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My 2012 definitely had its fair shares of ups and downs, as well as tears and laughter. Overall, I’d say that it was rather enlightening. Just by testing my limits, I learned so much about myself throughout these past twelve months. Some bad. Some good. The learning experiences along the way, however, have made me a stronger person.
So, with 2013 right around the corner, I thought I’d finally post an entry about some of the highlights from December 2012, considering a month has gone by without any update. December, at least for me, always seems to be a blur. Hmm…? What happened this past month? *Well, maybe if you blogged more, Sarah, this wouldn’t be an issue.*
Holiday festivities consumed most of this month. As I wrote in my previous post, we decorated the tree in a non-traditional way. We, technically just me, wanted to do a purple and orange colored tree. I know, I know. Not very typical, but I thought it would be fun. Turns out, we had a lot of fun with this one. The best part about our 2012 tree was the abundant succulents and air plants that were scattered all over the tree’s branches. Here are some other photos of the 2012 Kee tree:
…and a picture with the pups, of course!
We threw a holiday party for friends, a gingerbread house making party to be exact. Yup, we pretty much were on a sugar high that whole weekend. Unfortunately, I don’t have the pictures of all of our concoctions put together. Looks like I’m gonna to have to bug some friends for the picture of the whole gingerbread village we created.
There was a holiday get together over at the in-laws, too. It was super funny watching everyone do the annual gift exchange. We came home with a cute apron, which I still need to put to good use. As for the dogs, Maui and Hilo were so excited to hang out with their Westie cousins.
We also squeezed in a quick trip down to So Cal. The dogs have learned that the beach never gets old. I wonder where they learned that one from, hehe. 
There are hundreds more photos I could share from this month, but I guess I’ll leave it at that. It would take me, oh you know, A WHOLE MONTH to blog about all of the stuff that happened in December. Doh! This is why staying up to date with the blog comes in handy.
Wishing our families and friends a Happy New Year! 2013′s gonna be a great year. I can feel it.
We were in charge of hosting Thanksgiving this year, turkey and all. Everything turned out as planned, and everyone enjoyed dinner (at least I hope they did, hehe). Personally, my favorite part was the wonderful company of family. Well, and of course, all of the delicious food. I created a pretty extensive menu because I wanted to make sure there was enough food for our fall harvest. Below are some of the photos that I managed to capture during the holiday.
The day after Thanksgiving marked the the shop‘s anniversary! I can’t believe how time flew by this year. I’m so thankful for all of our customers’ support and business these past two years; we wouldn’t have come this far without all of you. So again, thank you.
As for me, I took most of the day off to set up our Christmas tree. With everything going on from Thanksgiving up until the year’s end, I figured that the weekend after Thanksgiving would be perfect timing to go out and get the tree.
We made a trip out to Half Moon Bay to pay a visit to Santa’s Tree Farm & Village to get our tree. …and you know what’s even more awesome then getting our tree?! I got to be a creeper and take a picture with Santa, haha! Plus, there was no wait or line at all. Heck, yeah!
As soon as we got home, we trimmed the tree and set it up. Did we finish decorating it that day?! Absolutely not, haha! It would’ve been a miracle if we had though.
Eventually, we ended up finishing the tree. …but before finishing the tree, we headed up North to celebrate my uncle’s 40th and Nat’s 25th!
I love that Nat’s party was all about Christmas crafting. A day spent crafting? I couldn’t say no! We spent the day making Christmas ornaments for their tree. At the end of the day, Sean and Nat finished decorating. I love all of the personal touches; it’s so cute!
As for our Christmas decorations, just like every year, we had a decorating theme. We decided to go non-traditional with a purple, orange, and gold Christmas tree. Plus, we thought it would be unique to have succulents and tillandsia plants on the tree. I’m in love with the colors and all of the sparkles.
…and I love our mantle, too. We kept to the same theme as our Christmas tree.
With all of the greens around the house, it smells so Christmas-y. I love it. It makes everything seem so homey and warm. All I need to do now is finish making our holiday wreath. Well, that… and start my holiday shopping, haha. Oh, and finish creating my December Daily album. *sigh* So much to do!
Stay tuned for more pictures.
PS: Can’t wait for next week. It needs to be here sooner.
I can’t believe that it’s November already. Where did this year go?! Halloween came and went, and now we’re in full gear towards Thanksgiving. Not too long from now, we will be busy trimming our tree and decking our halls with color. By the time we know it, it’ll be a brand new year filled with little blessings. In the meantime, I’ll soak up the past October festivities.
We went to a Halloween get together at the Smith house last weekend. It’s always fun going to their shindigs, especially during Halloween time. Their whole front yard is decked out with SCARY decorations! Plus, Jeanne’s pumpkin pie is to die for! *No pun intended, hehe.*
Pumpkin carving this year wasn’t as extravagant as previous years. G was on the road for a good amount of time this month, so we only carved some basic ones. At least this year, we actually got the chance to carve. Last year during Halloween time, we were way too busy.
…and as far as being creative, here’s some of the scrapbook layouts that I created in October.
First up, here’s a layout I made for my friend Ann. Yes, I “borrowed” some of her photos. This layout uses the collection Soho Garden by American Crafts. I’m not going to lie; I hoarded this collection because all of its papers are named after areas in NYC’s Soho, my favorite part of the city! You know it’s an addiction when you’re buying paper because of its name.
Second layout features 5th & Frolic, also manufactured by American Crafts. I’m in love with the soft palette to this collection. Plus, there’s hints of gold incorporated into all of the products. Gold, you say? Um, yes, please!
Last but not least, my third layout is a compilation of a bunch of scraps I had out on the table in the crop room. Most of it comes from KI Memories’ latest collection, Flashback. Have you seen it?! It reminds me of the stuff they used to have on the market, so I hoarded it, haha. Aren’t surprised, huh?
On another note, life has been throwing lots of curve balls my way. Fingers crossed that everything goes my way tomorrow at the clinic.
Autumn is my favorite part of the year. It’s a season of change, and more importantly, thanksgiving – giving thanks to everything we have or don’t have. As for me, change in the next couple of months is going to be inevitable. We’ve been busy prepping for the holiday season. This year we were nominated to host Thanksgiving dinner, so we’ve got our hands full.
A couple of weeks ago, we visited Apple Hill. It had been over five years since our last visit, so it was neat to check it out again. The colors on the Apple Hill farms and orchards are phenomenal. Such a quaint and festive place to be during this time of the year. If you’re local, I’d recommend making a weekend/day trip out of it. They have a variety of apples, which were all crisp and delicious.
Bushels of fruit later and icky tummy aches from fall snack favorites, we headed home. Bet you can’t guess what we snacked on during the car ride…
Lastly, autumn wouldn’t be complete without a trek to Half Moon Bay for pumpkins. It’s become one of our favorite annual traditions – to pick pumpkins on the actual pumpkin farm.
It started drizzling while on the pumpkin patch due to major overcast, but all was good. It added to the whole experience – getting muddy and dirty, haha!
PS: We should have bought one small little pumpkin to add to the bunch.
Last week, I got around to creating a sample for the shop using one of the latest Basic Grey releases, Aspen Frost. In my opinion, it looks similar to another holiday collection they put out a couple of years ago, but nonetheless, it’s pretty and I like it. Here’s what I made:
I absolutely love the silk ribbon on this one. I’ve been using these ribbons in tons of my stuff recently. Yes, we have them in tons of different colors. The texture is so soft, so it makes it easy to work with and hard to refuse.
This past weekend was one of those on a whim weekends. We woke up early on Saturday morning and wanted to do something fun, but we weren’t sure what to do. Well, I remembered a place that a customer had told me about, and so we thought it would be neat to check out Gizdich Ranch.
They have fresh squeezed apple juice in all sizes. Plus, they sell pies by the slice or by the whole. Their pies are pretty tasty, and they’ve got almost every pie you could imagine, not just apple pie or dutch apple pie. Yum! I still prefer my mom’s apple pie though, but I think I’m just biased, haha.
After gallivanting on the coastal farm, we headed towards the beach, and then, back home.
As far as weekend projects, I had two to accomplish.
First, enjoying our succulents.
…and two, starting our Halloween decorations.
Why so early, you ask?! Well, from now until Halloween, the calendar is busy and it only gets busier. Because I had the extra time, I thought it would be fun to spruce up the mantle for Halloween. It’s not quite complete, but it’s getting there. I woke up the other morning, and G had added some of her “scary” Lego mini figures to the decor. Frankenstein, a witch, a zombie, and Count Dracula, just to name a few, are adding the spook to the mantle, hehe.
On a side note, maybe I’m working too much? …or working too hard? I wish that I had a normal immune system. This morning I woke up with a fever of 102. It’s gone down since then, but I’m feeling icky. Hopefully, after a couple days of rest, I’ll be well enough to see the Endeavor Shuttle fly over Moffett Airfield. Go ahead. Call me a nerd. It’s not everyday that you get to see a space shuttle fly over your house. Be jealous.
