The weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday, my family and I went to Disneyland. We stayed at the Disneyland hotel, wanting to see what the hype was all about. It was all hype. Nothing magical about it, well except maybe this:

This was on top of our headboard, and when you turn on the light, it plays a "When you wish upon a star" tune--lol! The hotel room and bathroom were clean but there was no microwave. No free breakfast. We paid $450/ night for 5 people in one room. It was like any old ordinary hotel room. The kids were disappointed too. Granted it was close to Disneyland and the CA Adventure park but they make you walk through Downtown Disney first. But it was an enjoyable vacation. We had a blast at Cars Land, inspite of the looong lines at the Race track. Long lines everywhere.

The kids near the Disneyland Hotel.

Mickey's face at night, at the CA Adventure park. The kids thought this was the worst ferris wheel ever.

Peace on Earth at It's a Small World. BTW, I'm not a roller coaster type of gal but I was able to ride the Matterhorn and the race cars at Cars Land. Super fast and cool.

I made an Advent Calendar! The kids and I have been planning on this for a couple of years now. I finally finished it this year after all the procrastination. I didn't follow a pattern, just made one on my own. The pockets are 5" squares, evenly spaced on fabric. There are 24 pockets for the 24 days before Christmas. I simply embroidered the numbers on each pocket.

This one is a yoyo Christmas tree from the Sew Fresh magazine down below. There are so many projects I want to do out of this magazine. It says it's a premier issue so I'm hoping for more in the coming months.

I got my 12 year old Emily interested in sewing the yoyos. I have one of those yoyo gadget makers which made it a lot easier for her. I myself found it quicker to sew them yoyos without the gadget. We decided on colorful buttons and pins to make them look like ornaments.

I've made more stuff: Some makeup cases and more bags.

3 Bags I finished last week. This is the Sidekick tote bag from the Noodlehead site. I own 3 of her patterns and they're all easy to follow.

this one is the 241 Tote pattern, also from the Noodlehead.

and this one is a messenger bag pattern form Keyka Lou designs, now called Michelle patterns.

Two Tesla Roadsters, costing approx $100,000 each, more or less. Green or yellow? Eh, I'm not picky.

Some crocheted flowers I made when I was in between projects.

Today, we saw the last flight of the space shuttle Endeavor, flying over the Sacramento area, low enough for us to see and take pictures. Truly breathtaking.

I started working on this quilt, probably, in 2010, worked on it on and off. Finished it in 2011. This was my first and only attempt at Watercolor quilting. This is also a Quilt As You Go (QAYG) technique. Then, I attached each block to each other by hand sewing strips over the seams, thus creating the stained-glass effect. I never used the quilt probably because it was too pretty and I've put in a lot of work into it. Yesterday, I donated it to Love Inc., a local Christian charity that helps Sacramento locals with donations. The quilt will be auctioned off at a banquet, with the proceeds to be used for a good cause. My selfish self didn't want to let it go but a quiet voice seemed to whisper that I can make another one. In spite of the tedious work, I really enjoyed the whole process. And it's giving me another idea for the next one.

These were taken at Lake Tahoe, where the water was crystal clear. Now I know why people fight to keep these waters blue. It was a beautiful warm day that we could have swam, with the water so warm. This won't last long. I am still knitting, finishing up some socks I've started. No pics to show for them. I've lost the mojo to knit since Hawaii. It seems that all I want to do now is to travel and go on vacation all the time--lol

Some quilts we saw at the 2012 CA State Fair here in Sacramento.

I love the colors on this one.

Beach chair.

Mitered? Maybe I can submit an entry next year? I might submit one of my knitted shawls.

I would like to make this quilt! Cluck Cluck Sew website It looks easy.

Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, Hawaii

Views of Hanauma Bay

These are the French macarons we bought at the Honolulu Coffee Company in Waikiki. My first time to try them. Very good and very sweet. Did I mention expensive? These are cupcakes from Icing on the Cupcake here in downtown Sacramento. I got a Groupon coupon and just recently had the chance to use it. The cake part is very good and moist but the frosting was overly sweet. This is my version of the French macaron. Lots of recipes online and tutorials on Youtube. The only place that carries ground almond in my area is Sprouts in Elk Grove. I had to re-process it again to make it finer for sifting. The taste was the same as the store bought one but it appeared lumpy and coarse on the surface. I just had to practice some more.

We vacationed in Honolulu for 7 days and like I told my kids, when it's time to go home, you wouldn't want to. We stayed in Waikiki at Ohana Waikiki West. The hotel would have been fine if not for the 3 elevators for such a big hotel. People literally were fighting to get on. I hated the Asian tourists. I am Asian (Filipino/American) but will not hesitate to say that my fellow Asians were just plain rude! They don't attempt to learn English and used it as an excuse to be impolite. Take for example, lines. People line up for a purpose. I've seen several Korean tourists cut in line and push ahead of others and pretend you're not there. Chinese tourists were the same. The Japanese, however, were courteous, even though most of them did not speak English. And Hawaii was full of Japanese tourists. They even had their own trolley lines that only they can ride--lol. These were views from Kuhio Beach. The kids enjoyed this beach better than Hanauma Bay. Pearl Harbor was the best tourist spot in all of Oahu. The wait to get to the USS Arizona memorial was 3 hours long. But you only get to line up 30 mins before your tour. The rest of the time you can spend visiting the museums scattered around the harbor. I spent most of that time sitting on a bench under a coconut tree, enjoying the tropical breeze. As we disembarked the ferry to the USS Arizona, about 3 or 4 Korean tourists decided to stop right on the dock and take pictures, holding up the rest of us. The US Navy men/guides told them to move along and wait to take pictures inside the memorial. The Koreans ignored this and kept on taking pictures until they've had their fill. I admire the Navy men's patience. I would have pushed them in the water, he, he. On the way back, the same group of Koreans stood up and decided they wanted to take more pictures while the ferry boat was running. The Navy men promptly stopped the boat right in the middle of the ocean, and told them off. I would have died of embarrassment but no, stupid tourists took their time before they sat down. They pretended not to understand English. Nice excuse. All in all, our vacation was fun as long as we stayed away from the nasties. A lot of Filipinos and Chinese worked in our hotel and they were very nice. Americans from the mainland were nice too and most were laid back (unlike me). I would not hesitate to go back. Surprise note: I did not bring any knitting with me. Amazing.

Herein is the status of the top I'm crocheting! Loving this pattern. Once you get beyond some of the confusing parts, you're on a roll.

A mini basket I sewed from the Pink Penguin website.

A cake I baked for my sister on her birthday last week.

My new knitting bag, also from the Pink Penguin website. Her tutorials are great and so very easy to follow.

This is what I'm currently crocheting. I haven't crocheted a garment in so long that I'm having difficulty reading the pattern. I keep making mistakes left and right. But there is nothing wrong with the pattern. It's me.

Once finished, this is what it will look like (I hope). The yarn I'm using is fingering weight cotton yarn with no name. I bought several cones of it on Ebay years ago and just have not used it. I might leave it as is or dye it a different color once it's done.

This first bag came from my cousin, Kristie, who is a nurse in Wales. She and her son Patrick came for my Aunt's funeral. What a lovely and thoughtful gift.

This second purse was given to me by my friend, Elizabeth, who vacationed in HongKong a few weeks ago. She wasn't sure if she can do any shopping at all since she expected a very busy and hectic tour. Another lovely surprise.

It's amazing however that both purses are burgundy. It that the new trend? I thought it was the color orange?

The last two pictures are from my cake decorating class that I took at Joann's. Its the very basic first class you have to take before you can take any of their advance classes. I learned some stuff and tips from my teacher. I however did not enjoy the class that much. We started off at 10 students. By the 4th and last session, only 5 of us were left. I doubt that it had anything to do with the teacher since she seemed very knowledgeable. For me, the class dragged on and took forever.

Each session was two hours long. In those two hours, the actual teaching was done within the last half hour. I wanted to move ahead and learn and ended up reading the book and practicing on my own while the rest of the class chatted and whined. Arghh.

I learned more from Kristie. Now she learned on her own and decorated her cakes by practicing. You tube also has a ton of instructions on cake decorating.

How do you pay tribute to a great woman? I can try.

My aunt, Amparo DeCastro, passed away today, in her sleep, in her apartment, all alone, at the age of 80.

She was one fantastic crocheter, making stuff without patterns. I'm not sure if she even knew how to read patterns. She just did them.

She was also one talented seamstress, sewing us clothes of all kinds since we were little and even now.

You see, she never got married. All of us, her nieces and nephews, were her kids. When she migrated to the US, she would send us, who were left in the Philippines, huge boxes of stuff, from candies to shoes, clothing, goodies, etc.

Admittedly, she wasn't that easy to live with and that's probably why she preferred to live on her own, even when she got sick. She never fully trusted people, even her own sister. Well, she trusted my dad, who was her oldest brother.

I remember her being sick most of her adult life, from diabetes to high cholesterol, and lately, congestive heart failure. Yet, she still preferred to live alone.

Last time I saw her was Christmas eve, when we took her to the hospital because of edema. Living an hour away from her, I called her on the phone, but not often enough.

I am so sorry that she died all alone. I thought about calling her yesterday but never did. That is one regret I have, never had the chance to hear her voice for the last time.

I love you, Ninang, and I will miss you.

I am "cowled-out". I won't finish cowl #3 in time (deadline Feb 29th). That means I don't get cowl #4 for free. Oh well. The current cowl is a massive 368 stitch cowl using plain stockinette stitch, around and around, on size 3 needles, fingering weight yarn. For you knitters out there, that is total madness. I will finish it though.

I am thinking of doing my own Knitalong. A fingerless mitt, a hat, cowl maybe, or a scarf? We'll see. And it will be free. I have so many already written patterns in my computer that I need to post, most of them free.

Gotta get busy.

a better nose for me bear, eh?

This is what we did on Valentine's day:

Emily did the top picture. You can see she has some talent.

This one I did. hahaha! It was almost a disaster except it tasted good. White chocolate and dark chocolate.

And this we bought from Freeport Bakery:

BTW, I'm taking a cake decorating class next month. I figured, if I had to go back to work, might as well have some talent I can use to do something I like. Plus, you can tell by my strawberries that I really need help.