So Many Activities!

I am happy to report that I am jazzed about Christmas this year! It's not that I don't generally enjoy this season, but I'll admit to being a bit of a humbug when it comes to dealing with increased traffic, over-played holiday tunes, constant commercials and juggling social obligations. So far though, I am feeling the love.



This year I am actually going to buy a tree. The last time I had a tree was 3 or 4 years ago, so it's overdue. Andrew and I are going to pick one out from a local lot on Sunday and spend the evening decorating it. I have three boxes full of ornaments in the garage; most of them have been in the family for decades.

Tomorrow I am heading to the Urban Craft Uprising to do some shopping and browsing (and let's face it, stealing ideas). That means I'll miss the Phinney Ridge Winter Festival this year, but that's ok. I went to it last year with Ashley and while it was a blast, it's super cramped! Also, I was a little freaked out by the drum circle that was part of their entertainment. Maybe when I'm 60, I'll feel differently, but drum circles are not for me.

Really, there are so many activities to pack in before I take off for Texas. We are finally going to make it to the Swedish pancake breakfast this weekend which is something I've been wanting to do for the last year or so, and in a couple weeks we are going to see the Nutcracker Ballet.

I'd like to see the Christmas Ship at Golden Gardens or Carkeek Park, even though it will probably be freezing. The idea of getting snuggled up in layers and drinking hot cider out of a thermos sounds enticing.

Ice skating at the Seattle Center is another cold activity that may be worth doing. I've only ice skated once in my life, in Utah. I don't remember being particularly good at it.

Then, there's the gingerbread village at the Sheraton, which is free and inside, which means, WARM! I've done this before and while it's not exactly exciting, it is fun after you've had a couple cocktails and need to walk it off.

The Seattle Gay Men's Chorus has a show called Santa Baby, and I have heard it's fantastic.

This is just a fraction of what is going on this month. If I wasn't taking off, I'd try and fit in a hay ride in Seward Park, but as it is I only have 3 weekends left before I go home.

November Wrap-Up

November was a good month for socializing.

First there was Sizzle’s get-together where I drank wine, ate awesome snacks and met some lovely ladies.

Then, there was my trip to Portland to visit my cousin Shelby. We took the streetcar all over town, took the tram to the OSHU campus, went to Powell's TWICE, saw An Education, watched almost the entire last season of Curb, met up with Kerri Anne for brunch and then met a polar bear dog named Zoe.

picture taken by Kerri with her phone, and yes, that's me in the orange jacket

Ashley and I watched a free documentary called Between the Folds at SIFF, and it exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend it. We skipped the free origami demo afterward sponsored by members of the PAPER, also know as the Puget Area Paperfolding Enthusiasts Roundtable (yikes!), and ended up at Barolo for happy hour. I had never been there before, but am so glad we found it. It's tucked away downtown, near the shopping district and hotels, but off the beaten path so that it's not overrun with tourists or suburbanites who come into town for shopping. The food on the HH menu is substantial. We had homemade ravioli and hanger steak and it was good. The cheese plate was ok. Wine bottles are $14.

We hosted Thanksgiving this year, and I did not take one picture! It was refreshingly low-key. I made a salad and a rum cake and Andrew was in charge of the turkey. He did a great job. We drank wine, played Apples to Apples and ate too much pie.

The day after turkey day I went to my friend Pam's to watch the season finale of Curb. We snuggled on the couch with her dog Miko and made ghetto nachos.

Andrew and I finally saw the Michelangelo and Calder exhibits at the SAM. I have to say I'm a huge fan of their cell phone audio tours -- so much easier than reading! After getting cultured, we had lunch at Lola and very fattening yet delicious mochas at The Chocolate Box.

I saw two movies in the theater this month that couldn't be more different from one another. One was A Serious Man, by the Coen brothers. It takes place in the late 60s and centers around a Jewish professor who suddenly finds himself facing many challenges that affect all aspects of his life. It's kind of one of those 'what's the meaning of life' movies that leaves you baffled. I liked it, even though the ending frustrated me.

The second movie was The Fantastic Mr. Fox which is totally lighthearted and fun. I did not want this movie to end! How cute are these guys?


Last, but not least, Mom turned 65, Ashley turned 26 and Tim and Carrie announced they are expecting a Little Nugget in May!

Things I Made this Week

I love creating things, whether it's a home-cooked meal or a flower arrangement, a blog post or a scarf. I love the feeling of accomplishment and pride I get when I finish a project.

This week I made two things I'm quite proud of. One is this sketch from a drawing class Andrew and I took at Pratt Fine Arts Center.



The class was four hours long. We were each given an easel, a drawing board, one piece of paper, some charcoal, a shammy, an eraser and an object. We practiced different types of drawing -- gesture, contour, blind -- all on that one piece of paper. Our final assignment was to create a composition by drawing our object five times. I was very happy with my piece and received a nice compliment from the instructor on my contour lines. Andrew did an awesome job too, but he threw his paper out so I couldn't take a picture.

The other thing I made this week is this pom wreath:



I will take another, better picture once I find a place to hang the wreath. The project was so easy and only took a few hours to complete. You can totally do it while watching television because it doesn't require a huge amount of attention to detail. It was also very inexpensive. The whole thing cost about $12.00.

My next project is a cozy for my ipod, which is almost done, and a centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

Pick Me Ups

My mood changes as quickly as the weather around here, so when I'm feeling a little down or uninspired, I...

Listen to the Glee soundtrack and dance around like an eighth grader.

Look at cheerful art like this print by Portland artist Trish Grantham .



Watch birds and squirrels cavorting in my back yard.

Drink coffee out of my favorite Garfield mug that was given to me in the 80s.

Try a new recipe.

Read a good book. I just finished The Remains of the Day.

Knit by the fire while Big A does crossword puzzles.

Nanowrimo: weeks 2 and 3

I've come to the realization that I will not be able to finish Nanowrimo this year. Correction: I don't want to finish Nanowrimo this year.

If I really wanted to, I know I could have 50,000 words by November 30. My word count was up to date until last Friday when I started my vacation (I went to Portland to visit my cousin!). But now I'm about 6 days behind -- that's roughly 10,000 words -- and the thought of having to catch up almost gives me a heart attack.

So, I've decided to quit to focus on working on some holiday projects. For example, this wreath:



Mine will be different colors and probably won't have a little fawn in the center.

I'm also hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year and I don't know how I'll be able to prepare food, clean, decorate and fit in writing at the same time. Not to mention my other commitments this month, including a 4-hour drawing class this Thursday night and a girls' night out next week before Turkey Day.

Like I said, if finishing Nanowrimo was my main priority this month, I have no doubt I could do it, but there are too many other fun things vying for my attention right now. Maybe next year?

Make Next Year Gorgeous!

...with an awesome wall calendar that will inspire you to do great things!

Is this an advertisement? No, but if you are looking for a copywriter or someone to enthusiastically shill your product, let me know in the comments.

Seriously, I'm just super excited that I stumbled across Jen Oaks, an artist from San Francisco, and that she is making the perfect calendar for 2010. Check out her blog for a sneak peek.

Jen's calendar is perfect for me because, unlike a lot of artists' calendars I've come across, it has actually has room for writing notes. And boy, do I like to write notes. How else do you think I write my monthly wrap-ups? If I didn't have a calendar to write on I wouldn't know what was going on, and I definitely wouldn't remember what I did two weeks ago.

I also just really love Jen's illustrations because they have a feminine, yet urban feel.

Nanowrimo: week one

This is day eight of Nanowrimo. The good news is that I hit my word count. I have written 13,357 words so far. The bad news is that my right hand is starting to hurt and I'm already burned out. Everything was going along swimmingly until today.

Yesterday alone I was able to bust out over 5,000 words, but today was a struggle.
Those last 300 words took me over an hour to type. I am really not looking forward to week two.

Even though I feel like I have a better story than I did when I participated in '07 and that my writing is more compelling and the characters are more interesting, I still can't shake the feeling that it's all crap. This is a huge time commitment and my worst fear is that once it's over I'll have 50,000 words I never read again. 50,000 words in exchange for aching hands and sleep deprivation. That doesn't seem like a fair trade.

Everyone says week two is the toughest. I can't remember what it was like for me the first time around. Every week sucked, if I recall. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.

Why am I doing this again?