well, i'm back in santa barbara for a last day of work on monday. it was absolutely beautiful here today. the sea was completely smooth, like a shiny piece of glass. i took a bunch of blurry driving pictures. (no one was on the road near me, do not fear.) one of these days, i will actually take the time to look for a turn off and step out of my car to take a bonafide real picture of the ocean to the side of the 101. the hills were a musty winter green and were trying very hard to look like hills from the islands. and the sky looked like God had blobbed white across a bright blue canvas and then smeared it with his fingertips.

being home yesterday was interesting. i had a list that consisted of things like, 'check to see if christmas presents are finished' (they were, for the most part), and 'DO LAUNDRY". i know. exciting. the best part was that my christmas present to myself had arrived. so i found myself unpacking from the week, playing a song on my new keyboard (ahh!!!!!), loading the dishwasher, playing a song on the keyboard, making something to eat, and playing a song on the keyboard. it is obviously different from the piano being that it is cheapo and doesn't sustain the notes very well, but i've missed playing so much. it is nice to have something. and i'm so grateful for that. :)

so here are some of the projects...

a christmas card

the cover of a journal

a dishtowel (this design is not my own--see previous entry for source...)

and another tote. this little girl is flying a kite.

phew. what a week! i've been up in santa barbara for work and i think i had some misconceptions as to how big this job was going to be. by yesterday evening, though, i felt like i was getting a grasp on what is going on and that i could provide the client with some solutions. still, i left the office every day nearly brain dead from staring at invoices for 8-10 hours straight. zzzz ;-)

the blessings of this trip have been great, though. my 'office' is a half a mile walk through a pretty little neighborhood. one of my coworkers has happily taken me to all the yummy eateries in town for lunch. there are interesting coffee shops and sketch-worthy architecture everywhere (though i've only had time to sample the coffee/no time taken for sketches, bad me.) and 'downtown' state street and the ocean are just a couple of miles away. i went on a run down there last night and remembered just how much i love running in a new city. every block is a new discovery. i love that.

i'll be back up here next week to finish this work (hopefully) and then suddenly, it will be christmas. how did that happen?

this has been an amazing and somehow difficult weekend. i suppose i'm making it more difficult by posting on my blog rather than straightening my room that looks like it was ransacked (and which, stresses me out to no end) and packing for the week (my work temporarily reassigned me to santa barbara, so i'm leaving tonight.)

why do we sometimes exacerbate the problem by adding sand to the mountain? i think i'll take a clue from this picture and set myself on coast--move forward rather than going into cancel-i-think-i'll-just-take-a-nap mode. ;-)

today is a beautiful day so it is time to introduce the december mini-book. it has nothing to do with christmas, however, and everything to do with taking that next step forward to living your dreams instead of just dreaming them. maybe january's will be more christmasy. :)

again, these are free for the asking. post a comment or email me at illwritealready (at) yahoo (dot) com.

:)

i've always loved stop motion, mostly because it conjures up images of rudolph struggling through the snow and blinking oddly as he talks. so kitchy but so, so great. it could also be that whenever we got our hands on a video camera as kids, we'd immediately make stop motion videos. who hasn't arranged pebbles into words and had them march off screen?

one of my friends used to do stop motion videos with the nativity scene at christmas when she was little, and now she's a filmmaker. proof that early stop motion video aptitude can lead to great careers. she showed me this upcoming movie that had my mouth drop open. the original book had great illustrations and was creepy (even according to lemony snicket.)

if i try to describe it to you, i will ruin it, so just go over to Coraline's website...

and here are the passwords:

stopmotion
buttoneyes
moustachio
puppetlove
armpithair
sweaterxxs

the 'sweaterxxs' featurette is stunning.

this little girl tote bag was so much fun to make. she's on sale at artfire right now if you'd like her for your very own.

now that i'm feeling better...i really want to do THIS.

i just need to get together a team. :) andrew? monique? people?

my mom introduced me to m. sasek years ago when she bought me a copy of "this is scotland." the new matte-covered versions are sold at anthropologie and pottery barn but you can get the classic library editions at alibris.com. old library books have so much more character anyway.

julia rothman is one of my favorite illustrators. she's also overflowing with creativity. i love her site book by its cover mostly because i have been known to buy both books and music because of the cover illustration or design. sometimes this doesn't work out so well but at least i get to keep the cool picture. "i live here" is one of the books featured on this website. be careful, though. you might get overwhelmed with the goodness over there.

"wave" is a book i am pulled too every time i see it sitting on a shelf. it helps that the ocean is one of my favorite places on earth. but it is also a beautiful book.

what books are you reading right now? what moves you?

i don't have any pictures from the marathon but i should. my aunt handed me a photo christmas card immediately afterwards that had a picture of me ripping off my mp3 player and gloves to give to drew (my cousin) as well as another christmas card of monique, danae, and wes running like champions. you gotta love technology.

the marathon itself was pretty amazing...35-42 degree weather, foggy, and running down streets lined with oak trees. it was beautiful. people were out standing at the end of their driveways, wrapped in blankets and cheering. one man had his dog on one side and goat on the other. one thing that did keep throwing me off was other than the marathoners who were in it for the long haul, there was also a relay race going on where each person ran a 6 mile (or so) leg. so you would have these people come out of nowhere in a galloping sprint or better, come alongside you and cheerfully chat you up. i kept on forgetting about this and would be trotting along in wonder at the energy being displayed. then i'd remember, 'oh yeah, you've only run 2 miles. now i understand.' it was kind of amusing.

drew (my cousin) completely spoiled me (us) by showing up along the route every 4 miles or so. it was so amazing and wonderful to have family there! i know in past races i've had teammates along the side but i've always missed them--either by being in the zone (or something) or because it was so congested with cheering people. it was nice to look up and so grandma holding her sign and waving. nice is the wrong word. maybe i should say it was incredible.

so the weekend was great--i just wish we could have stretched it out longer. now its time to figure out more ways to get together in this coming year. ;-) california just seems so ginormous when you have family living a million hours north.

p.s. thanks for the interest in the booklets. there are still a few available, if anyone wants one!

this is going to be the year of mini-books. i can feel it in the air. so to start off, i have 8 of these tiny booklets made up and ready to go to homes. if you would like one, email me at illwritealready (at) yahoo (dot) com and i'll send you one in the mail! :) they're free...you just have to ask! :)

how to explain happiness? it comes in so many forms...

wo.

i don't know this woman but if she hadn't mentioned having three sons, i would have suspected she ripped out some pages from my journal. or something.

thank you, helen, for this.

I've always been a no-frills kind of girl. Show/tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I approached God the same way. Lord, tell me what to do, and I'll follow. What I didn't realize is that God was just as interested in the process of following Him as He is in the actual end point. He wants me to be alert and engaged in the act of taking up my cross daily. I, too, often have surrendered myself to God in terms of the end point but did not want to experience the process. For instance, I'd ask the Lord to give me patience but did not welcome the experience everyday the fiasco a family of three boys would bring in order for me to develop that patience. I'd ask the Lord to make me a person who extends grace and yet did not welcome the challenges of dealing with people who view life from a different perspective. I've learned that taking up my cross daily means to welcome and be alert to the experiences that God puts my way moment to moment. I've too often signed up to follow Jesus and yet just sat on the bench without wanting to engage in the life God had planned for me. God wants me to not just follow Him but to take up my cross daily and experience Him in a more deeper and fuller way. He wants me to experience Him, not just follow Him. (Helen Han)

this week is already high-tailing it away from me. it is only tuesday morning and yet, there it goes, slipping away from my grasp. i wondered this morning how it is that some weeks are so crammed full (even if it IS full of goodness) and others are so empty. of course, this is the ebb and flow of life; one can't always be go-go-going. it's like the waves of the sea, in and out, in and out...

these are good times, though. my cup is overflowing, and even if it is spilling a bit on myself, i'm thankful and so very grateful.

(i found this website yesterday and this artist has so many wonderful ideas for crafting, especially crafting with children. if you post a comment on her blog, she will send you the adorable tree pattern that is pictured above! :) my mouth fell open when i saw them b/c that is exactly how i draw my christmas trees...though i've never used ornaments as earrings. very cute! http://ninimakes.typepad.com/nini_makes/2008/11/a-tree-family-christmas.html#comments)

the sky smiling...

last week my mom called me to say that i needed to go out at dusk to see jupiter and venus (and the moon) since this is the closest they'll be all year. jupiter is pretty faint in this picture but it is the right 'eye' if you squint at this picture for a while. it also helps if you click on the picture itself to make it bigger. :)

we might not be able to see many stars in l.a., but we can see planets!