Wow! One hundred posts!

That many?
And,
That's all?
Funny how it seems like so many and so few at the same time. 

I have finally met the milestone of Ye Olde 1ooth Poste Giveaway!

I am going to put the important parts in bold, for the skimmers.

I was just up in my workroom trying to figure out what I could put together for you. I was overwhelmed! I have so much stuff- I didn't know where to begin. I know I want to give you supplies rather than something I have made. Half of the fun of all of this is getting to see what you will make! I was going through my fabric, paper and jewelry supplies and just sat literally sat and stared for a while. I just can't make up my mind!
So, how about this: you decide!

You all know how this works, right? Go ahead and leave me a comment on this post and I will randomly choose one person to receive a yummy bundle of goodness.

*In your comment, please specify whether you would like a sampling from my sewing stash, paper piles or jewelry junk!

*Also, would it be too much to ask for you to leave me a little tidbit about why you visit yummygoods?

*Or let me know something you would like to see more of. Pretty please?

*I encourage you to  to leave your link so we can all get to know each other!

(The cutoff for the giveaway  will be Sunday, December 30th  at midnight.)

I have to admit that doing this giveaway makes me feel a bit awkward,  like I am inviting a bunch of people to a party, not sure if anyone is going to show up!

I know I promised you a little background on what I've been hinting at all these months, but that will be happening in the next few days.
I wanted to get the 100th post hoopla taken care of, ( as if there will be hoopla! ha!) then I can really relax and look back at the year and tell you all about it.
Ok?
The big reveal is imminent, please bear with me!

I don't usually use bold (I am usually much more of an italics kind of girl)  but it's kind of fun.  I won't make it a habit though, it could probably get pretty annoying, drawing attention to all these words just to make you pronounce them in your head with more emphasis. Oh dear. Must cease.

****And now, please enjoy some randomness in the color blue****

Journal page from 2000 .Blocks stamped with an eraser, acrylic paint:

Journal page. Some funny little papercutting I do from time to time:

Journal page. Pen drawing with watercolor background:

Listening to:
Ingrid Michaelson
Amy Winehouse
April Barrows 

Nighty night.

 Well, here we are. Christmas night. My family doesn't get together for Christmas, so it's been pretty quiet, as it usually is.  I tend to  have a hard time with the holidays. I had been feeling down about it for most of December, but yesterday and today were actually quite lovely.

My honey's kids came over for a couple of hours to do the present thing - which was great. They are 11,15 and 16. The oldest, Meredith, got her license recently. I met her when she was ten and now she has a car and drives! It's so cool.  Usually they come over on the 26th. We really liked that they were able to come over on the actual day of Christmas this time, thanks to Meredith being able to drive them over.

The usual non-holiday situation is that the kids come home to our house on Wednesdays and on weekends, except for the  first weekend of each month, which they spend at their mom's. The first few years were quite an adjustment for all of us, but we are all pretty comfortable now. They are great kids. I think my favorite thing about each of them is the same- they have great senses of humor!

Tomorrow I am going to buy a new sewing machine! I am not quite ready for one of the fancy pants machines, so I am just going to get whichever Singer is around 200 bucks. Even so, it  will be an improvement over the Brother I have been using since tenth grade! I make it sound like I have been sewing the whole time since, but I haven't. My name is Melissa, and I am a sporadic sewer. Stitcher. Sewer just never looks right , does it?

Oh man, I can't believe I haven't told you about these awesome quilt tops I got at an estate sale recently. Two twin patchwork tops, $25! 

Tee hee, I busted Thor looking silly with his tongue out.

Some of my favorite parts:

Love the coloring-book-style-slash-Peter-Maxx horsey. And that  lettering!

And this cuteness: 

It is so interesting to me that this giraffe print  is on a textured fabric :

Here's another neat one, a flocked print:

Pink floral/butterfly with elephant cuteness:

Awesome, right? So I am thinking... I could take one of the twins and add some borders to it and make it queen sized for my bed....and  I could take the other one and make some throw pillows and throw blankies... hmmmm. I'll keep you posted!

Hey, my next post will be my 100th! I am going to see what I can come up with to celebrate and thank you for being here with me. My next post will also fill you in on some backstory of how my big project came to be. And I am really hoping I get the official permission to go ahead and start shouting from the rooftops what I have been alluding to for lo these many months!

Yay! 

More from my box o Christmas cuteness. Love that little santa. It has a handpainted fabric face - it looks like some little Asian-type flat dolls I've seen. I don't know what they are called. The eyes are the best! And  the fluffy cloud eyebrows.

And I am just in love with these little white reindeer. They have that melancholy-sweet combination that does it for me. 

I'm usually a color fiend, but there is something so soothing and pleasing about white on white.

Little box of Christmas goodies - yard sale. Two dollars.

Love those little white reindeer:

Have you seen Camilla Engman's flickr group Organized Collection? I love it. I am going to put that photo in the pool. I am also fond of Anything On White.

I am wearing some jeans I bought yesterday at the Gap. I don't usually shop there, but my friend Sally is working there and she gets a killer discount. These jeans are normally 70 bucks! I got em for 35! And they are awesome. They are the Essential Jean- mid rise, somewhat wide leg, just a bit of stretch. Very flattering and comfy. Recommended.

Well, I had better get to showing you these topical photos before the season is over!

I found this little gnomey guy in a box o' toys I grabbed for five bucks at a yard sale a few weeks ago.

Around the same time I was psyched to find this vintage tree topper for a dollar!

And even more happy that it actually works!

It is now on the top of our tree.

Hey, I just realized that I am  almost at my  100th post!
Just so happens that I received something in the mail today that means any day now I will get the official go-ahead to share my news!

Creme brulee all around!

I love this vintage coat hook. Thrifted, a couple bucks at most. I'm thinking that blue will great with the 'not orange' paint in the kitchen! Maybe a nice spot to hang some lovely little tea towels? Hmm?

I took these pictures well over a month ago, just after a manicure. I don't usually paint my nails red, but I was just in a funny mood so that's what I chose that day. I could certainly use another  mani-pedi right about now! Especially a pedicure because you spend an inordinate amount of time looking at your feet when you practice yoga!  It is really a treat to look down and see some pampered piggies.

Any yoga girls in the house? Can I get an om?

Look at my adorable new tea towels from from Moda Home:

That little swirly border ? That is something I doodle all the time! I only just realized that right now. Funny.

Reminds me of some dogs I know. We call them the "cheese-noses."  They can tell the instant we take cheese out of the fridge. It's uncanny.

These towels are going to look so perfect in our freshly painted and semi-renovated kitchen!
My honey has been working really hard to get our kitchen looking good. I keep saying, "Honey, I love our orange kitchen!" and he keeps saying, "It's not orange, it's cantaloupe!"

We like orange kitchens. It's our second one.
Pictures soon.

Okay, it  may be a little early in our relationship for me to tell you this, but... I've missed you.

I have received some lovely comments lately, even in my absence, and it has just warmed my heart and made me smile. Thank you.

Thank you to those of you who are just stopping by for the first time right now, thank you to those that have been reading since February ( if there is anyone in that category!)  thank you to those of you who  read but do not comment, and thank you to those who take the time to let me know that you are here, that something I have said or made or shared has meant some tiny thing to you.

It is really a wonderful thing, this blogging. I still feel so new at it. I still feel shy about it. I still feel like I don't know exactly what I am doing here. But I do know that I enjoy sharing my little finds with you. I love hearing from you. I love following links to what you write about, what you care about, what you make.

Okay, I am done being sappy for the moment. Onward. 

My camera hasn't been working, which is why I have been so scarce. I love taking pictures -  as you know, it is one of my favorite things about blogging. I have found it hard to get a post written without my usual photographic accompaniment! I am still jonesing for my own badass camera, but for now I am just happy to have the borrowed one functioning! Finally, I got it the battery to hold a charge again, so I took some pictures yesterday.  I can't wait to show you some of my recent estate sale goodies! Next time, probably.  Still gotta clean em up a bit and upload them.

From the fall:

I love the typeface and the blues on this little tin.

This one is kinda neat:

While I'm at it, might as well show you this other tin I found a few months ago:

It's pebbly.

mmmm. tins.

I love this little pink dove planter. I scored it at Savers a while back for about 3 bucks!

Cats do love windowsills, don't they?

And sheets. Every time I change the sheets, Thor is there immediately frolicking under them.

Back to the pottery- such uncommon colors, don't you think? I mean, for this type of handpainted Italian ceramics?

I love it.  It now holds toothbrushes in my pink bathroom. Perfect.

Here are a couple of shots of my  little statues when they lived in the bathroom:

Then we took them down to repaint:

Tee hee, I love how that looks with the rubber duckie.

A little bathroom vignette:

Just a smattering of goodies for show and tell.

Meanwhile, remember how I said I was all done with my design  project ?

Yeah, well... revisions!  So I have spent the whole weekend  tweaking the designs. Soon I will really be done. And then there will be much rejoicing and blogging and eating of creme brulee.

And I am still hoping you'll have some suggestions on how to survive winter (request from my previous post.)

A couple of months ago, I  found two cute tiny chairs at the Salvation Army (which  I sometimes call  The Sally Slermie or, for short: The Slerm. But that is a whole other story.)

I am compelled to make tiny cushions for them.

Even though there is actually a chair pose in yoga, I am not going to try to make a clever segue:
I am excited to finally have started taking my yoga teacher training course! We started Tuesday night- it was wonderful. You may remember that in July my best friend Jennifer arranged to have me take this course as a birthday gift . She is the best!

The course is a 200 hour basic certification approved by the National Yoga Alliance. For the next six months, we will meet every Tuesday evening for 3 hours , with monthly weekend intensives . I have been wanting to take a yoga teacher training (YTT from now on, ok?) since 1997 when I went to Kripalu and did a five month volunteer program. More on that another time! I don't know yet whether I really want to teach, for now I am just looking forward to deepening my practice.

I am one of ten women in the class. They are a lovely group- I can't wait to get to know everyone! I had never met the teacher before, but had heard of Diane for years. She is just a doll.

I am so lucky to have this opportunity! I think it will really help me get through the winter. I don't like the cold.
I keep saying that I need to come up with a Winter Survival Plan- the YTT will be a big part of that, as will the sauna at the gym. I need to get back into the habit of drinking tea, especially ginger tea. It's so warming.

Anyone have any  good winter survival tips? You know, besides going on vacation?