There are things happening! Both near me here in the Pacific Northwest and near me online. You know what I mean? Ok, here it is:

My 3D Gingerbread Christmas Trees were featured in Anthology Magazine’s Holiday Gift Guide, which is full of pretty things. Thanks Anthology! They also got a shout out in A Subtle Revelry’s Holiday Issue. Thanks A Subtle Revelry!

The Portland Bazaar is next weekend, Dec. 8th and 9th. There will be stuff to buy and food to eat and I wish I could make it down there. Also, Design*Sponge is buying the first 100 guests of each day a little pick me up (coffee from Heart on Saturday and Pine State Biscuits on Sunday). Nice.

The annual Gingerbread Village display here in Seattle is up now through January 1st at the Sheraton. If you’d like you can take a peek at what is on display each year. This display is one of my favorite reasons to take a trip downtown in the winter, and since the display is open at all hours (it’s in the hotel lobby) you can plan a late night viewing followed by cocktails nearby.

The Mighty Tieton 2012 Chandelier Festival is tomorrow, Dec. 1st and includes a Holiday Crafts & Antiques Bazaar and the opening of Trimpin’s Sound Space, which you can control using an iPhone. Which is awesome. I was a kickstarter supporter and have a bunch of tickets to experience it, which I’ll be doing soon.

Kin to Stars, which is one half Jerin Falkner and one half Scott Andrew (I’m married to one of them), is doing a holiday show soon. It’s the Kin to Stars’ Ugly Sweater Holiday Adventure on Dec. 14th. It’s $10 and it’s at the very comfortable Jambox, where they bring drinks and food to your table. It’ll be cozy and excellent.

Kirby Krackle just released a new song and video called One More Episode. (It’s fun to try to name all the show opening art in the video.) They’ll have a holiday single out soon, Kyle will be appearing at the Dammit Liz Holiday Special at The Triple Door. And Kirble Krackle will be opening for Wierd Al (!!!) at the Calgary Expo in April. Awesome.

It’s time to fill the freezer with The Best Chicken Soup in the Universe at Juniper Moon Fiber Farm blog.

Pumpkin-Inside Pound Cake · Edible Crafts.

Dinner Tonight: Michael Ruhlman’s Warm Arugula Salad with Bacon and Poached Eggs | Serious Eats.

Bon Appétempt: Organic and Chic’s Goldies or The Shiniest Dessert Ever. Shiny Twinkie like things!

Marx Foods Readies to Open First Retail Store – Voracious. They sell really fancy foods, I’m looking forward to being able to visit the retail location here in Seattle.

Crunchy Bloody Mary – Recipe File – Cooking For Engineers. Gotta try this very soon.

I had a fabulous time at Camp Mighty earlier this month. There was lots of learning about inspiring projects, lounging by pools, connecting with new people (‘sup new peeps from Seattle?!) and visiting with old friends. Mostly though I was thrilled by the number of people I met who had amazing goals for their life and the year ahead, and I loved watching how sharing those goals meant finding people who were able and happy to help.

And! This year Bing was a sponsor of the camp and helped two campers with one of the things on their list and, shocker, I was one of those names pulled out of the jar. So I’ll be hosting my first dinner party for ten people with their help. I’m petrified and super excited and of course you’ll be hearing all about it. Thanks Bing!

Go Mighty is up and running and doing online what Camp Mighty does off. I’ve yet to get my list up there (a week visiting family around Thanksgiving means I’m a little behind) but good stuff is already coming from the site. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Urban Craft Uprising, the winter edition, is coming up very soon here in Seattle! It’s December 1st and 2nd, 11am to 5pm at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. As usual there are free craft demos and book signings as well as a swag bag for the first 100 people. Don’t wory, if you cannot make it in time to grab a bag they have have an hourly raffle. And this year there is a $1 coat check, so hopefully those aisles will be a little easier to navigate (the show is nearly too popular for it’s own good). I’m excited by all the artisan food vendors they have, and the number of new vendors as well. This is my favorite sort of shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope you’re somewhere cozy and surrounded by people you consider family. And I hope you stuff yourself until you cannot do anything more than sit on a couch and drool at the television. We are hanging with family in a large rental house near a lake where we are scouring the shore for acorns and skipping stones. I hope you are similarly happily situated!

swissmiss | Knitting Clock.

He’s So Unusual | The Hairpin. Jane Marie interviews her uncle Patrick, who was Cyndi Lauper’s makeup person through all the crazy 80s years.

Our First Issue, By Hand Magazine. It’s here it’s here! I love everything inside, but most especially the pattern for the lattice cowl.

Talking with Maria Bamford About Stand-up, Her New Special, and Her Role in ‘Arrested Development’ | Splitsider.

Where can I get some American Chestnut seeds or seedlings? | Ask MetaFilter.

3D Printing Photo Booth Makes Tiny Replicas Instead Of Pictures – PSFK. Wow! Via Girls of a Certain Age.

Video: Excellent Footage Of Williamsburg Captured During Hurricane Sandy: Gothamist. The power station explosion is around 3:10. Interesting and scary.

Cool Tools – Rivet Spacer. “A rivet spacer was originally designed for evenly spacing rivets on aircraft, but it can be used for evenly spacing anything, from buttons on a sweater, to finish nails on those infernal Ikea drawers you are trying to put together nicely.”

Thanksgiving Ideas – 101 Cookbooks. So many great ones here.

11 Turkey-Shaped Foods That Aren’t Turkey at Buzzfeed. I’m fascinated and grossed out. See also: the turkey shaped jello mold contest.

quick. easy. perfect. thanksgiving recipes | Mighty Girl. Bourbon brined turkey!?

Turkey Tips From Alton Brown: Don’t Baste Or Stuff : NPR. He stuffs the bird after it’s been cooked, then maaaaybe uses a kitchen torch to make the bits that show a little toasty.

The Food Lab’s Top Nine Tips For Perfect Apple Pie | Serious Eats.

How to Transform Leftover Cranberry Sauce into a Cocktail – Videos – CHOW.

#ourtopsecret project revealed | Freshly Picked. A book! A Hip Handmade Holiday, I cannot wait to see it.

Faceted Vase DIY + Free Template, at Oh Happy Day.

How To: Make Washi Tape Magnets » Curbly.

Technique – Wheat Paste – How Did You Make This?.

swissmiss | Touchscreen Glove Kit. Have you tried any gloves meant for touch screens and found them, er, lacking? Me too, I’m ready to DIY this solution.

The Top Five Secret Spaces in Seattle. Here is how to find those speakeasies.

Seattle Magazine | Our Favorite Hidden Restaurant Patios.

David Sedaris and the Lit Crawl That Wasn’t a Lit Crawl | Slog. I am out of town for the David Sedaris reading in Port Angeles that is linked to here and, well, darn. You should go.

New Food Truck Pod: Come on Seattle, Don’t Screw This Up – Voracious. We have a food truck pod! Weekly calendar can be found at their website: 2nd & Pike. Might I suggest checking out the Off The Rez truck if you happen to come across it? It’s my favorite.

BevMo is opening a store in Northgate! And if you happen to be free on Friday morning and finding yourself in need of some booze you might also get a gift bag (first 500 people get one).

Later this week I’m headed to Camp Mighty. This will be my second year and I’m excited to see the people whom I met last year, I’m happy to revisit the hot tub at the Ace Hotel, I can definitely use a little shot of sunshine and I’m anticipating what things will come into my attention that I never new were there before. I was terrified to revisit the Life List that I submitted last year because, honestly, I have not focused on it very much. But you know what? When I reviewed my list I was able to cross off six things. None of them were huge or contributed to big world changes but being able to check them off was so thrilling. And then, of course, I added six new ones and I tried to make them a little bigger. This upcoming year I’ll schedule time to step back, take a look through my list and see if there are any connections to those things I want to do and the with people I know that can point me in the right direction that might normally go overlooked or shuffled away in a haze of routine.

Part of Camp Mighty is raising money for Charity Water. Last year the camp as a whole got word that we’d reached our fundraising goal in the middle of the weekend and we all cheered, it was a moment. Earlier this Autumn we got the photos, some shown above, of just what our fundraising managed to do. Our funds went into buying a drilling rig called Yellow Thunder which will bring 40,000 people clean water each year. Wow, people.

The people behind Camp Mighty also very recently announced the opening of Go Mighty, a site where people can share their goals, view those of others and connect to get stuff done. Registration is open so go, go on!

swissmiss | Pixel Ruler. Why did this not come into my life earlier?

Klein Bottle Openers | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

General Store & Community Market | MARKET | west elm. I’m digging West Elm’s curated marketplace.

ThinkGeek :: Portal Cookie Cutters. I want these!

Introducing Mark and Graham at Apartment 34. Erin invites us to see Williams-Sonoma’s latest shop, that will fill your life with awesome monogrammed goods.

My New Hygge and West Wallpaper is HERE!, Lisa Congdon. I am absolutely loving this wallpaper and eyeing my house to see if it might fit somewhere.

Get Cabiria High End Plus Size Into Stores by Cabiria Style — Kickstarter. This campaign looks worth backing, I even fell for the very first dress they show on their Kickstarter page. I love that one of the extras is a coloring book.

These are the books currently stacked up in my living room waiting for me to give them some more attention. Looks like I’m in for a lot of time in the kitchen! I’m putting two at the top here because they have events coming up soon (like, today soon):

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perlman, Smitten Kitchen. This book is as beautiful as you are thinking it might be. Deb is here in Seattle right now! She’s at the Book Larder tonight, the main event is sold out but signing is open to the public later in the evening. Tomorrow, the 8th, she’s at the University Bookstore at 10 a.m.

Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk This book is by Lara Ferroni, Cook and Eat, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when she lived here in Seattle (we miss you!). She has recipes for all our familiar favorites and each recipe includes instructions for gluten-free and vegan versions as well. Lara will be at the Book Larder here in Seattle on Nov. 13th.

Ok, now from the top down:

Bake It in a Cupcake: 50 Treats with a Surprise Inside by Megan Seling, Bake It in a Cake. You gotta make the pumpkin pie cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I mean, come on. Megan Seling also happens to be a music and food editor at Seattle’s weekly paper The Stranger.

Beer Craft: A Simple Guide to Making Great Beer by William Bostwick and Jessi Rymill. They go through all the information you need to brew whatever type of beer you’d like using your stovetop, and the graphical layout of the book makes everything very easy to take in.

The America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook. Canning, pickling, making cheese, preserving meats (and yes, bacon), homemade snacks and brewing beer all with the how and why information that will allow you to make variations. I love this book.

Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet with Ada Calhoun. The history of what we wear and why we wear it, with tips on how to look your absolute best. The tone is conversational and filled with anecdotes. I wish this had been around when I was starting to study costume design in college.

Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round by Marisa McClellan. From jams and pickles to syrups, granolas and nut butters. Even chocolate cakes, vanilla extract and information on freezing in jars. The book includes stories from her childhood and the tone is very friendly.

Improv Sewing: A Freeform Approach to Creative Techniques; 101 Fast, Fun, and Fearless Projects: Dresses, Tunics, Scarves, Skirts, Accessories, Pillows, Curtains, and More by Nicole Blum and Debra Immergut. The projects in this book are lovely and not too intimidating. They include basic garment shapes and dozens of ways to adapt them as well as decorative and functional items for your house and yourself.

Cook’s Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking. Detailed information on the practical science behind food and cooking, including lots of recipes. This book is dense, packed with solutions to common cooking troubles and will become my go-to for when I have a question about why a recipe has me doing something that I need to understand.

Go vote! This image is Lisa Congdon‘s addition to the #GoVote project. If you’re in SF go see Lisa’s show at Rare Device: This Is My World.

The Serious Eats Guide to Rye Whiskey | Serious Eats: Drinks.

Nation’s First DIY Distillery Opens in Tacoma – Voracious.

We Prove It: Fat Makes Eggs Tender | The Feed.

How to Make Caramelized Onion Jam | The Feed.

The Food Lab’s Complete Guide to a Stress-Free Thanksgiving, 2012 Edition | Serious Eats.

Pumpkin Graham Bread | Not Without Salt. Oh yum.

I have serious cardigan envy. I cannot wear wool, not even cashmere, so each year I gaze longingly at the cozy sweaters other people wrap themselves in. This year I decided I needed a big, enveloping Vince-like sweater coat. (A note to Vince: I will pay your Vince-prices if you make me a wool- and yak-free sweater to buy. Please?) I need this sweater so I have something appropriate to snuggle into when I am inevitably seated too close to the front door of a restaurant where the oh so cold air keeps getting let in, my current plan of many layers of fleece and multiple scarves is getting old. Here is what I’ve found so far:

On the left: The Manon cardigan by Line, at Saks Fifth Avenue. I love this sweater so much I’m considering buying a second. The collar is snuggly like a scarf, the sleeves are tight enough that they don’t get in the way when you’re eating dinner, and the nice deep pockets give you a spot to hide your phone. This looks dark gray from a distance but it’s made up of teal and taupe yarns that add some nice depth up close.

(You can also find the Manon in charcoal being sold under the John&Jenn label right now. It’s on sale, so no returns, and note that shipping from that Line specific site, which is in Canada, to the US will be about $30.)

On the right: The Hinge Scallop Cardigan at Nordstrom. This is nice and slouchy, the knit is dense and it feels like it’s hugging you. The sleeve cuffs won’t get in the way, but there aren’t any pockets. As far as beige goes this is a cool toned beige (Stone Cobbler is the listed color). The only reason I won’t be keeping this one is that I personally look terrible in the color no matter how much I keep trying to convince myself I can pull it off.

Does anybody out there have any secret spots where one can find cozy knitwear that is great looking and doesn’t have any wool? Please do share, I’m running out of places to look!