Happy New Year!

My brother's new kitty. © Jessica Van Eaton

What a wonderful way to spend the holidays - on vacation and with family!

These past two weeks have been absolutely wonderful. We saw my parents, my brother and his wife, my sister-in-law and her husband and four daughters, and all sorts of friends! It has certainly been a whirlwind (I crashed into bed the moment we arrived home!) filled with too many plane flights, but every adventure is worth the legwork of travel!

This Christmas season had a few firsts for my husband and me. We shared our first Christmas and New Years as a married couple! It was great. :-) It was also a first for my husband, in that it was his first time being away from Colorado for Christmas. It was rather strange for him, actually, as we were in Florida! The warm weather and scenery filled with palm trees seemed a little odd to him around Christmastime, but it was wonderful to be able to play on the beach! We even had the blessing of being able to visit Sea World! (so much fun!)

We spent New Years in Pennsylvania, and had pretty nice weather, with a touch of snow the night before we left. The town we stayed in was pretty small, but the rural quality made the whole area quite charming and beautiful. There are so many trees! We have decided that we need to have some sort of road trip through the north-east states during fall, to see all of the beautiful colors.

What fun adventures did you have this Christmas and New Years?

Did you make any New Years resolutions?

It's okay if you didn't. ... I didn't either!

I just know this year is going to be great!!

An Artist's Life Includes ... Art!

Here is my newest scarf design, for all those school-spirit-filled CU students!
I'm quite proud of the design, and hope you like it too! It is definitely a challenge both on paper and while crocheting. (I think that's why I like it so much!)

I've also been on a crochet kick in an effort to use up my scraps of yarn from previous projects. Here are two (currently unfinished) blankets that are (as of right now, but needing more than scraps to finish) completely made from yarn scraps I had on hand!

The one above is using this awesomely large crochet hook I bought a few months ago. It is crocheted with two strands of yarn at a time -- a colored yarn (blue, pink, yellow, etc) and a white or off-white yarn. I am excited for yarn to go on sale again so I can finish it!

The one below is using my dark-color yarns, with some 'pop' from gray and blue every so often. It's coming out really great, and I am looking forward to coming back from vacation and finishing it!

What do you think of my art? :-)

Snowstorm = Sleepover

Fluffy, white snow!!
It gave me a snow day! ;-)

My husband and I spent the night at our in-laws (he has Sunday night soccer games in the area), and helped out with cars and shuttling people around all day Monday. So, that was most of my Monday.

Not too much was accomplished, really, other than me making some awesome CU scarves! I'll hopefully have some photos, and maybe an Etsy post up before the end of the week.

Do you have a favorite college sports team that you want to cheer on with your wardrobe? I'd love to make a scarf for you that does just that! Check out my Etsy shop, or send me an email through my profile page.

Here is my delayed Thankful List, day 5.

1. Time on the weekend to relax with my husband.
2. Playing in the snow with my husband.
3. The way snow looks like glitter when it's blown off of the roof.
4. Email.
5. The way email lets me keep up with friends' lives even when they are traveling all over the world.
6. Rice packs that can be heated in the microwave to make my feet (somewhat) warm, like normal people.
7. The person who discovered that epsom salts help relax sore and tired muscles.
8. Bubbles.
9. ITunes now letting you rent movies (Blockbuster's disappearance can make that hard).
10. Comedies, and the way they make days seem more enjoyable.

What are you thankful for today?

The Beautiful Snow Continues

© Jessica Van Eaton 2011

This is a picture of the creek by my home about, oh, 20 minutes ago. Isn't it absolutely beautiful? On the way to and from physical therapy I felt so overwhelmed by how beautiful the world can look when it's covered in a blanket of snow. (It's a little colder than I would prefer, but the sun is nice and warm!)

So, I spent about an hour taking pictures of the pretty snow! My guilty pleasure for the day. ;-)

Now, onto my promised Thankful List, day 4:

1. Beautiful blankets of snow.
2. Time in my day to photograph beautiful nature.
3. Family living nearby.
4. My super nice camera that I was given as a present from my amazing husband.
5. My husband's love and care toward me. (He texted me to warn me about black ice, and to make sure I got home safely!)
6. Encouraging comments about my crochet work.
7. The smell of a wonderful Christmas tree that fills my home.
8. Sharing childhood ornaments with my husband while we hung them on the tree.
9. Having a large bucket of ornaments filled with memories.
10. Old church hymnals.

What are you thankful for today?

What a Wonderful Day For . . .

© Jessica Van Eaton 2011

. . . how would you finish this sentence?

If you managed to not miss my picture, you should know my answer:

awesome snow!

My husband and I got up this morning, looked out of our living room window (it's more of a sliding glass door, really), and saw a world covered in inches of snow! What a fun surprise!

I was completely not expecting snow, especially considering I have done a horrible job of checking the weather on a regular basis. I was also not expecting a phone call from my sister-in-law (my husband's wonderful sister) and a half-hour of random conversation and catching up! It was a wonderful morning, and I couldn't help but think of my wonderful list as everything was happening. :-)

So, the continuation of my Thankful List is here!
(for clarification, these numbers should start at 21)

1. Living in beautiful, relaxing Boulder, Colorado.
2. The winter wonderland that the morning brought.
3. Telephones.
4. Surprise (happy) phone calls from loved ones.
5. The people who read my posts. ;-)
6. The people who read (and respond to) my facebook posts. :-)
7. A working heater in my home.
8. My husband's crazy awesome skills that fixed our heater.
9. Humane societies and animal shelters.
10. People who are kind enough to let me volunteer at the humane society. (I get to work with dogs!)

I am totally excited to be volunteering with dogs! We can't have one in our complex (unless it's a service dog, and as much as I am willing to go for the service dog to have a dog in our home, I really want to not need one), so it's a great way to enjoy doggy-company. :-)
I am not sure if I will be waiting until after the holidays to start my volunteering, but I am already excited to share stories and photos with everyone!

What is your weather like today? Why do you enjoy it? (and if you aren't enjoying your weather today, can you find one good thing that it has caused?)

Learning: Being Thankful, Day 2

Here is the continuation of my Thankful List:

(Unfortunately, I don't know how to start the numbering at 11)

1. Not being allergic to the live Christmas tree in my home.
2. Hiking through the mountains with my husband and friends to find said Christmas tree.
3. My husband's incredible strength. I didn't have to worry about helping with bring the tree safely down the mountain, and could focus on getting me down safely! :-)
4. Christmas music to play all day long.
5. The amazing and wonderful gift of Jesus Christ.
6. Random opportunities to make good friends.
7. Sunshine streaming through the window.
8. Physical therapists.
9. Insurance to help pay for said physical therapists.
10. The warm, salt-water swimming pool that our condo complex has.

I have a feeling this list will get very long and complicated rather quickly. I have decided that I don't mind ... it's good to be thankful!

Also, for those of you who were asking -- I have finished my IIT scarf that I was working on! You can check out the pictures here, and even order one for yourself! (fyi: they make great stocking suffers!)

What is one thing you are thankful for today? Who is one person in your life that would benefit from a few words of gratitude?

Learning: Being Thankful

This past Sunday, my pastor spoke about the trials and tribulations of life, spiritual struggles, and the lies that Satan speaks into our hearts. He also spoke of how, in almost every situation, the Bible offers a thankful heart as a way to stay strong despite our weak human nature.

He called every person listening to a simple challenge. When you awake in the morning, write down ten things you are thankful for. If you are married, at least one needs to be related to your spouse. If you are living under your parent's roof, at least one needs to be about your parents. The challenge is to continue this process of list-making for 30 straight days, to help build a heart filled with thankfulness.

It is amazing how much good a thankful heart can accomplish!

I have taken up this challenge, and I would love if you would take it with me.

Here is the beginning of my Thankful List.

1. Cuddling with my husband before starting the day.
2. My warm and cozy home.
3. My voice was made for singing.
4. Being able to walk without too much help.
5. Warm baths.
6. Grocery stores with a seemingly unlimited supply of food.
7. Fresh fruit.
8. V8 fusion juice. So delicious! (and healthy!)
9. Skype. (or any other means of video chat with family and friends)
10. Airplanes. So helpful for visiting family!

I will do my very best to post my 10 each day, so come back tomorrow!

What 10 things are you thankful for today? I would absolutely love for you to share them with me!