Sparkles and Sticks

.my new favorite.

.just saying hi.

Hi, blog friends.

Here's whats up:

• I'm knee deep in a series of eight shifts in a row (nearly, they had to give me one day off in the middle) where I work until 11:30 PM.   I consider myself a night owl, but these shifts are definitely starting to get to me.
• I've become a kit kat addict over the past 8 days.
• I've decided that it is not only a totally excellent idea, but totally possible to knit a shawl and make a scrapbook for Christmas gifts, even though I haven't really started either, and it's the 17th.
• My craft fair is on Saturday.  Yippeee! 
• I got "new" shoes at a consignment store a few weeks ago, and today they broke in the Whole Foods parking lot.

I wish I was enjoying the holiday season more, instead of being a tired, over-extended grump.

How are you?

.the one with number two pencils.

It's random survey time!

Today's topic: The Best Recurring Character on Friends.

Note: for the purpose of this survey "Recurring Character" will be defined as a memorable character who appears in several episodes that span across several seasons of Friends.  While there were come great guest appearance from big stars (like Reese Witherspoon, Sean Penn, Hugh Laurie, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis... I could go on forever) they don't count here unless they fulfill the aforementioned criteria.  Same goes for boyfriends/girlfriends that fall off the face of the show once their relationship with the Friends character ends, regardless of how awesome they were.

Here are your choices:

1. Jack and Judy Geller

2. Janice

3. Dr. Richard Burke

4. Frank and Alice

5.  Ursula Buffay

6.  The Scientist Guy- David 

7. Gunther

8.  Susan and Carol

9.  Ben

10.  Estelle

Please bubble your answer in completely with a number two pencil.  Any answers not bubbles in completely and darkly will be marked as incorrect.

Write in answers are welcome.  Please use a bright pink crayon and write in Elvish or Ebonics only.

I look forward to tabulating your responses.

.naughty tree.

We got our Christmas tree today.  Then it started raining, and the tree got all wet, so we left it outside to dry off.  Except that its still raining, so it just looks like we're really mean people who make their Christmas tree live outside.

Maybe if it's a good little tree, it will wake up on Christmas morning all decorated.  (Santa has a list of naughty and nice Christmas trees too, ya know).

.running with glitter.

Only ten more days!

Come see Sparkles and Sticks at this awesome crafty event!  We'll have some cute new stuff at our booth- (I hear rumors of hats and gloves floating among the lips of my secret helper elves.  Ok, so I'm not Santa, and I don't have elves.  But the part about hats and gloves is true!) 

You never know what other kinds of goodies might wind up in our booth as well.

See you there!

.this is my favorite.

Such a sassy Christmas tune!  And I love Cerys Mathews cute and scratchy croons with Tom Jones's caramel smooth notes.

And baby, it is cold outside today.

.scrap psychic (or something).

A few years ago, I told my then roommate that I was "Friends psychic."  That is, I would get some random line, or scene from an episode from my head and then later I would watch that episode.  Without even meaning to.

Incredible, right?

Well now, I am pleased to tell you all that I am scrap-psychic.  I made this page months ago, neglected to put a title or journaling on it, then created a handy little area to put pages that are "almost done."  I then promptly forgot about said area.  

Flash forward to last night.  I was working the closing shift at work, and thinking about how my urge to go to the UK cropped up every few months.  I wondered if it would come up with a cyclic pattern if I tried to track it on a calendar.

I got home around 11pm, and started rooting through my scrapbooking stuff.  I wanted to make something, but I just wasn't sure what.  Then, I came across the little "area" of half finished pages that I had created a few months ago.

Moral of the story? 

I repeat: I am psychic.

journaling:

every few months, or every half year or so, I get an urge.  An urge to rush out to the S.F. airport and jump on a plane to London Heathrow. (British Airways has a 7:50 PM flight.  I know this by heart.) 

I want to fly away and feel free on my own adventure.  Danskos plunking on the rainy cobblestones, tube map in hand, stomach nicely ravenous as I walk all over the country.

My home away from home feels just a heart beat away sometimes.

it's at my fingertips.

design note: I used a coaster from a pub on this page because it is one of my favorite drinks.  Bulmers hard cider!

.the one with christmas in wales.

Christmas 2007 was the best Christmas I have ever had.

First, I said goodbye to my family...

...and I got on a plane.

(I am a sucker for any story that starts with the words "I got on a plane.")

Ten hours, plus some boarder control and baggage collecting time later, I kiss this boy hello,

And we drove three hours from London Heathrow Airport to South Wales.

I met his family for the first time.

They took me to London.  

 

They ignited my love of the Putney Bridge Premier Inn. 

They didn't think I was psycho when I was using an audio recorder on the tube to record the "mind the gap" voice over for my mother.

They fed me nice meals.  They talked to me.  They bought me personal Christmas presents. 

(Like a giant Welsh Starbucks mug)

They took me to a London show and a Cardiff pantomime. 

We ate roasts, pulled Christmas crackers, and relaxed around the Christmas tree.They insured that I had a nice, Welsh Christmas.

Most importantly, they decided they liked me.

And I decided that I liked them.

(By the way, Ashley's sister is nowhere near as moody as she looks in this picture.  In fact, she's the coolest, most fun, and most agreeable teenager I know.)

On top of that, I got to see some old friends

and some new (to me) castles.

It was a magical Christmas.  Besides the added magic of this being my first trip back to the UK since I studied abroad there, it was all about what Christmas should be all about: family, friends, and twinkly lights.

.this is me.

My mom took this picture of me when we were visiting St. Fagans Museum in Wales.  I love it, not just because of the beautiful flowers and delicious archways, but because it is a picture that I feel really captures the essence of me.

I'm not posing.  I don't look super glam, but I don't look scruffy, or fat, or otherwise ugly.  I look like me.  I am wearing clothes that I love to wear (hoodies, beanies, ballet flats).  I am doing something I love to do (take photos) in a place I love (Wales).

This is me.  And I am so glad that my mom was able to capture the essence of my personailty so accurately.