Happy Howlidays

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was very quiet, just me and Ree and three dogs (we're taking care of Raven while Jamie and Dean are back in the States for the holidays). Didn't take a whole lot of pictures for Christmas but I thought I'd share a few today...I am, once again, procrastinating about writing a paper ;) and I hadn't blogged in a while so here I am.

First up are pictures that my awesome mom sent me. This year I cross stitched presents for my good buddy Liz and my sister-in-law Adrienne, and then I sent them to my mom and she had them framed. These were my two "mystery projects" for this year that I couldn't tell what I was stitching since they were gifts; I stitched Liz's present this summer and started Adrienne's when we were back in Texas for Lee's eye surgery. So here they are, starting with the one for Liz:

Liz looooooooooooves all things fall. My mom sent me this cross stitch pattern a while back with the note that she got it because she thought Liz would like it; I'd had the fabric and thread to make it for a long time but didn't get to it until this year. Mom says the picture doesn't do it justice but I'll have to take her word for it since I didn't get to see it after it was framed. This is my first finished project on linen which will mean nothing to you if you're not a stitcher, but let's just say I generally work on aida so this was a learning experience. The fabric is actually a mossy green color, I don't think it photographed too well.

Here is Adrienne's gift:

Adrienne loves gingerbread houses for Christmas decorations, so this seemed perfect (can't do anything with Santa Claus on it because my brother is afraid of the Man in Red. Seriously.) This pattern was out of one of the British cross stitch magazines; I have to say I like their stuff better than the American ones anymore--the one I get most often is Cross Stitch Gold, and they have a lot bigger and more intricate patterns than the American magazines. This one wasn't intricate at all, it was just a good-size project (about 10 inches square). You can't hardly tell in the photo but the fabric is pale blue and has silver thread woven into it. I only finished this one just before Thanksgiving so I was glad that it got framed in time for Christmas.

I spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day watching movies and stitching so I guess you could say I had a merry stitch-mas :) I'm now working on a project for myself, an orange crate label that is a lot more involved than either of these two projects were. I'll probably start posting status pictures of it after the new year; this is going to be a BIG project but I've gotten a good start on it already. Which is probably why I haven't written my paper yet :p

How about some fun dog pictures? Woohoo!

Jamie, I want you to know that it was a big argument to get even this picture of Raven in an elf hat. For one, the hat is a little too small for his noggin, and for another, he really didn't want to cooperate. You can *forget* trying to get a picture of him with Sadie and Vader in their Christmas finery, that so was not going to happen. I love how Sadie is in the background of this picture laughing at Raven. Just wait, little girl, your time is coming.

See? Bwahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! She's looking at Lee like, "Please help me!" Hey, I didn't get nearly enough funny Halloween pictures this year, so that's why she got stuck modeling an elf hat for Christmas. That and I'm evil. Bwahahahaaa! Oh wait, I said that already.

Vader is generally much more cooperative about these kinds of things than Sadie is. I think once we edit out the white eyes due to the flash, this should go in our Christmas cards next year :) I love it!!

We took one without the flash so you can actually see they're not devil dogs, but it came out pretty grainy. Maybe we'll try this again when it's daylight outside and see if we can get a really good picture for our cards next year :)

I've got a few more Christmas pictures but those will have to wait for another time. Right now, I still have a research paper to write and a bunch of swaps to make, so I'd best hop to it. Happy howlidays!

Christmas in Whoville

So although it is a balmy 70-something degrees here on Okinawa, it is nevertheless beginning to look at least a little bit like Christmas. This island definitely has the green part down :p Mom sent me a ginormous package of Christmas decorations and some presents (which are still safe in their wrapping paper Mom, no peeking on my part!) So check out what my mommy sent me!!

She MADE this for me, it's all cross stitch. Is this not totally awesome?! I've been meaning to make Christmas stockings for Lee and me since we got married and never did find any patterns that I just loved, so I never made any. I was so overwhelmed when we unpacked these that I just totally started crying, much to Lee's consternation. All I could tell him was "I miss my mommy!" So check out Lee's, which may be even more awesome than mine...

As I said, totally awesome! I've spent quite a while staring at them both because they're so beautiful. My mommy is just THAT cool, aren't you jealous? She also sent us a green and red afghan that she crocheted for us and it's gorgeous. It's so pretty that I couldn't stand to only have it out for Christmas time so it's just gonna have to stay out year-round :)

So here's what else we've added to our household in the recent past...

Yep, we joined the Dark Side and got a Mac, which means we had to get a new printer because our old one (which I still really like) isn't Mac-compatible. Annoying. That is a 27-inch monitor, which is how big our first tv was. I'm sure Lee could give you all the specs on what we got but all I know is that it's a Mac, iTunes runs a lot faster, and it's got this cool feature where you can check out movie previews. I'll have to learn how to use it better. For now both the PC and the Mac are hooked up on our computer desk, although they've swapped spots since this picture was taken. I like to imagine that they play Battleship while we're at work during the day.

Seems like I've been working nonstop for about the last month, putting in extra hours after work just trying to catch up, *and* I've been trying to read for my class, *and* Lee's parents were here for a week and I didn't want to ignore them in favor of work or class (although I did have to go in to work a few times and I skipped out on going to the aquarium one day so I could read for class). I had my last in-class session for this term today, so now all I need to do is write my research paper (yeah, that's *all*, snort!). But our instructor has worked it so that we should turn it in as soon as possible, but theoretically we have until the next term ends (like, in March) because we all have incompletes until we turn in the paper. I'm still going to try to knock mine out as fast as I can so it's not hanging over my head since I'm taking next term off from school and I want to enjoy myself :)

Here's a few more pictures because Liz requested them...we went to a holiday party last night for Lee's work. Lee did a picture slideshow and I provided the music (or at least, my iPod did). So here's a couple photos from the par-tay:

Jamie and Margaret, hey for once you get to see their beautiful faces rather than their toes :) They're part of the regular group that goes to Cocok's with the silent k together. Here's the shot that would be going in my Christmas cards, if I hadn't already sent them out:

Hm. I've got kind of a funny look on my face in this one. Wait a minute, maybe it was *this* one I was going to send out...

Haha, the patented Ree and Christy self-portrait strikes again!

Part of the annual Christmas party involves a fundraiser wherein several people have to dress up in costumes. I'm not so sure what the rules are, but I want to say that the person with the most money and the person with the least money in the fundraiser both have to dress up as different things, but somehow they end up with three people in costume so like I said, the rules are fuzzy. So here's this year's lucky three:

Santa's lost weight. Wonder what his workout regimen is like.

We also had a Christmas fairy! She was a really good sport about this, she even sprinkled pixie dust on everyone as she walked around in her fairy costume. The angle on this photograph isn't the best though, it looks like she's wearing that entire chandelier on her head.

And here's Lee's boss. Now you can see what it would look like if Peter Pan *did* grow up. Last year, the winner (loser?) who wore the fairy costume was this big hulking DUDE, so he looked really great with the fairy wings and antennae. This fundraiser netted about a grand, so not too shabby, huh?

Ok peeps, gotta go. We're late for a dinner date. Merry Christmas!

Da Bella Blog Hop!!

Welcome to da Bella Birthday Bash blog hop! If you didn't already, you should go to the start of the hop at Da Queen Bella's blog. If you've been following the hop all along, you should have arrived here from Karen's blog. I hope you're enjoying the hop and all the lovely eye candy on display today!!

I was worried I wouldn't have time to make a new card for the blog hop, but I managed! This is the first stamping I've done (other than Christmas cards) for what feels like a very, very long time, I miss it! Wish I'd had time to do a few more cards with some of the other fabulous lines that Stamping Bella carries, but I decided to stick with the original Bella:

This is Balloonabella. I paper-pieced her dress using Eskimo Kisses paper from Basic Grey, and the layout is a Mojo Monday sketch from a while back. I colored in her skin, hair & accessories with Prismacolor pencils. Pretty simple and straightforward. I wish I'd been able to take a picture of her when it was light outside but I didn't finish putting the card together until after sunset...it may be morning in the States, but where I am it's Saturday night!

There's mooooooooooooore! To celebrate Stamping Bella's third birthday, Da Queen Bella herself Miss Emily is giving away *three* gift certificates of $100 EACH at the Stamping Bella store! We don't know where the gift certificates are hidden, so be sure to leave comments along the way as you hop so you have a shot at one of those fabulous prezzies...I know I will be hopping and commenting, I'd love to have $100 free to spend on Bella stamps! The winners will be announced on Monday, December 7th, so good luck!

Thanks for stopping by, your next stop is Arlene's blog!

Cocok's Toes: The Christmas Edition

I took Lee's mom to Cocok's with the silent K on Friday morning, along with Amber, Jamie, and Missy, so here is the Christmas edition of Cocok's toes (I'll try not to leave this post at the top forever and a day so you're staring at toes for a long time, but no promises). We usually go to Cocok's about once every six weeks, so we'll still have these designs when Christmas rolls around (which is coming up sooner than I'd like to think, I have some shopping to do!) Here's Amber's toes:

She said they were supposed to have red on them, or at least the picture on the book did. I think they look really cool, but I just can't do black or white on my toes--I like COLOR!

So I got bright red. This is the first time I've gotten red toes at Cocok's; with the white flowers, I figured they're festive but not necessarily Christmas-y so if I wanted to, I could get this design any time of the year (or at least, any time of the year that I wanted red toes). But so far I have not gotten the same design twice :)

Here's Jamie:

I love that she has flip flop tan lines on her feet, don't you? ;) It's a purple background with white snowflakes, and then they painted clear glitter all over the top so it sparkles a lot in real life.

Missy also went for the Christmas toes:

It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it's a red background with holly. I think I should have gotten a little bit closer to take the picture, but my friends probably think I'm a teensy bit odd taking pictures of their toes anyway, snort!

Here's Nancy, her very first Cocok's experience:

She *almost* got this one pattern of Santa and his reindeer (Santa on one toe, a reindeer on each of the other toes) but then she decided to go for this one instead, kind of fern leaves.

Ok, so my illicit computer time is over...I stayed home today while Lee took his parents up to the aquarium so I could read for my class. My goal is to finish at least 100 pages today, which would mean finishing the book I've been working on for a while...if I'm lucky, maybe I can start the next book too. We'll see, but I'd better get crackin'!

Standing Room Only at New Moon

So Amber and I STOOD for the entire movie. Oh yeah, we did. Then we snuck around to the side and ran out the door as soon as the end credits started so we wouldn't get stuck in a massive traffic jam. I'll try to be non-spoiler-y in case I have any blog readers who haven't seen the movie yet.

Movie Jacob is waaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy hotter than Movie Edward, who looks like he's wearing lipstick most of the time. Mom, Amber says she definitely doesn't think you're crazy for having a crush on Jacob. Whoops, I just outed you to the entire Internet!!! Good thing for you that I only have three readers, bwahahahahahaaaaaa!

All hail the return of the SteadyCam. I mean really. That whole hurky-jerky shaking the camera thing? SO last season. Ok, really I never liked it at all and found the shaking thing totally irritating on Twilight, so I was super happy that New Moon did not make me seasick.

We wondered if the tweens were going to be super loud and obnoxious, but we think it's the guys who were hooting and hollering the most. At one point we weren't sure if they were wolf whistling (haha, get it?) Sam Uley or Harry Clearwater. The funny part was when the movie was just about to start, half the theater started shushing the other half. And then people talked anyway, me and Amber included. We're wondering if we need new t-shirts...I did see several girls wearing shirts that said Team Edward on the front, and then "but dang, Jacob is sexy!" on the back. Maybe Amber and I should get some of those shirts...

Ok, so it's like past midnight and I'm starting to go 'round the bend with fatigue, so I'm going to cut it off here. G'night everybody!!

Thanksgiving at Our House

So here's what Thanksgiving Day looked like at Ree and Christy's house :) I would have liked to have some autumn-y decorations, but the stores here went straight from Halloween to Christmas and ignored the whole month of November. One of these days though...anyway, pictures! Here's Lee and his dad carving the turkey:

Jamie and Amber, who were helping me set everything up on the table. The collaborated on the ham; Amber was too chicken to make a ham, so she bought it and Jamie cooked it. Turned out great and it looked fabulous too! We bought a turkey dinner that came with a bunch of side dishes, and then made a few things to supplement it. And then I did the desserts, including apple streusel cheesecake bars, berry cobbler, Mississippi Mud, and the famous pumpkin cookies. The dinner we bought came with a pumpkin pie, but alas, Ree didn't notice you're supposed to thaw it in the fridge overnight, so we didn't eat that. Anyway, here's my favorite photo of the day :)

Miss J again. That apron is actually mine, my mom made me that several years ago when we did a big Thanksgiving to-do at our house in North Carolina. So Jamie WAS the autumn decoration, hehe! I had on my blue and white SuperChristy apron but never got a photo of me in it. Whoops.

And here's our group, digging in to the feast. That's Scott, Larry (aka Lee's dad), Billy (aka Amber's hubby), Dean (aka Jamie's hubby), Nancy (aka Lee's mom), and Lee's arm.

Here's all us girls! Wish the picture was a little bit clearer but this is what we got. Here's Amber, Jamie, me, and Tiana with baby Emma, who is about four months old.

And of course, the aftermath of any big food-related event...the clean-up.

Yeah, I should probably be downstairs right now working my way through the dishes (and I took this picture after I'd already run a load through the dishwasher!). Maybe I'll get some of them done before Nancy and I head off to Cocok's with the silent k. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

It is already Thanksgiving Day here in Japan, so I am writing this blog post in between batches of yet more pumpkin cookies. I made this apple streusel cheesecake bar thing earlier and still have to do a berry cobbler (although I'm cheating on that, the cobbler will not be from scratch. But Lee and his dad chose that over a homemade cherry-raspberry pie, CRAZY I tell you but that's what they want). I've also got a cranberry mandarin candle on the candle warmer downstairs so my house smells pretty amazing at the moment :) We're going to get started with the feeding frenzy in about two hours.

So in honor of Turkey Day, how 'bout a card?

I kinda copied the idea out of the SU catalog, although I changed up all the colors and the stamp used and their card wasn't related to Thanksgiving and they didn't use patterned paper and ok, so I guess the only thing that's the same is the basic layout but I like it ok? I actually managed to get a bunch of these sent out ON TIME to my peeps back in the States!

And look what I got in the mail earlier this week!

It's a totally GOJUS and PURPLE Thanksgiving card from Vicki, isn't it fabulous? I love it, Miss Vicki! Darn, I may have to get that patterned paper now, hehehe!

So Happy Thanksgiving wherever you may be, and have a safe and happy holiday weekend. I've got 30 seconds till the next batch of cookies is ready to come out of the oven, so TTFN!

P.S. If anyone sees my parents, tell 'em I've been looking for them. My mom hasn't even commented on here in, like, forever. *sob* I miss my mommy! And Dad too. Really!