Happy New Year my Friends!

(Please forgive my belated holiday recap.) The forecast called for the snow to begin around 5pm on Dec25, and no meteorologist wanted to make anything more than a vague prediction of how much, how long, if it would stick, etc. So imagine my surprise when - after a very late night of our big family celebration, and 40 degree temp still at 1am - my sleepy, stuffy headed self awoke just before 10:00, threw open the drape, and saw 3 inches of snow had already fallen. I woke my Mr. Cheese with the oh-so-ladylike "Holy s**t!" Truly stunned, we dressed as quickly as possible and ran outside to soak in the joy of the white stuff. You see, this was our very first white Christmas, and one of the best presents ever!

Before heading over to my mother-in-law's house, we went for a walk on our mile-long pedestrian bridge, from the North Shore to downtown. A pointy chinned snowman greeted us at the foot of the bridge.
The cupola of the building that houses the carousel at Coolidge Park.
The Delta Queen (Now a hotel - I wonder how many guests were aboard?)
Walking the Walnut St. Pedestrian Bridge.
The Hunter (Art) Museum perched atop the bluff overlooking the Tennessee River.
Coolidge Park...as quiet as I've ever seen it.
My mother-in-law's house.
Mother-in-law's pup loving her new doghouse (note how it matches the colors of her Tudor home).
The snowy woods in our back yard.
It's been a busy but fun holiday season for us. My parents are visiting from Tx, Mom is teaching me to sew today, we are attending a party tonight, and we're off to Tellico Plains tomorrow for my girl Jenn's wedding. By the end of next week, we should be back to our regular schedules and I'm looking forward to catching up on blogging, reading, and sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR my Lovelies!!! Have fun and be safe!

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! I'm a little late with my glad tidings, but I hope you have all had a safe and wonderful holiday! Mother nature had a fantastic surprise for us - our first ever white Christmas. And it's still snowing! I will share more pics tomorrow.

Sweet 70's Ride

My husband recently cleaned up and sold this sweet 1976 Yamaha Moto-Bike. It was screaming to be photographed.

Etsy Shop Shipping Schedule & Discount

Just a little reminder, purchases from The Cottage Cheese's Etsy shop must be made by December 15 for USPS Priority and Fedex shipping to the lower 48 states. (*Books are set up to ship media mail, so if you need a book by Christmas, please contact me in advance for priority shipping rate).

AND... type "blog follower" in notes to seller on purchases through December 15 and receive 10% off your order (item price, via Paypal refund).

Happy shopping!

Christmas-y

We picked out our perfect 8 foot skinny frazer fir tree on Tuesday, and after spending three hours that night fighting with troublesome lights (it was like a scene out of a movie, instead of joy and cheer, it devolved into explatives flying from my mouth), it was almost midnight and we were as pooped as the pup below (although not looking as cute). So our tree is still naked except for lights. Even though only partially "dressed" it's still looking quite lovely. We won't have time to finish the decoration until later this weekend. But I did find a little time today to share some of my favorite (thus far) Christmas-y images from the web.





Sources:
1, 3,4 - Merry Christmas Bitches
2,6 - Dottie Angel
5 - Cable and Cotton via six oh three

My weekend plans: Tonight - Swanky office Christmas party (I hear these get quite crazy, in fact the CEO told a co-worker of mine who has had the flu all week to stay home and save her strength for the party). Tomorrow - possibly recovering from said party, estate sales, shipping, shop listings, raking leaves, decorating the tree. Sunday - shopping for gifts online, catching up on sleep, and general hibernation. I plan on wearing head to toe fleece, not leaving the house, and having a blanket and cup of tea or cocoa nearby at all times. Oh, and if it snows, building a snowman.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Oh my...

Uh-huh, I could live here:

sixohthree

Scenes from Autumn

Now that almost all of the leaves have fallen, I'm finally getting around to sharing a few scenes from my Autumn. Hiking in the Smokies...


Making apple crisp...
Driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains...
While I haven't had enough time to to enjoy more moments like this, I relish the ones I've had. Today I'm helping Mr. Cheese's aunt with a Christmas fundraiser for her animal rescue group. My evenings this past week have been spent baking goodies (for people and for pets), It has been quite fun puttering around the kitchen so much. Puts me in a festive mood.

Yours truly,

Mrs. Cheese, domestic goddess.