(re)introducing myself...

My name is Christine.

So. About me... I am from Guelph Ontario. That's in Canada. I have moved around a lot over my twenty-eight years, but chose to come back to Guelph where I now live with my husband and our menagerie of pets.

I am an artist, an activist, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a small business owner, and a lover. The role that I want more than any other is to be a mother. Sometimes the struggles that we (as in, the husband and I) are going through on our journey to parent-hood make me a little crazy. I'm working on that.



Making art is my passion, but I have always been fascinated by business and have felt driven to be my own boss. Sometimes that is not economically feasible. I'm working on that too.

I studied advertising in college. I am a huge fan of nerdy television shows and science documentaries. I love reading, photography, and organic vegetable gardening. I enjoy baking and cooking, and throwing back yard barbecue parties. I enjoy musical theatre, all manner of visual arts, and like to lose myself in music.

I feel like a giant narcissist having written so many sentences that begin with "I".



I know there's no way to adequately describe oneself in a blog post, but I think that summarizes things pretty well. I try to be an open book, so-to-speak, so if there's anything I haven't covered that you're dying to know, just ask!

:)

fat & happy

We had the boy's family come to our house for Christmas dinner for the first time, and I loved every minute of it! I have the "cooking gene", as well as it's chubby little sister the "feed people as much as humanly possible" gene, so preparing dinner for nine was a happy chore for me.

I wasn't sure at first if we would be able to squeeze seven adults and two kids into our tiny eat-in kitchen area that we call the dining room, but thanks to some folding chairs, a poker table, and a group of people who don't mind rubbing elbows while they eat, we worked it out.

I might also have the "Martha Stewart" gene, because I even baked gingerbread cookies and added each person's name in frosting in lieu of a place bard.
*insert pleased-with-myself giggles here*


I decided to be ambitious and try cooking the turkey differently than I have in the past and used Alton Brown's brining method - and it turned out fabulously:


I also served buttermilk biscuits, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, dressing, candied carrots, creamy dill potato salad, as well as apple-caramel cheesecake and apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.

Don't you feel fatter just reading that? lol


The only way I was able to pull it off was baking the biscuit and the desserts the day before, and preparing the sweet potato casserole so it just needed to be popped in the oven to warm while I carved the bird. I made a detailed schedule and solid plan for the day of and stuck to it.

Afterwards we all piled down into the rec room and watched a movie. We had to set up the air mattress due to a lack of seating, but it meant that the kiddos had a comfy place to fall asleep, as well as prime cuddling opportunities, so it was a good thing.

Everyone left happy, and just a little fatter, so I'm calling it a job-well-done.

:)