Holiday fun

Zoe and I made this gingerbread Christmas village the other day...  it didn't turn out looking like the picture on the box at all...

and Zoe said, "We can call it pop art and say it's a statement about the decay of society or something."  She is definitely my child!  We laughed a lot.

New York, Lynda Barry, and buttons

I didn't blog about my fantastic trip to New York last week yet -- now that Hannukah and Asher's birthday are over, I feel a little less frantic. 

Lynda Barry was amazing.  She is so inspiring because she is so much herself, acknowledging all the amazing and terrible things that make up our lives.  And finding humor in it all. 
I had a nice vegan dinner at a Korean teahouse near my hotel:

and went to one of my new favorite stores, Tender Buttons!

It's a tiny little place on the upper east side and it's just full of these brown paper boxes with hand-written labels... all they sell is buttons.  I spent about an hour there picking out buttons for the cowl I made for my friend Barbara's birthday. 
Being in the city by myself for 24 hours was rejuvenating.  Not having the responsibility of even talking to anyone else made me feel so much more relaxed.  I was glad to come home, too, and Lenny said it felt like I'd been gone for about a week and a half.

Knitting monsters

I finished two monsters and can't decide which one to give to Lloyd...