post merry, pre happy

I hope everyone had wonderful holiday times because I sure did! Lots of games and friends, too much chocolate and a short little getaway helped to make the season bright. For the first time in a long time, our new years plans will rest on the quiet side. No dancing shoes for me tonight! It's a bit sad, but I think hanging out with friends and drinking fancy drinks will take my mind of the fact that my feet ain't moving.

Happy New Years, everybody! I leave you with some nice design crafts at Design Without Reach and an amazing painting via BoingBoing of Angelina Jolie as Mary and Walmart as hell. See you in 2007!

merry christmas!

I love the holidays...in fact, I'm a bit of a Christmas junkie. I've got all of my shopping and baking done. Gifts are wrapped and under the tree. Tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, Cornelius and I will get all snuggly indoors and play board games, maybe watch the LOTR series and prepare a small feast for dinner. We'll open only 1 present at midnight and save the rest until Christmas morning. Then, on Christmas day, we'll head over to C's family for more gift opening, eating and definitely a few rounds of dominos. And laundry, did I mention laundry?? On Boxing Day, we'll have friends over for drinks, games and some 80's teen exploitation flicks. Good times, indeed! But what I'm looking forward to the most? Our 2 nights at the Ambrosia B&B in Victoria. Hello, relaxation! Hello, 4-course breakfast! Hello, 2 person jacuzzi tub! Oh my. In Victoria, we're definitely planning a stop by the Rebar restaurant because it's my favorite cookbook and I'm sure the restaurant will live up to the hype. I've only been to Victoria once, so if anyone has any Victoria to-dos, I'm all ears.

Happy holidays!!

top of the pops

Working in a record store for many years, I got into the habit of writing down lists for best record of the year, top songs of the year, etc. I'm not quite so anal about my listening habits, but I certainly do love reading everyone's yearly lists and have managed to come up with a list of my own.

In no particular order, other than alphabetical, I give you some of my favorite songs of the year! I tried to make sure that all songs were on albums released in 2006 and had links to music/videos/etc. that were easy to find online.

Here we go!

raising the sparks, akron family (mp3)

cuckoo, archie bronson outfit (stream)

suzanne, the battles (myspace stream)

postcards from italy, beirut (mp3)

i swear this was out in 2005, but i've seen it on so many lists for 2006...let's make love & listen to death from above, cansei de ser sexy (youtube)

did i step on your trumpet, danielson (mov)

i try, gnarls barkley (stream)

tacobel cannon, ratatat (mp3)

put a penny in the slot, fionn regan (mp3)

emptyhead, they shoot horses don't they? (mp3)

rain rain go away

It's been a season full of hustle and bustle and tho I've bought many of my presents online, today I will brave the rain and head out to the shops to finish up some last minute items. And after seeing this umbrella link from Wishing Fish at anh-minh, I wish I had that umbrella to keep me dry in style.

ho ho ho from flickr

I love so many things about flickr...and for the holidays flickr has created a little "easter egg". Now you can add "ho ho ho hat" or "ho ho ho beard" to any photo and a little santa hat or snow white santa beard will appear on your victim's head or face! I read about this via Boing Boing and when I went to flickr to check it out, I had been ho'd!


Ho! Ho!! Ho!!!

chinatown bargains

Last week I went to the nearest bank and the post office to take care of some errands in chinatown. In between stops, I decided to do a little poking about and look what I found? Little porcelain owls and only 2 for a dollar! Nice little stocking stuffers for Christmas giving (and I'm most certainly going to line my own stocking with one as well!)

hello, december!

Last night we put up our christmas tree. It's actually the first year that we haven't had a real tree due to space constraints in our tiny apartment (oh! I miss that fresh pine scent!). It's a silver tinsel tree and i love how sparkly it is and how all of our vintage and handmade christmas decorations seem right at home.


Last night, I also pulled out our Christmas stockings and fell in love with one I had made a few years ago out of an old pair of cords. That year I made stockings out of old cords for all of my friends. The best part, naturally, is the bum pocket as extra treats can be put inside...because everyone loves more treats on Christmas morning!