mini christmas...

happy christmas eve! busy day for us today, but i wanted to drop in and show you the christmas decor on the outside of the dollhouse.

{all decked for the season...}


{need to fill in those floor-board gaps... but the rest is pretty!}


{a delivery on the front porch, and a kitten testing out the sparkly snow.

one small step for christmas preparation...

i've completed my christmas cards. signed, sealed, and about to be delivered. rockin'.

rotten lighting, but a photo of one of my favorite things right now. some vintage christmas tissue paper which i framed in simple frame-less photo frames (ikea) and hung together on the wall. the wreath over the top was an afterthought, but i like how it fills the space, and how the frames do the same for the wreath.

the difference between boys and girls...

matt asked me yesterday "so, when did you want to open our gifts?" and i said (almost incredulously) "well, at the farm on christmas eve, of course...why, when did YOU want to open them?" and he said: "today."

blog is moving...

for the last year plus, i've been keeping two blogs - one via the company i work for, and one here. i've decided to condense the two into one on or about the first of the year. the pre-existing blog entries will remain here, but all new blogging will happen at the new site.

i know most of my readers are friends and family, many of which are already registered, but this invitation is open to all: if you're not already a Groupee user, i would encourage you to register (but you can read most of my blog entries without registering if you prefer). Groupee is a social network, with lots more style and functionality than some of the others out there. it's lots of fun, and of course, i'm there. ;)

so, that's it for today. i'll post a bit more through the end of the year (at my normal pace probably), but i just didn't want you to be terribly surprised if you found me at a new address after the 1st. also, katethaete.com will still exist, and will likely be redesigned in conjunction with the blog move (i'm obsessive like that).

over and out!

the countdown is on...

• purchase presents.
  
• wrap presents.
  
• buy a few more little things for matt...
  
• bake for parties.
  
• bake for christmas eve.
  
• have caroling party. {got rained out... oh well, the games were just as fun.}
  
• holiday lunch and white elephant party at work.
  
• celebrate "Birthday Party for Jesus" with the kids.
  
• put together an angel costume to wear for the Bible lesson on sunday (that's said "Birthday Party").
  
• shop with mom & aunt jodee, saturday.

so i'm moving right along. the only place i'm struggling is with our christmas cards. i'm not really excited about sending them this year. i love the cards - simple and cute... i love the photo we chose to include... but there's something about signing them that's got me all worked up. not enough room (or strength of hand) to write what i really want to say... and yet, a short little greeting seems to terse. maybe the people that write holiday update letters have it all figured out...

my studio is a wreck, so much so that i've lost the only trim piece i need to finish the exterior of my dollhouse. pathetic, huh? i suspect a little feline with tendencies toward kleptomania is to blame, but i just can't find it. so i'm not posting any photos until it's finished. i guess i could just make a new one.

i've also been working through the christmas journal again this year, and i'm doing better with it so far (though i didn't even start until the 14th, for what it's worth). the secret to my success has been smaller pages, and allowing myself to vary. they'll all be ring-bound when the project is finished, but for now, they're loose in a page keeper. last year, i chose a 10x10 book, and it was just too much space to fill to do it each day (not to mention, two pages in one day if i missed an entry). i just don't have that kind of time anymore.

well, there's some monday rambling for you. maybe this week i'll get it together and have a dollhouse update. merry december 17th!

choir of the sound, holiday 2007

i've finally finished proofing the holiday 2007 show i shot for COTS. i'm not as thrilled with my work here as i have been in years past. part might have to do with the new lens and not working with it enough beforehand, or it could be that i'm raising my expectations of myself regularly...

anyway, it was an excellent show, and i'll share a few of my favs.

the first half of the holiday show is usually classical or traditional. usually a few soloists, sometimes a dance or two, but mostly just choir. i like this one because i got the star gobo (left) while it shone briefly and the mission fly-in (which my stepdad made).

for "i saw three ships", a gal played the ... hmm. bells? i can't recall their real name. but i had a great time shooting her at an odd angle to get the action of her playing, with the choir and ship gobo in the background...

second half gets a little more fun - this year's theme was memories, so there were several "character" appearances, including the grinch himself (as well as the chipmunks, charlie brown and crew, and santa, of course):

they did a medley from Polar Express, which included the "Hot Cocoa" and "Rockin' On Top of the World" songs - see waiters, dancing:

and it wouldn't be complete without rudolph, who was undoubtedly my favorite character of the night - just as cute as can be. most certainly a different arrangement - more fun. this is the dance that i shot the most of, and had the hardest time paring down:

weekend ahead with tons on the calendar. be back monday, i hope.

i am alive...

and sucking up every bit of this glorious season. our days are busy, evenings too. a few new traditions for us: we honored Hanukkah - the festival of light - to prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ, the Light of the world. we're celebrating Advent, reading through various scriptures about light from Genesis to Revelation, and enjoying the symbolism of light in the darkness and celebrating the birth of Christ just days from the darkest day of the year.

we're also doing some just-for-fun things - spontaneously driving to odd and distant places to see christmas lights with friends, checking out events like a gingerbread exhibit, enjoying peppermint mochas for a limited time, planning a caroling party, teasing eachother about reindeer sweaters instead of wii accessories for christmas.

in all, i have been focused on peace instead of stress. starting early, finishing early. relaxing more. saying "no" frequently enough to keep my schedule tame. christmas is not a race. this is my favorite time of year, so i'm soaking it up.

this is one of the photos we're sending with our christmas cards this year. i'm not wearing sunglasses, and i hate that it looks that way. i added transitions to my new glasses, and they - well, transition - very quickly. i even tried retrieving my old glasses just for the photos, only to find that the frames had broken from neglect. oh well. i suppose it's better than nothing.

mini adventures: pre-renovation tour

(originally posted on my blog at the original groupee.com social networking site.)




(originally posted on my blog at the original groupee.com social networking site.)

years and years ago, my dad bought a dollhouse kit for us to build together. we put quite a bit of time into it, but never finished it completely. he's stored it for me for all these years, and last week, he brought it over to me so i could hold onto it (read: store it for myself).

i've been planning for it for several weeks - first clearing a space for it in my studio. as soon as we hugged goodbye, i headed right for the dollhouse and got started. most of the miscellaneous trim, roof pieces, building accessories and miniatures i had were stored inside the house, so it looked like a tornado went through it - see photographic evidence above.

these photos include two phases. the first three are the official before photos, including all of the miscellaneous contents that had found a home in the dollhouse over the years (arachnids included). the last six are a room-by-room tour of the interior, before renovations began.