For my darling dear Valentine, I’m thinking of making you a fancy cake. Like this one:

(one of my favorites ever, via Cakewrecks)

I painted this red-bellied woodpecker for the birdie calendar for the month of February:

And then last week (during the first week of February) this guy appeared at my bird feeder for the first time all winter:

Pretty cool.

But please excuse the image quality! The photo was taken through my (very dirty) glass door, while trying not to make too much of a scene and scare him off. Also my camera, while pretty awesome, doesn’t have much of a zoom lens. But you get the idea. A month-appropriate visitor.

Next month is the chickadee, but if your feeder is anything like mine it has been covered with chickadees all winter long. One of my favorite things about winter, actually — they are definitely my favorite bird (sorry red-belly, you’re cute, too!).

I was recently asked: “Do you have something small, even silly perhaps, that is guaranteed to jump start your day or pull you out of a funk?” {this question is part of an exercise for this January’s session of the Mondo Beyondo e-course}

Here are my answers, in no particular order:

(feel free to add your own in the comments!)

• do a little yoga**
• go swimming**
• bake cookies**
• buy flowers
• buy plants
• garden
• meditate
• take photos — appreciating the little details and beauty everywhere
• cook a meal from fresh ingredients
• shop at a farmer’s market
• read blogs that inspire me
• write a blog post
• sew
• paint**
• draw
• design something on my computer
• write notes and letters to friends
• write in my journal
• upload and share photos
• snuggle the cat
• look through old photos/letters/e-mails/essays/blog posts
• reach out to friends and family; send presents
• take a nap
• play with dogs**
• take a walk**
• stargaze
• eat chocolate
• listen to some of my favorite music (particularly useful to me for lifting a funk: Ani DiFranco, Erin McKeown, Deb Talan/The Weepies, Modest Mouse, Postal Service, Eddie from Ohio, Ingrid Michaelson)
• read a book
• listen to an audiobook
• go for a drive (roadtrip preferable, listening to an audiobook a super-plus!)
• visit with (happy) farm animals
• play with children
• beautify: rearrange a shelf, a room, artwork on a wall. Or even just dust something.
• light candles
• read magazines
• take a hot shower
• laugh at something; call a silly friend or watch a ridiculous movie I’ve seen a million times (i.e. Office Space, Home Alone, Big Daddy), or if all else fails visit cakewrecks, oddly specific signs, cute overload, i can has cheezburger, the “blog” of unnecessary quotation marks, or autocomplete me (why DO walruses go to tupperware parties?).

**These are usually my no-fail go-to options. Proven over many trials to work wonders.

Blue Monday happens to be coming up next week, January 25th. Remember this time last year? Yeah, I’m feeling much better than I was then. Ok then. I think I should probably do one of the things on this list right now. I’m not so much in a funk, but they all sound like so much fun!

taken with my iPhone yesterday, Jan. 9th, just over 24 weeks. It was maybe 13 degrees?

No, my head isn’t really that small… but my belly is indeed getting increasingly larger, which is kind of fun. I’m feeling lots of kicks and punches, too. It’s still difficult to feel it from the outside, but I get to feel it myself through most of the day and especially when I’m trying to fall asleep.

In other news, I’ll be revealing the winner of the calendar giveaway tomorrow! See you then.

This post is a little late, but I wanted to be sure to wish you a Happy New Year with a little winter cheer!

We’ll probably keep our Christmas tree up for at least a few more weeks. I really don’t understand people who decide today means it’s all over. I can always use a good dose of twinkle lights and sparkly ornaments and glowly lights on houses to brighten up a cold winter day! I kind of wish it was ok to keep it all up until the snow disappears in March (or April).

This is what we woke up to on Christmas morning. We spent the night at my parents’ house, along with two of my brothers who were in from out of town. We woke up to an icy winter wonderland, followed by all kinds of yummy treats and a big breakfast with everyone and maybe a few presents. It was super fun.

We had to wait till the next day to see my youngest brother Brian and his girlfriend, Sarah, who made me this amazing bookmark, plus little gift bags for yummy treats.

It was a very crafty Christmas, indeed.

I made this ellie for a very special little kiddo that I have yet to meet because he lives on the other side of the country. Someday!

and my darling Sarah G. made us this pair of amazing birdie pillows! Isn’t she the best? I think they are pretty much the most beautiful things ever. {thanks Sarah!!!}

I also bought us this fuzzy lil’ mushroom from the lovely Cary of Little Love Blue. We both love it so much! (The garland behind it is from CATA from a few years ago. One of my favorite parts of our tree-decorating!)

Based on numbers picked by this truly random number generator, the winners are Lacey (comment #6) and Lisa K. (comment #11)!! Yippee and congrats, ladies! I’ll be in touch to get your addresses and send the cards out asap.

Thanks to EVERYONE for entering. I loved reading all of your comments and I will definitely be trying some of those treat recipes (chocolate chip cookies with peppermint? yes please! Brownies with peppermint ice cream? YUM! Hot chocolate with a candy cane? ok! …are we sensing a theme here?) and will have to get some of the songs I don’t already have — I’m always looking for new holiday music!

I’m really excited that you were all so willing to play. I have been thinking about doing a giveaway for a calendar, too — look for that around New Year’s or right after (for all of us who realize we are without a calendar on Jan. 1!).

I know it’s hard to choose just one, but since I asked you to comment with your favorite holiday song and/or treat for the giveaway, I figured I should ante up with my own (yeah, not choosing just one, either).

My family was never really into any of the religious aspects of Christmas, but that said, we totally get into this holiday in a BIG way. It was all about Santa and Rudolph when I was a kid, and of course lots of candy and cookies and homemade deliciousness and a big sparkly tree full of special handmade ornaments and cute little critters.

We watch the stop-motion version of Rudolph (”Herbie doesn’t like to make toys!”) together every year, as well as Garfield’s Christmas, and our #1 family favorite, The Muppet Family Christmas.

“Be careful on the icy patch!”

As for music, the tradition that I always remember was listening to Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer with my Grandma, my brothers and my cousins a few weeks before Christmas when we gathered at her house to decorate gingerbread and sugar cookies. We’d also crank the Chipmunk’s Christmas and have a good time trying to imitate them, while decorating our decapitated gingerbread men with buckets of icing, chocolate chips, sprinkles, marshmallows, and even licorice (I have a bunch of morbid-sense-of-humor boys in my family, what can I say?). Grandma would always follow that with ice cream sundaes for everyone, and we’d all go home in a sugar-coma and listen to the Carpenters Christmas Portrait while we helped mom decorate and clean and bake more and more cookies! sugar!

As an adult, though, my tastes are still in the sugar-loving realm, but my musical taste has calmed down a bit, and right now I’m totally completely in love once again with the Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs, featuring lovely lady singers such as Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, Fiona Apple, Lenka and Meiko. Very pretty and modern takes on traditional songs. I’m also a sucker for Vince Gauralidi’s Charile Brown Christmas.

As for treats, the chex mix (we add potato sticks, too) never lasts long around here or at my mom’s, especially if the bowl is placed in front of me or any of my brothers, but my all-time favorite is what we called “Air-heads”; chocolate chip meringue cookies. YUM (I might just have to make a batch one of these days)!  I also love the cinnamon rolls my mom always makes on Christmas morning, just to tide us over until we can dig into a big brunch or dinner.

::::sigh:::: This is getting me excited for the season! I can’t wait until we have a chance to get our tree this weekend, and get things all festive around here. I’ve been so busy getting ready for all those holiday fairs and orders, and John is finishing up his semester, so it’s been a bit crazy around here. We did manage (well, John did!) to hang lights outside, and finally got all the pumpkins off the porch; the chickens are enjoying them now!

Thanks for all your comments so far; be sure to enter the Holiday Card giveaway by midnight Wednesday by leaving a comment with your favorite holiday song/album or tasty treat!

It’s this weekend! It’s going to be AWESOME. I can’t wait to see/meet you there! yippee! (I’m table #84! Near the Theramin!)

I love your thoughts on homesteading/our house, etc. — thank you!

I have yet to wrap my mind around the rest of my thoughts regarding this, but I surely will get back to that one of these days.

Today, I’m here:

It’s actually in much better shape now, this was a shot (with my new fisheye lens adapter!) from last week when my studio re-hash project started. I’m working AT my desk now, which is very exciting. The hall is full of stuff looking for a new home, but the studio is in pretty good shape. And now all mine, after I moved John (with his permission of course!) and his computer down to the living room. I had a heck of a time getting a wireless adapter to work with the PC, but it’s now working and mostly reliable. And now I can make as big a mess as I want and not worry about John having to navigate it, just to do his homework.

Last weekend, we were here:

In Burlington, Vermont! Having fun playing with the new fisheye (I hope my nose isn’t that big in real life…?) and visiting the lovely Sarah G. and her man CPCC, who recently celebrated a birthday on San Patricio’s day — happy b-day, CP!

We had a great time, resting, rejuvenating, trying to pretend it was spring and walking too far in cold wind along lake Champlain. We even got souvenir rosy wind-burned faces! It was sunny the whole time but really really still winter coldness. Sarah’s apt. has a great view of the lake, the Adirondacks and the sunset — lovely!

As I mentioned previously, Twitter has been helping me express myself more concisely — but, not being online for a few days was really nice. Therefore, I’m here to say I’m taking a little blogging break. Not that I’m so frequent a blogger anyway, but I’m often feeling a little guilty about not posting more often. I also have a fair coming up soon — The Design Hive Market in Cambridge on Sunday April 5th. This all leads me to the conclusion that I’m going to be back to posting here around then, maybe before the fair, maybe after, or maybe I won’t be able to contain myself and will be back even more frequently or soon — who knows!

see you then, then!