Friday, November 30, 2007

A Simple Holiday

Image via Tim Falle's incredibly superb flickr stream. Incredibly superb.

This is our big "kick-off Christmas" weekend. If we can get past the crud that the girls seem to be inflicted with, we’ll get the tree tonight and spend the weekend decorating, pulling out the big advent calendar and filling it with treats and activities and just generally making the house festive. But I'm most excited about Sunday, as Audrey and I are getting dressed up and heading to Ft. Worth to see the Nutcracker at Bass Performance Hall…I’d love to turn this into a yearly tradition, so hopefully it goes well!

On the topic of traditions, I really enjoyed reading the holiday gift guide interviews over at the Glass Doorknob, especially Keri Smith's comments about her favorite holiday rituals:

“…i think kids make the holidays more fun, they are really into the experience of things, making cookies, decorating the tree, making things. each thing becomes monumental. if we think back to our own memories it is not the presents we remember but rather the time spent creating or playing.”

Her words were particularly poignant and timely, as I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to make our Christmases more meaningful for the girls and less consumer driven. I'll use them to shake me back to reality every time I make another purchase or plan for the holiday…especially in those times when I say yes to something we really don’t want to do or feel the need to buy “just one more gift” for the girls.

So...Throw me some comments -- What are your favorite holiday tradtions/rituals?

Northern Shrike at Pheasant Branch!



It was 17 degrees when I stopped at Pheasant Branch prairie this morning, but the windchill made it feel much colder. Though the skies were clear and blue, there was patchy evidence of snowfall during the night. I was thrilled to spot a Northern Shrike hunting the fields near the parking lot.

For as long as I’ve been birding at Pheasant branch, there has been a shrike or two present at this spot, usually arriving sometime in November and staying through winter until early March. The area provides excellent hunting habitat with a variety of prey items, especially an abundance of American Tree Sparrows.

The above Northern Shrike photograph was taken a few years ago at this same location. I was incredibly fortunate to have it perch on a utility wire very close to where I was standing – what an amazing opportunity!

Northern Shrike © 2007 Mike McDowell

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Fotos de Chavas,hot babes photos, sexy pics, Beautiful Women Photos, fotoblog, fotos de mujeres hermosas, photoblog, sexy girls, hotties, erotic, sensual, fotos cachondas
Fotos de Chavas,hot babes photos, sexy pics, Beautiful Women Photos, fotoblog, fotos de mujeres hermosas, photoblog, sexy girls, hotties, erotic, sensual, fotos cachondas

Friday Morning Paper



These laser cut matboard shadow puppets from Owly Shadow Puppet's Etsy Shop were first spotted over on Modern Craft. Partial to the tooth fairy, I was planning to stash her away for our first "tooth under the pillow" occasion, but alas I was too late, and she's gone.

The dinosaur is awfully cute too...

Happy Friday!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Standouts


I was flipping through Red Envelope last night and spotted several very cool things, which frankly was a little surprising, as I generally find their stuff somewhat uninspired. I especially loved this chunky filigree cuff and wooden candelabra...

But my favorite was this groovy modern gingerbread house kit…so fun.

Celebrity Mugshots


These are Celebrity mugshots,and they ain't pretty.As you can see professional Make-up and lighting,makes a world of difference.

Crazy Cars and Dumb Drivers














































A humorous list of crazy wheels created by dumb drivers.