YAY! I’m in the current February/March 2014 issue of Crochet Today magazine! I’m pretty excited! I have already gotten a bunch of messages and emails about it!

Pick up a copy and check out the “My Crochet Life” feature with me! The link to the free pattern for the Conversation Heart Garland is here! There are also tons of cute patterns in the magazine. It’s a good issue!

So I discovered something about myself around Christmas: I LOVE BAKING GINGERBREAD MEN. I have baked a lot of ginger snaps in my time, but there was something about smushing out the dough and using the cookie-cutters that I found really satisfying!

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart via Java Cupcake. Next time I would try to make the dough even more spicy, like maybe with some grated fresh ginger as well as black pepper. Making big dough balls made me feel like Dr. Sattler going elbow-deep in a pile of dino droppings. (fast forward to 2:15 if you don’t remember this scene!) This made me giggle a lot to myself because I’m five years old.

You chill the dough before you roll out, and you also chill the men before you bake them. They don’t spread very much at all, and they come out perfectly shaped! If you roll them out thick at 1/4 inch, you will have chewy cookies. If you roll them out thinner, you will have crispy cookies. I did both and still can’t decide which I prefer….!

I didn’t have time before my parents’ Christmas shindig to decorate the cookies with icing, but icing is usually not my favorite to eat anyway. So my little ginger dudes were not as cute or charismatic…. but they were still yummy, which is great, because, I’m also LAZY.

I’m already craving them again. I just have to buy more flour!

You go on a spy mish! As I yelled at Hairy in the car, “I’m not an asset! I’m OPERATIONAL!” (And then a discussion about whether those are mutually exclusive.)

We have a history of joking about and even executing silly missions. One day, I will tell the tale of how 10 of us kidnapped a friend, stuffed him in a limo blindfolded, and took him to Vegas about ten years ago, with lots of planning and meetings and spy suits and reconnaissance and dossiers and fake moustaches and underwear-stealing.

But on Sunday, my mish was pretty simple: spy on Manda and her coffee date. We had joked about it the night before, and Manda said that I would have to wear a wig to hide my pink hair. I have a few dark wigs from when I had to cover my hair for a very important family event in a foreign country, so I went with the one that looked the least beat up and gross, yet, still gross in its own wonderful way. I felt really self-conscious because I knew I looked like a  crazy lunatic in a wig, pretending to be a normal person, but Hairy said that I looked no less crazy than a person with pink hair…..

As you can tell from all the annoying texts I sent Manda while drinking an Arnold Palmer and eating the brie plate, she and her date had canceled their plans. I first sent a text an hour before their alleged meet-up, but SHE WAS ASLEEEEEEEEEEEP/NAPPPING.

MISSION FAILURE.

At least there was cheese.

A lot of people make and post their inspiration or mood boards for the season, and while I am not in the habit of this at all (my likes don’t change seasonally for the most part … I’m pretty predictable), I was just asked to “send stuff that you like” by someone I am working with for Yummy You!, so I sent her this mish-mash of things:

(You can click on it to make it bigger.)

I didn’t put a lot of thought or time into it, but in that sense, I think it’s a real gut-reaction true-blue representation of stuff that I’m drawn to. Colors, sweets, and friends!

One of my blog sponsors, Blippo – Japan & Kawaii shop, who provided awesome prizes for my December giveaway, also sent me a super cute stationery package! They offer free shipping, and their packages ship out of their warehouse in Hong Kong (so it may take a week or two to get to you!).

I’d have to say my favorite item in the package is the Yummy Eraser set!

The only problem with erasers like these is that you’ll never use them since you won’t want to ruin them!

I also received a Lifestyle Calendar Book. It has a sweet and simple, plastic-covered cover, and I was surprised to find that the inside had lots of different things in it like little sayings, images of knitted flowers or felted hearts, day-of-the-week grids, and tons of places to take notes.

Blippo has a LOT of cute notebooks and stationery. Some favorites are the Burger/Sandwich memo pad, Blythe note paper, Chocolate memo pad.

I also got these neat emoticon stickers! They are currently out of stock, though!

Some other cool sticker sets: Rilakkuma sticker set, Animal sticker set, Blythe sticker set.

And finally, I got this cute little mechanical pencil that looks like a real pencil and says “Life creative.”

More cute writing tools: Popcorn Otoki pencil & eraser set, Bunny Pen, Ice Cream Pen.

Blippo sells way more than just cute stationery. They also have purses, Japanese magazines, snacks and candy, cell phone accessories, and more!

Thank you, Blippo, for the super cute package!