It's Almost Here!

The New Year that is! Today is going to be a great day because:

*Dannon's flying home this afternoon!

*I found an awesome little dress for ringing in the New Year!

*We are not definite on our party plans tonight but it will definitely be with some of my favorite people!

*And Dannon and I will finally be having our Christmas gift-swap together!{here are my gifts for D. he hid my gifts in my closet instead of at his house just to torture me!}

I'm so inspired by many of your resolutions for the new year. I usually don't do resolutions because I don't like being tied down. :) But I think maybe I'll come up with some good goals to accomplish in the New Year.

Hope everyone has a super fun time ending 2009 and starting 2010! See you all next year!

Christmas in Wisconsin!

When I told a friend that I was going to be spending Christmas in Wisconsin, he replied with, "That's the most adorable thing I've heard!" And how true that was! I spent Christmas in Oshkosh, one of the most charming little cities I've ever seen, with my grandparents, Dannon, my mom, her 7 brothers and sisters, and more cousins than I can count. It was a blast!

{my grandparents' cute house}

Christmas Eve we had a little mini Christmas with some gifts {I got this beautiful fox necklace from my mom, and some awesome books from my sister, including The Little Prince Pop-Up book!}. Then on Christmas day all the family came. We put out tables full of food and drinks and pretty much just ate all day long.
 There were also games and lots of picture-taking!

{my cute mom is on the right, with her twin and another sister}

It was a nut house! sometimes you couldn't hear the person you were talking to because there were SO many people stuffed into my grandparent's home. But it was an absolute blast!

The rest of the weekend we spent hanging out,
{me and my mom}


{don't you LOVE that chair and curtains?!}

visiting a Nutcracker Gallery,

and playing in the snow!

First it was all about catching snowflakes with our tongues and making snow angels,
but then Dannon got serious.
He built an awesome snowman, and even a snowfrog!
{click on the pic for a better view}

It was a great little holiday and perfectly worth all of our traveling horrors.

The Adventures of Traveling to Wisconsin in the Winter

Oh boy did we have fun in Wisconsin over Christmas. But getting there and coming home were quite exasperating!

We left last Wednesday and were going from SF to Vegas to Chicago and finally to Wisconsin. When we got to Vegas we were informed our plane was delayed several hours, and our flight from Chicago to WI was canceled completely, due to "winter weather." When we finally got to Chicago we tried to fly standby, but that didn't work. Then we tried to rent a car because the O'Hare airport was only 3 hours from my grandparents' house. But being 2 days before Christmas there were no cars to be found. The O'Hare airport was insane and it took us hours just to figure out there was nothing that could be done for us. Finally, we gave up and called some of Dannon's family friends. They picked us up and gave us warm beds for the night. By the time I went to sleep, though, I had been awake for 23 hours! Plus my bag had gone on to Wisconsin without me so I had nothing.
The next morning we woke up super early and headed back to the airport at 5am to try to fly standby again. They told us we both got on the first flight and printed up tickets. We were so happy! But when we got up to the gate they said they only had room for one of us. I reluctantly said goodbye to Dannon not knowing when he would be coming and hopped on the plane. Luckily he caught one a couple hours later.
We were so sleep deprived and starving and smelly, but we finally made it!

Then on Sunday when we got to the airport to head home I was told my flight to O'Hare was once again delayed and I was going to be missing my flight to SF! And once again when I got to Chicago there was nothing they could do for me. I said goodbye to Dannon {he was flying on to Florida to see his family} and hoped for the best. I was on the standby list for 4 flights to SF that night and for every flight I was about 4oth out of 80 people. I finally had to call Dannon's family friends so I could sleep in a bed instead of curling up in the airport {been there, done that, it was awful}. And once again I had to wake up super early to get to the airport and try standby at 5am. And once again I had nothing because my bag had gone on without me to SF. Finally, FINALLY, I got on the first morning flight home and even got to fly first class! I got a delicious free breakfast and a nice comfy seat. Maybe that was a little karmic payback for all I'd been through. And the other little ray of sunshine in all this mess was running into an old college friend who was also stuck at O'Hare trying to get home. How wonderfully random is that?!

So now I'm home and recovering from my traveling adventures just in time for New Years! My actual time in Wisconsin with my family was awesome and I'll post some pretty pictures from Christmas in the snow tomorrow.

{Me on our first day feeling very very tired, but happy to finally be with my family!}

Phew!

I'm finally home after a very fun vacation in Wisconsin {with absolutely no computers}, and a very LONG and frustrating travel experience. More on all that later.
I hope everyone had a super fun Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever other holiday you keep! And can you believe it? Only a couple more days until the new year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!{photo from here}

Happy Holidays!

The last couple of days have been great! I was supposed to go to LA for a friend's wedding this weekend, but I decided that a trip before a big trip was just too stressful for my own good. So I made the tough choice to stay home.
Turns out though, it was a good decision to make. I used the past couple days for making lots and lots of gifts for my family, and I found exactly what I was looking for at the Renegade Craft Fair {from Danni's shop Oh, Hello Friend}!
It's been great to do some of my favorite things - crafting and baking. Unfortunately I can't show any pictures or share my projects since they'll be going to people who read this blog, but here's a picture of Dannon working on creating super cute elephant wrapping paper:I probably won't be blogging anymore this week because I am off to Wisconsin to see some family. I can't wait to see everyone and play in the snow!
I hope you all have safe travels and the best holiday ever!

Gratitude

I am so excited about today! I got to sleep in late, I'll be heading to Target and the craft store soon {those are big excursions when you live in SF}, I'll have an entire afternoon devoted to hand-making christmas gifts, and tonight I'll be heading over to a beautiful home for our monthly Bread & Jam - dinner and music-making with Second Wind. Tonight's Bread & Jam will be all christmas carols so it's a special one.

Thanks for everyone's kind words this week during my Scroogy-Grinchiness! I'm still not super excited about it, but now that school and work are completely over and I can spend the weekend making things, I'm a little more happy about the holidays.

So what am I thankful for?
* All the things I've mentioned above!
* Learning when to say no to things for my own sanity.
* That both Dannon and I are now healthy {just in time for traveling and consuming sugar!}
* Knitting {especially during stressful times}!{picture found here}

What are you thankful for today?

Christmas Pretties & Freebies!

I've been on etsy a lot this week looking for a perfect little something for someone's christmas present {sorry for being vague, but you understand}, and I came across so many pretty little things! Here are a few:

I love everything from Made By Hank, like this pretty little bag:

And isn't this apron from Mandiesuee adorable?!
And I would love to wear this sweet little number from Amanda Archer on new year's eve:Sigh...

Christmas Freebies!!
Check out these adorable Christmas Trees! Perfect for pretty-ing up your Christmas dinner table! {from one of my new favorite blogs - Kind over Matter} Click here to print the cute little treetops.

Also, check out these super cute free gift tag printables found on Creature Comforts! Click here to print.

And here are some more free gift tags by Martha! Click here to print.

Hurumph!

Why are preparing for vacations always SO stressful? I just officially finished school yesterday and my last day of work is tomorrow. I thought that would mean a few long days of creating, lounging, and catching up before I'm off on my trip to Wisconsin, but no such luck. All my days until my vacation are packed and it's kind of making me really hate christmas. {Looks like this little lady needs a trip to Who-ville.}

This is the only thing helping right now - my Sufjan Stevens Christmas playlist {oh sufjan! you've always known how to make everything better!}:

Workshop SF!

I just went to an awesome sewing class at a cool little art studio 2 blocks from my house {I live in the raddest neighborhood - I love it!} called Workshop SF. It's run by Kelly Malone, the lady who founded Indie Mart. They offer all kinds of creative classes and once you take a class, you have access to use their studio space and equipment!

I took the sewing class because I was one of those girls who took shop instead of home ec in high school so I never learned how to use a machine. We made bottle cozies, turned xxl t-shirts into rockin dresses which actually fit, and made little sock creatures. Mine is an owl, can you tell?And here's my Heathcliff Huxtable sweater bottle cozie:
Here are just a couple other shots from inside the studio. Kelly is an awesome teacher and the class was super fun {complete with free beer and Skee-Lo's "I Wish"}. Kelly said they'll have a bunch of new classes in January and I highly recommend checking them out if you live in the area. And if not, maybe check out craft/art classes that are offered near you?

Bazaar Bizarre!

The highlight of my weekend was attending the Bizaar Bizarre - an indie art and craft fair! I exercised every ounce of my self-control and only bought a cute bowtie hairpin from Symbiotic Form.

Some of the highlights were...

Our friend Lea's recipe dice from her shop Leafcutter Designs {also check out her project World's Smallest Postal Service. Dannon did this for me once and it was so fun!}:The quirky, funny felt shop NifNaks with felt creatures and mustaches:
Beautiful wood prints by Tiny Sparks Design, one of Dannon's old professors:
And these brilliant customizable lasercut note cards by Archicraft {you make your own message by punching out the squares!}:
Unfortunately I didn't find a certain Christmas present I was looking for, but we ran into a bunch of people we know, met nice knew artists, and finally had a good excuse to get out of our snug and cozy apartments on a cold, wet, wintry weekend!

Gratitude

Today I'm thankful for:

* That this week is finally over!
* Finally starting to feel better after being sick for weeks.
* Finishing up my 4th semester of Grad School.
* The Sufjan Stevens Radio Station on last.fm {perfect for working on papers and relaxing after stressful evening classes}
* DayQuil and NyQuil!
* The cold, rainy, wintry weather!
* Finally feeling like it's Christmas time and Finally getting in the Holiday Spirit!{snowboarding last January - what I hope is in our near future!}

Pretties & Freebies - My Christmas List

Okay here it is family and friends - Dying to get me something for Christmas? Any of these awesome things will do {in no particular order}:

* A subscription to Paste Magazine:
* These adorable crocheted earmuffs from Arguing the Mobius:

* One of these great books:
The Little Prince Pop-Up Book {it's gorgeous!}

The Gashlycrumb Tinies
Eating Animals

* A 21 Chord Autoharp:

* One of the oh so amazing dresses on ModCloth:
* This pretty Roxy snowboard:
* A Color Forest mixed paper journal from Enjoy Design:{thanks to Vivianna for this great discovery and constant journal inspiration!}

* Tickets to Arcade Fire's 2010 tour {the last band on my "Must See Live Before I Die" list}:

And the Freebie today is for anyone wanting to buy friends and family any items of clothing and need to remember sizes - Free Cheat Sheets from Made in England {as discovered on Design Crush}:
For ladies click here
For gents click here

Shedding my Skin at the De Young

Last weekend we experienced a thought-provoking art installation at the De Young Museum. It was a huge walk-through art exhibit that represented the ancient Egyptian beliefs about shedding our skin and transforming into the new.

There was this amazing hall of black lights and glowing neon colored strings {I was so amazed at the magicalness that I never looked to see what it was representing},and this beautiful "transformation chamber" which created a human kaleidoscope as you walked through it.But according to Egyptian beliefs, before you entered the transformation chamber you had to shed your skin. This was my favorite part because there were hundreds of cards where people wrote out what they were wanting to shed in their lives. It was really touching and beautiful. {click the pics for easier reading}I wrote out my own card of what I wanted to shed and left it there. I think this is a truly difficult process if you can be honest with yourself. Sure there are lots of little things that we all wish we could change, but to really admit the deep dark truth is pretty hard. It was such a freeing experience to able to just put it out there {anonymously of course}.
That's why I think PostSecret is such an amazing concept. People can admit some embarrassing and funny things, and they can also admit tragic and heartbreaking things - all in an anonymous way. {If you want to know more about PostSecret and how to send your secrets, click here.}
I think it is a courageous and transforming experience to look at what things in your life you want to get rid of this next year, and I highly recommend taking some time to think about this. And remember that despite all the things you wish you could shed, you are still a beautiful and loved person!

{a couple of the pics were borrowed from here. some of my pics didn't come out as well}