Christmas came early in the Rhee household 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 11:00 AM
So those who know me, understand how much I LOVE and adore these Kitchenaid standmixers. Unfortunately, I could not justify paying for these mixers on our budget right after marriage, especially since I was in grad school and we just bought a house. All my baking was done using an electric mixer or elbow grease =).

Lucky for me, I have the best hubby who finally made my dream come true! Oh the convenience, the simplicity, and the beauty of these machines.. I just couldn't wait until it arrived. We agreed that we would be able to open our gifts early, but only when we definitely needed to use them.

Hubby asked for rotisserie attachment for his grill. Last week he had to open his present early so we could cook pork tenderloin for some friends who came over for dinner, while testing it out for Christmas dinner. (Very important dinner, since we'll be hosting my side of the family for the first time in our home).

So I patiently waited for the right time to open my gift, it was hard at first knowing that it was sitting right there under the tree. I did get distracted last week with the cold and busy buying/making other gifts. Finally, the time has come, I needed to bake cookies for our small group cookie exchange party, so we decided one very late night to get the standmixer out, and here are my expressions:







I know what you might be thinking... so crazy to be excited over a little machine. But I am so very thankful. My way to thank and bless others is to bake and share my crafts. So I hope you all can be blessed by my future goodies.

What did I make with it first? COOKIES, for our oikos groups 1st Cookie Exchange Party!





Merry Christmas Everybody! Hope you have an amazing time celebrating this joyous holiday with loved ones.


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felt wreath love 

Monday, December 19, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 10:33 PM
Yes... another wreath! I needed to decorate my house somehow with Christmas decorations to balance the lack of them outside of our house. My projects have been the felt wreath, the pine needle wreath on our front door, mini christmas trees, and glittery branches in wine bottles. I've only really recorded how I made my felt wreath, the rest I'll post when they're all finished.

This wreath is pretty easy to make and I know a lot of friends who already have these up in their homes or used this technique to make variations of decorative items. But I'll show you anyway..

Materials: one Styrofoam wreath, about 1 1/4 yards of felt of the color of your choice, pins, scissors
First, to make the circles, I outlined a stool of ribbon onto the felt.


I used most of the felt, not sure how many circles I ended up making, but let's just say it was A LOT.
Once you're done cutting out the circles fold into quarters and pin the tip of it to the Styrofoam.



You can make the wreath as tight or loose, I ended up making it tight because I didn't like to see the green styrofoam.


Once you go all the way around, test it on the wall or mirror that you're displaying it on, for me since I wanted to put it against a mirror, I needed to cover the insides and most of the back. Then, I wrapped the rest of the back with red felt so you couldn't see anymore green, especially in the reflection of the mirror.


Attach a ribbon to the back and hang it! That's it! and there it is, on my dining room wall, it doesn't completely go with my green/yellow theme but it adds a little holiday boldness. Also, the wreath matches all the glittery candles and centerpieces on the dining room table.

Hope you enjoyed this craft!

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Kick off to the holidays 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 5:03 PM
Over Thanksgiving break, we had my aunt/uncle and cousins come over for a dinner before the big Turkey Day. We haven't had family come over yet, so I wanted to make sure our dining room wall was done. So hubby and I  put up the shelves and started decorating, not completely done but good enough for company =). Below is my cute family eat a very carb heavy meal that we cooked. If you look on the top right shelf, I made a little chalkboard sign.

On the menu that night, lemony shrimp spinach pasta, Hot italian sausage pasta, salad, and homemade wine from the counsins.

The next day, I got started on my Christmas gift for my cousin Tina, she was only in town for a few days, so I had to get started on the wreath. She has a hunter green door with a screen protector so I wanted to make sure the wreath would not only be pretty but also pop out! (I choose a white/silver yarn)



Hubby on his spare time helped me out by wrapping the very small yarn around the wreath =)

I bought some little decorative items from Michaels, hot glued them on the styrofoam part, then wrapped the yarn around the stem to hide it. Then, hot glue some ornaments, and DONE!


Next time, I'll post pictures of my new wreaths and Christmas decorations around the house.




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Williamsburg Getaway 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 12:30 AM
Last month, Mr. Rhee and I took a mini vacation to Williamsburg, VA. It was his first time visiting the historic area and my return after 15 years. It was perfect timing, hubby was switching between jobs, and I needed a little break from my studying for the boards. Oh and if you didn't know, I passed my Nurse Practitioner boards! PTL!!!

This historic town was the perfect place for us, it had a wide variety of fall foliage, historical ambience for Mr. Rhee, and it was just far away from the big city, but not too far that we had to take a lot of time off. I think I love historical towns because of the old brick buildings, the characters who walk, talk, and breathe as if they were in colonial times, and just the simplicity of it all.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

 walking under a bridge to get to the colonial town

 At the governor's palace





 I really wanted a colonial floppy hat =)


Silversmith Shop

Fife & Drum

Waiting for Dinner at one of Williamsburg's many restaurants


We stayed at a cute little B&B called Colonial Gardens, near Jamestown.



Inside the governors side of the courthouse

Wigmaker

Blacksmith


We really enjoyed our trip, the weather held out a nice low 70's for the few days we were there. Hopefully, we can visit the other two towns in the colonial triangle, (Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown) soon.

What was your best short getaway?

-Jullie

Oh and if I don't post until then, Have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!!

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Two words... glittered pumpkins! 

Monday, November 14, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 12:02 PM
I definitely thought I submitted this post already, but my apologies..

This post is dedicated to my crafting buddy Gina...
Together we conquer the world of crafts, by stalking Martha Stewart projects, bring a little glitter to all boring things... like my dining room floor, and spend countless hours wandering Michael's.

We're an awesome crafting pair, and to that, these glittered pumpkins are dedicated to her!



So, we started our project by picking cute little gourds from our local supermarket. I picked up a couple small pumpkins from Butler's Orchard.

Then, you paint on a thin layer of white glue, we used Tacky Glue. In the picture above, I tried a different method of gluing the bottom half first then glittering, wait to dry then glue the top. This technique works better for pumpkins with short stems.

If you have a bigger stem, it's easier to glue half the pumpkin (ex: right side), then pour glitter of your choice, wait to dry, then repeat on left side.

Just some of the glitter cans we used =)


See the difference a little glitter can make? After all the glitter dries, we painted the stems with a nice copper to finish the look.

Susan, came over on day 2 of glittering, to make some really pretty "Easter" colored pumpkins.



They're so pretty, it's nostalgic. It's worth all the glittery mess over the table and floor. Poor hubby is now terrified of glitter, but for the most part it cleaned up fairly nicely.

Soon, I'll post how I displayed the pumpkins and the new wall in our dining room! =)

Happy Crafting!

-Jullie

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Butler's Orchard 

Sunday, October 23, 2011 - Posted by Jullie at 10:04 PM
Every season there's always a must-do activity planned. For example;

winter: sight see amazing Christmas decorations, complain about the cold, forgetting to get my car waxed before the snow/ice (as you can tell winter is not my favorite season).

spring: visit DC to see cherry blossoms on the tidal basin
summer: beach trips, carnival/fair, outdoor movie festivals
fall: explore fall foliage either in the Shenandoah, Old town Alexandria, somewhere on the GW parkway, and of course visit the pumpkin patch!!!!

Over the weekend, Mr. Rhee and I along with our close friends the Lee's visited Butler's Orchard for their annual Pumpkin Festival! I think little E enjoyed the petting zoo part, while we enjoyed the corn maze and the pumpkin cannon!


Eugene showing off his throwing skills


Feeding the goats


Little E staring at the sheep



Yay for not getting lost in the corn maze!

My favorite thing to do, is shooting pumpkins out of the cannon. Surprisingly, when it was my turn, the pumpkin Mr. Rhee chose for me hit the target that was sitting on top of a van! First one to do it all day apparently. The best part was when the target got knocked down, I of course screamed in excitment... it made my day.. no week! =)

Before we left, we had to stop by the market to see all the goodies on sale. I ended up buying a few more mini pumpkins.... to glitter later that day =D


Hope all the young adults at church enjoy their hayride/bonfire night at Butler's this weekend! Glitterred pumpkins post coming soon!


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