Fabric Give-Away

Aren't these fabrics fun? And one is oil-cloth!! Oh the possibilities of things to be created from these!! Enter for your chance to win over at think liz.

Yarn Giveaway

During my year at Master's I was blessed with a wise and Godly woman for an RA. Her name is Monica and while she lives on the other side of the country I still like to peek in on her blog sometimes for her Deliberately Domestic inspiration. This is how I discovered the 12 days of Give-Away on another blog this week. The first 6 days are already closed, but head on over to Think Liz for your chance to enter the other Give-Aways--including this chance to win 2 hanks of recycled wool.

How Lovely are Your Branches!

Well, 2010 is officially the year of the biggest Lensch Christmas tree EVER!

Mike and Debbie and kids went with me to the u-cut tree farm on Saturday so we could both find trees for our families. With our new high ceilings in our new home, I was sent as the family delegate to find a 10 footer this year!

I think we found it! We even had a stick to measure!!

There is something so angelic and mischievous in this expression at the same time. ;-) Andrew was having a blast running through the trees--he even hugged a few!

It took some help from Mike, Dad, and Kirk to get the tree in the house when we got home. It was heeeeeavy!

I spent a few hours on the ladder decorating this monster...I mean uh...tree.

It definitely was a balancing act! I think I mastered the technique of sticking out my rear far enough to keep me atop the ladder while I reached for the tree. :-)

Mom and Dad put a lot of work in to get the tree standing and decorated!

And our finished product:

Now we're just waiting for the grandkids to show up and marvel over the size of this thing! I'm sure the adults will have a fun time marveling over our craziness too! It definitely is not something I want to do every year, but it sure is lovely now that all the work is done!

Reception Experiments

I've always enjoyed helping other people plan weddings and thankfully have mostly enjoyed doing it for myself so far! However, I haven't really done much wedding planning blogging yet. Sometimes I'm tempted to share things on here but then I think of how much better it will be for you all to see the wedding creations and ideas on the actual day or when they arrive in the mail (like my invitations that should be headed your way in the coming week!)

I wanted to share my reception experiment from tonight with you all though because I had some great helpers and figure this might make a great Christmas treat. So without further ado, here are the CAKE BALLS--an idea given to me by my dear sister-in-law Paige.

The McMillan boys were over tonight and were like 4 little elves ready to assist me.

First we made a box cake--we chose chocolate.

After it was baked we crumbled it up in a bowl.

Then we added frosting to our cake crumbles--again we chose chocolate!

Now came the fun part! We rolled the cake into little balls. I have to say that even though a lot of it ended up on the floor, I was still thankful to have little helpers since the job was finished in no time! And the boys were just thankful to have chocolatey fingers to lick at the end!

After the balls were rolled, I put them in the freezer for an hour. Then I melted chocolate and rolled the balls in it. Then I dipped some in coconut and some in crushed peppermint candy canes. I also tried dipping some in melted peanut butter chips but they were not as easy to roll even when it was melted so they were not beautiful enough for the photo.

Finally we had the joy of eating our tasty treats! The boys all agreed that the peanut butter ones were the best. (Imagine an inside out peanut butter cup!) So perhaps I'll have to practice perfecting that recipe so those are beautiful enough to serve at the wedding. We were all very pleased with the result though and with content tummies decided that this should definitely be served on January 29th! So if you don't get a chance to try them out before then, you can look forward to seeing them at my wedding reception.

A HUGE thanks to Wyatt, Ellis, Reid, and Joel for helping me out tonight. They definitely take after their beautiful mama who I know whips up amazing treats all the time!

What kind of goodies are you planning to make this Christmas?? Anything I need to implement into my dessert reception menu?

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Today the thermometer didn't rise above freezing... **Some of you may be used to that for a winter norm, but in Tacoma, it is a rare occurrence!** Still, Chris and I (and our great photographer Kristal) braved the frigid temps to capture some engagement photos. The newly refurbished Spanish Steps downtown and a light dusting of snow from Monday provided a beautiful backdrop and we are very pleased with the result. We're looking forward to working with Kristal again on our wedding day.

If you are on fb, you can check out a peek of our photos on my page or by "liking" Kristal joy photography.

Or check out her blog post about our photo session:

Kristal Joy Photography: absolute joy l tacoma engagement photographer: " After our session today and seeing how loving Chris & Charissa are, how much fun they have together and the laughter, oh, the laughter! I ..."

Discovery Toys Sale!

If you have a Discovery Toy Wishlist for the children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews in your life, you may want to take advantage of this Online Sale going on this weekend. To view a catalog and place an order, go to my website: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/Charissa. Let me know if I can help with anything!

Traditional Black Friday Shopping day on November 26th Is now DT’s … FREE on Friday Promotion! When You shop for $55 or more you will be able to choose a FREE DT Toy! This special shopping offer is available for Online Shopping Cart Orders only on Friday, Nov 26th from 4am - Midnight PST! Your FREE Toy choices include:

Wiz Kidz

Progressive Puzzles

Place and Trace

Super Yummy

AND – we continue the shopping excitement on
Monday, November 29th with…

DT CYBER MONDAY SALE!

20 Hours / 20 Products / 20% Off

Available for Online Shopping Cart Orders only on Monday, November 29th from 4am-Midnight PST! View our 20 sensational sale products on EC Tools > Promotions!

Knittybutton Giveaway!

Head on over to Knittybutton for you chance to win these yummy wrist-warmers! You know you want them!