Yup

It's been three weeks since my Grammy passed away, and I've been struggling with how to best celebrate her life. It's never easy to say goodbye to a loved one, but knowing my Grammy, she'd want me to put my energy into remembering all of the special times we shared. So, that's what I've been doing (or, at least, trying to do) - and that's what I'm going to do in this post. I'll be returning to my usual blogging activities later this week, but for now, I'm going to tell you a little bit about my amazing Grammy.

As any seamstress will tell you, building a button collection - the kind that always has the exact button that you need to finish a project - takes years. A proper stash of buttons cannot simply be bought at the local fabric store ... it must be collected during many days of mending, repairing, deconstructing, and rummaging. A good button box contains interesting buttons, but a great button box holds a lifetime of stories. I am lucky enough to be the proud owner of a particularly special tin of buttons, one that accompanied my Grammy through more than 50 years of marriage, three children (all boys), three grandchildren, and a lifetime of creativity.

Having this box of buttons, along with a box of fabric, a stash of embroidery thread, a collection of notions, and a sewing machine, has allowed me to feel really connected to her during the past few weeks. Of course, having things that belonged to her means a lot, but it's what those objects stand for that really means the most. She was an immensely talented and artistic woman, and it's due in part to her love for creating that I feel such passion for making things with my own two hands. And I love knowing that. I adore the notion that my family tree is filled with stitched and embellished leaves, and I'm really proud that I'm able to carry on the traditions of the amazingly skilled women that came before me (like my Grammy).

Anyone who has been within earshot of me recently has heard at least one story (if not a dozen) about my Grammy, ranging from laugh-out-loud funny tales or just plain sweet ones. Well, now it's time for me to share a couple more of my favorite stories, memories, and musings about her. Here are just a few of the reasons that my Grammy was so awesome:

• She was impossible to beat at any card or board game. Her on-the-last-hand-come-from-behind wins gained her quite the reputation in our family.
• When she would sip champagne, her arms would float up from her sides until they stuck straight out, at which point she would slightly flap them and say, "my arms, they feel so light!" It was the most adorable thing imaginable.
• She baked a fresh pie for my Grampy ever single week for many, many years. In fact, my very first memory is being in the kitchen with her as she baked him a cherry pie. Once she pulled it out of the oven and set it on the sill to cool, the three of us went for a walk and I got to take a ride on a firetruck. Not bad for a first memory, eh?
• She could make ANYTHING. She sewed beautifully, she painted, and she even made this amazing, miniature furniture completely by hand. She had a knack for taking her vision and perfectly translating it into her art.
• She had the most unbelievable whistle. She could do bird calls that made the birds themselves jealous - seriously, she was that good.
• She was on a traveling Wii bowling league. And she was one of their best players, too.
• She was hysterically funny, and in a way that was all her own. Her timing was impecable - she always hit you with a zinger when you were least expecting it.
• She was an animal lover through and through, especially cats. When my parents adopted an abused cat from the shelter, it was my Grammy who worked with her and transformed her from a traumatized creature who was afraid of her own shadow into a snuggly, cuddly teddy bear of a cat. She loved my rats too ... she always said they were "so cunnin'" in her adorable New England accent.
• She never, ever, ever gave up. Ever. No matter the illness, no matter the prognosis, she was always determined to make it through. Nothing could keep her down.

Love you lots, Grammy.

So much has been going on at Chez Yup lately that my poor little blog has gotten left behind. I'm sorry, my darling blog. It's nothing personal ... things have just been so busy and I haven't been able to give you the attention you deserve. You know I love you.

I have, however, not neglected my bloggy duties entirely, as you will find two new buttons on the top right of my header. See them? Right over there. You'll now find links to my Twitter and Pinterest accounts, which didn't exist until very recently. I've managed to resist the draw to most social networks up until now - pretty ironic, considering that I'm in the marketing/web industry, and that's pretty much the first thing I recommend for marketing oneself online.

It's not that I haven't been interested in the assorted social networks, it's just that my tendency is to be quite private. Shy, even. But that doesn't mean that I can't give myself a slight nudge into (what is for me) uncharted territory ... that's how I'll grow, right? And if I'm entirely honest, the whole experience has actually been really great so far. I'm enjoying making connections with both new and existing friends in a digital sort of way. I'm enjoying sharing small glimpses into my day. I'm enjoying being less guarded.

I do promise to be better about blogging in the coming days and weeks, but when the occasional downtime does occur, I hope you'll join me on Twitter or Pinterest.  :)

I can't believe that this is my 100th post! It really does feel like just yesterday I was thinking about maybe trying to consider starting something sort of resembling a blog, and now here I am in the triple digits. I'm still learning new things about maintaining a blog every single day (and I'm sure that will continue for years to come), but I do genuinely feel like I've learned some lessons over the past 99 posts and I figure that this is the perfect post to share them.

• Having a blog is kind of like having a pet ... it's fun, snuggly, and makes you happy, but you do have to love it and take care of it and put your energy into it to keep it alive. But in exchange for your attention and affection, it does give you a lot of joy in return.
• Taking pictures is more than just picking up your camera and snapping a few shots - a pleasing photo of a project or a baked good is the result of good lighting, eye-catching framing and placement, and a bit of post-photo tweaking in Photoshop. And for each decent picture you take, you will easily take four or five or 20 that flat out suck (or have shadows or are blurry or have any of about a billion other issues).
• The desire to have interesting things to share on your blog makes you do more interesting things in your day-to-day life. Maybe this one is just me, but if I'm given two options - the plain way and the blog-worthy way - I do find myself picking the bloggy option more often than not.
• No matter how much you tell yourself that you want your blog to be stress-free, you will find yourself feeling mighty guilty every time you let a few days slip by without posting. It's like I have a tiny angel with a keyboard and camera on one shoulder, encouraging me to post every day, and an equally miniature devil on the other that wants me to relax, work out, catch up on sleep, or do other non-blog activities. And that little angel really knows how to bring on a guilt trip when I let the mini-devil win out.
• Even people who know you in real life will learn things about you by reading your blog. It doesn't matter if I talk to someone every single day ... I still manage to forget to share things here and there that manage to wiggle free during the process of blogging. I think that's been the biggest and most enjoyable surprise of the whole experience so far.

I'm so excited to continue learning and growing along with my blog, and can't wait to see where I'll be 100 posts from now.

Today is a very special occasion in the Yup household, as it was 35 years ago on this very day that my awesome partner in crime, L, was born. I'll talk more about the festivities (including our really great surprise guest and, of course, the cake) in a future post, but for now I want to share 35 reasons that L is worth celebrating.

1. He makes me laugh. A lot.
2. He always opens the door for me (even when he has to run ahead of me to do it because I refuse to slow down).
3. Every time we go grocery shopping, he carries way too many bags up from the car so that I only have to carry one or two bags (and they're always the bags that hold light things like bread and eggs).
4. He always supports me 100% in everything I do.
5. He's goes above and beyond to help me succeed in things that are important to me, whether it's doing graphic design or web stuff or anything else I need. Even if it means staying up to work way after I've gone to sleep just to help me out.
6. He leaves me the most sweet, caring, and funny notes every single morning to make sure that my days start off just right.
7. He packs my lunch every day. And they're damn fine lunches at that.
8. Whenever we split something, he always gives me the bigger piece.
9. He has impeccable taste in picking accessories for me. He's like the scarf whisperer or something.
10. He's an AWESOME cook. His soups will seriously knock your socks off.
11. He is a really great artist, and can draw like no one else I've ever known.
12. When I've had a long, tiring day, he happily rubs my feet.
13. He gives me honest and useful feedback when I ask for it.
14. He listens to me when we talk, and not just in the head-bobbing "uh-huh" sort of way.
15. He is smart and knows how to have an intelligent conversation. We can spend hours talking about "what ifs" and hypothesizing, and it's just a blast.
16. He takes good care of his Mom (and Dad and siblings).
17. He has a kind heart, and will go out of his way to help anyone in need.
18. He always notices when I have a good hair day or pick out a particularly cute outfit and compliments me for it.
19. He lets me steal the blankets and/or take up the majority of the bed without complaining.
20. He buys me flowers just because. And he spends extra time when picking them out to make sure that he finds the best ones in the bunch.
21. If he ever spots something that he knows I like on sale, he goes out of his way to make sure that I know it's on sale (along with what the price is, where it's on sale, and the ending date). It's pretty cute.
22. He writes me poems.
23. He takes such good care of Nona.
24. He puts up with my no-kill policy pertaining to spiders. He carefully captures them and releases them safely on the balcony.
25. He always reminds me to take a scarf when it's cold out.
26. He constantly surprises me with cute little gifts.
27. He's crafty and enjoys spending time doing creative things.
28. He can sew!
29. He taste tests every single thing I bake and helps me to improve even my most tried-and-true recipes.
30. He has style.
31. He gets along with all of my friends.
32. He always smells good.
33. He can dance, even though he doesn't show it off much.
34. He doesn't complain when I leave the sink full of dishes after baking (and he has them all sparkling and clean within a matter of minutes).
35. He reads my blog every day with his morning coffee, and sends me sweet texts telling me his favorite part(s).

Happy birthday, L! May your 35th year be as awesome as you make every day for me.

You know how sometimes you get totally and completely hung up on something and you just can't get enough of it? Well, here's a list of things that fall into the category of "shameless addiction" for me at this very moment:

• Salted caramel. I don't care if I'm drinking it in a cocoa or mocha, eating it plain, or dipping it in chocolate ... if I'm in the same room as salted caramel, it's getting consumed. By me. Don't say I didn't warn you.
• Yoga pants. I pretty much only wear them when I'm doing yoga, but they're just so dang comfy. I could live in them. Except for special occasions, of course, upon which I'd bedazzle them. (Totally kidding, I promise.)
• Doilies. I find myself wanting to stick them on EVERYTHING lately. I even had a dream about a cute doily card project thing a few weeks back, but when I tried to recreate it while conscious, it wasn't quite as I had envisioned it to be. Even so, I kind of loved having a doily dream. Is that weird?
• Brown rice from Chipotle. I love brown rice, and I love Chipotle's cilantro-lime rice, but never in my wildest dreams (doily-related or otherwise) did I ever entertain the possibility of the two getting together. Turns out, it's even better than it sounds. So, so good.
• Green tea. It's been cold here lately - and not just California cold. I've been starting off every morning with a big, hot, steamy cup of green tea (usually jasmine green tea, but I do change it up from time to time), and it's been just delightful. I love cupping my hands around the mug and letting the warmth travel through my fingertips. It's such a relaxing way to begin my day.

Happy we're-officially-closer-to-the-weekend-than-to-Monday to you!

I seriously can't believe that it's already 2012. But, since it really is (regardless of how many times I may write "2011" in date fields over the next few months), I figured I'd take a post to talk about some of my favorite achievements over the past year and look ahead to my goals for 2012.

Four Things I'm Proud of from 2011

1. My blog. I dabbled with the idea of starting a blog for ages, but I hadn't managed to convince myself that I could keep it active (let alone interesting) for any extended period of time. With some encouragement from L, I decided to go for it, and I'm so happy I did. It's been just about four months since my first post, and I've been pretty good about posting with some regularity ... although I can't vouch for the interesting-ness. It's been a great experience so far, and I can't wait to see how my blog grows and progresses during 2012.
2. Getting fit. I've been working on my health and fitness and all of that good stuff for a couple of years - making slow, but steady progress toward my goals. 2011 was my best year yet in terms of staying on track with workouts, and I'm stronger now than I have been in a really long time. I've completely fallen in love with yoga ... I doodle little hearts with "S + Y" in them everywhere. Ok, not really, but I do adore it.
3. Work stuff. I try not to talk too much about my professional life on my blog, but I'm making a teensy exception today. 2011 was a pretty epic year in terms of work-related accomplishments ... websites were built, books were edited, programs were launched. There were moments when I wanted to pull my hair out from the sheer stress of juggling so many projects, but my awesome and super supportive friends, family, and coworkers kept me sane. Or, at least, my version of sane.
4. Cards, cards, and more cards. After a far-too-long hiatus from crafting, 2011 marked my return (with a vengeance) to my craft room. I made quite a few things that made me do a little peacock strut around the house, but the things I'm most proud of are my cards. I've made over 30 cards since I launched my blog, and I've had an absolute blast. What has surprised me most about making the cards has been the responses I've received - people really do notice and appreciate the time that goes into handmade cards. My craft room expanded in recent weeks - thanks to some very exciting Christmas gifts - and I am really looking forward to continuing my card-making in the new year.

Three Resolutions for 2012

1. No new clothes. My biggest resolution for 2012 is to buy no brand new clothing for the entire year (with the exception of things that I can't make, like shoes and bras and stuff). I plan on making the bulk of my "new" clothing, and perhaps buying a few thrifted garments if need be. This resolution should encourage me to spend a little more time sewing, and force me to find new ways to wear things that I already own. I'm sure it'll be challenging at times, but I'm so ready for it.
2. Cook more. As you've probably noticed, I bake. A lot. I can cook reasonably well too, but I spend hardly any time doing it. I aim to put more of my energy into cooking ... and conquering some of those specific dishes that I've never been able to master. Perfectly golden hash browns (that aren't fused to the bottom of the pan), you're on my list.
3. Tutorial time! I couldn't finish off a list of goals for 2012 without including a bloggy one, could I? I want to post more tutorials on my blog in 2012, and not just of the card variety (I promise!). I also want to get better at creating instructions and start photographing some of the more confusing and/or hard to describe steps individually.

And now that I'm all resolutioned out, it's time to say, "Happy 2012!"

This was going to be the year ... the year when the holidays are stress-free for me, because I've been oh-so diligent in the months leading up to them and gotten all of my shopping and crafting done in advance. Oh, and I was going teach a unicorn to sing too. Well, clearly both of these ideas are mere figments of my imagination. I mean, no one actually crosses everything off of their holiday to-do list in advance. I had good intentions - I even got a full day of shopping in during the last week of October. October! And with a coupon, no less. But here I am, 10 days before Christmas, with a laundry list of things left to do. Here's what's left:

• Finding the perfect gift. One or two people on my list are still in need of that one special gift that is just right. I have ideas, but have lacked the time to actually make them happen in a couple of cases. Thank goodness for the weekend (and for Amazon Prime!).
• Finishing my cards. I'm really, really, really close to finishing up all of my holiday cards. I just have to do a bit of snipping here and a little embellishing there, and then they'll be done. But until then, I can't officially cross them off of my list.
• The wrap-a-thon. Every year, L and I spend one or two nights doing nothing but wrapping. We get some snacks, pop in a few movies, and get every last gift wrapped and ready to ship (or to put under our own non-tree). Our wrap-a-thons always give me that warm, fuzzy, holiday feeling.
• Sweets and treats. I have promised holiday baked goods to a few family members and friends, and I'm really looking forward to delivering on those promises. I still haven't decided on the final list of treats I'll be preparing, but I have a few ideas swirling around in my head. Maybe I need to do some taste-testing this weekend.

Totally doable, right? Now I'm off to find a song book and a unicorn that can keep a tune.

After a few days of being super swamped, it's time for me to (finally) do my Thanksgiving post! In between bites of stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pie, I spent Thanksgiving thinking about all of the things I'm thankful for. Of course, there are the biggies ... things like health, happiness, and family. But there are also a lot of little things that I find myself being oh-so-thankful for every single day, so I figured I'd use this post to celebrate a few small but specific things that help to make each day great.

1. Morning notes. Every morning on my way out the door, I am greeted with a very adorable note from L. Sometimes they have poems, sometimes they are jokes, and sometimes they are simple reminders like "it's going to be cold, so wear a scarf." Regardless of the content, they always put me in the best mood and help prepare me for the day ahead.
2. A happy workplace. I am so, so, so lucky to work in an environment where happiness is valued and everyone feels like family. Even the most stressful days are entirely tolerable because my coworkers are always there to share the load or share a laugh.
3. My Dad's sense of humor. I may be a teensy bit biased on this one, but my Dad may very well be the funniest human being on the planet. He's so quick with his jokes, and can make almost any situation funny. If I had a nickel for every time he's made me laugh until tears run down my cheeks, I'd be rich.
4. My Mom's creativity. When I was a kid, I thought my Mom knew how to make anything. Now that I'm an adult, I'm certain it's true. Whether she's in the kitchen, the sewing room, or the garden, there's nothing that she can't whip up on a moment's notice.
5. Friends who "get it." I love knowing that the friends that I have not only support and encourage me, but also understand me. They laugh at my jokes (even when they're not terribly funny), they listen when I need them to, and they always know just what to say just when I need to hear it. I couldn't ask for anything more.
6. My blog. Though my blog is still super new, the fact that it is up and running after a looooong time of thinking and talking about it is just so exciting. And I'm thankful that L did such an awesome job designing it for me.

So ... I missed a couple of days of posting. I feel a bit guilty, but I was just totally busy. I did manage to do a couple of blog-worthy things though, even if I wasn't able to actually post about them. The good news is that I crossed a bunch of stuff off of my have-to-do list and I'm almost ready to start checking some things off of my want-to-do list! And best of all, it's almost Halloween, which means I have even more reasons for crafting and baking. Mwahahahahaha! (That was my best attempt at an evil laugh.)

Here are a few of the things on my want-to-do list for the week leading up to Halloween:

1. Finish my dress! I'm oh-so-close to finally wrapping up the much-discussed pattern I've been working on. Give me a good, solid hour or two, and it'll be all done. So excited!
2. Pumpkin carving party. For the first time in our ten years together, L and I will be carving pumpkins! We picked them up this evening, and though they are lumpy, bumpy, and misshapen, they'll be masterpieces come tomorrow night.
3. Baking, baking, and more baking. I plan on putting together a few Halloween goodie bags for friends and coworkers, which means lots and lots of kitchen time. Woo-hoo!
4. Bloggy catch-up. I do plan on blogging about the one or two things I did during the couple of days that I was missing in action, and I may even try to squeeze in an extra post or two to compensate. One of the highlights to come ... making my own marshmallow fluff!
5. A Halloween-inspired Geeky Love. He's so awesome, it's SCARY!

Happy almost Halloween!

Call me strange, but I find balancing my checkbook to be almost therapeutic. Knowing that every last transaction balances perfectly to the penny is so reassuring to me ... it's like the financial equivalent of being wrapped up in a cozy blanket on a cool, fall morning. I like knowing exactly how much I have left after paying all of my essentials, so that I never have to try to do any on-the-fly calculations while I'm grocery shopping or picking up dinner. Maybe that is strange.

I have spent the better part of the last hour writing checks, paying bills, and doing all of my calculations, and boy, do I feel good. It's like everything is wrapped up in a little bow for me; it's nice and neat and organized. And, best of all, it's DONE, which means that I can go to bed without having numbers swirling around in my head. Ah, that sounds mighty refreshing right about now.