Memphis Urban Sketchers @ Central + Cooper

This month we sketched at the corner of Central + Cooper.  It is such a busy intersection + it was also the St. Jude marathon that day.  We got a kick out of listening to the cops direct traffic + the drivers that were not happy at all.  When it got quiet enough, you could hear the Christmas music playing from Midtown Nursery.  I got there an hour early because I mixed up the time.  I decided to do a longer sketch with only watercolor of the Mapco from my car:

Then I sketched the nursery on the opposite corner: 

One of the cops said we better draw him, so I did (when he would stay still enough):

 

My last two sketches were of the traffic light + trestle with runners under it (they were my favorites of the day):

Advent Activity // Decorate the Tree + Make Ornaments

On Sunday, we finished decorating the tree + listened to side B of A Very She & Him Christmas.

I love decorating the tree with old ornaments from my childhood + some before I was even born.  The past two years, Zac's mom has found some of his ornaments + given them to me.  So sweet.  We went to the same schools growing up, but he was a year older.  I'll pull out an ornament + he'll say "I remember making one of those!".  I think it's neat.  I wonder how many times our paths have crossed over the years.  Don't you wish you could rewind + see?

These are some of my newer favorites (right top: my mom gave us this one last year when we were engaged, middle: our Christmas cards this year, bottom: my maid of honor + bestie gave us that one):

 

And older favorites:

We also made salt dough ornaments.  I'm sure I've made these before but I really don't remember.  I've been wanting to make them the past few years.  They were really easy + fun to do.  I halved this recipe (and still had leftover dough).

We still need to finish painting + varnishing them.  I'll show you when we're done :)  What are some of your all time favorite ornaments?  Do you buy new ones or use vintage ones?

Date Night

This year I wanted to make an Advent Calendar, but of course it was kinda late thinking...I found this free download + added something fun to do each day.  Day 1 was "One Pass to see New Moon":

Day 2 was "Make handmade ornaments":

At first Zac said "I mean, how long do you think this will take?" like he wasn't into it, but when he got into the studio he was hardcore working on the perfect snowman ornament.  Haha.  Melt my heart.  We listened to my Christmas music which consists of mostly Mariah Carey, which he gave me a hard time about.  Haha.

Here are our finished products:

Friday night (Dec. 4th) Zac + I had our date night :]  He's so sweet.  Date night consisted of dressing up in cute new clothes, having my door opened for me, holding hands, kisses, dinner @ Erling Jensen!!!, bundling up in coats-hats-gloves, cappuccinos-dainty cookies + New Moon.