Now These Are Real Mountains

Ten months out of the year it seems like we go non-stop.

So we tend to disappear from everyone's radar around January and February so we can recharge for a while.

Last month we went to the cabin for a couple of weeks.

A much needed chance to do a whole lotta nothing.

While in Colorado we also stopped by the stock show in Denver.

I loved watching the cattle dog sale.

Why in the world don't my lazy mutts work that hard?

Oh yeah, and we picked up a couple of special visitors at the airport.

Good ol' Cousin Eddie and his mama.

Before we headed back out to the mountains, we made a necessary trip to Tipsy's.

Definitely the biggest liquor store I've ever been to.

If I could transplant their gigantic two-sided fireplace into my house, I would be perfectly happy.

And Eddie wouldn't mind transplanting Miss Thang into his house either. 

Cousin Eddie and Aunt Sam were such fun guests.

You'll always have a good time when Eddie is around. And Aunt Sam is an absolute doll.

And because it's not a party without a full house, we also invited up my best friend and her family from Vegas.

In high school, she used to invite me on her family's vacations to Colorado. I love that I can now repay the favor by inviting her on ours.

We stopped by the oxygen bar in Breckenridge one afternoon.

Pay no attention to the doofus with the "I forgot my dentures at home" face.

That man's not right.

And it is apparently his life's goal to ruin every picture we take together.

Otherwise, we spent the rest of our time eating, drinking ...

Sitting around ...

And riding 4-wheelers around the mountain.

I'll never get tired of this place.

Or of these two girls.

Love them.

Sophia was such a joy to have around.

Isn't she absolutely gorgeous? Love those baby blue eyes.

What's that going on in the background you ask?

I have no flippin' clue.

Can anyone explain to me what's wrong with those two?

Woodrow is half-crazy and even he knows something's up with them.

The finger point?

Seriously?

And if that's not proof enough that my husband is stuck in his childhood ways ... and the 80's. Then this video is:

We can't seem to go bowling in Colorado without him breaking out the moonwalk.

Woodrow is not impressed.

Gift Exchange and Link Up

I am a sucker for gift exchanges.

Love giving.

Love getting.

I am also a sucker for getting sucked into other people's blogs. And therefore, their lives.

Recently, one of my favorite blogs advertised a chance to link up with other bloggers and exchange gifts.

Translation: Find new people to stalk on the internet AND get presents as a reward.

Yes, please.

I was partnered up with Megan over at Absolute Mommy.

I instantly fell in love with her blog and her tell-it-like-it-is writing style.

I'm not a sugar-coater. And neither is she.

After learning a little more about each other, we went shopping.

I was inspired by one of her posts where she posted a picture of her dream blogging space. I sent her some funky new frames and desk accessories to get her started.

I had so much fun shopping for her things that I almost forgot that I was getting something in return.

And then it came!

I am in heaven.

I had told her that one of my favorite past-times is rotting my brain with gossip magazines.

And she delivered.

I didn't even mention my weird obsession with constantly making lists and notes throughout the day, but girlfriend read my mind! She sent me all kinds of cute little notepads.

Top it off with some adorable new boot socks (which I needed!) and a cute little necklace -- and you have the perfect grab bag of gifts.

I used to get a lot of care packages in the mail from my parents.

And then I got a dog.

Every package after that was puppy themed.

And then I got a husband.

The boxes are now full of dress shirts and entire wardrobes for my husband (my mom is apparently his personal shopper).

Which is exactly why I loved getting something in the mail that was just for me.

Thank you Megan!

Welcome to my Sweatshop

I've been holed up in my sewing room for weeks.

My friends thought I fell off the face of the Earth.

At times, I thought I fell off the face of the Earth.

I took on way more Christmas orders than I could handle.

But that's life when a sista doesn't know how to say no.

This year seemed to be the year of the purples.

And thanks to my ever-growing fabric stash (courtesy of Damma Taffy's online fabric shopping addiction) my customers had a lot to choose from.

I took that picture last summer ... right after my amazing mother flew out here to organize my life.

I'm embarrassed to say it's a yearly trip for her.

She neatly folded and bagged (dust is a huge issue on the farm) all of my fabric. Then stacked it in color-coordinating order.

Since then, Damma Taffy's shopping habit has been alive and well. I just got (a lot) more fabric in the mail the other day.

We're talking several boxes.

Merry Christmas to me.

(Sidenote: She's so hip, she's on Facebook. Under occupation, she has listed: came out of retirement to become 2nd assistant to the President of the Apron Empire and to head the purchases and acquisitions dept.)

Love that woman.

Moving on.

This apron was for an LSU fan.

Just for the record, I will make an apron for any school except the University of Kansas.

I'm glad we got that out of the way.

This year was also the year of theme aprons.

So fun to make.

This one is obviously for a firefighter/mom.

Paws and bones for the dog lover.

Everyone chose such bright and fun color combinations this year.

A friend of mine ordered the two aprons above for her husband's mother and sister.

And wouldn't you know, he surprised her with an apron of her own on Christmas Day.

She modeled it for us as she cooked up a storm on New Year's Eve.

Hands down, little Olivia's apron was my favorite.

The silk taffeta bodice and tutu skirt hardly make it practical ... and that's exactly why it's fit for a little princess.

Jacob's mom ordered him an art smock to go with his new art set he asked Santa for.

And Elijah got personalized luggage from his Grandmother.

But somewhere around December 22nd, I was about to pull my hair out.

Most sewing machines these days just aren't meant for the amount of wear and tear I put on them.

Breakdown after breakdown ... machine and machine.

I finally resorted to Grandma Oleen's good ol' Pfaff.

Although I'm sure she's snickering up in heaven because I managed to break the otherwise indestructible hunk of metal.

Thankfully just the spool holder, as you can see I rednecked it out with my own little fix.

Add that to the list of machines going into the shop next week.

As a last resort my good old trusty Featherweight was on standby, but thankfully I never had to use it.

Fortunately, my baby, my main embroidery machine, worked like a charm through it all.

If that thing breaks, I will have no reason to live.

Okay, that's a lie.

And super dramatic.

But there are some truths to it.

Meanwhile, my little furball assistants were in no way any help.

The farm office couch is cursed.

The minute anyone, man or beast, sits down on it they are destined to fall asleep.

Glad to see you found a use for my quilt Woodrow.

Aprons weren't the only thing on my list this year.

I got lots of embroidery orders.

I made dozens of these kitchen towels for various orders.

I also got lots of orders for personalized napkins.

Santa got a lot of these with his cookies this year.

And to break up the monotony of it all, a football order.

A friend of Virginia Tech's quarterback had this jersey personalized for him.

And this towel went to the cutest little blue-eyed baby girl this side of the Mississippi.

Another customer ordered a casserole carrier.

And nothing makes my day better than when someone brings me a 31 bag and asks me to jazz it up a bit.

Take that 31.