Paper Source Calendar

It's not too late to get your 2009 calendar. Heck. It's still January. Sort of. Here's a gorgeous one from Paper Source. On the back of each calendar page are templates to make things like pillow boxes, hang tags, gift tags, bookmarks, and file folders.

It's also not too late to enter the Seven Smooches Giveaway — featuring a $150 gift certificate, plus a lavender filled cashmere dove.You have until Sunday night at Midnight PST. Click here or scroll down for details.

Thanks for the link, Jackie.

Sarah Waldo

Do have a hard time finding pjs/nightgowns for your girls? Me too. Sarah Waldo offers two styles that I love — one's a pj set in seersucker check, one's a nightie with cap sleeves. In addition to the sleepwear, I'm digging the Abigail sweatsuit and the Sylvie pant.

Also. How am I just now finding Sarah Waldo? What a great line — and everything they make is organic.

Oras Clocks

Aren't these clocks beautiful? Made from natural walnut. The hands are available in four colors. Blue, pink, orange and yellow.

Generation Huggies Interviews

So much fun! On Wednesday, I had the chance to interview two of the lucky Generation Huggies Video Winners. It was such a treat. Both were so surprised to have their video chosen. I wrote a post about their experiences over at The Motherhood. Check it out! (By the way, I can't embed the videos here, but you can see all 30 winning entries on the Generation Huggies website.)

Random Giveaway — $150+ at Seven Smooches

Oh my goodness, I am craving a Giveaway. A really good Giveaway. And I've got one. The ladies at the handmade heaven, Seven Smooches, are the sponsors. They're putting up a $150 Gift Certificate for their shop! Plus. A gorgeous Lavender Filled Dove — to calm and comfort you during this troubled winter.



Don't those doves look endlessly cozy? As I've mentioned before, the products coming out of the Seven Smooches shop are gorgeous. And because of the nature of the source materials, every single item is one of a kind. One of a kind. The fall/winter line is made from recycled sweaters. The spring/summer line is made from recycled sheets and feedsacks. Everything is super soft and full of tiny delicate details. All while remaining fully machine washable.

If I had $150 to spend on Seven Smooches products, I don't think I would stop smiling for a week. And I'd have quite the time deciding what to buy. Because each item is prettier than the next. Since it's so chilly this month, the Fall/Winter collection of mittens and sweaters and cozies seem the most tempting.

But maybe I'd pick up something from the Spring/Summer collection instead (the skimmers! the pillow slip! the bonnet!) and stare at it until I willed an early arrival of warm weather.




I want to note, the little dove is accompanied by a little message:

May each day of this year be lovely and kind, full of peace and joy, greeting you like a smile from a child. And my our little dove made of cozy cashmere & calming lavender bring you a bit of comfort, a moment of peace, & a needed smile.

I'm comforted already. Thank you for the generous prize, Seven Smooches!

-------------

Guidelines:
-You have until Midnight PST on Sunday, February 1st to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, February 2nd.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Soiree Dress

My blogging friend, Crabmommy, is a Guest Curator at Etsy this week. She has all sorts of great picks. Go take a peek. I think my favorite is this Soiree dress by Rockerbaby.

More Print Your Own Valentines

From Three Wheels Design. Print your own valentines. Cute robots, smitten pirates, sweet lovebirds, and hearts overflowing. For $3 per design, you get a PDF file and can print as many as you like. It's like DIY but with a little help.

Nesting

Lots of great stuff over at Cookie Magazine's Nesting blog lately. I mean, it's always good stuff. But January has been especially lovely. Here are links to my two most recent posts:

1) An ingenious dishwasher button
2) Gorgeous Animal Counting Prints from Milk Moon Kids

Mexico Peace Prints

I'm no doubt influenced by my recent trip, but these exclusive, limited edition prints by Print*Pattern*Paper are super appealing to me. Half of the artist's proceeds from these posters help fund PEACE's ongoing community programs.

The Fruit Company

Look at the surprise that arrived on our porch. Is there a more perfect package to receive on a snowy, rainy day? Mmmmm. It totally cheered us. And even more important: allowed me to postpone my much needed trip to the grocery store that I've been avoiding because of the ridiculous weather.

Compliments of The Fruit Company — a homegrown company that sources all their pears, apples and stone fruit from neighboring orchards in Oregon. Want to send your own surprise fruit basket to make someone's day? Use the code: designmom to get 15% off.

CPSIA Blogging Day - Save Handmade!

Today is CPSIA Blogging Day. Another big push to get the laws changed and prevent thousands of small business owners — artists and crafters making beautiful handmade items for children — from going under. I wrote about the CPSIA a few weeks ago, you can see the post here.

Some progress has been made since then. Yay! But the effort isn't even close to over yet. Sarah Jane has an excellent post on her blog detailing the situation and what you can do.

Here's a short list:
1) Find out more. Here or here are good places to start.

2) Make your voice heard. USE THE ACTION KIT made by ETSY administration with sample letters to be used to contact all the pertinent representatives.

3) Help spread the word! Put up a post today about CPSIA Blogging Day. Send an email to your friends. Tell your sister about it when she calls. Put a link on kirtsy. Tweet your heart out about it.

I'm guessing that 90% of the products I feature and link to on this blog will be affected by this new law. In most of the cases, the testing fees required will put these micro-businesses in bankruptcy. Can you imagine a world without etsy? That's a sad, sad picture.

Pig + Love

This card by Linda & Harriett has me feeling all Valentine-sy.

Sixx Design

Jordan first introduced me to Sixx Design. The super-fabulous husband-wife team of builder/interior designers, Robert and Cortney Novogratz. When they named their company, they had six children. Thus: Sixx Design. Cute! And now, number 7 — named Major Robert Novogratz — arrived on January 20th. Even cuter!

I can't believe how happy it makes me to know about this family. Lots of kids, and they're not letting that stop them from doing interesting things. Inspiring in every way.




I want their book, Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home: from Wreck to Ravishing, It covers all the Sixx Design projects to date — including the completion of their latest house, a six story glass residence on West street facing the Hudson River.

While I wait for the book release, I'll just covet their home in Great Barrington (pics above). Or their home in Brazil:



Oh. Also. Because I find this family endlessly fascinating, I asked their PR rep if I could send them some email questions. And the answer was yes. So if there's anything in particular you'd like me to ask, let me know.

Blue Lily Photography

Here's some good news: the talented Wendy Whitacre of Blue Lily Photography is coming to New York for a weekend of family portrait sessions. She'll be here May 15th to 18th.

I've already grabbed an appointment with Wendy for Saturday, May 16th. But I asked, and she said she still has few more spots available. So quick, go ahead and grab one. You'll be so glad you did. Not going to be in New York in May? Well. Wendy is based in California. So if you're a West Coaster, you're also in luck.

By the way, you may recognize Wendy's work already — she took the now-famous portraits of Stephanie Nielsen's family.

photo from the Blue Lily children's gallery

Trailer Park Upgrade

This is a mobile home? Hawt. I'm thinking it's the best looking mobile home ever. By architect and furniture designer Christopher C. Deam. Need a guest space — just have one of these delivered to your backyard. : )

Thanks for the link, Eliza!

Winborg Sisters

Colorful, friendly artwork for children's rooms by Winborg Sisters Design.

Twig & Thistle Blog

This morning, on new-to-me blog Twig and Thistle (it's a great one!), I saw two pretty things I wanted to share:

A calendar/book designed by Yoshie Watanabe — with real ribbon worked into each illustration. So beautiful. It's no longer in print, but if anyone finds a source on an existing copy, please let me know. I would love to own one.



And these yummy stamps showcasing Mexican imports. See more examples from the series on the Twig and Thistle post.

Mini Moderns

I love this photo from Mini Moderns featuring their collection of wallpaper designs. Such a great display. Makes me want to find scraps of good-looking fabrics and papers and frame them up.

While I was visiting Mini Moderns' site, I noticed they are offering their designs on canvas bags now too — available by the end of this month. Nice.

Paper Toy Bi-Plane

I know I've mentioned The Toymaker a couple of times in past posts, but whenever someone sends me an email re-introducing me to it, I'm always glad. So I assume you'll be glad too. The 411: FREE patterns for paper toys. From designs that are beautifully hand-painted by artist, Marilyn Scott-Waters.



The talented Chelsea of Frolic wrote to me the other day and said, "My sis (mother of 4) printed these bi-planes for stocking stuffers for her little kiddies at Christmas and I couldn't believe how gorgeous they were. Plus, it was free and the kids went mad over it."

January is probably the perfect time to try these out. It's too cold to be outside so good indoor activities are necessary. And the toy designs are colorful and cheery in contrast with the gray winter weather.

Pinhole Camera Photos

This is interesting. Ever heard of a pinhole camera? Me too. Like maybe in 3rd or 4th grade. My fuzzy memory says we built and used them in a school project. My memory could totally be making that up. Anyway. Sheila Bocchine has built her photography business using only her pinhole camera. She travels the country doing pinhole weddings and portraits.

Says Sheila:
"The pinhole camera is a type of Camera Obscura, the first camera invented in the 1850's. Before it was used as a camera with film, it was a tool to help artists learn to paint and draw with more detail, a tool devised to help tell time and a tool used by scientists for observing a solar eclipse.

My pinhole camera is lensless, uses medium format (120) film, is made from teak wood and produces square images. The exposures are longer to compensate for the pinhole, which is why you will see subtle blur and motion in all of my images. Since the world rarely stands still, my pinhole camera captures all the beautiful motion and energy onto the negative, thus resulting with dreamscape-like qualities. I feel like each pinhole photograph is a marvelous dream… a surreal and whimsical moment in time that has swirled around my daydreams before coming out as the perfect pinhole photograph."

I love finding out about things like this.

Pretty Things

Pretty things in my house that made me smile today:

A flock of cranes above the kitchen table. Our friend Audrey, who took wonderful care of our kids while we were in Mexico, filled the house with their art projects while we were away. We took her to the airport this morning (sad) but the cranes are still with us.



My new handbag. By Casselini. The exact perfect shade of gray. Super-soft leather. Found on sale at Anthropologie. I'm in love with the oversize clasp. (No longer in stores, but I just found one on ebay here.)



Olive. And her new hat. We picked it up during the holiday boutique at Grand Central. From the Little Mis-Matched booth. So cute.



Good-looking boxes by Dorset Cereals. I spotted these at our local Stop and Shop. Uncommonly pretty for single-serve boxes of cereal. I haven't tried them yet, but I hope they're as yummy as their boxes.

What's pretty in your house today?

London on a Shoestring

I know none of us have travel budgets these days, but I saw this offer from British Airways and would love to take advantage of it. $312 roundtrip plus two free nights in a 3 or 4 star hotel. That's pretty darn good, right? I've seen much of Europe. But never England. Maybe 2009 is the year to make it happen.

image from here

Milk Carton Wallet

I think this milk carton wallet project is clever. It would be just right for my 9-yr-old, Maude. In fact, I'm thinking this will be the perfect thing for her to make as Valentines for her classmates. You can see a how-to video here.

Now the question is: which milk/juice company is making the best looking cartons? Maybe something covered in an Amy Butler print...

Thanks for the link, Ann!

Book of the Week: An Awesome Book

Dallas Clayton emailed me the other day and introduced me to his book. It's called An Awesome Book. You can see the insides here.




I think the illustrations are delightful. Delightful! I'd like to buy a copy, but I have to be patient — the first edition sold out in two weeks. The 2nd edition will be ready to sometime this month. You can pre-order your copy here.

100 Dresses Project

Did you hear what Kirsten of Tollipop is doing?

Using the classic children's story, The Hundred Dresses, as a starting point, she's created a Hundred Dresses Project. She is drawing her own series of one hundred dresses and has challenged others to make one hundred “somethings” as well. It's especially sweet to read the stories she conjures up about each dress-wearing-girl. And I love seeing the names she picks. (For anyone needing to name a daughter, I'm betting Kirsten's list of 100 names will be pretty fantastic.)

You can follow Kirsten's progress by clicking the "hundred dresses project" link in her sidebar. What hundred things would you make?

Your Very Own Hermes Bag

The Hermes Corporate site (different from their shopping site) is pretty amazing. Lots of eye candy and inspiration. One of my favorite parts is the make-your-own-Kelly-bag.

In nine different patterns.



Thanks for the tip, Lauren!

Fingerless Gloves

I am sitting in my office-in-the-garage, slowly turning to ice. I mentioned this fact on twitter and received back several suggestions for good-looking fingerless gloves. Like these from Tinker and Po. And these from KnitTwits.

It's kind of fun that I have a legitimate need for fingerless gloves.

Mom 2.0 Summit

I'm getting crazy excited for the Mom 2.0 Summit coming up next month in Houston. I just took a look at the list of speakers and the programming. The whole thing is really going to be fantastic. Time to get my flight booked. I'm especially looking forward to hearing Guy Kawasaki. He's not only an entrepreneurial genius, he's also an absolutely entertaining speaker.

The other thing I'm excited about is getting to spend more time with some of the talented ladies I've met over the last couple of years. In fact, I just found out that Kim of You Can Make This will be attending with her husband. Nice.



I met Kim and her twin sister, Kris, at the Startup Princess retreat in November. I was so impressed with the company they've built. You Can Make This offers thousands of tried and tested downloadable patterns. For crafters, DIYers, and all sorts of sewing fanatics and newbies. They also showcase great photo tutorials on their blog. Kim, Kris and the whole You Can Make This organization are so loved, there are over 60,000 members on their email list.



It will be wonderful to learn everything I can from Kim and lots of other attendees just like her at Mom 2.0. If you think you'd benefit from the Summit — because you're a mom/entrepreneur or because you're a company trying to reach moms — you should totally come. And you might want to be quick about it, because I heard registration is nearly full.

Blot Paintings

Spotted on kirtsy. I know there are probably elementary school students making something similar today simply by accident, but I think these blot paintings edged in ink, by Kaitlyn Sullivan are gorgeous. And I totally want one. They would cheer up any room in the house. Plus, you can't beat the price for a signed original.

Inauguration Party

The lovely Isabel Kallman of Alpha Mom threw an Inauguration-Watching-Party this morning. I was planning to watch anyway (who wasn't?), but it was way more fun to watch with lots of interesting people. Hooray that the transfer of power happens without the threat of civil war breaking out. I heart America.





Isabel did things up right with lots of red, white and blue. And to commemorate the patriotic day, she even signed her citizenship papers. Yay Isabel! Now you get to vote!!



Quaker Oats sponsored the party. They've got a great program going on right now. Type in the upc code from your Quaker Oats products (the barrels of Quick and Regular are standard issue at our house) and they'll donate oatmeal to kids in need.

You can see more party pics on my flickr page.

Print Your Own Valentines

Thinking ahead? Up Up Creative is offering "school style" print-your-own Valentines. $5 for the template. And then you can print as many as you'd like. Don't miss the one that says: You Are the Tweetest. Good for your favorite school children, and your favorite Twitter addicts.

Bed & Breakfast — the Tent Version

I loved the post on new-to-me blog, Wide Open Spaces, about a Bed and Breakfast on an organic farm where the guests sleep in tents. Fine sheets. No electricity.



There's something about this concept that I find wholly appealing. Maybe it's just the realization that a true vacation for me requires the absence of internet and television.

The farm is called Mary Jane Butter's Bed and Breakfast — what a great name!

More Nie Please.

While I was gone, big things were happening all over the internet. The thing I was most excited to discover: Nie is back. Such great news. Happy!!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Ben Blair has the day off. So do my kids. It's nice to have a buffer day between vacation and work. We're thinking about civil rights. And tomorrow's historic inauguration.

image here

Souvenirs

On one evening of the trip, my siblings and I all piled into taxis and went into the village of Tulum to pick out souvenirs for our kids. My favorite finds:




Handmade stuffed animals. I especially love the boar.




And a beautiful hand-painted top. The kids were pleased with their gifts.

Rocking Horse

There was a small mountain of email waiting for me when I arrived home — including some great finds. Like this Billy Rocker made from recycled cardboard, available at Mr. Kaliski. It arrives flat. Assembles easily. And can then be painted or papered or customized any way you please. So smart!

Mexico

I'm home. The trip was epic. I'm holding all the details in my head and turning them over one by one like little jewels. I didn't want to come back.

But I missed my kids. And the internet.

You can see more pics here — this is for you, Mom.

¡Hola!

Friends. I'm in Mexico. Possibly sitting on the beach. Possibly asleep. Probably very happy. I will be back next week. If you miss me while I'm gone, here are some links to my archives: here, here, here, here and here.

And to some fantastic blogs: here, here, here, here and here.

Oscar is Four

Happy Birthday to Oscar!

Lots going on today with last minute trip preparations, but we've still got big plans to celebrate Oscar's big day. We'll have a family party tonight — with a Mexican theme of course. Including a classic donkey piñata (which Oscar keeps asking if he can ride) and tacos for dinner. Feliz Cumpleaños!




We started the day with breakfast in bed. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, blueberries and orange juice. A most wonderful tradition.




Oscar might be the most charming person I've ever met. I can't wait to see what his next year will bring.

Huggies Video Winners

Remember the big Generation Huggies Video Contest I mentioned awhile back? Well check it out: The videos have been voted on, and the winners have been chosen!! Prize? The 30 winning videos will be featured in a Huggies Ad Campaign.

The videos are really great — I've been watching them to see if I have a favorite — but it's too hard to choose. Take a peek over at Generation Huggies. Just click the Winners Gallery Tab. It will be so fun to recognize some of these wonderful mothers when the ad campaign runs.

Welcome to the Jungle

Our second hotel is the The Explorean. In the jungle. The actual jungle.

For those of you who've asked, we'll be without our kids. Which makes this trip feel very romantic and makes me want to pack my skimpiest swimsuits. Although. My brothers and sisters and their spouses will be with us as well. So it will probably be closer to a family reunion, and less of a romantic getaway.

Whatever it is. I'll take it.

Dreams Tulum

I'm thinking about next week's trip. Our first four nights, we're staying at Dreams Tulum.

And can I just say, that one of the funnest parts of this trip is that I had no responsibilities in planning it. My sister-in-law Liz (and her trusty travel agent) arranged the whole thing. Which means that what this hotel is like or where it is or what it offers will be a complete discovery for me. I just get to show up and enjoy. And not have to second guess anything.

When life gets so full, it seems like the best vacation of all is to not have to think. : )

Snowbound

I realize I'm heading to a sunny spot (and very much looking forward to it), but I saw images of this cabin in the Swiss Alps and I can't stop thinking about them. Lots more images here.

Spotted on Say Yes, who spotted them on Remodilista.

Headband Photoshoot

I love this! Leigh Anne saw my post about flower headbands and made some with her daughters. Then the daughters' friend, Olivia, did a photo shoot. Aren't these shots great? You can see even more over here.

I hope my kids take on artistic/creative projects like this when they are teens.



And be sure to notice the tutus — so cute!

What to Pack for Mexico

Did I mention I'm going to Mexico on Saturday (hooray!)? Packing is on my mind. Here's a wishlist:

-Pretty Peacock Havaianas from Piperlime.
-Something interesting to read and discuss, like Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.
-Sunglasses at Forever 21. Cheap, so I won't be sad when I lose them.
-Polka-dot Twist Tank from J Crew. Thankfully it comes with a removable halter strap, because friends, I am not well-enough endowed to hold a suit like that up.
-An Embroidered Peasant Dress to wear over my swimsuit. I've seen these in etsy shops and ebay but haven't placed an order yet — hopefully I can pick one up on location.
-And an Artist's Tote from Anthropologie to carry the lot.

Product Display

Please Sir had an excellent post the other day (with lots of pretty pictures) on product display. Whenever I see beautiful shop display, it makes me crave owning a picturesque little store. I have no idea what I would sell, but it would be fun to make it pretty.

Friend Me. Tweet Me.

This weekend, Ben Blair and I were sitting with our laptops in front of the TV. (Same old, same old.) And we decided to get him all setup on Facebook. Turns out he loves it. Loves connecting with old friends. Is really good at leaving comments. And with millions of other people, thinks the whole thing is genius.

Then, last night, I was talking to my brother, Jared. And he basically testified of the truthfulness of Facebook along with every other thing that is good and right.

I'll be honest. I set up an account a long time ago. Mostly for professional purposes (it was important that the kirtsy founders had a presence there, blah, blah, blah). But I haven't paid it much attention. Now. After seeing how much fun Ben Blair is having with it. I'm feeling more committed. Are you loving it too? Sweet. You can friend me here. Or tell me how to friend you. And we'll totally be friends.

On a related note. If you're not on Twitter yet, you totally should be. Especially if you like status updates on Facebook. Twitter is like status updates on crystal meth. Plus, you can use twitter with any cell phone that can text. Did you hear that? You can tweet from your cell phone! You just text it in. During a boring movie. While waiting in your car at the school pick up line. It's amazing! And so much fun.

My twitter name is @designmom. You can find me here.

And for those of you that are super-cool, you can even connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts — so that anytime you tweet, it updates your Facebook status. But maybe we should save that kind of mindblowing info for the next Hands on Kirtsy session.

Blocks Elevated

These blocks are so beautiful. Designed by Michele Bosak and sold in her Mimidoodles etsy shop. Her drawings are xerox transferred onto each block by hand and finished with little felt feet to protect your tabletops. Apparently, they are more to be looked at and admired than played with. I would love a collection displayed on a desk or side table.



And take a minute to poke around the rest of her shop as well. Her drawing style is lovely.

I spotted these blocks on a new-to-me blog Paper n Stitch.

Favorite Things: Post It Calendar

I love a pretty calendar in my office, but for the last 7 years or so, our main family calendar has been built each month on the kitchen bulletin board. We use post-its if we have them. Or cut squares from colored paper if we don't. We staple the squares directly to the bulletin board.

I created the first one when Ralph was very young and couldn't comprehend how many days it was until Halloween. The distinct squares helped him understand — and we crossed out each day as we went along. But it ended up being so functional and helpful, that we've made it a permanent fixture in our dining area.

Thumbs up:
It's a nice monthly ritual. My kids help. Maude likes to remove last month's staples. Ralph likes to pick out colors for the new month — typically based on any applicable holidays (Red or Green during December, Orange during October. On the calendar above the colors aren't significant of anything in particular. Ralph just collected an assortment of post-its that he said "felt like January"). It helps everyone understand the different number of days in each month.

Also, it's big. So we have plenty of room to write our daily activities. In fact, on the months I cut out my own squares, we can even go bigger or smaller as we see fit. I like that kind of flexibility and control.

Thumbs down:
There's only room for one month at time on our board. So thinking ahead to next month gets tricky.

I'm considering moving away from this method and keeping a family binder instead. Maybe something with a calendar, sections for each child, and pockets for invitations or notes from school. But I'm afraid I would miss the big visual reminder. How do you handle the family calendar?

Want to see more of my favorites? Amanda posted some of them here.

Kissable Lips

Oooh! Baby Bear Shop put their All The Better To Kiss You With lip balm 3-pack on sale. Isn't the packaging pretty? With a name like that, these are perfect for Valentine's Day. Stock up.

Thank You Notes from Kids

Go see Amy's sweet and smart idea for children's thank you notes. Genius.

Persimmon & Pink

Oh! Before I forget, I also love the stuffed toys at Persimmon and Pink. The blastoid cats are my favorite — I've posted about them before. But the gorillas are new to me. And they are adorable as well.

Religious Prints

As a churchgoer, I like to keep religious reminders around the house. It's a nice surprise when I find prints that are clean and bright instead of dark or medieval. Persimmon and Pink offers lots of options in their etsy shop. I think these would be pretty in my daughters' room.

Ben Blair Book

Look what my husband's boss (a man with impeccable taste) shipped to us the other day. He happened upon the antique volume at a used book store in Michigan. Aren't we lucky to have such a thing?

I look forward to reading it and seeing what Ben Blair is all about — maybe having our kids act out or stage our favorite parts. But mostly I just love looking at it — it's a gorgeous volume.

Thank you, David P. What a thoughtful gift.

New Year's Pie

It feels really, really good to be sitting at my desk, writing a blog post. It felt good to send the kids on the bus this morning. I'm craving routine and distraction and first work day of 2009 feels good.

It's been an emotional holiday break. I know I told you about Grandma Daisy's death. Then, on January 2nd, Grandma Rudi wrote to let us know that Grandpa Charlie had died — of alzheimers and old age. It's kind of a lot.

Death is hard. But starting off a new year by reflecting on family and heritage is okay by me. Thinking about my Grandparents names always makes me smile. Rudi & Charlie. Daisy & Ralph. Lucille & Lloyd. Great names!

(Craving traditional everything, I made a pie on New Year's Eve. I love this shot Ben Blair took of me building the crust.)

Happy New Year!

Hooray for you and yours in 2009!