family of 3.

day 30 overlay
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...can you tell from these photos that we're having fun?! (here's the page without the overlay and the back)

hard to believe today is the last day of 2008. where has it gone? thinking about a "reflections" theme for my last december daily entry.

no big plans for tonight - georgia tech plays at 7:30 and hopefully we'll be eating pizza.

5 things.

...the girls and I had a great evening out on Sunday. Santaland Diaries was over-the-top funny and very well done. and dinner at Sotto Sotto was a treat. perfect for my day 28 journal entry (here and here).

and all that good together time probably made yesterday a little harder. I un-decorated (with plenty of help from Sara) and Katie left... just a few days to get herself organized before the big game and her last semester. the house seems extra empty. I gave myself a few hours yesterday afternoon to feel bad about it. and then decided that was no way to spend the extra week of vacation! looking on the bright side, there are five things I'm looking forward to over this next week:

1. more good food. cooking with sara. maybe a salad, soup or sandwich from the barefoot contessa. or a pizza or calzone from her new baking illustrated.

2. knitting. would like to finish a 3rd (!!!) knit-round scarf and maybe get another sweater started. juliet or the debbie bliss cabled jacket? {and since I created this list, have learned lydia, karen & I are getting together saturday afternoon for a knit and sip - yeah!}

3. reading. I need to finish our next bookclub book. and get through the huge pile of magazines that accumulated since thanksgiving. and hopefully get to spend time with the lovely paris books I got for christmas.

4. walks. the weather is supposed to be sunny over the next few days. only wish I had a new stash & burn podcast to keep me company.

5. getting myself organized and ready for 2009. new calendar. new files. a clean desk. (maybe cleaning up my craft area, too).

then I used the pretty red & white packaging from my christmas supply of origins' ginger body products to create my day 29 journal entry (the front is here).

holiday lunch.

day 27
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...I think this was our 12th annual lunch. one of my favorite holiday traditions. and thankful (again!) to be best friends with my sister.

the day after.

day 26
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...these past two days have flown by much too quickly. yesterday was just about relaxing. and knitting (for me! finally back to my bulky cable cowl). and this morning I enjoyed a few hours by myself to catch up the last four days of my christmas journal (all here).

christmas knitting.

...I read a lot on-line about knitters struggling through their christmas knitting. and I was completely surprised and very pleased when I finished my three projects on tuesday, a day ahead of schedule?!, which is bad because I think it might make me set higher goals for next year!

katie & sara were surprised and, I think, quite pleased too with their gifts:


(raveled here if you want to see all the details).

merry christmas.

...from our family to yours. hoping for many more photo opportunities today, but I doubt I'll get a better one of me and marc than this one katie took last night.

looking like christmas.

...I took these photos yesterday - love being home in the daylight! and now the knitting is done and presents are wrapped. today is just for shopping (harry's on christmas eve is a favorite tradition) and cooking, and hopefully a walk in the park with sara. oh, and maybe getting two journal entries together.

it's official.

day 22
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...the holidays are here when I can have a late lunch out at bistro vg with both sara & katie.

sheffield family christmas.

sheffield family christmas
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...another great tradition of our holiday (honestly, I am only now realizing how many traditions we have!). thank you to steve & lydia for hosting. this was the first year I saw their new house decorated for christmas and of course it was beautiful. and it's so fun with the cousins growing up. everyone is part of the party now.

and thank you to everyone for your patience with the camera. the twenty photos I took turned into five good ones. the one above, plus sisters, rogovin girls, girls only and siblings. oh, and journaled here.

a lovely day.

day 20
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...finished my shopping, and made a little progress on the knitting. so love having both girls home. and that sara does the baking (provided I buy the groceries). need to wrap today. and knit of course. but otherwise starting to feel ready.

dear santa.

day 19
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...this was a fun prompt last year, too. the letter is on the back.

holiday bookclub.

...another lovely evening. and the inspiration for my day 17 christmas journal entry. up early today and I finished day 16 and 18, too. (all of them are online here).

planning that with time off work, I can get back to one journal entry each day instead of saving up to make two or three at once. because I seriously need to spend some time on my holiday knitting, or there will be balls of yarn wrapped up under our tree!

dinner by flashlight.

...yup, that was us last night. the power went out just before 7:00 and wow, it's dark then! good thing marc had a lantern (two actually - after all, he's a 10) because the pretty candles I've put out for the holidays just don't provide that much light.

needless to say, I did not get any knitting done. nor did I get my journal pages done. but sara and I had fun cuddled under blankets going through our cooking lists. and just as we were all crowded onto the bed to watch home alone on marc's laptop, the power came back. so we watched the movie on the dvd player.

and now a good list.

...of course anyone who reads this already knows that I am a list maker extraordinaire. to the point that I love reasons to make lists. like this one - the second origins flier that arrived in today's mail. prompting a list of ten things I wish I had more of this holiday season.
(you should be able to click the photos to see the words better)

a good day.

...I was so excited to find this letterpress postcard from elise in my stash this morning! of course the colors are great for my december album, but the words were just perfect, too.

I uploaded photos of my entries for days 10-13, too. (everything is posted here). and decided these past five days have been much more a "december daily" than a "journal your christmas".

these past two days have been good - finished a lot of shopping and those five days for my album, had dinner with tom & vicki (always fun to enjoy food, wine and good friends), did some knitting and generally got a little bit back on track.

hopefully that feeling will last. we have a big week - finals for sara and me trying to wrap up enough work to take off two weeks, plus holiday bookclub - coming up. might even get a few gifts wrapped to put under the tree.

how are your preparations coming along?

does this mean I'm famous.

academy of medicine
Originally uploaded by mere2007
...probably not, but still, it's cool to see my name on a website! {eta - if the link takes you to a photo that's not mine, click the back button next to the photo}

happy friday.

...looking forward to a late lunch out with my friend liz today. and then a weekend full of christmas prep. happy friday!

memphis.

day 8
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...and day 8 of the christmas journal. the business was good, but my highlight was the plane knitting (need to post photos to ravelry and I promise I will this weekend). and I got day 9 finished today, too. love the tradition I journaled ... and of course I love keeping up!

more journaling.

day 7 back
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...I pretty much took off yesterday, but got up early this morning and posted entries for days 4, 5, 6 and 7. still enjoying the project, and love seeing the layers stack up!

goodbye.

...we said goodbye to chance yesterday. it's hard to believe how empty our house seems without him. but we are fortunate to have so many wonderful memories. he was a part of our family for 14 years. I remember when marc and I considered buying a king-sized bed so there would be room in the bed for the three of us (instead, we got chance his own bed and kept our queen). and how much he loved his meals. and having to be right in the middle of the action - whenever we were cooking in our not-so-very-big kitchen, he'd be right there, underfoot and not seeming to mind when we tripped over him. and how he'd tilt his head when he was waiting for someone to come in the back door. how he never barked. how he minded marc, but rarely the rest of us. they always had a special connection. these past few months he could hardly see or hear and the arthritis in his hips made it hard to move around much. but without fail, he would be waiting at the back door for marc when he got home. there were many times when I'd be sitting at my desk in the kitchen, and I'd hear chance get up to go wait by the door before I heard a car, or a door slam. but sure enough, marc's car would be in the garage...and chance would be the first one to greet him when he walked in the door. just like this.
happy dreams, chance-y, we love you and we miss you.

holiday dinner club.

...last night. much laughter, yummy food, and wine (of course :-)

working from home (again).

...yes, I'm fortunate - I get to work from home about as often as I choose (today was due to waiting on the telephone repairman - yes, the 2nd time in a week - but it seems like time wellspent since he really did "fix" something and our phone is working...again!). and although my lunch wasn't as good today as it has been, the view from my "office" was unbeatable!

two for two.

day 2 with overlay
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...this was one of the prompts I remembered very well from last year - and honestly wasn't sure how I could re-do it. but I found the great snowflake overlay at papersource last week and had the idea about a fake white christmas. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. you can see the photo without the overlay here, and the back here.

day 1.

day 1
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...done! (early on day 2).