Please....might I have a Hippo?

Whilst in SF over the weekend The Mr. and I found this lovely instrument. It's not the one we have been looking for and are endless out bid on but we decided to use our Christmas money from relatives and combined with money from ourselves to purchase this for each other for Christmas. So here it is....
I am nervous to load this as I am well aware of all the flubs so there is no need for comments to inform me of them. ;-P Just a late Merry Christmas to you!

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lovies and Lucky Stars,

-K

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Here is our tree btw, just in case you were wondering. It is decorated with a hodge-podge of ornaments that have been collected by The Mr. and myself since we were children. The Mr's Mum (best mum-in-law EVER, btw) collected some for him growing up. My ornaments are mostly from my (Fairy) godmother. I always heard the term godmother applied to her and assumed that made her my personal fairy godmother, yes, as a child I had images of her handing me glass slippers one day. Eventually I grew up and found out what it really meant, but my engagement ring was a family heirloom handed down from her and I think it's worth 10 glass slippers. She was one of the most lovely people I have ever had the privileged to know and it still hurts to think of her being gone even if it has been almost 4 years now. On top of that (and what sparked me thinking and mentioning her in the first place) she bought my sisters and me each an ornament every Christmas since we were born. I adore my tree!!! Each ornament holds so much love and so many memories ....sigh....I miss her.

Hope this weekend is lovely and void of stress or annoyance, enjoy your self!!! Remember how much we look forward to this time all the rest of the year? Don't let long lines or grumpy people ruin it for you, it will be gone in no time!

Merry Christmas!!!

Lovies and Lucky Stars,

-K

Ps. I have NO idea why the above paragraphs are underlined and neither do I know how to get rid of it. Apologies.

Christmas Tree Lane Walks 1 & 2

Myself, W, The Cat and the Cow, My Sister.

This display has been a regular ever since I can remember...long before my parents ever lived down the street and our open house tradition began. you can't tell but they dance. A couple years ago some awful people vandalized a bunch of stuff on the Lane and this display was set on fire.....it was a very sad year. Glad to see it fixed and back to looking like the good old days.

I told you there was a crowd.

Myself and The Kidlet. (sorry so many pics are fuzzy, the flash just ruins everything)

The Mr.

The A"boob"minable Snowman.

Us.

The second night, hence the different hair (bow)

Every year my family has an open house on the night that a nearby street has their annual Walk Night. They close it to cars (which usually cause traffic jams on this street as these houses go ALL out every year) and we are free to walk like cattle packed into an enormous crowd. Everyone runs into a million people they know as pretty much everyone turns out for this thing. It happens two different nights and since people show up at my parents on both nights we have expanded the open house to both nights as well. My pop builds a fire pit in the front yard, people roast marshmallows, bring lovely treats to share or instruments to play and rabbly-rousing commences. It's alway a blast and it's crazy to think that we have been doing this since I was in highschool and now here I am with a child myself, starting a new generation to enjoy the tradition.

Sighhhhhh, still working on presents....I need to get some wrapped, there is nothing under the tree yet and it looks lonely. That reminds me, I must get some pictures of OUR tree and get them put up for you.

Stay warm and don't forget why we have this time of celebration in the first place.

Blessings, Lovies and Christmas Light Lanes,

-K

The Hair Bow!

More pics tomorrow... but I must get to bed as I have class in the morning. In the mean time...TADA! The Hair Bow!

Yes, it's all my hair, not a wiglet.

Lovies and Lamentations,

-K

Christmas Wish List.

Really K? Really? Where would you wear this? It doesn't matter...I would find a reason.

Alexander McQueen peacock dress...yes please.

Probably the tippy top of my list...oh elusive Guitarophone...someday you shall be mine.

Joseph Pintauro (sp?) Boxes...yes please.

Vintage Umbrellas...out of everything this one is what I actually need...though vintage is not a necessity...but a want.

Keeping my eyes open for this and the other Mary Frances books at books stores. Might have to buckle and accept that the reprints on Amazon will have to suffice.

I want BOTH cloches AND terrariums and have tried making the later...which ended in miserable defeat. Sniffles.

Yes, that's right, bloomers, pantaloons, whatever you call them, these frilled, fabric confections are not only a want, but like the umbrella would be put to good use. As someone that bikes constantly and wears dresses more than anything else this wouldn't be as frivolous a purchase as it would seem.
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Ok, so ultimately I wish for things like, friends and family that are ill to be healed, and freedom for The Invisible Children and healing for the abused and food for the hungry.

Soooo now, having written that, I feel like a total jerk for even looking at pretty things like this and desiring them even the least bit. Sigh. Oh well, I will complete the blog anyway and admit to you what a fickle and foolish creature I am, wishing to cure the world of it's ills but still coveting useless things I don't have and don't need.

That being said, I am grateful for how blessed I am in spite of what others may think of our circumstance (as if a family of 3 living in a one bedroom apartment is abject poverty...HA, to them, I say!!!)

THAT being said, here are the silly little things that my little heart finds appealing. Just for the heck of it.

Lovies and lox and bagels,

-K

ps. I tried to link all the pics I could, most of them were stock photos found on google image. Apologies if you think I stole without giving credit where credit is due. Forgive me.

The Starline Show

So I'm trying to be better about snagging shots here and there for important occasions. Sadly, I forgot till after our show tonight when I was looking more bedraggled at 1am then when I started out at 8. But here it is, I figured you would care Kate! :-) Sooo after looking at these couple shots The Mr. took right before he crashed (he's going to get 4.5 hours of sleep before work tomorrow, poor fellow!!!) I realized that it looks as though I have tiny fingerless hands. My hands are in gloves shoved in my pockets....just in case you were wondering. :-)

The show went over pretty well. No one booed us, so I guess that's good. We even had a couple people approach us afterward and ask if we had cd's (not yet) and others say they were afraid when they saw us setting up our instruments because it would either be "really good or really bad" and we were "really good". So YEAAA! We ran out of time and had to cut out two songs (one of our new ones that I was excited about too....booo)

When it was over I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in a couple years and come to find out he's in 5? 6? other bands, one of which is a family band sort of thing and he wants us to play in a couple weeks at another venue we've never played before. EEEEEE! This should be exciting. Problem is, it's the day after Christmas so I will have to do some arm twisting to get the rest of the gang to say yes.....we shall see.

As always, Lovies and Lickitysplits,

-K

Sing the Body Show

So tomorrow night we have another show. I am starting to become terrified. The venue is pretty big in our town and so I'm starting to get nervous. The bands we are playing with are fairly well known in "the scene" and I'm scared there will be a ton of people...or none at all. Whewwwww, I've been to more shows at this place than I could even begin to guess. I'm used to the crowd, the staff, and the regulars....but to suddenly be on the stage. EGAD! Terrifying! Fingerscrossed!!!

Should you live here and know this venue....we will see you there, we have two new songs, btw!

Lovies and languid days,

-K

PS. Brother Luke and the Comrades is the band of my dear friend The Cat and The Cow. In case you were wondering.

'Tis the season.

Christmas Parties are here and I'm loving every minute of it! The tree is decorated, crafting has begun and Candy Cane Lane Tea is being drunk. Sigh, how I do love Christmas. It breaks my heart to see how many people write this holiday off because of the commercialism that tries to sneak in and take over. I admit, it's there, it happens. But why let it!??!? FIGHT FOR IT!!!!

It's kind of like life....it ends up being what you make of it.

And I am going to make it about what I believe. That it is a day to celebrate my spiritual beliefs. A day to remember how much I have to be grateful for. That my Savior was born (not on this exact day of course) and as a result I have hope and peace. That it's a time to be with my family, to have fun thinking up things that might be a blessing to them, that might cheer them and encourage them. To sacrifice a bit of my time and effort and money and make my friends and family reminders of how much they mean to me. Not because I have to!!!! But because I want to!!! It's not expected, it's not demanded, it's just fun for us.

Why let something that it's NOT ended up taking over what it really IS!?!?!?

Lovies and the little town of Bethlehem,
-K