Dear Santa,

I know it's kinda late, like 2 weeks late. I am wondering if you could bring me one of these? Maybe if you have anything to do with Valentines day, it's the next holiday, that would be great!



Love, Leslie

p.s. if you don't know were to find him just ask the Sartorialist.
p.p.s. I LOVE YOU Sartorialist!

Urbanestics D.I.Y. NIGHT!

I am proud to announce that I have been asked to host D.I.Y nights at Mars Cafe.

The first evening will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at Mars Cafe from 7 pm to 9 pm.

We will be working on projects to get ourselves inspired as wells as organized for the new year. You are also welcome to bring your own projects to work on.

I am hoping to soon have a D.I.Y. night schedule of projects so you can come prepared and know what supplies to bring.

Can't wait to see you there!
Let me know if you have any questions.

"IN" in 2009

For all you who don't keep up on your Apartment Therapy, here are their predictions for what trends/what will be "IN" for 2009.

Out 2008 - In 2009

Minimal Furniture - Winged Furniture
Keep Calm Poster - Other Graphic Posters
Kelly Wearstler - Eddie Ross
Sex & the City Interiors - Mad Men Interiors
Buying Wallpaper - Photocopying It
eBay - Etsy
Chalkboard Paint - Half Accent Walls
Crafting - Crafting
Sarah Palin's Office Decor - The Obama's White House
Antlers (again) - Antler Outlets
China White - Dark Wall Colors
Obvious Mid-C Modern - MCM in Unusual Fabrics
Wood Farm Tables - Saarinen Tulip Table
Ikea Trollsta Table - Ikea Docksta Table

How do you feel about this predictions? Let me know? I have a few reservations regarding but mainly agree.

This is Where We Live

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

AMAZING! book animation that I found on Craftzine. You can find it here as well.

The Sum of the Year

I decided to look back on last January's blog to see what goals I made for myself for this year and see what I accomplished.



This can be kind of scary. EEEEK!



2008 GOALS:
1. Stay away from the TV in the evening when I come home from work so I am able to accomplish following goals.
2. Become more organized by keeping clutter down.
3. Keep car clean inside and out and perform regular maintenance on it.
4. Develop online craft business and to write more on my blog.
5. More than play with the notion of starting my own business.
6. Continue with last years goal to have new adventures.
7. Last but not least exercise and eat better just like everyone else.

This is what I achieved:
1. I believe I did well with this in the beginning of the year then totally forgot about it. but... I did get a laptop so that I could do more things at my computer while watching TV. How does that sound?
2. MMMM, sorta.
3. DONE! I did do a pretty good job of this. Except for probably the last month because weather has been terrible and it was just to cold to clean it. I need the oil changed and was about to get it done last week but couldn't get it in the shop with the holidays so I will try to get that done this coming week.
4. I posted more blogs in 2008 than 2007, and also was able to put more handmade items on my etsy than I had the last.
5. I registered for a tax id number as well as received my Iowa sells and user tax, also purchased my own dot com and held the first Urbanestics Underground.
6. Hmmm, I can't even think of what "NEW" adventures I had but I know I did. I learned many new things such as.. learned how to knit socks, took a found object art class at Columbia Collage, block printing class, and also learned how to do screen printing. I continued to learn more about kitchen and bath products everyday and the list could go on.
7. I can't believe I actually lost approximately 10 pounds this last winter and spring with eating right as well as exercising. (I can't tell you exactly how much because I don't believe in scales and don't remember the last time I used one.) Then summer came and wonderful evenings of grilling out and enjoying friends company became the new habit.

So what are my goals for 2009? Still working on that. I will let you know soon.

Christmas with Half the Family

This year was the epidemic of the flu (I even got it myself Christmas night.) so Christmas wasn't the same this year. As I think about it..... about 6 years ago I got the flu on Christmas night as well. Hmmmm? The Flu as well as the weather impacted how our Christmas went. We left Grandma's early because we had to get home before the freezing rain came.

Let me tell you..... it's only December 27th and I am ready for winter to be over. I dream of the warm sun beating down on my skin and feeling weightless as I swim in refreshing cool water. Oh, I am ready for spring. Maybe I should get a pass the the Y and also a tanning membership so I can pretend it's not so cold out.

Soooo... on with it. Daniel and Jenna and my nieces did not join us for our yearly tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve morning with the family so it was just half the family there. Got lots of wonerful presents and also enjoyed seeing everyones gifts they recieved.


Laurie's eco-friendly wrapping job. She personalized every package so that the content related to the person the gift was for. And of corse she had picked this article for me regarding a very un-atractive crocheted sweater.


My pile of gifts I recieved. New sleeping bag, screen printed lampshade and thrifted lamp, time to.... painting. All fantastic presents!


Mom and Dad and pup Polar. We children got Dad a good tripod for his camera.

What a Shame

In my blog reading I see so many people who post pictures of their beautiful Tivoli radio in a fantastic surrounding that is visually pleasing. Well, I thought I would share with you the location of mine.

picture courtesy my cell phone.

Don't worry, it gets used each and every day for practically 8 full hours! I think I better do some cleaning because this picture is such a disgrace. See that popcorn and paper clip under my toe kick?

Good Morning America

Make sure you wake up early this Saturday morning to watch Good Morning America. Michele Beshen of Simply Michele (the gall that we grew up with on Fox 17 as well as my brother's boss) will be on to show how to make sweet handmade gifts for the holidays. You will have to watch from 7am to 8am CST to see her. You can get more information at Michele's blog here.

Eco Friendly Christmas

Every year I usually try to be eco-friendly with my gift wrapping. This year I have decided to use some blueprint paper off a giant role I have had laying around as my wrapping paper.

Here I have my blueprint paper as well as shredded junk mail for all the stuffing I need. My ribbon this year is a role of warn that was purchased from the thrift store.

For all presents that needed to be wrapped in boxes have been ones that I have re-used. Instead of going into the recycling bin my Velveeta and oatmeal boxes got wrapped with a special present inside as well as others.

To finish it off I printed out these adorable to and from tags from Inside The Black Apple that she has up on her blog for anyway to use.

I hope that this inspires you to go out and re-use and recycle your Christmas wrapping this year.

Merry Christmas!

becoming a weekly event

Spent and evening with fellow creative people teaching and learning screen printing techniques. And doing other crafts as well. LOTS OF FUN!

Here are some pictures from our evening.

Matt observing Jon as he lines up his screen.

Erin checking out this trippy 3D design with some lovely glasses I so happen to have in my basement still after Urbanestics Underground. Who just happens to have 3D glasses laying around?

John checking out his work.