We did a ballerina shoot at the library. I am reasonably sure that Andi just normally reads en pointe.

Nothing to start off a new year like chilling out at home and watching BBC romances. Also taking the Christmas tree down. For some reason I also feel pressure to make this year glittery (thanks, Brooke), but we'd just given all the glitter to Jenny the day before (as it was with the scrapbooking stuff in the closet we cleaned out), so maybe I'll make the year...fiery?

I'm trying out a new lens that I'm thinking of buying. Here's a picture I took with it from my office of the Utah State Capitol. Yes, I had to work. It was torture.

For some reason most of the pictures I take with this lens look way hazy and I can't figure out why. But it's so wide-angle and full-frame...hmm. Decisions!

I had to get the most use out of the Christmas tree possible before we took it down (o:

MamaLynne made me a star filter out of an old CD jacket thing. It was so deliciously ghetto.

We have a new front door that happens to look out on a little Christmas tree in the front yard. (Thanks Pioneer Woman's bokeh challenge for giving me the idea!)

Jenny waiting for dinner at some random Aspen restaurant. We went to see a Linda Eder concert because that is the best kind of sister bonding time EVER. Jenny has got to be my favorite stage door partner ever. I'm taking her to shows with me more often, I think.

Ziggy showing me the dinosaur he colored, but the book was too heavy for him to hold open.

That splotch of blue behind Ziggy's head is the only time I've dabbled in oil painting. I loved it. I should probably do it more, but I was better at watercolor anyway. Some day we will frame and hang that thing.

I am pretty sure this is what Christmas looked like pre-Lasik surgery (o: (okay, my eyes were never that bad, but it's pretty anyway)

I was trying to see how easy it is to take a picture before the auto-focus can take effect. It's REALLY hard. I don't know how people who use my camera manage to do it.

Ziggy and Giselle came over to open presents with us (which means Christmas "morning" happened around three in the afternoon). Giselle opened her first present and was so stuck on that, she could hardly open anything else. This is when she was reaching out to tell Grandma to help her get the toys out. Note her super-fine, un-corn rowed hair (o:

Giselle was walking by and Mark picked her up and kissed her. It was adorable and one of the rare times I managed to get a picture of Mark.

This may not SEEM cool, but that's been a giant sliding glass door my whole life. The screen kept coming off the track and it was annoying so we didn't use the door much. Now we can use the door again. I almost posted a picture a month or two ago of the process of replacing the doors and how we just had cardboard instead of doors, but decided I didn't really want to advertise the lack of locks on our house (o: It was great, though, opening the cardboard and trying to get it to not fall.

It snowed. All day long. Those are some snow-covered trees in front of my house. It's also dark, of course, because we work looong hours.

Dan came over and let me wear his fedora, so of course I had to try to get a mirror picture of us both.

Christmas was nice and quiet this year. Hung out with Papa all day, got some good books, DVDs, and clothes. Brookie and Kevin made HAM for dinner. Sounds wonderfully traditional for Christmas, but I can't eat ham (or most meat for that matter) so cold pizza for me! =D

So lately I've been considering costumes for Comic-Con, and I have no idea what to do this year. I don't know if I'll continue my traditional Alice cosplay with Sam, or do any other repeats this year. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to try a Tim Burton Alice and Mad Hatter. I mean, it would be fun to do since the movie comes out this spring, and Comic-Con will be a great time to do the cosplay. I even know a great seamstress could could make Alice for me. However a few downsides are giving me second thoughts.

For one, it's Comic-Con and I'm certain every other man will be dressed as Burton's Hatter. It'll be exactly like 2008 where EVERYONE was dressed like the Joker after The Dark Knight came out. So it wouldn't exactly be the most original costume. The other problem is that if I dressed as Alice, I don't really know who I could get to cosplay as Hatter with me. There aren't many guys I would trust to look good in the costume (maybe Sam, but I haven't asked him if he's interested), and also I would want to make sure the costume was done RIGHT. Which would mean getting it made and paying for it myself. And that's another problem - it's going to be expensive.

So I'm not sure. I mean, I already know I'm going to love the movie, and I really want to do this cosplay, but is it worth it?

Already I've been looking up sites and tutorials. I found a pretty good tutorial here, but I'm not the greatest crafts person so I would have to get someone to make it for me. I glanced through Ebay and found some sellers offering their own costumes like the coat and the hat. But HOLY CRAP $500??? Yah it looks nice, but not for that much money. GAH. I mean the best offer I could make would be $160, maybe $200 if I have a lot to spend.

This guy has a pretty good costume going but it looks like he actually got the $500 coat. O_x And like a protective cosplayer he isn't saying where he got the other materials.

Siiiigh. Well, I know a couple seamstresses and prop makers. I guess I'll ask around. Merry Christmas y'all!