Family Calendar 2012

For the past five or so years I've been creating an annual calendar as a Christmas gift for my family. I send one to every household in my family, from parents to siblings to in-laws to cousins. As my cousin's kids have gotten older, I send one to them too. The rule of thumb is, if you live on your own, you get a calendar. All told, I make about 25 of these a year. Guess it's a good thing nuclear families are small now! :)

I use my own photography that I take throughout the year, of Chicago and places I visit and flowers and everything, and I include everyone's birthday's and anniversaries on it. I use iPhoto and Apple to create the calendar, so it's excellent quality, good heavy cardstock and easy shipping. But I won't lie, it's tough to create; I am a perennial Christmas-gift procrastinator, so even though I intend every year to start compiling the photos and layout in the fall, I usually don't start until December. One year I called them New Year's gifts, LOL.

At the beginning of this year, when we were all in Tucson for my aunt's funeral, my mom suggested that I use my cousin Beth's paintings as the artwork in next year's calendar. I loved the idea, my cousin loved the idea, and we all knew my aunt would have loved it. She had my calendar hanging in her home office every time I visited her. So Beth sent me photos of her paintings all year long. It was a rough year for all of us, but I would get this photos sporadically, when she was having bursts of creativity, and the bold colors and sunshine coming from every corner of the art would cheer me up.

This is what is hanging on all of our walls this year.

Cover art



January



February



March



April



May



June



July



August



September



October



November (3 on the page together)





December (3 on the page together)








Thanks, Mom, for the idea.
Thanks, Beth, for the amazing artwork.
Thanks, Aunt Pat, for being the inspiration. We miss you and love you.

My Detroit Christmas

Merry Christmas, blogland! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, or long weekend. We traveled to Detroit to spend the holiday with my husband's family. Detroit is always an interesting trip; we stay right downtown, which is rather unheard of since, well, it's Detroit and it's everything you have read about and more. We then travel to his mother's and his sibling's homes in the suburbs for the family events. They live scattered near and far from the city, and the fault lines between those places are stark. For example, this is the house my mother-in-law grew up in, off 6 Mile Road. It's now one of the more desolate parts of the city.



The front door has been replaced by a wooden plank because squatters are living there now. It's actually one of the "nicer" houses on the block. So to speak.

This is the house two doors down. It's pretty common to see burnt-out houses in this area. Many of them have no roofs.



In contrast, here is the swanky hotel room we stayed in at the MGM Grand Casino downtown.




Here is the lobby of our hotel.



The casino/hotel itself, though, is in the middle of nowhere even though it is right downtown. That's how erratic Detroit is; even the downtown has desolate sections and populated sections. We've stayed in other ones that were closer to other restaurants and stores, but this one wasn't. Once we got in, we stayed in. Which is okay, since there was plenty to do. :)

Of course, we weren't there very much since it was Christmas and we were in town to see family. Christmas Eve was at my brother-in-law's house, with his little daughter the center of attention all night. Boy, she is a cutie.

This is the night the whole family gets together and opens gifts, so the older niece and nephew (twins) first had to hand out gifts to everyone so we could stack up piles by our feet. Then we open one present at a time, going from youngest to oldest. That lasts for about an hour, then it becomes a free-for-all. LOL!



My littlest niece's pile. This wasn't even what Santa was bringing!

My older niece is 16, so she and her brother are just about at the age where they are too cool for any of this. He was pretty quiet most of the night, but but she's not quite there yet; I was still able to get her to goof off with me!




As you can imagine, my eating was terrible. I brought clementines with me so my mornings started out well with some fruit and toast, but after that it was catch as catch can. There were salads and some microwaved veggies, but the starch to veggie ratio was about 6:1. I did, however, manage to avoid eating these mashed potatoes.



I was less strong in the face of smoked kielbasa, honey-baked ham, dinner rolls, cheesy potatoes (a family treat), two-corn casserole, and of course, Christmas cookies. Ah well, this week while I am home is going to be a bounty of daily cooking, so I'll be back on track soon enough!

My favorite gift is the Kindle Touch my husband got me, and the gift certificates for books from the rest of the family. I already downloaded and read my first book. I love it!



I had gotten out of the habit of reading these last few years, and I realize now how much I missed it. I plan on filling this puppy up, with beloved favorites and new books.

What was your favorite gift this year?

Ciocia Kristen

Hello, internet! Did you miss me while I was gone? We had a lovely weekend away in Detroit (not an oxymoron LOL); we went for a family reunion picnic but I affectionately called the trip our Casino Tour Across Michigan. I hit big on our first night in New Buffalo, and that paid for the rest of the pitstops along the way and our stay in the Greektown Casino and Hotel in the city itself. Yay!

But more importantly, what did I wear? The weather was crazy, the kind where you over-pack with shorts for heat, jackets for bundling up, and shirts and sweaters of every weight, just to cover your bases. And I ended up wearing all of them.

This was Friday; wore it to work and then on the car ride across Illinois and Indiana that night. Gap Outlet purple and grey striped sweater, grey Lauren Conrad for Kohls embellished tee, black Gap skinny pants, red Target cutout flats. Those flats got quite a workout all weekend!






Saturday we drove the rest of the way across the state then met up with my sister-in-law and niece for lunch at Slows BBQ in the city of Detroit. It's a funny restaurant, funky and upscale like many restaurants found in the funky urban neighborhoods of Chicago, but because it's in Detroit it's pretty much surrounded by abandoned buildings. The food was ridiculously good; I had a brisket and onion marmalade sandwich that was amazingly tender and flavorful. Plus, I got to spend time with my niece! She's only two so she's like an amnesiac still; she doesn't remember me between the times that I see her, so I have to win her over all over again at each visit. But Ciocia Kristen (Aunt in Polish) is persistent, and by the end of the reunion on Sunday she was running into my arms and kissing me. :)











I love how fearless my sister-in-law is in taking her daughter through the city. They live there, after all, and it's good to teach her to enjoy the good and not to ignore the bad.


This was one of 3 outfits on Saturday. The WHBM striped sweater kept coming off and on as it heated up, so I was glad I had just gotten this Old Navy long sleeved ruched v-neck tee this week on sale. It's so soft, and the optic white looks good against my skin tone. I ended up getting even hotter and changing into a fuschia sleeveless ruched tee from LOFT for a while, then that night I wore my batwing black top when we went out drinking and gambling with my brother-in-law. (Also when we went for Coney dogs at 10:30 at night. It's a Detroit tradition!)





Sunday was the reunion out at a gorgeous park up by my brother-in-law. The sun was out but the wind was cool, so my new Old Navy striped sweater kept coming off and on as the temps changed. Underneath was another Old Navy ruched v-neck tee, this time in deep teal. My gold circle Nasri necklace and Old Navy Dreamer jeans finished off the outfit. No full-lengths shots, but here are a couple of closeups. I bought those aviators last year, and they were expensive from Ralph Lauren. But they look awesome, and they've lasted well. No regrets about buying them at all!






Me and my nieces (ages two and sixteen). Love both of these girls so much! The reunion was perfect because the adults were busy talking to their cousins and aunts, but since I don't know any of them I got to spend time with my nieces one on one. Usually at family parties their moms and grandmas hog their attention. :)



 
My husband proudly wore his new Made in Detroit shirt. LOL!





He also did some fishing with our niece. She loved it, and didn't want to stop even though it was time to go. They kept catching the line on lily pads and other assorted greenery in the water, and my husband joked that they were catching "salads". When we got her back with her mom, she proudly said, "I caught salads!" We have been repeating it to each other ever since.

Good thing they didn't actually catch a live fish; she might have freaked out.




The kids played games at the picnic, and one of the prizes were bubbles. That turned out to be the most fun of all, as the little ones chased the bubbles all over the field. I could have watched them for hours. So adorable.





By Monday, my flats-length Old Navy Dreamer jeans had completed bagged out, but I did not want to wear heels for the drive home. So I rolled up my heel-length Old Navy Dreamer jeans (why do the other pair bag out, but not these? It's a mystery) and added the white long-sleeved tee again, my grey asymmetrical sweater from Marshalls, red Target flats and my new crossbody from Nordstrom. This was definitely a remixing weekend! (And an Old Navy one, apparently; they are my go-to store for casual this year!)



And now I am back at work. Alas!

30 DoC: Day 18

Today is a quiet day at my sister's, mostly just babysitting her while she recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. She's dozing on and off this afternoon, and so am I, so I thought now was as good a time as any to do a "what I packed" post.

This was a short trip, only 4 days, but the forecast said it was going to range from 60 to 85 with rain some days and sun on others. Plus I knew I would be in a plane, which is always cooler than in regular places. Lastly, while it was for a casual trip taking care of various family members, I wanted to wear and enjoy some of the new summer clothes I bought.

I brought:

2 pairs of shorts in tan and brown, and 2 pairs of jeans (one faded longs and the other dark rinse for flats). I could have been fine with one of each, but I really wanted to wear both pairs of jeans this weekend, and the dark ones have a tendency to stretch after one wearing. I'm not going to lie; I just really really wanted to wear the faded jeans this weekend. I love them so much!
Weekend tally so far: brown shorts could have stayed home, everything else has been worn at least once (tan shorts have been twice, faded jeans will be twice after tomorrow).


6 tops. In fairness, the white in the middle was included so I could pass it on to my sister. This is usually where I like the most variety, and tend to overpack.
Weekend tally so far: I ended up wearing two tops on Thursday, so by tomorrow all will have been worn.


3 sweater/jackets: olive knit cropped Gap jacket, blue cropped Gap cardigan, grey asymmetrical Marshall sweater. Each one was added in case of the cooler weather range, and their color schemes took each of the tops in different directions, so after dithering while I was packing on Thursday, I reminded myself how cold I was a month ago on the same trip, and included them all.
Weekend tally so far: the grey sweater has been worn with my pajamas every morning but the other two have done unworn so far. I would still bring them on a different trip. You never know in Connecticut!


Accessories:
-coral scarf, multi-weave clutch, silver bracelets
-necklaces galore (I can never decide so I always take waaaaay too many)
-orange tall wedges, mustard Keens and grey Privos (the talls had to come to go with the faded jeans, the other two because they're awesome.)

Everything fit with plenty of room to spare in a weekender bag (the soft over-shoulder ones, not the rolling suitcases. So much easier to deal with in this day of tiny planes/overhead bins and fees for checking bags.

I also put outfits together as possibilities, and compared it to the final result.

This was what I wore on the plane on Thursday (plus the orange wedges).



This was ready in case the airport AC was set to chilly, but there wasn't a need.



It was hot when I got to my parents, so I changed into something cooler and more sporty:




Friday I wanted a funkier look.


I ended up switching out the necklace to a matching stone one, ditching the sweater and adding the yellow sandals and clutch.



Like I said, today has been a slow day just bumming around the house with my sister.



About the same, minus the blue sweater (may be added back tonight when I head back to my parents for dinner on the patio.)



Based on what's left, I think tomorrow will be the remaining unworn cream top, faded jeans, orange wedges, and a funky necklace. The blue cardigan will at the top of the bag just in case. Let's see if that comes to pass!

Ooops, my sister is up, time to go!