Photo Pairs: Then and Now

Luna arrived about a year ago. She was to quote Clara "the best Christmas present ever!" Facebook sends memories every now and then, and last week, they sent the top photo (which I posted last year). So, I snapped the second photo using my ipad to show what she looks like now. She is a great dog! And has definitely become a permanent part of our family.
This seems like an appropriate pairing to finish out the year of Helena's photo pairs meme . . . a year's worth a growth and a year's worth of photo pairs. I've participated most weeks, and I really appreciate Helena hosting this meme. She's got some new ideas percolating for 2016. Why not pop over to her blog to check them out and other photo pairs at Helena's blog.

Christmas Cards

I sent out two Christmas cards this year - the top one featured a photograph I took in the Still Life photography class. The second featured photos of my kids. Both created using tinyprints, which is a division of Shutterfly. I sent out about 100 cards this year and received more than usual, I think. I was so pleased to receive many beautiful hand made cards from blog friends around the world! Thank you all so much.
I hope you enjoy these and that you had a wonderful holiday. I'll share a wrap up soon, as well as some thoughts on my one little word for 2014 and 2015.

Photo Pairs: Wrapping Presents

A simple before and after pair today. I've really enjoyed posting Christmas-y pairs this month for Helena's Photo Pairs meme. Head over to this link to check out the penultimate pairs.

Me on Monday: Weekend Before Christmas

Happy Monday Everybody! How was your weekend?
Mine was a getting a fresh haircut kind of weekend.

A walking the dogs on the bluffs on a windy day kind of weekend (satisfying #10 on the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt).

A going to see the new Star Wars movies with my two boys kind of weekend (loved the movie and loved spending the time with my husband and son).

A grading an endless number of exams kind of weekend (the cats like to help).
And finally,

A baking cookies for the cookie exchange I attend every year kind of weekend AND
A celebrating kindof weekend because my plate of Italian Ricotta Cookies (ringed with brownie Christmas trees) won the vote for "prettiest cookie"!!! Long time blog readers know that every year I strive to win a prize at the cookie exchange (and rarely succeed).
So, all in all, it was a very nice weekend before Christmas around here.
How was your weekend?
You can check in with Sian over at From High in the Sky to see others who are waving hi on Monday.

Better luck next year! (A Christmas tail)

Weekend before last, we got our Christmas tree. We went for tall and thin this year (our ceiling is 12 feet tall, and it comes pretty close once we put the start on top). We strung the lights and brought out the ornament boxes. The first ornament on the tree?

Same as every year! The Santa Star I made in kindergarten. As an added bonus, it counts as item #4 A Star in the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

Speaking of which, why have one snowman for item #5 when you can have three?
Right now, I'd love to have a photograph of the fully decorated tree all lit up, but no . . .
Because these two

They look so innocent, don't they? But between the two of them, they managed to destroy all the lights on the bottom half of the tree (and a few ornaments to boot)! Well, they're both still technically babies. So, better luck next year!

Photo Pairs: Funky and Formal Christmas Decor

Long time blog readers will know that I collect Nativity sets, and I enjoy displaying them every December. The beautiful, formal one above was made by my mother-in-law. This year, I found a rubber duck Nativity set and couldn't resist it! I think the two of them together make a perfect pair for Helena's weekly photo pairs meme. Check out other pairs on her blog here.

Me on Monday: An Entertaining Weekend

#21 My Own Handwriting

(for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt)

How was your weekend? I spent some time addressing Christmas cards and doing some online shopping. But mainly I spent time enjoying a wide variety of entertainment.

On Friday, I spent time in front of the TV waiting for my boy to come home for the holidays and watching my husband's favorite Christmas movie:

(I think I've mentioned before that my favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard, but I wait to watch that until Christmas Day). 

Then on Saturday, we headed over to Berkeley where we shopped, wandered around campus and checked out the place where we met 35 years ago!

Davis House Coop, where we both lived our last couple of years of college, looks exactly the same as I remember. Afterward, we went to see a play:

It was amazing! The best play I have seen in a long time and really made me want to get back to attending theater more regularly. 

And finally, went to an old fashioned tavern Sunday afternoon to listen to music.

An entertaining weekend, indeed!

How was your weekend? Check in with Sian at From High in the Sky to see who else is waving hi this Monday morning.