sign up to receive beautiful updates & brighten up your life.
We respect your privacy and will not mail out too often.
rebecca invited some girlfriends over for coffee, cookies, soup, and eggnog to hang out and do a little crafting. who can resist colored felt? she made a bare tree wall hanging out of felt, and everyone had a great time visiting and cutting out things to sew on the tree. rinne’s mom, lucy, made a white possum hanging upside down. now that’s a southern tree, for sure.
[gallery link="file"]
as we all know, the holidays can be so busy! this sunday we needed to get out to the country. my friends kat and susan invited us out to their farm to meet their new baby alpaca. we had fun frolicking around with them. it really doesn't get much better than that!
our friend mandy made this arrangement the other day. we couldn't resist sharing!
our friend shae is the talented pastry chef at
. every year she makes the most amazing gingerbread house. take note of the details. this year she featured the entire kitchen staff including hugh with his uni-brow and radish tattoo.
all the leaves are gone now. a few still clinging. i love bare trees the best, for they show their beautiful form against the sky. i’ll miss the rustling of the leaves, but the architecture of trees will inspire me all winter.
this sunday my family and i went to jack's creek christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. it had been years, maybe 15 years since i had gone and done this. it sure brought back some memories and we all had some fun! we even went on a hay ride....through the tunnel of lights. gotta love the holidays!
you can find cheese straws just about everywhere this time of year. these savory and buttery cookies are pretty simple to make and they keep for a couple of months. i personally think that they taste better a day or two after you make them. i love to put them in holiday gift baskets and give them to friends and neighbors.
i like to add toasted pecans in mine and i also like them to have a little bite. so... add a little more cayenne and crushed red pepper if you like yours on the spicy side.
want to make a little gift basket? try out our recipes for
and
.
recipe follows
ingredients
3/4 cup toasted pecans
4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, room temp
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temp
3 cups AP flour
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper... or more if you like them spicy
10 drops of tabasco sauce
a dash of red pepper flakes.... or more if you like them spicy
directions
-pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
-toast the pecans and set them aside to cool
-chop the pecans in a food processor with a metal blade. pulse until they are in small pieces- not too big but not too small.
-set the pecans aside
-add the rest of the ingredients into food processor. process and add pecans when the dough begins to form.
-continue processing until a ball forms.
-remove dough and place in a bowl.
-refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
-line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-remove dough from refrigerator.
-on a lightly floured surface, take 1/4 of dough and form dough into a brick shape. your brick should measure about 1" x 10" x 3".
-with a sharp knife, cut 1/4" slices and place them on your cookie sheets.
-bake for 25 minutes.
-cool and store in a airtight container for up to 2 months.
there is lots of great holiday markets going on this weekend! if you are in athens....come on out or if you are out of town....make a day out of it! give handmade and local this season! visit
to see more!
FRIDAY....
pop up shop and
artist market ....5-9pm ...... 393 n finley st
SATURDAY....
artist market at
....815 w broad st
pop up shop .....9am-12noon, 393 n finley st, studio c
annual holiday sale .....9am-4pm ...450 georgia dr
we had a big frost the other night. all the feilds were white with frost. i went for a walk as the sun started to shine. lots of beauty to take in. a breathtaking blessing to see it all -
