So long 2013!

Oh, I have been away for a bit haven't I? So busy with the holidays and we had such fun.  There were a lot of cookies baked and decorated by my little elf.

One of my daughter's wishes for the Holiday was to make a Gingerbread House that she could eat! So, we did. I made the Gingerbread cookie base from scratch and we spent a couple of hours decorating it. So much fun. Later that evening after Daddy had a chance to see our masterpiece, my girl dove right in and took a chunk right out of the roof!

Then, after the big holiday, my girl and the Mr. went off to visit grandparents far away. So, I got very busy on a big surprise room re-do for my girl. I have been working day and night and I can't wait till she sees it! I'll share photos here too if we get some decent light.

Hard to believe we are headed into an entirely new year tomorrow, so much has happened this year, good and crazy! 

I am starting the year off with a bang, for I have been featured in the UK magazine Pretty Patches issue #3.

How exciting is that? 

This new magazine is so lovely! A lot of wonderful tutorials and articles along with gorgeous pictures! Thank you for the wonderful feature Pretty Patches!  Issue 3 is now onsale in the UK, I am trying to find out where we can get it in the states, I'll keep you updated as soon as I find out!

Wishing you all a most Happy and Healthy New Year!!!

Tiny Christmas

I have declared this year to be the year of the "Tiny Christmas". The big box of fa la la la la has not come up from the basement, only one small strand of twinkle lights has festooned the living room window, and we have cut way back on the present madness as well.

As you can see we even have a tiny tree. We are to be spending the holiday with family elsewhere and we are all very excited for that, but 'round here we are having a Tiny Christmas, just to feel a little jolly and bright on these dark, cold and wet days of winter.

Though today is the official day, we had a little early celebration of my birthday this weekend. A small party of just us three. I will tell you right now that The Engineer is one good man! Not only did he cook me a most delicious dinner, the man baked me a cake! A really, really, amazingly fantastic cake!

I am one lucky lady.

This has been a crazy old year, full of highs and lows and all sorts of in between. I am feeling a bit more of the effects of getting older these days. I am enjoying some of those effects more than others I can tell you. As I look back, I feel tremendously blessed and I look forward to a shiny new year and the adventures it holds in store.

Thank you all for joining me here and sharing this last year with me, I am truly grateful.

My wish is for all of us to have a happy, healthy and inspired new year!

2011, Bravado, and the foolhardy nature of making grand proclamations

In 2011 I wanted to be Brave, and I was... a bit. I took risks, I leapt once or twice without looking; and what I lacked in bravery, I occasionally made up for in Bravado.

bra·va·do - noun \brə-ˈvä-(ˌ)dō\
1 a : blustering swaggering conduct
b : a pretense of bravery
2: the quality or state of being foolhardy
- Merriam Webster

Not so much the blustering swaggering conduct bit (unless you count that one night I decided that whiskey gingers were a swell idea).

However, the pretense of bravery was present; the old 'fake it till you make it' kind, which does work from time to time I might add. And certainly the 'foolhardy' thing, but that is not especially reserved for 2011, I've been practicing that for ages! Still, it does make a noted appearance in my year in review, in a couple of grand proclamations I made in 2011.

Remember that album I was recording...? It's ok if you don't and it probably isn't very prudent to remind you, but ummmm. You can read all about the grand plan here. So, that did not happen. Music was made, guitar and drums were recorded, an omnipresent cymbal made those recordings unusable, musicians went on tour, and something else came up that took all my time. It is alright though, I still want to do it and I will someday, but I might wait till the whole thing is in the bag before I make an announcement. I wrote some songs that I am proud of, I got to make music with some mighty talented folks, and that is always good.

So there were other things I had planned that didn't pan out, but let's not dwell on the things that I didn't do in 2011, because there were lots of things I did do. I went places, did things I'd never done before and I made stuff.

2011 was a funny old year. I am very much looking forward to 2012. I haven't made any grand plans, nor put together a list of resolutions; I think I might just go with the flow this year, see what might happen, and let it ride.

Here is to the adventure of a new year!

10 in 10 for 10 - Day One

Happy New Year!

In the words of Spongebob Squarepants, "I'm Ready!"

I am considering this Monday to be my official New Year's Day. Engineer back at work, the small one back to school - both of them none to pleased about it. I so enjoyed having my family around, spending relaxed time with them. When they are present, I find it hard to do anything else but just hang out together.

And though it has been so nice, I am feeling ready to get back to a little routine as well as a little adventure. One of the things on my 2011 "To Do" list, is to get out more...I mean to spend time out there in the city I love, to bring my camera and capture some Portland heart and soul. So, when I saw my friend Nancy, of Fledge had started a meme called "10 in 10 for 10", I thought it a great way to get myself into the thick of it right away.

Nancy writes:
"Today, I thought up a meme (which, in my head, I pronounce "Me-Me", because I can, because it's my head). 10-10-10. Ten photos. Ten minutes. Ten days. It's intended to exercise my mindfulness and stretch my photographic eye. No time to fidget with settings (which I cannot, because I cracked the LCD display on the back of my camera. Perfect.). No time to stage anything. No photo editing.

Just walk/see/shoot/look/post."

Here is the original post Nancy has extended an open invitation if you would like to play along!

So, with my top photo being 1, here are the other 9. I have to tell you that not fiddling with settings and skipping photo editing is hard for me. Not to mention it was freezing out and my hands went numb completely in the 10 minutes I was out shooting. I did see a whole world of "Possibility"!

Still, what a great experiment! To get out and look and shoot and see things a little differently.

I have lots to tell in this new year and I promise I will get to it all soon. I hope your first days of the new year are treating you well!

Ready, Set, Go!

Happy New Year all!
I'm hitting the ground running in 2010, or at least I'm trying. It's going to be a big year, I can feel it. There is work to be done, decisions to make and a whole lot of possibility in the air.

Over the holiday I had myself a few thinks - and the thinks I thought, have started me thinking. Did you catch that? I will be sharing some of my thoughts from the stew pot of my mind in future posts. For now, I'm hoping to find a little focus and balance, get myself ready for things to come.

Lola has plans, nothing huge...just some bits and pieces. I will be doing more tutorials this year (fingers crossed), getting the much neglected shop ship shape (hope springs eternal), and learning some new tricks (I think I can, I think I can...).

I look forward to this coming year with all of you lovelies and I hope that 2010 brings you all the best!

Now jump in!