(christmas eve...the sun peeped through the fog for a couple of minutes and it was sooo magical...mmm)

you guys are gonna love me so much. because, a.) i found my camera so i can upload actual pictures to enhance your viewing pleasure, and b.) i have a day off and time to update this blog and fill in some of the blanks of this last year (which, after glancing through it at work the other day, there are a TON of those...hehe)


(our backyard on that same morning...the roses are blooming! :))

so, happy new year's eve eve!

yes, please. i would like a subscription to beyond magazine.

hi, my name is jennie, and i have too much time on my hands. haha actually, i have this weird thing with needing to make a cd cover for every mix tape, uh, cd, i make. (i bought the cds; it's legal! :))

anyway, i just thought i'd share the love.

it's cloudy out because the weather knows the long weekend is looming near. last night i was running around the track like a rabbit (or turtle, whatever you'd like to imagine) and it was so cool and so clear and so quiet. when it's dark like that and only the light around are the track lights and the stars timidly shining (the ones that are bright enough to shine in l.a., that is, so maybe they are mostly planets and satellites, hehe)...anyway, it feels like you're inside of a dream. i love that. it's the same way with running in fog where you can only see forms running ahead of you and the ocean is just a sound to your right...mmm, i love that.

and here's the back of the cd cover for kicks.



have a splendid day, friends.

Dom.net: Nickel Creek - Smoothie Song (live)

my goodness. okay, i will for reals talk about something other than nickel creek in my next post, but you've got to see them play the smoothie song. happiness. :) just click the above link. :)

(my not-so-secret-anymore dream job would be to make concert posters and cd covers someday...hehe)

christmas was wonderful...has it really come and gone? the last couple of months have been a blur and flurry of activity. it hit me as i was leaving this morning that i had lived in my new house with my four great roommates for a month now. it has been so much fun and so good for me...the area where we live is residential/country kind of. how do i explain it except to say we overlook the valley and lining the streets are pine trees and eucalyptus and bouganvillia (sp?). man, i love california. :)

for christmas eve, i drove down to escondido to see the fam and wow, was it hot. it was really trafficy and since i'm just a wee bit paranoid about my car overheating, i kept the air off (until direly needed) so it was a tad bit warm. okay, so it was hot, but no matter. i had bought a bunch of new cds to make the drive there and back again (haha) better and easier to my soul (sorry, folks, i can't do the radio--it drives me nuts) and it was kind of funny because i was trying to be brave and venture into new territory (music-wise) and well, it didn't work out so well. nickel creek's latest was the best of the bunch (of course) and so i sang along until i was hoarse and then moved on to a cd by aqualung. hmmm track 3 (i think) is good. but that's about it. it was terribly sad, but i learned my lesson to not believe those silly stickers that say things like, "in the vein of coldplay...THE breakthrough artist of the year..." It really should have said, "this guy sings in falsetto and plays the piano and at moments sounds like he could be copping off coldplay, but, yeah, not enough to make you really notice. the end." but this must be why i don't write those quotes. i'd get fired.

so poor aqualung got shelved. then there was death cab for cutie's latest. purty good. i know the lead singer is also in the postal service but this latest cd sounds almost exactly like the postal service offering of last year (remember "such great heights", friends?) or maybe it was the year before last. yeah, it was. my, time flies.

i really liked a few of the tracks, though, specifically "your heart is an empty room" and "crooked teeth". but who wouldn't love "crooked teeth". you're simultaneously feeling sorry for the guy and laughing your head off. love that. :)

in sad news, they're playing this new year's eve bash here in l.a. but of course it's way expensive. sadness.

well, back to the other music. to round out the road trip was sigur ros' latest. (how do you pronounce their name? does anyone know or are we all making up our own fancy versions?) the only problem with their music is it is NOT car music for me. it is creative, quick-get-a-paintbrush-or-magazine-to-tear-up-to-make-collages music so just listening to it makes me a little crazy. it is so cool, though. they are the essence of cool.

oh, and there was also andrew bird's latest. he is just great. and to think, how many times did i walk right past his cd, "the mysterious production of eggs" before he opened up for nickel creek and my life was changed?

so, as i said christmas was splendid. it was good to see my grandparents (they're living out in kentucky these days) and to hang with some of the cousins. what was really funny was reminiscing with the ones in college and realizing they hadn't been born yet for most of the early childhood stories i was telling them. good grief. those were really, really early memories, though...right?

baby emma's poncho. :) her blanket (which was shipped pre-finding the camera) was in the same seed stitch. wow, it's so gratifying to make teeny baby things. :) :)



here's a close-up (sorry it's blurry) of the poncho. i just love this stitch! it most likely proves my perfectionist/obsessive compulsive tendencies but no matter, no matter. hehe i'm going to add a teensy bit of baby fun fur or something around the edges to make it extra girlie. :)

had a day off and a song stuck in my head. what else could i do but make a t-shirt?

unfortunately, it looks kind of lame on, but ah well, at least it's out of my system.

merry christmas, everyone! :)

this is me on my "I'm gonna go and grab a couple ornaments for my relatives really quick on christmas eve" shopping experiment. i obviously have never been out shopping on christmas eve because i was completely shocked at the crowds and the lack of anything worth buying. note how i parked 800 miles away to avoid the parking garage? hehe

i do like the mountains in the back, though. they're so cute!

p.s. i opted to make cookies/fudge and bring that instead. much better choice.

wow, i just moved into this house and one of my roommates bought me a smashin' coffee mug for the car and yarn. talk about being nailed.

thanks, krista. :)

i've had this weird desire to go to portland lately. my parents drive up to oregon every chance they can get and tell me stories about their early married life when they lived in an old boarding house in portland. (they'd sit out on the roof and watch the stars just like in the movies...sigh) anyway, for years they've told me about the glories of portland, especially powells books and after seeing nickel creek last weekend (for the most ridiculously great concert ever), i was reinspired because of their song for the coffee shop, stumptown. or maybe i'm just making excuses.

maybe i just want to wear one of these 8 million scarves i've knitted.

today's entry from my sketchbook...

i saw this kitty online today and promptly fell in love. (i'm sorry i don't know who to credit it to.) makes me want to get a kitty really, really bad. or at least a neighbor kitty that i can pet like momo at our last apartment.

i miss you momo! :(

nickel creek covered "toxic" last night. it was...well, it was awesome. :)

why can't they play a monthly gig at the wiltern? would that be too much to ask?

it was such a great show but, as usual, words fail me when they're most needed. ah well. my plug: if they're ever in your town go see them. just do it, friends. you'll thank me. :)

p.s. now we can only hope they'll work up "istanbul" by tmbg for their next tour. hope, hope!

is there a certain way to eat a Napolean so as to not get creme, powdered sugar, and pastry all over the place? there's got to be...hmmm

...later...

last night i worked more on my poncho and sketched a bit in my sketchbook since i have been reinspired by not keren's design. it is so odd, sometimes to see other people's designs that look like they could be brother or sister (or at least cousins) to my little characters. i love her stuff! love it! of course, until i get a scanner or find my digital camera, you'll just have to take my word for it. haha

okay...back to the real world...

oh my goodness, today is so clear and beautiful, i just want to skip work and eat up all the day's goodness. mmmm i love days like this--especially when the clouds look like they have been scrubbed and then carefully arranged in the blue. :)

last night was incredibly productive...made a delicious chicken soup that would make my chef mother proud, finished a couple of scarves and started on the embroidery for baby emma's shirts. it was soo fun! :) more fun will happen tonight, i'm sure, after i run around the track for a while.

by the way, my plants love, love, LOVE their new home. i was worried at first because a couple weekends after i moved, we had a nice 100 degree day which happily fried them all, but they are recovering so well and their new friends, the bunnies, don't seem to be interested in nibbling them to bits (thank you, bunnies.)

okay...back to life...

(my sketchbook for today...lots on the mind :))

since the camera is still hiding out somewheres in the garage, i thought i'd share a couple of wonderful blogs i happened upon yesterday. oh joy and french toast cake (who is absolutely adorable and lives in redding!!! ahhhh!!!)

so that's the joy for today! :) yesterday i worked a bit more on a lovely scarf for antje that is completely impratical for a german winter but sooo cute. i think it would be perfect for a night at the opera (along with a really thick woolen coat and a dress, of course, as well)...but that's just me. so that's comin' along.

i decided last night after many days of procrastinating and pretending that christmas wasn't so near as to have to decide that i won't be going home for christmas this year. we only get a day off at work and all my vacation went happily to my sister's wedding and to thanksgiving at my other sister's. so realizing i would be driving a day to be home a day to drive home a day finally settled in and i made The Decision. of course, everyone already knew this would happen and my mom took it perfectly well and the fam down here insisted i stay with them so it isn't That Big of a Deal except for a traditionalist like me who has Always, Always, Always gone home to mommee and daddee's for the Christmas holidays.

i suppose now that i'm turning 30 this year it's time to grow up? ha!

this means, of course, that the christmas list must be revamped and expanded for all the trillions of extra peoples down here, so i had ornaments and extra cookies and wine on my brain this afternoon. and suddenly, i just wanted to take off for the next three weeks so i could make things. unfortunately, that is unrealistic. so i'll just smoosh everything into the evenings after work and this weekend...oooh, i can't wait to bake this weekend! have i already said that? haha

well, the ruffle scarf was finished this weekend (camera is still missing! ahh) and it turned out so sweetly! it is incredibly airy and light and looks a bit different from the magazine but this is because i used a different kind of yarn. after i started this one (and was more than halfway done), i was inspired to buy the yarn the pattern actually called for so i'll be making another ruffle scarf in the future, hehe...

this weekend was incredible! the weather on friday was rainy and overcast so it was perfect knitting weather (and yarn shopping weather)...i bought some chunky wool and some giant size 35 needles for an afghan pattern i read about a couple weeks ago. who knows if that will actually happen but in the meantime, the chunky wool/big needle combination knit up so well! (and fast!) i made a delicious scarf but then decided it was too long and ripped it out and knit up another one which i wore to the beach saturday morning. the beach was much too warm, however, so the scarf ended up being held for most of my walk.

i kept on pinching myself that it was december and i was at the beach. it was completely surreal because, although california is definitely warm compared to other places, the beach in the winter is usually pretty cool because of that nice ocean wind. i've gone on many a well-intentioned walk down the sand in december where my ears were hurting so badly and my face is stung because of the sand blasting it but this weekend it was like spring. warm, soft breezes...cobalt blue skies...smiling people out walking/running/skating/biking with their loved ones...it was just gorgeous.

it was also fun to see the sand snowman contest. someday i'm determined to be able to make something more out of the sand than sand bucket 'castles'...

so that was my weekend. this coming weekend is my official baking weekend which will be fun. i haven't taken the time for many years to make piles of cookies for everyone. and i have a new incredibly delicious fudge recipe too! (tested by my sister with great success at thanksgiving) :)

okay, back to work...