Wide Awake

Well, this is the start (my stock Christmas stuff) of all the Christmas decorations I have thus far. The little optical light Christmas tree is from college (Thanks Mom).  Both of our mothers have given us “our” ornaments and we got a bunch of “Our First Christmas Together” ornaments last year. It is not impressive, but it is cute!

The Wreath has been a year in the making. I do not know why I thought it was going to be hard to make, but it was really simple. I used really thin wire and attached the pine cones onto the pre-made wreath with bow.

I recently turned 25 and have realized that I have become my mother. Except for the flats, I know she would love all of these shoes. Of course we both love shoes, that has always been true. But I always thought I had a different style taste than her. I think I was just suppressing my real feelings and wanted more hip styles. And maybe it comes with age and that I have a job that I should wear more “mature” shoes. Well, world, my name is Rachel Jacob and I love the same style of shoes my mother does. And they are all cute!

Family.

The Sherrill Family.

8 brothers and sisters. Paul, Bill, Clifton, Elizabeth (Lib), Ray, Lilia, Virginia and Jane.  Lilia is my grandmother, and Virginia and Jane came out to visit her a few weekends ago. There were 4 generations of the Sherrill family present at one point in time in our mini family reunion.  There were so many wonderful stories told about when they were growing up and how they used to live in Andrews, North Carolina. I loved hearing all the embarrassing stories about my grandma Lilia, and just being with these remarkable women together.

I love pineapple upside-down cake. And my grandmother-in-law makes a magnificent pineapple upside-down cake! I learned her “secret” family recipe during our trip to Chicago this past summer and my life, my dessert life, hasn’t been the same since. And we stayed up til midnight to make the cake after we went to see Knight and Day in the theater. What a wonderful memory.

Before our trip I used an allrecipe recipe for my try. I, of course, changed the initial recipe anyways to suit my more pineapply needs. But after visiting Gramma and learning the “tricks of the trade” for this cake, I now only use her recipe… well, with a slight variation to make it my own. I usually use crushed pineapple because I want a piece of pineapple in every delectable bite. And with the pineapple being crushed, it is easier for me to add some pineapple bits into the cake part. I think the most valuable part, and my oven is vary thankful for this, is that she taught me the correct way to set up the brown sugar and butter mixture on the bottom so that it doesn’t boil over (this was happening each time I made my own recipe). So, now my oven is happier and so am I that I don’t have to clean burnt brown sugar off my oven! And all the delicious brown sugar and butter stays in the pan.

Now some attention on the card.  I saw an inspiring picture on Design*Sponge, I believe, and just had to try my hand at needle embossed cards and other things of greatness.  I made a pineapple to represent the cake since I had just finished baking one and the sweet smell filled our house.