To say that the Congdon/Barnes women are ecstatic would be an understatement. As of my last look, the bid total for the Kim Family Auction is $11,347.29. When we started this, we thought $5000 would be fantastic. We are getting some great press and some very generous folks are coming to the auction site and bidding up, up, up.

I have a small piece, Spooner Lake Aspens, which now has a bid of $325. I must have some really good and generous friends out there. Whoever you are, many thanks for participating.

Another reason to be happy ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù I sent off the CD of jpegs and entry form for the She Made Her Mark today. I was really excited to get that finished. Now, I have to wait until February to know if I made it in.

Terry Grant did a retrospective collage of her quilts from the past year. You can see it here. So, I thought I would put one together, too. Mine isn’t as neat as Terry’s because I am not as adept at Photoshop. I need to be more prolific in the coming year.

I am also a little late at posting my goals for the coming year.

1. I always strive to stay active and live a healthy lifestyle.
2. I will finally start my correspondence class with Jane Dunnewold.
3. I will strive to make more art.
4. I will do more surface design.
5. I will enter and get in to more shows. (Now that is an affirmation!!)
6. I will continue to enjoy the benefits of being a wife, mother and grandmother.
7. I want to go to Houston International Quilt Festival
8. I will launch my website.
9. I will explore more places in and around Portland.
10. I will continue to enjoy the blogosphere and those who inhabit it.

The Kim Family Auction goes live tomorrow morning, Pacific time. Stephanie is getting up at 5 am to add the links on the auction blog to connect to the E-bay site. So you can start fighting with me for this, and this and this, and this and maybe more.

There is also a great interview with Lisa online at the SFist. Go here, to read it.

Today, I undecorated and packed up Christmas. It seemed easier than it has in the past. It may be because I have better storage here, and I don’t need to consolidate as much. Mr C commented that the living room looked bare, but I like the spacy uncluttered feel.

I also did a little more embellishing of my Breaking Barriers piece. I am using iron on Swarovsky crystals – so much fun. Then, I feigned not having time to go grocery shopping so we went out for sushi and soba noodles at our local sushi joint where the owner and sushi chef plays The Gipsy Kings. Makes us smile.

Remember, tomorrow morning, it is ready, set, BID!

Happy New Year! Here are the top 10 reasons to have a Happy New Year.

Last night, Mr C and I attended a wonderful concert at Trinity Cathedral. There were two string quartets, a quartet that sang a hilarious song about Chili Con Carne, and couple of jazz musicians, a Renaissance Band, the Portland Symphonic Girlchoir and a beautiful soprano Cantor, who recently moved here from Manhattan, as her husband is the new Rabbi at the neighboring synagogue. She sang some show tunes and some Hebrew music. At the end of the concert, we were given candles and the lights were dimmed. The Cantor sang from Ecclesiastes – To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven…, and then a bagpiper marched up the center aisle and then played Auld Lang Syne. as we sang along. It was a wonderful experience. There was standing room, only. It was a fund raiser for a couple of programs in Portland that serve the homeless.

During the program, Cantor Ida Rae Cahana, taught us a Hebrew song for the new year. I think the words were wonderful. Here they are:

Return again, return again, return again to the land of your soul.

Return to who you were

Return to what you were

Return to where you are born and reborn and reborn.

This seemed so meaningful to me in a world where we are always trying to be something new or different. Be authentic!

I leave you with this photo of my Christmas tulips. Every time I looked at them, I thought of how my mother would never have believed that we could have tulips at Christmas!