Happy Solstice

Labels

sometimes they're useful.

Finally made the effort to find some labels (Avery 22808 in case you're interested), and after downloading the League Gothic font (free here), I've got some labels for my food offerings this holiday season.  So much nicer than a vague description (often with no date) written in Sharpie on the lid.  Maybe this will eliminate the possibility of someone bringing one of my apple butters as a bread-and-butter gift and claiming their cousin made it.  (True story!)

It's Beginning to Look...

 To say we've been busy is a grand understatement, but all around us evidence of the holidays is gathering despite our involvement in the leftover business of 2012.  I've already consumed the above-pictured stollen, and there's another one waiting for the arrival of my parents.  I'm almost finished with holiday shopping (although I was surprised today by a brief jag of bidding on things online), and I've kept holiday crafting to a minimum this year.  Sometimes you need a break from the holiday craftory.  I think I still have it in me to make puttanesca sauce for our food gifts.  I'm hoping that the ladyfriend and I have some time to enjoy some of the holiday build-up this weekend.  The boy arrives on the 25th (super huge "yay!") and the 'rents (hi Dad! hi Mom!) arrive on the 27th.  Soon all the concerns of today will be forgotten in the midst of celebrating with loved ones.

Stunned

There are many things to blog about, but right now, I feel like I just need to say how stunned I am by the heartbreaking events in Connecticut.  It makes me cry just to think and write about it now.  This post says nothing everyone else isn't already saying, but I felt I needed to add my voice to the chorus.  This New York Times Op-Ed is quietly damning, and I think it's about time.

The Holidays: Simple and Slow

 I've always loved the holiday season, and in years past (particularly while I worked on Wall Street), I was quite organized and had a schedule of when I'd make fruitcake (really misunderstood food), send out holiday cards, and craft my little heart out.  But it's gotten harder and harder to find the time or frankly, the energy to plan or even conceive the narrative arc of my holidays.  I had a lot more time when I worked on Wall Street.

Anyway, I was unnecessarily starting to worry that Christmas would whiz by and leave me discombobulated on the side of the road.  I think that not having a lot of things to make for gifts this year has left me worried that I've forgotten something (as opposed to having made the decision that I don't need to throw myself into the craftory* this season).  But I realize that if I slow down and just take notice, the things I love about the holidays are revealing themselves around me.  So, when I saw this post on the Alabama Chanin blog on Wednesday, I thought - hey, that could be an easy gift to make for someone - and got excited.

What I'm Wearing to Teach Today: Last Day of School!

(this is what happens when a colleague is taking your pictures - mayhem!)

Dress:  Sacai
Boots:  212 (old defunct catalog company)

Technology and Me and Our Date

I am certainly not technologically shy (she says, typing on the Mac Air her parents and partner gave her for her birthday).  In fact, I believe in acquiring the best one can afford if that technology is actually important (see reference to Mac Air in previous sentence).

So a little while back, I asked the question whether a smart phone was a good idea for someone like me, and when I say "someone like me," I mean "someone who does not really use her cell phone but is a bit of a multitasker."  I wondered whether it'd make me more organized (oh sure), more productive (quite possibly), or just more distracted (exactly what I need).  In the end I couldn't really see why I'd get one, and the ladyfriend has one now so we've met our household quota (total fabrication on my part).