Baking

I did a lot of baking/cooking/everything kitchen when I went home

It was wonderful

My family handled my homemaking madness so well:

Here's to penuche, nutella fudge, sugar cookies, saltine toffee, meatloaf, chicken orzo, etc,etc.

Oh.i.sure.miss.it.

Cinnamon Rolls

Let's talk Cinnamon Rolls.

Shmaybe I make them every Christmas.

Shmaybe I use my Aunt Debbie's amazing recipe.

Shmaybe this year I branched out.

Shmaybe I used brown sugar instead of white.

And Shmaybe they.turned.out.fabulous.

nojoke.

the best batch i have yet to make.

it made me happy

and really lethargic

(seriously, i ate one, sat on the couch, and passed out for a few hours)

totallyworthit

my sisters and I sprinkling the goodies

 Taylor butterin' them buns for the oven. 

delic.

The Gum Wall

I've lived in Seattle most my life...and I had never been to the Gum Wall

Supposedly it's been there for.ev.er,

 but recently it's been popping up in people's FB pages left and right.

Who knew?

So I knew I wanted to visit when I flew home for Christmas this year.

Turns out my brother hadn't been either and had been eyeing it.

Turns out it's in a mini-alley near Pike Place.

We loved it.

It was a germaphobe nightmare.

In a sick sense, I was tempted to lick it.

...but not really.

really.

Happy New Year!

We party hard.

We celebrated with our traditional homemade nachos,

(Taylor made them and they were divine)

Sparkling cider

(my fav)

And a Walking Dead marathon. 

(maybe we all got a little too addicted...)

AND we each wrote a list of 5 "resolutions" 

We went around the room and rattled off ours 1-by-1

What a fun experience!

It was wonderful seeing what my family's plans/goals/dreams are for 2013!

Hurraay for 2013!

In a general sense, I think we all opted for some health, wealth, and knowledge...

...and lack of a zombie apocalypse.

(better safe than sorry.)