Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Hats on, stockings hung, tree decorated. Let's find some cheer!

Prepare yourselves for some festive fun!

Stockings hung by the chimney with care... and old gaming consoles.

This week I have taken a whopping zero photos with the real camera, but boy have my hands been busy with crafting projects! Christmas is creeping ever closer, and I am doing everything I can to fill the house with cheer. I've been diving into quite a few Pinterest decorating ideas, and I'm pleased to say it has been very successful. 

We diligently turned all of the construction paper into chains.

While Jacki was in town we set to stringing the house full of red and green paper chains. Andrew quite liked what we were doing and requested even more chains than I had anticipated. By the end of the night my fingers were sore from ripping tape. It was totally worth it though.

In addition to wanting the house full of Christmas for my own pleasure, we also had a festive/holiday party on Saturday night. How can one have a holiday party without adequate decorations? Andrew was concerned that the house wouldn't be decked out enough, and I was quite willing to rise to the occasion. 

The sock portion of the stockings were very easy, which was nice.

Over the course of two days I made the Christmas stockings shown at the beginning of the post; the proved to be a larger challenge than I anticipated. I had a hell of a time comprehending how everything needed to be sewn together in order to have the cuff folding over. One of them I re-sewed four times. By the fourth stocking I finally had the hang of it.

I attempted to branch out and make smaller decorations that could be scattered throughout the house. Andrew and I made some large silver stars that were hung on the wall (and looked very lovely) and a few weeks ago I made a large 'Merry Christmas' banner to hang in a window. One of my projects brought me to making these little yarn trees, but after making two of them I burned my palm rather wickedly with the hot glue. The crafting ceased after that.

They were cute, but I'm not sure the burning was worth it.

The crowning gem of the night, for me, was the (mostly) successful construction of two Santa hats! Andrew asked if I could make some; I was feeling bolstered by the success of the stockings and so I said yes. Again I encountered serious issues with the folding cuff issue. The hats are a little wonky, but are hand made with lots of love and Christmas songs.

 Simple beginnings and very festive completions! I felt like the Grinch making his costume!

After all of the work, minor stresses and dedication to the cause, the holiday party was a great success and the house looks lovely and Christmas-y. It was all worth it. Plus, I now have homemade Santa hats and stockings. I love this time of year!

-MJ

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Surreal dream come true.

I don't have a list of "things I believe will never happen", but if I did, "going to Disneyland with lifelong friends Chase and Blake" would definitely be on that list.

But, that's exactly what happened this weekend.

Not a great cellphone picture of our Space Mountain photo,
but there we are: Jacki, Blake, Chase and me.

A few months ago I was informed that Chase, Blake and Jacki would be making a trip to Disneyland with Chase and Blake's mom. I thought that was just lovely and looked forward to being in the park with them.

Our second Space Mountain photo <3

It wasn't until the four of us were on Thunder Mountain Railroad, slowly clicking up the incline before a fast drop down the mountain, that it occurred to me how truly wonderful and surreal it was that I was in Disneyland, with Chase, on Thunder Mountain.

Life is so funny sometimes.

::: Jacki and Andrew dragged me onto Tower of Terror. I'm not a fan.

::: Simply amazing photo of Blake, Jacki, their friend Justin and me on California Screamin'.

::: There was a minor issue with Jacki's pass when we got to the park, so as an apology we were given two of the super amazing fast passes. Score!

::: Jacki in a seriously windswept state, followed by her gleeful frozen yogurt smile.

::: The castle all pretty, lit up and snowy <3

::: Romantic embraces in front of the Christmas balls in Bug Land!

 ::: Jacki loves Beast, so she simply had to have a kissing photo in Beast's Library.

::: All of us on Jungle Cruise, courtesy of Andrew!

::: Blake and Chase trying to taste the honey. Uhh.

::: Jacki, Blake and Chase hopping in for a must-have photo in Disneyland.

::: Aaaand a lone romantic shot.

::: I stopped them to get a shot of the festive main street area.

::: Then I asked Chase to take one of Andrew and me!

We had quite the fun few days bouncing back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure. Andrew was able to join us one day, which was great, and I really feel that we had a well-rounded experience at both parks. 

Thank you universe for such an unexpected and wonderful weekend.

-MJ

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