Eirene did it. Somewhere mysterious. With the poison.

You can never be too careful when it comes to elite, Hollywood dinner parties. It seems like someone always gets killed off by the end of the night. Aside from the fact that the evening began with the morbid death of our boss W. Anton Power, it really was a lovely party. We had so much in common! Besides all being glamorous and irresistibly interesting, we all--for various personal reasons--were just itching to dispose of Ole' Money Bags. The mutual loath for this man really brought us all together, and gave us heaps to talk about over the delicious Chinese cuisine. I haven't had so much fun since I was baptized!

Tatyana "Tat" Eltale - The Sultry gossip columnist who besides our native born New Zealander, proved to have the best accent of the evening.

Savoy R. Fayre - quite at his leasure

The dazzling Denise N. Dayer (the neice and heir) getting cozy with Seldon "Sel" U. Lloyd

Ivande B. Ahlone evidently enjoying very much the company of Hackford "Hack" Ryder

Hollywood's own sweetheart, Stuart "Stu" D. Muphin - If his sexy southern drawl doesn't woo you, his rope and saddle certainly will. And don't tell him that he looks like Peewee Herman.

Heidi "Hi" Voltage drank too much sparkling cider, and flirted shamelessly with Stu.

A Big Day

I have been anxiously awaiting this day with eager hands and a hopeful heart since I was five years old. The day that I would have a little head of hair to play with to my hearts delight.....uh, I mean a little girl with hair that I can...uh, you know...fix and stuff. PIG TAILS!! She has grown herself enough hair to make two very scant pigtails! It was more exciting than Christmas morning, I assure you! Of course I took them out after about four minutes--because notwithstanding my utter delight, I was not insensitive to the headache it could possibly cause. But it's enough for me to know inside my heart that it is possible.

And can you believe this girl? She is the beamiest, happiest little creature who ever crawled...er, army crawled the earth.

A chuckle and a smile

What makes me laugh even more than the fact that Josie was no obstacle in Mae's straight-shot towards the forbidden plastic bag, is the fact that Josie seemed to enjoy being the speedbump. What a laugh.
This is pretty. I've never shown you all, I don't think. I picked these flowers from each of my five areas on the mission. Each frame is a different area. Truth is folks, I thought up this idea in my first area because I was distracted and thinking about decorating my future home, rather than teaching a future investigator. My hope is that some gal mulling over the idea of serving a mission, will serve, and will take advantage of the idea without the distraction. It's a pretty reminder to me of my lovely Argentina, and my dear friends I made there, and the whole life-changing experience. I really do remember those things when I look at it. I just re-arranged it on a different wall in my living room, so as to remove it from sunlight. It means a good deal to me.

I feel this shot deserves a spot of praise: this picture of Milly was taken by Elena Jayne (my little sister) over Christmas break. She got a little digital camera, and took this unbelievable shot of Emily's little gal. I just love it! The rosy cheeks, the red lips and blue eyes--what a doll. I just wish it was better resolution.

I have never had such a riot making something as I did making this "Nacho Libre" costume with my kindred spirited friend Trine. She threw a Nacho Libre birthday bash for her husband Larry, and hence needed a good Nacho costume. As the mask took shape, we progressively laughed with more force and less bladder control. Please note how the very "snug" mask stretches out Larry's eyes and mouth into distortion. Please also note that this was after I added a two inch piece in the back.

Because you're curious...

I'll tell you what I made everyone for Christmas. Buckle up. This won't be entirely complete, but I'll give you the highlights.
First, I made this bag for Melissa, Allan's little sister. I got the pattern off this fabulous little website, in case anyone can now not live without a bag of their own. It was so deliciously fun, that I aspired to design a bag of my own. I did, and made it for Elena, but forgot to take a photo, sorry friends.

Margaret, Allan's Mom, got a lovely fabric photo bookmark. I whipped this little treasure up after seeing a photo of a really boring bookmark on Martha Stewy's website. Mine is a lot better, and not just cause it has a cute photo of Josie.
Eirene got a pincushion. PS. Craft felt is extremely cheap and useful.
Emily, as you see here, got a magnificent little Obi belt that just accentuates her already rockin' bod. I know, I know...three kids! I can only hope I'll look this smokin' after I've passed three children through my birth canal.

Let's see...Josie got these sweet little smocks, and the afore mentioned booties. I found both of these fabrics at Walmart for a dollar a yard. They both are in want of buttons, as you can see, but I figured, no hurry, right? She's got a while before she even knows what clothes are, so...you know, when I get around to it.
I made slipper like unto these, but not exactly these. My visiting teacher made these for me for my birthday, and she very kindly taught me, and I made some teal and tan ones for my mom.

I made stockings for us all--
Allan is a real comic-book face as many of you know, and so I made his out of some of his old tee-shirts, and a few good Christmas comics. Mine, as I already blogged, is a replica of Anthropologie's Kantha Stocking. Josie's stocking is a bit of a mut. Half Free People, (maybe 3/4's) and a bit me. I like mine better.


Let's see, for my tree I fabric mache'd some eggs that I blew (actually, Allan did most of the blowing). PS, in the future, I would just use plastic eggs. More child friendly.
I also made these, which I learned from Martha. I put them over a tiny light bulb, and they lit up at night. So pretty.
Lastly, my favorite Christmas decor of the season: a branch bouquet adorned with delicate paper cranes.
Well, that is all I have photo documentation of. If anyone would like a tutorial or pattern on something, I could probably come up with something. Emily, Eirene and I are probably going to start a craft blog soon, so this would be a little start.

Remember folks, if you have time to breathe, you have time to craft.

Quarter-Century Face.

Happy Birthday, Allan. I hope you liked your ice cream cake. I also hope you don't shave anytime soon, because you're looking good in my hood.

Festive Photos

I've really been a lousy blogger lately. No excuses. I've just been consumed by crafts and other Christmas stuff lately. About that...I'll really try to update you soon. I found our charger just tonight.

Here's some festive photos! First, our ward Christmas party-- I challenge anyone to try and best our party. Our activity committee is a couple who both work in the movie industry. Get this: they met on the set of Napoleon dynamite. He did the lighting, and she did the makeup. Anyway. This year the theme was "Christmas in the Americas." Irina works for the LDS motion picture studio now, and hence, our gym was decked out from the various movie set props. Our program was AWESOME with a professional narrator, sweet sound effects, and the costumes from The Testaments...you know, the movie they used to play on Temple Square. It really was cool, but besides all the awesome set, sound, and costumes etc., it really was a powerful program that really helped me feel the spirit of what Christmas is all about. Allan and I were both in the program. Allan was a enthusiastic "unbeliever," and I was part of the crowd (hence I just wore what I...and Eirene had lying around the house).

Merry Christmas friends! I love you all, and also homemade caramel.

6 Months

I know, she's amazing. I took her yesterday to Kiddie Kandids to get these shots, and although really impressed with the camera crew (they stop at nothing short of back flips to get the kids to smile) I was EXHAUSTED by the time I got out of there. It took THREE HOURS, folks. Actual picture-taking time was about 15 minutes, and the rest was WAITING. They're pretty cute, although not my really style. I don't know why, but I didn't feel like telling him how I really feel about putting Josie into a hat box with feather boas. In fact, my temporary attitude was more like "Yeah! The more the merrier! Sure! Throw in a teddy bear with beads! Why not?!"

So in addition to dazzling everyone with her happy smile, Josie is also saying "Mamamamam," "Dadadada," and my favorite "blah blah blah blah." So, in a nut shell, she knows the basic essentials of communication.

FYI: I have many many crafting treasures to show, but our camera cord has been misplaced temporarily. So, stay tuned.