I’m giving away a 2012 calendar to a lucky reader this week! The calendar features 12 watercolor paintings of wild edible plants, it measures 4-1/2″ x 11″, spiral bound and ready to hang. {They are available to purchase here, there’s as printable version, too!}

Entries are open through Monday January 9 at 12 noon EST (entries are closed). Just leave a comment on this post to be entered & tell me your favorite thing about 2011 and what you’re most looking forward to in 2012.

For me, my favorite favorite most amazing thing in 2011 was beginning to have conversations with my little one. For reals, she’s a PERSON with THOUGHTS and feelings and dreams and joys and hurts and questions questions questions. It’s so amazing to finally be able to hear all about them. She’s still working on her sentence structure (”does I have a sister?” was the best question yesterday. My answer? “no, you don’t have a sister” and her reply was “no, I don’t. She’s at work.” Hah! I guess “work” is where people are when you can’t see them? Pretty good).

And what are we looking forward to in 2012? All sorts of big things. Growing my business in ways I have only dreamed of. Making real plans, accountability, scheming and ACTING on these plans! Yes, so I suppose what I’m looking forward to in 2012 is action! Last year was a looking-inward hibernating sort of year, just reveling in our little family life and developing a rhythm to that. This year we’re adding to that rhythm and it already feels really good. Yay 2012!

**update: the winner is Samantha! Congrats and thanks to all of you for playing along!**

I’m cooking up some exciting things in the studio these days. Go ahead and sign up for the newsletter and you’ll be in on all the super-awesome secret stuff (and by secret I mean a coupon code for holiday shopping!) SIGN UP HERE — but don’t worry if you’re already on the list, you’ll get it all too! Eeeeee!!!!

Also — everything in the shop now ships for FREE (yes, that’s free shipping! on everything!) through the end of the year. I guess I’m just feeling generous? Yippee!

Maybe it was the October snow? But I’m ready for the (winter) holidays!

our little monkey on her 2nd Halloween

]]> http://www.lauriecoyledesigns.com/blog/2011/11/3110/feed/ 1 http://www.lauriecoyledesigns.com/blog/2011/02/i-love-these-women/ http://www.lauriecoyledesigns.com/blog/2011/02/i-love-these-women/#comments Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:35:44 +0000 Laurie May http://www.lauriecoyledesigns.com/blog/?p=2410

Have I mentioned before how much I love this little friend family? Why yes, it seems I did. Friends for practically half our lives, our second annual girls’ weekend has come and gone, was much too short, and super fun and silly.

This year we headed to a gorgeous cabin in New Hampshire, and Natalie joined us (well, she was there last year, but not, you know in person)! I think she’s a fan of the tradition. It took her a good 36 hours to warm up to everyone, but once she did, she had a great time. For the last few hours. Oh well, at least now she’ll be really excited to see them again when they come a’visiting. And we know she’s good at traveling and adaptable to sleeping in other beds and houses. Win! My dear darling Stephanie posted a little about the trip on her blog, too.

also, this was the scene out our front door this past tuesday morning:

after the snowpocalypse showed up. I can’t remember a storm this huge since I was a kid. It was pretty amazing. And nice that we didn’t have anywhere to be on Monday, when mother nature dumped 20 inches of the stuff on us. It happened to be my (30th!) birthday, too, so we will definitely be remembering this one! Some of my lovely friends came to us that evening, bringing gifts and cupcakes and booze. It was fantastic! Tonight we’re staying in, perhaps reminicing about this big ‘ol year we’ve had and looking forward to the next one, full of first steps and second words (she definitely has “hi!” down), and all kinds of other firsts we can’t even imagine. Here’s to a great year ahead!

And the winner is…. Jean!! {I am so excited to send this off to you, Jean!}

Here’s her favorite holiday crafting memory:

Jean has a wonderful craft business going, Woolart, but I really hope this book helps her out in her pursuits of more craftiness in her future. We had the pleasure of seeing Jean at the BerkshrieMade Holiday Craft Show a few weeks ago, and got some awesome fulled booties for Natalie, an ADORABLE owl hat and a cute cute diorama ornament from her! I trust she’ll have more goods for sale in her Etsy shop soon… as soon as she gets a little free time from running her new farm in Maine, that is!

As for me and my favorite holiday crafting memories? One of mine is quite similar to Jean’s, actually! Every year my brothers and cousins and I would gather at my Grandma’s house a week or two before Christmas to decorate gingerbread cookies, as described in this post from last year, including listening to “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and the Chipmunk’s Christmas album.

that's me, gazing up on my brother's cookie decorating. Circa 1984?

I also loved making these little paper Easter baskets with my other Grandma every year. We would cut out little eggs from colored construction paper, to place inside our baskets made of paper stapled together to make a pouch, decorated with a drawn-on basket-weave pattern. I really thought those were the bees knees. I’m totally planning to make them every year with Natalie when she can, you know, wield a pair of scissors, or, um, talk.

Natalie is 7 months old today. This was earlier tonight, while she was basking in the glow of our Christmas tree, her first. She seems to like it. We hung lots of soft ornaments on the bottom, and she had a great time lying under it and pulling them off.  Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year. The decorations, the yummy treats, the parties, the glowing lights and candles warming up some of the darkest days of the year.

I also love it for the time we get to spend with friends and family, with no other agenda but to have a good time. And this year, of course, things are even more special with miss Natalie enjoying it all for the first time. So far she is a huge fan of twinkle lights. And even though we’re not so much giving her sugar, I might even sneak her a bite of one of Grandma’s famous Italian Anise Cookies. It’s all a lot more fun and special this year, kind of like back when I was a kid. And I’m a big fan of that.

Some of Natalie’s accomplishments to date:

• Tried (and liked!) green beans, broccoli, zucchini, cucumber, carrot, apple, pear, rice cereal, bread, teething biscuits, puffed spelt cakes, cheddar cheese, banana, celery and a tiny bit of garlic naan. The mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving never made it to her mouth, but she had fun playing with them, and the dogs enjoyed eating them.

• Sits on her own most of the time. When she’s tired or reaching too far she tends to topple over, with the weight of her noggin. This doesn’t really bother her, though, unless she gets stuck in a weird position or ends up on her belly, which she HATES. No crawling yet.

• Pulls up to standing and could seemingly stay there for hours or maybe even days.

• Loves walks in the woods with Daddy in the Baby Bjorn. We had to graduate to the next size of the Bjorn because she weighs over 22lbs!

• Makes her tastes in music known, and will protest loudly until we put on something she likes, whether in the car or when she’s trying to get to sleep for a nap. Her favorites include Michael Franti, Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, Loudon Wainwright, Feist, and Robbie Schaeffer’s Songs for Kids Like Us!

• Likes to give kisses to the baby in the mirror, and to us, and to photos of us. This mostly includes leaning her head on the mirror or our heads and sometimes a little lick. Maybe she’s picking up more from the dog than we think?

• Has a special bond with JaneCat. They get along so well. Jane has never been very lovely (unless, you know, it’s her idea), but she is constantly trying to play with Natalie and puts up with lots of tail- and fur-pulling.

• and my favorite: She flails her entire body when she’s excited. Sometimes this is followed by some smacking of whoever is holding her, seemingly to say “DO YOU SEE THAT?” — mostly this response is elicited by her Grammy, but occasionally other things get her this excited, too.

• Oh, she can also say “Hi!” and wave and use the signs for “milk” and “potty”. We are all pretty shocked when she does it, but I guess that WAS the point of doing the signs for her every time she nursed or went to the potty for the last three months, right? Crazy. I am amazed at the capabilities of her little brain and body, and the potential there. I can hardly handle it.

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!