To send or not send the holiday card

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I usually start contemplating my holiday card. I assess my most recent pool of photos. I explore the myriad of card designs. And check my address book. Am I missing anyone?

Except that any photo I’d choose has been seen by most people I'm connected to online, which means I’d have to spend time dressing up the girls, which they aren’t interested in, and take a special “card” photo, which I don’t have time for.

When nearly everyone you know is on Facebook, will the holiday card become a lost tradition?

The two main reasons to send a card are now relatively obsolete…

Share the family newsletter: You’re all connected now on Facebook. With your regular status updates, is there something they don’t know that you need to put on paper and snail mail it?

Show off the family portrait: Everyone you’ve ever known since elementary school has seen the photos you’ve been posting. They can go on Facebook or Snapfish or Shutterfly or Flickr, whichever one of a dozen sharing sites you belong to, and look through the 10 albums you’ve posted over the years.

Some might say it’s the thought that counts. But for many, like me, it’s become an obligation. And when the only content is your name, how much time and effort and thought has really gone into it? I don’t even hand address the envelopes anymore. I'm out of handwriting practice, all that pen holding makes my hand ache after the first dozen. I now print labels.

Even Hallmark is banking on our online evolution. You can go to their site to pick your card, add your photo and signature and they will address the envelopes and mail for you. You don’t touch a piece of paper. Ever.

After just spending this holiday weekend decluttering and organizing my house and throwing away as much as possible, do I really need a gaggle of cards to deal with? I never know where to put them all. My mantel is full of garland and stocking holders. And when it’s all over, I feel guilty throwing away people’s faces.

And let’s not forget the social aspect of the holiday card. Are you in or are you out? Remember the hurt feeling you got when it dawned on you that you didn’t receive a card from your old friend, Andrea, who had sent you a card every year, but with whom you haven’t actually spoken to in years. You wonder, did she finally cross you off her list? Are you no longer “friends” now that she hasn’t sent a card?

Or when you get a card after the holidays, after you’ve sent one? Somehow you just know they only sent it because you did first.

I’m not sure I’m going to send cards this year. That’s a $100 I could spend on gifts, or better yet, myself. Plus, I have to find time to take a new photo. However, I'm not really a trendsetter and I certainly don’t want to be guilty of hurting feelings. Plus, I love a holiday tradition. And if I didn’t send a card, it would feel like something was missing.

If any holiday cards should be sent, at the very least they should be part of Holiday Mail for Heroes. The American Red Cross will send your cards to military service members. Be sure to send them by December 10th to: 

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD
20791-5456

And the rules from the site:

Do...

• Include your heartfelt sentiments and sign all cards
• Entitle cards with generic terms such as “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
• Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
• Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes

Don’t...

• Send letters, care packages or monetary gifts
• Include personal information such as home or email addresses
• Use glitter – excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients
• Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process

Are you sending a card this year?

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with family and friends and good food.

The Thanksgiving Spirit

In lieu of the soon-to-arrive Thanksgiving holiday, here is a little inspiration. It's so hard not to be inspired by Amy Atlas.

And you're welcome.

Jim Thorpe, PA

What started as a 60th birthday weekend celebration has turned into an annual tradition with my mom, sister and I. Every year, we pick a quaint Victorian town with lots of antiquing and even more character to visit. This year, it was Jim Thorpe, PA.

It was a brisk fall weekend -- perfect for a visit in the Poconos. We arrived late Friday night after a horrific drive in horrific traffic. Our innkeeper at Rosemary's Remembrances was accommodating to our late arrival. We were too hungry and desperate for wine to examine the room thoroughly. At a glance, perfect. Later, after food and wine, great for a couple, fine for us. It has a kitchenette and small sitting area and bathroom. I would recommend it if you prefer privacy. Take note of the unique wall art and decor. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We were fortunate enough to find a couple bars open and still serving food.

Coffee the next morning at Strange Brews was the best coffee we had all weekend, but the worst place to have it. I read the reviews beforehand but forgot and didn't put two and two together. We wanted food. There was a menu. Far be it from us to order food off the menu.

The owner behind the counter warned us after we ordered that if a mass storm of customers suddenly walked through the door he would have to stop cooking. He seemed quite certain this was going to happen as he repeated himself several times. To be fair, he was the only one behind the counter. He suggested a place down the street if we wanted to eat. We looked at each other. What? Is that not a menu on the board? We were the only ones there. Yeah, cancel that order. Asshole. We sucked down our coffee and hightailed it out of there. Hello out there, if you're the owner of Strange Brews, why not just put on your menu, "Not available until after 11 am."?

So off we went looking for grub. We ended up at Albright's Mansion, hesitant at first to go in when we saw the white table cloths and tea sets. We thought it too formal for our casual morning attire. But, we ventured in only to find out too late that we were in fact overdressed for the filthy table cloths and slow service. And yet another bad experience about to happen. It was a diner masked by a Victorian house and white table cloths. Fortunately, the food was good, but the coffee was like water. And the server added a 20% gratuity for just 3 of us, which she did not deserve. Not happening. Also, there were fruit flies. I hate fruit flies.

My mother was rather horrified. I'm pretty sure I have a photo of her pointing to a coffee stain. An email to the manager was answered with much remorse about our experience.

Aside from all that, a walk around town revealed a handful of beautiful mansions and lots of unqiue shops. Most full of junk that was good for a few laughs, like the Dammit Doll, which you basically beat up to relieve stress. A few gems, however, included Shabby Foo Foo, a shabby chic boutique full of furniture beautifully refinished by the owner, chandeliers, linens and more. Another great shop is The Country Cottage on Race Street. It's a tight squeeze in this two floor shop, but so worth the visit. Homemade pickles and hot salsa that will blow your socks off. Tons of beautiful home decor on the first floor and Christmas stuff on the second. In my opinion, the best two shops there.

Here's a quick transitioning slide show...

We visited the prison during a Ghost Tour. Eh. I got a couple "orbs" in some photos (theorized to be ghosts) but I'm not falling for it. And I believe in ghosts. We also saw the hand print that mysteriously won't go away no matter how many times it's been painted over. Unfortunately, that wasn't impressive either.

We stopped into Flow way up the hill on Broadway to see the restaurant with the canal flowing through (totally underwhelming, eh) and the art gallery - lots of turtles with the artist's wife. We opted not to eat there, vying for Moya (for dinner) instead, which I highly recommend. The atmosphere was pleasant, the staff was friendly, the food was great, the tablecloths were clean...what more could you ask for.

Before we headed home, we went on a train ride. 8 miles out. 8 miles back. In an open train car. Thankfully, it was unseasonably warm. It was a pretty ride through the mountains with the turning leaves. We saw plenty of people along the way riding bikes, so bring yours if you've got one.

Unless you're participating in an outdoor activity like whitewater rafting or paintball, Jim Thorpe is definitely a weekend visit - go in Saturday morning, leave Sunday afternoon. A great getaway with year round appeal.

Project Windowscape

What's happening outside your window? Project Windowscape starts today.

Cape May, NJ in the Fall

It's a bit embarassing that I've lived within two hours of Cape May, NJ and have never spent time there, until last weekend. If you like quaint Victorian towns, and the beach, with lots of shopping, than this is the place for you.

Hubs and I headed there for a last minute anniversary getaway.

It looks more like a New England town than a Jersey one.

Many bed and breakfasts require a two night minimum on the weekend, but we waited until Friday and had no problem getting the room for one night. Our two main objectives were to have a fireplace and to be within walking distance to the town (which obviously wasn't hard). We ended up at the Victorian Lace Bed and Breakfast.

The owners, Andy and Carrie, were super nice and down to earth. We met Carrie when we checked in and helped open a bottle of champagne for another guest. Andy, we met the next morning at breakfast. Very interesting and friendly, genuinely interested in learning about his guests. By the way, the service at breakfast was superb. We loved this place and highly recommend it.

Our room is the one with the deck on the second level. Not too shabby for last minute.

The room was a two-room suite with a kitchenette, much more space than we needed but perfect for longer stays.

With a gas fireplace in the sitting room (and one just outside the bedroom), you just flip the switch and, poof, ambiance.

The pedestrian mall, not a very charming description, had a variety of shops and a couple restaurants. We found a cooking store called Love the Cook that rocked! All things gourmet to be found in here. We had lunch at Jackson Mountain Cafe. Asking the waitress the name of the wine and getting a dumbfounded look, had me horribly concerned for my food. The ambiance was lacking immensely, but the pickin's were slim and we were hungry. Fortunately, the food did not disappoint.

Live entertainment added a festive atmosphere...

No shortage of flea market and antique shops!

The details of the Victorian homes were just amazing. Every home was more beautiful than the next. I could barely get down a block without stopping at every house to take a picture. Thankfully, this was not a new experience for the hubs.

This photo is a little for humor for little K who laughs every time she hears the word, "butt".

It's funny. My experience with Cape May is not as a beach town since my first visit has now been during the fall. It's a perfect cold weather place. But the beach is there and that's what it's known for, so we'll have to go back, explore more and vegge on the beach. I'll update the review then. Overall, we will be going back, with kids, with friends and alone. I can't wait!

Hosting Thanksgiving?

Here is a little advice from one of my favorite chefs...

11 years and counting

This past weekend, the hubs and I celebrated an anniversary. We've been married for 11 years.

On one hand, that makes me feel soooooo old.

On the other hand, I'm thankful we've lasted this long.

Because people, there are no guarantees in life. Surprising, I know.
The one thing I've realized, is that no matter how much you think you know yourself, your spouse, partner, significant other, whatever...we are still learning who we are as well as our loved ones as we go along in life.

So the fact that we've lasted as we've evolved, I think, is impressive.

If someone would have told me that on my 11 year anniversary, my groom and I'd be sitting in a Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, in a suite with two (TWO!) fireplaces, fully engrossed in our own technology - he on phone/Twitter, me on laptop blogging - I would have said that clearly we have nothing to say to each other and therefore headed for divorce.

At least, we're drinking a good bottle of wine.

Laugh, if you must. Make fun. Yet we are completely comfortable and relaxed in each other's company. We're simply doing things we enjoy. I might add, we're also talking to each other and sharing things with one another so it's not like we're in our own worlds. We've also laughed about the fact that here we are, in a most romantic setting - fires blazing ( I did mention there are 2 fireplaces in the room?), wine in hand - on the most romantic day, and we're a-tapping on our keyboards.

To be without obligation...

Project Windowscape

For some reason, each morning as I'm getting ready for the day, I feel compelled to glance out my third floor bathroom window. It's not the greatest skyscape. My neighbor's roof and an apartment building are mostly in view. But often I take a picture. Sometimes the sunrise gives off beautiful colors. Other times, the clouds are wild.

This morning, it occurred to me that seeing all these photos - each one out the same window but a different day - would be kind of interesting. That's when Project Windowscape came to mind. I'm pretty confident that I can't commit to taking and posting a photo from my window view every day. I think once a week is more reasonable. So I'll take photos during the week and find the best one to post - once a week, on Saturday morning. Project Windowscape on the Weekend! Then at the end of a year's worth of photos (52 to be exact) I'll put them all together in a slide show.

So what's out your window? Take a photo and link up in the comments.

I work, therefore I dream

I think I should probably slow down. But I don't know how, or if I really can.

I can't do nothing. And I don't mean that in an ebonics sort of way. All of my awake time has to be consumed by doing something. I am in a constant state of feeling like there's something I should be doing. Even when I'm doing one thing, I feel like there's something else I should be doing. I am highly uncomfortable sitting in a room and doing nothing. Relaxing, to me, is being productive. For example, if I'm watching tv, I need to also be on the computer. Even if I'm just browsing blogs - I'm not really doing anything productive - but I can't just sit and watch tv. People I know talk about the luxury of massages and all I can think about is what else I could get done in that time frame. Clean a closest. Declutter. Sew. Edit photos. Blog!

Often I have so many things on my to do list, I am paralyzed and don't even know where to begin.

Earlier this week, I had to work from home. I love the idea of working from home. I hate the act of it. The kids had off for Election Day and the hubs scheduled the chimney people to do some work, then he conveniently skipped town. I have so much going on at work it makes my eyes cross. Being at home and working doesn't jive...

I am simply way too distracted.

Because, today...

I vacuumed and swept up dog hair and dust; had three conference calls; dealt with countless emails requesting tedious, yet time-consuming, changes to ad copy; had chimney people in my peripheral for 2 hours; accomplished last minute birthday gift shopping; hosted a playdate; voted!; threw in a bit of laundry; managed a quick jaunt to the grocery store; and dealt with the dog, which included spontaneously filling 10 doggy bags of shit miraculously found among the leaves in my backyard. Throw in an ADD moment where I decided to make bread AND turkey soup, and you've got a full day of someone with a problem.

Exercise, eat something remotely healthy and shower have all been omitted to keep this story as accurate as possible. I did, however, find time to pee once, but didn't feel that would add value to the hecticness of my day.

And yet, during this day of chaos, what I enjoyed most was ... baking and cooking. I was actually excited to have the hubs walk into the house to the smell of cooking food. It is oh-so-rare. And let me tell you, it smelled so homey, even I was in heaven.

I was a stay at home mom for 4 years, until 4 years ago. With a 2- and 4-year-old needing my constant attention, I couldn't wait to get back to work, just to have the down time away from kids. I was bored to death! I just wasn't cut out to be a fulltime stay-at-home mom. And now, with my kids at 6 and 8 years old, I'm so ready to be home again.

Ok let's be honest, they're in school most of the day. This I know. BUT. I wouldn't feel so RUSHED to get it all done. I would have my time during the day to to clean the house, do laundry, run errands, have dinner ready. Right now, to this fulltime working mom, that sounds so relaxing.

How fucked up is that?

God damn I need to win the lottery.

If only I could afford a nanny....*sigh*