An Early Christmas Present to Myself

On Saturday December 22nd, in the middle of the all the holiday hooplah, I escaped to Exodus Coffee & Culture to see the wonderful, amazing, talented Amy Steinberg. If you haven't heard Amy sing, you are really missing out! Seeing Amy perform live is even more of a gift. Amy is as real as they come. She knows how to connect with her audience and gives all of herself to her performance, not to mention her beautiful, bold, and stellar singing voice. Amy sings about life, and asks and answers her own questions about life. Her song "Exactly", as well as many others have been embraced by the unschooling community for the straight to the heart honesty she shares. My personal favorite, although it's so hard to choose, is "Simplistic Logistics of Existence."

This was my third time seeing Amy live, and I am never disappointed. I attended with another unschooling friend of mine, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet two other unschoolers also in attendance. One woman had driven over two hours to get herself, her hubby, and her daughter to this show! Amy inspires this kind of devotion. Do yourself a favor and make the effort to go see Amy when she comes to your area. She will be doing another cross-country tour this coming year, so there's a good chance you'll be able to enjoy the gift of Amy and her music soon!

Thirteen Holiday Handmade Goodies From Our Home (TT#6)

(A little late due to trying to find a place to put our ever growing assortment of Chrismas decorations. I can't help but make a few more every year!)

Friday Fill-in # 49

1. I really love giving gifts on Christmas.

2. All colors are my favorite color(s) for the Christmas tree lights.

3. The candles in the window have blue bulbs.

4. It's A Wonderful Life is one of my most favorite Christmas movies.

5. My favorite Christmas lyric(s) is/are

Silent night,

Holy night,

All is calm

All is bright.

6. I'm dreaming of a joy-filled holiday with family and friends.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet night at home with

my boys, tomorrow my plans include completing our Christmas decorating, and Sunday I

want to give my daughter a big hug when she returns from NYC!

I Love Creating Things - Thursday Thirteen #5

Thirteen arts and crafts that I've dabbled in:

1. Crochet

2. Knitting

3. Cross-stitch

4. Embroidery

5. Making wire and bead jewelry

6. Embellishing clothing with fabric paint

7. Encaustic painting (wax painting)

8. Watercolor painting

9. Tie dye and batik

10. Candle making

11. Stamping & Scrapbooking

12. Henna tattoo

13. Leather tooling

Update to last week's thirteen: I completed #2 and #8, and #12-13 are well underway. ;)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

A Floridian Christmas Parade

This past Saturday we went to the 22nd Annual Hobe Sound Christmas parade. Hobe Sound is a quaint little town near us that has a really fun parade. Thought you might like a peek.
It was bright and sunny, and those who were prepared brought their umbrellas for a little shade. Before the parade these kids were tooling around on their sleigh (outfitted with wagon wheels), ringing their jingle bells. Notable people were driven in convertibles during the parade, but a few were pulled along in boats.

There were quite a few customized golf carts, a common sight throughout our state. The Shriner's also had their other entertaining little vehicles. But the most surprising was the port-a-potty on wheels! The parade announcer informed us that this potty has had national coverage because it can turn on a dime. It was quite amusing to see it spin and do wheelies!
There were plenty of floats and "freebies". The people in the parade threw tons of goodies to the crowds, including candy & gum, frisbees, leas, t-shirts, candy canes, and beach balls!
The crowd went crazy for the enormous cage full of beach balls. We were all hyped-up just in time for the arrival of the guest of honor:
Yay! Let the merriment commence!

Thirteen Things that I want to do for Christmas. 1. Bake cookies with my kids and deliver them to friends 2. Drink mulled cider and listen to Christmas music while decorating the tree 3. Make and send Christmas cards 4. Make sock monkeys for my younger nephews and niece (5 of them) 5. Create some new ornaments for our tree 6. Crochet and felt a handbag for my mom 7. Sew tote bags for my Bible study girlfriends (6 of those) 8. Knit socks for my husband's mom 9. Go to church 10. Make a folded magazine tree, like this: (directions here) 11. Fit into last year's "holiday" clothes 12. Savor quiet times with my husband and kids as much as possible 13. Remember to breathe if things don't turn out as I plan, and remember that all is well. Wish me luck! ;)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Well, I Did It!

Or I guess you could say "I didn't do it." What I DID was avoid going to any stores, or shopping on-line at all today. What I DIDN'T do was buy into the hype about Black Friday shopping. I was tempted, believe me, when I saw some of the deals out there! But I know from experience that my family would rather have ME, than have me out shopping. And in return for staying home today, I received gifts that you can't purchase anywhere. As we swam, read books, played games, performed magic and music, I revelled in the gift of simply being together.

We Elves Are Getting Ready to Celebrate!

Check us out!