Ciocia Kristen, redux

No Sunday cooking again; we spent the weekend with family in Detroit celebrating various family birthdays and meeting my newest niece. It's funny, for a lot of years the ratio of nephews to nieces was 3:1, but my SIL has had two girls in the last three years so now I have a even set of 3 and 3. I love all those boys, but I have to admit, having more girls in the family makes me happy. I love all my girls so much.



I let my 17-year-old nephew B play with my good camera at the cookout, so I am finally in some pictures! He took some nice ones with my and my littlest niece S. What a sweet baby she is.



Me giving B stink-eye as he wandered around taking photos of everyone at the pool. If you drop that camera, kid... ;-D

I shouldn't have worried; he did well. He even got a really, really nice photo of Hubby and me.



Sometimes I can't believe B and his sister are 17 already. They were toddlers at my wedding! But they're both growing up, and are great kids. I got to spend some nice time with H, talking about driving and college plans and all kinds of stuff she's more willing to tell her aunt than her mom. I like that she trusts me, and we have fun together being dorky. We always take a self-portrait or two!



I totally loved her outfit, so she let me take some shots of that. Now THAT is how you mix patterns, my friends.



We even did some shoe shots.



Those are my new Dolce Vitas in action. Verdict: love 'em, keeping 'em. The only weird thing about this strappy style of sandal is that it connects to your foot around your ankle, not around your toes or the ball of your foot like most other shoes and sandals. So the feel of them when you walk is the opposite of all other shoes; when you lift your foot, the sandal doesn't lift until your ankle does. As I tend to walk on the balls of my feet, that takes some getting used to. Not a deal breaker, just a strange sensation.



I got a nude polish at my last pedicure, and I am not sure I like it. My feet are definitely polished so it doesn't look like I just have gross feet, but I think the color is almost too nude. Next time I might go with something a little more opaque but still a neutral. I've been wearing bold colors on my toes all year round for a couple of years now; I kind of like the natural look, but I can't decide if it is just *too* natural. What do you guys think?

My middle niece, the 3-year-old S, also got into the fashionista action. She had a pair of sparkly sneakers from her other aunt, H and B's mom. So cute!



The sparkles on her toe cap light up when she stamps her feet, so she tried to show me for the camera.



Her other ciocia (aunt) also found this awesome t-shirt. Only in Detroit, you guys!



Just to round it out, I had get a picture of the littlest one's feet too. BABY FEET!!!!!



Like I said, I love my girls, and I love being their Ciocia Kristen.


Just so you don't leave without a single food shot, here is part of the breakfast I had at the casino buffet that Sunday. I don't see a problem with it, do you?



Fresh berries over strawberry yogurt with homemade granola, and a cinnamon donut. Breakfast of champions! ;-D

More fashion posts coming soon! I have been taking pictures again!

My Detroit Christmas

Merry Christmas, blogland! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, or long weekend. We traveled to Detroit to spend the holiday with my husband's family. Detroit is always an interesting trip; we stay right downtown, which is rather unheard of since, well, it's Detroit and it's everything you have read about and more. We then travel to his mother's and his sibling's homes in the suburbs for the family events. They live scattered near and far from the city, and the fault lines between those places are stark. For example, this is the house my mother-in-law grew up in, off 6 Mile Road. It's now one of the more desolate parts of the city.



The front door has been replaced by a wooden plank because squatters are living there now. It's actually one of the "nicer" houses on the block. So to speak.

This is the house two doors down. It's pretty common to see burnt-out houses in this area. Many of them have no roofs.



In contrast, here is the swanky hotel room we stayed in at the MGM Grand Casino downtown.




Here is the lobby of our hotel.



The casino/hotel itself, though, is in the middle of nowhere even though it is right downtown. That's how erratic Detroit is; even the downtown has desolate sections and populated sections. We've stayed in other ones that were closer to other restaurants and stores, but this one wasn't. Once we got in, we stayed in. Which is okay, since there was plenty to do. :)

Of course, we weren't there very much since it was Christmas and we were in town to see family. Christmas Eve was at my brother-in-law's house, with his little daughter the center of attention all night. Boy, she is a cutie.

This is the night the whole family gets together and opens gifts, so the older niece and nephew (twins) first had to hand out gifts to everyone so we could stack up piles by our feet. Then we open one present at a time, going from youngest to oldest. That lasts for about an hour, then it becomes a free-for-all. LOL!



My littlest niece's pile. This wasn't even what Santa was bringing!

My older niece is 16, so she and her brother are just about at the age where they are too cool for any of this. He was pretty quiet most of the night, but but she's not quite there yet; I was still able to get her to goof off with me!




As you can imagine, my eating was terrible. I brought clementines with me so my mornings started out well with some fruit and toast, but after that it was catch as catch can. There were salads and some microwaved veggies, but the starch to veggie ratio was about 6:1. I did, however, manage to avoid eating these mashed potatoes.



I was less strong in the face of smoked kielbasa, honey-baked ham, dinner rolls, cheesy potatoes (a family treat), two-corn casserole, and of course, Christmas cookies. Ah well, this week while I am home is going to be a bounty of daily cooking, so I'll be back on track soon enough!

My favorite gift is the Kindle Touch my husband got me, and the gift certificates for books from the rest of the family. I already downloaded and read my first book. I love it!



I had gotten out of the habit of reading these last few years, and I realize now how much I missed it. I plan on filling this puppy up, with beloved favorites and new books.

What was your favorite gift this year?

My Monday List

1. What I wore today.



My back pain roared back this weekend, so it had to be flats. I built the rest of the outfit from there.



2. What I baked today.





Hershey's came out with these peppermint-flavored Kisses; are they new? Anyway, they go great on top of these sugar-rolled sugar cookies.



I call these the Island of Misfit Cookies. Hubby says they are still delicious. I had two myself, and I agree. (The rest are boxed up to go to work and to Detroit this weekend.)

The recipe is on the Kisses bag!



3. What I ate today.



This week's quiche is leeks, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese. It's pretty delicious; the flavors are light and bright.

4. What I wrapped this weekend.



5. What my husband organized this weekend. We need more pictures of the boys, K!!!!



6. What else I did this weekend: blew out my back. Again. Sunday was a lost day of ice packs, ibuprofin, and lots of laying around, but I went to my doctor this morning and she said I treated it correctly. I have a bulging disc and it shifted so it was pressing on the nerve. I've got meds and an order for rest for the next week. I'm mobile, so it's not as bad as it could have been, and the pain has receded a lot since Saturday night. Whew.

7. What I lost this week.



8. Who thinks they are getting bold. That is as far as she got before pulling her head back in.



9. What stands between me and our Christmas weekend in Detroit: two after-work parties, a potluck lunch on Wednesday, packing, cooking something for the potluck on Wednesday, not killing anyone at work.

10. What will happen between Christmas and New Years: STAYCATION.

Guess which week am I looking more forward to?

Ciocia Kristen

Hello, internet! Did you miss me while I was gone? We had a lovely weekend away in Detroit (not an oxymoron LOL); we went for a family reunion picnic but I affectionately called the trip our Casino Tour Across Michigan. I hit big on our first night in New Buffalo, and that paid for the rest of the pitstops along the way and our stay in the Greektown Casino and Hotel in the city itself. Yay!

But more importantly, what did I wear? The weather was crazy, the kind where you over-pack with shorts for heat, jackets for bundling up, and shirts and sweaters of every weight, just to cover your bases. And I ended up wearing all of them.

This was Friday; wore it to work and then on the car ride across Illinois and Indiana that night. Gap Outlet purple and grey striped sweater, grey Lauren Conrad for Kohls embellished tee, black Gap skinny pants, red Target cutout flats. Those flats got quite a workout all weekend!






Saturday we drove the rest of the way across the state then met up with my sister-in-law and niece for lunch at Slows BBQ in the city of Detroit. It's a funny restaurant, funky and upscale like many restaurants found in the funky urban neighborhoods of Chicago, but because it's in Detroit it's pretty much surrounded by abandoned buildings. The food was ridiculously good; I had a brisket and onion marmalade sandwich that was amazingly tender and flavorful. Plus, I got to spend time with my niece! She's only two so she's like an amnesiac still; she doesn't remember me between the times that I see her, so I have to win her over all over again at each visit. But Ciocia Kristen (Aunt in Polish) is persistent, and by the end of the reunion on Sunday she was running into my arms and kissing me. :)











I love how fearless my sister-in-law is in taking her daughter through the city. They live there, after all, and it's good to teach her to enjoy the good and not to ignore the bad.


This was one of 3 outfits on Saturday. The WHBM striped sweater kept coming off and on as it heated up, so I was glad I had just gotten this Old Navy long sleeved ruched v-neck tee this week on sale. It's so soft, and the optic white looks good against my skin tone. I ended up getting even hotter and changing into a fuschia sleeveless ruched tee from LOFT for a while, then that night I wore my batwing black top when we went out drinking and gambling with my brother-in-law. (Also when we went for Coney dogs at 10:30 at night. It's a Detroit tradition!)





Sunday was the reunion out at a gorgeous park up by my brother-in-law. The sun was out but the wind was cool, so my new Old Navy striped sweater kept coming off and on as the temps changed. Underneath was another Old Navy ruched v-neck tee, this time in deep teal. My gold circle Nasri necklace and Old Navy Dreamer jeans finished off the outfit. No full-lengths shots, but here are a couple of closeups. I bought those aviators last year, and they were expensive from Ralph Lauren. But they look awesome, and they've lasted well. No regrets about buying them at all!






Me and my nieces (ages two and sixteen). Love both of these girls so much! The reunion was perfect because the adults were busy talking to their cousins and aunts, but since I don't know any of them I got to spend time with my nieces one on one. Usually at family parties their moms and grandmas hog their attention. :)



 
My husband proudly wore his new Made in Detroit shirt. LOL!





He also did some fishing with our niece. She loved it, and didn't want to stop even though it was time to go. They kept catching the line on lily pads and other assorted greenery in the water, and my husband joked that they were catching "salads". When we got her back with her mom, she proudly said, "I caught salads!" We have been repeating it to each other ever since.

Good thing they didn't actually catch a live fish; she might have freaked out.




The kids played games at the picnic, and one of the prizes were bubbles. That turned out to be the most fun of all, as the little ones chased the bubbles all over the field. I could have watched them for hours. So adorable.





By Monday, my flats-length Old Navy Dreamer jeans had completed bagged out, but I did not want to wear heels for the drive home. So I rolled up my heel-length Old Navy Dreamer jeans (why do the other pair bag out, but not these? It's a mystery) and added the white long-sleeved tee again, my grey asymmetrical sweater from Marshalls, red Target flats and my new crossbody from Nordstrom. This was definitely a remixing weekend! (And an Old Navy one, apparently; they are my go-to store for casual this year!)



And now I am back at work. Alas!