To all my family and friends, a very Merry Christmas.
May it be filled with warmth, cheer, and love.
Our First Christmas Tree Adventure
The day was cold and bright.
We followed our guide to our chosen tree in Field 2.
We claim our prize
I take the first cut
Mr. Cleaver takes a couple swipes of the saw.
The tree is free, though not free of ice!
The tree is thawed. A lot of ice is removed.
We decorate.
Ornaments are hung.
We enjoy!
Our first Christmas tree together!
Ice and Inspiration
So last night we had a big ice storm: power lines are down, traffic lights are out and the roads are covered in ice and sleet - so I'm taking one of my four snow days today.
For those of you not from places that get lots of snow and ice, you may wonder how an ice storm differs from a snow storm. Well, the ice storm is generally thought to be more dangerous because everything gets covered and encased in a thick coating of ice. This causes problems for trees and powerlines especially, because the added weight often snaps branches, etc. That said, it's also rather pretty.
Also, I was tagged a little over a week ago by Bitter Betty to list 6 things I'm inspired by right now, so here's goes:
- My newest blog find - sew I do. She makes the cutest clothing for herself, her adorable son, and husband. It makes me glad that I saw some unexpected sewing time available today!
- The song "Charlie Darwin" by the Low Anthem - it was on the latest Paste sampler cd and I keep playing it over and over again.
- Portland's Buy Local movement/business alliance. I'm aiming to make all my Christmas gifts be handmade or locally purchased and since we have so many great shops here, it's not hard to do! Seriously- if you're ever in the area and want some suggestions - just ask!
- The smell of pine - we already have our wreath and we're getting the tree tomorrow - hopefully it's still in one piece!
- Pushing Daisies - this show has lots of pie, adorable clothing, and a P.I. who stress knits - I am so sad this show is canceled, but at least we have TV on DVD.
- Handknitted sweaters and socks- I've been wearing the ones I have and I want to make more and more!
Decking the Halls - Part One.
I think I waited all of five hours after getting home from my California adventure before taking out the Christmas Decorations.
I refuse to do Christmas before Thanksgiving, but once it's Christmas time I am all to eager to jump in!
I've got too much going in way of making Christmas presents to get too crazy with the decorations this year, but when I saw this how-to on Design*Sponge, I had to pull out my cardstock and scissors to do some paper crafting.
I'm quite please with the results!
Giving Thanks
So after a week and a half of work at the new job (by the way, I'm working at a Community Development Entity -we're helping people through building business and bringing development to low-income areas - it's very cool), I was allowed to take a day off of work to take a 5:30am flight to Southern California for Thanksgiving.
Yes, the weather was nice (65°F!). Yes, I enjoyed my In-N-Out Burger on the way back from the airport. Yes, the food was excellent. And yes, Mr. Cleaver ran into a cactus. But the best part of the whole trip was this:
I got to meet my little cousin. I got to learn a three-needle cast off with Jeanine. I got to go through my grandmother's quilt collection. I got felting tips from Zoe Ann. I got to hear about Alexis's wedding plans. I got to talk about living in the Midwest with Ray and got to know my sister-in-law better. I talked photography with my brother and Mr. Cleaver spoke French with my Uncle's mother. I tested the law of probably with my grandpa on the Roulette wheel in the "man room" and walked the Huntington Gardens with mother. I learnt that most of my family reads this blog (Hi Family!) and got to see the lighting of the Mission Inn with all of the population of Riverside.
In a word, my trip was wonderful.
And I couldn't be more grateful.
The Witching Hour is upon us...
Happy Halloween Everyone!
(p.s. for those following my job hunt: I got one!)
4th of July
The City of Chicago, traditionally schedules their Independence Day fireworks for 3rd of July, and this year I found out why - they couldn't compete on the 4th. It was as though every father on the North Side of Chicago was competing for the Cool Dad of the Year award - and Mr. Cleaver and I seemed to be only people along the Illinois side of Lake Michigan without a personal arsenal of fireworks. On the Forth, as we grilled burgers and sweet corn, we were treated to the cacophony of whizzes bangs and pops of hundreds of firecrackers and small fireworks. As the evening grew darker, the serious displays began. We saw at least three separate private displays of large-scale fireworks, more or less, continually shot off for an hour and half, and that was before the big show started just behind our backs.
As it turns out, a golf club located on the block adjacent to our apartment building sends off Fireworks on the 4th, as well as the first and last days of summer - and their display was a real treat. Mr. Cleaver and I agreed that these were on par or better than the Portland or Napa fireworks (our respective hometowns).
There were in a couple fireflies joining the fray and adding a twinkle or two of their own.
All in all, it was a pretty perfect fourth.
Is my Alma Mater saying I turn it on?
A few days ago I received a valentine from the most unlikely of sources, the Office of Annual Giving at my Alma Mater or if taken literally, the even stranger source of a light switch.
Now I'm all for almuni donations, and I make a small contribution every May, but somehow, I doubt this is really going to rack up the donations for old WU.
I tired to photograph the card, but it was too long to get the whole poem in clearly, so for your reading pleasure, I shall transcribe it here:
Sometimes it's a student's hand,
Sometimes it's a prof's.
They come and flip my switch straight up
Or sometimes switch it off
So much learning goes on here.
You help me play my role.
It's not just intellects we shape,
But hearts and minds and souls.
I couldn't do it without you.
I couldn't light the way.
Your love for this place makes me shine,
That's why I want to say,
If you keep giving every year
This room will ne'er be dark.
Your gift, no matter big or small,
Always gives me a spark!
All my love this Valentine's Day!
-Light Switch by the Door, Eaton Hall, Room 212
-------------------
In other news, when I bought him the blue argyle sweater I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened, so of course it happened on Valentine's Day.
Oh well.
This was totally unintentional, but I guess it means we're officially "those people."
Sewing Update or The Seven-Year Itchy Wool Dress Part II
So I'm still playing post-Christmas catch-up here, but if I keep my nose to the grindstone, I figure I might get all caught up by the end of January.
That said, here is the sewing-centric companion to last week's knitting update.
Project #1: Christmas Apron
I wasn't one of the many bloggers who made the handmade pledge because I already knew what I wanted to get my husband, and while part of it was handmade by me (record bowls) and part of it handmade by someone else (Wilco silkscreen), the rest was not and it wasn't really an idea I wanted to give up.
Not entirely handmade, but certainly appreciated by the recipient.
That said, I did do some additional hand-made gifting, namely the apron below (on left). The pattern was based on a vintage apron I had (on the right). This was pattern-making at its, uh, well it involved some paper bags, a lot of folding and some high-class technical eye-balling and guesswork.
Apron buddies!
I didn't have enough material or know-how to make bias tape for the edging, so instead I did some decorative zig-zagging. All in all, I think it turned out fairly well.
Lord love the zig-zag stitch.
And what did I get? In an awesome "Gift-of-the Magi"-but-in-a-totally-better-way turn of events, Kasey got me The Apron Book!
That is 100% Pure Excitement there.
Project #2: Plaid Wool Dress
It took seven years to get the dress made, so it's no surprise that it's taken me so long to post about the completion of this project.
I finished the dress about a week and half before Christmas and have worn it several times since then, including for my Breakfast at Tiffany's book club meeting, but every time I wore it I forgot to take a picture. Hopefully I'll remember next time and can post a photo of the dress actually on me, but for now, I leave you with this:
Merry Christmas!
A Merry Christmas to all my friends, family and people in blog-land!
I'll send you off with my two favorite Christmas decorations to say Merry Christmas to both the religious out there (because nothing says "Happy Birthday Jesus" like Joseph Heller and the Phantom Tollbooth):
And the non (because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like Santa skiing on top of our TV)
Happy Holidays!