Book Club Holiday Party (80's Style!)

So now that we're COMPLETELY out of holiday spirit, I thought I should catch up on the blog (mainly holiday "stuff") before I turn into a complete scrooge. Well, after scrolling through all the photos on the memory card, I sorta turned into the anti-scrooge and I'm smiling like a goon over here looking back through the photos from late November and all of December!

This post in particular has me rolling in laughter! You see, it's about my most favorite group of girls, my Book Club pals! I've been in a book club here in Albuquerque for over 10 years. And I wouldn't trade it for the world! These gals are my BESTEST friends and reading some good literature is merely a perk of the nearly-monthly hanging out, girl-talking, and drinking wine festivities!

Anywho, 3 years ago we started our own "holiday party" and did a book exchange (Dirty Santa-style) and ate lots of goodies. After some reoccurring themes popping up at each of our book discussions this year (like fun 80's fashion, horrid 80's hair, and As-Seen-on-TV items), we all decided to nix the book exchange and instead, we had an 80's-themed, As-Seen-on-TV gift exchange!

It. Was. Hilarious. (!!!)

Oh, and to tie in the hideous 80's hair styles, we all had our hair done up with "Bump-Its" (link takes you to their snazzy website). I haven't purchased a can of hairspray since I think I was in 7th grade, so it was hilarious having my hair all teased, nearly as high as the ceiling, and doused with hairspray!

To capture the memories, yes, I brought my camera. And below is a little re-telling of our holiday part. So here are my book club pals in all their 80's glory...

Starting with some beginning-of-the-night shots (everyone was asked to wear their hair down - we fixed our hair up AT our book club meeting) - below is (L-R) Holly, Beth, and Kristin - nice legwarmers!
Angelica and Myja:
Jessica and Jacque (in an authentic 80's prom dress):
And me - with a sampling of the wine that would be consumed throughout the night (and note, one member, Amelia, was out of town and therefore missed out on the festivities...which was a bummer, because A) she has terrific hair and B) she's a lover of all things 80's!):
I volunteered to have my hair done up first - below is Kristin working her magic while I read the Bump-Its directions:
Pin, pin, tuck:
And out came the AquaNet (thanks Jessica, that will be plenty...):
I tried my hand at a Bump-Its installation - I was clueless and poor Beth ended up with WAY too much hairspray because of my failure:
Jessica and Kristin intervened and made Beth (middle) look fabulous!
Up next, the fabulous Jacque:
Holly:
Myja:Angelica (we used the teeny-tiny Bump-It for her since she has some pretty curly hair!):
And now that the superstar beauty stylists (Kristin and Jessica) completed everyone's "look," Kristin had her hair Bump-It'd (yes, I made up that word...):
Jessica too:
Then we had our As-Seen-on-TV gift exchange. Some HILARIOUS gifts available out there (check your local Walgreens for really not that usable, nor helpful gifts...). We started off with some holiday "poppers" and each of us wore the wonderful golden paper crowns (Beth and I pictured below):
Jacque and her GIANT cat:
Kristin showing off her gift (snap in camisoles!):
We had organizers, travel pillows, monkey hooks, mani/pedi sets, and a bunch of other [useless] treasures! It was a super-fun time exchanging gifts and trying out the Shake Weight!

And I'm going to end this post with my favorite photo of the night - Jacque and her "Shake Weight"... The Greenies don't watch TV, so I guess we've missed out on the Shake Weight phenomenon. It's a hand-weight that shakes back and forth...ah, just google it... It's goofy. Anyway, behind Jacque was a princess wand or something that belongs to her daughter. Well, she was holding the Shake Weight at just the right angle that it looks like she's holding a magic wand. Add in the crown and prom dress, well, you have Princess Jacque:
Great memories girls! Can't wait to see what next year holds! Happy reading!
~kerrie

SWE-CNM Quilting Project

Those that know me, know that I'm a huge fan of sewing (or maybe I just like shopping for fabric?!). When my local Society of Women Engineers section (SWE-Central New Mexico, or CNM) started a charity project that involved making a quilt, I signed right up to help!

The quilt was created to raise scholarship funds for SWE-CNM and folks from around the SWE nation submitted quilted 12"x12" "squares" and SWE t-shirts that could be used to create it. And after all of the donations were collected, myself and 3 other local SWE members spent and entire Saturday stitching the quilt together.

Let me first say another THANK YOU to Fran (and her hubby, Mike - who took a few of these photos - which you can click on to make bigger) for opening up her home for our little quilting party. Fran has a SERIOUS quilting hobby and some SERIOUS amounts of fabric (*jealous*) - we even chose a few to use for the quilt:
We ALL had a great time and I snapped a few photos to capture the memories. Below is a shot of the beginning of the quilt layout (and no, Danita didn't come with the quilt, she was just selecting a few more fabrics to make a few more "squares" for the quilt):
A couple shots of the squares and t-shirts (pre-cut) laid out to make the nearly queen-sized quilt:
(And "my" squares - first time making them! - were the "Pink Ribbon" - for breast cancer awareness - and the "SWEeter Futures Outreach Program" square - top right, which supports the region's outreach program that I helped create.)
A few action shots - me (sitting), sewing; Sarah (left), ironing; and Danita (right), cutting up t-shirts:
Me (left), pinning a few "new" squares that we made that day; Fran (middle), ironing; Danita (right), still cutting t-shirts (she totally had the worst job of the day...)
Sarah - sewing:
The nearly-finished front (can see my "Outreach" square better in this shot; it's two above the Pink Ribbon - which is a 3-D square, by the way...the ribbon stuck out! I'm so cool!):
We decided to make the back super-colorful (or like a "circus tent" according to Sarah...ha!):
Working on putting the back on to the front (L-R: Kerrie, Fran, Danita):
Adding in the batting - Fran (left) and Danita (right) pinning it to the fabric:
And it took three of us to stitch the back, front, and batting together - that sucker was HEAVY:
And took three of us to help "feed" it through my machine (L-R: Danita, me, Fran):And a finished product - Danita, Kerrie, and Fran (Sarah's not in the photo, as she had to skedaddle for a Thanksgiving meal):
I'm not sure of the final numbers, but I think SWE-CNM raised over $500 for this quilt project. I'm bummed that even though I purchased a boat load of $5 raffle tickets, I still didn't win...

Alas, it was for a REALLY great cause and all in all, it was a super-fun experience and I'm glad my talents were finally put to good use!

Thanks to all the quilters that participated and a big congrats to Leslie for winning the quilt! I'm sure it will keep you warm during this time of year!
~kerrie

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

As the temps drop to the single digits here in Albuquerque (which, luckily, is NOT a common occurrence for us!), we've been bundling up and spending some quality Greenie time inside the house. And to prevent the heating bill from being totally outrageous, we've all be wearing a few extra layers to keep warm.

Carter has been keen on wearing his stocking hat and mittens around the house (which is adorable, I tell ya!). You'd think the loss of dexterity would prevent him from causing as much mischief??? Nah...

Here he is going to town on UN-organizing the Tupperware cabinet:
Apparently we have too many items IN the cabinet that they need to be moved OUT...
Lucky for us, he was able to reach WAY into the back and get everything out...
Since it's been so cold, we decided to make my dad's infamous Summer Sausage recipe. It requires the oven to be on for over 6 hours, so we don't make it that much in the summer. However, we really didn't mind heating up the house this month. Here's a goofy picture of Matt forming the sausage loaves (and is it just me, or does he look a little psychotic?!):
Ahh, the finished product - goes great with a stone-ground mustard and those little tiny rye breads:
These next photos were taken on the day that we put up the Christmas tree (yes, a post is coming about the Great Greenie Christmas Extravaganza...I'm just behind...). Matt was running in and out to the shed to gather the Christmas decor, so Carter and I were doing our part by staying bundled up inside (thanks, dear!).

The following pics are in sequence and I've kept them this way to show my readers just how hard it is to capture a photo of a busy, busy toddler (and can you believe it?! He's 22 months old today!!!). Anyway, if you ignore the views of our messy house, here I've tried to follow him around the bottom floor of our house to capture just ONE good photo of him in his adorable hat and mittens:

Let the, ahem, race begin - living room:
Might as well stop for a little dancing... Why not tap dance in Mommy's TV tray?
Whoops, I think the mittens are coming off... Too slow, Mommy!
Maybe not...

Hurry up, I'm leaving the living room:And around the corner he goes...
And we made it all the way around the house and back to the kitchen (to sit on the box of Christmas goodies that Daddy just brought in):
Ok, Mommy, here, I'll sit still for 3 seconds:
And make a goofy face...
And then run away to the living room play with my toys...
Well, folks, there you have it. Carter's a busy, busy boy these days. While he's not busy running around, he's definitely busy chatting up a storm. Was thinking for one of these posts I'd write down all the words he knows. Some of our recent favorites: "Cool!" "Aww man!" and "Cookie?" (thanks Uncle John and Stephanie for sending us 40 pounds of Christmas cookies... We blame you for adding this word to his vocabulary! I think Carter ate as many as we did! Good parenting, I know, I know...) :)

Hope that you're staying warm and enjoying time with your family too!
~kerrie