Galentine's Day Cards 2017

February marked that time of year again! Galentine's Day was (unofficially) officially the day before Valentine's Day, when friends celebrated female friendship (& hopefully got brunch). 

Inspired by the "Parks & Rec" holiday, my friends & I try to exchange hugs & Galentines in the month of February. This year, I decided to cut up a floral tissue box that I'd been moved to save.

Voila! Floral accents for my cards:

I glued the flower emblems to the front of my card stock cards, wrote in my captions & message, & then trimmed the edges to be more even.

Then I put the cards between protective cardboard & added professional weights (coasters & glue bottle) on top, to flatten the cards while the glue finished drying.

The finished cards:

For the inscription on the back of my cards, this year I though that the "Parks & Rec" Pawnee Goddesses' Pledge (the show's answer to the Girl Scouts) would be both entertaining & inspiring. 

A couple Galentines that I got from friends:

Hope you had a nice day (or week) with friends, wherever you were!

To check out previous years' Galentines, see my 2016 Space-Themed Patchwork Cards or 2015 Initials Cards, as well as my friend's Mixed Media Cards.

"What's Galentine's Day? Oh, it's only the best day of the year! Every February 13th, my lady friends and I...just come and kick it breakfast-style.  Ladies celebrating ladies. It's like Lilith Fair...minus the angst...plus frittatas." --Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation

Happy New Year

Hannukah & Christmas & New Year's Eve Mash-Up

This year, Hannukah overlapped with both Christmas & New Year's, so I attended hybrid dinner parties on those evenings. There was a lot of delicious food (including homemade matzo ball soup, latkes, & applesauce). 

And, of course, the candle lighting:

There was also this somewhat alarming light-up spinning dreidel:

All in all, the two parties have made nice, social bookends for the holiday week--and a fun change to routine.

Happy New Year's Eve...

December in Review

And somehow, here we are at the end of December, already...

This month, I visited a friend at the USC Game Innovation Lab, & got to wander around while wearing a Hololens. Very cool!

While there, I got to use a snazzy mug that came with a custom-fit cozy (jealous...):

A coworker gave me this fun Christmas card that holds cookies, which I thought was very creative:

I experimented with making a mug brownie (verdict: not bad, as long as you include mini chocolate chips):

It was chilly, so I've also started crocheting a blanket while I re-watch some of my favorite Sci Fi & cooking videos. It keeps my lap warm, & helps me feel like I'm being creative again (& as a bonus: it's using up most of my random leftover skeins of yarn from other projects...)

Hope you enjoy the last week of December...

Thanksgiving 2016 (Embroidery)

I've spent the last two Thanksgivings with a couple friends & their relatives. My friend's mom has this nice tradition of inviting guests to sign the Thanksgiving/Fall tablecloth. Then she embroiders the names onto the tablecloth. What a cool tradition...

I also thought this transcribed note was funny (the food WAS good!):

Star Trek Turns 50!

I can't believe that Star Trek (The Original Series) aired 50 years ago today!

Star Trek was a huge part of my childhood. I started watching TNG (the Next Generation) in middle school--it was the one show I was allowed to go off & watch during dinner--& branched out to all of the other series from there. I would buy old TOS novels at neighborhood rummage sales, & they were always better (and cheaper) than the Star Trek novels I could find in bookstores. Most of my exposure to the original series & that crew was actually through those books. I would imagine conversations where I tried to explain Human idiosyncrasies & culture to Spock. And I was very sad that I could not apply to Starfleet for college...

I dug out a couple photos from the "Star Trek: The Exhibition" that toured around California in 2008, complete with set pieces & a simulated shuttle ride. Here I am in the command seat on the bridge of the Enterprise:

I think it's so cool that Star Trek continues to reinvent itself in movies, & TV shows, & fan projects. I am excited to see how the upcoming series will compare.

Live Long & Prosper!

Happy "Rounded Pi Day!"

Every year, my friends & I like to mark "Pi Day" by eating pie, if at all possible. We try to make or buy pie, and sometimes attend a local annual "Pie Day" event.

"Pi," or π, you may remember, is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, which comes out to an irrational number that is roughly rounded to"3.14159265359..." so nerds like us round that out to 3-14, or March 14th.

This year is a little unusual, in that you can also include the year to make "Rounded Pi Day"--when you round Pi to 6 digits, you get 3-14-16.

We nerds will take any excuse to eat pie & make puns!

It's Super Tuesday!

Did you know that only ONE THIRD of registered voters actually go out and vote in a given election? That statistic always boggles my mind.

If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, or Wyoming (or American Samoa), today your state is having presidential primary elections and/or caucuses.

Go out & vote!  Let's hear it for civic participation!

Leap Day

Today marks one of the corrective features of the Gregorian calendar: February 29th is "Leap Day," which also means that this is a "Leap Year."

To review my summary from Presidents Day, the Gregorian, "Western," or "Christian" calendar is based on a solar cycle of approximately 365 days, and is a modification of the Julian calendar, which was based on lunar cycles.  With the Gregorian calendar, the holiday Easter occurs closer to the point in the seasonal year that the holiday occurred when implemented and celebrated by early Christians (near the March equinox).  This was achieved by adding an extra day to February every 4 years (sort of--the Gregorian calendar also has to be corrected every 400-year "Leap Cycle" by leaving out 3 leap years).

Another interesting result is that in most consecutive years, the day of the week that a given date occurs advance by 1 each year.  On a Leap Year, the day advances by 2.  To quote Wikipedia: "For example, Christmas fell on Tuesday in 2001, Wednesday in 2002, and Thursday in 2003 but then 'leapt' over Friday to fall on a Saturday in 2004."

Various traditions, like "Bachelor's Day," have been a part of Leap Day lore (and even law) in the past.  These days, it seems like the main impact of this holiday tends to be felt by people who were born on Leap Day.  While their bodies are 4 or 8 or 24 years old, many people joke that these people are really toddlers, because they have only celebrated 1, 2, or 6 official birthdays...

A recent Leap Day "tradition" that caught my attention and made me laugh was Neil Gaiman's "Take A Writer to Dinner" post.  This whimsical practice makes as much sense as any other Leap Day behavior I've seen.  And it encourages writing, creativity, socializing, and altruism!  And eating!

Happy Leap Day.

Some Trivia About Presidents Day

Okay, so I'm trying to use this not-very-accurate sketch of Mount Rushmore (which in no way captures the original, grave, far-seeing, "Leaders-of-a-Nation" stone rendition of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, completed 1941), as a reference to United States Presidents and yesterday's holiday.  President Roosevelt is clearly wondering, "who is the gentleman that has replaced President Lincoln?"  But let us proceed.

Presidents Day (which is actually the federal holiday known as "Washington's Birthday," but is usually called "Presidents' Day" or "Presidents Day") is another one of our holidays that has evolved over the years.  The third Monday in February, Presidents Day originally marked the birthday of our first President, George Washington.  It has since come to represent, for many states, a conglomeration of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays (both of whom were born in February), George Washington and Thomas Jefferson's birthdays, or "U.S. Presidents" in general.

The holiday is furthered complicated by the fact (thanks, Wikipedia!) that the United States marks presidential birthdays by the Gregorian calendar, even though some of our presidents were born under (and lived during) a time period when "the colonies" and the newly-formed United States of America were actually still using the Julian calendar (introduced by Julius Caesar).  The Gregorian/Western/Christian calendar is a solar calendar that fixes Easter closer to the time period of the year in which the holiday occurred when implemented by early Christians (Christians had previously used a lunar cycle, and the date for Easter had a lot more drift during the 19-year Julian cycle, if I am summarizing this correctly.  See the related Wikipedia articles, or visit your local library, for more information).

President's Day is also treated by many as a holiday honoring veterans.  George Washington is frequently referred to as the "Founding Father of our Country," and a "unanimously-elected president."  But he was also a military general.  He is credited with creating a medal of merit for common soldiers, and it is his face that is featured on the Purple Heart medal which is awarded to soldiers injured in battle.

Washington and Lincoln's birthdays used to be separately marked as federal holidays.  These days, dependent on the state, many people do not have to go to work or school on the third Monday in February that is known variously as "President's Day," "Presidents' Day," or "Presidents Day," while some students get the entire week between Washington and Lincoln's birthdays as a mini-vacation from school.  For many of us, the day also represents one of our multiple long weekends marked by outdoor barbecues with friends and family, and heavily-marketed blowout sales.  Political figures give speeches, and it is up to us to individually decide what the holiday means in terms of our community and civic identity.

Galentine's Day 2016

"What's Galentine's Day? Oh, it's only the best day of the year! Every February 13th, my lady friends and I...just come and kick it breakfast-style.  Ladies celebrating ladies. It's like Lilith Fair...minus the angst...plus frittatas." --Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation

As promised, here are the photos of this year's Galentine's Day.  This year we hosted, and I was able to document a lot more of the food and the decorative themed stations (beautifully arranged by my intrepid co-host).

We had a Chocolate Station next to a table with name cards where guests could leave Galentines for the other guests.  

Our Scone Station.  My friend made berry scones and chocolate chip scones, which were offered with fresh fruit, whipped cream, lemon curd, and passionfruit jam (it was all suuuuper yummy when piled together).

Our seating area featured a beautiful glass and roses theme.  We served food on glass dishes and "crystal" plastic party trays to match the place settings.  In addition to the scones, we offered cucumber sandwiches, lox sandwiches, a caprese salad (fresh mozarella, basil, and tomato drizzled in olive oil), and a cheese plate.

My place setting:

After brunch, we watched "A Tell-Tale Vlog" on YouTube (featuring Edgar Allan Poe, aspiring vlogger, as well as Lady Ghost Lenore, and a random girl scout), while we digested.  

Then it was time to open our Galentines. 

All of the Galentines were super sweet, and some were also funny.

This homemade Galentine features a cut-out of a teacup that functions as a pocket and holds a packet of "Well-Rested Tea"--and a caption with a related play on words:

Another of our friends bought used books and wrapped them in brown paper as her Galentines.  She wrote a different quote on each cover, and added fun stickers.  We each chose a quote that we liked and gained a mystery book:

My mystery book ended up being "The Blind Assassin," by Margaret Atwood:

My beautiful Galentines (complete with a bag of dark chocolate!):

We had a lot of fun, just hanging out and talking about books and catching up.

By the end of the day, I had eaten so much rich food that I was a bit queasy (have I mentioned that I'm lactose-intolerant?)...  My breakfast of leftovers the next day was much more restrained, but still delicious: Lox and tomato on bread, and whipped cream, lemon curd, and passionfruit jam on the penultimate scone (a word I will always remember, thanks to Lemony Snicket!):

So that was our beautiful and tasty brunch!

Already craving scones and looking forward to next year...

Galentine's Day Cards

"Galentine's Day" is a time when ladies get together to have brunch and socialize and show their appreciation for each other.  This unofficial holiday of "ladies celebrating ladies" was started in the  TV show "Parks and Recreation," by the character Leslie Knope (see Leslie's explanation in this helpful YouTube clip).  Galentine's Day is celebrated on February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day (although last year we celebrated it Valentine's Day morning because that morning worked best. So you do you.).

For this year's Galentine-making party, I decided to go with a more retro ocean/space/patchwork theme (you can see last year's card-making blogs here and here).

I started out by cutting out rectangles of cardstock that would fit into my envelopes:

Next, I set up a crafting station with cardstock, fabric, blue, and scissors.  And I knew from last year to have a couple sheets of scrap cardboard to protect the table from glue!

I cut out scraps of paper and fabric and glued them onto my cardstock. I found that by working on multiple cards at once, I could play around with my space-meets-patchwork theme.

I decided to use the polka dots from my rocket ship fabric to add some eyes/satellites to some of my planets (always important to up the cuteness factor...).

I then added scalloping along the sides of the cards, for a little extra flare.

The final products:

In honor of Galentine's Day, I wrote an affirmative quote from one of the "Parks And Rec" ladies on the back of each card:

In Part 2, I'll show you this year's cute Galentine's Day set-up.  Enjoy your Valentine's Day and President's Day Weekend!