Hallo blog. So apparently if I post an “album” to Instagram, it uploads NONE of the pictures in the album to Flickr. Therefore, I have no photos to show for Thanksgiving this year, just this cartoon of Courtney Love howling my Thanksgiving mantra. Shucks! I can tell you that we went to Grandma Shirley’s, I made blackberry cobbler and Josh made a pumpkin pie and a chocolate cream pie, the food was delicious, the company was as boisterous and fun as always, and we had lots and lots of Shirley’s special oyster stuffing for leftovers. Mmmmmmm.

And then the following day we Bought Nothing, as is our annual tradition since 2008.

“Opt Outside” was also trending on Black Friday. I opted outside!

Meanwhile, I decided when I invited myself to participate in Owen’s show this year to add two more paintings to the mini painting collection: a tiny Maggie and a tiny Bear Cub. Then, if they don’t sell, I’ll have two cute little paintings of my dogs!

Psychedelic art AND a scratch ‘n’ sniff book? Adorable.

We took Mr. Baby to a quaint little shopping village in Bothell to explore a “learning” toy store. While there we also explored some of the surrounding shops–a notable shop was stuffed to the brim with satin gowns, little faux fur shrugs, rhinestone bling, and for 5 clams…these heart shaped sunglasses, which I bought on the spot. They look so cute on Goo–if only he would tolerate them for more than half a second.

Spotted this rock carved like a turtle at the village. Speaking of that village, there are rumors that it might be torn down and replaced with yet another boring housing development. To sign the petition to stop this from happening, go here! I did.

In other sad news. the costume shop in Everett is no more! Sure, it was never as great as the Northgate store, but I like to have options! DAMMIT.

Maggie and Bear Cub, in progress. Speaking of paintings, another photo set that did not show up on Flickr was meeting an Internet friend who flew all the way to Seattle from Alberta Canada (for the Tori Amos show) and bought one of my mini paintings! It was the little painting of Louise Brooks, which was the very first mini painting I put up for sale in my Etsy shop, earlier this year. So I can happily say that in 2017 I sold one painting and one drawing! Woo hoo! Now there’s no pressure to sell tonight. Not that there ever was, heh heh heh.

Cooking with Mr. Goo. I like to place him in his highchair in the center of the kitchen and narrate every thing I’m doing while I cook (with Pandora music on in the background). This way he sees that cooking is FUN, and, more importantly, he can start cooking for his mother ASAP!

Note to self: find Amy Sedaris’s new show and watch it, STAT.

Currently Josh has strapped the baby to his back and he’s vacuuming. I’m enjoying my 3 hours of non-baby time that I won two weeks ago. Toenails have been painted a festive dark green with gold glitter and I’m typing out this blather.

Then I just have to decide if I would rather do my birthday trip to Sephora today or tomorrow, on my actual birthday.

The baby and I went to Michael’s this week and their new “boho holiday” section, featuring a lot of bright colors, caught my eye. Not shown: adorable photos of Goo reaching for glitter shakers and playing with feather boas.

One of the joys of parenting is getting to enjoy all your own childhood favorites all over again, and no children’s book collection would be complete without “Alligators All Around”, by Maurice Sendak. I can hear Tammy Grimes’ voice every time I read it.

For this week of Getting Pretty Before My Birthday, I had my eyelashes re-lashed, and finally went to the eye doctor for the first time since 2015 for some new, ultra “moist” contacts. My vision has definitely gotten worse over the past two years and it’s nice to be able to see again. I also had my nails shellacked last night–black with silver and dark blue glitter. Holiday, celebrate!

Having a bad day? Treat yourself to “Beary Tales” on Netflix, a documentary about baby bears in Romania that will have you howling “HOW ARE YOU SO CUUUUTE?” to the screen if you’re anything like me.

That’s all, folks! Today is my very last day being 27 years old, tomorrow I turn 28. Shockingly close to 30! But I still have fun!