I had a tummy bug on Monday and let me tell you, the unsung moments of parental heroism really come when you are valiantly striving not to humiliate your child by vomiting in the middle school dropoff line. Miss L may never fully appreciate this enormous act of valor but I certainly felt proud of myself! I slept most of the day and was better within 24 hours but man, it was touch and go for awhile.

So THAT was a poor start to the week, but the weekend preceding the ailment was great. Miss L and I drove up north for a quick visit with my parents and we took my mom to see The Nutcracker as performed by the Interlochen Arts Academy Dance Company and Orchestra. It was the first time for Miss L and I to see Nutcracker live and it was a beautiful performance.

And now it’s the week before Christmas and I’m trying my best to clear my desk off at work and be ready for a long holiday break. I finished a trial run at a pattern I purchased just recently – The Petite Jumper by The Petite Knitter. I saw this on the Fiber Tales vlog and immediately wanted to make it. This first one turned out a bit wonky as I twisted the needles on one of the sleeves when knitting in the round. But the second one I just finished (in the same colors) is much better. I’m doing a couple to accompany Christmas presents for near-and-dears and then I’m going to do a couple more using the same colors but in different mixes – so a cream body with red and brown accents, a red body with cream and brown accents, etc. – for a little garland. It’s a very quick, cute pattern but, as Fiber Tales noted in her vlog, it is a little fiddly and requires some concentration (I’m just happy I remembered how to do a color chart in the round).

In the Happy Mail department, I got some boxes full of materials for soap-making (more on that in the New Year) and I’ve received my 2020 planners – I went with Hobonichi this year. I want to do a better job this year with bullet journals / planners. We keep a Google calendar for Miss L, so both of her households can stay up to date on her activities, but for my own personal life, I’ve never really adjusted to an electronic calendar and much prefer paper. Additionally, working for a Japanese company, I love the Japanese minimalist aesthetic and the cultural emphasis on making organization and efficiency an art form.For work, where I need more writing space for meeting notes, I got the Hobonichi Techo, which has monthly pages and pages for individual days with inspiring quotes / factoids at the bottom of each 2-day stretch. In addition, it’s the Steiff limited edition so it has the Steiff bear on the cover underneath the Hobonichi kanji. I really love this planner and wish that I’d gotten the Techo for my personal planner, too (I strictly separate my work life and personal life – separate phones, separate notebooks, separate planners – working in a Legal department will do that to you). Instead, I got the Hobonichi Weekly for my personal planning and I feel a little sad that it is small and doesn’t have individual day pages. Still, though, it’s a great size for my purse or knitting bag or work satchel, and I ordered several cute pens and markers and washi tapes when I placed a recent order from a Japanese pen/stationery shop for Miss L’s stocking.

So these are just a few notes from Suburban Elysia. I hope you are all enjoying the best things about the holiday season and letting go of anything that doesn’t serve you. Be well and take some time for yourself before things get any more hectic. xoxo