This Christmas was filled with cold rain and chilly wind outdoors, making the indoors extra cozy and warm. It was wonderful to be with my family, and this year I brought a digital recorder so I could sit and do some recorded one and one interviews with family members for a new book of family portraits I'm working on. It made for an emotional and interesting time, hearing perspectives and pulled up memories of the past. It made me happy, like I was spending time well, but it takes a lot out of you. I feel like a lot of the time, we just sit together in neutral comfort of each other's presence, and I wanted to go a little deeper, get some oral histories down while we are all assembled and have time on our hands. I got a few done, and I'm excited to listen to them again later and start piecing the portraits together, but sadly, I was too late to get one I was really looking forward to. Around 3:00 pm on Christmas Day, my grandpa Denny turned into a bee and flew away into the atmosphere. I am grateful that I got to see him and hug him on Thanksgiving, and terribly sad that was the last time. It is comforting that the whole family happened to be in the same place at the same time and we were able to simply be together. Oh family, you are something.
My purchases were small, but fun. I finally found a jewelry box that was what I've been looking for when I was just about to give up. It's not as large as I wanted, but all the large were way to big and had no dividers inside. I almost bought this 200 year old wooden box from China that had a top that unfolded into a secret mirror, but it was $90 and again with the no dividers inside. This little blue one has a velvety pink lining and a cute fabric lining with little star shapes. It's vintage and has a little lock and key, and was only $20, so that's what I chose. I've stuffed it full of my bangly bits, and maybe it will keep me from buying more jewelry I don't need as no more will fit anyway.
My other finds are some elegant photos of ladies, a charming book called "How To Have Bird Neighbors" and a darling postcard of a little girl with a silly Musk Ox.
Can you see that this mug says, "Each day is a magical adventure"? I'm off to work to start the magic.
Yesterday on my lunch break, I picked up this book at this cute store Lindsay and I like to pop in from time to time and drool over all the cute cards/books/toys/jewelry. I have a dozen Japanese zakka books that I obsessively love and want to make all the crafty projects in, but a lot of the time I just get discouraged by the instructions I can't read. I can figure out the simpler projects, but some of the more complex ones intimidate, and I keep dreaming one day I'll learn enough Japanese just to get by (yeah right). I was so delighted to find this book, finally, finally, someone made a zakka craft book for us western English speakers! All the projects are conceived by Japanese designers, but all the words and instructions are in easy easy English! I can't wait to pick out some projects and maybe even get some done as small holiday gifts.
Thanksgiving was really nice, good food and family. It's so lovely to go home and see my folks, and play dominoes with my grandparents, and eat eat eat. The next day Dad took us out to the Pismo Beach dunes to ride around in his ranger car - I've never been out there, and it's pretty extreme. There are all these people camping in RVs with sections of the beach roped off so they can sit in lawn chairs and watch huge trucks and ATVs and smelly dune buggies roar by. Dad rode us all over the dunes, and I was pretty terrified, he's a wild man at the wheel. 
I finally finished The Queen of the Damned last night, and it was really amazing with a very intense ending. I had no idea these books are so much more than just about vampires, they're about humanity and it's evolution, philosophy and politics. She's an amazing amazing storyteller, I would love to have an imagination so sophisatcated and unique, capable of creating such depth of character and endlessly evolving plot. Anyway, it will be great to move on to something else, as I still have a pile of books on hand to get trough. Next is the diary of Anias Nin I think, that I got at a used bookstore and had been waiting for a while.
I finally used this fabric patch I got from Cynthia Yee (aka Menta) on Etsy a year ago. I stitched it on this little gray skirt I accidentally bought at Target. Accidentally because it's size extra small, but was on the medium sized hanger :) I love the girl, she's so cute, and she's tying on a tiny typewriter. We traded a couple of my journals for her prints and this patch was just a thoughtful little bonus she sent over. Love her stuff, but her shops gone now - you can see her Flickr page with a all her work on it though.
I LOVE this birdie fabric! I'm going to see if I can find some online. I just love looking at the pattern books, it reminds me of being little with my mom at the fabric store, and looking for halloween costume patterns, or church dresses. I guess it reminds me of her a lot, which is why I love sewing and crafting so much in the first place.
Then I quickly scoped out the shelf of crafty books and mags, and cracked myself up with the cover of this quilting book. 
Still Stripping. HA! My mind immediately jumped to that Chris Rock joke, about how a dad's main job in life is to keep his daughter off the pole. Just gotta keep em off the pole.
