Coffee Cozies for Christmas

Man oh man has this week been stressful. Ryan and I leave for California on Sunday morning. That's less than TWO days away! It doesn't feel like Christmas yet....I don't know when it's going to settle in. I have so many presents to make and haven't done a single one. I had a big presentation to do at work today, so everything has been leading up to that as well as making some big decisions regarding what my next step is. But, in all of this, despite a few nights of tears my path has been set. I'll plan on starting to write my thesis late January to defend in May with the hopes of starting up a new FRI research stream and doing a sort of teaching post doc. Every time I tell someone what I am doing, it sounds so surreal to say it, that my days here are finally numbered. It's a good feeling though. And I am so excited about potentially working with the FRI - Freshman Research Initiative - (we still have to write proposals so it is not 100% that I have the job, but chances are good). I love their mission, and I love the people involved. Getting to work with them at the TA level the past couple of years has been a real treat, so I can't wait to see what actually being a part of the program is like.

Yesterday afternoon though, I realized that today was the last day I would have on campus to see Penny, Rachel and Jenna before the Christmas holiday since they don't work on Saturdays. They are the angels in the graduate student office who look out for us and make sure everything is squared away with our research and TA appointments (basically make sure we get paid!) and help us out with anything they can. Penny is like a second mom to us. She's so awesome, and really is like reason number 2 that I chose to come to UT. She's just the best. Then I came to the realization that I needed to do something for these kind souls....QUICK! Enter Erin Harris and her awesome coffee cozy tutorial over at House on Hill Road. You know, like those cardboard thingies you put on your coffee cups.
I made it my mission to have all of my presentation slides completed before I got home and then to make said cozies as gifts. Luckily I had everything I needed in my stash, saving me a trip to JoAnn in the limited amount of time I had. All in all, it took me 3 hours to make the three cozies, including selecting, ironing and cutting fabrics and batting, all the way to wrapping and writing the cards. NOT BAD!! And once you've made one and figured it out, its WAY EASY after. Seriously, if you need a last minute gift this is awesome. And the ladies absolutely loved them when they opened them this morning!

Incredibly easy coffee cozies, to keep the hot in the cup and not on your hand.
Penny got the pink/brown in top left.
Rachel got the aqua/pink one front and center
Jenna got the green/purple.

Gosh I can't get over how easy these are!!

inside view. Sorry Jenna's blends in so well, I covered my ironing board with the same fabric so that it's cover wouldn't be so distracting.

I didn't have a paper coffee cup, but I put it on my water squirt bottle so you can see it in action. so cute!

Sorry I didn't get a pic of the final wrapped product....forgot. I didn't have any good little boxes or wrapping paper, but I did have some tulle. So I laid out a small square of tissue paper (the better for hiding presents with my dear) on top of a square of tulle, placed the cozy in the center and gathered this up around the cozy . I finished and secured it with tied curly red and gold ribbon. Looked pretty awesome for something on the fly!

AND...the presentation went really well today. Now that that's off my chest, can't wait to get home, make some presents and start packing for the trip to Cali!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFULLY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! See you in 2010!