White West Virginia Christmas

I hope you had a very merry weekend!

I will be heading back to Athens on Sunday afternoon.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a safe trip out of the WV mountains!

Just a brief Christmas Recap:

~My husband celebrated his 29th birthday and the new job with the fam. When we arrived at his parents' house, "Happy Birthday" and "Congratulations" balloons and banners were hung all over the walls, and he received his official collegiate hoodie and his first NY Yankees hat as b-day gifts!

~Christmas Eve was spent doing a little bit of everything a little bit of everywhere.  Hubs received the Keurig Coffee Brewer from my parents, and mom helped me add to my Fiestaware collection - I can never get enough! We spent the evening visiting and being entertained by the cutest 16 month old baby girl ever, as we hung out with my hubs' fam. Santa even stopped by!

~On Christmas morning, I found a Dell Netbook waiting for me under my in-laws' Christmas Tree.  Blogger-on-the-go heaven!  I'm in love. :) I also received my first official New York Yankees tee.  I loved it so much, I wore it to my mom's house for dinner.  I swear, I put the shirt on, and something happened... suddenly, moving to New York became very, very real. (EEP!)  I must say, I sported the blue quite nicely! I spent the day lounging at my mom and step dad's house, eating dinner, and visiting with my brother and his wife.  I ended the day by watching Rocky IV - it's totally one of my faves, like, evah. Seriously.

And now, some gorgeous pics from the super snowy, wild and wonderful mountains of central West Virginia (taken from my parents' back yard):

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have safe trips if you're traveling, and a great last week of December!

3 Days of Celebration in the Mountain State

Image via Charleston Gazette;
http://www.wvgazette.com

I hope everyone's last minute Christmas related errands, preparations, and plans are coming together! My husband and I are packed and ready to head to the snowy West Virginia mountains for Christmas; we will be hittin' I-77 and I-79 bright and early tomorrow morning.  This evening, he and I are having dinner and watching Black Swan as a little way to celebrate his 29th birthday (which is tomorrow! Thisclose to being a Christmas baby!) 

My husband's Birthday kicks off Christmas festivities with our families in a big way. His family and my mom and step-dad will gather together tomorrow evening at my in-laws' house, where we will all officially celebrate his birthday and the big new J-O-B!  We are so excited to head to WV and see everyone - the past couple of months have been a whirlwind with the job market thing going on, so it's going to be so nice to celebrate the present and the future, and of course, breathe a collective sigh of relief!

I'll be busy with family gatherings at various houses on Christmas Eve, opening gifts at my in-laws on Christmas morning, and spending Christmas day at my mom's house (dinner! And she made those thumbprint cookies, HOLLA!!!) I'm planning to head to church w/my mom on Sunday before heading back to Athens.  When the hubs and I return to our Ohio home on Sunday, we'll exchange gifts - it's a great way to end the weekend!  We've had the same Christmas routine for the past five years, and it seems to work out really well for us.  I'm sure our routine will change a bit next year, since we will be living in NY (YAY!) so I'm going to try to enjoy this year as much as I possibly can.

Next week, I'll begin shamelessly plugging my new blog.  I will be posting here until New Year's Eve, but then the Days in the Life of a Grad Student's Wife will come to an end.  A Day in the Life of a Professor's Wife will begin, and I hope you will join me!  If you like, head on over now to follow via Google Friend Connect, email, Facebook, and Twitter.  All is ready to go on January 1st, 2011!  I can't wait to share my new journey with you all!

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I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I'm going to give blogging a break for a few days, as I'm sure most of you are, too. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your families, and I look forward to reading your Christmas recap posts on Monday!

Wired & Wonderful Wooden Sign

Welcome to Wooden Sign class 101! I am in love with creating these little pieces. Signs can be stuck nearly anywhere, hanging off a doorknob, on the wall, outside on the porch, in the office... the possibilities are endless!  


Here is a step-by-step for my latest project, a West Virginia-theme two-section sign.  I currently sell hand painted WV theme items in the Addison Visitor's Center, located in Webster Springs, WV.  It's my little way of sending a shout-out to my hometown folk, who have serious pride in their home - and their football team, the WVU Mountaineers.  The possibilities are endless with wooden signs, which are fully customizable - so go grab some wood and get started!

Two-Section Wooden Sign

What You Need:

Two pieces of lightweight craft wood with a base coat of paint (I always use a chocolate brown shade), sand paper, safety goggles, power drill, your design on paper, small paint brushes, craft wire, scissors, decorative ribbon, acrylic paint (in this project I used Navy Blue, 14K Gold, and Antique White by Delta Ceramcoat.)

  

1) Sand the edges of wooden pieces for a worn look. 2) Lay your design on top of the wood, and trace with a ball point ink pen - press hard, to "carve" the design into the wood. 3) Paint background designs first; my signature "stamp" on WV items is the state image.  Even after painting it, I can still see the carved design I traced earlier.

 

4) Begin painting the design; I painted letters with a two-dimensional "shadow" effect.  I used the navy blue shade for my first layer. 5) I added an antique white layer on top of the blue; I decided to stop with just one layer of the antique white, which looks a little imperfect over the blue.  This has more of a worn, country feel to it - so i left as is!  Imperfect sometimes IS perfect.

 

6) This is where my favorite phases of the project begin! Break out the power drill, and using a very small bit, drill holes in your pieces of wood.  For the top piece, drill holes at all four corners. For the bottom piece, drill two holes at the top that line up with the bottom holes of the first piece. Use your safety goggles to prevent sawdust from getting in your eyeballs! 7) Cut craft wire: 1 long piece for the hanger, and two shorter pieces that will be used to connect the top piece to the bottom piece.  I love to make my wire curly before assembling the pieces. To curl wire, wind around an ink pen or paint brush , slide off the tip, then gently pull apart so that kinks are spread wide enough to reach from one drilled hole to the other.  8) Thread wire through holes to assemble pieces together.  twist ends of wire on back of pieces into several small kinks to secure.  

Tie a few pieces of ribbon on the wire hanger, and...

TA-DA!

There you have it!  A simple, country sign to hang and proudly display your state pride! 

If you're stopping in from my Facebook page and you live in the Webster Springs area, this sign will be available to purchase at the Addison Visitor's Center in August.  

If you're stopping in from the weekend DIY blog hops, WELCOME!  I try to blog about one project per week, so stay tuned!

Here are a couple of my most recent projects:

Love is Sweet Sign

Blogging Queen Sign - for Giveaway!

My Etsy Shop

"How far to heaven?"

"How far to heaven?  Just open your eyes and look.  
You are in heaven."
- Shankar

The New River Gorge, Fayette County, West Virginia

I was born and raised in West Virginia; I moved to Ohio in 2006, at the age of 22. When my husband and I travel back to WV, the visits are simple - time is spent catching up with our loved ones, enjoying some of mom's cooking, and hanging out in our familiar childhood backyards, chit-chatting and relaxing. 

In spring of '08, my husband and I attended one of my close friend's weddings while visiting our hometown.  Her reception was held at Smokey's on the Gorge, in the town of Lansing (Fayette County).  Smokey's on the Gorge is a beautiful restaurant/reception location with large outside patios and decks that overlook the New River Gorge Canyon and New River.  In the distance, you can also see the New River Gorge Bridge (the third largest steel arch bridge in the world and site of the Annual Bridge Day.)

The photo above was taken from one of the decks at Smokey's.  All I wanted to do was stand and stare at the gorgeous New River! I felt as though I had never seen it before... but I had - several times, in fact, while growing up. 

Why didn't I appreciate the natural beauty of West Virginia when I actually lived there? 

As an adult, I finally appreciate the pure, gorgeous scenery of my home state.  This photo, enlarged to an 8x10, sits in a beautiful wooden frame inside my Ohio home - it will always be on display, regardless of where life takes my husband and I. We've left West Virginia, and we may never return there to live, but it's always nice to have the photo of the New River to remind us of where our home away from home is.  

When I look at the photo, I can't help but to feel a little spirtual - that is God's work at it's finest!  The photo is a reminder of the day my husband and I stood on the decks of Smokey's on the Gorge, celebrating our friend's wonderful wedding day, and gawking - in awe- at what we'd somehow missed our entire time of living in WV. "Almost Heaven, West Virginia" may be the state slogan, but the realization of how naturally beautiful our home state was heaven in itself. 

~*This blog was inspired by one of the many terrific writing prompts found at Mama Kat's weekly Writer's Workshop.  If you're suffering from writer's block, click the graphic below. Mama Kat's ideas are sure to inspire you, as they do hundreds of other bloggers each week!*~

Today, take a moment to appreciate the beauty of your surroundings - whether it be tall city buildings, scenic mountains, or a lovely plant sitting in the window :) 

Have a beautiful day! 

Hot Dog! Some Dang Good Chili Worth Blogging About

I'm sure you're all preparing for 4th of July bb-q's, picnics, camping, and other get-togethers - and more than likely, you'll be picking up some hot dogs for the occasion.  What's a hotdog without some good chili? Well, "It ain't a real dog!" (At least, in WV it isn't.)

Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili is near and dear to my heart - it's "back home", it's "old friends", it's a whole lot of past memories from when I lived in Webster County, WV. When I traveled back to Webster to visit my fam on the weekends during my college years, a trip to the Custard Stand was always in order (3 hot dogs with chili and onion!) 

CSHD Chili is a sweet yet spicy, super satisfying thick chili that's slow cooked and tastes like "home".  In addition to being served at the Webster Springs and Flatwoods, WV Custard Stand restaurant locations, Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili is available in several other states (IN, OH, KY, NC, PA, TN, VA, NY, and Maryland) and the list keeps growing!  You can find store listings here.

The owners of the Custard Stand and CSHDC take pride in their product and greatly appreciate their fans.  You can follow the Custard Stand via Twitter and Facebook.  Their website also has tons of information, including recipes, product and store listings, special offers, and a little bit of chili history, too!

So if you're still trying to figure out a plan for some hot dog chili to eat during the holiday weekend, look no further than your local food supplier/grocery store - Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili might be sold there, and your final holiday cook-out preparations will be a done deal!

I would like to thank my friend and "Chili Queen" Angie Cowger, along with the rest of the Cowger family, for working tirelessly to provide so many people with such a delicious , high-quality food product. Your hard work definitely does not go unnoticed!  

Follow the Chili on Twitter, and become a fan on Facebook!