100 things I am thankful for, in no particular order

1. My bed 2. Chapstick 3. Sun coming through the windows 4. Snow in winter 5. Fresh air 6. The smell of the ocean 7. Snuggling 8. Indoor pluming 9. Mexican food 10. My three cats 11. Hot baths 12. Thick blankets 13. Driving fast 14. Fresh flowers 15. Tin toys 16. French fries 17. Ibuprofen 18. Big fat snowflakes 19. Spring 20. The mountains 21. Shrimp 22. Warm shoes 23. The roof over my head 24. Air Conditioning 25. The internet 26. Mabel purring as I fall asleep 27. Beautiful painted walls 28. New York City 29. Flip flops 30. Fireworks 31. French fries 32. Easter decorations 33. Kisses 35. The way my husband hugs me 36. Shampoo 37. The desert 38. Harry Potter books 39. Travel websites 40. My little sister 41. Cool showers 42. Rainbows 43. Middle Eastern sweet tea 44. Falling leaves 45. The ability to see color 46. Indoor heating 47. Abandoned places 48. Mt. Pleasant 49. My Christmas tree 50. Thunderstorms 51. My two brothers 52. Rainforests 53. Planning my next trip 54. My husband's smile 55. My car 56. Dishwashers 57. Spending hours in a bookstore 58. Good coffee 59. Scarves 60. The toy shop on 9th and 9th 61. Back rubs 62. My favorite movies 63. Laundry machines 64. Freedom 65. My mom 66. Gardens 67. High tea 68. American Girl message boards 69. Reading a new book 70. My husband's wonderful family 71. Moose's grumpy attitude 72. Candles 73. Slippers 74. Indian food 75. Lifelong friends 76. Christmas presents 78. Alaska 79. Fresh fish 80. My memories of my Grandpa 81. Lazy Sundays 82. My dolls 83. The way Mabel licks my fingers 84. Old houses 85. My dad 86. Memories of when i was a kid 87. The reading nook 88. Secret rooms 89. My blog 90. Italy 91. T shirts 92. My job 93. The cabin 94. Baby animals 95. My pillow 96. Backpacking 97. Hand massages 98. Homemade ice cream 99. Peaches 100. Ethan

Everything tastes better dipped in cheese!

Now that I got that vent out of my system (see previous post) I can blog about something that I've been meaning to do all day, our fondue party E and I hosted last night!

So, as most of your know my Grandma is traveling to England for Christmas, so before she left I was excited to have a Christmas party. She left today, so we hosted a wonderful party last night! E and I decided to do a fondue party, who doesn't like things when they are dipped in a cheesy drunken goodness? Nobody, exactly.

The party started at 5:30 when my Grandma, aunt and uncle, cousins, Mom and Chuck, and three siblings showed up on my doorstep. We started chatting and hugging immediately, so happy Christmas is finally upon us. My Grandma was in charge of hor'dovers, and of course, she went all out. We had homemade crab cakes, shrimp, bruscetta, cheese and so much more. Soon we started exchanging gifts, Grandma had something for each of us, and we each had something for her.

E and I got something really special, a gift certificate to a night at the Homestead Resort! We are so excited! The Homestead in a great little getaway in rural Utah, and it is built on some natural hot springs, so it will be perfect on a winter weekend. Breakfast at the restaurant was included, so we are pretty excited.

Then we served the dinner, a huge pot of swiss cheese fondue (made with half a bottle of wine) and a fantastic Asian broth fondue. The items to dip included crunchy bread, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, sirloin steak, shrimp, snap peas, apples, and more. We ate and ate. Even when everyone said they were full, and we couldn't eat any more, we still ate.



The way we set up the fondue pots was fun too, there was a cheese fondue station and a broth fondue station, and people just migrated between them, so I ended up getting a chance to talk to everyone.

Soon most of the fondue was gone, and we were all tired and full. Now it was time for dessert, chocolate fondue! My mom brought a huge block of the most divine chocolate imaginable, cut it up into small chunks, mixed it with heavy cream and melted. We dipped berries, oranges, pound cake and bananas. As you can imagine, when we were done we were so full that we couldn't imagine ever eating again.
The party wound down and soon the house was quiet, but before E and I could settle down for a long winter's nap we had a kitchen full of dirty dishes. I realized just how thankful I am for dishwashers.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you Connie for the Dammit doll

Uggg, I hate mailing things this time of year, I needed to mail three books for office presents to out-of-state clients, so I went to a mailing center after work - BIG mistake. Not only was the line long, it didn't move the entire 50 minutes I was there. I finally got so mad I went to the front, demanded help, and left (with packages mailed) two minutes later. I hate incompetent people.

I made good use of a little sewn alien looking thing that my Mother in Law gave me when I got home, it is called a Dammit doll, here is the poem:

When you feel you want to throw something or shout, here's a little dammit doll you just can't live without. Just grab him by the legs and find a place to slam it! And... as you whack the stuffing out.. yell... Dammit, dammit dammit!

Thank you.

December fun

I don't really feel like typing an entire post right now, but I thought I'd share some photos of what I've been up to for the last few days.

The other night E and I went to the zoo at night for Zoo Lights, a new night time Christmas attraction the zoo is doing. It was quite fun because we got to see the animals and the lights. It was really cold though, so afterwards we went to dinner and I ordered a big bowl of French onion soup.
I owls were awake when you visit the zoo at night!
Yesterday E and I bought a gingerbread house kit at Costco. Before we started to decorate E said he needed to "sample" all the candy.
House all done!

Do you know about Google Reader?

Google Reader is something I love, and I've used it for a long time, but I realize everyone doesn't know about this nifty online program. This program lets you enter a list of blogs you like to read, and it will alert you when there is a new entry. If you are anything like me, who loves to read blogs, this program is vital, because I can't check everyone's blog every day to see if there is an update, Google Reader tells me when there is an update.

So, go to reader.google.com and sign in like you are creating a blog entry. On the left there is a button that says "add subscription". Click that, then add the URL of the blog you want to add (you can add as many as you want). Once it is added, you can see when there are new entries. After you've read the entry, just click "Mark as Read" and it we remember you are up to date on that blog.

Try it! And add me to your subscription list, because everyone needs a little does of Hot Hot JJ every day!

Winter Fairy

Winter is in full swing here in Utah, everything is pure white and the air is very cold. I wanted to post a photo of this little girl I got in Austria when I was there in September 2006. She reminds me so much of a little winter fairy, dressed in a warm blue dress with tiny winter flowers. She also wears a little hat that keeps her warm and covers her soft green hair.

Happy winter!

I'm feeling a little sad tonight

My favorite thing about the holidays is Christmas Eve. I've posted before about how I love my family's Christmas Eve party, it is so special to me. My grandparents always hosted in the past, and it was a large party where everyone dressed up, we had lots of music, drinks, and the most wonderful food ever imaginable. The best thing about the Christmas Eve party was that we were all together, my entire family, as long as I can remember.

I even remember being a little girl and being sent to bed in my grandparent's room before the party was over. There room was always freezing and I remember snuggling next to my brother in our new PJs before sleep finally came.

Last year we didn't have our traditional Christmas Eve party. My Grandpa's last wish was to host the party, he knew it would be his last. But the day of Christmas Eve he became too ill, so it was rescheduled at the last minute.

This year my Grandma is traveling for Christmas, being in her house alone one year after my Grandpa passed away is too hard, so she will travel to England to visit my aunt and uncle. That leaves the rest of the family to celebrate without her.

Today I spoke with my aunt and she informed me that they are not interested in celebrating Christmas Eve this year with the rest of the family. This was a huge surprise and greatly saddens me. I understand if they don't want to pretend my grandpa is still alive, or pretend that my grandma is home, but I still feel ditched on the most special day of the year. At least (I hope) to see them on Christmas...

I'm bummed that I'm feeling so sad right now because today I had the most wonderful day with Connie and Chelsea (and the dolls!). I woke up to a winter wonderland. I relaxed in front of the Christmas tree, got dressed and left the house with the ladies. We headed downtown first for tea and then to see the Nutcracker. What a wonderful time we had! The ballet was fantastic and the tea house was warm and comfortable like always.

Here are my two favorite photos from the tea house:


Violet's blog also has an account of our fun day.

Happy Hanukkah

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. Although I'm not religious, I still like to call my Grandma and wish her a happy holiday, light the menorah, and make latkes once or twice.

So what are latkes? Only the tastiest fried potato pancakes imaginable! Here is the recipe we've used forever.

Latkes:
Two large potatoes- peeled
Medium onion
2 eggs
2 TB matzo meal (found on international aisle at supermarket)
Pinch of salt

Chop potatoes and onion into chunks. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. In large frying pan heat enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of pan. Pour 1/2 cup of potato mixture into hot oil. Let fry for two minutes, or until golden. Flip, and fry other side and let fry. Drain fried latkes on paper towels. Serve HOT with applesauce and sour cream.

Hint- If you are making multiple batches for a party (like we always do), preheat oven to 250. Once latkes are fried and drained, place on a cookie sheet in the oven to keep hot while you make another batch. Enjoy!

Happy Hanukkah!

My favorite photo from snowshoeing today

Here is my favorite photo I took while snowshoeing today. If you want to see some more photos, check out Violet's blog, she joined us on our outing. Remember, you can click on the photo to see it a little larger.

Does anybody ever die of beauty overload?

Last summer in England when E and I were leaving a garden in the English countryside, I asked this question to E, does anybody ever die of beauty overload? One day you just find somebody that has blown up, and on the official reports it just says "beauty overload"? Of course I'm joking, but sometimes the world is just so beautiful I think that my chest will burst.

Today is one of those days.

Yesterday it snowed and snowed and snowed. By the time it got dark the roads were slick and the branches heavy with freshly fallen snow. It was magical. This morning I woke up to a clear blue sky. Each branch is wrapped in a pure white winter blanket. It is heavenly.

Later today E and I plan to go snowshoeing, so I will come back with more photos, I am sure. These photos I took at 8:30 this morning. I woke up and realized how splendid it was outside, so I put on my slippers, grabbed my camera, and slipped out back door in just my jammies in the 21 degree weather, but it was worth it, I hope you agree.

My Christmas list!

I wanted to post my Christmas list just for fun. I don't want any of you wonderful friends that read the blog to think this is a hint on what to buy me (because most of it has been purchased already!). I reason I am posting my Christmas list is for me, because it is fun to look back a few years from now and see what I was asking for. So, what do I want this year for Christmas?
2007 Christmas List
1. New ski coat
2. New ski pants
(The last time I got a new ski coat and pants was when I was 14, I'm still wearing them, I think it is time for an upgrade!)
3. Lei Mei- BEAUTIFUL new doll from American Girl that E is getting me!
4. Purple Croc Mary Jane shoes
5. Gift certificate to favorite restaurants
6. B&N and Amazon.com gift certificates
7. American girl items including Emily's snow suit, Nicki's ski outfit and gear, and sleepover PJs.
8. Harry Potter mug and t-shirt

So, that is my Christmas list for this year. Lei Mei is already under the Christmas tree, however E says it is not her, because he's trying to trick me ;).

It is snowing!

Oh what a glorious day it is!