days of snow, 2

wishing you a warm christmas.
i'll be working until this evening, putting words and ideas in people's hands. then, a cozy dinner with my best friend and her family and tomorrow, a day full of festivities.
xoxo

days of snow, 1

happy winter solstice

december 9

life's been a bit too hectic to get down to the lake by my house recently. i miss it.
right now i'm reading nicole krauss' great house. she has been high up on my favorite authors list for some time now and this new book only secures her position. her novels have so much depth and history and emotion, i can't tear myself away.

remnants of the holidays

 

is it weird that i'm posting holiday pictures in january? hmm, i seem to have had this problem before, where i get a back log of film and time rearranges itself. oh well, i can't not share this pretty eucalyptus wreath and fun packaging. the first present photo is my wrapping. i bought 3 yards of blue-gray kraft paper and red tissue paper, then i used my stamp set to stamp out names and added some cute letterpress cards i got at the urban craft fair. wrapping is so fun!

i don't mind taking a moment to look back. it feels nice.

oh, and by the way, i did end up succeeding in my goal to  buy all of my gifts from a local business and/or handmade! i am very pleased with how it made me think about my shopping decisions and i am happy with who i gave my money to. success!

festivities

it has been a full few weeks of gatherings and celebrations and festivities. i was lucky enough to be asked to make dessert for two parties. for my mom's birthday, i made the smitten kitchen gingerbread apple upside-down cake. (photo above, which i am now comparing to deb's photo and realize i probably didn't bake my cake long enough!) it was delicious with a caramel top and chewy apples and rich molasses cake. and on christmas day, we made a winter fruit pie from the rustic fruit desserts cookbook. (recipe here).

i'd say, these are both keepers when i need a great go-to winter dessert. i love baking seasonally, highlighting the flavors and fruits available at particular times of the year. neither of these desserts were too rich, but they did serve a lot of people. the winter fruit tart had apples and cranberries and pears and figs in it, the perfect combination of hearty and comforting fruits.

i'm looking forward to the new year, but before it, i'd like to do a post or two looking back on this past year.
until then...

winter solstice

this morning was so dark and at first i was confused. did my three day weekend make me forget what 7:30 looks like? then i realized, yes, it is the longest night of the year today. isn't that sort of a weird thought? i find it odd. so much dark and then slowly days get lighter and lighter. and in the middle of december? it seems like january or february would be the darkest times. they certainly feel dark. (side note: how bout white strings of lights around the city all winter long, wouldn't that be nice?)

anyway, happy winter solstice. whether you hibernate, or light a candle, or celebrate or grumble i hope you have a chance to think about how cool our planet is and it's changing season's. (at least, i think it's cool).

thank you all so much for the birthday wishes. i felt like i could share a bit of my celebration with you through all your notes this weekend. i am now proudly another year older. not telling which year, though :)

take care.

december 19

today is my birthday! i did some celebrating last night (see: tiara in above photo) and i'm off to do some more celebrating today and tomorrow. it's always good to elongate these types of things.

in this next year i hope to:
grow in my photography
revel in my youth
learn how to use this camera
go on an exciting trip that i couldn't even dream up at the moment
successfully bake and decorate a cake
have a long conversation in french
spend lots of time with my family
take more portraits
watch more movies
read more books
volunteer for something new
laugh a lot
and take long sauntering walks for no reason

i hope it's a great year!

the ways i have celebrated hanukkah

 

one year, i was probably 14, i went on a field trip to vancouver, b.c. for marine biology. it was during hanukkah and i, of course, was the only one celebrating. with the best of intentions, i brought three votive candles (it was the 3rd night, after all) and lit them in our hotel room (why 14 year olds got hotel rooms on a weekend trip is beyond me).

when i was young my auntie madeline would host our whole family at her house. cousins upon cousins running around, crawling, playing and lighting candles. we had a table full of menorahs that our grandmothers or grandfathers would help us light (see super cute photo of me above). and at some point, all nine or ten cousins would pile on the couch, get ourselves looking pretty and have a picture taken. those are great pictures.

for the past seven or eight years my mom and i have been invited to a family friend's hanukkah party. i swear they invite every person they've ever known and ask each person to bring a dish of their tradition. they provide the lattkes. we sing a round of songs, fill our plates with food, cram ourselves into some sort of sitting position amidst all the people-on the ground, on the piano, on the arm of a couch-and catch up on the past year.

i always celebrate with my dad and light the candles on his beautiful menorah that was his mom's.  it is ceramic and i love it. it's one of the few times i get to hear my dad say the blessings with his yiddish tint.

last night my roommates invited a few people over and we made an impromptu dinner all together. eating at the dinning room table, next to the hanukkah lights is special.

i remember hanukkah parties growing up, where women would be grating onions and squeezing out moisture in piles of potatoes.

tomorow is the last night of hanukkah for this year and i feel like i've celebrated well.

***

i have been really enjoying emily's hanukkah posts, they make me happy.

working away

photos from my dad's house. (that old portrait in the top photo? that's my great-grandma anna who i am name after).

 

recently i have been working away at my own fun projects, and it feels great. for the past 6 weeks i was taking an  e-course for indie businesses by the lovely BAKERY ladies, jaime and erin. so much good info, it's exciting to digest it all.

i just got back some exciting new products for my shop. i can't wait to share them with you. newsletter subscribers will find out today...

starting yesterday, my shop is being showcased at papernstitch's monthly exhibition. there are some great artists whose company i share, go check 'em out and see what papernstitch is all about.

today i start working on the sales floor at the bookstore. i always help out during the holidays, as events are low and the number of people shopping is high (we hope--come on in and say hello!). i'm a little nervous to get back into the swing of tracking down books and ringing people up, but i can't wait to get out there and be helpful--i think i have some great book suggestions up my sleeve.

also, i'm more active over here. want to follow my tweets?

5th night of hanukkah. this whole city is out of candles, so i stalked up! i love to watch the candles burn low each night.

happy hanukkah

last night was the first night of hanukkah, and we went to a friend's to celebrate. to me, hanukkah is a time to celebrate lightness and warmth in this dark time of year (for n. hemisphere folks). it isn't as big of a deal as other holidays in the year, but it is a great excuse to get together and celebrate. grab some candles, a dreidel, chocolate gelt and a glass of wine. here's to a winter full of light and warmth!

winter berries

winter berries are in full bloom these days, and the cold is bitter. you might laugh at me for cringing at 18-25 degrees (f), but i'm from seattle! i'm not used to below freezing or even a temperature in the teens. i'm not used to snow, either. and i hate to be a party pooper, but i don't even like snow. in fact, i hope we don't get snow this year. last year, seattle had a long snow storm and, because we aren't equipped for dealing with snow (we really never get more than a day of snow a year), it sort of shut down the city for a week.and it was the week before christmas--yes, the busiest retail week of the year was practically dead.

this year, snow can come at an odd time for a day or two and i would be comfortable. i don't mind seeing the white flakes slowly and quietly finding their way down to the ground. i also don't mind putting on mittens and snow boots and big coats to take a slippery walk around the block. so, snow, why don't you just come quietly, have your fun, then leave quickly this year? sound good?

holiday goals

how was your weekend? i had a great time; a mixture of fun shopping and socializing with quite reflection and down time. jon and i took lots of walks in the winter cold. it feels good to walk where you need to go and let the movement warm you up, against the icy air. i went to a friend's craft sale and smelled all of her amazing soaps and i went to the urban craft uprising, packed with people buying and selling and loving handmade goodies. i've crossed quite a few people off my gift list. my goal is to be organized and calm--and to not stress out.

my other goal is to buy all my gifts either handmade or from local businesses. so far, i'm doing an excellent job. i've gotten a lot of handmade items from cyber monday and the craft fairs this weekend. tomorrow i'm going to gather my book gifts at work and next weekend, i'm going to wander around ballard to browse all the unique stores. finally, i'm looking forward to finding a few fair-trade treasures here.

today, i'm dreaming of all the candy i could make for little holiday packages. peppermint bark and toffee and salted caramels and chocolate truffles rolled in hazelnuts. i wont get to them all, but i can still dream.

winter thoughts

thank you all for sharing your december lists, i loved reading them! there has been a lot of inspiring finds around this online corner of the world. tifanie posted a beautiful maira kalman article, back to the land, that made me a little teary and very very happy. i love the cicero quote "if you have a garden, and a library, you have everything you need."

and gwen bell's 2009 challenge has been popping up all over as a wonderful way to look back on the year, reflecting on and remembering all the good moments 2009 brought. for now, i am accepting her challenge in my private journal, but i may share a few here and there in this space. i'm looking forward to thinking about the best new food i tried in 2009 and the best car ride i took.

this weekend i'm going to the urban craft uprising to look for some cute handcrafted gifts and scope out the scene. i've always loved craft fairs. i'm looking forward to browsing paula deer's booth and sprout studio.

have a great weekend!

december 1

december is...
hold on! did november already fly by? i feel like it was just last week when i posted my november list. wow. well, anyway,
 december is...

my favorite month
red berries on trees
tights and big coats
gifts and cards and baked goods
the festival of lights
wood stove fires
lots of people and parties
family, friends
excitement
good food
cold noses
my birthday
candles

what is december to you?

pentax week: day 3 (evenings)

 

the nights have been so long here, i look outside at 5pm and it is already dark. from inside, i love seeing the rain flicker below street lamps and the golden glow of building lights.

i've added my first winter print to the shop.  it comes in both 5x7 and 8x12 and to me it signifies all the beauty of winter: dark naked branches against a silver sky. if you are interested in the larger, 8x12 version, you can save 10% by entering WINTER. i'm going to put this next to all my holiday decorations.

thanks to all the new commenters and your pentax love. new cameras are so exciting.