259/365 Peppermint gelato

For part of her job, one of my friends reviews local restaurants. She invited me last week to have dinner with her at an Italian place north of Indianapolis. Dinner with her? Italian? There was no possible way I could turn that down.

Our food was truly excellent, and we capped off the meal by sampling some of their gelato. I chose peppermint, because I'm on a particularly strong peppermint kick right now, surrounded by seasonal colors and flavors.

It was wonderful, and it made a nice cleansing-palate end to the meal. And it inspired me to buy some Edy's peppermint (light!) ice cream at the grocery store a few days later.

Man, that sounds good right now...

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000

258/365 Red cabbage

My last Farm Fresh Delivery bin contained some beautiful red cabbage that I couldn't resist photographing.

I've been having their organic produce delivered to my door for a couple months now, and I absolutely love it. It's giving me healthy variety in my diet -- as well as some great photo subjects.

When the fruit and vegetables are delivered on your doorstep -- already paid for -- it's hard to ignore them. And when they're attractive and interesting, that's impossible to resist, too.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 800

257/365 Pet names and attachment

It's amazing how attached to our cars -- completely inanimate objects -- we can become.

I know a lot of people who have affectionately named their cars over the years. My grandmother named every car she owned. The ones I specifically recall were an old gray pickup named "Old Gray Lady," and a full-sized van named "Traveler."

My first car was a bright blue Volkswagen Beetle, and I called it "Zippy." I intended to name my next car, but nothing inspired me, and after a while I forgot about it and just stuck with "my car." How boring.

When you face the facts that the relationship with [insert car's name] is no longer a positive one, does your research process for a new vehicle constitute as emotional cheating? And does it become a full-on affair when you first take the new beauty for a test drive?

Then there comes a time when you reason with yourself and remember that it is an inanimate object, after all. A box of metal and plastic on four wheels.

How cold.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 800

256/365 Cookie haul

Remember that cookie exchange party I told you about in my last post? This is what my haul looked like afterward. Great!

I kept a few for myself and shared the rest with friends and family -- which is part of the intention of such a party. Get your holiday baking done all at once.

The bonus was that I came away with some fun containers as well.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 500

255/365 Cookies everywhere

For the second year in a row, a friend of mine invited me to her annual cookie exchange party. It's a fun concept: Each invitee brought a half dozen cookies packaged for each person at the party, plus a dozen cookies on a platter for taste testing. We each also brought copies of the recipe that we made.

The idea is that you go away with some of your holiday baking complete, with a variety of new cookies to give, and a handful of delicious new recipes.

This year 13 of us attended, meaning we each had to make 7 1/2 dozen cookies for the party. That's a lot of cookies, let me tell you.

I planned to do my baking in Mom's oven, because mine is smaller than average (only 17" wide inside). That means I can't use ordinary, large cookie sheets, and it multiplies the time it takes to make something in "batches."

But Chase came down with the flu the day before I was to go bake, so plans changed, and I stayed home. My little kitchen was covered in cookies.

Two and a half hours later, I had eight dozen Cocoa Fudge cookies cooling on the table. Yum!

Camera: Canon 40D with 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/3.5 at ISO 500

254/365 For the love of Jane Austen

Ah, Jane Austen, how I love thee.

I first read Pride & Prejudice in my freshman year of college. My required literature class was themed "From horror to high tea," so we read Frankenstein, Dracula, Pride & Prejudice, and Jane Eyre.

I honestly need to go back and reread Frankenstein and Jane Eyre, because I didn't put nearly as much effort or focus into reading them as I should have at that point. I remember being rather bored with both, and I did a lot of skimming of the text.

Dracula I had read before, so I already had a good understanding of it. Pride & Prejudice was the only novel of the four that I actually liked. It did take me some time to get used to the language and get through it, but by the end, I was hooked.

As an English Writing minor, I took another literature class during my senior year that focused solely on the work of Jane Austen. We read five of her six complete novels: Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. Again, I need to give Mansfield Park and Persuasion another go. But that class truly turned me into a Jane Austen fan. I've read many other authors' adaptations and continuations of her stories since then, and I can't get enough.

So Northanger Abbey is the only one of her six novels that I had yet to read. That became one of my goals for 2009, to read the book. Well, it's now mid-December, and I'm doing it. I will accomplish that goal by the 31st.

I'm having an easier time than ever getting into the story and the style, and I'm enjoying the book very much. At this point, I'd say it's among my top three favorites, joined by P&P and S&S.

Check another resolution off that 2009 list!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 400

253/365 Home fires burning

One of the best things about winter is having a fire burning in the fireplace. I think it gives the whole house a more homey feel, and adds emotional as well as physical warmth.

I love coming in from the cold outside, shedding my coat and boots, then hurrying to the fireplace to stand as close as humanly possible without touching the hot surface. You do have to rotate yourself like a rotisserie chicken, but that intense heat is heavenly.

I also have to say that roasting marshmallows indoors over a fire is tons of fun. I definitely need to make time for that this winter.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/30s, f/2.8 at ISO 1000

252/365 Popcorn

Sometimes you just need some popcorn.

It's not a snack I gravitate to often -- maybe once every few months -- mainly because it's just not top of mind. Though if you do it right (and boring), it's a perfectly reasonable snack.

There really is nothing like the smell of popcorn, don't you agree? When someone makes it at work, the entire building fills with the scent of fresh popcorn in a matter of minutes.

I think the only other smell that really permeates like that is fish. But in my book, that's not a pleasant fragrance.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 100

251/365 One little Christmas tree

"I found a Christmas tree today!"

"Great! How big is it?"

"Eight feet tall, and 60" in diameter. I know it's really big for my space, but I just fell in love with it and couldn't resist."

Silence. "Oh my gosh...?"

"Just kidding! It's a cute little 4.5-foot tall, Norfolk pine that has pinecones. It's very cute."

I couldn't help but tease my mom a little when I found my tree. She had helped me scope out options a couple weeks before I found this one, and she warned me about not falling for one too big for my space.

If past precedent says anything, though, she would be the one person who would understand loving a big tree. The story goes that when she and Dad bought their first one, when I was a baby, she went out, intending to get a small tree, but came back with a 7-footer.

I've grown up with artificial trees, so I naturally gravitate toward that variety. I put my tree up this year the day after Thanksgiving, but as of now, it's adorned with just four ornaments. I suppose this will be a year for decorating gradually.

Camera: Canon 40D, 1 second, f/4 at ISO 100

250/365 A beautiful bookcase

I've found that my collection of hand-me-down furniture hasn't provided me much space for setting decorative items, lamps, etc. out in my living room. My grandfather made a beautiful clock for me, which is a replica of a clock he made several decades ago -- but it's been sitting on the floor for four months because I simply had nowhere (stable) to put it.

I found that one of the first things I needed/wanted was a fairly large shelving unit to sit against one large wall. Having a unit like this would be more aesthetically proportionate on that wall, it would give me more space for DVDs, photo albums, and books, and it would also provide a stable surface on which I could put my clock, photo frames, and other decorative items.

I collected some ideas (via the pages of Pottery Barn's catalog) and one day showed Grandpa what I was dreaming of. He immediately saw a fun project, gave me an idea of what the various kinds of lumber cost, and told me to sketch out my dimensions.

I designed my bookcase, gave him the sketch, and he got to work. Just over a month later (last week), I became the proud new owner of a beautiful cherry bookcase that not only gives me exactly what I needed -- it gives me yet another piece with great sentimental value.

Even the residual smell of sawdust and polyurethane makes the space feel more like home.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 640

249/365 Holiday music

It's not Christmas without piano music in my family.

I have memories from my earliest years of singing "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty, the Snowman," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," etcetera etcetera etcetera, standing by the piano while Mom played.

When I got old enough and began taking lessons from her, I started playing the songs as well. (Though I cannot play while people sing, so I leave that to her and just play for my own enjoyment.)

Several years ago, we got a four-hand duet book and started playing Christmas songs together. Even when the music is simple, it's challenging (for me, not for her) to play alongside someone else. We laughed when we both subconsciously started swaying back and forth on the bench while we played "White Christmas."

I pulled out some of the Christmas song books last weekend and started warming my fingers up.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 640

248/365 Shorter days

When it comes to the dark days of winter, it seems to me like the days shorten very quickly prior to the winter solstice -- but the speed at which the days lengthen afterward doesn't seem proportionate. It takes forever for the days to get longer again.

Does it feel that way to you?

The sun sets here around 5:45-6:00 p.m. right now. That's early. I go to work while the sky is just beginning to lighten, and I get home after the sun has set.

We measure time with New York, on Eastern time. It would seem to me, though, that geographically we should mark time with Chicago instead. We're 700+ miles west of NYC, but we're less than 200 miles southeast of Chicago. Does that make sense to you?

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 400 at about 5:45 p.m.

247/365 A merry Black Friday

Some of my out-of-town girlfriends were in town for Thanksgiving, so we took advantage of the timing and got together for dinner and our ornament exchange.

We met for dinner at Santorini Greek Kitchen in Fountain Square on Friday night (Black Friday). Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, and there was plenty of flaming cheese to go around.

Afterward, we ventured downtown to Monument Circle to see the newly lit tree. It's touted as the "largest Christmas tree in the world" (debatable), and the switch is traditionally flipped on the day after Thanksgiving. I've been present several times for the actual lighting, which is fun but admittedly anti-climactic. I enjoy seeing it after the crowds have dispersed just as much.

We got hot chocolate at a store on the circle (photo above) and had lots of fun catching up. Happy holidays!

 

Camera: Canon 40D
First photo: 1/80s, f/4 at ISO 1600
Second photo: 1/80s, f/3.5 at ISO 1600 with flash

246/365 Thanksgiving traditions

I'm one of those people who vehemently believes that Christmas music should not be played nor decorations unboxed until the day after Thanksgiving.

12:01 Friday morning? Christmas is on!

I believe this because Thanksgiving is a lovely holiday that deserves to be celebrated on its own, not merely as the holiday that kicks off the Christmas season.

My family's Thanksgiving celebrations have become very low-key over the years. When my paternal grandparents were still around, we drove to Michigan to celebrate the holiday with them and my aunt and uncle. My grandparents have both passed away, so we now observe the holiday in a very chill style, among just the four of us at home.

One practice that has humorously become tradition is this: we must watch the National Dog Show on NBC. It's usually on right after the parade, and as a dog lover, I find it really fun to watch.

Of course, we root for the Bichon. Buster does, too.

We had a great meal in the evening this year and watched a movie together after dessert.

Now? Time for Christmas!

Camera: Canon 40D with 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 400

245/365 Annual ornament exchange

I'm all in favor of gift exchanges. It brings a group together -- reinforcing the spirit of gift-giving -- but lessens the strain on our wallets.

Until last year, the adults in my extended family did an annual Christmas gift exchange. The kids of the family were added to the pool when we graduated from college (time to be a grown-up). I had only briefly been a part of the exchange when the majority of the family voted to discontinue the practice.

I miss it. Sure, some people are difficult to buy for. But I enjoy the process of thinking of a person, considering what they do and love, and finding a great gift for them. The family Christmas gathering now feels empty and rather cold without it.

Luckily, my girlfriends still continue to do an annual exchange. Rather than doing individual gifts, though, we each buy an ornament and exchange them instead. The tradition was borne from meager young-professional salaries and rather barren Christmas trees. I really enjoy it and look forward to this part of my holiday.

We did our ornament exchange a little early this year to catch as many people as possible who were in town for Thanksgiving. The one I bought and exchanged is pictured above. I chose black and white to reflect the spirit of the Indianapolis 500 (with which we were all associated as Princesses), but the majority of the ornaments did not follow any particular theme.

The one I received was the first ornament hung on my tree this year. The season is here!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 400