Dear Santa,

I want...
lasting world peace,
a smile in every heart,
wholesome food in every belly,
&
abiding L O V E .
&
also, if you have time...


xxoo
k

in a holiday sort of way.

dears, we're slowly emerging from beneath the blanket of snow & darkness. i must say, i am ready for this new year. letting go of the old, preparing for the new. one breath at a time. smiles.

since my last post...
bk & i ate here and there,
we volunteered on christmas eve,
looked at this,
starting reading this,
made these,
and on and on and on.

i have enjoyed meals and movies and long conversations with my husband and our friends. i have mailed homemade gifts and made a few more. i have been thankful for the love in our lives and the gifts of friendship.

oh, i know it's not all roses and sausages around the world, but there is something to be said about counting one's blessings before battling injustice.

all love.

peace. & LOVE.

happy holidays, darlings. thank you for being a part of another year of sweet, full life. see you soon.

all love, k

solstice passing.

dears, it has been a wild week outside my door and a calm, quiet one in our home. snow has been falling since last week, and it's been a wonderful time to reflect on the year and turn within during the time of the solstice. since my last post, i've created holiday gifts to send to my family, tinkered with the seasonal decor around the house and watched bk make three batches of fudge in one afternoon. lovely-ness.

outside.

inside.

outside.

inside.

a bit of joy for wednesday.

dears,
no matter what, remember that you can do a lot with a little bit of yellow yarn. and that can make all the difference.
happy happy wednesday.

white winter.

hello, darlings.
the pacific northwest has a reputation for being the epicenter of grey. the wonderful thing about being blanketed by grey skies is it allows one to really and truly become a connoisseur of grey-- to see all of the subtle differences in they sky as various cloud poufs roll through or stay for a spell. the deep dark greys that bring wind are dramatic and wild. the white grey that falls to earth in a shimmering mist is vital to the green foliage (and my skincare regimen). we have entered the time of year i like to refer to as "drippy." the big, fat drops of rain that plop in december are sweet. they are visible as i begin to dress the house for the winter holidays. the outdoors have inspired the holiday decor this year and include a mix of wood, crystal, flowers, re-used paper, pine cones and the such. you know i'll share more photos once we have all of the decorations in place.
happy tuesday. xo

dears, i cannot tell you how excited i am to begin holiday gift-giving. my theme for this year is "instant happy."my goal for each gift is that its recipient will have and instantaneous bolt of joy just by gazing upon the gift. i thought i'd give you a few examples of instant happy to illustrate this principle.

Dillon Designs' Shutterbug Ring.
{Can you imagine the smiles this ring would bring the the face of a photo-phile?}

Silver Sparrow Designs' Baby Beluga Necklace.
On the back it says "Just a little white whale on the go."
{In order to receive this little bit of instant happy in time for Christmas, place your order today.}

LaPomme's Linda, A Sleep Angel.
{This is sweetness plus love plus serenity plus pretty pretty. Perfection.}

Whippy Dipp's Creepy Crawly Madness Necklace.
{A wild & wonderful, color-heavy talisman to ward off a bad day.}

Caitlin Kuhwald's Ira Glass print.
{You know we cannot get enough of Ira at my house. Ira plus a rainbow = me over the moon.}

Mullish Muse's Karl Lagerfelt.
{Fashion-y. Felt-y. Fun-ny. Have I mentioned what a sucker for puns I am?}

LaBete Handmade's Embroidered Lion Pillow Plush Doll.
{This is the perfect antidote for a serious couch.}

Ittichips' limited edition Yeti print.
{You thought the Yeti was extinct? Not with this print hanging in your hallway.}

Now, what's your instant happy? xo

big smiles.

this weekend, i...
taught a magical workshop on thriving in grey winters with yoga.
ate de-lish pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving with friends & family.
watched a superbly visual film called L'Iceberg.
smeared ink and printed new cards.
how about you?

pounced! Norie and Lee.

darlings, at long last, i'm back from another trip pouncing. {for those of you not yet in the know about POUNCING, it is a delightful feature on Etsy that allows you to visit (pounce) on new shops or shops that have just sold items. to experience pouncing yourself, click right here.}

this trip has yielded bountiful results, including the eco-friendly stationery & design at Norie and Lee. you KNOW i love anything or anyone with a mission of making beautiful things that also respect the environment. Norie and Lee use high recycled content in their cards & envelopes, earth-friendly printing techniques and biodegradable packaging. Norie and Lee are taking it one step further and including social justice in their gig: a portion of the proceeds from holiday cards will benefit a non-profit that installs solar panels on the homes of low-income families in California. WONDERFULNESS!!
here are a few of my favorites from the Norie and Lee shop.

gnarly card & surfing buddies card.

to visit the Norie and Lee shop, click here.
to vitis the Norie and Lee website, click here.

thirty years ago today...

my mama was mowing the lawn. nine months pregnant with child. a few hours later, this little whale-lover boogied on into the world.

i'm so blessed to have all of you in my life. thank you for making the first thirty years so FABULOUS. life just gets better with each year. let's all have a good laugh at my crazy hair-cuts over the years!! xoxox

i'm going to enjoy the sun today, hit the beach, eat white cake with white frosting, and chill with my family. love. and peace. to you!

big breath in. and then back under the water.

dudes. you know i'm totally psyched about the one year birthday of this blog. and pretty introspective about it as well. i'm taking the afternoon to think about where we've been and where we are going, and i promise to write all about it on monday. for now, i'll leave you with a little inspiration collage that i made yesterday afternoon. i'm LOVING these colors right now.

peace.
love.
joy.

Glow.

Dear-hearts,

I do hope you all had a lovely holiday. Ours was truly delightful. We hosted the family on Vancouver Island. We could not have asked for a more glorious locale to while away the holiday with walks on the beach and bird-watching. My favorite parts were (in no particular order)

1. playing catch-phrase & scrabble: we ran through all of the "official" catch-phrases on our first night, so we made up our own and drew them out of a hat for the remainder of our trip. Funny stuff! My younger sister has a flare for slipping in goodies like "stinky socks" and "keg stand."

2. the light! We experienced the most amazing storms followed by bright, sunbursts behind the scrim of the clouds. The results were truly breathtaking.


3. walking through the pacific rim park reserve. Big fat droplets of rain. You know how I love those!

4. reading aloud from David Sedaris' collection of stories Holidays on Ice. I worked extremely hard to deliver the stories in a dry, monotone manner, just like Sedaris. Goodness sakes, he cracks me up.

5. our low-impact gift exchange: we did more with less. The creativity of my family members simply blew me away. I'm committed to the handmade gift trip from here on out.

6. acting crazy with my gorgeous husband. this photo speaks volumes about us: note that the air temperature was about 39 degrees Fahrenheit here.

***

WEll, it's time for me to begin my festive holiday entertaining. I will be taking a few days away from posting, but know I'll be thinking of you all!

Happy Monday.

Dears,

This time of year can certainly be accompanied by some craziness, right? I am vowing this year to keep it fun and light. Does anyone have secrets for holiday serenity they'd like to share?

xo

Thank yous.

Dears,

In keeping with the handmade pledge, let's not forget handmade cards of gratitude. There are many lovely thank-you cards on etsy. Here are a few of my favorites:







Aren't these delicious? Check them out!

When it rains, it pours.

Hello there friends, I'll bet you thought I had fallen off the face of Earth again. Not yet. I have just been busy-ing myself with the usual vortexes of time: yoga, painting, thinking about what I want to be when I grown up, making holiday presents (Dad: under no circumstances should you follow this link unless you want to see your holiday gift) like this one.

And I have been working on some crazy pieces. Paintings where acrylics, watercolors, oils and thread all happen to meet on a crazy piece of canvas. That's right, I pulled out the oils for the first time since we left Denver. And it was fun. By tomorrow, I should have something fun to show you. Until then, here is a photo of what I want for our holiday card, but I don't think the Mister quite approves of.

It's seasonal.

Dears,

I did a bit of holiday decorating on Sunday night. Can you even believe it? ME! Decorating for the winter holiday season! There may be a bit more to come, but that will only happen if I locate the string of LEDs that managed to scamper away from the rest of the seasonal decorations when we moved from Denver last February. I have a confession. I like seeing crazy holiday decorations...at other people's houses. At my house, I like to keep everything a little low-key. Just enough holiday sparkle to make me smile whilst drinking hot cocoa and listening to music on a Sunday afternoon. Striking the balance between enough and too much is delicate business, but I think we are on our way this year.

Presenting.....December, our Style:


You may recognize the holiday chandelier from this month's issue of REAL SIMPLE magazine. I saw this project and thought it would be something fun for the dining room.

This wreath is from K-Mart (or K-Martha, if you happen to go there for all of the Martha Stewart products like me. Did I really just admit that to everyone out there? Well, the secret's out.). I strung a few small ornaments from the wreath in varying tones of silver (matte, brushed, antiqued, sparkly). This idea came from my sister-in-law, who has the most amazing craft and DIY projects all over her house.

Toodle-loo for now.

Hand-made gift-buying resources.

Darling gift-givers,

The time for making and buying handmade gifts is upon us. Whether you are commemorating some sort of religious event or celebrating another year with the ones you love (or both and everything in between), this is the time of year to give and to receive. The advent of ye olde internet certainly made gift-giving a bit more palatable to those of us allergic to the mall, and this year, that same information superhighway has made giving a handmade gift *that* much easier, and chic-er ifyouknowwhatimean.

Here are a few of my abso-favorite resources for buying handmade online. Enjoy!

The Trunkt Gift Guide. Trunkt is a fabulous way to cull through the myriad mezmarizing wares of independent artists and designers. It includes curated portfolios of artists and designers, as well as links to where one can purchase the goodies online.

Next up is MODISH. Modish is an outstanding resource for all indie shopping sources year-round, but the gift guides on this blog are simply not to be missed. In particular, I recommend the Handmade Gift Guide: For the Mens. A-men!

Finally (for today, at least), check out the various gift guides on ETSY!! Etsy is an online bazaar for all things hand-made. You can buy, you can sell, whatever suits your fancy.

Here are a few of my favorites on Etsy right now.


And here are a few gems from the ENvironmentally Friendly gift guide.



And you can of course check out what I have in the shoppe right now.

Whew! And happy shopping to you all, and to all a good-night!

Holiday cards!

Oh dears! These cards are so exciting.

Here is the plan:

Tomorrow morning before our Thanksgiving festivities, I am listing two types of holiday cards for sale in kelly LOVES whales: the shoppe. For those of you interested in originals, I am offering cards bedecked with original watercolor greetings that have been sewn to the cards. These cards will be for sale for $5 each. Additionally, I will be offering a lovely set of cards printed on textured watercolor paper. The sets will be offered at $12 for 6 cards, which can either be a variety pack or all of a single variety.

Here is a sneak peek at the original cards.

I'm exhausted after a day of paper sewing, but am so excited about these cards (and about Thanksgiving!).

Sweet dreams!

Holiday goodness.

It's almost here!! It's almost Thanksgiving. I am leaving the computer for a few days and send many blessings to you for the day of thanks, dear readers.I'm a true lover of Thanksgiving. This was definitely not a congenital characteristic: for years, I thought it was totally offensive in light of its seeming whitewash of our nation's history. Also, I do not eat turkey. I probably seem quite an unlikely candidate for the "true lovers of Thanksgiving" club, but hear me out:

In the yogic tradition of which I am a part, gratitude is an essential practice. Every day, part of my practice is to fill my heart, mind, every single fiber of my being with gratitude, and to let that gratitude expand beyond my-self, beyond the walls that surround my body, beyond the street, beyond this world. And Thanksgiving is one of those days where so many people allow themselves to similarly be touched by gratitude. That's a truly beautiful and amazing thing, if you ask me.

Oh, and I love the food. I especially love making The Sweet Potato Queens' Larrupin' Good Sweet Potatoes and my grandma GG's corn custard and Gayle Morgan's cranberry ice. I do make a homemade tofurky with wild mushroom gravy, too. Divine!