Meditation Bench and Zabuton

Dave has been starting to practice meditation some but found he was struggling with maintaining posture and that back pain was distracting him. I built him a meditation bench out of pine for Christmas and sewed a cushion (zabuton) out of grey canvas with blue piping.

I won't bother to write out a tutorial or directions but if you found this post while looking for a how-to for either of these items and are interested in measurements or how I made them, just leave a comment and I'll add more information.

(image from here)

Christmas Crackers

We made our own personalized Christmas crackers this year. My sister and I sought out personal gifts for each person along with the standard hats and jokes and chocolate. There were multi-tools, knives, miniature tools, chopstick rests, henna and oil, leather bookmarks and no-drip spoons. The gifts were a little difficult to find. I think I'll start early this year. Next week maybe.....

Chocolatey Chai Tea Latte and Danishes

I have been revelling in my post Christmas time off from work this year and as these things often go, the time is flying by. Dave likes to tease me about being an old lady with some of my past times and often, wardrobe. There is nothing quite like fixing yourself a hot beverage and a treat and sitting and doing absolutely nothing so I've been doing my fair share of hot chocolate and tea times. Today I decided to mix fancy things up with a tea latte and some danish. 

The tea latte is made with Chocolatey Chai Tea, a teaspoon or two of homemade caramel sauce, steamed milk and milk foam with some cinnamon. It was delicious.

As much as I like to bake and cook and as much as I'd like to take credit for these raspberry danishes, they are actually mail order danishes that a client from Dave's work often sends him. They are entirely random and expensive but pretty delicious.

Well, I'm off to find new and exciting ways to be entirely self-indulgent this holiday season! 

Some Things That Are Currently Making Me (Very) Happy.....

*Disclaimer* I got embarrassingly spoiled for Christmas

My mitre saw c/o my parents:

(10" Ryobi Sliding Compound Mitre)

My cordless drill c/o Dave:

(1/2" 18V Dewalt)

My air rifle c/o my sister and her boyfriend:

(Remington Airmaster 77)

My Resolution Run jacket I picked up yesterday for my run on Saturday morning:

(Running swag from the Running Room)

My Christmas present to myself:

(Garmin Forerunner 305)

The bird feeder that Dave's parents got for me that I filled and hung last night:

(I waded through snow and climbed a ladder in the dark and am now anxiously awaiting feathered friends)

The snow block maker I bought this morning for $2.50:

(I've been on the hunt for one for a couple years)

My favourite stocking stuffer:

(Dave got me multivitamins. I thought it was romantic)

Another 5lb. box of blueberries c/o my parents:

I don't tend to shop or buy a lot of stuff throughout the year so to have so much new and shiny stuff all at once is pretty novel to me. It's crazy but I've only offered up a small sampling of my spoiledness. My Christmas was lovely and it was great to spend time with friends and family. Once we hit Boxing Day it was nice to see things slow down a little and Dave and I had a few days to relax and watch movies in bed. I'm looking forward to having the next week to play with some of my new stuff, stuffing myself with more chocolate and sweets and all around loving life.

Band Aid Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!! Somehow this Christmas season I've managed to escape the whole season without hearing Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas" once. I've decided to change that. On my terms. What a pack of misfits. Enjoy!

 

I'll Have a Blue Weekend Without You...

Dave will be gone for a long weekend and all I'll have to keep me warm on those cold winter nights is some holiday decor, hot-chocolate and a hot-water bottle or two. It won't be SO bad I guess...

Pretty Please Santa?

I want one of these:

After all, Natty knows best!

Pssst...great review can be found here. 

Yankee Swap

Tonight was my volunteer potluck/yankee swap/holiday party and it was a great time!

I brought one of these for the swap:

And left with one of these (along with a dip dish, a dip mix and a box of fine crackers):

One of my very favourite things (that ended up "stolen" from me) was an elephant teapot. I may have come home and ordered one online:

Hey, sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Havin' a Ball

The other day I posted a photo of a Christmas project I had started. For some reason this year I have wreath fever and we just may end up with a house full by the end of the festive season. In fact, last week I kept doing google image searches for wreaths to get some ideas. I've seen them before but the photos of wreaths made with ball ornaments were calling out to me. I was going to wing it but decided to read some of the blog entries to get some tips. Almost every single one referenced me back to Eddie Ross' blog where he posted a tutorial. I won't bother with any directions because I followed the tutorial pretty closely. I will add that I wanted to be able to have the option to not cover the top with a ribbon and bow so I tried to hide the top of the hanger and where I twisted it closed as best I could. This was the only difficult part and I highly recommend needle-nose pliers. It can be hard to make the top look uniform like the rest of the wreath when you close it. I did a little frigging and it wasn't too bad. There was one slightly bare spot so I just took an extra ornament and hot-glued it to its surrounding ornaments (making sure the glued spots are hidden in the centre of the wreath.)

Even though it's hung on the inside of our sunroom door, through the glass it looks lovely and festive from the street too!

Tis the Season to be Jolly

I love Christmas. I love Christmas. I love Christmas.

I've noticed facebook statuses lately complaining about Christmas commercials and the stores filled with decorations and holiday stuff. I won't complain. Ever. I'm out snatching all the good stuff. Haha. Kidding. Sort of. Really though, I haven't allowed myself to accumulate too many Holiday decorations as I moved from apartment to apartment. This year, I'm going for it. I've already picked up a bunch of bulb ornaments, stocking hangers, a star tree-topper, a reindeer decoration and some stuff to make the house smell all holiday homey. And I can't wait to pick out more tree ornaments, new stockings and some other stuff.

This Christmas post may seem WAY too early but I'm getting amped. We are going to a tree-trimming and otherwise festive gathering at our fun and Christmas-loving friends tomorrow and I can't wait. I'm also really looking forward to trimming our first ever tree. Our last home was way too small for a tree so we have never had one together. I can't wait. Hot chocolate. Frank Sinatra. Christmas tree. Falalalala lalalala.