We're from California. We can do whatever we want.

And that includes blogging about the December holidays in mid-January (okay--it's too late to even say mid-January, isn't it?). My goal this weekend is to actually get my holiday cards sent. Let' s see if that happens.

So, on to actual content. David, Thomas, Greta, and I drove to New Mexico for Christmas this year to see my parents. We left after work on a Friday, and traffic until almost Barstow was awful. (40 miles in 2 hours!) We made it to Kingman, AZ and stayed at a Motel 6. Now, here's where the title of this post comes from. There were some really loud, obnoxious people who kept us up until past 1:30 because, well, they were from California and they could do whatever they wanted. (Seriously. David heard one of the girls say this as she was shreaking about a beer run: "I'm from California. I can do whatever I want." So, that's become our new favorite phrase. Except it doesn't work so well when you're in California, surrounded by other Californians. Then it would be chaos, right? Anyway, here's Greta at said Motel 6 (couldn't they have slightly thicker walls? My god!) sniffing around and looking glowy.

The next day we made a brief stop in Seligman, AZ, home of the Snow Cap. Sadly, I've never actually been there when the Snow Cap was open, but it's still really neat looking. This sign was on the side.

And here I am in front. If you ever find yourself between California and New Mexico, I recommend that you drive through Seligman, if only to see what it must have been like driving Route 66 back in the day.


Fast forward past Christmas. Now we're on our way home (750+ miles all in one day). Here's a sunset just near the AZ/CA border. David did a great job of capturing this as we were traveling at 70 (or more) miles/hour.
And, finally, here's Thomas looking out into the night. I like the composition of this picture (again, thanks to David).


Next, Christmas, family and friends...

Holiday Crafting

Now that Christmas is officially over and most people have opened their presents from me, I can safely blog about what I made. First, we have the 150 magnets that we made! It's hard to tell in the picture, but we got super creative on these. (By we, I mean David and me. He really got into picking out the pictures, even finding a special Thor picture for his cousin Cliff.) I'm really pleased with how these turned out. Also, it was cool to be able to give people such individualized gifts (including a special X rated version for our friend Josh). I think we ended up giving out 23 sets. Wow! Thanks to the Supercrafty book for the instructions. Oh--and we started out using E-3000 (right name?), but the fumes and lingering stink afterward made me kinda sick. So, we switched to a non-toxic clear glue that seemed to work really well. Yea!


Next is the very pink accidently felted (not by me) wool sweater I picked up for Tiana at Salvation Army. All the felted accents are by me. At first, I just had three dots, all sold color. I played around with it and decided on this. Isn't it cute and just perfect for a 5 year old who lives in Denver? Needle felting is great fun. So far, I've found that I can make a cute cat toy in a matter of minutes. Now I'll have to turn my attention to felted accents on booties for Josh. Just you wait, Josh! (But these won't be X-rated.)


Finally, here is the lacey thing I worked on for the Knitty Gritty show. By making just a few alterations, I was able to turn it into this cool scarf/wrap thing for my mom. Excuse the picture of me in my pajamas.


And here's a dramatic close-up.


Next--Holiday pictures galore!