twofer.

i realize this is a two-for-one deal, but i'm sitting in this coffee shop, feeling inspired, and i just have to run with that.

amongst my joy of gifting to other people, i also received some glorious gifts from others.

this is a great little mug from my wonderful friend jolleen. the "t" is for tricia - in case you couldn't guess. it's one of those great giant mugs that can be used for a nice cup of tea, or for soup.

this little guy is from my brother, and i have so enjoyed having it my life.

and this little lady is of course such a joy to my life. i'm sad not to be able to have a companion like her while i'm in philly.

christmas was really so great to spend with friends and family. it's been an interesting journey for me to visit home after these long extended times away. this really is the first time i've lived away from the place i grew up. it's an odd feeling. so much of what i know and love is in one place and i'm not sure how to function away from that. how do you live in a place that feels so far away from your heart? especially when the place that is so close to your heart is so far away. how do you live in a place that you feel so out of place in? how do you find your place in that?

craftings.

welcome to the new year.

i hope 2010 has been treating you all well.

here in philadelphia it's been pretty cold, and actually snowed one day while i was here. i did, however, miss the 2nd biggest snow storm in the history of the city. but i'm not sure louise could have handled it, so to be honest, i'm not sorry i missed it. speaking of louise, she is doing well and running just fine - which is a huge answer to a prayer, considering she hadn't been run or started for the 2 weeks that i was home.

currently the weather in philly is very sunny, but still cold. apparently, there's supposed to be this january thaw time which pushes the cold weather up to a whopping 50 degrees later this week.

i am so ready for spring. i used to think that i was a winter-type person because i like sweaters. but i think since i've gotten older and really realized who i am, i understand how truly inconvenient it is to live in the winter season and all i want is to put on my cutoffs and toms and walk around in the glorious rays of the sun.

oh wait, that's exactly what i'll be doing in less than two weeks! yes folks, tricia snyder is headed over to los angeles at the end of this month. csm is having staff training there, so it's required that go. poor poor me.

but enough feeling sorry for myself, here's some stuff i had been working on during the weeks leading up to christmas:

this year i decided to make all of my gifts for people so these are the envelopes for my little lady friends.

these are the cards themselves, i got the inspiration from an anthropologie card i got in the mail.

this is the whole package deal i made for miss aubrey, it's a headband with a flower that buttons off if you so desire, in case the outfit doesn't call for such a thing.

this one is for miss jolleen. i was very pleased with the color because i thought it was a very jolleen blue. and what do you know? on the day i gave it to her, she was wearing tights of that exact same color. God thing.

this is the neck scarf i made for kylee. i really like the color as well. as alex said, "good grey."

and all these were done in the couple weeks between thanksgiving and christmas, as i just re-taught myself how to crochet again. i've been pretty proud of my little projects, but i'm not sure where to go from here. i think i want to make a blanket, but i'm not sure i'm for that task. we'll see.