12/12/12!

What a fun date!  And apparently, it will be the last fun date like this in our lifetimes!  That is crazy to think!  My amazing friends, Rosa and Manny went on their first date on 2/3/4 and got married on 7/8/9, so dates like this always make me think of them!  They now have a beautiful little baby girl, too bad she couldn't have been born today!  Although, I guess that would have given her an extra three months in her mama's belly, and that probably wouldn't  have been too good!

I tried to find a picture of all three of them, but it couldn't be done!
I don't think Rosa would object too much to this one!

So, to stay at least a little bit on track! In honor of this great date, 12/12/12, I am offering 12% off everything in my Etsy shop today!  Just use coupon code "save12" when you check out, easy as that!  I just got a little buzz from PayPal letting me know one lucky customer has already taken advantage of the deal (I posted about it on my Facebook page in case there is any strange chance someone is reading this who is not also a Facebook fan).

Other exciting things going on right now:

North Park Market Holiday Edition!  Shop local for the holidays event!  This is happening tomorrow afternoon from 3-7!  The weather report is predicting possible rain and some chilly weather, but I have high hopes that it will hold off for the afternoon!  If you are still looking for some unique presents that are handmade with love by me, or any of the other awesome vendors who will be there, come on by!  There will also be live music, yummy food and craft activities for kids!

Kyle built a cool chicken nipple water system.  I know this sounds a little weird, but it involves pipes, tubes, boards, brackets, and just the right connector parts, and most importantly, it will ensure our chickens survive being closed up in their coop, unsupervised for more than a week while we go home for Christmas. At least, we have high hopes it will, as long as the chickens figure out what is going on!

And I am having lots of fun planning and making presents!  There are lots of tutorials to come along with all these cool projects, but I don't want to give anything away.  Be on the lookout in January!  I will just say I have never done any of the projects before that I am going to be doing in the next 8 days, and I am still waiting for beautiful and fun supplies to come in the mail.  Nothing like a time crunch to really get those creative juices flowing!

Aren't you impressed I already have something wrapped?
Well, its a trick! This is the present I sent to Martha Stewart's grandchildren
a few months ago (for which I never received a thank you card!)

I hope you all are having lots of fun thinking about those you love, and planning things to make them smile!  I also hope you are doing (or planning to do) lots of baking, eating, drinking (of course, this one only for my non-pregnant readers :-)), singing, dancing and celebrating with your family and friends!


*** wait, wait, wait*** I just thought about this date thing some more.  I have been hearing people say today is the last sequential date of our life time, but November 12th of next year will be 11/12/13, and December 13th of the year after will be 12/13/14.  Those seem to me to be sequential... But maybe it (or people?) just mean the last one where all 3 numbers are the same?

So Much Love!

      I just got home from a week at home!  Warning, I am going to be a little bit cheesy here (but lets be honest, I generally tend towards the cheesy, and even more so in these days of Christmas trees and baby showers).  The saying is that home is where the heart is, and it does really amaze me that my heart can live in two different places.

An actual puddle!  

     The week at home was amazing!  I got lots of rain and fog just like I wanted.  I know it makes it harder to drive and get anything productive done, but it is so cozy, and comforting and feels like home.  It also actually makes it feel like winter and the holidays.


      You can't see them in this picture, but there are lots of big, fat raindrops splashing into this puddle on the front porch.  This all made me legitimately giddy and feel a need to run around with my phone attempting to do justice to its beauty.

     Needless to say, my Instagram followers got to see quite a few of these pictures throughout the week!


I also got to look at this view every day.

It's hard to tell, but that dark gray out there over the treetops is the ocean!

     I went home for my family and Santa Cruz friends baby shower.  It was so fun to get to be with my family for 6 whole days and to help get things ready for the party.  So much planning and hard work went into the shower.  This baby girl and I feel so incredibly blessed and genuinely showered with love.  It is hard figuring out everything I need to figure out about being pregnant and getting ready to have a baby with my family so far away.  Yes, I talk to my mom on the phone at least once a day, but it is not anywhere near the same as being there and getting to talk all day, and look at baby things together, and her getting to feel hiccups through my big belly, and slightly freaking out my little sister by getting her to feel where is baby and where is just belly!  I also got to giggle a lot with both of my sisters, play with my super cool nephew, Jack and honorary nieces and nephew, Owen, Bella and Charlie, and have long talks after dinner with my dad while doing dishes (these talks really did make me miss having a glass of wine in my hand!) 

Throughout the week we made about 70 gingerbread cookies for friends to decorate at the shower,

Jack was even put to work!

many, many shortbread cookies for eating,

           

   











        coconut cupcakes,

macaroon Christmas trees,

Beautiful in the end, but Martha Stewart did lead us a
bit astray with this recipe

and a lemon cake.

    

   Yes, we like to bake!  We did all this and still managed to cook and eat delicious meals throughout the week, visit the Santa Cruz farmer's market, take a trip to Hart's fabric and go on some very rainy dog walks.

Oh, and do some belly bump comparisons.

She is due about two months after me,
but she has two baby girls growing in there!

     The morning of the shower I was sent off for some genuine pampering! A haircut and mani/pedi!  I came home to such a beautiful winter wonderland shower!  My mom and sisters are amazing, so loving and so talented.  We are also lucky enough to have a professional photographer in the family!  All shower pictures are her doing!  I got to visit with so many friends I love, I only wish the shower could have gone on for many more hours and that I got to see all of these amazing women on a much more regular basis! 

I wore these undershirts as a baby! 

Planting paperwhite bulbs! 

I had a very good present helper! 

A knit whale!  

And look at this beautiful sweater!  My mom is an amazing knitter! 

The rain cleared for the shower!  Thank goodness or I would have been in serious trouble for wishing for it!  It also gave me a chance to appreciate the green, play with the dogs on the front lawn and discover life growing all around!

The week went so quickly and I was flying back home before I knew it!

My first day home, Kyle got to work from home, which means we got to go right out and get our Christmas tree.

He had put the lights up outside while I was gone.  Now, even though it is sunny and almost 70 degrees, at least in my little home it looks and smells like Christmas.  

      I am spending the week sitting under the tree 

(which looks like this during the daytime) embroidering, putting snaps on bibs (with some help from Kyle) and making more ornaments.  Fun Little Things is taking part in a holiday craft show at Keys Creek Lavender Farm on Saturday, from 3-7.  I have never been to the farm, but the pictures on their Facebook page look stunningly beautiful!  Worth checking out if you are in the San Diego area and want a different sort of adventure on a saturday.  I know they also do weddings and other special events on the farm throughout the year.    There is always more to do getting ready for a show than I think there will be.  Luckily, I actually really like doing it all, and I get to listen to the Indie Holiday Pandora station while I do it! 

     I also just found out yesterday afternoon that the North Park farmer's market is having a special "Shop Local for the Holidays" event at the market next week and would like me to be one of the vendors!  Thursday, December 13th, 3-7.  The market will be full of the usual farmers/vendors/yummy food trucks, but will also have live music, crafts and activities for kids and lots of one of a kind, local, handmade gift and craft vendors.  Come check us out after work, have a great time, support local small businesses and get some of your Christmas shopping done!

Kyle is working from home with Lacey and I again today, lets see if you can guess which side of the coffee table is covered with his work and which is mine!

         

                  

And in about an hour we are off to another check-up!  Love getting to hear my little girl's heartbeat!  33 weeks today, apparently about the size of a pineapple! Can't believe how soon she will be here!

So much love and thanks to everyone who made this week amazing and who constantly fill my life with love!