still me

Christmas in NYC

Guess how late we just slept in until? Noon.
Eric and I are in NYC celebrating our anniversary and e’s birthday… and we got a great deal on a room at my FAVORITE hotel… the Westin! And the Heavenly bed, and hence the reason that we just couldn’t’ quite emerge from bed this morning. We are leaving tonight, and crossing our fingers that the airline travel with cooperate. The weather here in NYC has been amazing… high 40’s to mid 50’s! can you believe that. I think those are the temps in AZ as well this week! We have had a wonderful time. The trip, of course, kicked off as we flew into Philly for QVC. What a cool experience that was. I was totally nervous as we were driving from the hotel to the studio… but right when I saw Donna, and got to hang out with her a little, I was totally at ease. You would not believe how amazing the whole QVC set up is! Donna and I share a rep, and she and her team are totally amazing.. they did an awesome job getting things organized and looking great. And I was SO lucky to present with David Veneble! Holy Cow he is tall… but he is just awesome. He goes over everything before hand, and then just says it all off the cuff on air. He is so talented! I had a great first experience at QVC! After the taping, we jumped on a train from Philly to NYC and have had 2 ½ days of cruzing around to all my favorite stores, getting the last of my Christmas presents taken care of and enjoying all the NYC Christmas décor and celebration! So FUN!
We went to see the big tree very first… and it’s so amazing…huge. So many people around. From so many different countries and languages being spoken. The LINE to get down onto the ice rink must have been 300 people long. I have attached a little photo of the tree, and the SAKS building right behind rockerfellar. It was so cool… all those snowflakes were on, and about every 30 minutes or so, there was this choreographed presentation that went with the classic Manheim Steamroller version of ‘Carol of the Bells’ and the snowflakes were going on and off.. and it looked like they were dancing. Pretty breathtaking. All the windows are amazing… it’s one of my favorite things- window shopping in NYC! We ate at our favorite Thai restaurant, and walked around Times Square a little too. I have a long-lost cousin who lives here, and we met up and spent the morning together yesterday! It was so fun. Great trip! So we have the rest of today then we head back to Philly to fly out tomorrow. I miss the kids! And had a horrible nightmare of not making it back for Christmas… so hopefully all travels go smoothly!
12-years-ago when we decided to get married 3 days before Christmas it seemed like a great idea! Christmas Décor, yummy holiday menus and snowy photos! But now with kids, and a crazy life… I can’t believe it every year when we have to squeeze anniversary in each year… but I figure, no matter when your anniversary is, you have to celebrate it. I think it’s the MOST important holiday. I think it’s critical to acknowledge where you started, what you have been through and where you want to go. I am thankful for eric- so much. He is my biggest cheerleader, and supporter… he’s my best friend. We have been through our fair share of ups and downs…but what is more important is that we go through them! I am sure more challenges and opportunities await us… it’s just a good thing he loves NYC as much as I do!
happy anniversary babe… and happy birthday!

monday night...

Without a doubt, my FAVORITE thing about Christmas is Christmas Cards.  I have always loved making them… but I definitley love getting them. I have received quite a few, and I put them all up on my magnet board and I leave them up forever. Ok, I will admit… I don’t care what the card looks like—I like photos. I shouldn’t say I don’t care… I have gotten some really cool cards already this year… so cute… SO fun to open, but I just love seeing my old friends as their kids grow, and as they add kids to their families… I even love the letters that just give you a little tiny glimpse of what has been going on.  today I got a whole slew of cards…and we all sat around the kitchen island reading the commentary and looking at the photos… marveling at how everyone has grown and changed… it’s the best. We finished our Christmas cards Friday night, and I put all the ones with for-sure addresses in the mail today. I am waiting to gather a few addresses. I told eric, that if there was nothing else that I accomplish, I HAVE to get the cards done. so it was a team effort. First we printed out all the addresses/return addresses… then eric was the spray-painter… we did some holly mask on transperancy… and used that to make an envelope that I stitched together with the sewing machine… pretty lickety-split really. I wrote a little letter and we did do a family photo… which is a major project.   so I am feeling good about that. Good to have something to check off the list.

As if the holidays weren’t stressful enough… and the fact that it’s my anniversary and eric’s birthday on the 21st and 22nd respectively… I am leaving tomorrow for philly to do QVC. it’s my first time. i think I am feeling nervous. So, this is just kind of a test run to see how I do. and at first I had this great obscure time of like 2 am or something… when I knew that I could get some experience- see how things work…but feel like the whole country was sleeping! Pretty much like a dress-rehearsal.  But as luck would have it, my time got moved to the 12-2pm slot on Wednesday, Dec. 20.  That is eastern time by the way…it’s great, but it’s making me feel more nervous! I did spend today watching a couple hours of Lisa Bearson doing her thing on QVC… trying to study how they do stuff. Man, she makes it look so easy! She does a great job…  in any event… I am presenting only one little kit. I will be selling Plastic Alphabets… and so I have spent the last few days playing with them and creating a few samples… and it’s been so fun- I haven’t really played with them in a long time, and I was reminded how much I like them. so, if you have QVC, check it out wed from 12-2pm eastern.  If nothing more than to get a little laugh!
Is Christmas really only a week away!?
Gasp.
as a coping mechanism, i got a pedicure today.
go get one...
it's heaven...
i am serious. get red polish. feel festive... take a 1/2 hour to relax.
trust me on this one!

TIM HOLTZ

Seriously… yesterday I got the biggest TREAT!! Emily and I drove about 2 hours north to Prescott, AZ and spent the day with Tim Holtz… we have been trying to get together for like 2 years now… I am always complaining to him that I need some instructions since I never can stand and watch him demo… or take any classes from him… so, he let us come up and get the ULTRA demo and one on one instruction! It was SO awesome… so inspiring and so exiting… he lives up this little road up in the mountains of AZ. He gets seasons there… when we got out of the car, it was a chiliy 40 degrees and even smells like forest! It was awesome… his  house is amazing… he collects old stuff… antiques of every kind… I am sure it was a special treat to see his home decorated for Christmas… he has this collection of vintage glass Christmas ornaments… it was so cool.. I could have spent hours looking around, but I didn’t want to be too geeky!
Then we went into his studio, and holy cow… it is the most amazing thing I have every seen… I mean, it’s not like I do studio tours or anything… but this is the ultimate in organization and inspiration and function and well.. basically… I was just awe struck…
It’s the total and complete opposite of my studio… I would love to be a fundamentally organized person. Tim told us that in High School, he wanted to be an accountant… I guess that is where the organized side of his brain maybe comes from….. when we got there, I totally drilled him with a million questions.. I mean, this guy is so creative, and dynamic and down to earth… and he just amazes me! so I loved hearing about where he started out and how he got to be where he is.  I loved it, because, like me… he has absolutely NO art training or background. He came into the industry totally backdoor and has just excelled. He instructed us completely on Distress inks, Alcohol Inks and the new Dabber paints… all of which I LOVE.. and I swear, they were just made to go with my products! That is all there is to it! I think that we spent about 4 hours learning all these techniques- trying them ourselves… totally hands on… my head was spinning and my wheels totally turning! It was exciting and energizing… sooooo inspiring. I think he has even made me want to stamp more! His stamp designs are so beautiful and so versatile. Just the way I like them.
What an absolute awesome opportunity !!! THANK YOU TIM!!!
So I came home last night and got the kids in bed and thought that I would just stay up all night creating… and at 10pm I couldn’t even keep my eyes open… I pooped out…
So, I will have to show you when I get some PLAY happening!
sorry to make you all jealous… but that was just the best!! Am I a lucky duck or what?

sunny AZ!

72 degrees never felt so great to me as walking off the plane in my own hometown after a little visit to -18 Minneapolis. I have to say, AZ rocks this time of year…it’s gorgeous!
For those of you who guessed the ONE and ONLY Cathy Zielske is who was making me dinner… you were right! Could she be any cooler? She and Aiden picked me up from the airport, and took me to their home… a very cool, scenic drive through St.Paul. It’s as charming as can be! (cold, but charming). Cathy had been bragging to me about her amazing Manicotti… and she definitely delivered! Hello, she even MADE the pasta! It was delish, melt-in-your-mouth. It was so fun to see her home and experience her family dynamics in person. I always talk to her and her family over video conf. and see her projects through the low-res camera… seeing and visiting with them all in real life was such a treat! I love Cathy’s style- for all the reasons… I love how real she is. I love her passion. I love her parenting style and of course her oozing talent! THANKS for having me Zielske’s… I didn’t take my camera, so when she sends me some photos, I will post them. it was fun to see her kitchen makeover too… I just caught it on TV again, and she even showed me the scrapbook of the event! How lucky is she…it’s so awesome IRL.
I miss her BLOG… maybe if we all whine loud enough, she will start it up again!? What do you think? (c’mon ladies, let’s hear it!)
I went to the Mall of America. WOWSA. I was afraid I was going to get lost and miss my flight, so I tried to keep noting my position on the maps, so I kept my bearings… it is so amazing. I wished that I like had a list to check off. Get this, I didn’t purchase even one thing. I think I was feeling a little overwhelmed. See- this is what Christmas does to me! it’s overwhelming. I am laying low this weekend… my priority is to get a family photo for the Christmas card. It’s going to be black and white this year.
Tonight I am going to do some recreational scrapbooking. I cleaned out my fridge today, and went to the grocery store, so I deserve some scrapbook time! (cleaning out the fridge is my all-time least favorite thing to do)… (I still had thanksgiving left overs in there) (so gross)!  I need the creative therapy! We’ll see what happens…
Have a WONDERFUL weekend…

the forest

here is the overall shot... it's hard to take a good photo of the whole thing.. it's really not much different than last year... just a few new additions...
it does make me happy! (see below for more photos)

against COLD

Maybe I have been overwhelmed with my life… I am not really sure! This holiday season stuff really freaks me out. but I can’t believe that it’s been more than a week since I blogged. Where have I been? What have I been doing? All good questions. All I can say is that I think I have been busy! But I still feel like I have a lot to do. I was evaluating my to-do list, and it’s being whittled down… well, the work stuff is. “first we work, then we buy Christmas presents…” right? I haven’t even STARTED. Is that SCARY or what. There are people that are ALL DONE! Presents WRAPPED… UNDER the tree. I can SO not relate. Every year… I am telling you I am shopping on Christmas EVE. No wonder this isn’t my favorite holiday. I don’t know how to work the system… like making lists; shopping on-line to get the best prices; organizing receipts and keeping tallies of money spent.  Usually, I don’t get into the spirit of spending until the end, then I just give in to racking up the credit cards… I really should give in earlier!

So I finally took some photos of the forest.
It’s so cute.
I love it.
I still really need pink tree skirts. I need like 4. I want pink velvet and tulle and white fur and the works… but you guessed it.. I haven’t gone to JoANNs to buy fabric… and there are no wrapped presents to hide the fact I don’t have skirts… and I have finally decided last night, that I want a crown for the top of the tippy top of the tallest tree… so I need to find something for that too!

I know something I did… I came up with my Christmas card! YAY! I now need to get a family photo and finish the letter that makes our family sound really smart and fun! (wink!) i will be showing it in my DEC newletter that will hopefully go out next week! it involves the holly mask, silver spray paint, polk a dot ribbon and this really cool new sticker that i am releasing at CHA winter....

Saturday I indulged myself a little and went to visit my family in UTAH. (dang it’s cold there… I am really sorry for all the people that live in such cold places). It was SO much fun to visit! And Capri got all of everyone’s attention, so she liked that!  My dad is my CPA, and, well, it’s almost the end of the year, and time to think about taxes and stuff like that (yuck). So it was a legit trip! I have 2 favorite restaurants at home: Italian Village and Hires. We ate a both. So that made the tax talk all worth it!  a little caloric therapy!

Ok… much left on the to-do list tonight!
Leaving for Minneapolis tomorrow and let’s see if you can guess who is making me dinner!!! I will blog from her HOUSE!
And speaking of COLD… I have NOTHING that can protect me from -7 wind chill…