Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from snowy Edwardsville! Our first ever white Christmas!

So far:
• Cirque Dreams Holidaze at the Fabulous Fox Theater (amazing!!)
• Food
• Just Dance on the Wii (best game ever!!)
• Minute-to-win-it
• Playing in the snow
• Christmas Eve breakfast
• Gift Exchange--"Dad Style"
• Movies
• Christmas story (as told on cassette, from 1992)
• More food
• Christmas morning presents
• Raccoons getting into the "fridge" outside (a red cooler, but because it's so cold outside, we just keep food out there :)
• Loving the decorated house & just being home.

Giveaway + How To + Get Well Soon!

First, a little "get-well-soon-shoutout" to my seester, Katie. She had surgery today and is having to take it easy for a few days (hopefully just a few days!)...Katie can share the details! :) I was hoping that I'd have lots of blog content (funny stories from the operating room), but unfortunately it was a pretty uneventful day. She does claim that the male nurses were hitting on her...I'll let her tell that one! :)

Second, I think it's safe to show off my "ornament" for the Freshly Blended ornament swap that I participated in, along with a how-to! I kind of, might of, ok...I didn't make an ornament. I made a paper garland instead, but I felt it was ok! These garlands are super easy and fun to make, and they're fun to use for holiday decor.

What you'll need: a circle punch, paper, and a sewing machine. I love my circle punch from Fiskars...easy on the hands and you can see right where you're punching. Punch out a bunch of circles...I used scrapbook paper, and can get about 110ish 1" circles out of a 12x12 piece of paper. When all your circles are punched, you're ready to sew! Feed your circles through the sewing machine, just like you would with fabric. Make your garland as long or as short as you like! Easy. For directions with pictures, here's a post over on Armelle Jewelry's blog, with some fun pictures of her garlands in use!

Third, because the garlands are so easy-peasy to make and because I had lots of left over paper that needed to be fashioned into a garland, I decided to make another garland for a giveaway! This garland is probably about 15 or so feet in length, so plenty of garland to use as a last minute Christmas decoration somewhere in your home. Cute Christmas colors: red + green + gold...you can't go wrong with that combo! Simply leave a comment, and I'll draw a winner on Thursday evening.

Lastly, I hope you're enjoying the holiday season. I don't know that I'm totally there yet, but I'd better start enjoying the season soon--Christmas is NEXT week! Yikes. So much to do, so little time. I love this time of year; I love the kindness and thoughtfulness of everyone that you run into--friends and strangers alike. I love Christmas!

Coming Soon...

...a giveaway!

I've been busy making my "ornaments"* for the gift exchange that I'm participating in, and have a couple extras. I'm shooting for Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed!

*ornaments is in quotes for a reason...it'll make more sense when you see it/them :)

Just a thought

Saw this thought as I was browsing a new favorite blog of mine: joy ever after. It's located down at the bottom of the page, just below where you click to go to the next page. I've never heard this quote, but I've fallen in love with it! I've always loved so many different things, and now I can justify loving a ton of different things! (This is also probably the thing that frustrates my mom the most about me--ok, so I frustrate my mom a lot (!)--but she's always trying to figure out/pin down my "style" (ie: things I like/dislike), and I always just say, "I'll know if I like it when I see it!" :)



(ps: mom has awesome taste--especially when it comes to antiques! :)

image source.

Up There

Fascinating.

UP THERE from The Ritual Project.

Take a few minutes to watch. Hand-painted murals are such a work of art! I was in Salt Lake last night, and there are remnants of murals around, but you have to really pay attention to find them--and look up! Enjoy.

via Rifle Paper Co Blog.

AC Warehouse Sale!

American Crafts' annual Warehouse Sale starts this Friday! Albums, Thickers, Paper, Ribbon, Gift Wrap, Embellishments, Stickers and more...tons of stuff at super amazing prices! Make sure to stop by!

Happy Saturday Night

via Your Great Aunt Mary tumblr.

I'm participating in two swaps this year: an ornament swap and an Christmas card swap! I just got the list of people I'll be swapping xmas cards with and looking through all their blogs/sites...holy amazing fun blogs! I always get excited when I find a new blog/tumblr/inspiration site/pinterest site/flickr that I fall in love with--there is sooo much on the web, it's impossible to see everything!

On an unrelated note, the BYU/Utah game came to a disappointing end. Boo.

Happy Saturday night :)

Headed to...

• 4th largest city in the U.S. of A.

• population: 2.3 million peeps

• 6th largest metropolitan area

• classified as "humid subtropical" and known as "the most air-conditioned place on earth"

• international headquarters of ConocoPhillips

• 3rd largest skyline in North America, one of the top 10 in the world

• Residents eat out more in this city than in any other US city--with more than 11,000 restaurants

• the 17-block theater district is second only to NYC

...any guesses where? I'm trying to pack and get things together for a super quick trip to Houston where I'll meet up with my mom and head to a quilt show! Slightly excited! Yay for weekend trips!

Any MUST DO'S while in Houston for 48 hours??

Roomies!

Laundry Basket • The Fly • Fortune Teller • Goldie Locks

Halloween 2010 has come and gone...thank goodness! :) I'm ready for the holidays!

We hosted a fun Halloween party on Saturday night with a bunch of friends, complete with homemade root beer and a cutesy, very "DIY" photo booth. Finished the night by heading to the bowling lanes--I think this was the first time in a loooong time that I didn't break 100! (I got 99. Boo.)

Happy first day of November!

Ornament Swap!

Just signed up to participate in an ornament swap! I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I'm excited!

Click here for more information about this fun swap.

First Snow

I've had a to-do list that's about a bazillion miles long, but every time I sit down complete a task, something distracts me (surprise!) and I end up never crossing anything off. Tonight I was totally distracted by the snow! My roomie, Katie, and I wrapped up in blankets and went for a walk to commemorate the first snowfall, and it ended up in a snowball fight...I'm sure the first of many for the season!

Confession

Get ready for a huge (read: UGE) secret.

I'm terrified of drawing. You know, the sit down and draw-a-picture-of-something-or-someone kind of drawing. I jumped through a lot of hoops while I was in school to get permission to only take one drawing class. I think I ended up with a very generous B- in my Drawing 1 class from a very gracious professor and a lot of prayers! I literally get quite anxious thinking about "drawing."

But doodling? I'm totally there! I don't consider myself great at it, but I can hold my own. I practice my doodling skills daily. The other night when I was at my sister's house and Claire pulled out the paper and crayons, I knew I'd be in good company. I like doodling with Claire because in her (almost!) two year old imagination, she can figure out what it is that I'm attempting to draw. My favorite thing I drew that night was the "owl dressed as BATMAN"...and my favorite thing my sister drew was the pelican! See if you can spot them; they're pretty tender.

I had forgotten about doodling with Claire until today when I was flipping through some pics on my phone. Heaven bless the person who came up with a phone + camera...I use it all the time! Seeing these pictures totally made me laugh. I love my little doodle buddy and I'm glad that she doesn't know what fine art is. :)