Tis the Season for Baking

Oh how I want to be better about posting on the blog. But, the funny thing is that the world doesn't stop and wait for me to upload, edit and resize my photos so I can get a new entry going.  Thanksfully, I've finally found some time to get this overdue post going on a topic I don't visit very often....baking.  I will admit I am a much better baker than I am a cook.  But, since we only have 24 hours in a day instead of say, oh, 32 or so, I rarely have the time. But, each Christmas, starting about 4 years ago, we bake and decorate Christmas cookies. We make the dough from scratch as well as the frosting. Last year, we grabbed the food coloring and added some extra pizazz to the frosting, which we repeated this year.  Each year we add a few more decoration elements and each year we get a bit better.

We've amassed quite the arsenal of decorating options.

We love to give personalities to our cookies!

There's some serious concentration going on here.

One of the first masterpieces!

I love all the red and green!

A perfect Christmas tree!

I love that we have started this tradition. We always keep two cookies set aside for Santa each year and put them out on Christmas Eve, along with milk in a Snowman glass.

Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year!

New Friends

I originally "met" Caroline through Flickr. I saw her work quite some time ago and absolutely fell in love with it.  Recently, I saw she had moved to Chicago and reached out to see if she might like to meet up for coffee one day. I find it truly fascinating that this amazing digital world we live in allows us to connect with people from all over the world, most of whom we'll never meet.  However, every once in awhile an opportunity presents itself where I get the chance to say hello in person.  I was thrilled when Caroline accepted my offer and we quickly got a date on the calendar.  She chose a very cool coffee shop, which had the best hazelnut latte I've ever had!  When our coffees were ready, I refused to take a sip of mine before walking to the table as I wanted to take a photo of them both. It's a wonder I didn't spill anything!

We talked pretty much non-stop for 2 hours before finally heading down the street to find a place for lunch. Along the way, we stopped to take a few photos of each other. In this neighborhood, there is some really cool wall art!

We found our way to Jimmy John's and continued chatting away. I snagged a photo of her really cool tattoo - what's not to love about this???

The three hours flew by and before I knew it, we had to head our separate ways. I'm thrilled to have a new friend who shares my passion for photography.   I can't wait until our next get together!