Merry Christmas 2008

I went into work yesterday morning at 9 a.m. and I am just now getting home. It's been nearly a 24-hour workday at this point, and I want nothing more than to sleep, sleep, sleep...

Fortunately, that was my last day of work until Jan. 5, so I plan on doing nothing for the next few weeks except visit with loved ones, read good books, watch good movies, bake yummy treats, knock out several knitting projects and sleep, sleep, sleep...

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Photo by Sway Sovay

Beautiful, Glowing ... Fruit?

Here's an interesting post on how to make a candle from a clementine orange. Perhaps someday I shall try this as a neat party trick. Or you know, just when I'm home alone and bored. Whichever opportunity comes first. In that case, it will probably be the latter.

I Said, "Sit, Fido."

The "BigDog," made by BostonDynamics.

The Twilight Vortex Has a Strong Pull

Damn. I told myself I wasn't going to let this happen, and yet here I sit -- one more individual who has been sucked into the "Twilight Zone." (And even though I have just now typed that cheesy, cliched and overused phrase in order to reference my situation, so help me God, I will never utter it again, nor write it here, nor anywhere. I promise.)

Oh, Stephenie Meyer and Stephenie Meyer's agent and the publishing company and all the marketing departments and all the book stores across the nation... Oh how they have woven a tangled web, and so many of us are falling right into it. Oh, they have been so sneaky.

When I started seeing Meyers' books showing up in every bookstore I visited, it was impossible not to notice. After all, they look so chic, with their glossy black jackets and single-image covers. So sleek, so seductive. Eventually I had to pick one up, read the back, then go "hm" and set it down again. "Sooo..." I thought. "Vampires? Really? Wonder how that's gonna work out for them."

And then, there were even more books -- three more, in fact, and people started calling Meyers the next J.K. Rowling and the Twilight series the next Harry Potter craze.

Despite my admiration for Rowling and my enthusiasm for all things Harry Potter-related, I doubted (and still do) that this vampire series could ever reach the same level of success. However, as time goes by, I have slowly been able to admit that this whole Twilight mania is at least a thing.

So much a thing, that they made the story into a full-blown feature film. (Boy, can I call 'em or what? My bad.)

Let me tell you something about myself. Somewhere, someone decides to take a book and turn it into a movie, so they make the call to the production company, and simultaneously, at that very moment, a little bell goes off in my head, meaning that 1.) I have to see the film. And 2.) I have to read the book before I can allow myself to see said film.

Which brings me to my point.

Yes, I now have the compulsion to see the Twilight movie. And yes, I have to read the damn books first. (Or maybe at least just the first one.)

And yes, I ordered all four of them from Amazon.com a few weeks ago. And yes, they have arrived -- just in time for Christmas break, during which I will be knitting various odds and ends for family and friends, as well as reading like a fiend.

Sigh. I have a problem.

But at least I can admit it, right?

Virtual Christmas

Check out this variation on a Christmas tree, made out of random pretty objects.

Already tired of making/placing decorations this year?

What about virtual ones?

Decorate your very own gingerbread cottage here, thanks to Jennie B. Harris.

My Brain is Melting

This past weekend, my boyfriend's parents were in town from Wednesday through Sunday, which meant absolutely no Christmas shopping was accomplished. And it's not like I'm going to have time to do any this weekend either.

The magazine is in print mode from now until the end of next Tuesday, which means my life is in lockdown. Sooo ... this week, I will be working 'round the clock, and then leaving on Friday morning for Oklahoma City for my friend's wedding (one in which I am a bridesmaid) ... Which means there's the rehearsal dinner Friday night, then the wedding on Saturday night ... Then the drive to Tulsa on Sunday morning and visiting with more friends and family ... Then the flight out of Tulsa back to Phoenix on Monday morning and heading straight from the airport back to work ... And then working for something like close to 48 hours straight as we try to seal the deal on the January issues ... And then BAM, it's Christmas Eve.

And so I am trying to figure out just exactly how and when (and what) I plan on buying Christmas presents for my family (Dad, Mom, sister), a gift exchange present for my coworker (whom I do not know at all), a wedding present for the bride and groom, a gift for my boyfriend's parents, and gifts to mail to my German penpal and her two little girls. Do I dare even open the Pandora's box of buying Christmas presents for any of my girlfriends, lest some discover who and who did not make my list, or should I just nix those gifts this year and give them cards instead?

My brain hurts.

I don't want to think about any of it right now.

Right now I just want to copy edit, drink hot chocolate and every once in a while take breaks to:

Paint like Jackson Pollack.

Work on my eyeballing skills.

Get a hole in one.

Make photos about coworkers and anonymously post them on the community fridge.

Build sand castles.

This is What Happens When I Look at Craft Sites When I Should be Getting Ready for Work

Crafty things:

This chandelier at Apartment Therapy would make me feel less like any room looked artistic and more like I just needed to clean.

This wedding quilt at Purl Bee is so beautiful! (And further proof that it helps to be good with numbers if you sew, knit or crochet.) I want to make it! Of course, I can see a few obstacles standing in my way -- namely, that I don't own a sewing machine, and also, that since it took me a year just to knit my boyfriend's afghan, I don't think the quilt would be finished in my lifetime.

Hmmm... could these make good Christmas presents for all my earring-wearing girlfriends next year? Hey, if they pass them up, then that's just more for me.

Australia

Saw this:


And I already want to see it again. Yes, it's a little bit cheesy on the romance bits, and yes, it's a little bit cliche, but it's also beautiful and Hugh Jackman is beautiful and that is all a girl needs to know in order to want to see it, right? Right.

Go see it and be mesmerized by that "men of men" routine Jackman plays so well. Nicole Kidman is also stunning, although it was hard to imagine her as a normal person after this incredibly awkward interview with David Letterman:

Part 1:



Part 2:



Can we say, "Awkward?"

Halfway on the Clapotis, Etc.

I am now more than halfway through the Clapotis pattern, and it looks like this:


I know it doesn't look like I'm halfway there, but trust me, I have a notepad full of tick marks to prove it. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to block it so that it lies flat, or just leave it as is, so that it continues to kind of bunch up and curl on its own. Hmm.

More stitchery goodness:


And in other knitting news, I have finally finished (mostly) the afghan I began making for my boyfriend about a year ago. I still have a few loose ends to weave in on the wrong side, but other than that, it is finally, finally done.


The pattern is my own, albeit not a very tricky one, as I'm sure any advanced knitter could look at this photograph and reproduce the exact same blanket. At any rate, if you have any questions regarding the pattern, just e-mail me.

We're so close to Christmas now, that for a moment I considered just wrapping up the afghan and giving it to my boyfriend as his holiday present, but seeing as how he's been waiting a year for it, I figured that might be like cheating, don't you think?

Photos by Sway Sovay

(A Punked-Out) Christmas Came Early

To thank me for some of my recent hard work, my editor in Los Angeles sent me a pair of Hudson jeans (all the way to the right in the photo below).

Me editor also runs a website -- his own, personal venture, which receives, apparently, tons of free samples and other products, clothing among them, in return for endorsements on the site. A lot of these vendors know his shirt size, shoe size, etc., and so they mail him things that they already know will fit him -- they mail him a lot of things, frequently.

After my editor had already sent me my jeans, and also after he discovered that he and my boyfriend are roughly the same size, he told me he was sending another box my way -- a few items he wanted to pass on to us in an effort to free himself of some of these surplus wares. On Monday, a box arrived for me containing all of this:

Again, only the gray-colored jeans on the right are mine. The rest is for my guy. One brown T-shirt with a weird face on it, one black T-shirt with an eyeball wearing a top hat, one short-sleeve button-down collared shirt, one black and white checkered long-sleeve button-down shirt, three pairs of jeans, a hooded denim vest, a denim jacket with black knitted ribbing at the collar and cuffs, and one pair of black fingerless gloves.

My boyfriend and I usually dress in a style that's more closely defined by The Gap than uh, whatever this style is ... But he tried on everything anyway and, surprisingly, said he was keeping it all. I have serious doubts that most of these will ever see much light of day, such as the hooded vest, the fingerless gloves, the denim jacket, and one pair of jeans that was waaaaay too "emo" for his tastes. However, there was one pair of jeans that did look decent on him, and I really liked the black and white checkered shirt after I saw it on him.

Do you see the inside lining of the pair of jeans on top of the three that are stacked? The box also included a bandana with that same print on it, but I stole it from my boyfriend because it's pretty, and I felt like I deserved something out of that huge pile of clothes just for him. Plus, I am far more likely to wear it as a headband than he is to ever wear it as ... anything.

Photo by Sway Sovay

Is This Really Happening?

I'm still no Britney Spears fan, but I have to admit that her "people" have managed to work a miracle.

They helped her get her body back.

They helped her get her kids back.

They helped her get her groove back.

Meanwhile, everyone -- whether a person loves her or can't stand her -- is standing by, asking, "Holy crap, are they really going to pull this off? Are they really going to resurrect this poor girl's doomed career?" So far, the chances appear to be good.

Even so, is it just me, or does Brit still look a little dead in the eyes? Like her passion for performing hasn't fully returned yet? She used to come out on stage in full force, with choreography and everything, and now she just kind of bumbles around and swirls her hips like a robot set to "automatic."

If she and her camp pull this off, I will be seriously impressed. It's going to be less "Oops ... I did it again" and more "I had to have a breakdown and temporarily lose custody of my kids and then start doing 1,000 crunches a day, but finally! ... I did it again!"

Previous (and better) Britney:

New (and lackluster) Britney:



And just gross Britney. Something still isn't quite right. Maybe they need to reboot her. Or at least update her software, I don't know.

Four Christmases

I saw this one with the fam on Thanksgiving Day. My verdict? Eh. If you are the type who goes to the movie theater often, then go, see this one and laugh and be entertained.

However, if you are more like me -- someone who doesn't often spend money on movie tickets unless it's for a film that I've been really, really dying to see, hang on to that cash, because this one is probably more of "a renter."

There are funny moments, but they're too far and few between, and honestly, there's not really much of a plot. But let's face it, we all saw that coming.

From the trailer, viewers can easily understand that the two main characters end up having to go to their four parents' homes for Christmas ... and anyone expecting the storyline to be any more complicated than that should let that hope die now.

Fortunately for the producers, the film's vapor of a plot is supported as much as possible by a very talented cast: Vince Vaughn keeps things interesting because no one ever knows what he'll say or do next; Reese Witherspoon is pretty darn likeable no matter what; Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek are stellar as the parents of Vaughn's character; and Jon Voigt and Mary Steenburgen also deliver as the parents of Witherspoon's character.

The problem is, however, that none of these actors were given much to work with, which is a real shame.

Not exactly a Christmas classic, but an entertaining couple of hours.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving 2008

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I was in charge of the meal this year -- mostly due to the fact that I hate cleaning dishes -- so I made a deal with the rest of my family that if I cooked everything, they would clean up afterward. In addition to the turkey, I made sweet potatoes glazed in maple syrup, cloves and orange zest; green beans with crumbled turkey bacon and slivered almonds; stuffing from scratch; and cranberry chutney from fresh cranberries and boiled sugar and water. Miraculously, everything turned out wonderfully, so I'll definitely be putting these dishes on my list for next year.

I had a great time being around my mom and dad and my sister and my boyfriend. It was certainly a day to celebrate all the love in my life.