clean slate
it's a cliche title, but that's what it feels like today. it's a sense of wonder at what this new year will hold. i can only guess and my hunches will likely be wrong.
for now, it's time to contemplate on the hope the comes with another year. new challenges and ideas, fresh starts and

let's backup a bit and let me list what's been going on since i posted last.
i'm still doing the "Madison Street Shuffle," but i have a part-time job at least. yup, the freelancing at Graphix has become a full-fledged part-time job.
Cindy was very cool, she gave us the 23rd and 26th off last week and the 30th and 2nd of this week. 8^D yay!

yesterday i was a very productive girl. after hearing of a chinese tradition of cleaning the house the last day of the year (because you sweep away the good luck if you wait and do it the first day of the year,) i tidied my apartment up a bit:

• picked things up off the living room floor and vacuumed.
• cleaned/organized my "studio" room! i can actually get to my drawing table now!
• did some laundry.
• put clean sheets on the bed.
  
• put some pictures on the walls that i've been meaning to do since i moved here in aug '04!
• took care of the ol' "to shred" pile full of credit card applications.

and you know, i felt better for doing it! the cleaning, i mean. i haven't had time over these past months to do much other than laundry and cleaning dishes. now, my pad still isn't spotless. i still need to clean the kitchen and bathroom, vaccum the "studio" and bedroom and dust everywhere, but on the whole, it looks tons better.

after this i went to visit ken. his mother had received a gingerbread house kit and asked if i would be kind enough to assemble it. it looked like fun.
well, the powdered sugar icing was too runy and the roof kept trying to fall off, one wall kept caving in and the candies didn't all want to stay put. next time, i'll use a canned white frosting so things will stick!

also, good news! i'm back to drawing on blue canary. page 14, which was started in the beginning of november, but left unfinished is now drawn and today i hope to start on page 15. i think after the christmas gifts for ken and his folks, i may be hand coloring alot of the pages.

i've been posting to my sketchblog for six months now and i'm enjoying it. even though i don't always get a comment on every sketch, i like doing it. it makes me feel like i am getting something accomplished.

last week (christmas) went well. it turned out better than i could have hoped. dad and my brother got me the foodsaver i've been wanting (i'm tired of my dinky freezer burning all my food!) and a rice cooker, if not the one i wanted, one that should do the job. i'm anxious to try it out and attempt to make japanese rice balls.
mom got me the muppet show first season and i've been watching it this past week. jo got me a cool OK Jones cd and some Nürnberger Lebkuchen (the world's best gingerbread cookies.) doug and c gave me the complete chronicles of Narnia! (Thanks, C! *hugs*) I'm proud of how the gift for C turned out.
ken's parents loved the present i gave them and ken liked his, too. his family surprised me with an mp3 player! *squee!* i was reading what all it could do on the outside if the box, when ken said, "if you'd rather have the ipod shuffle i can always return it..." and after that there was no rest for the kit. if he had not mentioned it, i would have been content with the one i unwrapped. i was just tickled to get a nice gift.
so on the 28th, we exchanged it for a shuffle and it's great. yes, i know there's supposed to be a next gen of shuffles to come out the month, but they are supposed to be smaller and frankly, i'd only lose it if it were smaller.

on the 25th, we had the usually feast at ken's cousin's place in cardwell. i think i go so full on the cookies and sweets that i had no room for the turkey when it was done. and i think i got holly and hannah addicted to katamari damacy. hee hee! >6^)

i visited alice onthe 30th. she treated me to lunch at fuji! o.0 wow! thanks again, alice!
it was nummy. she made me the cutest cover for my shuffle! 8^)P i'd show a picture, but the design is still in progress and alice doesn't want her pattern stolen.
later, ken and i went out to dinner and a movie thanks to the gift certificates his sister gave usl! (told you i had a great christmas! there was enough on lazarri's gift certificate for another meal!)
the movie was awesome. we saw the producers. they did leave 2 songs from the broadway version out, but overall, it didn't suffer from their loss.

i also need to get started on kellie's wedding invites, i promised to design them and they need doing. maybe i can get started this week.

today i'm off to ken's again for another holiday feast. it should be fun. 8^)