favorites...

I am, once again, inspired by Laurin to write a favorites post. It's getting a little chilly. There are so many great perks associated with this time of year, but there are also some other exciting things I wanted to tell you about.

1. My bamboo yarn and knitting needles. What's not to love about bamboo? It can be made into anything... including super soft olive green yarn. It has been a joy to knit with. I'll give you a full report on my little scarf when I complete it. I'm such a fair-weather knitter. I only get interested when it's chilly. Here's a funny story for those of you who know my buddy James. On Saturday night I babysat him and I was knitting, he looked at me and asked what I was doing and said "my Grandmommy does that too," (as many of you know his grandmother Corrine is a very accomplished knitter) so I responded by saying "yes she does, but she does a better job than I do." James looked at me very matter-of-factly and said, "yes, she is better." I just love children, you can't find honestly like that in adults!
2. My microplane. It has been such a great tool to use. I thought it was limited to zest and nutmeg capabilities, but it makes Parmesan fall like snow! It's a beautiful thing.



3. My Russian tea mix. I tried to make my own version after our first visit to Alektor Cafe, but they sell their own version, so Brandon got me some when we were there with Chase and Gigi. It tastes like Christmas, citrus-y, spicy, yummy!
4. Salted caramel hot chocolate. Yes this is shameless advertising for my previous employer, Starbucks. It is the most amazing hot chocolate in the world. It tastes like a chocolate covered pretzel. It is so so so good, and very cozy!
5. My pashmina. OK, it's not a real pashmina, it was from Target. But it's such great little comfort to have when I get cold (really cold) at work.
6. Instant sweet potatoes. I just found these. They're just like the instant mashed white potatoes, but much better. They're almost a little too sweet so add some salt. I can't believe I've just listed two pre-packaged products. They're both THAT GOOD!



7. My sweet little watercolors. I haven't had much time to paint since we came home, but it was just the thing I needed to flex my creative muscle. Next project, Christmas cards.
8. My heating pad. I love the thing. It's my cure all. No matter what hurts, I swear it can fix it!
9. "Ella's Story, The Duchess who Became a Saint" by: Maria Tobias. It's a children's book about St. Elizabeth the New Martyr. She is one of my favorite Saints. She is extra special to me because she was a convert to Orthodoxy, and she lived in the past 100 years. I think I'll write some more about her in the near future.


10. OCF. We have been having such a great time at Orthodox Christian Fellowship recently. This past Thursday Fr. Mark Sutton from St. Seraphim OCA church came to speak to us about monasticism. Fr. Mark's daughter is a nun, and he showed us some beautiful photos of St. Paisius Serbian Monastery in Arizona where she lives. I love that there are monastics all over the world, a topic I hope to write more about in the future.

Well, I'm home sick (again) right now, so I've used a couple of these creature comforts/ favorite things today. Now I'm back to bed. Goodnight.