Christmas Eve...

...a fulfilling (if early) morning volunteering; making ADORABLE Christmas goodies; a festive church service; a DELICIOUS dinner of lobster bisque, escargot, and king crab legs; and opening presents!

And it's not even Christmas yet!

Looking forward to tomorrow, a day full of fun and food with this silly bunch (aka my family):

Gift exchange

Today I exchanged gifts with my friends. We munched on the cookies I made the other night and the peppermint bark Gracy made (soon to be blogged about when I give it a try!) and gave each other little presents.

I gave the girls knitted headbands with crocheted flowers!

Gingerbread house

Babysitting all day, had six kiddos under my care. Over a foot of snow on the ground so we were stuck inside all day.

 What did we do? We made what ended up to be a:

 'Modern Art' Gingerbread House.

Plus we thoroughly decorated these...

...with all of these frosting colors (the kitchen was an absolute disaster). Wish I could babysit for the rest of my life!

Christmas cookies

Feels like Christmas here in Colorado where I spent the day shopping with my mother. The stores were hectic and the traffic unbelievable. On the bright side however, it snowed! We have about six inches on the ground right now, so we spent the evening decorating cookies!

Using the same frosting I used on the apple braid (minus the nutmeg, plus food coloring)...

 ...we turned these plain ol' thangs into...

...these fancy shmancy ones!

Cowl

Finally finished my cowl! LOVE it, so comfy and soft!

Here it is, worn two ways. There are buttons in both corners but it is pretty hard to tell in the pictures. 

I used a full skein of yarn, alternating rows of 30 knits and 30 purls.

It was inspired by this one.

Twisted updo

Went to a Chanukah party tonight and I wanted to try a new hairstyle I have seen around. I saw it on Pinterest and traced it back to here.

Here's my attempt:

Starting with slightly wavy hair

Put the bottom half in a messy bun

Took a small section from the side, twisted it, and pinned it above the bun. Took a small section from the other side and did the same. Repeated until all hair was twisted and pinned.

The final result. Pretty cool, and quick!

Spa Sunday

In the middle of a very hectic weekend right now, thought I'd recuperate by enjoying a bit of a spa day. I wanted to make a hair mask, a face mask, and a hand and foot scrub. When they were all mixed, I ended up with three suspiciously similar-looking, oddly-yellow creations.

For my hair: suspicious yellow mixture #1.

A hair mask from here.

Mix 1/2 cup honey, 1 egg yolk, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Work into damp hair and let sit for 20 minutes under an old towel or shower cap. Rinse with cold water to avoid cooking the egg.

My hair was nice and shiny after this, but the scent was a bit of a turnoff until I shampooed. 

For my face: suspicious yellow mixture #2.

A home microdermabrasion from here.

Mix 1 tbsp orange juice and 1 tbsp baking soda and spread on face. Leave on for 20 minutes then scrub with damp fingers to exfoliate and remove.

This one made my skin super soft and smooth!

Plus, this is another one of my favorite face mask recipes:

For my hands and feet: suspicious yellow mixture #3.

My own recipe:

2 tbsp butter (softened)

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together and rub on hands and feet. Rinse, and enjoy super soft skin!