And to all a good night...

I don't know about your Christmas, but mine was great! First we opened presents with my family and ate brunch, then it was on to Aaron's family for more presents and lunch, and finally back to my house for dinner and games. I liked that we got to enjoy the best part of Christmas with everybody and we skipped over the boring what-do-we-do-now-that-we've-opened-our-presents-but-it-is-still-too-early-to-eat-dinner-stage.

The best part was this jewelry box handmade just for me. If you want to get a closer look, I'll post more pictures on facebook. I love the two different colors of wood and the patterned felt on the inside.

I also got 3 cookbooks, a couple of gift cards, a rotary cutter, and a fondue set. And no, I don't eat tissue paper.

Blonde Woe

I hate doing stupid things. The only thing worse than doing a stupid thing is doing it twice.

A few months ago, I accidentally shipped something to my old address in Idaho. Sara brought them home a few weeks later, but you woulda thunk I'd had learned. Apparently not. The present I was most looking forward to giving was supposed to arrive today. And it did...it just happened to arrive in Idaho. Bummer. I suppose the only option is to print of a picture of what is going to come.

If you ever happen to see a blonde rowing a boat in the middle of a wheat field, that would be me. Don't stop, don't wave, just drive away as fast as possible.


The only good news is that I've already written 3 Christmas thank yous and it is not even Christmas Eve yet.

Lazy Bum

Wow. Looking over my blog, I've barely posted at all this month. Here is a lame attempt to make up for my lazy bumness. In all honesty, I've been really busy. The good news is that I've finished nearly all of my Christmas presents. The only ones I have left to make are the ones involving food. I also need to do some serious wrapping. There are a lot of things I could write about but since I'm tired and I have to be gone all day tomorrow, I'll just leave you with some bullet points and a Bellaism.

• I like paninis. Especially when certain people bring them to me.
• I went ice skating today.
• The chocolate fairy does exist!
• I am planning on attending my third major caroling event tomorrow.
• Promotions should always be accompanied with pay raises.

Me: Whose birthday is on Christmas?

Bella: Jesus.

Me: Do you know who Jesus is?

Bella: Uhh...

Me: Jesus is God.

Bella: Who is God.

Me: Uhh...

Present reveal!

Remember this?

I am happy to announce that it turned into this beautiful present for Kelsey. I had the hardest time matting it, but I think it turned out ok.

Here is also a little onsie I decorated for Ella. You can find the tutorial here.

#92

About 30 minutes before we left for church, I spotted Bella running around in just her underwear.

Me: Bella you must be cold.

Bella: No, I'm nakid.

Yes, my family is strange.

And it snowed here.

The Good Life

A large part of Junior Traditio can be summed up in this one question: What is the good life? In other words, what is a fulfilled, productive, meaningful life? When is a human at his best? Plato, Cicero, Homer, etc., all answered in different ways.
I've known the biblical answer for probably most, if not all, of my life. However while reading the Bible before bed last night, I stumbled on what I think is the succinct answer possible. Just 7 little words:

"Trust in the LORD, and do good." Psalm 37:3.

The rest of the verse is also pretty amazing:

"Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the LORD,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart."

There you have it folks. The answer to the universe is not 42, but "Trust in the LORD, do good."

Still breathing...

I am finally back from my whirlwind trip. I had a crazy fun time with bunches of friends. I suppose I could tell you stories or talk about finals week or write about the Grand Ole Opry Hotel (which is beyond amazing), but I think I'll just leave you with this picture. Enjoy it. Meditate on it. Or just laugh until you cry. Whatever you do, make sure you pay close attention to the expressions on everyone's faces. For better or worse, here is our awkward "family photo."

Word's fastest apron

Here is the fastest apron I ever made. It was also a ton of fun! If you are interested, here is the tutorial. It isn't a very practical apron, but at least it looks cute.

A Thanksgiving Present From Me to You

Whatever you happen to be doing this busy Tuesday before Thanksgiving, take a moment to grab yourself some hot cocoa, a good book, and click this link to download some free (legal) music. Amazon is giving away $3 worth of mp3s. I know, go ahead and celebrate. Even though we aren't quite to Thanksgiving yet, feel free to download your favorite Christmas songs. Don't worry, I won't tell any grinches.


In other news: Only 1 hour and 44 minutes until I am officially on holiday! I won't have to come back to work for almost 2 whole weeks. Hip, hip...

Good Question

Here is an interesting article that asks the questions we've all been thinking about: Has the TSA ever actually caught a terrorist? As I prepare to travel, I've been pondering airport security a lot. If faced with the decision of either having to go through a full body screener or getting patted down, what should I choose? The way I see it, I have two basic options:

1. Contribute to the porn industry
2. Get groped

Hmm...neither sound very pleasant to me. Wow, I can't believe I'm actually going to post the above on the internet. How inapprop. But then I suppose that the TSA is committing these indecent acts in public and so there is no use pretending that it isn't happening.

I think I'll go with option 2. At least I won't have to worry about where my full body scan pictures are going to end up.

The Ridiculousness That Is Called Lindsey...

Enough, enough already about Christmas. We still have over a month. All of these Christmas posts got me thinking on just how ridiculous I am. Just in case that wasn't enough proof, here is some more:

• I've been waking up early in order to work on Christmas presents before I have to go to work. If you come down into my room around 7 am, you will find me working on Christmas presents, wrapped in a pink blanket, wearing my work clothes, and listening to Mozart's Requiem. Strange, I know.
• Yesterday, it rained and I didn't wear my rain boots. Today, rain was in the forecast so I thought I'd wear them. Guess what? It hasn't rained a single drop since I put them on.
• Last night I remember at 9 pm that I was going to make birthday cupcakes for a friend at work. Since I wanted to take a shower and get into bed by 10:30, I hurried to mix everything up. Whenever I cook in a hurry, I tend to leave out an ingredient or miss a step. Knowing this, I tried to look at the recipe every single time I added an ingredient. I successfully baked them and was rather happy to see that they at least looked pretty. This morning I slept in until the late hour of 6:45. One of my very first thoughts was that I had forgotten to add the chocolate chips. It was the last ingredient listed and somehow and I had just forgotten to put them into the batter. Bummer! I don't know how I managed to remember that early in the morning. I quickly jumped out of bed, got dressed, and ran upstairs to melt chocolate chips. I then drizzled the chocolate on top of the cupcakes. I think they turned out decently. Here is the recipe if you're interested.

I hope you enjoy the recollection of my blonde antics almost as much as me.

More presents

Recently, I've been frantically wracking my brain trying to think up Christmas presents for my boyfriend's family. It is one of those weird situations where they aren't really family, and while I like them a lot, I just don't know them that well. So what do I do? I've slowly been collecting ideas: personalized stationary (from Etsy), food (who doesn't like to eat), etc., My latest and greatest, most brilliantest idea is to get them a magazine subscription. While it would be admittedly weird to get everybody a magazine subscription, it definitely fits the bill for someone who is hard to shop for. You could get Taste of Home, Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart Food for the foodie among you. You could get Wired, Sports Illustrated or Popular Mechanics. There are all sorts of options for women, men, children, crafters, sports junkies, families, animal lovers, fitness freaks, etc. The other great part about magazines is that it is the gift that keeps on giving. The recipient can look forward to receiving a new issue every month/week.

Just in case any of you are wondering, I would pick anything Martha Stewart, Time Magazine, and pretty much anything involving food or crafts.

Speaking of Christmas presents...

What do I want for Christmas? In the past two days, I've had at least 3 people ask me what I want for Christmas. I'm not really sure what to tell them. The only thing that I really want is a rotary fabric cutter and a board to go with it. Other than that, I can only think of really random things:

• Black picture frames (in specific sizes)
• Random crafting supplies or gift cards to buy fabric and stuff
• I could probably think up a couple of books that I want if I had to
• Enough sets of Spode's Blue Italian dishware to feed at least 8 (ha, like that is ever going to happen)

So tell me, what do I want for Christmas?

Christmas draws near...

During my lunch break, I was talking to Aaron about Christmas presents when I suddenly realized that I was sitting in the sun wearing only a skirt and a t-shirt and I was perfectly warm. It is at least 70 degrees outside today. Oh, the irony.

Well, if the warm weather has you demotivated, take a look at the tutorial for this sign:

Me luves it.

This one is also just way too cute. Make it and I'm sure somebody will love you for it!

Weekend Recap:

Here is a quick weekend recap:
Friday: Made homemade pizza. Not my best work ever, but still tasty.
Saturday: Tidied my room, mopped the hallway, cleaned doors, etc. Also had a bonfire (first one of the year!) which Aaron cleverly turned into a cheese party. He surprised me by having everyone bring cheese. The only problem was that I was still really full from dinner, but I managed to still all the cheeses! This was the first time I've really gotten to eat cheese since returning to Kentucky. Delish! I would definitely repeat the experience. '
Sunday: The pastor preached an excellent sermon on singing basing it off of Isaiah! My favorite verse was: "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation." - Isaiah 12:2 It is strange to think of God being a song, but I like it.
On Sunday, I also ate more cheese, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and then Aaron made me hot chocolate using whole milk, half and half and a chocolate covered peppermint stick. So good, so full. Excuse me while I go running...

Scary Little Girls

Be warned: Stay away from little girls. They are scary little creatures.

Currently, Jubilee (4 years) has decided to become the world's pickiest eater. She doesn't like the thought of killing animals and so she refuses to eat meat especially chicken. Every night at dinner we get to listen to the melodious sounds of "Is this chicken? I don't like eating chicken!" A normal sized dinner for her would be 1 tablespoon of peas, 2 tablespoons of potatoes and maybe two minuscule forced bites of chicken. About 3 of her sized bites equals one normal sized bite. What a bizarre child. She must be eating a lot for lunch and breakfast or else she will soon look like a famine victim.

Bella (2 years) has become a little tyrant. I recently overheard her angrily yell, "You're fired, Ju!" So loving, so sweet.

Holiday Season = Time for Presents!

Where are you spending the holiday season?

I know right where I'll be. Check out the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. Every day they post new tutorials, new gift ideas, and new giveaways. They all look fantastic. What great inspiration!

Right now I'm working on my one time consuming homemade present. I can't wait to get it done because I have so many other presents just itching to be made. Over the next 90 days, I'll try and post links to some tutorials.

I absolutely love this fabric message board:

The frame totally makes it. If you're feeling inspired, get more information here.

Privacy issues...

My family know no boundaries and pretends as though they have never heard of personal space. That is why this is so funny.

Me: Hey, you knocked on my door. Where did you learn that? Certainly not from anyone in this family.

Ethan: What can I say? I watch a lot of T.V.

That kid was born cool. The girls are totally going to fall in love with him in a couple of years.

I love that kid.

A Birthday Bag

Here is yet another completed birthday present! Go me. Remember this picture?

It is for a friend of mine who is turning 15. It is completely one-of-a-kind. There is no bag like this anywhere in the universe. I made the pattern myself using a Kroger paper grocery bag. Here is the during picture and the final project which I have decided to name the Rachel Bag (I know, super official sounding):

She is several inches shorter than me so the bag will go down farther on her.

Let the Countdown Begin

Yesterday marked the one month away date of my trip out West! I can't wait. Friends, family, and countrymen, I can't wait to see you.

Recovering from the weekend...

It is always strange to me when I'm glad to go work so that I can recover from a long weekend. My parents went out of town for the weekend so I got mom duty. I cooked, cleaned and even managed to squeeze in a quick jog (go me!). On Saturday night, I was crazy enough to have a musical party. I know, I know, you'd think having 6 kids for a weekend would be enough work. By Sunday night I was so exhausted that I went to bed before 10 only to be woken up around 2 am by two very grumpy sisters. Per usual, I failed to take a single picture.

Thanks for all the recipe suggestions. Here is a list of things that I ended up making this weekend:

• Waffles - I'm super addicted waffles right now. I can't explain it, it just is what it is. I eat one huge one and I love it so much that I am forced to eat a second one even though I'm not at all hungry. And then even though I feel kind of sick afterwards, I still do it the next time I have waffles.


• Messed-up hash browns. I can't figure out how to make good hash browns. I think I just need lots of practice.


• Mulled cider - I put in a whole can of lemonade concentrate. Pretty tasty.


• Pizza soup - I loverly this one.
• Cornbread - 1/2 into making it I realized that I only had 1/3 c of cornmeal and the recipe called for 1 c. What to do? I just substituted polenta. Fortunately, it still turned out just fine.


• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - I made this recipe. Pretty good except I thought I would have actually put in less of the chocolate chips and baked them a couple minutes longer than the recipe called for.


• Ham and Cheese Bread - this was totally unplanned. We forgot that there was a supper after evening church. Fortunately, mom had just bought an entire bag of frozen bread dough and so Aaron and I whipped these up. Everybody seemed to love them.
• Even though this isn't food, I made some of these for our Reformation Celebration.
  

Recipe Wanted:

Does anybody have some good fall dessert recipes? We're having a party on Saturday and I need something yummy to go with mulled cider. I was thinking that it might be tasty to have some molasses chocolate chip cookies, but I couldn't find a recipe anywhere.

Super Random

One of my super random jobs is to go through the Ohio County Times Newspaper. Why? Well, it is kind of complicated so lets just say I have look through the paper and the obits. Ohio County is a super small, hick county that is next to the county I live in. The paper is also super small town. They only publish it once a week and it is often filled with pictures and advents like "Aiden Celebrated Her 1st Birthday!" Oh, and recently there was an article on how their high school football team had won their first game since 2008. You get the picture.

Anywho, imagine my surprise when I turned to the back page to find a picture and a short paragraph on how some Ohio County resident had met N.T. Wright. I know, bizarre.

In other news, I have had the hiccups on three separate occasions today. The worst is getting hiccups at work and still having to answer the phone and greet people who walk in.

Busy and Blessed

A while back I posted about how I wasn't stressed out at all. It was true. My stress level was only at a level 1 out of 10. I knew it was a just a stage of life and wasn't bound to last very long. Too true.

I am beginning to feel it slowly creeping up on me. So much to do, so little time. I keep trying to go to bed early and catch up on sleep, but somehow it just isn't working.

Because I like lists, here is what i've been thinking about lately:

• Reformation party, games, a team challenge, who is going to do the pinata, does anybody have talent?, fake mustaches, people to call.


• The weekend featuring babysitting, party at my house, grumpy toddlers, becoming a mom to 6 kids overnight, food to make.


• Christmas presents to make, birthday gifts, deadlines.


• Future plans, obsessing about small businesses, brainstorming, researching, learning, trying to be a grown-up, work, obsessing about buying a house and what sort dishes should habitate my kitchen.

Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. My stress level is only around a level 3 or 4. I'm just not sure how to do it all at once.

Have you ever been paid to Facebook?

One of my superiors was uploading a photo album to the company's facebook account when he had to leave for a meeting. So he asked me to post the album to the profile page after it finished uploading.

Yes, I am being paid for facebooking.

New line for my resume: "Capable of navigating through facebook."

lol

The other day I was reading my Bible and this totally cracked me up:

"And He (God) took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty."

-Exodus 14:25

I just kept imagining it as an old black and white movie in fast forward. I can just see a bad guy in a ridiculous Egyptian costume jumping out of his chariot, jumping up and down in rage, and then kicking the chariot only to hurt his foot.

I love that we serve a God who possesses a sense of humor.

Pom poms revisited

I still love those tissue paper pom poms that I made. After the party, I wasn't really sure what to do with them. My mom saved the day and revived the pom poms by hanging them in my room from the ceiling. They look great there.

Ash's Birthday Present

I used to be able to throw my sister, er, I mean friend Ashley a birthday party. Now I can just send her a small card. So I tried to add a little party to the rather boring party. I know this is a really bad picture and everything, but it is the only one I have. It is a polka dot garland meant to be hung up at a party. Hopefully it didn't break and Ashley will be able to use it!

Happy birthday, Ashley!

Secret Codes

The past couple of weeks, we've been reading and discussing Sayer's Nine Tailors for Omnibus. Since I am an evil taskmaster, I made my students write a quick "poem" containing a secret message. Needless to say, they turned out interesting. I believe they included mention of beer, mice, ice, mountains and even babies. Today I decided to do my own version. I plan to give it to my students next week and then give a prize to whoever can crack the code. Here have a crack at it:

ODE TO AUTUMN*

Give golden Autumn to me,
Just the sweet liberty to breathe
deeply or hear leaves crunching.

Give icy fingers to me
Coating in frozen death all I see.
But stinging cold to
Please the chilly morning's hand
Overtakes morning's dew.

Over a toasty fire, the warm growing inside,
Chocolate fills my belly.


*I refer to this very loosely as a "poem." I do not actually write poetry. Ever.

Again

I used to lock my keys in my car, but now I've done it twice in the past 3 months. At first I thought it was because I'm growing more careless, but I then I realized that it had never happened to me because I never used to lock my car. So believe it or not, locking my keys in my is actually a sign of me becoming more responsible rather than less.

Those crazy little girls

Bella: Currently wearing her shirt both inside-out and backwards. Now that is an accomplishment.

Jubilee: Starts every single prayer with "Dear God, sank God..."

How Old Navy Made Me Skinny

This past weekend, Mom, Abby and I got to go shopping in a city slightly larger than our hometown. I have been looking for new work pants for ages. I wanted either khaki or dark brown pants. After trying on quite a few in various different stores, I stumbled upon Old Navy. To be honest, I have never bought Old Navy pants and I haven't even been inside an Old Navy store in 6+ months. Since they were having a pants sale, I decided to try some one. I first pulled out a size 6, but they looked ginormous so I didn't even bother trying them on. I next went for a size 4, but they were still too large. Finally, I landed on a pair of size 2s. Surprisingly enough, they actually fit! I have never been a size 2, but thanks to Old Navy, I am now apparently a lot skinnier than I used to be. How nice of them. I think I'll go eat cake while wearing my pair of size 2 khakis.

The start and the finish

Wonderful morning! I had a great night last night and now this morning I've already had waffles, Earl Grey Tea, and now I'm working on a birthday present. Here is a sneak peek.

Here is my finished cross stitch. Someday it will hang in my kitchen. I've been waiting for my own kitchen for about 5 years. Someday I will have it! I am going to decorate with dark reds, sage greens, and blue. Basically, all the colors that you see in this picture:

Christmas...

Did you know that Christmas is less than 3 months away?

Have you started your Christmas shopping/planning?

Consider yourself warned.

No Good Thing...

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a door keeper in the house of my God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

The LORD will give grace and glory;

No good thing will he uphold

From those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,

Blessed is the man who trust in You!"

- Psalm 84:10-12

This passage was in our bulletin this week as a meditation. I was struck anew with just how amazing it is. I've been thinking about it daily. A while back, when I was having a bad day, Aaron reminded that a God, who willingly sent His own son to die for me, was not going to withhold any good thing from me. Just thinking about it blows my mind.

Healthy Me

I generally do not eat organic food and while I try to eat vegetables and such, I am definitely not a vegetarian. Over the past couple of days though, I've eaten so healthy it amazes even me. I've been eating tons of salad, celery, sweet peppers, hummus and my latest delight is a Naked Red Machine blended juice smoothie. They're kind of expensive so I never get them, but I felt like I was on the verge of getting sick so I got one and boy is it tasty. In one container of juice, there are supposedly 13 rasberries, 11 strawberries, 3 cranberries, 1 1/2 apples, 1/4 pomegranate, 1/3 orange, 1/2 banana, and 5 red grapes. Oh, and don't forget the flax seed. Amazing isn't it?

Now I just need to figure out a good recipes for some healthy snacks such as energy bars. Delish.

A snippet

Last night I finished two entire birthday presents! Yes! Afterwards, I celebrated by working on this beauty:

I can't tell you what it is because that would totally ruin the surprise. When I stop being so lazy, I will try and post a picture of Mercy's present and the sampler that I just finished.

Have an amazing Sabbath!

Oops

I just managed to spill an entire cup of water right down my front. Too funny. The only problem is that I still have another 2 1/2 hours before I can go home and change.

The Last Day of Summer

We're celebrating the last day of summer with 95 degree weather.

The good news is that I just looked at the 10 day forecast and all of next week looks like fall weather*.

* I define fall weather as the high for the day being below 80 degrees.

Enough whining

Ok, since I was such a whiner in the last post, I only think it fair that I share some of the delish food that I've gotten to enjoy since then.
On Friday, it was the tangy, fresh taste of hummus with salty pita chips (I get to re-live this one in just a couple of hours).
On Friday night, Aaron convinced Caleb and I (it didn't take much work) to drive an hour away in order to get a scrumptious Thai dinner. I had a curry complete with cashews served over rice. I was so stuffed that I only managed to eat two bites of dessert which consisted of a custard rice It was definitely unique.
For lunch on Saturday, we decided that after our "hike" we should have lunch for breakfast. I thought I was being all clever when I attempted to combine the words for "breakfast" and "lunch." Fail on my part. Anywho, we went home and cooked up fluffy scrambled eggs with onion and pepper, pancakes, and chicken apple honey sausage. Then I piled it all together on my plate and ate it as a pancake eggs sausage sandwich. True love.
The highlight of Sunday was gingerbread. I never make gingerbread and I never get to eat it so it was a real treat. The dark, musky flavor was both surprising and wonderful. I think I need the recipe.
Now you know, whether or not you wanted to, exactly what I've been eating the past few days. Oh, and I almost forgot, I've been having homemade bread toast slathered with butter for breakfast almost every day.

Another funny side note: On Sunday night, Aaron called me and said, "Guess what I'm eating for dinner right now." After I failed to guess, he told me that he had put sweet potatoes in his stir-fry. He said that after he tried it, he just had to call someone and I was the only person he could talk to about food. Now he has to make it for me.

What have you been eating? I always need inspiration.

Killing the flavor

Why does everybody in Kentucky insist on eating bland food all smothered in a bland sauce? Everybody makes casseroles and everybody knows that said casseroles must be covered in cream of mushroom soup or velveeta cheese. Food in Kentucky is generally unexciting. It all tastes the same. Mostly it fits the following categories:

• Greasy (French fries, hamburgers, fried chicken, etc)
• Creamy (whitish casseroles)
• Bland (smothered in ketchup, american cheese)
• Just plain boring (spaghetti with plain sauce from a can or jar)

Somedays I just want to eat flavorful food. Just give me one good slice of sharp smoked cheddar cheese, or grate fresh ginger, or the even the wonderful taste of basil all ground up in pesto. And if you want something creamy, please do me a favor and use real cream.

I think I need to do some cooking this weekend.

Cross stitch inspiration...

A week ago, I found an old cross stitch sampler that was half way completed. I remember working on it when I was about 13 or 14. Looking at it, I was inspired to complete it. As of right now, I am about 3/4ths of the way done. I hope to finish it this week. Now I've been brainstorming on a project to work on next. Here are some that I found online:



I like this one because it has the blue toile pattern. I definitely think it needs a darker shade of blue though...
This one is simple but kind of Swedish looking:

This one is just amazing. I love it.

Baby Shower #2

Mom and I are done with baby shower season. Today we hosted our second shower in just 3 weeks. Whew...They both turned out wonderful. Here are some pictures. These are the two moms. Their due dates are only about a week apart.

Tissue paper pom poms. True love.

The amazing fruit flowers my mom made:

Thankful Friday

Because it is only two more days until the Sabbath, now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the good things of this past week.
A couple of weeks ago, I was stressed out. Not majorly, but stressed nonetheless. That little bit of stress that I did have made me realize one of the best things about my life right now. I was stressed for most of the past four years. Maybe I wasn't constantly freaking out, but there were tons of little stresses. I had deadlines out the wazoo, finals every 8 weeks, papers due, late nights, early mornings...you know the routine. As of right now, I have no deadlines, no papers due, I don't stay up late unless I want to (and I never do), I don't have a high pressure job, and I have look for work instead of hide from it. Sometimes it annoys me when I don't have enough work to do during the day, but, for right now, I'm just greatful that it is not at all stressful. I get to leave every day promptly at 5 pm and I never have to take work or work-related stress home with me. My evenings are mine, completely mine to do whatever I want. Work also never interferes with my weekends. And so I announce before the world (or at least before my small gathering of faithful readers) that I am not stressed and I am extremely grateful that my job is easy and sometimes boring. grateful

P.S. I surprised mei amici with a container of banana bars with cream cheese frosting over my lunch break. I know, I'm amazing.

Stocking up...

In preparation of the long winter, I have filled my work desk with cheetos and dark chocolate. 80% cocoa is the bomb diggity.
Hmmm...I think I should go running tomorroww

Directions On How To Get Directions...

My boss just called me and asked me to get directions to a certain parking lot because he is attending a certain sporting event. He suggested I call the campus police or security. So I did. After I explained the situation, they promptly transferred me to the Parking office. Again, I explained the situation and again they transferred me. This time I went to the Athletics department where I again explained the situation. Still, it wasn't right. And so I had a nice little chat with the Ticket office. If that wasn't enough, the first person at the ticket office couldn't help me so I had to wait on hold until another member of that office could help.

This made my slow Friday afternoon so much better.

Encouragement

Skip over to Jasmine's blog to read her latest post on single women preparing for marriage. It is definitely worth reading. Her wisdom is worth more than an entire hope chest filled with meaningless dishes. Be sure and check it out.

Adventures in upcycling

So I was bored. Isn't that how all my posts start? I found some random material and started upcycling. I started with an old pair of jeans, an old skirt, and part of a sheet. Yes, my skirt is made out of a sheet.

Here is what it looked like when I was done:
I think I like it but I'm still trying to make up my mind.

A short skip and hop into fall

This morning when I left for work my car thermometer said it was only 59 degrees outside. Unbelievable. I was actually cold in my car and I turned the heat on slightly for all of 2 minutes! I love it. Yesterday, I wore a light hoodie in the evening. I didn't really need it but it was fun to pretend. I shouldn't get too happy because it will probably still get over 90 sometime in the next couple of weeks...For now I am rejoicing and reveling in the cooler temperatures and low humidity.

Weekend plans: Aaron and I are planning a small pizza and game night. Having a potluck pizza party has been one of my dreams for about a year. Finally! I'll make up tons of dough and everybody will bring toppings and together we will consume as much pizza as we can possibly stuff into ourselves. When we are so fat that we cannot move, we will commence the playing of games. I'm excited. What are you doing this weekend? I can always use ideas for weekend plans.

Pretty Bird Bag

Here is a bag that I won a while ago from this blog which was made by the Marie-Madeline Studio. The most exciting part about it was that they let me pick the fabric collection that the bag was then handmade out of! I picked the Pretty Bird collection. I love the bright, cheerful colors. They make 8:00 am tutoring a lot more cheerful.

The bag was definitely bigger than I was expecting. It is both beautiful and functional. I use it as my school bag for when I have to tutor. The roomy interior is perfect for all my notebooks and folders.

Thanks again!

Design

Sometimes when I'm bored at work, I start planning out future projects. For instance, lately I've been brainstorming Christmas present ideas. But shhhh, I'm not telling. Even though I'm not much of an artist, I often times try to sketch out an idea before I start working on a new project. This helps especially if I don't have a pattern. Here is a sketch for a bag that I've been thinking about.
I know I'm strange, but sometimes I just can't help it.

Here is another design, but I'm less sure about how to make it.

Why my mom is amazing...

Well, I suppose there are many reasons, but she came to where I work bringing with her a hot fudge milkshake. I like her.

Long time, no post

I know that my many fans have been seriously missing me, so I just thought I'd pop by and let you know that I'm still alive. The past week has been a very busy one for me. Last Thursday, Kelsey came for a visit! I literally had the best weekend of my whole summer. I gave her a tour of the town (including seeing the biggest sassafras tree), I took her to Mammoth Cave (the biggest in the world), on Saturday we had a whole day of crazy adventures including tubing on a very warm lake and almost getting lost while on a boat, we stayed up way too late, we also got to visit with tons of friends and I got to take her to church. We also did lots of random things like try to catch one of the few remaining fireflies and we caught a cute little frog. Hopefully, I will post a couple of pictures in the next day or so.

On Monday morning she left and on Tuesday morning I started tutoring. And on top of all that, I was really busy at work (which rarely happens) and I wasn't feeling too well. Craziness. I finally feel like I am caught up on my sleep, school and life.

Perhaps I will write about our adventures in more length later, but for now you will just have imagine all of the fun we had.

"We agree that as a group they're rather stupid..."

I love to walk places. During my college years, I walked everywhere including school, church, coffee shops, the library, etc. I don't have as many opportunities to walk places since returning home, but one of my favorite things about my job is that I work in the old part of downtown so I there are actually crosswalks and sidewalks which I utilize nearly every day. I often walk to my favorite park bench to have lunch or sometimes I meet someone at a downtown restaurant for lunch.
The thing that gets me the most is how often I get honked at or spoken to by strange men. Occasionally women will say something in passing, but for some reason, guys feel compelled to speak to me. The other day I walked past what appeared to be a parked car and was terrified when a voice emerged from what I thought was an empty car to say, "Hey, beautiful." Blah. Please don't, just don't. Sometimes I think that it is my fault and maybe I should change the way I dress. But the fact that I used to wear a winter coat, gloves, a hat, a scarf, long pants and winter boots (practically a winter burka there) in Idaho didn't seem to stop guys from talking to me there.
One time in Idaho when I was walking home from school (most likely wearing my winter burka), I crossed the parking lot of a grocery store. I was on the phone with my mom, but that didn't stop an old man from beckoning me to come closer. He was quite ancient looking and wearing a vetern's baseball cap. I thought, "Oh, this poor old man just needs some help." So I stopped talking to my mom and gave him my full attention. He looked at me and said, "Has anybody told you that you look nice today? Because they should have." I didn't know how to respond and so I just kind of mumbled thank you and walked away. I didn't know whether he was a really nice old man or just a really creepy old man.

Here are some reasons that it is just plain stupid for guys to talk to me on the street:

• You creep me out.
• Why would a person like me ever want to even talk to a creep like you? Harsh, but true.
• Even if I do actually acknowledge your existence, which I probably won't, I will hopefully never see you again so what good is it going to do either of us?
• Did I mention that you're creepy?

My brother once gave me this whole talk on how it was ok for me to flip off any guy who was trying to hit on me/flirt with me. Needless to say, I was greatly amused. I don't have any plans for flipping anybody off, but please don't even give me an excuse.

So Intelligent

Yesterday, I wore two mismatching earrings to work. Fortunately, I discovered it after only being at work for 2 hours. Call me smart, real smart.

In case my closet wasn't full enough...

I found a new place to internet window shop. The store is called DownEast Basics. Check it out. I love their clothes. Too bad I have a phobia of buying clothing off the internet. However, I just found out that there is a store in Spokane. I might have to stop in on my trip out west. Here are some of my favorites. I would totally wear this (in a different color of course).
EDIT: So after posting all of this, I just found a giveaway. Check it out.

Ooohh, pretty

A couple days ago, I found a website called Shabby Blogs. I was inspired to give my blog a makeover. Knowing me, I might end up changing it again in a few days. I still need to work on a better header. blah.
Now I feel all fresh and sparkly clean. A blog makeover is to me as Kambucha is to Brad Belschner.
Other slate cleaning activities include, but are not limited to:

• The fact that my room is clean! Not just tidy, but actually organized and mostly cleaned out. Since Lindsey and Kathleen slept in my room, I had extra motivation to get it done.
• Kelsey is coming this weekend. Kelsey once said to me, "You're like my conscience." It's totally true.
• School starts next week and my work schedule will change! After a long summer, I am ready to make some changes to my schedule.
• I had tea (for the first time in months) out of a brand new, super cute tea cup. Thanks Velez family!

On a totally different note, I've just spent the last few hours, yes hours, brainstorming different things to do when Kelsey is here. Anybody have any brilliant ideas?

Looky, looky

Look who came to visit.
Aren't they beautiful? We had tons of fun. They got to meet my family and others. Don't you wish you were here? Feel free to visit any time. I'm always here.

They brought us tons of yummy corn on the cob. We then proceeded to eat tons of really good food. We also got to hear/share lots of good stories especially the one about Julie and the kidnapper. Too exciting. But you won't get to hear the story unless you come and visit. I was stupid and didn't take any pictures (excepting this one) so hopefully you'll get to see the few that Lindsey and Kathleen took.

Twinz

The family that I will be tutoring for this fall has the cutest little twin girls. They are about 6 years old and the only way I can tell them apart is by the color of their ponytail. Even though they dress them exactly alike every day, they always put a yellow hairband in one girl's hair and a blue one in the other's. They are so crazy and cute. They both love to eat raw red onions. Here is a sampling of things they said last night. Since I can't keep them straight, I will just refer to them as twinz.

Twinz: How old are you?
Me: 22.
Twinz, incredulously: Are you almost 100?

Twinz pointing at me: Mommy, can we keep her?

Twinz: Can you live with us?
Me: Can I bring my family too?
Twinz: Sure! You can sleep in my room.

After this, they proceeded to show us about 20 pictures of a duck they had drawn that looked almost exactly alike. I love them so much.

Ella's Present

I made these burp cloths for baby Ella, but I couldn't post pictures until I gave them to Laura. In case you can't tell, there are little frogs on the green side. I also crocheted the flower to go on top.

Wherefore art thou, winter?

This past month has been so incredibly hot and humid. For the past few days, all I can think about is cooler weather. I miss my sweaters, scarves, purple hat, winter coat, and boots. I miss cool, crisp air, yellow and red leaves. I miss the fireplace and bonfires, hot drinks, and soups. I really want a bowl of chili with a side of cornbread. I miss standing in front of the oven to get warm. I miss sleeping in my winter pajamas while being covered in tons of blankets. I miss curling up in a chair with a good book while being wrapped in blankets and drinking hot tea.

Dear Autumn and Winter,

Please come back. I miss you. I'm sorry for all the mean things I said about you in the past.

Lindsey

Today Is A Good Day

Why today is a good day:

• I won a bag! I will definitely post pictures when I receive it!
• My parents are home! I don't have to cook, grocery shop or even babysit.
• I'm excited about this weekend. I have babysat all day for the past 3 weekends. Finally I am free and I actually have plans. The last time I was excited about a weekend was right after my birthday and we all know how that weekend turned out. This weekend I get to go shopping, to a play, out to dinner with friends and possibly even more!
• I'm healthy. For once I do not have a headache, I'm not too tired, and I actually feel good!
• My boss just told me that the company really wants me to keep working for them so they are going to work around my tutoring schedule this fall!
• My weekends are booked straight through for a month. This may sound like a strange reason to celebrate but it makes me super happy.
• I might get to have lemon basil pasta for dinner. I'm trying not to get too excited about this one cause it might not happen.
• I get to leave work in only 39 minutes.

Recent Find

I love etsy. I don't usually buy things off of etsy, but I love to use it to get ideas. Recently, I stumbled across an amazing website called estygiveaways. Check it out. It is a blog devoted entirely to giving away etsy products.

Here are some good ones:

This soap is from Karess Krafters. They have the most interesting kinds/scents and they also look really pretty.

These super cute cards are from Paper Lovely. I love how whimsical they are.

Finally, check this out. Totally rad paper/book art from Simple Joys Paperie that you can find over at Rikrak studio. They have this totally amazing Eiffel Tower bracelet that I love. I really want to learn how to make their wreaths. They would be great decorations! I especially love how they recycle/upcycle. Amazingness.

Continuing on in a series of before and afters

A while ago, the babies and I went outside to collect blackberries. We were amazed at how many there were. Instead of just a small handful, there were actually 2 whole cups. What treasure! So instead of eating them on the spot like usual, I decided that something must be done with them. I added some blueberries and strawberries and here is what happened. I'm not really sure what is up with the funny spacing on the photos.

Sara's Birthday Present

Here's a little something I cooked up for Sara. In case you can't tell, it is a message/poster board.

Before:

After:

Bag full of goodness

Remember this?

Well with a little brain power and hard work, it became this bag. The hardest thing about making it was that I didn't have a pattern. I saw a picture on etsy.com, made some adaptations and here it is. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.