first flakes

I am no fan of the fluffy white stuff. Honestly if we moved to the tropics tomorrow I would never look back and long for snow. ever. again.

But I force myself to shuffle out there with the kids, for the kids.

Zach romps around like a puppy. I remember how our dearly departed Schooner-dog would leap around in the snow and dive nose first into any pile big or small. Zach was undaunted by the fact that this was merely a wet dusting. He was going to scrape every single molecule of snow up and make snowballs no matter what.
Snowball fights with the dock master and itty bitty snowmen happened even with just a thin layer.

And although Naia was curious about it all, I think she sides with me on the snow issue.

Lovely, but no thank you.

~Wishing everyone a very happy new year!~

Warm Wishes

It's been windy and cold and freaky around here. With high winds and freakish power outages (you gotta see this, from 12-20-12) and wind driven flood tides, we have been staying in a lot.

We spent the weekend making cookies, hanging around in our PJ's and listening to loads of audio books as well as taking in all of the hokey Christmas movies we can handle.

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas!

happy solstice

tea and chocolate, what else is there?

There's more merry making happening here aboard the good ship Majestic. This time it's two of my favorite things... tea and chocolate.

We have a two fabulous local places to get organic herbs and such, so I have been stashing away herbs and finally made my own tea based on some of my favorites.

Here's what's inside: peppermint, rose hips, lemon balm, sage, thyme, orange peel, cloves, echinacea root, and chamomile.

I jarred it all up in spare jars we had lying around and added a honey stick to each set, and voila! Instant winter warmth and happiness.

Next is my new favorite chocolate recipe aside from the chocolate covered orange peels I wrote about in Rhythm Of The Home this season. I found these Mayan Chocolate Truffles on Pinterest and instantly fell in love.

The key here is to take the time and find all of the ingredients, don't substitute or skimp. If you do it according to the recipe exactly... whoa! It's a complex burst of flavor love. Here is the recipe I followed from Nourished Kitchen.

Ingredients (2 dozen)

• 10 ounces chocolate with 85% cocoa content, chopped coarsely
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder 
• 1 vanilla bean 
• dash unrefined sea salt 
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk 
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil 
• cocoa powder, for dredging truffles

Instructions

1. Toss chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl with the zest of one orange, cinnamon, chipotle chili powder, the contents of one vanilla bean and a dash unrefined sea salt.
2. Bring coconut milk and coconut oil to a slow simmer in a saucepan over a moderate flame. Pour coconut milk and oil over the chopped chocolate and seasonings then stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is thoroughly melted and the mixture, or ganache, becomes thick, uniform and glossy.
3. Transfer the mixture to a plate lined with parchment paper, molding into a log as best you can, and allow it to harden in the refrigerator for eight to twelve hours, or overnight.
4. After the Mayan chocolate has hardened in the refrigerator for eight to twelve hours, remove it, unmold it from the parchment paper and carve it into irregular bite-sized chunks. Toss the chunks with cocoa powder and serve.

The thing I had the hardest time tracking down was the chipotle chile powder. Thankfully SuperJen came to the rescue and loaned me some because there was none to be found anywhere around here.  Worth ordering some for sure, what a fabulous smokey flavor!

So there you go, one recipe to mellow you out and one to give you a jolt! Enjoy!

wee doll bed

It's that time of year, and rather than post all of the holiday making after the holidays I thought it would be more fun to share now. It's not like the kids will see the blog and spoil their surprises!

The other week a friend of mine brought some clementine oranges over for a snack and I jumped at the chance to snag the box. I knew it would be the perfect doll bed, but I went back and forth on just how to do it. Paint it? Decoupage fabric? Finally while watching the Nutcracker with Zach and seeing the ruffles around Clara's doll bed I decided that would be the nicest... and easiest. Two long strips hemmed and pleated and velcro and there we have it. Then the mattress is simple a stuffed rectangle with some dimples hand sewn in. And a wee pillow too.

The fabric for the bed skirt is Shroomy from Monaluna's Fox Hollow collection (left over from Naia's birthday party crafting.) The mattress is Jay-Cyn designs patchwork from Storyboek II. And the pillow is Birch fabrics Woodland Party also leftovers from her birthday.

Dolly fits perfectly and there is all kinds of room for upgrades like a canopy or something to cap off the corner pieces. But for a free box and scrap fabric, it does the trick just fine.

But I wonder if she will want to sleep in her own bed when she normally has a much cozier spot for naps.

scrappy scarf

Feeling the need for a colorful, happy post right about now. So I thought I would share my latest sewing endeavor. I have become a scarf making monster. I love this project because (1) no patterns (2) only straight lines (3) the end result is useful and cute!

Basically all you need is about a 1/2 yard of fleece and some fabric scraps. I used this excellent tutorial and truly the hardest part was just deciding on the patterns and colors.

For Naia's scarf (above) I used an old cashmere sweater on the inside. Someone had passed it along to us a while back and I used the sleeves to make her longies when she was a babe and had the body just laying around waiting for a good project. Then I went through and picked out purple-ish scarps to match her winter jacket.

The other girlie one (above) is for a little friend of ours, and the manly looking one is for my husband. Zach was kind enough to be my model and help me lay out the fabrics too. It's obviously longer and I made it wider too. I really winged it with the measuring and cutting.

This is just one slice of the holiday making around here. I love seeing what everyone is working on this time of year, feel free to share your projects and links in the comments!