yesterday

me: messing around on the laptop, completely oblivious to what's going on around me.

bo: making water for tea.

me: looking over to the counter (maybe five or ten or fifteen minutes later) and I see a cup for me.

me: 'awww, you made me some water!'

bo: 'i told you i made it a long time ago.'

me: 'you know i can't hear when i'm on the computer.'

me: 'do you think it's still hot?'

bo: 'in japan they say that if you're a good person, your water will stay hot.'





me: 'did you make that up?'

i'll be fine in 2009...

Yup, I'm totally putting these out here, so don't laugh. I challenge you, too, to write out your goals for 09. Even if they're crazy and far-fetched.

Here we go...
- write in a journal every day
- take a quilting class
- knit a sweater for Lotus
- break out the paints again and make something cool
- save money
- drink more water
- take Lotus to the Art Center/Science Center more than once a year
- take photography class
- run more
- stop neglecting my guitar/piano
- do 25 sit-ups and push-ups a day
- read 10 books
- cut down on the fast food
- be more adventurous with my wardrobe
- take photos
- document life
- make out with my husband more often

;)

I was all excited to open my fortune cookie from my lunch today, thinking it would contain some meaningful insight into the new year, but it said this: 'You can prosper in the field of medical research.'

That's what you get when you have high hopes for your fortune cookie.

Do you have fantastically fun plans tonight, or are you just hanging at home with beverage in hand? I was kind of hoping to go to Corey Taylor's Dysfunctional NYE. It happens every year; we never go. But we do have some chill kid-friendly plans tonight, which will be perfect. We'll hit up the metal madness next year.

Happy 2009 to you!

Christmas in pictures

Whew! Did you make it through the holidays with flying colors? Returns are done, we've had time to recover, I've taken a break from my email and the internet in general, and eaten way too many cookies, but so it goes. Here's what we've been up to the past week or so...

I took L to see Santa (again) on Christmas Eve. We stood in a very very long line, but it was actually kind of fun. There were no tears this time but there's no mistaking the look of fear in her eyes.


We decorated (and ate) cookies.

Hung out in pj's on Christmas Eve.

Lo ate the treats we set out for Santa and Rudolph.

Christmas morning – just us three. Gifts, stockings, hot chocolate.

Smiles...

...concentration...

...and abc's courtesy of Paul Frank.

All of my favorite gifts this year were paper. Listography, a ticket stub diary (for all my concert tickets - hooray!), Angela Adams' box of labels and my new favorite journaling-prompt book, the True and the Questions by Sabrina Ward Harrison. Which is so amazing that I can't stop paging through it. (Totally forgot to include my new copy of Handmade Nation in this photo! duh!)

Off to grandma and grandpa's for fun with aunts and uncles and cousins.

Five cousin pile-up. (A sad attempt to get one picture of all the kids.)

On to Aunt Mel's to see great grandma and the rest of the family. And eat yummy desserts.

And to sing silly songs (that we don't know the words to) over and over again.

Then we traveled in the fog to my dad's house in northern Iowa. And got to spend some quality time with Uncle Chris and the grandparents.

And Chris' sweet girlfriend, (Lo's favorite pal) Lisa.

Chris and Lisa and my mom followed us back to DM for yet another family gathering at our house. (I gave out nine scarves that I knitted this season – here are two of them!)

And last but not least, we had a traditional Christmas dinner at my aunt's house.

Ham, mashed potatoes, cranberries, pie and lace tablecloths. Memories I've had since I was little. The food, the family ... traditions handed down over the years, and now I get to share that with little Lo. And as my mom pointed out, now I'm the one who brings the pies.

and so Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you!
Bo, Jen and Lotus

and what it all comes down to...

I have been insanely busy this past week putting in late nights working on a design project. Keeping up with holiday preparations and family visits, ice storms, wrapping/baking/last-minute-shopping and the rest has been more of a challenge than ever. Yet everything still falls into place – I'm always amazed (and relieved) when that happens.

So this is our Christmas this year: we have a solid family-rock-block from Christmas Eve through Sunday, which is cool. Even better is that we're not traveling at all on Christmas day, and we're waking up in our own house – just us three, to do our thing before the rest of the gatherings begin. Grateful for that, and really looking forward to Lo opening presents this year. When she sees something she likes (lights on a tree, for example) she gets this tiny shy/embarrassed smile that is just too sweet for words.

Now that my crazy rushed freelance gig is wrapped up (and I mean 'wrapped up' literally – I put a big red bow on the disks as I handed them off today) I can relax and enjoy our Christmas Eve tomorrow. Whew. So glad the project is over but also so glad to have the work.

Watched The Hills finale (but not a finale) last night. Not sure if I'm excited about The City yet, or not, but you know I'll be watching. Was not a fan of Lauren's hair on the after show. Ditto for Whitney's large floral out-of-season headband. But my love for those girls goes on. (Wasn't it sweet that Whitney got a pair of Manolo's signed for Lauren? Aww.)

On a totally different tangent, I must say that I was so sad when I found out that we were going to have to say goodbye to RVKC. But I'm so very excited to see what's ahead with the new Red Velvet Art store (because you know that whatever Elsie and Rachel are dreaming up, it's going to be absolutely rad.) I'm so grateful that I got to be a tiny part of Red Velvet Kit Club and it was an honor to work with very talented Theresa, Marie and Michelle. A huge thanks to Rachel for having me on her kick-ass design team (and taking a chance on me.) It really was a dream come true.

*Also, for the record, this may be my first post ever that does not have any photos. Heartwarming Christmas family photo coming tomorrow to make up for this boring post!

so much to do!

Hi all, it's almost Christmas! I have so much on my plate right now (and I wish it was turkey, but it's mostly freelance design work, which is good, but I'm stuffed.) Just don't ask me about the Dewey Decimal System. It's a long story.

But work can't stop me from getting my Christmas on. I've been knitting lots of scarves for gifts. I'm on number five, almost to number six. Totally addicted.

And I mailed some surprise little giftys last week. ;)

Mailed off most of the Christmas cards.

And made cinnamon Christmas ornaments with Lotus.

(don't gag... we're wearing our matching aprons from Anthro...)

The cinnamon dough was super messy but this was the only craft I could think of that Lo could help me make. Besides coloring, which we do all the time and is kind of played. (We'll give these to the grandparents.)

I jacked the recipe from Angie ...

I had remembered making these in girl scouts when I was a kid, and they smell so good.

And I must say, I am so grateful to have such talented friends. My friend Yana came over last Saturday to take some photos and I am blown away by her skills.





She totally captured my kid in all of her shyness and seriousness and silliness. So awesome.

Big news: last night, L peed in the potty chair. I took a picture. She just brought the chair to Bo, he asked if she had to go, she said 'yes' and then she did. We haven't been doing any sort of potty training so this could be a complete fluke, but maybe she's ready.

Random note: we decided that the Eames stamps are frame worthy.

And the new vintage holiday/list-making challenge is up at Work Your Soul!

Go check it for some awesome Christmas eye-candy from our super awesome guest (and one of my fave girls ever) Sandy Pool.

December rocks

Knitting is my new friend. Errr, addiction. I really can't stop. I'm on scarf #4 right now (scarf #1 - my first knitting project ever pictured above.) Can't show you the rest of my projects because they are going to be gifts, but a big 'yay' for knitting. It just feels right to knit when the weather is cold. And man, is it cold.

Wow, I must say ... I had a blast with December's kit from Red Velvet. Everything goes together so well. This may be my fave RV kit so far. Although it's tough to say because I love them all.

I made a few 9x9" pages for my Journal Your Christmas album... just have to add the dates/numbers to each and slide them into my book. YAY. Love the snowflakes and the narwhal and those sweet Hambly frames.

But the green gingham oil cloth is just the best.

I did a couple of pages using photos from the night we decorated our tree. We put L in her Christmas pj's and she had a blast checking out all of the ornaments and admiring the lights. Def scrapworthy.

And yes, here's the knitting again. Can you tell I'm proud? It's not my fault that two of the papers in this kit had this awesome yarn border edge that was just too perfect.

I used the snowflake stamp to make kraft wrapping paper. As simple as this is, I've never done this before and it was waaaay fun.

And I had a blast using Rachel's cool patterns.

I made felt ornaments but there are so many other uses for these – paper tags, embroidery, anything goes.

December is my month to come up with a challenge at RV.

Which is... to paint on something unexpected (and better yet, recycle something.) I found this piece of metal in our basement and used Rachel's Merry Christmas pattern to make this decoration for our fireplace.

Finally, I have lots of new stuff up in the shop. Stop by if you need a cute last-minute holiday gift for a little one - there's still time to get custom tee's before Christmas! Totally.

And while December definitely rocks, January may rock harder, because Lost is back. This is just too long of a break for me. Check out this sneak... aacck, I can barely stand it. January 21, people.

this morning...

Lotus and I go to the grocery store to mail a package and pick up parsley for walnut pesto (dinner tonight) and grab Starbucks on the way out. Not a big deal, easy stuff.

Stand in long line to mail package. With impatient toddler. Usually the post office has the long line, but now the grocery store postal counter has a long line, too. The others have figured out my secret mailing location. 'Tis the season to mail things. We reach the counter and I realize that my package is going to the UK and I had forgotten that the grocery store does not mail anything overseas. Argh.

Go to get parsley. And bananas. Lo is either trying to run away from me or holds my leg so tightly that I have to walk with her attached to it. Lady with 30 items steps in front of us in express checkout lane. But it's okay. Stand in line with impatient toddler.

Go to Starbucks inside the grocery store, order coffee and walk outside to car. Lo gets upset for unknown reason, refuses to be carried and throws my keys into the snow. I struggle to pick up the keys, grocery bag and Lotus while holding my coffee as an SUV stops two feet away from us (and the stop sign in the crosswalk where we were walking) and impatiently waits for us to get it together.

I balance coffee, grocery bag, keys + whatever toys/books child was carrying + child to the car and precariously set my coffee on the trunk of the car. As I get L strapped into the car seat, my coffee slides in slow-mo off the trunk, the lid pops off and my entire cup spills into the snow.

Which almost makes me cry.

We head off to the post office to mail package to the UK. Sigh. Lotus woke up with a cold this morning, so every time she sneezes, a huge glob of snot ends up under her nose. And every time she sneezes, she's in the car seat and I'm driving. I pull up to the post office, wipe little nose with Kleenex, and can already spot a very long line. I look in my bag and realize I had forgotten to fill out the customs form. Double grrr. The postal workers at this particular branch are always annoyed when you don't fill out the form ahead of time, and I decided I just didn't want to deal, so we leave post office.

And so I drive over to the drive-thru Starbucks. Where I order another coffee to try to get over the sadness of losing the first cup. Almost consider telling barista about what had just happened to see if I can get a free coffee but realize the world doesn't work that way. Pay for coffee #2. Rargh again.

Beg Bo to come home for lunch, fill out the customs form and run out the door (back to the post office) as soon as he's home. Mail package, drink coffee. All is okay again.

Lessons learned: 1. Think before you leave the house (and fill out the customs forms.) 2. Starbucks is the root of all evil. 3. And the post office needs a drive-thru.

Friday, I'm in love.

So today's kind of a cool day in my world. Knitting little by little when I can. Listening the crap out of this. Especially this one. Gives me little chills. (Thanks Kara.)

Jamaica asked me to do a little long-distance simultaneous nerd project several weeks ago. She even sent me these rad supplies to make my little book. So I can't take credit for how amazing this looks – she sent me the deliciously thick letter-pressed cover, pretty papers, bookbinding tape and elastic to hold it all together.

Our mission? (Also her genius idea.) Graph and chart our lives. Silly things, everyday things. So we each kept track. And then it became this week's Dare. Yup, like that kind of Dare. THE Dares.

So here are some of mine. Be sure to check out Jamaica's as well - just looking at hers made me want to make more. I am basically in love with the girl. (J... of course I will marry you. And I wish we really could be neighbors so we could have worked on our nerd charts together. And rescue each other when font/printer emergencies arise.)








And now it's officially time to get shiny and bright.

Because the new challenge is up at ScrapMojo! And the challenge is just that - use a fave Christmas quote + something sparkly. Here's my Guest Mojo Girl page... (much love for those girls!)

Be sure to play along for a chance to win an awesome prize pack from Sassafras! Now go check out what everyone else has made. So merry, so bright.

Preparations are in full force today to get ready for Craft Saturday tomorrow. Super excited for this holiday event! We'll be there from noon until 7 pm - extended hours!

Also super excited that we'll be right next to Java Joe's so I can drink yummy coffee all day with my Erin. Which is also the perfect excuse for you to come out and see us. Coffee + handmade spectacular finds. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

I'll have some new custom t-shirts and birthday t-shirts for the kiddos.

And I'll be bringing Christmas scrapbook kits and these new holiday cards. And some other fun stuff. :)

Check out just some of the vendors' goods below. You'll have to come see the rest for yourself.




Last but not least, I have one more Friday thing to share. Because you know it's time to Work Your Soul. Oh yes, Kim has come up with an amazing challenge this week.

Image transfers!

It's messy and awesome and you absolutely must try it immediately.








What started out as an experiment with glue soon transformed into something a little deeper. Something happened when I saw all these photos ripped and torn and shredded. I somehow ended up writing about something I've never really written down before. I totally didn't mean to go there, but I'm glad I did. Paper therapy, I tell you.

cool, cool.

1. Tonight I spent some quality time with my girls. And acheived a goal I've had for years. My pals Amy and Sarah took turns teaching me to do a couple of simple knit stitches and I coudn't be more stoked. I'm prematurely starting a little chunky scarf but it will be a good practice project.

2. Check this out. It is basically my dream come true. My girl Shimelle is making fabulous screen-prints of my Christmas scrapbooking tags! She has printed them on cardstock and vintage dictionary pages - be still my heart. Really. I can barely contain myself.

3. Lotus is famous. She is featured on the GabbaFriends site!

4. And just when it couldn't get any more exciting, guess what? This month I'm the Guest Mojo Girl at ScrapMojo. I was thrilled to get an email from the totally inspiring Marie - I've got much love for that site - it's an honor. My interview is up right now if you want to take a peek. Check back Friday @ Mojo for the brand spanking new challenge and scrappage from moi!

5. More surprises on Friday. And an amazing way to start your weekend off right at Work Your Soul. Be ready to get messy. It's a fun one. And that's all I can say. ;)