29 gifts

For Christmas, my mom gave me a new book - 29 Gifts by Cami Walker. I must admit that I don't always read the books my mother shares with me, but I decided to pick it up last night and start reading...I'm so glad I did!

The premise of the book is to share one gift each day for 29 days. By sharing your gifts, you will open yourself to receiving gifts from others. The gifts aren't necessarily materialistic...they may be gifts of kindness or compassion. Sounds simple, right?

I hope to begin my own journey once I've finished the book, as well, so I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I think I'm going to turn on the fire and start reading!

happy christmas

i know it's cliche, but christmas truly is my favorite time of year. i love picking out the perfect present, wrapping it and adding it to our tree. this year, i did most of the shopping by myself- one of the benefits of marriage as my husband jokingly calls it.

this christmas, we were able to spend time with both families...something we haven't done for five years. we celebrated with my family last weekend and spent the entire time cooking, crafting and watching football. earlier this week, we made the drive to columbus to spend time with the grinch side. we met the newest little grinch - tyler - and had a fun, relaxing time with family.

i hope you and yours had a wonderful christmas holiday filled with lots of love. happy christmas!

hello, stranger

it's been awhile, but i'm back. since i last posted, so much has happened. we had an incredible thanksgiving in kansas city at my sister's house. she planned the perfect meal and the weekend was capped with a tiger win over the ugly jayhawks. perfection!

my day job has kept me pretty busy over the past two weeks as we make preparations for the 2009 texas bowl. while i plan bowl activities during the day, i've had fun turning my attention to etsy at night. i've been filling orders right and left and then left and right. keeping up with orders has been a bit challenging, but it's also incredibly rewarding. i really enjoy knowing i'm making gifts others will enjoy this christmas season. i hope others will continue the trend of handmade and purchase something made by an artisan this holiday season.

until we meet again, happy holidays!