merry christmas

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, it seemed more like summer than the day before Christmas. Sunshine, warm weather and not a drop of rain. Oh well, I can get used to this. Here's wishing it's nice and snuggly where you are. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!

book autopsies

After seeing this link via swissmiss, I was in a state of visual swoon. Oh my! How beautiful.


From the article, "Brian Dettmer carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures."

But enough about link browsing, I've got so much holiday stuff to get to! Candy making, cookie baking, grocery shopping, gift-buying, oh boy! One week to Christmas!! Yikes.

hello icicles

Almost all of my Christmas cards have been sent out, most of my baking has been done and I have a few last minute things to finish. Tonight we head to a work Christmas party and then tomorrow at 5am we'll arrive at the airport. Ouch! I'll be away for a week in the icy cold hinterland known as Ontario. Today I froze off my butt and it was 5 degrees Celsius...I don't know how I'll cope with minus zero temperatures and all that snow. Cornelius and I are West Coast wimps when it comes to cold weather.


And speaking of holiday baking, a couple of weeks ago I went to the new Daiso-like store in Tinseltown where everything is from Japan and costs either $1, $2 or $3! I managed to pick up some mini loaf paper trays (see above) and some cute checkered mini cupcake liners (see the 1st photo). Aren't they cute? I also bought some pink rubber gloves to do the dishes with, but you don't need to see a photo of that!

Back in a week!!

we traversed through sleet and snow...

...and we finally got to Trader Joe's! Snow is a rare thing in the Pacific Northwest and unfortunately, it had to raise its ugly head on our Saturday morning in Bellingham, Wa. Roads were crazy slippery and we witnessed so many fender-benders, but we still managed to get our trunk full of TJ's goodness. The best thing we bought? A tiny tub of Dark Chocolate Almonds. Doesn't sound impressive...but covered in dark Belgium chocolate, sea salt, cocoa and turbino sugar, they were amazingly delicious! If anyone wants to keep me in a monthly supply, I won't say no. I also had to buy the Thai Chili Cashews and the Peanut Butter filled Pretzels since it's part of my TJ's staple foods. I have to admit that I wasn't totally smitten with the Candy Cane Jo Jo's...the filling wasn't as smooth and creamy as the mint Oreos that I ate up as a kid. But I am thinking they'd be great in baking, so there will be some minty pink chocolate treats in the future, I'm sure.

The snow cut short our trip and I wasn't able to fully explore Target or relax in any of the nice Bellingham places we usually hang out in. To beat the icy roads, we booted it safely back home. The next day the snow was gone, the warm weather was here and our snow day in Bellingham seemed like a crazy dream.

tracking progress

I'm expecting to receive my new 24" iMac today. What's up with the shipping path, yo? From Shanghi to Anchorage to Louisville to Mississauga to Mount Hope...my computer seems to be criss-crossing the globe! Where will it go to next?