, I really do but the one thing I do not love
about it is knowing that it is only days away makes me a little nervous because then I know we
have such a short amount of time until Christmas is here.
Yikes.
I am so not ready for it.
Are you?

So, if we were really meeting for coffee this morning...

pull up a chair, grab a seat on the couch, plop your kids on the floor and grab a cup.
And if you are not really a coffee drinker I can fix you a cup of hot tea...diet coke? water?
I think a peppermint mocha sounds really good this morning...I would be happy to pick up
one for you, too.
And if you are lucky, Charlotte will probably share her apple pie, she has been baking them a
lot lately. I have to say, I like this little pie as much as her I think, it is so cute.
Looking for an awesome gift for a little girl?
I love all of the Melissa & Doug play food, we have a lot of it and it is well worth the money.
And they are not even paying me to say that ; )

You know if we were really meeting for coffee today we would have to talk about
Thanksgiving plans, if you are celebrating.
What are your plans?
Are you travelling?
I'm not exactly sure how we are going to work it out yet but we will be celebrating with
my mom's side of the family and with Eric's parents.
It's always a little tough because they both eat at 1:00 so we have to compromise on where
to go first, where to eat, etc.
I am looking really forward to seeing all of my family and eating lots of really yummy
homemade food...I just love Thanksgiving and all of our family traditions.

What else have we been up to around here this week....?
Lots of laundry, cleaning and organizing and we got to play with my two nieces all
day yesterday. My little Charlotte is such a good helper. She loves to try and calm the
baby down, help feed her, play peek-a-boo and read to her.
It is just too sweet.

I am looking so forward to hanging out with my BFF(yes, as a matter of fact I am still in 7th grade,
thank you very  much) and her kids this week.
And I am super happy that I will get to see several of my other favorite girl friends this
week. I do not get to see my friends nearly enough and I am so ready for a girl's night out.

Well, that's about it for us around here today.
Tell me what's going on with you...what are your plans for the week?
Do you have a to-do list a mile long...lots of cooking to do?
Maybe I should get us a refill first though...

Thanks so much for stopping by this morning for a cuppa, as my friend Melissa would say.
Oh--and you should make sure you stop by there for a visit, she's got a lot of big things
going on lately...and she is always a great coffee date.
Have a good one!

{Virtual Coffee} and A Hillbilly Latte How-To

Good morning, friends.

Yes, you are in the right place, it just looks a little different right now.

I am working on my little blog, I get tired of how it looks all the time 

 so just ignore the mess while it is under construction this week.

So, if we were really meeting for coffee this morning....

Okay, as promised, my Hillbilly Latte how-to.

I realize you could probably figure this out on your own, it's not that complicated or 

high-tech, hence the whole "Hillbilly" thing. But, it works, it is yummy and...yeah, it works.

FYI: a couple of months ago the steamer on my espresso machine broke so
 this is how I am currently making my lattes.

I am still waiting for someone (anyone? anyone?) to ask me to review a
fancy new espresso machine...but until then,  this is it.

Step 1::

Make espresso as usual-excuse the counter but this is what it looks like in the morning,
this is real life, folks

Step 2:: 

Heat milk (skim for me) in coffee cup in microwave, approx. 2 minutes

Step 3::

Add espresso to coffee cup of milk after it is heated

Step 4::

Pour a little (I just guess) milk in a jar, screw lid on and shake vigorously, approx 1 1/2  mins.

 Step 5 ::

Unscrew lid, scoop frothy milk out with a spoon, just off of the top though--
you want the thickest, frothiest stuff
Do not pour it, scoop it

Step 6::

Add lots of cinnamon or sugar/cinnamon mixture

Yummmmm.

Wouldn't ya know it that this time my froth didn't turn out as good as usual?

Oh well, you get the idea.

******************************************

have you seen this cool magazine, mollie makes? my super cool friend,
shauna (& the reed family) are all in there... go check it out!

How was your weekend?  Relaxed? Busy?
We had kind of a busy, but fun weekend.
I bird-watched in the country, read magazines, walked through the woods,
visited with family we don't see very often,  stopped at a favorite antique/junk store,
iced a whole bunch of sugar cookies....yeah, kinda busy.

Yesterday Miss Charlotte and I made this little cupcake liner garland to hang in the kitchen.
We picked all Halloween colors and I resisted taking over the project and let her do it
 the way she wanted to do it. Ummm...sometimes that's really hard for me.
Especially when it comes to something crafty that I want to turn out a certain way.

If we were really meeting for coffee this morning I would ask if you are ready fro Halloween?
Do you have plans? Parties? School stuff? Costumes ready?
Do you dress up?
Charlotte is having a little dress-up parade/party Thursday so I still need to find some
Indian jewelry for her and I have to help at Wyatt's party Friday afternoon because ya know,
somehow Mrs. Bramer ended up being the Room Parent this year....zoinks.

This is how the sky looked out my bedroom window last night....not the best shot
(through some super dirty glass) but it was beautiful...pink, orange, yellow, blue.
Ahhhh...one day I will live in a house that faces west so I can see this all the time.
One day.
So, tell me what is going on with you today...I am done talking, ready to listen.
Thanks for stopping by and having coffee with me this morning.
Hope you have a great day!

{Virtual Coffee}

Good morning.

If you join me for coffee this morning I will try not to cough on you.

I said try, I'm not making any promises.

Oh yes, coffee. Now. Please. 

I have had so many nights in a row up hacking with little sleep,
so the coffee is definitely a necessity this morning.

So pull up a chair and join me, I just made my hillbilly latte with extra cinnamon and
 I would totally make you one too, if you would like.

I could also make you regular coffee or green tea, or vanilla tea...whatcha think? Diet coke?

So, if we were really meeting for coffee this morning,  I would have to tell you all about our 

weekend in Indiana. I have a bunch of pictures to share this morning so I hope you don't mind.

Every year we stay at these cabins at a State Park in Indiana, my little family along with my parents

 and some aunts, uncles and cousins. It is a beautiful park. And the best part? 

We had perfect Fall weather this time. Perfect.

Like jeans and long sleeves during the day and adding a sweatshirt at night, that kind of perfect. 

The leaves there were just starting to change a little...just a little ahead of us here next door in Illinois.
I just imagine how pretty that park looks in about three weeks when the leaves have all turned.

Kid's shoes drying off on the picnic table after walking through the creek and climbing the waterfall.
How come I never, ever remember extra tennis shoes?

 Our little cabin...Cabin #5 was good to us again this year, unlike my mom & dad's cabin
 that had bats lurking around it and in the screened porch. eeeeeek, one of my huge fears is bats and one swooped right over my head a few times, you should have seen how fats I jumped up and ran inside...
I just might have left Wyatt out on the porch.

The waterfall and the creek was pretty dry this year, suffering from little rainfall like many
other parts of the country. We love to hike through the creek to the small waterfall and this year all
 the kids, including Charlotte, climbed up it--with help.

Are you tired of the pictures and me going on and on about the gorgeous Fall weather, yet?
You can excuse yourself to go get a refill if you want, I don't mind.
We go on a hayride every year and this year it was a lot of fun because it was at 7:30 so it started
out in the daylight and by the time it was finished it was dark and getting chillier. The ride goes
 through the whole park, through the camp ground and all of the hay riders try to get
everyone to honk/yell/cheer for them. Yep, I am the mom and my favorite part of the
weekend is the hayride, there I admitted it, it's true.

So that was our weekend...or some of it anyway. I definitely needed an un-plugged weekend,
no tv and no internet...but I'm not giving up my camera--or my phone but it is only used
 for calls/texting. I hate going home after our little weekend away but feeling like crap
 and dreaming of sleeping in my own bed always makes it a bit easier I guess.

 

Tell me about your weekend..what did you do?
Is it feeling like Fall at all yet where you are?
Now I am off to pack a lunch, make myself presentable, chauffeur kids to school....I'll check back
 later on and hopefully visit everyone for coffee--I know I have been bad about that lately
 but I am really going to try and get to everyone's place today!
Thanks for joining me here this week.