And the Winner is....

The Setting: Our humble apartment, brimming with bags to be unpacked from our month-long Holiday.

The Soundtrack: Oia's gentle snoring.

Steaming up the oven: Cinnamon Toast.

The Scenario: Back from break, some announcements to make.

Christmas break was exceptional.

We got to spend three weeks in Nashville with family and friends and one week in Destin, just the three of us.

It was wonderful to spend our first family vacation and Oia's first time at the beach in the same spot I visited when I was her size. So many memories.

Oia's first swim

It's hard to believe I've splashed around in this very pool for almost 30 years now.

While we were in Destin we heard that someone had made an offer on my family's condo (which was not for sale).

I don't know if this or any offers will be considered--I will have very little impact on the decision, as my grandparents bought the condo in the late 70s with two other families, and I am a measly one-third-stake grandchild in the situation--but I cannot express how much of a loss I will feel if it sells.

Either way, it was a joy to share it with Oia for the first time and to clink glasses of bubbly, reliving old memories, with Hoosband (we got engaged on the deck of the condo New Year's Day, 2009).

Now that we're back in South Bend, there's an apartment to be organized, new Christmas gifts to make room for, and loads of yummy dishes on my to-bake list.

Santa--and family--blessed us with some gifts that should make life a little easier around here: a bouncer and a highchair for Oia...

...and a new computer for me!

For the last year or two I've been co-opting Hoosband's computer whenever I could, but as my stepfather says, "If you're a writer, you need a computer."

I'll happily agree.

The other thing I need, to appease the cook in me, the one who likes to go through dishes like my daughter goes through diapers, is a dishwasher.

And while Santa may not have had room for one on his sleigh, Hoosband says there's a counter-top model out there somewhere with my name on it!

I am especially glad for all these time- and sanity-savers because I have some big projects in the works, and I have a feeling I will need all the help I can get.

I'm excited (and nervous!) to announce that I am officially (because if it's on the blog, it's official) working on my first cookbook.

I'll keep you posted as the milestones progress, but for now, just know it's been a long time in the brainstorming, and it will likely take even longer in the execution.

There will be a lot more room in our wallets than there will be in our waistlines by the time this thing is done, but that is just the way the recipe is written.

I hope you will be as excited as me to see how it turns out!

And now, finally, the announcement everyone has really been waiting for, the winner of the OXO "Good Cookie" Spatula...

Congratulations, Fraziertoo!