santa came...

...and left me this!!!!!!

In aubergine no less. I love saying that word now aubergine.

The very first thing I want to make is this Pioneer Woman chicken soup! I can't wait!

it snowed...a little

See? Just a little. It's going to be 42 degress Christmas Day so it will probably be gone soon.

He's so sneaky

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Remember when we were here a few months ago? There was no snow and that icy pond had ripples.

It looked like there were quite a few footprints on the ice, and it was about 5 inches deep so we took our chances...

Made it to the center!

We stood on a frozen pond for the first time in our lives. Pretty cool!

Happy Holidays from Minneapolis, Minnesota!!

White Christmas??????

This was the view from our window on Dec 3, 2011...

Then we went to Orlando for a little less than a week and the temp spiked in Minneapolis into the 40's.

This. means. no. snow.

Not one iota of snow on the ground. Wanna know that the 10 day forecast looks like...

no. snow.

Christmas Day it will be 23 degrees and sunny.

A Florida girl can't even get a white Christmas in minnefrickinsota.

 Sigh.

Holiday Inn circa 1942. A family favorite. (In color too)

Dear Santa, Please don't take this the wrong way and arrange for five feet of snow to be dumped on minne. I  just want some flurries on Christmas day. Thanks, Christina

A visit

I'm a little behind but I wanted to post these pictures we took while Gerry was in town to see Silent Night. We had fun touring her around the big city and eating at some yummy restaurants!!

 We were able to visit Minnehaha falls. It is pronounced just like you'd think and always makes me laugh. Minnehaha, haha.

He was still sporting the stache'. It's gone now. I kept telling I couldn't take him seriously with it and it's audition season. Lucky break.

Here's another pic that was taken that weekend at the opera after party.

via Clare pix photography http://www.clarepix.com/

Doesn't he look so different??!!

Anywho, one last pic from the visit with Gerry. We stopped by Mall of America before she flew out on Monday. I realize I haven't posted much about this special place. All you need to know is that there are two Auntie Anne's pretzels. Two. One on the south side and one on west side. I've obviously been to both. Not on the same day, but there's an idea. hmmmmm.

There is a MEGA Lego store there and it's a favorite spot for Gabe when we go. I took this picture on my phone outside the store...

The pictures are made out of single legos. Tiny single ones! It's pretty cool!

Thanks for visiting Gerry!! We had fun, sorry you missed the snow! ;)

Very pintersting

I seriously love pinterest! I used to collect favorite projects under my favorite tabs but then they would be forgotten. This way I can check back regularly and come up with new ideas. A few weeks ago I shared a  blog post about a turkey shirt whose inspiration came from a pin, so I decided to share a few more pins that have tuned into more than just inspiration.

 

Source: creatingkeepsakesblog.com via Christina on Pinterest

I have done this with all my ribbon and it has made storage so much easier!

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Christina on Pinterest

Ree Drummond blows my mind. I love her so much. I especially love this amazing chowder!! Turned out so yummy. Probably all the half and half.

Source: lightrefreshmentsserved.com via Christina on Pinterest

Cool coasters that were so cheap to make. I just bought the tiles at home depot and I already had the paper and mod podge on hand. I also bought the rubber pads at target. Here is how mine turned out...

I  love how they turned out.



Source: mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com via Christina on Pinterest

This was a great post with several recipes. We made the chicken curry and it was so yummy and made great leftovers.

Now for the creme de la creme.......



Source: favfamilyrecipes.com via Christina on Pinterest

I will preface by saying that in the (almost) six years we have been married I have never gotten such an amazing reaction over food from the opera singer. It was a What about Bob moment. If you click on the link it takes you to the recipe for the Cafe Rio (chain in UT, CA) burrito/salad elements. I made the sweet pulled pork in a crock pot and it was pretty darn good. I even ate it which says alot since I don't eat much meat. He on the other hand about died and went to shredded pork heaven. You should try it :)

I have to do a major blog catch up soon. Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been working too much! Gabe is in "audition season" again. Send some good vibes and prayers his way if you could :)

Thankful

(via)

In honor of Thanksgiving I wanted to take time to write down a few things we are grateful for.

First and for most each other. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Our amazing families and getting to visit soon.

Our health

For Linda doing well

Our church, which provides a place for us always, even with our crazy gypsy lifestyle.

The knowledge of the gospel

Our teeny tiny apt that is just for us and heat included :)

Our friends

Two operating cars

Food in our fridge

Jobs (My husband gets payed to sing. Can you believe it?)

The skyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first beautiful snow fall we got to watch together. (I'll post pics soon)

The confidence to cook more. Home cooked meals are becoming easier for us :)

We are so blessed. Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

Tin Cup Food Challenge

(via)

Let's start off by saying if you have no clue who this guy is...this post will likely confuse you.

Gabe would like to BE him. And that is that.

Adam Richman stars on Man v. Food Nation on the travel channel and we both love the show.

He goes to cities around the U.S. scouting out good food spots and takes on extreme food challenges.

Gabe saw one recently where Adam visited the Twin Cities and was giddy with anticipation of going to a local dive called Tin Cup.

The challenge:

Two- one lb. burgers and two pounds of fries. These aren't just any burgers, they're juicy lucys which means they have a cheesy filling in the interior and these so happened to have jalapenos in the center and the actual burger was smothered in a hot pepper siracha sauce. Sound good?

Gabe and his friend Jon were up to the challenge.

Haha, don't you love the excitement!

Gabe finished the first burger in four minutes...

Second one took a little longer but he was foooooooooooooooooocused.

Starting to not feel so good.

.....aaaaaaand he's done. Finished both burgers but couldn't mange all the fries. The best part- he had to be at rehearsal in less than 30 minutes. I'm not sure how he didn't get sick.

In the fight against man versus food...sadly...FOOD won.

One beautiful silent night

This weekend marked the opening of Silent Night, a world premiere opera, which Gabe was so fortunate to be a part of. The show was stunning and probably my favorite to date. Remember a few weeks ago I told you about a photo shoot Gabe was a part of for the opera...

Here's how it turned out.

Cool, huh?

The show was even cooler. Here are several links to photos, and reviews. So exciting over here!!

Here's a great article from MPR that was written before the show. (It has great pics and audio)

'Silent Night' recounts Christmas Truce across no man's land Minnesota Public Radio News

Liam Bonner as Lt. Audebert, Gabriel Preisser as Lt. Gordon and Craig Irvin as Lt. Horstmayer in "Silent Night." The new Minnesota Opera production tells the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce during World War I. (Via Minnesota Opera/Michael Daniel)

Review from the Star Tribune

Troy Cook's Palmer, Andrew Wilkowske's Ponchel and the trio of lieutenants (Liam Bonner, Craig Irvin, Gabriel Preisser) merit special praise.

The review from the Examiner

Vocally Silent Night relies heavily on the commanding baritones of Craig Irvin (as the German Lieutenant Horstmayer), Gabriel Preisser (as the Scottish Lieutenant Gordon), and Liam Bonner (as the French Lieutenant Audebert). The interplay of these three talented singers - from tersely delivered formalities to the affectionate cordialities of unlikely friends – is endlessly compelling, their tonal synchronicity suggesting a private sympathy that runs deeper than the capricious ideologies of their clashing nations.

skyway

Last week Gabe and I went on a date night to the movies. It was the first time going since we moved here and we decided to try taking the skyway there. The Minneapolis skyway is over 5 miles long and connects 52 city blocks. It is crucial during the winter months (more crucial now for the FL kids) and we are connected to practically everything. It's not always the quickest route but it's defintely the warmest. We went to the movies and came back home and didn't walk outside once. Thank the heavens for this skyway connected apartment. Gabe calls the skyway our house, just a connection of where we sleep. It is filled with shops, restaurants, salons, etc. The catch...only open late on the weeknights with limited places open on the weekends. Definitely catering more towards individuals that work in the city. I made a little map so you could see where we go most and how far it is from where we live.

Basic Map via

The heart shape covers my fav place, Target. Nicollet Mall, the long red line is literally like an outdoor/partially covered mall, it's in the opening credits of the Mary Tyler Moore show.

Star = movies, Basketball = Target Center. After I finished editing this map I realized it's totally outdated. The skyway goes much further now. They are even building another one on the building next to ours which will give us a shortcut to certain places. Pretty neat, huh?

Timbeeeeerrrrrrrrr!

little bitty shirt

Recently I was admiring a cute sewing craft on pinterest.

Source: None via Christina on Pinterest

The pin came from a google image search and when I tried to find a tutorial or source online I had no luck. The more I stared at it the more confident I became that I could make it. I loooooooove ribbon so I have quite a few spools to choose from and knew that I had enough variety to pull it off.

Here are the supplies I used...

Basic Cherokee t-shirt from Target (I used 18 mos.)

Brown minky fabric, small scrap piece

Various colors and sizes of ribbon

Heat 'n Bond

Thread

Scissors
Disappearing fabric ink pen

Sequins and small beads

Template for turkey body (I made mine using MS word, overlapped two circles)

(Next-sorry didn't get a picture. I sewed tiny beads on top of a sequin for the eyes and beak. I tried to hand sew and even used the sewing machine initially, but nothing looked right. When all else fails find sequin.)

I sent it off to little V, my cousins baby. Not as perfect as the original but I was still pretty happy with how it turned out!

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Here is an updated picture of little V in the turkey shirt...

She's so cute!!

according to the camera phone

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii husband! You look awfully handsome!

Hello beautiful sweater that was rejected from Talbots. I will gladly buy you for $16.99 at Marshalls, especially since you started out as $90.

Downtown at dusk

Beautiful sky

Opera pre-show. Gabe sang a piece from Cosi.

Broccoli Quinoa Casserole. It was soooo delicious!

Definitely making this again. Here is the recipe.

Hope everyone has a great week!