Presents From Unicorns, Elusive and Otherwise

All from my lovely EU, Regina aka MaleficentKnits

Handspun from Christy aka Criosa. Because I had a serious lack of orange yarn in my stash.

Christmas and New Years

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is having a good time. Christmas came and went by in a flash. I got some really adorable gifts this year as you can see in the picture above. Click on it to see a list of what I got.

Christmas dinner was nothing new; some pasteles (which I already posted a picture of here), a ham, a pernil, some yellow rice, and a few different desserts. We kept it a bit low key and that's because I hosted Christmas without knowing. The plan was to go over to my aunt's house for Christmas Eve and that was canceled. Then, to my surprise, everyone dropped by my house Christmas Day. Whoops. Thank god I had some food ready.

Maple Ham

Pernil

Arroz con Gandules

I unfortunately burned myself quite badly too. Ah well, I'm still tickin.

New Years is going to be lowkey as well. I don't think I'm going to cook anything special; maybe a few finger foods like pastelitos and alcapurrias. Mmmm. I will post pics of that next week.

Go check out Flickr for some new pictures!

Until next time,
<3 Jess

Gift Tags: A Story

I always forget to buy gift tags for my presents, even if I have them on my shopping list. It's not a big deal if I have enough time to make them but sometimes I forget to do that too. One memorable year I spent Christmas Eve trying to remember which package belonged to who and writing down the recipients' names with a Sharpie right onto the wrapping paper. Everyone got the wrong gifts. I even opened a gift I had wrapped (forgetting for a moment that I wouldn't have wrapped a present for myself, duh). The family had a great laugh.

It's the best Christmas I've ever had.

"A Material Reflection" or "OMG I WANT THIS!"

I love surfing the net on my free time and I especially love looking at handmade, personal wares that someone clearly put a lot of passion into. Although there's nothing wrong with getting all your gifts at Target or worshiping big name brands (I happen to worship Nintendo, fyi). Here's a bunch of items and stores I'm fond of drooling over. I'm not actually asking for these things but sometimes taking a moment (or half an hour) to think of things you'd like (and posting them to your wishlist) is healthy . Besides, they make great gifts for anyone so keep these awesome places and their items in mind.

The Intuitive Garden

I adore the little pendants at this shop. They are photos or paintings printed on plastic and sealed for truly unique necklaces. My favourite is Almost Night [pictured at left]. Gorgeous.









Anapaulaoli

Cute crocheted stuffed toys! These toys are made with original patterns by Ana Paula herself. Her creations caught the eyes of amigurumi enthusiasts everywhere and now you can pre-order her book, Amigurumi World, at Amazon.com and Borders. It's high on my wishlist, for sure.








Belle and Boo

These prints are adorable and for some reason always remind me of my grandmother. I'd love one or two of these hanging in my kitchen or bedroom. This one is called "Under the Mistletoe" and it's one of my favourites.







Not so handmade: Items that are mass-produced (some more than others). I still think are cool enough to give someone for the holidays.


Fred Flare

I remember shopping at Fred Flare online when it was a small shop with only five categories. A few years later and this site has grown, big time. It's still my favourite place to score funky accessories and home decor, including some old things I thought I'd never see again. I had a snow cone machine just like this one when I was a kid.








Illustory Make Your Own Story Kit

Now this is exciting! I've gotten this kit for a few kids and never been disappointed. Children ages 5 to 8 create this own story on the pages of the kit; they can draw, paint, and write whatever their little hearts dreams up. Stick the pages into the pre-paid envelope provided, send it off, and in three weeks you'll get a professionally printed version of the book. You can only write twenty words per page and it's a short book but that's okay; the kids can write their 500pg thesis when they're older.



Kozik Anarchy Tofu Robot

Isn't he adorable? Animal friendly AND liberal, how can you get any better than this? I'm dying to have one of these little guys on my desk. He's made by Spicy Brown toys and is a limited edition. You can also buy him from My Plastic Heart.









Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Every single person I know who owns this book raves about it. The recipes are tasty, easy to make, and look beautiful. But really, what more can I ask for from the people behind The Post Punk Kitchen?







And that's the list of really cool things I want. To see other cool items you can drop by Etsy which is essentially an internet shopping universe just for handmade, one of a kind items. Now that I'm done, it's your turn.

What would you like?

Until next time
<3 Jess

Being Organized for Everything Except Christmas

My planner open to this week

I pride myself on being a very organized person. As you can see from my agenda, I like to keep on top of everything whether it's sales, school activities, weekly menus, whatever. Embarrassingly enough I use a "Go Mom!" planner; aimed at the stay-at-home mother it has a daily planning section with a space to put meals on the bottom, to-do/to-call lists, medical, grocery, and school information sections, a place to put pets' vet records, a place to put household info (mortgage company, insurance company, etc), and a very large address book section for contacts.

To be honest, I was quite embarrassed when I first started using this type of planner two years ago. While I am essentially a "housewife", I have no children, I'm not married, and I'm in my early 20's*. Using this planner, even though I loved it, felt like I was one step away from spandex leggings and a teal minivan with too many bumper stickers on it. But I digress...

My point was that I love being organized to a point of embarrassment. By this time of year most of the presents have been bought, the last few are being made, many have been wrapped, and my neat little checklist dwindles down until the week before Christmas when I am done with everything and begin work on a menu fit for kings.

Not this year.

Yeah, that's right. I'm nowhere near done with gifts, I haven't even picked out what I want, nothing has been wrapped, and I haven't given a thought to Christmas menu other than the fact I'd like to cook pernil again. In fact, the most Christmas-y thing I've done is set up the tree and take the Christmas burro out of it's box.

Our Christmas Burro. Why do we have one? I have no idea.

At a time when Christmas is finally coming at me as fast as I can take it, I've slowed to a snail's pace and am taking it easy. I didn't even plan out Black Friday or stake out a shopping line spot for a sweet deal. Instead I wandered into Target at 5pm and walked out with Donnie Darko, Patch Adams, Say Anything's "In Defense of the Genre", Othello (boardgame) , two My Littlest Pet Shop toys, Baby Einstein toys, and a few other small goodies; in other words, pretty low-key stocking stuffers. Target was not as packed nor as chaotic as I thought it'd be but that's probably because I was there so late. The best part of the shopping trip was that the small cafe inside was completely empty; I bought myself a regular coffee and sipped away contemplating what to get the special people in my life before and then went back to ponder about NYC afterward. Christmas always makes me miss the city...but I digress.

I'd list everything I bought and who it's for but I think a few of my giftees read this blog (although they never comment...AHEM!) and I hate spoiling surprises.

I have a few ideas of what I would like for Christmas but everything I can think of, I find a reason I don't need it. I'm working on a blog post of gifts and stores I find cool but I don't think I'll ask for anything on that list. Times are a bit tough since no one is the household works* at the moment so I've taken to spoiling the kids. And let's face it, I'm not a kid anymore. My "Go Mommy" planner says so.

Until next time
<3 Jess

PS: *At some point I'll probably give a quick rundown about myself and where I come from, why I'm here, who I live with, what I do, etc etc. My insanely boring life story; coming soon to a blog near you!

Thank you, KnittyKim!

I got RAOKed! YAY!! I nearly tackled the mailman...um, I obviously love getting mail. Have I mentioned that here? Well I do. In this wonderful package I found:

• 3 adagio loose teas: Dragonwell, Li Si Nutcracker and Eroica Caravan (Lapsang Souchong)
  
• 1 skein of DMC thread in white
• 2 skeins of tan/brownish thread from Turkey. Oh it's NICE!!!!!

*huggles* Thank you so much for the gift!! I can't wait. I have been crocheting up a storm. I have many projects to post and write about!

About that, by the way, I forgot to mention that I have not been home in 2-3 weeks which is why I've been slow on the actual showing of crafts. BUT I go home tomorrow so there's going to be a huge picture post in a few days including, yes that's right, the elusive vibe cozies. Yep, I've made more. So pay attention to my blog this weekend. A lot of fun stuff will be shown including the Chez Spun Deneen got me in it's newly dyed form. :D

Gracias Deneen!!

I went to Big Grey expecting a package and frowned with dismay that none was there. Then, 20 minutes later the mailman knocked on my door. The package was too big for Big Grey! I snatched it up, said thank you and opened it right there in front of the door. OH WHAT A TREAT!!

I got some gorgeous roving, wool yarn, a set of crystalite hooks, a steel crochet hook and a card. Hehe don't worry Deneen. That vibe cozy is coming soon. Hehehehe. Thanks again!!!!! It means a lot to me and I can't wait to use it all up. This has been a wonderful month. I am so happy I found crochetville. People there are so nice...it's been a long time since I felt like I belonged somewhere. It's an awesome feeling.

I need batteries for my cam but once I get them, man I have a LOT of thing to show here. :D