Fire in the Firespace!

I decided to try taking a photo of the fire we had going because I always think fire shots look neat. This was a particularly nice and very warm fire. While Kendall and I were dating, I lived in an apartment that had a fireplace and one time when we were chatting online he referred to it, on accident, as my firespace. Since that time, I have not let him forget it and often use firespace instead of fireplace because it fits and I like how it sounds.

Dog Day (aka Sunday Afternoon)

One feature I absolutely love about our house is the wood burning fireplace. So, we have been putting it to good use this Winter. One of the most interesting parts of having a fire going is our dog Heidi. She LOVES the fireplace! I think it's the heat she enjoys most but she is not at all afraid of the flames or popping wood and gets very close to the hearth and sometimes partly on the hearth and naps. Hans, on the other hand, is a little more cautious and stays back a little further. So, I bet you can guess from the photo above which is which.

Snowshoe, WV Product Placement

A perfect mid-afternoon snowboarding break includes a Starbucks Venti Hot Chocolate shared with your boarding buddy. It doesn't hurt that it's in the middle of a cute resort village with an outdoor fireplace. This Starbucks HAS to be making a killing. As long as we were there, the line was backed up all the way to the door but not out the door because that would be just too chilly. Cheers!

Snowshoe, WV Ninjas

This past weekend a couple of friends invited us to go snowboarding with them in Snowshoe, WV. Only one of the four of us had ever been there so it was nice to try out a new place and get to know each other a little better. Snowshoe is definitely by far the largest and nicest ski resort I've been to on the East Coast. The day we went was the second day all 60 trails were open for this season. Unfortunately, due to the previous day being warm (40s) it made the slopes for us a bit icy even though the temperature never got above freezing while we were there. Thankfully, the resort realized this and started blowing snow so the conditions improved throughout the day even as the temperatures dropped from the 20s in the morning to teens in the afternoon. Hence, the bundled and unidentifiable people in the picture above. All in all, we had a great time falling down the mountain! (Blue Goggles: Jeff, Purple Goggles: Britta, Orange Goggles: Kendall, Photographer: Me)

Snow Day Backyard View

This was the view out our dining room window of our backyard. I finally got our hanging basket plants up after sitting on the floor below for many months. We do not have any curtains or blinds in these windows so they look less barren now. The plant on the left is a spider plant and the plant on the right is some kind of cactus.

Hans & Heidi Snow Videos

Hans and Heidi running around the backyard.

More running around in the backyard and ending with Heidi making yellow snow. ;-)

This is Hans eating the snow. Both dogs ate a LOT of snow, it was really funny.

Hans & Heidi in the snow

Kendall was very excited for the snow and to see how Hans & Heidi would react to it. They loved it! The snow was up to their bellies but that didn't stop them. Much running, playing, and eating followed by shivering. Very cute indeed!

Snowman!

I really am still a kid at heart. With all this snow, I had to build a snowman and here he is! Arms are sticks, nose is an icicle, eyes are pennies, mouth is 12-gauge hookup wire (thanks Kendall!), and hat was my Grandfathers! I seem to have lost the knack of rolling snowballs so I made him by gathering and packing snow together until it stuck. I had lots of fun and I can't imagine what the neighbors thought lol!

How much snow did we get?

This much! On top of our grill, I measured 6.5" in about 12 hours! Other places I measured varied from 5-7" on average. I just realized while looking throug old photos that every time we've had an actual snowstorm since I've moved to NC, it's been in January. This one, by far, has been the most impressive. No work and everything!

Gingerbread House

My first ever gingerbread house! The house was premade, all I had to do was decorate. I give much kudos to real cake decorators and the people that made the houses for the box because it's a LOT harder than it looks! I didn't do everything I wanted to but oh well I don't think it turned out too bad for my first ever attempt. I had fun making it too.

Flashback to January 2005: Candles

For several years, my parents owned a candle business and when I would come home on weekends I always enjoyed helping make them. The primary focus was on the handmade candles you see above. I'll attempt to briefly explain the process. A star shaped "core" was premade with colorless translucent wax. Several vats of colored wax were melted. The core was then dipped once into a color to coat the outside then immediately dipped into water to harden the wax. This process was repeated several times to build up the layers of colors on the outside of the core. After a sufficient number of layers of colors were added, you have approximately 5-10 minutes to cut with a knife or other tools the designs you see above, before the candle becomes too cold and hard to work with. I think my parents have ceased making candles which makes me sad. Over time it became not worth the travelling to loading and unloading at various craft shows and not reaching the proper market for them. I wish I could figure out a way to safely ship them as they are very fragile.

Flashback to January 2005: Ice Storm

While at my parents one weekend, an ice storm hit "South" Georgia. It's really Middle Georgia but most people call it South since it's, well, South of Atlanta. (Note: Atlanta is NOT in the middle of the state.) This was very unusual since even seeing snow is a very rare sight. So, the ice storm made for some really great and unusual sights!

Flashback to January 2005: Trail Ride

Kendall's Uncle Phil took us on a trail ride with the Toyota Land Cruiser club in Georgia. We went to a park in the North Georgia Mountains that allowed off road vehicles. The red Land Cruiser in the middle of the photo is the one we rode in. No seatbelts in the back, just loops hanging from the ceiling to hold on to! It was definitely a different and interesting experience, never done anything like it before or since then. Off road vehicles really are capable of a lot more than your typical every day vehicle.

Flashback to January 2005: Horseback Riding

While living in Atlanta, a friend of mine worked at a horse stable and invited us to go on a trail ride. Unfortunately, the day we decided to go turned out to be one of the coldest of that Winter! We had a lot of fun even if we were numb when we finished. (L to R: Heather, Bradley, Me, Erin, Gwen)

Village

These are the current decorations on our piano, most of them courtesy of my mother-in-law!

One Hundred Thousand Miles

The day after Christmas 2008, our car hit a milestone, it turned over (I guess it doesn't really do that anymore) 100k miles. We have had the car for 10 months and it had 80k miles on it when we bought it so we have driven an average of 2k miles a month. I believe the yearly average for a car is 15k so we have been doing a bit of driving over the past year! But, with 2 other cars just sitting in our garage and driveway, both leaking massive quantities of fluids and one with over 225k miles on it, I guess it is to be expected!

Ice Skating

Tonight we got together with a few friends and went ice skating. We had a lot of fun and went home with aching feet but agree we should go again sometime.

Double Rainbow

Yesterday we had some interesting weather for January in NC. Warm (mid-60s), rainy, and very windy. When we got home from work it was windy and partly cloudy but more clouds quickly brought about rain which produced this beautiful double rainbow!

The beginning of a blog...

I have a blog! I have contemplated the idea of a blog for quite some time and set a goal to start one around the beginning of 2009. What kind of blog I wanted has been my most difficult decision. I am not much of a writer so I thought about a photo blog but wasn't sure how to approach one. Then inspiration struck in the form of Kendall's cousin's blog! Cason made a post about a photo-a-day challenge on her blog and I thought that might be a simple and great way for me to begin my exploration of the blogging world. So...without further ado...here is the humble beginning of my blog!