holidays | kimberly ah

Sep 02 2013

celebrations, Oh Presley!, some stuff about me

Oh Presley…

Last year, I celebrated Labor Day by mentioning Naoto’s hardworking spirit. While that is important, Labor Day has another special meaning around here. It is the day we got Presley.

Seven years ago today, our friend Bonnie gave us a tiny, scared, stray kitten that had been born in her barn. Bonnie didn’t ask us if we wanted a cat…she knew we needed a cat. The first few weeks were rough. Presley was (is) quite a handful. She didn’t want to cuddle. She hid out most of the time. She didn’t really like us. She only sat on my lap when I went to the bathroom. (Weird!) For those first few weeks, Naoto and I considered giving her back. We didn’t feel like she was happy, and we weren’t sure if we were truly cat people. (I had cats growing up, but Naoto never really had pets.) We didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings (especially Presley’s), so we mustered through. And gradually, we all got used to each other. Presley started coming around more, cuddling more, playing more. Naoto and I accepted our roles in care taking. (I told Naoto that ANY woman should not scoop the litter box, not just pregnant women. By the time he learned the truth, he was so used to scooping the box, he’d accepted it as his job for life.) We started accepting the fact that cat hair is forever.Now we cannot imagine our lives without this little beast. Presley is still a little wild and she’s terrible with guests (oh, if only they would just leave her alone!) But with us, she’s sweet and charming and only misbehaves if she feels she’s lacking attention and play time. Since I’m home more, Presley has become “my” cat, often favoring me over Naoto. (It’s okay, because most people favor him over me.) She spends time at my feet or napping nearby on her scratching box. We play mid-day fetch and chase each other around the apartment. We open the mail together in the condo hallway. She comes to bed with me and sleeps at my feet at night and wakes me up with creepy stares in the morning. (Sometimes I do wonder if she’s planning to kill me.)

I feel so lucky that Bonnie brought Presley into our lives. And, even though you might consider them “frenemies”, I know Naoto is thankful for Presley, too.

Tagged celebrations, holidays, memories

Aug 22 2013

2 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, handmade=happiness

(Belated)

Today I’m making the drive down to shop and have lunch with my parents. I haven’t seen them since they came up to visit with my grandma (and I didn’t have the Mother’s Day gift ready then) so I’m finally delivering the gifts for both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

I worked on this embroidery project over the 30 Days of Creativity in June. The pattern is from Mollie’s blog, Wild Olive, and can be found here. I really loved stitching it–it was a nice mix of back stitching and French knots (I love stitching those knots!) and I finished it in an evening. Yesterday, I typed up a little message on blush paper and pasted it on the back of the embroidery hoop. I know there’s a nicer way to do this (where the fabric tucks around the larger hoop and the paper backing goes back into the smaller hoop), but sadly, I cut my fabric just a bit too short to make it all happen. So, I glued the fabric down to the back of the hoops and glued the paper backing on top. It looks fine, but the perfectionist in me is annoyed at the fact that it could be better. But, the important thing is, the front is lovely, the back is fine and the gift is (finally) going to be delivered this afternoon!

Here it is all wrapped up in a flat paper bag with some twine, a Martha Stewart flower sticker (from my huge sticker stash, collected over the years) and with a tiny piece of tape from Oh Hello Friend. Simple.

And, in case you’re curious, for Father’s Day we got my dad a Blackhawks cap and these fancy County Fair Field Notes (the Illinois ones, of course!)

Off to central Illinois for some thrifting and dining!

Tagged adventures, celebrations, crafts, diy, holidays, parents

May 27 2013

On Memorial Day…

(Photo taken from the Honor Flight Chicago website.)

Tagged holidays, Honor Flight Chicago

Mar 11 2013

3 Comments

adventures, celebrations, Forest Park, Oak Park, holidays, snail mail

The Everybody Loves a Parade Weekend

I’m a little sad that the weekend is over. Naoto & I both had Saturday and Sunday off…that’s a rarity around here. This weekend was the perfect balance between activities and lazing…and cooking–I made a tasty zucchini and cheese omelet for Saturday’s breakfast and Naoto made a delicious soy-glazed salmon for Sunday supper.

On Saturday we walked a couple of blocks to Madison Street for the Forest Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was our first time seeing this parade and my first parade in a very, very long time. I was glad to see the usual characters like the Shriners, clowns and a guy on stilts (both awesome and creepy…but not as creepy as the clown! I found myself avoiding eye contact so he wouldn’t come talk to us!) The bagpipers were my favorite part…

On Sunday I went to another letter social with the Letter Writers Alliance. It was a fun time as usual, but not a super-productive one for me (I spent more time talking!) since I only finished one and a half letters! The picture at the top is of my letters and supplies hanging out on the table.

Today I am trying to tidy up the kitchen. We have been buying a lot of new food to accommodate Naoto’s diet and all the new food is making me realize that it’s time for a pantry clean-out. And maybe an entire kitchen clean-out. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves…the spare room is still a mess!

Tagged adventures, celebrations, food, forest park, holidays, home, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail

Mar 09 2013

3 Comments

Christmas, holidays, homemaking, in my library, what's for dinner

The BEST Christmas Gift

A long time ago, I was pilfering through my mom’s cookbook drawer searching for some recipe I’d loved as a kid. My mom hasn’t bought a cookbook in years. Nope, you won’t find a Rachel Ray or a Giada or a Barefoot Contessa book in her drawer. She does have plenty of old-school pamphlets filled with recipes promoting things like Philadelphia Cream cheese and Eagle Brand condensed milk and of course she has the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. (Does everyone have this cookbook? Naoto and I each brought one to the marriage and neither of us is willing to part with the copy we brought.) While I was looking through the drawer I found her old Methodist Church cookbook. I flipped through it finding all of the usual church cookbook fare: plenty of jello salads, punches and casseroles. I loved seeing familiar names from our small town and seeing which recipes my grandma and her church lady friends contributed. I told my mom that I wanted a copy of the cookbook.

Since the cookbook was published in 1984, I knew finding one would be pretty impossible. I sifted through eBay listings of church cookbooks for weeks, but gave up and kind of forgot about it for awhile. When we were celebrating Christmas Thursday, I opened a box that had some new kitchen towels and new measuring spoons inside and there it was, tucked under a kitchen towel–the church cookbook! Apparently my mom told my aunt that she was searching for one and my aunt offered up her copy for the cause! (Thanks, Aunt Karen!)

My mom and I spent a good amount of time looking through our books and discovering recipes that include outdated ingredients (Have you ever used Dream Whip before?), many cans of cream of mushroom soup, oleo (aka margarine) and lots of Jello. I’ve already picked out a few recipes to try. I’m starting with a Jello salad, since Naoto and I have been in a Jello groove lately and I’m super-psyched to see several lima bean salads and casseroles!! Limas are my favorite and who knew they were the star of so many dishes!!

Tagged books, celebrations, Christmas, food, holidays, home, homemaking, memories, parents

Mar 06 2013

1 Comment

adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafty adventures, handmade=happiness, homemaking

Monogram Tea Towel

I whipped up a quick tea towel for my parents last night. It was a last minute craft, one where I didn’t even iron all if the wrinkles out of the tea towel…

I keep a stash of plain white flour sack tea towels in my closet for craft emergencies. (Mine are from Target, but you get the idea.) They are the first things I learned to embroider (I made a sushi towel for Naoto) and the fabric is thin but not too thin for little stitches. My mom has several of these towels that she’s had for years, and like most things, the ones made today are much thinner than the old ones. (They don’t make things like they used to.)

Because I wanted to keep things simple with a monogram (A for Adami, in case you didn’t put that together…), I just practiced writing a few cursive A’s until I found one I liked, then I traced the A onto the fabric with a Pilot FriXion Pen. I use the FriXion pens in my calendar, I love they way they write and the eras-ability factor. So imagine my delight when I heard from Mollie and read a great tip here that the ink disappears when it’s heated, making the FriXion pen perfect for embroidery and quilting (and probably other crafts). I didn’t have to worry about heating up my A to remove the lines because my 6-strand split stitch covered the thin (0.5) line perfectly.

Sidenote: I do have first-hand experience with the disappearing ink. I left my FriXion pen on my balcony on a sunny summer day last year and when I went back to use it again, the ink flowed clear instead of black. Huge bummer for me, but thankfully I had about ten back-up pens…

I think my parents liked it–my mom told my dad he should use it when he bakes bread–and I think the red variegated floss (Anchor #1206) matches their kitchen just enough. All-in-all I think a quickie tea towel makes a nice little gift, don’t you?

Tagged adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafts, diy, holidays, home, homemaking, parents

Feb 28 2013

3 Comments

crafty adventures, Letter Month, snail mail

So Long, Letter Month…

Today is the end of February, which means the end of the Month of Letters.

The sad news is I missed one day–the day Naoto had his surgery, February 19th. I wrote a letter that day at the hospital, but I was unorganized and didn’t bring my stamp and envelope and didn’t get it sent out in time…I am super-bummed about not having a perfect record, but I’m going to try to let it go because I sent a total of 41 letters!! I’m pretty excited about that number and I hope it means I will keep on keeping on with my mail habit.

At one point in the middle of the month, my mailbox had been empty for a few days. I started panicking that I wouldn’t have someone to write to during my daily writing time. It also didn’t help that my life was particularly unexciting this month, aside from Naoto’s surgery. During the mail drought, I took time to write notes to my grandparents and to a couple of friends who are going through difficult times. Any other month, I probably would have put off sending these notes because I didn’t know what to say, or didn’t have the perfect card, or just because I let it slip my mind. This month, since letter writing was at the forefront of my mind, I made the time and I made the effort. In the end, hearing from me was more important than perfection… It was a good reminder: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good!

One thing that kept me ahead of the game was Valentine’s Day. It helped that this sweet little holiday gave me an excuse to churn out a few easy notes (along with buntings and decorated envelopes!) I felt so good on the days when more than one letter was going out the door…most days (19 of them to be exact) it was just one letter. Some days, I wasn’t into decorating the envelope, but other days I was really into it. During Valentine week, I was really into it. I was able to use up some papers and bits that have been hanging out in my stash for a long time (like those pink “Be Heart Smart” hearts on the envelopes above that have been around since, oh, maybe second grade…)

I got some really amazing mail from my always-reliable pen friends throughout the month, too. I returned every letter I received this month (except for one I received yesterday which I plan to devote some time to tomorrow night). I also gained three new pen pals–yay for more merry mail making!

I am so glad I participated again this year, and that I beat my goal of sending 28 pieces…it’s not often I beat a goal (ahem…guest room clean-out). It’s really thanks to my regular pen friends that I was able to send out more mail…because even my grandparents (among other non-letter writers) didn’t reply to my letters or Valentines…(cue the violins!) A huge postman-sized hug for those of you who filled my mailbox this month!

I’m ready to move onto another project (after the spare room is done!) Today I’m going to put my red and pink mail things away, tidy up my desk and bring out some fresh supplies for March. Because the mail making doesn’t end with Letter Month, but there’s room for something new, too!

These were some of my favorite envelopes this month. To see the rest, you can take a peek here on Instagram.

Tagged crafts, holidays, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 15 2013

Over the Moon

I like to send silly greeting cards to Naoto at his office (the translation office, not Trader Joe’s). I do it because he mostly gets the boring mail at home and because I have a compulsive habit of falling in love with the perfect greeting cards for him and buying them too often. I love going to visit Naoto and seeing them all displayed on the ledge behind his desk.

When I saw this card with “Presley” flying over the moon, I fell in love (as I do with all Rifle cards!). I decided to send it to Naoto as a little pre-Valentine. I also made him a special blue washi tape bunting (because blue is his favorite and all of the pink ones just seemed too girly!) and tucked in inside the envelope.

I decorated the envelope with some blue washi tape and a vintage paper heart from this set by K is for Calligraphy and I used one of our leftover wedding invitation stamps for the postage (because who else wants to see that stamp!).

When I went to Naoto’s office on Wednesday night, he had the bunting all strung up by his desk. You can see his little card collection in the background (along with the all-business bulletin board information!)

For his “real” Valentine, I bought him a box of Choco Tacos (mentioned recently here)…I’m pretty sure he appreciated those more that the washi bunting!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, decorating, diy, holidays, mail art, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 14 2013

9 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, snail mail

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I know some of my Valentine’s are still en route, being lovingly handled by the post offices in a few countries, but I wanted to share them before red and pink become as stale as Christmas cookies in February.

I had the little gold foil heart cards in my stash from last year. They are from the Paper Source (and are apparently out of stock). I also bought these postcards from Rifle Paper Company. I am pretty much in love with anything Rifle and once I saw the little flying cupid postman and the postage stamp edging, I knew I wanted these in my stationery stash.

Last week I pulled out my washi tape stash and some twine and started making some simple washi tape buntings. I got kind of addicted to playing with different colors and patterns and ended up with more than a dozen of them so I tucked the tiny buntings into little glassine envelopes and sent them off with some of my cards.

I miss the Valentine’s of my school days when my classmates used to add little stickers or candy hearts in the tiny, thin white paper envelopes of their store-bought Valentines, so this seemed like a good way to bring that back.

I hope you have a super Valentine’s Day! Whether you are spending it with your significant other, your family (both human & furry!), I hope your day is full of love and good mail!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, holidays, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 04 2013

3 Comments

celebrations, snail mail

Pink & Red Cheer

I love Valentine’s Day…not in the Naoto-buy-me-flowers-and-jewelry sort of way (Oh how I dread the flower and jewelry commercials that will be playing over the next week around here!) No, I like it because it’s a tiny celebration in the middle of the gloomiest days of winter. I like it because it gives me another excuse to mail out some pink and red cheer to friends and family. I like it because all of the good Valentines have a pun. I like it because Dove dark chocolates taste a little bit better in heart shapes.

This year I bought some sweet Valentines, and a couple of supplies to make my own. I wanted to buy a box of classroom Valentines at the drugstore to tuck in with my letters this month, but I couldn’t find anything that didn’t have a licensed character on it. I wish they still made Valentines with generic cute people and quirky animals and silly puns (oh, the PUNS!), like my vintage selection above.

Other than cards and some lighthearted decorating (pun intended), we really don’t celebrate Valentines Day around here. The first year I knew Naoto, he tucked a tiny box of chocolates in my apartment screen door. I ended up tripping on it and smashing it a bit, but it is still one of my favorite Valentine gestures. We were just friends back then, so it was an unexpected treat.

Are you making or sending Valentines this year? Or do you consider Valentine’s Day to be a “Hallmark holiday” and completely ignore it? What’s the best Valentine pun you’ve seen?

Tagged celebrations, holidays, snail mail, Valentine's Day, vintage