December 8, 2011- The Best Seat In The House

It's after 10pm and I haven't taken a picture. These are my favorite seats in the house. You can see the print of  Jeannine's painting that she framed for my 40th Birthday. Along with the chairs I usually blog in. The flowered chair is my favoite, it has rockers on the bottom.

It probably fitting that I show this picture because I spent the entire day inside cleaning the house.  That is, until I went to the Country Club of Rochester for a trustee meeting & reception for the museum. It's ironic because most of the people there probably aren't cleaning their own homes.   It was a nice party, the food & drinks were good. The meeting was painless, and all I needed to do was hang out and make small talk. (something I'm not terribly good at, but I get by.)

By definition I hate small talk. I like big talk. If I'm going to be talking about something then I want it to at least have a purpose. I don't actually care what you think about the weather. if we have to chat about nothing I'd just as soon stand next to you quietly. And I'll be nice, but I don't really like niceties, if you know what I mean.  And put me with someone who is worse at small talk than I am, well then I blather on like an idiot.  Luckily all of the people at the meeting have a vested interest in the museum and that's what they want to talk about. That kind of talk is easy for me.

December 7th- The George Eastman House

One advantage of working a lot on the weekends is having time during the week to do things when it's not so crowded!

After school today I took my girl to the George Eastman House to see their annual Gingerbread House Exhibit. There are over 100 houses!

On the way there I was explaining to Emma who George Eastman was and how he brought photography to the masses with roll film and how he's impacted many many places in Rochester.

She said,

"What's film?"

Oh my goodness.

Anyway, these pics are all out of order but it's too difficult to switch them.

Yup, seriously.... Gingerbread....

The house itself, is completely gorgeous and is as nice a place to visit (moreso if you are someone like me) as the photography museum is. There was a girl playing piano here. And a big Chritsmas tree. It was like walking into a Christmas party from long ago.

This is one of the best parts of the house. As you walk down this hall, you get a view of the amazing gardens there.

Oh yes, all edible!

Around the back of this one they had candy horses....

Emma loved this real elephant head in the solarium.

This is at the end of that hall I told you about above. It's hard to tell but the gardens are fabulous and I can just imagine someone actully sitting there and enjoying their life... I sure would.

The house is completely gorgeous.... There were many more pics that truly show it's beauty but I was already pushing it with all of these photos.

December 6th-Peurto Rican Beef

Tonight after the Y, I made one of my new favorite dinners. Puerto Rican Beef from Every Day Paleo.  This is so easy (I chopped everything before going to the Y and it only took 15 min to cook up when we got home. And the flavors in this are amazing.  That's a sweet potato in there next to that avocado. I forgot the olives, and it's even better with the olives. It's got kale and tumeric (which my husband tells me is so good for you, I'll just go with it.) It also has cumin which I think makes anything tase good.

However, did you ever notice when you cook with cumin your whole house smells until the next morning.  I think it kind of smells like armpits. So this dish has both onions and cumin. And I was the one cooking it. I most likely smell like onions and armpits right now....

December 5th- Home at Last

After working 32 hours in 3 days, it was nice to have a nice normal day with my girl when she got home from school.

She asked me this morning if I thought I had to work on Christmas Eve.... oh my...(I don't, of course.) but talk about mommy guilt....

She's rocking that hat, although she doesn't like being told she looks cute in it.

December Photo Project- December 4th

Christine 2.75

Yuletide Buffet .25

Victory Is Mine (This week anyway.)

We are only 33.33% done with the program!

I'm looking forward to not being at the museum tomorrow and taking pictures and seeing something besides the inside of the museum's meeting center.

This is the scene outside the meeting center.  That tree is like 13 or 14 feet tall!!!

December Photo Project-December 3rd

Christine: 1.75

Yuletide Buffet .25

Today's Yuletide Buffet was a little more difficult than yesterday, but not impossible. We learned more.

Watch out Yuletide Buffet because tomorrow, I OWN YOU.

This was a nice fire to come home to. Currently I have my feet up right next to it with a glass of  Ravine's Dry Reisling. My toes are warm, so is my brain.

December Photo Project- December 2

Christine: 1

Yuletide Buffet: 0

Tonight was the first night of our Yuletide Buffet that I have been planning for 2 months now. It's part of the Yuletide In The Country event at The Genesee Country Village & Museum. This thing has been giving me anxiety for weeks now. It went off without a hitch. (We have 8 more nights though...)  This is part of the dessert buffet.

BTW Folks, if you go to a buffet, especially one that benefits the museum and it's programs, (or any not-for-profit) please don't take a cookie, or a roll, or butter, or any food that you aren't going to eat for that matter. If you aren't sure DON'T TAKE IT. It's a buffet, we're a really friendly place, you can go back up.

 It's wasteful and costs the museum money. Understand that please.....