despite my anti-consumerist tendencies, there are a few things on my Christmas list of wants (including the it gift of '09--the Wii Fit). I'd like to think they are all things of lasting value, but who knows?


Stoneware salt pig and Emile Henry salt pig from Sur La Table
Ceramic egg tray from Greener Grass Designs (identical version available from Anthropologie)--for those of us raising chickens
Chimes from Mudpuppy (or these gorgeous birds)

gold lip dishes from up in the air somewhere
Gold and Canvas calendar via someone via Decor8

Ceramic salt pig from GRDN
Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes (One of NPR's 10 Best Cookbooks for the Summer); or a motivational Slice of Organic Life would be well loved
gold flaked bud vase from Cursive Design

These $4 pinecone ornaments from Prismera are going to be my go-to gift for the holiday season.

As the year comes to an end, as I try harder to find space for breathing and positivity, I'm learning the ugly spots inside me--the parts that make me uncomfortable and shine the spotlight on all the things I need to work on within myself.

Which is what I was getting at on my Friday Modish post. Now is the time to lay the soil to rest. With that, it means uprooting the plants that simply aren't working, the things that take too much energy. It also means examining inadequacies and deciding which ways to correct them.

For me, it means that I have to understand that I do not want to be a part of the etsy phenomenon anymore. It's a big struggle to want to be a part of it, to make a little extra money from making art, but it's entirely too competitive and somehow I feel it has lost it's DIY edge. It's great for crafters and artists--it's a venue that provides easy and accessible web space, but it's also a little too heavy on the cutesy.

These are the things I'm wading through--pulling weeds and turning compost. Deciding which odd bits need to go out with the trash.

What are you doing to prepare for the new year?