making it up as i go along
Today I shall tackle another group near and dear to my heart: craftinistas. This is for all of your loved ones who just can't get enough of the crafting bug.
Craftinistas
The Print Gocco is a home silk-screening kit. It gives all of us day-jobbers a new outlet for creativity … that looks professional. The starter kit gives you enough supplies for 5 originals (designs) and virtually limitless prints. Refills are easily available. Available at DickBlick for $139.
Today we'll cover a species with which I am most familiar: Geeks. ThinkGeek is the logical place for all your geeky shopping, but I may have a few surprises.
Geeks
What geek wouldn't love a good distraction. This little aquarium plugs into your USB port for power and you get to watch little fishies swim around. It also makes an excellent night light with soothing blue glow. Water not included. $12 @ ThinkGeek.
Well I finally broke down and bought a new sewing machine. I have lots of projects that I want to work on that just REQUIRE a decent sewing machine. I had one, but it was vair old and vair hard to work with. I got the Euro-Pro 80 stitch at Target and I finally had time to open it and try it out last night. I wasn't disappointed! It's excellent … so much nicer and easier to use than my old one. It's probably got more features than I'll ever use, but if I want to get any more sophisticated, I will have some machine to grow into.
I had looked around on the Craftster boards about good sewing machines and then I read reviews on Amazon and Target's websites. I picked the Euro Pro line based on the reviews. It can sew a lot of layers of pretty thick stuff and it comes with a 25 year warranty (which won't be up until I'm 50!!! Yikes!!).
I'm going to practice with it a bit this weekend … then I want to start on my t'shirt quilt.
I loved it though! It was so nice to combine an errand with a bike ride and I want to do it more. Now, my mountain bike is great and all, but I think it might be fun to have a lovely little cruiser bike … no bending over on the handle bars or anything. Of course, off-roading won't be quite so nice, but the accessories are amazing. 
When I was at Anthropologie a couple of weekends ago, I bought some apple cider milk bath that was on clearance. I've used it twice now and all I've got to say is … YUM. This stuff smells sooooo good and it makes just the right amount of bubbles. And after your bath, you come out smelling slightly of apples. It's not overpowering or gross … just a bit appley. A perfect bath.
While at the afore-mentioned store I also picked up a small bottle of Sugar Cookie Perfume that was also on clearance. It's been very nice to spray a teensy bit of it on my wrists and neck every morning and then I smell nice alll day long.
What are your favorite indulgences?
I can hardly believe it … Didn't it all go by in the blink of an eye?! I know there were a few moments when I really sat there and tried to let it sink all in. I just lurve Christmas.
Of course, I got many fun, pretty, useful things, but I had an even better time giving the gifts that I gave. I didn't give that many gifts that people knew they were getting and I made my mom cry (in a good way) which is always one of my Christmas directives. Kelly and I gave her and dad photo calendars from Ofoto that turned out beautifully. Another favorite gift I (we) gave was a necklace to Matt's sister, which had one of her favorite things … a shamrock with a little stone in her favorite color, green. We also got Matt's mom, a photographer, a brag-book style photo album. I put a graphic in the front with a sort-of logoey feel and then we thought she could put some of her professional photos in there and carry it with her to show off. One of my faves too was the photobook we got my sis. We got her an early xmas present and she also wanted some photos, so I had Snapfish print me up a bunch that she chose and then I put them in a little album for her. But I hated the idea that her entire gift would be expected, so I took a picture of Matt wearing jeans and a white t'shirt and I used Photoshop to impose “Sparky Loves You!” on the front of his t'shirt (Sparky is her pet-name for him) and I stuck that in the midst of all her photos. There were other good gifts too and in a lot of ways, I really would love to do nothing more than stay at home and relax and watch DVDs and read and play with some new toys. Continue reading “Christmas is Over”
It's very nearly Christmas!!! So today we have a half day and the afternoon will be the office holiday party. I can get behind that for sure.
My Christmas shopping has been done for a while other than a couple of little stocking-stuffers that needed to be picked up later rather than earlier. But I'll get them today or tomorrow. The real question is what is for Christmas Eve dinner. I'm vascilating between Fondue Savoyard (very yummy, but annoying cleanup) and Mexican Fiesta, which would be very easy because I'd pick up tamales and burritos from Tamale Kitchen and just make up some guacamole and margaritas. It'll be good either way. 
Continue reading “Christmastime … Oh Yea”
The election is long over, but evidently some people just can’t get it out of their system. I read an article on Fox New’s web site about buyblue.org. This site list major companies that have contributed to political campaigns and tells the consumer which side (Democrat or Republican) received the money and how much. As the sites name suggest, they encourage the consumer to perchance from Blue (Democrat supporting) companies, although the site is just as good of a resource for Conservatives wanting to purchase from Republican supporting companies. Continue reading “Buy Blue or Red”
I think this is the first time I've been home alone for more than 10 minutes (paticularly without some specific task to do) and what makes it even better is that I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Not that I hate going to work … I really like it, work that is. But it is nice to be able to stay up late and do whatever I want (i.e. Tivo and Blog). I've had sooo little time for doing MY stuff lately. It's been all work and no play for me! On the plus side, I'm 95% done with Christmas shopping and I've attended practically every shindig I've been invited to … which has been great fun.
The upcoming week will be just as busy. We've got a dinner party on Tuesday night, Matt's mom is coming in on Wednesday and that night we're going to see Manheim Steamroller and we have our office party on Thursday and Christmas Eve on Friday. Too fun.
I'm taking a small break after finishing a big job. I've been trying for two days now to add some more pictures of our house, but my camera and my computer are fighting it out and it appears that my computer is slowly defeating my camera's spirit. Bad computer. So no pics yet, though I'm dying to get them up.
The last two days have been very busy. I've been working and then doing social sort of things after work. That's been enjoyable, but I really just want to go home and have a “normal” evening. That's the plan for tonight and with a little luck, it'll work out!! I can't wait to just veg in front of my computer and Tivo and get a little more work done for Artamation and it's CafePress Shop.
Last night I got a very important piece of Christmas shopping done. I ordered a couple of gifts online, but I'm not saying from where cuz at least one person receiving one of these gifts reads this … Continue reading “Trials and Tribulations and Christmas Shopping”