Anatomy of our Christmas Tree

Happy almost Christmas y'all! Last night Ryan and I finally got around to decorating  our tree... we had a tree up before we had a TV or even silverware (priorities). But we're finally getting to the point where things are sorted and it's looking more and more like a home everyday! I thought I'd share a few shots of our modestly adorned tree:




Above we see a vintage paper Santa bought from an antique shop in the heights. I only wish I had 50 instead of just 5. I like how the paper ornament adds a different texture and dimension to the tree as opposed to glass or plastic. You can also see the "cornament" from Omaha!

  

We've got a touch of Mardi Gras already! Mom and I snagged a box of these pretty glittery fleur de lis when we were in Louisiana last weekend. It's hanging next to the Czech Kitchen Witch I bought in Prague in 2007. She's missing a foot... i know i have it somewhere....




Crocheted red and white garland!




Pretty glittery glass owl.




Sleepy fawn I bought at the Nutcracker Market this year!




Handmade German owl ornament I bought at the Nutcracker Market 2009



Close-up of the fantastic vintage paper Santa.



I love this fuzzy little owl my friend Amy gave to me last year. Before we decorated the tree we had the ornaments sitting on the counter and the Fuzz kept jumping up and dragging it all over the apartment. We'd try to hide it and she'd always find! Poor little owl...but I definitely see it's appeal to the Fuzz.



We really have a hodgepodge of items on this tree. Some weird, random things...I mean.. I may have (may have..) hung my 2007 TX state graduation tassel up there.... Srsly what else are you supposed to do with those things? We have a really pretty Nativity scene in a glass bulb,a cat wearing pink socks and a scarf, a gorgeous pelican ornament my mom gave me this year along with other wildlife, even a tranny Santa which is probably the strangest thing up there but... I really like how it came together. When you don't have much, you have to imrpovise!

All in all, it's a good little tree.

Do you guys have any weird things hanging on your tree?

Today, I fell in love with...

Yellow Owl Workshop!

I decided that I will be making/stitching/stamping my Christmas cards this year and while perusing the big interwebs, came across these amazing stamp sets.. you think these are fantastic, but no.. oh no it doesn't stop there...

 DROOL:

 

This TEAPOT. YES. 

AND THEN... came these fantastic prints of old cameras!

AND THEENNNNNNN.. the paintings! The acrylic on wood teapot makes me way too happy. I wanna make one. ASAP. like, now.

So this was my discovery today. Tonight, I'm going to have sweet, sweet dreams of pressing big inky stamps onto crisp white paper....

Owl take an ice cream cone, plz.

..yeah, I dunno... I got ice cream on the brain... but I'm happy I finished him! I really liked this pattern, from Badbird.

xtreme closeup:
Now to finish that Russian doll I neglected months ago....

WIP Wednesday

Oh hayyyy WIP Wednesday! This is what I'm workin' on this week.

Whatcha got goin on?

Great owl pattern complements of Andrea Zuill found here at her blog!

Memorial weekending!

With this new assignment/new schedule I'm doing a 9/80, which means that I have every other Friday off. This past Friday was my first so I had an EXTRA long memorial weekend.. 4 whole days! Friday morning started early ( a little too early after an evening of trivia and a few beers...) with breakfast at Baby Barnaby's! For someone who's been living behind it for over a year, and for how good it really is, it's a little weird that this was my second time to have breakfast here. Absolutely fantastic. I had the classic with apple wood chicken bacon, biscuits, buttery grits and scrambled jalapeno eggs (ugh, it's 8:30 am and I'm starving...) and Ryan had the green eggs with spinach, hash browns, toast and turkey sausage. YES. PLEASE. ALL THE TIME.

Then off to the Houston Zoo we went! We attempted once before, but were committed this day. It's very well organized and such a nice zoo. We had so much fun talking to all the animals (I can't talk to an animal without using this really high pitched, squeaky little voice...) and playing, petting the goats, enjoying the trees and shade...We happened upon the elephant area when the zookeepers we're answering questions, talking to the guests... I was so jealous that they got to play with Elephants when they went to work... that baby (400 lb baby) elephant Baylor is the cutest thing on this earth.

Playing with the P-dogs.

Oh hai. Dis my nest.

Sifaka Monkey- Their arms are too short for them to walk on all fours so they hop around on their legs... they were so funny!

Funny little owl, lookin' like a pirate with one eye open.

You know.. just brushin' goatz.

Baby Baylor!

After the Zoo, as if that weren't enough for the day, we walked around the Hermann Park Garden Center for a while. The flowers were in bloom and so colorful.

So that was Friday! Saturday we packed up the grill and headed to West Beach, Galveston for some sun and relaxing. Like a nerd, I forgot my camera... NEXT TIME!

Sunday we went to Mom and Dad's, Peter came into town, and enjoyed a sack of crawfish.

Monday we took it very easy, after a very busy few days. Hung out by the pool, made mojitos, had some friends over and topped off the holiday weekend with a little trivia. I think I've just now recovered from those 4 days.

Hope your memorial weekend was wonderful!

As american as apple cherry pie and baseball.

GORGEOUS weekend! And so busy! Ryan and I kicked it off with a round of Pitch Black IPA's at Porch Swing Friday afternoon which was promptly followed by a nap. Had a low key Friday night. Saturday morning I made kolaches for breakfast, did a little sewing and baking, as I donated a pie to the Art Lies auction/ spring roundup/ pie raffle. I made a cherry pie...and then burned it...not CHARRED...but the crust was black and I didn't want to donate an ugly pie... so I had to buy a pie (lame) and bring it over to the art space. So now there's a quasi-burned yet still very tasty cherry pie at the house. well.. ok there's 1/4 of a pie at the house...
[before the burning]

After the pie-delivery, Ryan and I went over to George R Brown to check out the Houston Public Library used book sale. There were hundreds and hundreds of books all over lots of tables- you got dizzy from tilting your head to see the titles...I only left with 1 book (huge purchase of $1.08), a Phillipa Gregory I'd never read, but could have easily left with more. After perusing the books we crossed the street and spent about an hour at discovery green. There were lots of families out enjoying the day and enjoying a live performance of Taming of the Shrew.

[bike art]

We sat and watched kids play in the water for a bit...and we were very jealous.

We sat in the Listening Vessels: "Sculptor Doug Hollis’ Listening Vessels sits in the midst of the Urban Gardens. The two parabolas, cut from solid limestone and spaced 60 feet apart, epitomize Hollis’ desire to call attention to events that are taken for granted, such as conversation. Visitors are intended to come across the vessels and gain an understanding of their function as they realize they can hear the words of another person speaking at a normal volume, a great distance away."

After walking around the park and working up an appetite, we boiled some shrimp and baked garlic bread for an early dinner.

Sunday, we went to the Astros v. Pirates game with Mom and Dad. The ballpark is near the beautiful Annunciation Catholic Church, built in 1869, so we explored a little bit.

Mom and I lit a few candles for family that have passed and for friends and family in our thoughts and prayers.

It was a perfect day for a baseball game. A little on the warm side, but nothing a cold beer couldn't remedy. We won 10-3!

After the game, we got a few lbs of crawfish with corn and potatoes for dinner and decided to call it a weekend, getting home around 8. I added some finishing touches on an ipod touch case [ below] I made for a friend and was asleep a minute after my head hit the pillow.

Still a little tired and having a little trouble getting into this Monday. It's beautiful outside again and I can't stop daydreaming about driving down to Galveston to stick my toes in some sand and finish my book.

I hope your weekend was absolutely wonderful! It's almost May- EEK!