family photos

here are the photos of us on christmas eve. one is all the grandkids on jan's mom's side of the family, and the other includes all the aunts, uncles and grandparents. if you click on the pics, they'll get bigger so you can see better. this year I met Fred, jan's uncle who lives in alaska and has the really cute little kids below, Isaac and Avery.

new project

I saw these hooks online once and fell in love (1/2 w/the product, 1/2 w/the great product photography). I knew w/the right amount of patience and work we could produce our own so that was what Jan & I worked on the afternoon before I left to come back to work. We went into their woods and cut down 3 carefully selected small maples and cut out about 35 or so potential hooks. We'll let them dry out until mid summer, where we'll sand them down, cut the backs off to lie flush against a wall, and drill holes in them to mount. We'll sell them online at etsy and at a craft show, and if they do well, we'll do some more! They are really beautiful, each unique, and some that we found are even double hooks, perfect for jackets or towels or craft supplies. We'll report back in 6 months!

christmas

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas this year. Christmas Eve we went early to g&g lashers, and I helped coordinate a family photo of all the grandkids (i'll have to post that this weekend), we all went to Christmas mass, caroling to some family friend's houses in sombreros and bells (one of the songs was feliz navidad) and then spent time eating and laughing w/all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Christmas day we ate a delish breakfast and opened presents, where Santa was so good to us! I got Jan these headphones (they went up this week!) for him when he shoots, to block out sound and help his hearing from getting worse. He got me (w/help from grandma) an ipod nano!! It's my work out incentive now that I can strap this super light thing to my arm. Nano is also perfect for showing people some of my photography, or Jan's videos when he interviews for internships. Eric got me the new Feist cd, as well as the Martha Food cookbook . Awesome photos, easy recipes, and perfect for our busy lives. Rick & Alicia suprised us w/a super light rice cooker, perfect for our small place and needs for now. It's similar to this. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

the season is here

here are some things we've been working on...a scarf jan's sister's birthday just after christmas, cranberry jam's for little neighbor/friend gifts (so good!), and a lot of wrapping!

holiday cards

I've been in the works of starting a small stationary line and it still has yet to debut for millions of reasons, but it will come in the new year! This is a sampling of some custom cards I did for a friend back in SF that I thought I'd share - they're posted on my modele press blog too, where I post crafts, cards and other things not related to Jan & I specifically. So check it out and keep me in mind if you ever want anything custom designed!

baking

i've baked a few things lately for the holidays. pumpkin pies in rammekins and apple tarts. the mini pies were so good - i didn't even miss crust, and apple tarts are always a very easy impressive dessert. and semi-healthy! sorry the pie photo is sideways.

{pre-baked tart - afterwords i brush on warm apricot jam}

a goodwill christmas

Holly & I went to Goodwill and decided to try to see if we could make shift a whole nativity. It was great fun, but the best part was noticing the funny man smiling down over the manger from the back wall. I think more people should set up scenes with all the random stuff at thrift stores.

the thermals are on

Today was our first real snow! As usual, people were super slowed up on the freeways, but now, at 4:05pm it's bright, sunny and half melted. Jan was great and got my car all ready to go for work this morning. We're going to take our holiday photos this weekend, i hope they'll be as good as i think.