Of Deserts and Christmas

We had a great trip out in the desert...I didn't try to fly!!! No witch's eyes for me this trip. Renee was a great teacher, she took me and the Manager on a smaller ride and on the bigger rides rode in front of me to model for me. I'll be honest, our first small ride Saturday over to the diner to get a few supplies had me freaked out. But I calmed down and Renee took me under her wing and was really great...I totally got my confidence back. I can't wait to go out there again with her. The bf was happy because he's not so much of a teacher and knew that I'd do really well with Renee. I also finally met Renee's daughter Bells, she's so much fun. She's in high school and we got along great. We laid out on the trailer ramp Sunday afternoon while the bf and the others got back from a photo shoot of a race (we headed back early because we got bored) and fell into a giggle fit that lasted a good half hour. Bells may be a bit younger, but she is seriously cool. (pics of me riding and our desert Christmas decorations coming soon...)

Christmas is 16 days away, I can't believe how quickly it's coming. I still have a lot to do, but feel confident that I'll get everything done. Today I'm going to be practicing for my conducting final on Thursday and doing laundry (SOOO fun...not) On the fun list is putting up Christmas lights around my apartment and working on my Christmas cards (hopefully I'll finish making them tonight) Once I get them done then I can finish all my other Christmas projects.

-advent calendars for my brothers (both in progress....there will be a post with pictures for this)
-paint back of and personalize ornaments
-paint ornaments for colleagues
-paint wooden Christmas decorations that are gifts (angel and tree)
-make candle holders (there will be pictures of this, probably in its own post)
-make frame for my Grama (cookie baking picture with likewise decorated frame)

...I feel like I'm missing some projects on here. But I still have time to get it all finished. :) I also have baking plans the next two Saturdays, which I'm super excited about. Baking this weekend at my apartment (possibly with the bf) and then next weekend with the bf's mom. Next weekend is Christmas with the bf's parents, his mom and I are super excited about our awesome plans. More about those later. I'm also working up a few posts about my favorite holiday traditions and such. I hope you are all having a wonderful December preparing for Christmas or whatever holiday you and your family celebrate.

Happy Friday!

I've managed to get 26 Christmas cards done so far. I have a bunch more in progress, I should be able to get the rest finished hopefully Monday and with any luck get them in the mail by Wednesday. I'd work on them this weekend, but we're off for another jaunt in the desert. (no falling this time) We're taking the manager with us this time, so it should be a lot of fun.

We were originally supposed to go to December Nights tonight at Balboa Park. I've gone the past two years, it's just a great place to go and absorb the holiday spirit. They have shows and lights and vendors and everyone is just so happy and pleasant. I'm okay missing it this time, but the bf feels a little bad about it, so he's making it up to me by doing Christmas in the desert. He bought a big inflatable Christmas penguin blow up to put on top of the trailer. We've got his ipod loaded with Christmas music, and he's letting me ransack the inside of the trailer with Christmas lights. :) We also have hot spiced cider which is a must :)

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Happy 1st of December

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving, mine went very well. I'll of course be catching up with all of your stories over the next few days, mixed in with making Christmas cards and getting ready for another trip to the desert. (I promise to not try to fly this time) The bf said we can decorate the trailer...I'm going to put up lights all throughout the inside, I'm so excited. The bf is looking into getting a blow up lit up thing to put on top of the trailer...I hope he gets one, it would be SO cool.

I cannot express how excited I am that it's finally December. I brought my little American Girl Christmas tree home with me and have that all lit and decorated over on my art box in the corner. I'm going to string lights up around the top of my apartment sometime in the next couple days I hope. The bf's mom got me the most beautiful nativity that sits perfectly on top of my DVD shelves. We're partially through decorating at work, the office looks great. The manager and I strung old ethernet cords from the ceiling, wrapped them in gold garland and hung paper candy balls on each loop. It's so awesome...we're lucky the manager is so tall, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to reach things.

December is getting jam packed full of fun holiday activities, my weekends are basically booked now through Christmas. And I can't wait! I spent this evening working on my Christmas cards. The bf bought me this great stamp set and I got the crazy idea to make my own cards this year. I got 4 models made tonight, I want to make 1 or 2 others and then go ahead and make duplicates of all of them. Luckily the duplicates won't take as long as the originals since I'll only be copying them and not designing them. They're not perfect, but I think they work. I'm so excited. There will be pictures of those when I'm done with them. Along with the picture of me on the quad in my gear (the bf hasn't sent them to me yet) Maybe I'll have some new desert ones to add after this weekend too. :) I'll have to get photos of the decorations in the trailer! The bf bought a brand new Canon XSI at Costco the day after Thanksgiving...it's BEAUTIFUL. Incidentally, Costco was cheaper than the Black Friday sales and much calmer too. I'm in love with a camera. It's seriously SOOOOO beautiful. I can't wait to upload pictures that I take with the camera. I think he's bringing the camera out with us this weekend, so that should be great.

Well, I've got to open in the morning so I ought to be getting to sleep here. Hopefully my phone doesn't turn off sometime during the night again like it did last night...luckily I woke up before I was late to work. (I was NOT pleased with my phone) I hope you have a fantastic week, I'll be around to catch up with you all throughout the next few days.