Mission Creativity: 'Tis The Season: December 2-10

Friday, December 2nd: Kelley & I spent our lunch talking about the start of the December album. Here she is playing with my Elle's Studio Tis the Season kit that I bought to help supplement my album. Aren't the numbers too cute?

I met Jessica, Bryce, Jamie, and Salad for dinner at one of my favorite local crepe restaurants. We grabbed dinner before heading to the theater to see Breaking Dawn. We waited a few weeks after it was released because of our hectic schedules.

I laughed during some moments I'm sure that weren't meant to be laugh out loud funny. I was entertained by the movie and really enjoyed the wedding sequence. I've become quite familiar with them lately-I photographed quite a few this past year!

Saturday, December 3rd: Scrap date with Kristi! She & I haven't been able to get together to scrapbook in a really long time. I have a habit of working a lot and packing my weekends with a lot of fun! It was so great to see my recently engaged friends and play catch up.

I found a "I Love MJ" button the other day.

We kept our December tradition going with the Pillsbury sugar cookies too. It wouldn't be Christmas without these guys.

Sunday, December 4th: I've started working at Christmas by the Cove with the holidays quickly approaching. Its great because it gets me in the spirit and I get to shop while I work. I picked up these cute Shiny Bright glass blown ornaments by Christopher Radko. They come in two sizes so naturally I bought both!

Leo & Tiffany have the cutest interactive advent calendar apps on their phones and its so cute to watch them open each day together. Then I get to play with it after!

I bought a vintage shiny bright from our collection at the store. They are so pretty piled together that it took a lot of will power to just buy one.

Monday, December 5th: My parents brought a tree home and I helped light it. My lighting theory is that there can't be enough lights on a tree! My general rule that Leo taught me: 1 strand of lights per foot there is tree. This works really well!

I also love lighting trees with a hooded sweatshirt. I keep the lights in the hood so the lights don't get tangled.

Our family tree all lit up:

Tuesday, December 6th: I've kept a Trader Joe's chocolate advent calendar in my car to make my commute more festive. Each morning I open a new window and try to guess what the shape is supposed to be.

My company had a special barista making gingerbread lattes and a beautiful holiday spread. I didn't wait in line for a latte but I did grab a few croissants and chocolate filled pastries. It was so fun to walk in and see first thing in the morning!

Wednesday, December 7th: I busied myself in the darkroom in preparation for the photography final. I remembered why cutting mat board is so difficult...math and razor blades. I was so involved with that project that I only remembered to take photos as I was leaving campus. This is the view of the library:

Thursday, December 8th: Thursday was my comp day since I was scheduled to work the following Saturday. I desperately wanted to sleep in but it just didn't happen. I relaxed and updated my resume for a new position within my department. One of my packages arrived with a few of my holiday projects. I loved the presentation!

Lisa organized a girls craft night at her place. We all made food and had too many left overs. Emily brought this deliciously sweet fruit tart:

I brought my scrap supply to work on my December album from last year. Lisa worked on a beautiful ribbon wreath while Emily worked on a felt wreath.

Friday, December 9th: Ansgar took me ice skating to the Yerba Buena Gardens ice rink in San Francisco. It was such a different experience going skating with a ice hockey player. We both had our own ice skates and had so much fun racing around on the ice.

We decided we need to skate more frequently. It was so convenient that he knew one of the employees working that night!

I had forgotten how much I love to photograph the city at night. It made me wish I had my DSLR with me to capture the beauty of Yerba Buena Gardens. I love the patterns on the sidewalk with the church in the background.

This is one of my most favorite colorful views, taken from the Yerba Buena Gardens bridge:

On the way back, we met up with some friends at Lucky 13 in San Francisco. It was a really cute place with a foosball table, chalk boards, and a modern day photo booth. I was thrilled to check it out since I fell in love with Lucky 13 in Alameda.

Saturday, December 10th: We attended a jam fest/ holiday party in one of the coolest venues I've ever been to. I love to scout locations so when I find a new one that I love, I get very excited! One of Ansgar's friends found Salle Pianos and rented it out for our holiday evening of music. Brian took clips from his favorite holiday movies and edited them together for projection onto one of the white walls.

The decor was beautiful; Antique pianos, lits candelabras, gold gilded mirrors and an exquisite chandelier.

Instruments littered the floor along with music stands and other audio equipment. It was a perfect night to chat with great music playing the entire evening. I met a lot of talented people and talked about photography and the environment (my job title always sparks that conversation).