Snow Days to Christmas to Lopez Days

In case you missed it, Seattle got hit with a crazy amount of snow leading up to Christmas. This is a pic of the iconic Virginia Inn with merry sledders.
Christmas was lovely and white spent down south at my family home in Vancouver. Andy & I had an interesting experience with riding the rails due to the weather. Even though Amtrak has yet to enter our current century technology-wise, and despite the fact that our departing train was over an hour delayed because of the weather (but then, so were we...) it was a pretty sweet way to travel.

Swift on the heels of train travel I continued North with the thaw to hop a ferry to the San Juans for the weekend. My best friend Katie had been working on Lopez Island for the Lopez Community Land Trust - helping to build these lovely affordable homes. So I journeyed north to visit her while she was there. We drove around the whole island and to my city girl astonishment each and every driver that passed us waved. Yes - waved. How lovely is that?

Katie had been told by the locals that THE place to see while on the island was Watmough Bay. She had yet to make it over there since it was located on the opposite side of the island from where she had been staying. So off we went to find it.

The place to see indeed. Even on a cold grey day this bay sheltered by a huge rock wall was absolutely stunning.

Nearly Christmas

The gifts are packed, the bags are packed...

The wrapping is my favorite part. Nowadays I never buy special paper - I prefer to have special paper come to me. That gorgeous blue? A tattered old roll of wallpaper from the free pile. The bows? Fabric scraps & office gift basket recycling!

May inspiration, warmth and the "Home for Christmas" spirit find you.

Happy Holidays!

Frankenscarf!

Check out this gorgeousness! I was fortunate enough to WIN one of Rosalie's amazing Frankenscarfs off her blog awhile ago. The crazy girl posted this lovely as a giveaway - can you believe it?!?
Yesterday we met up for lunch and she brought a few for me to chose from. I ended up picking the one she originally posted on her blog anyways - I love it SO much! The colors are just perfect for me. See? Even my sleeves match =)
I so heart Rosalie. That is all there is to it.

This new scarf will certainly help keep me warm today while I frolic in the SNOW. Yep - downtown Seattle has been hit with oodles & poodles of snow. Off to go frolic and bake cookies and other such snow day type things!

Weekend Holiday Booster

Every holiday has tradition. Within each family and for each person. Ever since I left for college, my mother & I have upheld the tradition of celebrating her birthday together by trimming the tree.

Our journey begins with the annual tree stalking ceremony:

It was snowing up on the tree farm this year so hence why my parents look like abominable snowfolk.
After sleuthing out the bestest of trees and warming up heartily by the fire whilst drinking hot cocoa, we headed back down the mountain with our catch.
This hard work of course had to be followed up by some traditional festive nourishment.
I do swear that nothing is more warming on a cold day than a bowl of miso soup...

This year I talked my Mom into using only white and blue ornaments on the tree (mostly inspired by my flea market find of a whole set of antique blue glass ornaments!) I'm pretty enamored with the result. We toasted the tree with our traditional eggnog finale.
Can you spot the Rekoj original ornament front and center?

This year I also got to set up my personal favorite holiday decoration: the Christmas Village. For many a year through Junior High & High School I would paint a house a year. Until we ran out of room for further Christmas Village development...

After all that holiday tradition the NW was hit with a pretty solid winter storm. It was icing on my holiday cake. This year, I feel like I've already had my White Christmas.

The holidays are such a wonderful time to revel with close family and friends.
Here's hoping you stay merry & warm. And while your at it, toast a sip of eggnog to traditions.
Cheers!

Punk Rock Flea Market 5 Recap

Punk Rock Flea Market was a huge success yesterday - a gazillion folks came out for some Indy shopping. Yay! The place was pretty packed from about 11 am onwards. I only managed to get a shot of the room before it got too busy.

Our display was super rad - we were even able to put up all 12 months of the Calendarling which was well received. And of course - cuz they're rad!

The Underground Events Center where Punk Rock Flea Market is held also doubles as a gallery space in the huge two story staircase entry. And I completely fell in love with the show that was up - a full on murder of stenciled crows by Greg Boudreau. Definitely an art show with a good wow effect in it's presentation. I saw many folks go home with one of these lovelies.

Ah Punk Rock Flea Market - how we adore thee!

Printing Afternoon

I had myself a little block printing party this afternoon - aren't they lovely? My studio is pretty small so I make do with what I got. In this case that means using my floor and a box of dominos to dry prints with instead of a drying rack.

And since I'm in full process of getting ready for the Punk Rock Flea Market this Saturday, most of my floor looks just like this.

It's a lot of hopping around, but someone's gotta do it... =)

Some of the BEST holiday shopping deals will be found this Saturday in Belltown at the Punk Rock Flea Market. If you're in Seattle you should stop on by!

Punk Rock Flea Market
Saturday, December 6th
Underground Events Center
2407 1st Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
Doors open at 10 AM
Shopping till 6PM, Bands until 10 PM
Admission $1

I'll be there with some extra special Rekoj holiday goodies. Stay tuned for another preview tomorrow!