Friday, December 31, 2010

Ooooh! I'm Tired...

Well, I satisfied my commitment of getting WTRITO caught up on 2010 projects and posts before 2011 -- and it only took 15 posts in 12 hours to do it. Since it's not unacceptable to write about December in January, I'm calling it quits for now and wishing everyone a belated happy holiday and lots of wishes for a merry, healthy 2011. I e-love you all!


See you next year!

Catching Up - November, Part 2: Giving Thanks

It's been a rough few years for everyone in my family, so I thought that they could all handle hearing some nice words this holiday season.

I was walking through Paper Source when  I spotted these origami envelopes. I recreated them as placecards for dinner at my parents' house. 



 




Then I handed out a set of labeled cards to everyone and asked them to write something nice about each person.



I was kind of putting myself out there with this one, but everyone actually played along - even my dad!


It was a Thanksgiving Miracle!

Catching Up - November, Part 1: Thanking the Wonderful Hostesses in My Life

One of my favorite challenges is finding afforable, unique hostess gifts for all of the wonderful parties that I go to throughout the year.

In November, my friend, Tara, hosted another spectacular brunch. I don't know how she finds the time to create, clean, and cook well, but she blows us all away every time.

 {Source - Above Images: the small d}


I'm going through a cooking slump, so I brought a hostess gift in lieu of a dish. I picked up some French sea salt (Tara loves to cook and  recently visited France) and packaged it in an embroidered towel by artist Valori Wells.



I liked the look so much that I used the same towel to present a turkey ornament to my mom on Thanksgiving.


 I picked up a Christmasy towel and used some richer leaves and baker's twine to present Aunt Ruth with a candle for Thanksgiving.

Catching Up - October, Part 2: Andy is Ready to "Hang Me" on Our Second Anniversary

In October, Andy and  I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.

 
We skipped the hotel downtown this year, but visited our "honeymoon" restaurant, Bandera, and our "anniversary" restaurant, David Burke. Oh Lord. As my mother-in-law put it, I'm officially a David Burke snob!



I gave Andy a gift card and, since the second anniversary is the "cotton" anniversary, a cotton dishtowel:

 {Source}


I packaged it in a leftover bag from our wedding party gifts that I filled with cotton balls.

BTW, I totally drew the exact same tree image on his card last year.

I thought that I was so clever for this, but all that Andy said was, "What are we going to do with all of these cotton balls?" Package Fail.

Andy gave me the greatest gift of all for our anniversary -- He hung the shelves in the newly painted laundry room! (Cue harps and angels!)





Now I just have to organize it. Aye! Aye! Aye!

We spent our actual anniversary watching the clock on the Tribune Tower and thinking, "What we were we doing right now?" while enjoying the baptismal celebration of Andy's cousin's daughter at the Trump Hotel.


Other October Posts:

Catching Up - October, Part 1: Apple Picking

I was so excited for my maiden attempt at apple picking this October - BUT THE FARMS WERE SOLD OUT OF APPLES. Say what? It was October 2!



Shooting rotten apples and baby pumpkins out of canons was a pretty OK "Plan B" for me though.

Catching Up - September: Celebrating the Germans + A New iPad

In September, Andy and I had a few friends over for Oktoberfest, a street fair that is held down the street from our apartment.


And d came along...but my lame iPhone 3G couldn't get a good picture of us in the dark.



The next night, Andy and I were forced to rally through our hangovers to celebrate another German, Aunt Ruth, who celebrated a milestone birthday this year. We went to Morton's downtown.


I haven't received anyone's pictures from the evening, but here are some more bad iPhone 3G photos of the placecards I made using baby photos that my mother-in-law scanned and sent me on the sly.



I thought that she selected the perfect images.


I also celebrated a birthday in September. I wasn't expecting much for the day, as I was on a huge deadline that week. In fact, I pulled an all-nighter the night before and started the morning off wondering how I was going to make it through the day...until Andy surprised me with an iPad!

I snapped this photo for my Facebook wall within minutes of opening it.

After I stopped crying and shaking, it took me 14 hours to open it. I was in too much shock and just couldn't get myself to put the first fingerprint on it. I can't believe that I was so reserved! When I first got it, I said that I'd be too afraid to use it on the L. Now, I can count on one hand the number of times that I've left the house without it. And, as soon as one of us puts it down at home, the other picks it right up. It's a TOTAL DREAM! Just like Andy.

Catching Up - August: The Great Outdoors

I didn't bring my camera on our vacation to the Northwoods because I am so fed up with my lack of photography skills. No one in the family liked my hipstamatic photos, but I think that I did an excellent job of capturing the area.