I really love to wrap presents

I am crap at picking out presents. It's odd to me, because in general, I think I am a very perceptive person, and pick up on the hidden traits and likes and dislikes in the people around me, especially the people I love. I pick up on all the little emotional cues in their faces and mannerisms that many people seem blind to. And yet all of these details and accumulated information go out the window the second I try to choose a present for someone. They're lucky if they end up with a giftcard or something insultingly functional that they need. In short, I am crap at picking presents.

But I love to wrap them:

It gives me unbelievable joy to wrap presents. All year I hoard ribbon, tissue paper, bows and cards, and make several trips to the store for totally unnecessary Christmas wrap. I am unbelievably picky in my choices, because not just anything will do. I touch, weigh, and even sniff each paper, looking for the perfect combination of ribbon, bow, and wrap. Yup, I am a wrapping freakazoid.

I didn't have much to wrap this year, since I didn't go home, but I did manage to purchase a few odds and ends for the wonderful family that let me spend Christmas with them. The presents, of course, were ridiculously functional - like warm Christmas socks or towels for my roomies. But the wrapping of them resulted in pure joy (for me) nevertheless. :)

I think about the last days of this year, and about the time I've spent in New York. I love that it snowed before Christmas, and that all the ebullient whiteness stuck around for the holidays. It's long since turned to mush and slithered down the sewers with the cold rain.

I bought fuzzy boots to keep me warm in the cold snap, and I really don't know how I functioned before that:

I guess I just thought it was normal to shiver uncontrollably when you're outside. :)

The end of this year makes me think of so much. I think of my family, who I miss. I think of all the people I've lost, and feel grateful for all the things that I've learned. I marvel at the fact that I'm still writing a novel - that's the thought that actually makes me happiest. But most of all, I marvel that I'm here - in this city, in a job I enjoy, with so many friends online and new (real) people I've met. I feel incredibly blessed.

I wish all of these things for you in this chilly New Year. I still have no New Year's plans - how about you?

How will you be ringing in the New Year? I need some ideas! ;)

Floss, floss, floss

I love floss. To me, it's like playing with crayons, but with the added softness, sheen, and texture of fabric. And when you sniff it, it doesn't smell waxy and gross (depending upon where you store it, that is). :)

I already have an entire set of Presencia floss, carefully stowed away in a white binder and glossy page protectors:

Yeah, I'm like a comic book nerd, but with floss. Actually I'm like a comic book nerd in a lot of equally disturbing ways. But let's not go there. So anyway, the Presencia floss is mine, all mine and I ain't sharing it with nobody. You gotta pry it out of my cold, dead fingers. :)

So I went shopping for surprise prizes for Feeling Stitchy a few days ago, in the DMC floss aisle. Now, one of the reasons I spent such a long time there was, I couldn't find ANY of the colors I was looking for. The other reason was I had to stare at each and every color. That gave me the strength of will not to purchase each and every color. :)

And I have to say, that even though they rarely have the floss colors I am looking for, I really love my local craft store. It's tucked away in this really decrepit-looking alley / street just behind Broadway and Canal. The surrounding shopfronts are covered with graffiti and rusty security gates, all of which make me feel like I'm in a 1970's movie set in New York and some thug is about to pop out of a darkened corner and grab my purse / do kung fu on me. :) Yes, it's the little things that give me pleasure...

Also, the employees are so laid back and nice. Every time I go there, I have a conversation (rare for me, in New York). This time, for example, a really kind-looking guy asked me if I was finding what I needed, so I waved my little list and said, "Nope." He laughed and we chatted about the most popular floss colors. He explained that the last shipment took almost a month to arrive, and when it did, the reds "walk out of here like they have legs on them." And the 310 black, just disappears. Then I listened to the 4 of them discuss something regarding a mule or a burro at the register, and although I left with only 2 out of (literally) 40 items on my list, I left happy. It's the little things, I guess. :)

Because at least I had this:

Cute Loot

So here's the cute loot I scored at the Etsy booth on Sunday (when I didn't have my camera, as you may recall)... I made this cute little ornament from a free kit they had at the booth. I sat down with their shiny silver shears and complimentary thread, but since I'm hardcore, I totally had my own needle on hand. :) Yeah, I really hope they didn't think I was stealing their needle, I always come prepared to embroider. :)

Now, as if it wasn't enough that they provided materials to make your own ornament, you could even take a kit with you. Or, 2, in my delighted case, because I swore I'd be giving them away:

You want to take a closer look at that bear? Yeah, I know you do. But be careful, because he's so flipping cute, he could hurt you.

They also had these cute gift tags on hand:

I had to ask "is this free?" a few times before I really believed it.

Then I headed to the Hello Craft booth next door which boasted an entire table of crafts you could sit down and make. I settled for a few bookmarks with Craft Pudding stamps:

I'm thinking I'll add all of this to the Holiday giveaway on Feeling Stitchy - just hoping I can squish them down enough to travel cheaply... :)

Have you guys gone to any good craft / holiday fairs yet? Scored any awesome free stuff? Met any cool peeps?

Rainy day in NYC

It never fails that I never have my camera around when I truly need it. Like today, for instance, when I went to the One of a Kind sale at Pier 94, a collection of booths from crafters and skilled makers and award-winning Etsy sellers. But what really caught and held my attention were the 2 booths at the very front - Hello Craft's booth, which had a cozy table filled with craft ideas that you could make, for free, and take home with you, and the Etsy booth which boasted supplies for making the most flippin' adorable handmade ornaments you've ever seen in your life. You doubt me? Well, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow, when I can actually photograph the cute little suckers. Because if a slug was passing by, then I'd have my camera ready, or if I needed to photograph other charmingly inanimate objects... but when I really need it... oh, never mind my complaining.

And, thanks to the kind person manning the booth, I have 2 little kits that I oh, just might add as surprise gifts to the Feeling Stitchy giveaway.

Have you signed up for that yet? No? Well, get over there! You have until early tomorrow morning to enter, so snap to it! :)

Snow and nostalgia

my sister, January 1973

Snow is a big deal in south Texas. Especially San Antonio, where I'm from. It's so rare, blanketing the ground only 2-3 magical times in a person's lifetime, or so. This was my sister's first snow. I'm not sure, but this looks like our front yard, covered in whiteness. I love that she (?) recorded this on the back of the photo:

I hooked up my scanner to my new laptop for the first time today, downloading drivers and grumpily discovering Windows 7 has absolutely no image editor, not even a bare-bones one (if I am wrong, please let me know!) So I downloaded Gimp and scanned a few snowy pics.

I like using Picnik to edit my pics, sometimes hitting Auto-fix, just to see what shenanigans it embarks on. Here's how it Auto-fixed that pic of my sweet sis, above:

It's nice enough, and perhaps the colors and exposure are more "correct" but I find the original purplish-pinkish hues and low contrast more charming...

By the way, here was my first (and only) Texas snow:

I was too lazy to record the year and date on these pics, but just eyeing what I was wearing - I'm estimating I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. It was a huge snowstorm, as you can see from my dad's buried VW rabbit and those monstrous icicles hanging from the house.

But the snow melted fast, and we found ourselves scrambling to collect the last of the snow for a snowman:

We assembled a series of sad, piteously leafy snowmen like this guy:

But our crowning achievement had to be the treasure displayed proudly on our front lawn - only the finest cast-off, foamy-mesh baseball cap for this snowman:

A series of occurrences prompted me to dig for these pics. A few days ago, on the subway, this trendy kid was wearing a puffy striped jacket exactly like the ones my brother and I wore in these pics. I was thinking to myself, "That is SO 80's!" I didn't know whether to be horrified or charmed. So I chose charmed. :)

Which bring me to nostalgia. I don't think I've ever met anyone more nostalgic than me. Except for my dad, who is, I'm sure, who I got this trait from. I have a special weakness for old photographs - I've been this way since I was tiny. Every Christmas we'd get a new photo album, and I was always first to volunteer arranging all the pictures, carefully putting them in order, squinting to drink in every tiny detail, asking my mom who this person or that person was, and prompting them to write every detail on the back. However, my dad started it all with his family slide shows. From time to time, and at no particular interval, he pull out the old green slide projector which frequently overheated and/or melted slides. :) He'd pop fresh homemade popcorn, we'd drink RC or Coca-cola and we'd laugh and point and watch the movie of our lives. I'm really glad I was able to scan all our slides and show them to him before he died. It brings me immense comfort to have these pictures at my fingertips, all their beauty and the stories I write and re-write for myself, over and over again.

Monkey Advent

Thanks for your help calibrating my monitor! I know I probably still don't have it right, but it's a start. I at least took down the ultraviolet-white brightness on my monitor to more normal levels. :) Up above you see my one and only holiday project this season - and hey, I'm cool with that.

You may recognize the little felt mittens (depending on how long you've been following me) from last year, when I started them:

I needed a quick project to for my plane ride to Texas last year. This year, I'll be staying in NYC for the first time (unless you count my first year, when I accidentally stayed here because my plane left without me. I don't. I try to block that out, actually.)

I actually learned about the meaning of Advent for the first time this year. We never really celebrated it in my family, but it's an interesting and beautiful celebration. In any case, the monkey is just hanging around - he really doesn't know a thing about Advent, to tell the truth.

Although my room is small, I still tried to add a bit of holiday cheer...

Oh, and this is from a walk I took a week ago, I like the way it mirrors the same colors as the ornaments...

Do any of you celebrate Advent? And how many of you are going home for Christmas? I'd like to think I'm not the only one not going home... :)

Monkey needs to calibrate my monitor

Ok guys, I really need your help on this one. I have a brand new PC laptop at home (because my 5 year old Mac finally bit it). I'm having a really hard time getting used to the brightness and color settings on it, so I need your help "calibrating" my monitor. :)

Ok, so that pic above - is it too dark and contrast-y, or is it just right?

Compare to this image:

Does that one look too light and washed out to you? Basically, depending on how I adjust my screen settings, one or the other looks perfect to me. It's really driving me crazy. Help!

Maybe only I can see the difference? Here they are smaller:

1.
2.

And here he is...

So here's an update on the silliest cross-stitch project, ever. Well, at least, that's my goal. The unlucky party on the receiving end of this gift should be receiving maximum embarrassment from this. :) I wanted to use a font that was a bit more fun, but it was hard to find something that fit the circle hoop above (which I'll probably keep it in). I was re-thinking the phrase because it's absolutely everywhere and so Hot Topic, but if the goal is maximum embarrassment for my friend, I think it scores....

I also experimented with metallic floss - silver, in particular, but the combination of it on a black background just looked super-cruddy:

You'd have to see a macro close-up to see just how bad it looks, but it's bad, people, it's bad. It's odd how regular floss has a much nicer sheen to it, something about the texture makes it sit and look so much better in cross stitch.

What do you guys think? If you could have a red-eyed, creepy Robward say anything in cross stitch, what would he say? I'm sure the creative collective consciousness has something better than my awful Hot Topic phrase. Or worse? Worse works, too! ;)

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving - I spent mine with a friend's family and it was just perfect, fun, funny, and awesome. Oh, and I'll be showing you my wonderful Christmas decorating soon! Yes, that is sarcasm. :)

Twilight-y

So, my Robward cross-stitch progress is crawling along and I'm almost finished. (But it's a Christmas present, anyway, so I have time, right?) In any case, that little phrase up there is what will go underneath Mr. Pattinson's head. I love that phrase because it's a nice allusion to that ridiculous quote from the first novel, yeah, you know what I'm talking about, just admit it. :) Also, because as a self-respecting, independent woman (who is entirely hypocritical for loving Twilight) I am irritated by the Bella character and find her a bit stupid.

Of course, none of that stopped me from watching New Moon twice this weekend. Yep, I'm admitting it. Mostly because none of you guys really know me. (I hope) :) But I must say it was a phenomenon I have never experienced before. Wall-to-wall women in a sold-out stadium theater, well past their 20's and nay, even into their 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's. Not a teenybopper in sight! And everyone giggling nervously and/or cracking up at intentionally (and unintentionally) humorous moments. Like, shall we say, the moment towards the end when Edward and Bella come trotting out, in their Easter Sunday best like some rogue Gap ad, sparkling in the sunshine? Nevertheless, the film, although chock-full of cheese, was worthwhile if you can get into the books even a little. I'd have to say it's an instant cult classic because I have no other explanation for how much I enjoyed/mocked/loved it.

Anyone else care to "out" themselves as Twilight fans? Promise I won't tell anybody! ;)

PW Actions on a city pic

Hey guys! You were so cool about the Photoshop actions post that I decided to trot a few actions pics by you, just for kicks.

I had a city pic that I liked but was somewhat, meh about:

So, I basically tried every Pioneer Woman Action imaginable on it.

This one's my fave, I used (I think): Old West, Dim the Lights, 70's:


Here's Soft and Faded:


Here's Lovely and Ethereal + Soft and Faded:

(The Lovely and Ethereal seems to brighten things up and give a warm glow...)

Here's 70s:


And here's 70s + Colorized, which seems to leach out most of the strong colors:

So, what do you think? Is your fave the same as mine? I'd love to see if any of you have tried the Actions on your pics! :)