12 Days of Shiny Shiny Christmas
It seems fitting to post my 12 days of Shiny Christmas today. These are things I received throughout the year, in proper numerical order to boot!!
- 1 Celtic Handfasting
April 12, 2008 I married my super model man. We did a Pagan Celtic Handfasting and it was quite remarkable. Even my very Catholic family members found it beautiful. Calling it Celtic helped I suppose, but the Celts were Pagans too. If you’re a masochist and want to weep, check out our ceremony.
- 2 Pixar Robots
2008 brought the best Pixar movie… ever. I do believe Wall-E was the best movie I saw throughout 2008. There are few words to describe its sheer awesomeness. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Though seeing cute (and amazingly high resolution) robots on the big screen was far more indulging than seeing it on our TV screen at home.
- 3 Handknit (pairs of) Socks
I learned to knit socks this year, and churned out three pairs as a result! One was even of my own design (The Eclipse Socks on the bottom). Very satisfying. The top two are Monkey and Froot Loops, both patterns from Knitty. If you haven’t been over to my knitting blog… shame! Its about as entertaining as a knitting blog can be… (which means if you knit you’ll love it and if you don’t you might be frightened by the obsession joy of my life.)
- 4 Pairs of Chuckies
I brought my current Chuckies count up to 4 pairs this year. These being ones I actually wear. I have about 5 pairs laying around my parents’ house that will eventually make the trek over… since I can’t seem to throw anything away. The upper right pair I wore to my wedding…
- 5 Harry Potter Movies
Every year In past years I’ve received the newest Harry Potter movie for my birthday. This year was Order of the Phoenix… sadly next year I wont get one for my birthday since the 6th Harry Potter release was pushed back to July 09. You’re ruining my traditions Warner Brothers!
- 6 Outlander Books
Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series stole my heart and my reading time this year. A Breath of Snow and Ashes isn’t pictured because…well it was MIA at the time of the photo. Fantastic (albeit long) books, meaty and fun. (Those two words shouldn’t be in the same sentence together, should they?)
- 7 Self Portraits (a week!)
I started Project 365 this year as well, taking one self portrait a day for one year. It’s tough really, to think of new ways to photograph yourself (unless your really narcissistic). I’m not fantastic at it, but its been entertaining.
- 8 Twilight Couples
I had to do something Twilighty for this list. 2008 brought me Twilight! Not really intelectually stimulating as far as books go, but they’re quick, fun reads. I would recommend them to just about everyone. And props to Stephenie Meyer for inventing the sexless sex scene. (That’s the only time you will ever hear those words come from my. Ever.)
- 9 New Family Members
Marriage involves a lot more people than just the bride and groom. I gained 9 new family members this year! My neice, Lucy, is not pictured, since she was about 6 months old at the wedding, nor is my new Grannie, who was off… somewhere. Weddings are kind of a blur. 
- 10 Friends Blogs
Google Reader is probably the only reason I pay attention to other blogs. Its a fantastic utility offered from Google. I have ten blogs of people I know well (some in person, some not). I check them every day along with the dozens of other blogs I stalk across the intertubes.
- 11 Epcot Countries
We went to Disney World for our honeymoon… why not Hawaii or somewhere else equally expensive and boring?? Hey, we can do that any where we want… (and yea, we did it in Disney too.) Plus we’re huge geeks at heart, so where better to celebrate our marriage of nerds than in Geek Central! Anyway, there were 11 countries in Epcot, our favorite of the three four theme parks in Disney. They are as follows… Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada. So… technically we went to a lot of places for our honeymoon!
- 12 Dark Hunter Books
I blame my friend Holly for this, she’s the one who got me addicted to these Dark Hunter books. (There’s four missing that aren’t technically part of the series.) I know, I know (no, really, I know) I always hate on other paranormal romance novels, but these ones have Greek mythology in them! And I have a blinding weakness to all things Greek. I really do… I took every Greek class available to me in college. My ancestors were from Greece… hell there’s even a city in Greece that my family is named after! That being said… these books are grossly engaging! (And yes, I only love Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants solely because Rory Gilmore goes to Greece.)
52 books in 52 weeks
Did you ever have a summer reading program in primary school? We did and I wiped the floor with my classmates every year.
It’s been recently brought to my attention that something akin to this exists in the blog world.
One might think its a little late to jump on the bandwagon with only 10 days left in the year, but counting up all the books I have listed as read (and can remember reading this year) on shelfari.com I still managed to read 52 books thoughout 2008.
I’ve listed them below in very random order. I’ll be keeping better track in 2009.
- Dream Chaser
- Midnight Pleasures
- Dream Hunter
- Acheron
- Devil My Cry
- Unleash The Night
- Dark Side of the Moon
- Sins of the Night
- Night Play
- Seize the Night
- Kiss of the Night
- Night Embrace
- Dance with the Devil
- Night Pleasures
- Fantasy Lover
- Voyager
- Dragonfly in Amber
- Succubus Blues
- Outlander
- Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs
- I Am America (And So Can You!)
- Coraline
- Dark Lover
- My Horizontal Life
- Vampire Academy
- In The Forests of The Night
- City of Ember
- The Host
- Breaking Dawn
- Bloodsucking Fiends
- Peeps
- Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior
- Eclipse
- New Moon
- Twilight
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Shadow Kissed
- Piece by Piece
- Drums of Autumn
- Vampire Diaries
- Elsewhere
- You Suck
- Survival of the Sickest
- Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar
- Small Gods
- Witches Abroad
- Reaper Man
- Moving Pictures
- Going Postal
- Fear the Darkness
- One Silent Night
- Upon a Midnight Clear
Booking Through Thursday
1. Do you give books as gifts?
2. To everyone? Or only to select people?
3. How do you feel about receiving books as gifts?
1. This is funny, because I gave almost everyone I know books for Christmas this year. The most fun about that was figuring out what to send to each person. I could have sent them all the same book, but it was way more personal to find out what they’ve read in the past and what they enjoy in a good book. Then I looked to my favorites and picked an appropriate book for them. Mass Market Paperback books are fairly inexpensive too, so I was able to send LOTS of books out this year.
2. I sort of already answered the second question, but to be more specific I sent books to my friends while my family got mostly DVDs that I knew they wanted. I’ve been known to gift books, but myfamily is *coughcough* stubborn and well read, so its increasingly hard to find books that they haven’t read and/or will read.
3. Books are my favorite thing in the world… well maybe second to my husband. And perhaps third to yarn. I donate the books I’ve read and pass them around to my friends, so the more books I receive (or buy for myself… which is usually the case) the easier it is to share them in the future.
(gasp! two posts in one day!)
Pass the salt
If you’ve ever lived in Michigan you know how much we love salt. In the past one snowflake could fall and the salt trucks would be plowing through the streets, residential and highway, dropping pounds and pounds of salt all over the streets.
This year, however, Michigan wants to cut back on its salt intake output. Between crappy economics and general hysteria Michigan started to realize that dumping tons of salt on the roads every winter might not be as cost effective as say… sand. Or simply not salting at all. This actually carries a few surprising benefits, like a decrease in rust on our precious cars and less erosion on our Swiss cheese roads.
Don’t get all giddy yet, Michigan also decided to stop plowing most roads as well. There’s plenty of rumors as to why plowing has been cut back, but the bottom line might seem irrelevant if our accident statistics rise considerably as a result.
I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life and I even learned to drive in the snow, so for me winter weather is really nothing to worry about. But every time snow falls, IQs seem to fall as well. Tuesday night my area saw a (not very) shocking 4 inches of snow and while relaxing in a cafe on Woodward I saw three ambulances rush by within the span of an hour.
On top of all the people who forget how to drive in the snow we now have less roads being plowed and less salt being spread. What will this mean for the general accident count of Michigan drivers in winter? Only time will tell, but I think we might all start to notice that a little extra salt never hurt anyone.
10 DIY Holiday Ornaments
What is quilling? Pretty much, wrapping tiny shreds of paper around a stick. No, really. You can buy the tool, hand roll your paper or use a toothpick. If you have nimble fingers and a bit of patience these ornaments are sure to be unique to everyone’s tree.
Most craft stores should have these materials. A hand drill will work in leiu of a real drill. Quick, easy and cheap!
There’s a slew of paper ornaments in this guide, but its probably they most readily available to all. Paper and scissors, ocassionally some glue. You can even buy fancy scrapbooking paper if you want to step it up a bit.
If you are unafraid of glitter, this is the project for you. Pick up some plain glass (or plastic) bulbs from the craft store (or anywhere really) and paint on them with the tip of a glue bottle. Sprinkle on glitter and presto-chango! A gorgeous custom made ornament! (Use a shoe box to pour glitter over the ornaments, easy cleanup!)
Instead of one sheet you use 6 tiny squares to make these star ornaments. The folds are very easy so anyone with some paper and glue can pull this off.
If you can knit, these are a fast and easy (DPNs are not scary!) project you can pass out to all your friends and family. You could make a dozen in a night if you’re fast. And kudos if you’re also from the mitten state!
Crocheting is super easy, and its worth learning if you don’t already know how. Put these right on the tree or string them up to make some creative garland. (Cute as a rear view mirror decoration too!)
Yay! More paper snowflakes! They are simple and easy, but thats the whole point. Dress it up with some fancy paper if you want, or just stick with the simple.
Cookie cutters can be used for more than just cookies. If you have some laying around, trace them on felt and make these really unique ornaments. If you like embroidery you can add some details too. But they look just as cute without!
I’m not kidding about the intricate part. This stuff blows my mind. If you have the ability to plan and be patient when it doesn’t work, try spicing up typical paper ornaments with some crazy designs like these.
If the quilling and origami freak you out, these might be more your taste. With thick strips, glue and some ribbon you can also create beautiful paper snowflakes.
Thursday Book Meme
Booking Through Thursday – December 4th, 2008
- Do you have a favorite author?
- Have you read everything he or she has written?
- Did you LIKE everything?
- How about a least favorite author?
- An author you wanted to like, but didn’t?
- Terry Pratchett, hands down!
- No, not yet! I’m in the middleish of the Discworld novels… I needed a break earlier this year since I read… 10 of them in a row? If you’ve read them, you know.
- Yes! He has yet to make me unhappy with a book. His writing style alone makes me squee inside, nevermind his awesome characters and all the crap they manage to get into. No other author has created such a ridiculous and yet somehow believable world and sold it to me with such conviction.
- Hmm… Not one in particular that stands out… but I don’t care for Anne Rice (hides). Yep. She’s boring. Ok, she has some great ideas and Lestat was my favorite book of hers, but there’s something about her writing that I just can’t get in to. Its like I’m watching the action behind glass rather than being a part of it, which is why I read. I engage! Anyway, she’s a fantastic author and I’ve read most of her Vampire Chronicles, but she’s my least favorite author as well. (I didn’t put down any author whose books I just couldn’t stand *coughcough* because its not fair to judge an author on one book I hated or just didn’t finish.)
- J R R Tolkien. Sorry… I know, I should go to nerd hell for that, but he explains way too much detail! I felt like I was reading a text book. Blargh!
20 Unique Holiday Gifts
For those of you who despise “typical holiday gifts” like multi-tools and candle sets, I’ve listed a bunch of stuff from my favorite sites that are not typical gifts. You can be sure there wont be any dupes under the tree with this stuff.
Spoon Sisters has a ton of really cool (and ingenius) things. They also organize their gifts by things like Hostess, College and Our Friend Fred (for those people you don’t know very well but want to get something really neat).
- The ‘Edge’ Brownie Pan, for the one who loves the corners… here’s a whole pan of corners. (Think Geek also carries the same pan for a little less)
- Goldfish soap in a bag! If you want something a little more interesting than christmas tree soap in the guest bathroom for the holidays.
- The Thumb Thing, if you hate holding a book open with your thumb as much as I do… invest in one of these. They’re kind of pricey (about $4 for one), but I think its well worth the cost in the end.
- Strawz! Back in my day we had to cut straws up to make this stuff. Now there’s a set of rubber U and L bends for the geeky science nerds who likes to play with straws. Like me.
- Space Origami, sick of flowers and cranes? Here’s some stuff even I’ve never seen.
Think Geek, I could probably link the entire site for this list… but I’ll limit this to the things I think arereally cool… and geeky (of course!)
- Titanium Spork. Wow. Just… wow. Where was this thing when I was growing up? I need, like, 12 of them to go with that fancy china we got for the wedding and have yet to use.
- Zombie Plushie, his limbs come off and he has a removable brain! Removable brains!!!
- Annoyitron, I read a tutorial on how to make one of these things a few years back… ThinkGeek has taken the technical guess work out… with just a watch battery this thing emits a 2-12mHz sound every 2-8 minutes. Its designed to annoy the frak out of people. You hide it somewhere near someone you maybe don’t like. Then enjoy the show.
- USB Owl, cute! And totally useless! But cute! His eyes open and his head turns. He does nothing else! But cute!
- Bacteria Plushies, nothing says I love you like gangrene and e. coli.
- LOL cats magnets, LOLCats r funny n cute. Wif dis LOLMagnetz set, makin ur own lolcats iz vry easy. Just git piccur ov teh cat (or othr animal ov ur choosin) an use teh magnetz 2 build teh capshun rite on ur refrigerator. Cuz they r magnets, they will also hold teh picchur ur capshunin. Iz amazin; iz miracle; iz LOLMagnetz.
- Squishy Shot Glasses, meant for camping, but they could be useful for those people who are … amusing … when intoxicated.
Linda & Harriet thought outside of the holiday box and put out some painfully adorable pig holiday cards and gifts. Yep, pigs. No it has nothing to do with the holidays. Its wonderful isn’t it?
(lipstick not included)
Fred Flare always has awesome and cute stuff. I could list their entire site as well… but here’s a few choice things.
- Lego iPod Speakers, for old school nerds. Legos and iPod… its like a marriage of new and old geek.
- Hamburger Phone, hold on…. I’m on my hamburger phone. Really? Need more explanation?
- Mini Roomba, ok, not really a Roomba, but same idea only desktop sized. Its a desktop roomba! C’mon, even I want five of these…
- Personal Lending Library, I’m not really this much of a book snob, so this might be a better gag gift than a real one. It could also be more suited to a DVD collection than a book shelf.
- Mixed Tape USB Stick, technically you can make anything into a USB stick if its wide enough… so why not a mix tape? Actually… if you have pliers and some shivs you can make your own.
Shana Logic also has some sweet (and sometimes creepy) things..
- Stuffed Unicorn Head, so… $80 is a lot to pay for something like this, but it seems like a great conversation piece!
- Octopus Tie, a little more interesting than a typical tie. And far more amusing. Not as subtle as some things I’ve seen, but if I had to wear a tie everyday I’d probably invest in weird ones like this.
- Philips Head Earrings, for the handy girl (or guy!). If you have a soldering iron and a hacksaw you can make these yourself.
Pancake Meow has lots of cute crafty stuff (ok, mostly cupcakes and cats) but since not everyone loves cats and candy as much as myself, I’m just posting this one really cool item I found there. Lots of companies have reusable shopping bags these days, but this one fits into a shopping hand basket rather than just duplicating a traditional bag in nylon. See the little diagram pic? Yes.
Other guides on other blogs…
The AV Club Holiday Guide. The AV Club reviews music, movies, books… people… lots of stuff. And they have a more interesting perspective than more reviewers. Their holiday guide is the best I’ve found so far.
(If you know of any other great holiday guides, or have one on your own blog, leave a comment and I’ll add it to my holiday guides blogroll.)
flickr meme goes blogging
1. Answer each of the questions below the cut using the [Flickr] search engine.
2. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
3. Copy the URL of your favorite photos [here].
4. Then share with the world.Thanks to cleolinda for this!
01. First Name: Julie, my grandmother’s name. Nothing fun really came up, but this picture was stunning.
02. Favorite Food: Popcorn. I thought, “What food is always in the house no matter what?” Well, there you go. Awesome shot.
03. Hometown: Royal Oak, MI. This was… hard. Because half the pictures were of the Detroit Zoo (which resides on Royal Oak) and the other half were of the Woodward Dream Cruise (which occurs here). I was lucky to find this little gem.
04. Favorite Color: Pink, you would think ‘pink’ would result in lots of pink. But not really. This kid is awfully cute. And so is her hat.
05. Celebrity Crush: I had to think about this one… because there aren’t a lot of them I crush on. Ryan Kwanten from True Blood is cute. He plays the stupidest man alive on the show, which I think adds to that cute appeal. This is also the worst picture I could find of him… and the mosaic maker cut him in half! Haha…
06. Favorite Drink: Tea. All kinds. Black, white, green, red… I;m not fond of chai… but its OK.
07. Dream Holiday: Easter. In my family Easter is more exciting than Christmas. The food is twice as good, there’s four times as much and there’s lots of chocolate. And no gift giving stigma to muck up the weeks before.
08. Favorite Dessert: Ice cream. Yummeh!
09. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up: Entrepreneur. No, really. When they asked us in school what we wanted to be, this was my answer, which was promptly followed by “Julie, you can’t be that. You have to pick real job.” Which I thought was pretty fucking hilarious since my parents were entrepreneurs themselves and their jobs seemed pretty real to me. There were always clothes on our backs and food on the table. I have yet to see how that’s not a ‘real job.’ My fall back (after many a parent confrence and visit to the detention room) was a vet. Woo.
10. What I Love Most In The World: Laughter. Especially when it comes from people I love. And me. Laughter makes everything well again.
11. One Word That Describes Me: Alive. When I searched originally I found a picture of a shark… which is oddly perfect for me. I’m more like a shark than anyone else I know. I’ll stop moving when I’m dead. The picture I wanted to use wouldn’t load, so this one is in its stead. Still odd. Still perfect.
12. My Blog Name: Shiny shiny? Sure. Why not.
1. when did you leave heaven ?, 2. The sun sets on this sad carnival, 3. While my guitar gently weeps…, 4. ~maive~, 5. sdcc true blood panel 2, 6. fancy a spot of tea love?, 7. “Norouz” is coming!…, 8. candy pop land, 9. lights of Kinmen 金門之光, 10. dancing with faeries, 11. sharklife 5, 12. Somebody Pulled the Plug.
