friendship and apple pie

Jess and Hailey made 4 apple pies the day before Thanksgiving. If you follow my etsy store, you might kow that Hailey either approves or disapproves of my earring designs for kids - she just turned 9 last week.




Jess (my daughter) babysat Hailey from before Hailey was even one year, and nine years later, they're fast friends. It was great to have Jess home from college and both of them providing pies ( and humor) in the kitchen.



Hailey wasn't quite tall enough to get the right leverage for the apple slicer - but she was determined to try and get it, and it was the humorous climax in the pie-making-show. Eventually Jess helped in the midst of fits of giggles.




The pies were absolutely delicious and the friendship; just as wonderful as ever.

I want to add in reference to my previous post, that the turkey that my husband so lovingly injected with marinade after three trips to the store, a broken seal on the blender, a syringe that somehow missed the turkey and got the refrigerator on the first attempt, and the entire comedy of errors which caused husband to sound quite like a salty sailor in the kitchen - was awesome.

thanks-giving

today I've recieved two emails to read and pass to the appropriate persons from my friend Helen. (see birthdays, bracelets and skydiving post in october's posts). Helen is making a list, checking it twice, and then sending it into cyberland for all of the families to read and follow. my list has a turkey and two crumble-crust-apple-pies to bring.

I'm thankful for the lists, thankful to pass them along, and thankful that I'm on a list! we live in a community near Ft. Bragg, and each of us that has recieved a list is the thankful recipient of a family here - not a biological family - but a family nonetheless in the sense that we care about and take care of one another.

for all of us that miss our biological families during the holidays, we celebrate with each other the blessings we do have - life, love, health, faith, love of this country, love for each other.. the list of gratitude is a little bit endless, and for that I'm grateful too. We've even started traditions in our 'family' - who prepares and brings what (according to who makes the 'best' one), who says Grace (jeff, as long as he's around), specific games we play after dinner, and who gets what leftovers!!! looks like there's be over 20 adults and 8 kids to share the love!

the emails made me feel a bit excited and antipatory, and it's nice to think of and write about that which I'm grateful for.
kerstin

old friends, new techniques

Well, my weekend was fabulous :) It was wonderful to have old friends around for a few days and we made the most of the time we had together.

This week I've been busy learning a new technique for earring creation; german style wire. I like it :) Here's an example, just listed this morning in my etsy shop:



And by the way, I learned yesterday that my hubby and I are going to Times Square, NYC in December and have tickets to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall! I've never been to New York City, and I'm very excited about it. Any readers out there that have suggestions for spending time there (we'll be staying at the "W" hotel right in Times Square), please pass them my way!

blessings and anticipation

two more days. just two more days until two of my childhood girl-friends arrive for a long weekend :) they're flying here from minnesota - where I grew up. first, there were three of us that met in 5th grade. then, when we moved to our jr. high school, and in the awkward and new halls of maplewood jr. high, the three became six. that was in 1976.
this year, we've all turned or will turn forty-four years old. we all got through puberty together, all graduated from high school together, went in different directions after that; college, work, marriage, starting a family, and all stayed close, fast friends. we've been through 8 marriages and 2 divorces together (still makes six :), the births of thirteen children, the death of two parents, two high school graduations of our children so far ( my kids are the oldest), and so much amazing minutia that make up the basis and blessings of a life.
Our husbands all enjoy each other and spend time together when they can golfing, boating, or just goofing off ... our children all enjoy each other (ages 7 - 20)... and we get together as often as possible. just two more days til a part of a whole gets to indulge in the gifts of love, friendship, and fellowship sharing laughter and tears while catching up with the stories of our lives!
most everyone still lives in minnesota - and my husband and I got to visit everyone while we were vacationing there this past summer. now two of them are arriving in two days! yay :)

unique is as unique does

I met a couple of friends at Starbucks this afternoon, and I don't know if you can see in the picture the spelling of my name "Kristen". It's cute how they do that bit of personal marketing there...
Anyhow, my name isn't spelled that way or pronounced that way, in fact, one of the friends I was with had to tell me that they called 'my' name for my Gingerbread Soy Latte. Thanks, Shannon :)
...if I only had a nickel for every time I corrected the spelling or pronunciation of my name... most of the time now, my friends make the corrections before I do....

peanut butter and crest whitening strips

July 2008 found my daughter in Alicante, Spain hosted by a wonderful Spanish family. I had made a connection the month before, when while visiting friends in Minnesota, I met a young man, Jorge, who was visiting the USA from Alicante, Spain. He extended the invitation for her to stay with them for a few days while she backpacked around Spain. So she did. She fell in love with the entire family - and felt a special bond with Jorge's mother, Suni. Suni has no daughters and enjoyed 'having one' for a few days. I feel a special bond with Suni, though I've never met her for taking care of my daughter while she was a guest with the same love and attention that I give to her.

My daughter's next stop in her travels around Spain was in Grenada, where she discovered upon trying to check into her hostel that she no longer had her passport in her belongings. She frantically called Suni, thinking that perhaps she had forgotten it in the trunk of a friend's car one day while they were visiting the beach. The next day, the forgotten passport was found and forwarded to a contact in Grenada. After the passport arrived, my daughter was able to continue her travels in Spain with the help and love of this family.

While she spent time with them, Jorge assisted her with editing some written translation my daughter had done, and asked just for peanut butter and crest whitening strips sent to him from the USA in return for his help. His request made my daughter (and me) smile. Just this past weekend, my daughter was home from college for a few days and purchased the requested peanut butter and crest whitening strips in preparation for sending a package to Spain.

I decided that I wanted to send Suni a thank-you-note and a gift of thanks. I made her a beautiful pair of earrings.... and then made an identical pair for my daughter so that they'll each have the same unique item worlds away. It was a brand new design, but I think that it is retired already... two very special people share a special gift in recognition of love and friendship, gratitude and thanks, and sharing and caring for one another. The design does not contain hearts with cutouts for a key or keys. But it is a twist on a mother's ring, and a twist of the heart on one piece of jewelry and the key on another. There are two tiny heart charms, shells for recognition of the beach on the Mediterranean, blue and green to soothe and calm, and clear crystal that sparkles and shines in representation of love and friendship.

Although we seem so far removed from other countries, even just distant cities in our own countries, we really are only as far away as our hearts are and sometimes that's not far at all. I don't know if I'll ever get to meet Suni and the family in Spain, but a little piece of my heart is on it's way there, along with peanut butter and crest whitening strips.