December . . .

Oh my goodness; this month is flying by. A few highlights and inspirational moments from the month are below.

I'm trying to learn to like cooked greens. I had some leftover kale from my CSA box and made this. So good! And easy. And healthy.

I went to Urban Craft Uprising and met the lovely ladies who create Cakespy and Posie Gets Cozy.

I made my first cheese ball. I received rave reviews.

I decided to give handmade and homemade gifts this year, which is nice in theory but is causing me a good amount of stress. I have a lot of knitting to do! I'll post pictures after Christmas.

I just got back from a work trip to DC, and I stayed through the weekend to visit with my dear friend Kristin. We had an incredibly fun, inspiring and educational weekend. My favorite kind!


First, we visited the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and its incredible section of American Folk Art - which I just love! All these people who had an artistic gift and expressed it using everyday materials and mediums. How could they ever know that the dress or windmill they made would end up in the Smithsonian? We also enjoyed the Frank Gohlke photo exhibit and an exhibit showcasing the parallels between Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keefe.





We also visited the National Portrait Gallery, which is kind of fascinating. We saw an exhibit of portraits of influential women. As someone in advertising, I especially enjoyed the Posters as Portraiture exhibit. Here are a couple favorites:

We saw the movie Milk. I highly recommend it. Such a moving tribute to an incredible man and his story, and so many parallels to events happening today.



On Sunday morning we went to the National Cathedral to attend church. I was so impressed by the organ music, the choir, the pastor and, of course, the architecture and stained glass windows.





But even more uplifting was the forum beforehand with Tavis Smiley. I’m a huge fan of his now – such a positive, uplifting message. If you have some extra time I highly recommend listening to the forum online. (FYI – The National Cathedral is totally embracing technology. So cool!)






































A couple other highlights from DC:

- My cute latte and doughnut cupcake (why hasn't anyone thought of this before!?) from Baked & Wired in Georgetown.

- A Chocolate Salty Oat Cookie from Teaism
- A Noreo and Cowboy Cookie from Sticky Fingers, a vegan bakery in Columbia Heights
- A Chorizo Empanada from Julia's Empanadas

**Sorry about the funky formatting. I just can't figure out blogger sometimes.