Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I'm still in Missouri, half grateful that I didn't have a flight cancelled because of the snow storm in NYC and half sad that I am missing all that snow (we only had a skiff of snow here).

Our Christmas table was red and green all over. My mom has a collection of vintage tableclothes and great Christmas tree dishes. We topped each place setting off with a personalized sugar cookie.

No Christmas is complete without cookies- chocolate crinkles, peanut butter blossoms, seven layer (minus one), pecan tassies, and fudge pictured below. We also had chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and peanut butter fudge as well as pecan and pumpkin pie.

Christmas card

What did I use the red thread for? My Christmas cards of course. And since I can't send one to all of you-

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The idea came organically enough starting with another project I'm working on and this stamp I purchased awhile back to play around with, but never used much. I thought thread would be perfect because well I don't own a hole punch, but I have lots of needles.

O Christmas tree

Everyone knows about the Rockefeller Christmas tree, but there are magical trees all around town. There are trees running down the center of Park Ave, Bryant Park, each outer borough neighborhood and most office building lobbies (mine has three! one made from poinsettias). I turned a corner last Sunday and saw this one in the courtyard of the Bloomberg Tower.

Apartment rehab

The new apartment blessed me with this awesome antique sink. Two big sinks and a neat cover for the one side, but no cabinet underneath.... nothing underneath. If there is a theme to the apartment it is "no cabinets" thankfully however there is a big pantry and a decent closet. Back to the rehab. So I need every storage space I can get and under the sink I had put cleaning supplies and my stash of potholders (hey Santa!), towels, and dishrags.

Before:

A few years ago... at least three or four... my mom gave me her old living room curtains to figure out a new use for up till now they had been living in my "craft container" (some people have rooms, I have a container). As these were already hemmed all I had to do was cut them in half and hang them up. I used this sophisticated hanging method called "duck tape" its working for now. Any suggestions on a more permanent fix?

After:

Apartment rehab

If you've spoken to me lately you know that I moved into an older apartment, which means more character and ehhhh more challenges.

Once the apartment was painted my target was set on the medicine cabinet. I've spared you the pre cleaning photos. Lets just say that a few items were left behind and there were shelf liners covered in something. I had bought some contact paper at Target to replace the shelf lining in the pantry so I decided to use it in the medicine cabinet as well.

Before:

After:

Now I'm not afraid to put my stuff inside and it makes me smile every time I reach for my toothpaste.

M&J Trimming

Why did it take me so long? I've seen this store many times as its not that far from my office. And I was directed to go shopping here back in my shoemaking phase, but never made it. Monday after work I was in need of red thread and knew most of the garment district stores would be closed so I headed over to M&J Trimming. So much to look at! They were getting ready to close so I found some thread and checked out, but I'll have to go back and explore. The store is mostly trimmings (as the name implies) but also had great sewing odds and ends that I can't seem to find around the city.

The store

The thread

Everyone will have to wait to see what I did with the thread... at least until the post man makes some deliveries.

Holly Jolly Hectic Holiday

Sorry I have disappeared for a bit. But after Thanksgiving I had to move. Yes my third move in four years, sigh. Anyways I got internet back today! In between the packing and moving and unpacking I've taken some time to enjoy the season.

Last Saturday (as I was suppose to be packing) I went over to Martha's offices for their craft show. I attended last year and had a fabulous time. After a short wait inside the building my friend and I found several items to take home. This year there was a line outside the building wrapping around and all the way up the block! Since I had already rode two trains and walked to 10th Ave I got in line. The wind was blowing of the Hudson something fierce and it wasn't till 45 minutes later that I entered the building. Then I waited in a line upstairs for another 10 minutes. It might have been the long wait or my frozen toes, but I didn't find anything to buy. There were tons of amazing things just some were the same as last year and many were priced more as art than craft.

While I was waiting to get in. Those fabulous chandeliers were tinsel.

The good thing about working in Times Square is you are close to Bryant Park. For a few weeks they had the skating rink and shops up and it was still pretty warm so I enjoyed lunch while watching luckier people skate. Now its turned colder, but it is still a lovely area to stroll.

Kate Spade set up a pop up store in Bryant Park. I entered a raffle, but alas they haven't called. (side story- I told my friend that Kate is from Kansas City, MO he starts chatting up a sales lady and mentions that Kate is from KCMO she had no idea, but countered with Kate's husband's brother is David Spade... lame)

The rink, the tree, the library

This morning I took part in the Jingle Bell Jog in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I was so nervous I was going to be cold. Luckily my new shirt and the weather pulled through. I also hadn't been running a lot lately and had never ran 4 miles straight. But I guess all my moving and going up and down and up and down stairs prepared me well as I was able to run the entire way and was a few minutes under my goal time. There were tons of people there... tons... and it was very festive. Many people had reindeer ears or santa hats and we all had jingle bells for our shoes. The ringing was pretty dramatic at the beginning of the race, but I didn't notice it later on (too focused on finishing).

Shirt and bells