A christmas campfire

Last night we enjoyed a fun evening with friends watching Christmas movies and making smores at San Elijo campground. Our friends the Hayden's had the clever idea of projecting movies on to their trailer from their movie projector. When they quickly got tired of sitting, letting the kiddos fill up on hot chocolate and smores and let them run loose around the campgrounds. It is no longer a question of if but when we will purchase our own trailer. All the way home I was calculating in my head how much extra side work Tony will need to do and extra loans I will need to fund to work that into our 2010 budget. Practical Sandy eventually came around and realized we need to buy a house first so we can have a place to store it.

Merry Christmas Eve!

A little baking, a little sanding and a lot of cleaning

Our new guest bed. Come and visit. We have added a new queen bed to our upstairs loft. I must admit it is tight quarters up there but the comfy pillow top mattress and fluffy pillows make up for the lack of available floor space. Also, the guest bed is lucky enough to house my treasured peacock bed set from Anthro. It was too "birdy" for our room and for my husband. At least I get to enjoy it when I am on the computer upstairs.
Repurposed project #1- A pot rack picked up at a yard sale and then transformed to a super cool mahogany pot rack.

Repurposed project #2- My treasured jewelery case. Truth be told, Tony originally made this for our booth in Leaping Lotus when we were thinking we were going to sell jewelry. Well we gave our notice at LL last month and there it sat. Tony was nice enough to finish the frame, line it with some burlap and quilt lining and make it heavy and solid enough to withstand any natural disaster. The bamboo frame was originally that yellowish commercial looking bamboo frame and the picture it housed was an airbrushed woody with a Jessica Rabbit looking girl in a bikini print. It was awful.

What can I say, I love it.......It is my favorite addition to our home this year. The picture does not do the case justice. It is quite a showpiece. After 15 years of making jewelry, I can finally say I have a proper place to display my pieces. Don't look to closely, some of my pieces need repair. I could not stand to have them stuffed in a bag under my sink anymore. I have boxes and baskets of beads and findings from countless bead fairs with little to no desire to make anything with them.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon baking cookies and treats for our neighbors. Brayden was very happy to help sprinkle anything he could get his hands on.

Yum! Hopefully everyone if enjoying some nice family time and Christmas cheer this weekend. Go Chargers!

The workshop

Eating some yummy vegetarian chili made by Greta and family at the Encinitas holiday parade.

My 2007 Christmas project- a family advent calendar. A 2009 project is still in development and will likely not be ready until 2010. Over the past few years I have adopted the tradition of buying one lavish Christmas decoration and making one elaborate project per year. Last years purchase was the 12 days of Christmas plates from WS and my project was an apple core Santa. This year I am attempting to make a wreath which requires me to learn to crochet and I have my eye on several fancy holiday goodies to add to our collection.

The elf's workshop filled with incomplete projects.

A sneak peek... Will post the finished projects.

Feeling rather behind this year. My days working from home are filled with nervous phone calls from Realtors and screaming matches with underwriters. Meanwhile our Christmas cards sit unaddressed and unwrapped gifts accumulate under the bed.