christmas pressies

In addition to the pressies mentioned in the video, I also got (just today):

-an owl hat
-a recipe box
-a bird's nest necklace (like I made my mom, aunt, oma, and grad student)
-chapstick
-Barnes and Noble gift card
-$25
-an owl necklace
-a snowman that glows different colors (JUST LIKE MY GLOW CUBE!)

Christmas day was spent drinking an assortment of alcoholic drinks, but especially wassail which my mom made from scratch (my aunt helped her make the spices though which involved a lot of shaved oranges and smashing things with hammers). My oma and opa came over and we had a delicious dinner of cheesy mashed potatoes, tri-tip, green bean casserole, rolls, and salad (and wassail). There was a moment where I freaked out a little, but that passed and we were a merry family for the rest of the day. The night was spent reading the bird book I actually got for my mom (whoops) and watching my brother play Skyrim. I actually started playing Skyrim today. I'm a wood elf and completely missed that you could change genders, because when my brother came into the room he was like, "Why are you a guy?" Welp. I chose to be a wood elf instead of a reptile person because I wanted to be able to command animals, though I didn't really figure out how to until I was in the first town you go to, and then I tried to command a chicken and it didn't work. Also apparently you can only use the command animals power once a day. So I wasted it on a chicken that then immediately walked away from me and nestled in some thistle. Also "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" was my token chant as I was learning the game, especially when I went up against six giant ass spiders. At once point you have to sneak around a bear, and then I couldn't figure out how to unsneak so I was stuck creeping about, which took HOURS to get anywhere until my brother came and helped me turn it off (p.s. for all those who think I'm just completely autistic, we have the computer version of the game that we purchased through Steam. I'm completely unfamiliar with the keyboard and mouse aspects of gameplay since I'm much more comfortable with a game controller (which I have for my own computer) so that's why I'm so bad at it all. I just wanted to protect my honor a little).

These days have been filled with PLAY PLAY PLAY. I'll post about them later when I'm less drunk (I just got back from Book Club) and less tired.

reinstated

I've got my etsy store back up and running, yaaaay!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OtterlyCharming







I love doing custom orders so please request whatever charm your heart desires! All charms are about the size of a nickel and are priced at $5.50 per charm. Charms automatically come with a cell phone lanyard so you can hang them on a phone or a keychain.

I'll be adding more to the shop tomorrow so stay tuned!

Also I'll make a Christmas post soon about cheer and merriness and pressies.

parrots in the christmas tree

Merry Christmas from Manny and Maeby (and me too)

favorite christmas movies

Christmas spirit is important since, as I'm sure EVERYONE KNOWS, Santa needs it to make his sleigh run.

cough

I have not exactly been feeling so Christmas spirity, as of late. I've been having anxiety issues, violent mood swings, and...it just hasn't been very fun. It hasn't been me. Also just as I wrote this a spider came creepy crawling into the open so I had to defend myself against that.

I did go into the mountains though when it was snowing and foggy and howled on a cliff above the watershed I explored after Thanksgiving. It's now frosted over.





There were also glitter farm animals to be made (though Natal made all of these, I plan to make my own: sea-creature and dinosaur style)



I drew an owl on the roof of my car in the frost



Can you see it?

Additional cheery photos







Sorry I mislead you with the title of this post, as obviously I also had to throw in some stuff about ME ME ME in there. But now I will share with you my favorite Christmas movies.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS



OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS! OBVIOUSLY. Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. How could anyone not love this movie? How could it not by on everybody's favorite Christmas movie list, nay, their FAVORITE FAVORITE MOVIE LIST! I love it so much and get so squealy that my dad made me a present last year that is basically photo stills from the movie, brightened and sharpened in photoshop, and then printed out onto glossy photo paper and placed in an elaborate frame so I can hang it up as a Christmas decoration.



I love it. I love this movie. And by this movie, I mean the cartoon original narrated by my good pal Boris. I mean, the live action one is fine, but this one lives on in my heart.



The Grinch is the best character (greater than even the Lorax to me, though by a tiny degree). This movie is essential because it teaches us that Christmas isn't about packages, boxes, or bags, it's about LOVE and togetherness. Whenever the Whos begin singing Welcome Christmas in the end, my heart just brims with love. It's like the Grinch, my heart grows three sizes.



When Glee covered Welcome Christmas, I flipped my SHIT because it was so good and I am in love with their cover. No shame.



That opening man. That opening. I get the chills every time. I AM TEARING UP JUST LISTENING TO THIS, moving on.

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER



I have a thing for old-school stop-motion (in case you couldn't tell). I was raised on Rudolph and all of those other stop-motion Christmas classics (though nothing stuck as much as Rudolph did and of course Nightmare, but we'll get to that). I am known to incorporate Rudolph in my day-to-day life, as I do other favorite movies. For instance, I always say independent in the way Hermey and Rudolph do when they're trying to say it: "in-deee-penDENT". AKA I sound idiotic. Also, WHENEVER it is applicable, I yell, "SHE THINKS I'M CUUUUUTE" in Rudolph's stuffy nose voice from the part when Clarice tells him he's cute and he flies for the first time before everyone finds out he's GASP DIFFERENT.



Bumbles BOUNCE! Rudolph has amazing musical numbers, and whenever I don't want to do something the second that my mom tells me to do it(since I live at home again), I sing There's Always Tomorrow to her. I wasn't kidding when I said it is basically my life. It's just so adorable too! Yukon Cornelius is so cute with his pack of identifiably NON-sled dogs pulling his dogsled. Also whenever he throws his icepick into the air and licks it, stating, "Nothin'" afterwards, my mom and I die. We laugh every time. I AM NOT JOKING. Glee also covered my favorite song from Rudolph, amazingly enough, and it is ALSO the best song ever and I love it. LOVE IT.



Glee's first Christmas album was filled with all my favorite Christmas songs.

Elf



AHHH ELF! Elf never fails to make me laugh. I don't care what you think about Will Ferrel, watch him in Elf. He is ADORABLE. I actually generally like Will Ferrel, but all my friends who have said they think he's an asshole/not funny in his other movies have liked him in Elf because he plays such a different character. Such an adorable different character. It is SO FUNNY. I watched it with Natal and just giggled and shrieked the entire time. With occasional cooing and fake weeping.



"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup."

"Have you ever seen a dog? You probably have."

"Buddy the elf, what's your favorite color?"

I could do it all day, but it would get super annoying (it probably already is annoying). It is so funny. I am not lying to you. Also it super puts me in the Christmas mood, I think I'm going to watch it again before this week is out.

HOME ALONE



I was recently introduced to this movie by Natal. Ever since I started college, people have been telling me that I am the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2. However, I had never seen either Home Alones, so I didn't know what this pigeon lady was. This was remedied just last week, no worries (and I love pigeon lady). Home Alone is SO GOOD! Little Macaulay Culkin is too tiny and cute to be creepy yet, and his acting is superb. Plus, what a resourceful kid! It's the kind of humor that we realized 90s movies are rife with: humorous physical violence against bad guys. It's really not done anymore because there aren't really bad guys just directed at kids anymore (aka no robbers trying to rob a house that only a kid is in while he defends it). Other examples are Flubber and 101 Dalmatians (live action style). It's funny, but really only a 90s maybe early 2000s thing. So this movie was like reverting back to childhood and seeing it when I probably would have seen it if I hadn't been so oblivious.



Plus I kept calling his next door neighbor Boo Radley. Also look at this



I just love kid empowerment movies.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Welp.







As you can see from my Halloweek and Disneyland posts, I adore this movie with every fiber of my being. Favorite favorite FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE. I have a startlingly large amount of NBC merchandise, and my only stuffed animals I own are now Lola (my University of Utah sheep), my dragon Scorch, and Jack and Zero. When I was little I watched Nightmare so many times that the VHS tape got worn out. When I got the special edition DVD, I was so excited. I still own the VHS and keep it with my priceless original Star Wars VHS tapes on my "special" bookshelf (that also houses my ferrets documentary and gamecube games).



This movie is just...no words. No words. It is just the best. The best. I can't stop repeating myself. Repeating myself. Watch it.

...Watch it.

So those are my ULTIMATE FAVORITE Christmas movies that I watch around this time of year. There are others out there that I also like to watch, such as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Charlie Brown, and others that I am forced to watch, like White Christmas, and others I haven't even seen, like A Muppets Christmas Carol.

So go watch a Christmas movie whilst you wrap presents and drink a nice mug of candy cane cocoa and get in the spirit of Christmas! Or whatever other holiday you celebrate :)

o christmas tree

It is quite obvious that now that finals are over, my days are basically for sitting on my floor in front of my heater while I edit pictures/paint or make charms/make jewelry/draw/write blog posts. So this is why I have been able to update my blog TWICE today!



We went and got our Christmas tree the other day. Let me tell you something: I LOVE getting the Christmas tree. Last year, my parents ordered it online and had it delivered to our doorstep, which BROKE. MY. HEART. This only thing that assuaged me was that my roommate and I also went out and got our own Christmas tree, which was beautiful and tall and full and decorated with a plethora of bird and mermaid ornaments and LIGHTS. Anyways, going to get the Christmas tree has always been one of my favorite things, ever since I was a small child.



When I was little, my parents had a lot more patience for choosing trees and would allow my brother and I to roam the tree lot while they searched for that PERFECT TREE. Maybe it was just because I was seven and had no concept of time, but sometimes it felt like they'd wander around for at least an hour trying to find a tree. Meanwhile, I darted in and out of the long rows of trees, hiding from my brother and parents. In my mind, I was THIS



Back in the day, I was always a wolf. Wolves were my favorite. I stole a wolf book from my elementary school in the sixth grade and kept it in my tote tray for the entire year because I'm a hoarder (not really). I still love wolves, but I am more likely to pretend to be an owl now and sit in places where I can possibly fall and injure myself.

So getting a Christmas tree is important to me. VERY. IMPORTANT.





A Charlie Brown Christmas tree







Gabe told me to take a picture of the creepy shack located behind the tree lot (which was a golf course)



"Why the fuck can't you smile normally?" I asked









Another important part of my Christmas tree traditions is to decorate the tree (of course). Usually it's done the night you bring it home from the lot, but my family was being lame and I had to write a paper, so we decorated it a couple of nights later.

Step one: turn on Christmas music



(dancing with a bird is optional, but it amplifies Christmas joy)

Step two: get out the ornaments





Missing an antler :(

Step three: commence lights and decoration





Step four: attempt creating bokeh pictures





Then we sat around our newly decorated tree and sang to our Christmas playlist and cuddled with dogs.



Operation obtain and decorate a Christmas tree: SUCCESSFUL

Last night I was supposed to go to my friends' combined birthday party, but I FREAKED out (I reacted in a way that normal people would probably be ashamed of) due to social anxiety and postfinals stress and ended up sobbing at home and watching Gladiator with the family. Then all of our downstairs' drains backed up and so our downstairs flooded at 1:30 in the morning, meaning that plumbers arrived promptly at 6 AM this morning. So it's both a bad thing and a good thing I did not go out last night, because arriving home at 3 or 4 AM and then being woken up by the plumbers two or three hours later would have been awful. In fact, a nap sounds really nice.

So the weekend leading into winter break has thus far been kind of a bust, but I did go to Bird World and play with some soft, adorable Rose Breasted Cockatoo babies with Natal and then we watched Home Alone 2, so that was really fun. Also tomorrow is Christmas shopping and Monday is the Mom and Dad party, plus everyone will be home from their respective collegios! I have three weeks to live it up, so I need to not worry about my party quota right now.

last touches of fall