Holiday Photos + Happenings

Greetings, friends!  Have you had a good holiday break so far?  We have!  Here's what we've been up to.....Christmas Day Evening with my sister and her family.  This is three generations of us!

The husbands jumped into this photo.  I love this crew.

Can Miss O and my two nieces be anymore grown up?  They all look like college students even though just one of them attends Penn State. Fingers crossed my other niece gets into her first choice, University of Colorado (one of my alma maters!).

Daddy's girl...and mama's girl, too!

My mom sings in a 55+ group called Encore Chorale.  They sang at the Kennedy Center over the holidays.  Isn't that so cool? We are very proud of her!

Miss O, Mr. UpCyclist and I are literally on our third puzzle over the holiday break.  Jedi keeps buying them for us and he's been choosing some hard, 1000 piece ones lately. Don't let all those colors fool you into thinking this puzzle was easy.

This one was an easy one.  It was just 300 pieces.  We completed this one pretty quickly.

We visited Georgetown Glow and enjoyed the light displays and adorable holiday vibe of Georgetown.  Plus, it's a great way to get exercise.  I think we walked three miles that night.

This selfie of me is from the bathroom at Oki in Georgetown.  How crazy is that bathroom?  It's so fun you just make yourself go.  Ha!  There is a black light in there so wear white or neon so you look fantastico.

Oki, in general, was fun and eclectic.  Look at this dining room?!  It's filled with so much stuff - my eyes were delighted.  The ramen was decent - not as tasty as our new favorite Jinya - and we'd go back to Oki nonetheless as the ramen was still good (plus, they have some different flavor profiles of ramen there).

Master Jedi requires at least 1-2 walks, hikes or runs a day.  Luckily, we live right near a trail system and gorgeous river.  Jedi is not afraid to swim anytime of the year.

We went to the new-ish Guinness Brewery over break with my mom and to meet Mr. UpCyclist's best friends.  The food, vibe, and beers were all thumbs up to us.  Plus, there is so much space and natural light there.  In the summer, the outdoor area looks fantastic.

One of our friends is now a granddad.  How cute is baby Nolan?  Miss O loves babies and cute kids.

What have you been up to this break?

xo,
Jen

A Thankful Thanksgiving

This was my busiest Thanksgiving, yet.  Busy, in a good way.  Ever since I finished my training for the TTCT (The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking; more on that another day), I've shifted how I see things.  Even how I parent.  I can't quite put my finger on what has changed, but I know the TTCT training and understanding creative thinking more has inspired me, which is why I think we jammed-packed our long holiday weekend with so much fun.

Here's a peek at the weekend.....

Polka dancing with Mr. Upcyclist and lil O.  We all go to bed so early that we literally were home from polka dancing by 8:30pm and were exhausted.  Our family loves to dance.  Did you know Mr. Upcyclist and I met salsa dancing?  Sounds steamy, no?

A very yummy cranberry apple cake (for the recipe, scan the QR code from this post).  I adore that wavy chopper lil O is using.  It was the best buy from this Montessori catalog a few years ago.  Yes, I just snuck Montessori in a post!  Sneaky me.

Don't you adore dear friends?  Here is lil O with two friends who happen to be brothers.  Their mom and I are super friends from grad school.  That day, my gradfriend and I talked and talked and talked and talked while the kids played and played and played and played.  It was sooo nice to see them; it had been a while.

And let's not forget a good craft session.  You know I adore craftucation.  Wait to you see the posts for December.  Some of you may think I've lost my mind.  This is a gift in progress.

Mr. Upcyclist rarely gets involved in crafts, but lil O and I finally brought him to the dark awesome side.  He pays so much attention to detail, we've offered him an open invite to craft with us at anytime.  What a natural crafter!

Lastly, what is a long weekend without some fresh air and...you guessed it....cycling!  I mean, the name of this blog is UpCYCLED Education - for more than one reason.  Lil O is working on her mountain bike skills.  Me?  I'm just trying to keep up and get in shape for ski season which is right around the corner.

Oh. I. Loved. This. Holiday. Weekend.

Grateful and happy,
Jen