Winter Beginnings

So I'm a little behind on my posts due to the craziness and wonderfulness that the holidays bring, and I have about a million pictures and stories that I want to post.  But for now, I'll be taking you back to the beginning of December.  This is by far my favorite month of the year, and I'm always so sad when it is over, because I look forward to it ALL year long. The twelfth month (wait, doesn't the word 'twelfth' look weird? I promise I spelled it right, John and I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out and then we finally googled it! Ha! It just has way too many consonants next to each other...ok now 'consonants' looks weird.  Am I losing my mind?)   Anywhoooooo, the twelfth month (December, that is) brought a whirlwind of festive parties, birthday dinners, tasty treats, and....our first snow!

It was so pretty and when we weren't trying to drive in it, we really loved it!  

I made several batches of my famous peppermint bark, and oh my, it was so good.  It's a perfect decadent combination of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and peppermint.  Sooo easy, and a great treat to give to friends and family :) 

all bagged up for my bible study girls :)

Pastas and soups became our go-to dinners... they are the ultimate winter comfort food, and I tried out several new recipes that I loved!

spinach and sausage penne pasta

My friend, Meredith, hosted an amazing "Secret Santa" party for all of the Duke girls, which was so much fun!  Lots of savory snacks and tasty desserts, and I got my first Duke shirt!

I also was soooo excited to make my first real sewing project - an apron!  I actually made 2, and gave them to my mom, and my mother-in-law for Christmas!  They turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself :)

you can't really tell, but there are pockets!

Oh, and last but not least....we attended our first Duke basketball game together!  John was able to get tickets to lots of the games this season, but we were invited to this game by some family friends.  It was soooo much fun and those players are seriously some kind of amazing.  And of course, they won!  This game might have been the most spirited game I've ever seen - the Duke student section was out of control!  

We will be in the student section for the rest of the games we go to.  

On a side note, I saw a couple of the basketball players at Super Target the other day, and they are GIANTS.  Seriously, so awkwardly tall, I couldn't stop staring.  

That's all for now ---- be back soon with lots of holiday pictures and updates!!

Happy 2011 :)