Thankful...

I'm off to spend my favorite holiday with my family in Connecticut. We have Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin Patty's house every year with most of the gang - it's a wonderful day full of tradition, not to mention fabulous Thanksgiving foods. One of my family's Thanksgiving traditions is picking our Secret Santa names. We've been doing Secret Santa with all the cousins, aunts, uncles for about 20 years now, and it's always a great time! I love the excitement of opening the envelope with the name of my giftee, and then starting to plan the perfect gift.

On Friday, we have the (now) traditional second Thanksgiving at my brother John's house, usually featuring 2 turkeys (1 roasted, 1 deep fried) and all the trimmings, and my sister-in-law Dawn's homemade ice cream with the pie for dessert. We usually see my sister-in-law's family on Friday, as well as some friends, and a few cousins or aunts and uncles - who can resist a repeat of a perfect dinner!

And then there's the leftovers.....

I'm so thankful for these lovely traditions and for my family and friends...and this year there is an extra little something to be thankful for - my cousin Kristen and her husband Craig have a new baby girl, Lily Katherine (welcome sweet baby girl!).

Hope you all have as wonderful a holiday as I know I will!

Indie Fixx Shop!

Blogger extraordinaire and indie shopping guru Jen Wallace of Indie Fixx fame has recently opened a new online shop, featuring wonderful products from indie designers. You'll find fab jewelry, bags, artwork, b&b goodies, oh, and some lovely journals from me!

Holiday Ornament Swap!

I'm very excited to be participating in a holiday ornament swap, organized by Nicole of Freshly Blended and Kathleen of Cake and Pie. This is their second annual swap (I missed the first one) and they have over 600 participants worldwide! Today I received my swap group (there are 10 to a group) and had a lovely time checking out the blogs and websites of the talented peeps I'll be swapping with. Now to decide what I'm going to make (I have a few ideas...) and to anxiously wait for goodies to arrive from the others in my group!

More holiday goodness!

Yesterday I went Christmas shopping with my best friend at a huge outlet mall that's about an hour away from me.... I bought a couple of gifts, really enjoyed spending the time with Michelle, but all in all wasn't entirely satisfied with the choices. Today my feet are tired and I'm contemplating my shopping list, and a better way to shop.

Fabulous blogger Heather at Creature Comforts has assembled a wonderful holiday gift guide, full of goodies to please everyone on your list. So many of my favorite independent designers and boutiques are featured in the guide - I'm really enjoying browsing all the lovely items and choosing just the right gifts for my family and friends. Oh, and you'll find Artful Sentiments in the guide, too. Hope you enjoy discovering all the wonderful featured sites, and remember, buy handmade!