Happy New Year - Alternative Title: Friends Laughing Together

Happy New Year everyone!

Here we are, three days into the new year already and I've yet to even wish you all well for this new exciting year we're just embarking on. Like so many bloggers, I have a tendency to fall off the face of the earth during the holiday season. Amazingly (shockingly?) enough, the holidays are rapidly coming to a close (to me, it all ends on January 6 - Epiphany, which is my traditional "take down all Christmas decorations day") and today is my first attempt to return to a normal work schedule. Considering that I oversleep (fail), I have a feeling that today will be all about little successes and getting my head back into the work game, while tomorrow will be the first day I actually have billable hours again. Speaking of billable hours, I should really send out some invoices today. (Oh hey there Christmas credit card bill.)

There have been plenty of little, not really work related, but definitely "real" life things waiting for my attention. QuickBooks is updated, I've gotten the car in for a long overdue oil change and my annual physical appointment is scheduled. Yesterday, Andy and I did laundry for the first time in earnest since the first week in December and I'm over the moon about the prospect of clean underwear, clean socks, and clean pants!

I hope that Christmas (if that's the holiday you celebrate) was a very happy day for you and that you're looking forward to 2013 as much as I am. I really have no idea what 2013 will bring -probably just more of the same - but since 2012 was a very happy year around these parts, I say, "Bring it, 2013."

Essential items for New Year celebrating: poppers, hat, and a crazy straw for your champagne

I was lucky enough to celebrate New Year's with my crafting/Ireland/college buddies this year. We officially have way too much fun together. This year's "New Year's Crafting Weekend" spanned three nights and brought us all to the Minnesota prairie in Willmar - or as I and my fellow northern MN crafters referred to it: "Garrison's Minnesota". Willmar's a fair poke from my neck of the woods (hooray for carpooling!), but the time spent together was worth every minute in the car(s). We realized that this is the 6th crafting get-together - to date we've had three summer crafting "weekends" and three New Year celebrations.

One of our fellow crafters had gotten married this past fall and because our lives are typically not nearly as awesome as they appear during crafting weekends, most of us missed the wedding. To make up for this, we decided to throw a surprise second wedding reception.

Interestingly enough, this is the second event of this holiday season for me missing a key player of the event. There was no baby mama at the surprise baby shower last month and the groom was conspicuously absent during this "second" wedding reception.

"Wedding" cake

A major reason why we hosted a second reception was to present the bride with her wedding present - the handknit afghan that we hadn't been able to finish in time for the actual wedding.

Who am I kidding, we barely finished the afghan in time for the second wedding reception. I spent Friday evening sitting on the floor in the basement of some friends' mother's home, sewing on border. Despite my earlier moaning and groaning, the afghan turned out beautifully and I'm really happy we were able to make it happen.

 

Family photo of everyone in their "wedding" clothes

You may be noticing that there aren't too many pictures of actual crafting. That's because we were usually too busy doing this to get much crafting done:

There was some crafting accomplished though. A Civil War era ball gown skirt was worked on and there was much knitting, including my knitting 8 gazillion (okay, 12) owl cozies for the Etsy shop. Check out the new colors: tutu pink, a mustard yellow/gold, and a dark blue heather.

Braving 0 degree weather to trace a sewing pattern

It's always hard to come back to "real" life after the holiday season, but it just can't be party, party, party all day, every day, I suppose. *sigh*

So far, I'm not resolving to do anything this year other than take care of myself and live life happily and fully. Whatever your New Year resolutions, I wish you the best of luck with them and I hope 2013 goes down as one of our best to date.