Star Tree Topper

This is my first Christmas tree - the very first of my own in my own apartment. My mom, sister, and I piled in the car the first weekend in December and brought back this beautiful tree tied to the top of my car. My mom has been buying us each ornaments since forever so I have plenty. Lights were purchased and strung. But the tree topper - that needed to be special.  

It had to be a star. Nothing else would do. I like the angels and the bows, but I love starts. 

I  got a piece of foam board and cut out a start. I didn't use a pattern so it's not perfect, but I wanted it a little free form.

Then I took yarn and wrapped it. I tried to keep it single strand all the way around until it was completely wrapped. I tied it in the back. 

You could use a hot glue gun, but I thought it would be nice to reuse the yarn later for something else and create a new topper next year. Hey, I might have my first tradition.

Pumpkin + Kidney Beans + Kale

This year for Halloween I got a couple of little pie pumpkins. I painted the outside - a bat and a ghost - so that I could still use them in the kitchen later. I peeled and chopped them, and put them in the crock pot with enough water to cover the bottom. A few hours later, they were soft yumminess. This thing didn't even need any butter or salt or anything else! I was spooning it out of the pot! 

It made a lovely combination with kidney beans and kale. I simply put it all in a pan together over medium heat until the kale was cooked and the beans were hot. I added salt and pepper. This is the type of dinner that makes me feel good because I'm eating healthy foods, lots of lovely colors, and enjoying every bite! 

Kitty Foods & Meowing Holidays

My sweet Charlie cat has been on a diet. It has meant more meowing, a definite attempt at herding me into the kitchen every time I walk down the hallway, and much more interest in what I'm munching as I sit on the couch watching TV. But it's also meant a reduction belly, which means a healthier kitty. He has also been a lot friskier!

After Thanksgiving, Charlie got the remains of the chicken. He gets two treats a day and for a whole week this was chicken bits. He loved it! And his coat got super soft and glossy. He put back on a little bit but is still slimmer and trimmer.

But there are the Christmas trimmings to go....the holiday season is just beginning....

Thanks to the Patch, I've got some ideas of what Charlie can (and can't) have.

NO: Onions, garlic, chives, alcohol, caffienated drinks or food, grapes and raisins, liver in large amounts (a tiny bit is okay), milk or excessive dairy products, candy, gum or baked goods containing xylitol

YES: Baked carrots, steamed asparagus or broccoli, cooked green beans, winter squash, or chopped greens, small amounts of cottage cheese (if your cat tolerates it), small portions of cooked fish or poultry (no bones)

Will Charlie eat baked carrots? Cottage cheese? Broccoli? I guess there's one way to find out. To be continued......

Golden Shoes!

PEDS, a pedestrian advocacy org in Atlanta, just came out with their Golden Shoe Awards.
*Clapping* and *dancing* for the BeltLine Eastside Trail (Pedestrian-friendly Trail) and Atlanta Streets Alive (Pedestrian-friendly Event)!

2012 Golden Shoe Award winners: (from midtown.patch.com)

Pedestrian-friendly Policy Change: Georgia Department of Transportation, for adopting a Complete Streets Policy that requires new transportation projects to serve all transportation modes.

Pedestrian-friendly Trail: City of Atlanta, for building the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, a  combination of multi-use trail and linear greenspace in the old rail corridor running from Piedmont Park to Inman Park.

Pedestrian-friendly Events: Atlanta Streets Alive, a recurring event organized by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition that encourages cyclists and people on foot to take back and enjoy Atlanta’s streets.

Pedestrian-friendly Traffic Operations: City of Roswell, for installing Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons, a low-cost device that has dramatically increased driver compliance with crosswalk laws near Centennial High School.

Pedestrian-friendly Journalism: AJC reporter Jeremiah McWilliams, for bringing attention to Atlanta’s decaying sidewalk infrastructure and to rising pedestrian fatalities in Georgia.

Pedestrian-friendly Research: Urban Land Institute Center for Leadership, for research exposing inherent cost inefficiencies in Atlanta’s sidewalk maintenance program.

Pedestrian-friendly Activism: Brookwood Hills Neighborhood Association, for inventorying sidewalk conditions, working with the City of Atlanta and private contractors and raising sufficient funds, to repair over 3000 linear feet of curbs and sidewalks.

Pedestrian-friendly Suburban Retrofit: City of Duluth, for installing a roundabout and sidewalks that are encouraging increased walking.

Pedestrian-friendly Public Art: Living Walls, an ongoing program bringing artists to Atlanta to paint attractive and intriguing murals throughout the City.

Algerian Sweets

A co-worker recently returned from a trip home. Home to him is Algeria. As is the custom in the office, he brought a little treat for everyone. Candy! This is like a Jordan Almond, but is very hard and has a groundnut/peanut inside. I might have eaten half the bag. But I really just can't get over the beautiful, bright colors. 

Banana Pudding Cupcake @ Sugar Moon Bakeshop

I dragged my sister to Oakhurst the other day, specifically to McKoy Park to check out the skate park. It's the only one in Atlanta that I can find that allows BMX bikes. The lovely, new and shiny park on the Beltline in Old Fourth Ward doesn't.

My sister is a sport. I swear she rolled her eyes at least once, but she came with me to explore. I don't ride BMX bikes, but I dream about it. I love watching them defy gravity. Everytime I catch X-treme Games, I'm glued to the TV.

It was a little anticlimatic, until we found these cupcakes. The skate park had a handful of teenage boys on boards so we decided to check out the shops around Oakhurst square. And what did we find there - Sugar Moon Bakeshop!

This is their best seller - Banana Pudding Cupcake.


Look - there's pudding inside! That was a very nice surprise.
Their coffee was also really good.

Happy Halloween - Black Cats Rule

Halloween is my favorite holiday.
You can be anyone or anything you want to be.
You get to play with knives and your food while carving up pumpkins.
You get to laugh and scare and have fun with people.
You get to eat candy and chocolate any time of the day.
What is not to like?

It's the most stress-free, hassle-free holiday there is.

I work at one of those places where "Halloween" is a bad word. Or used to be. Last year only one lonely soul dressed up. This year, it was all fun and games at our "Fall Festival." We had a chili cook-off and goodies. I made black cat cookies. The idea was to make the icing look like a skeleton, but that didn't quite work. So let's just say I was going for the mummy effect. Either way, they were yummy.

I made them by dressing up a sugar cookie recipe by adding cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and a little clove. They weren't overly sweet and were a cross between gingerbread and sugar cookie.