Funky Charming

Cambria Rose

2009-11-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

Today was an exciting day. Why, you ask? Because today is the day that
little Cambria Rose was born!

I haven't met her yet and I love her beyond description.

She is perfect, fresh, and pink.

One of the only other times I've seen Ryan this ecstatically happy was on the day he and Karen were married.

I'm so excited that my Mom was able to be there to witness the birth of her first grandchild! She is just over-the-moon! Especially since we thought little Miss Cambria wouldn't be making an appearance until the beginning of December!

And here's the happy family!
Karen really looks amazing, doesn't she? Maybe a smidge tired, but amazing none-the-less!

A huge CONGRATULATIONS! to two of my favorite people!
I can't wait to see all three of them in December!

An Ode to My Favoritest Sister-In-Law

2009-10-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

In case you don't already know, I'm going to be an Auntie at the end of November! The Robot and Jane are expecting a little bundle of pinkness and I am so excited!

Karen with her cute lil tummy @ Build-a-Bear making a bear for baby! The bear even got two hearts... one from Mom and one from Dad!

And really, "excited" isn't even the word. More like "elated" and "overjoyed" and "blessed". It's been a really cool experience following my brother and sister-in-law on their journey into parenthood, too. Even though they're living in North Carolina we vid chat with them via iChat pretty much every Sunday. Which means we've gotten to see Jane's tummy get bigger and bigger as the weeks have progressed, and I know that makes it real for them, but it makes it pretty real for us, too. So, "how'd they find out" you ask? Exactly the same way Jim and Pam did on The Office. Emergency Room Trip for Jane + Blood Tests-to-help-figure-out-what's-wrong = Tada! You're Expecting!

I kind of figured that's what the case was as The Robot Tweeted the goings-on in the hospital one Saturday afternoon in April. Mom and Dad knew a whole day before I did because they were sworn to secrecy so that I could hear it from the source. So after everyone found out, the boy/girl speculations began. I pretty much always knew it was a girl, we just had to wait until July to find out for sure.

So with our vid chats happening pretty frequently, it seems like Jane and I chat online more often while we're at work, too. I ask how she's feeling, if the baby's kicking, if the reality of being responsible for another human being for at least the next eighteen years has sunk in yet... and, bless her, she's taking it all in stride, but she is so ready for this baby to be OUT already! So as we were talking today about her just wanting to not be pregnant anymore, this clip from Gilmore Girls came to mind:

I hope that if I am able to be in her place one day, I can remember to be in the moment even when I'm anxious and tired of being pregnant. I love you, Karen! Thanks for being the first!

Liberation

2009-06-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

My deepest and sincerest apologies to those of you that have contacted me to make sure I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... I, indeed, have not become gravitationally challenged. I am still here in dear, sweet Morgan Hill and I'm finally in a place where I can start blogging again.

Today I got my haircut. Yes, it's an everyday, mundane thing but for me it always seems to be an event. Maybe that's because I only ever seem to think about getting my hair cut when it's become unmanageable... or every 8 months... which ever comes first. My hair, at its longest point, was hitting my mid-back so it was looooong and time to get all the dead ends chopped off. Little did I know just how much was going to get chopped! So I made an appointment last week with Brendan at a local salon called Dezign Salon. It's an Aveda salon which means it's a party for all of your senses while you're getting your haircut!

I showed up, pictures of hairstyles in tow, and a fairly open mind. Never did I think the words "Locks of Love" would come out of Brendan's mouth! He measured, and measured again to make sure, and when I decided that yes I was going to do this, he banded my hair. Five quick snips later and I was in a little bit of shock! As he was cutting my hair I could feel the pit of uncertainty growing as he kept cutting off more and more and more hair. When Brendan was finished I was in love!

The back looks like it's been colored, but I really only got my hair cut. The color is left over from the last time I got my hair cut and colored. I love love love my new hair and I can't wait to show it off!

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Kid EVER!

2008-11-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today is my brother, Robin's, birthday. Not only is he my brother, he's my buddy, my pal, my Boy Wonder. He's an amazing kid who lights up my life and sees the world from a unique perspective.

We went out for Japanese at Sushi Boat Town (bento boxes are the best!) and then came home to have cake and play games. Mom ordered the cake from Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos. Since Robin's such a fan of Reese's and the Chocolate/Peanut Butter combo in general, he got a chocolate peanut butter cake!

Peanut butter flavored cake with peanut butter filling and then totally covered in the best chocolate icing you will ever taste.

After we sang and Robin blew out the ginormous candle, we played a game called VisualEyes. Check it out! It's such a fun game!

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Certain Lil' Somethin' Somethin' and Things I've Done

2008-11-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

Short post today. Well... kinda.

I got the opportunity to be a guest on The Honey and Headphones Show last Friday night. If you don't know, and you probably don't since it's brand spanking new, my brother Ryan and sister-in-law Karen started a podcast. Ryan is The Robot and Karen is PlainJane. Together they are Honey and Headphones. We had lots of fun talking and laughing and having a plain old good time! You can listen to the sugar-coated hilarity here. Leave a note, let 'em know what you think!

In other business, I found this list on my friend Melissa's blog and thought it would be fun to post it with the things I've done highlighted in Pink. Pass it along!

...Things I've done and been to (Mine are in pink)
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - well, ok... not a child. Do fur babies count?
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in

France

20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited

Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (& Book of Mormon)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

43! How about you?

Doin' Homework and Watchin' Movies!

2008-11-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

It's been brought to my attention that it's been a while since I've posted anything. A long, LONG while since I've posted anything. I've even been threatened with Bookmark Deletion if I don't post something soon! (Hi Holly!) So I'm trying to change my ways... AGAIN. I've got so many ideas for blog postings, I'm just lacking in follow-through. As it is with many things in my life... But anyway!

On October 6th, a mere six weeks ago, I started school again for the first time in a long time. My friend Holly and I, after going to visit the school, decided to enroll in the California School of Professional Fabric Design. Holly tells a much better account of it here, but she heard about it from her friend, Julee. I had heard about it from my Mom after she talked about it with Diana McClun - a good friend and heavy-hitter in the Quilting World and current student of the school. I thought to myself "If Diana's doing it, I can do it, too!" And let me just tell you, I am loving every minute of this! Even the late nights with the seemingly endless amounts of homework that seem to be taking over my life!

Homework consists of painting, painting, and more painting! I know, I've got it rough in terms of homework, right? It is so much more time intensive than I realized, but it is such good fun. When I'm done with what I'm working on I'll take pictures and post it.

While I'm doing homework I've been watching a lot of DVDs on my laptop as well as listening to CDs I had all but forgotten about. I'm even channeling my inner Rosie the Riveter while I listen to Mystery Play Old Time Radio on the internet. So much fun and I can totally zone out while I work just listening to all the old mystery shows!

While I was working recently I pulled out one of my favoritest movies of all time: EMPIRE RECORDS. I highly recommend this movie to any musicphile and anyone who ever thought it would be cool to work at the local music store. In a lot of ways, this movie defined my teenage years. Well... from 15 on, anyway.

I was able to find one of my favorite scenes from Empire Records on YouTube to share with you all!

I can make a mess like nobodies business!

2008-09-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

My status on Facebook for most of the day has been:

Kirsten "thinks everyone would be happy if they only had a cookie!"

Well, that sparked a conversation between me and and my cousin, Megan, as you can see below...

So she ended up making cookies. I wish I could say I came straight home, strapped on an apron, and dove into the flour. But I didn't. I did, however, take pictures the last time I made them a couple of weeks ago.

Boy, did I make one huge mess!

Here are the ingredients...

And here's where the mess happened! I "accidentally" put in too much flour at once and *poof!* it went!

And this is the recipe I used.

We've used it for year s and it's awesome because y ou use butter flavored Crisco and only brown sugar. If you don't have the Crisco, you use 1-1 ratio of shortening and salted butter.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the cookies themselves. Once they came out of the oven I was in a cookie coma! They're just that good. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Great Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 C. Butter Crisco
2 1/2 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t. salt
4 T. milk
2 T vanilla (not imitation!)
3 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
2 C chocolate chips (I prefer Guitard, but had Toll House on hand)
1 C chopped nuts (optional - I never put them in unless I'm making them for Dad)

Cream the sugar into the shortening/Crisco. Add milk and vanilla ad beat until fluffy. Blend in eggs. Put all dry ingredients (flour, salt, soda) into bowl and mix together with spoon. With mixer running, add dry ingredients about a 1/2 cup at a time taking care not to over mix the dough. Once you've put the last of the dry mix into the mixer, turn it off and mix the last bit by hand. Stir in chips (and nuts).

Bake at 350 degrees on a parchment lined cookie sheet
8-10 minutes for chewy
10-13 minutes for crispy
This should make between 18-24 cookies depending how big you scoop them!

August is Birthday-licious!

2008-09-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened over the past month in regards to birthdays. Both Dad and Ryan have birthdays eight days apart, so that always makes for some fun family times during August. And this year my dearest friend, Rachel, turned 30! There was no way we were not going to celebrate this milestone!

*Rachel's Birthday*

I had so much fun planning for and attending Rachel's Birthday Bonanza Fiesta! It was held in the Cultural Hall at one of the Church buildings so there was plenty of room to move around. There were tables for board games set up at one end and a treasure chest pinata tied to a basketball backboard on the other end of the Hall.

Since it was Fiesta themed, it was only appropriate that Rachel should have a Birthday Sombrero!

After we sang to Rachel and watched her blow out the candles on the awesome huge cupcake birthday cake our buddy, Melissa, made for her we did the Hokey Pokey. Because, you know, that's what it's all about!

I think this was the funnest birthday party I have been to in a long time. Yeah, okay, I helped plan and execute it, but it was still one rockin' party!

*Dad's Birthday*

For Dad's Birthday we ended up in Cambria for the day. Our original plan was to go to a park and BBQ/Picnic and that quickly snowballed into driving 3 hours south to get some of the best BBQ on the Central Coast and hang out at the beach for the day.

So we drove...

We ate...

We Scrabbled...

We even got a decent family picture out of the trip!

Before we started our trek home we stopped in at McPhee's Grill in Templeton where the food is always heavenly. High praise, I know, but they do not disappoint. This is the only place I know of that has a caramel lime sauce to drizzle over their flourless chocolate cake and trust me, it's roll-your-eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head good. And their garlic mashed potatoes with goat cheese totally rivals the Potatoes Romanov from the Strip House in Houston (aka The Best Funeral Potatoes EVER!)

*Ry's Birthday*

For Ryan's birthday a week later we made reservations for a sitting at Petroglyph Ceramic Lounge in Willow Glen. It's such a cool place to go for an activity! You pay a flat fee for studio time, paint and supplies, and kiln firing afterward. Other than that you pay for the piece you want to paint. We've got a great set of non-matching dinner plates we painted during a Family Home Evening activity a while ago and they're actually the best plates we've ever had!

Beforehand we ate dinner at Willow Street Pizza.

Not the most spectacular of places, but the food is decent and it's a great place to people watch. This little boy walked in with his dad, who was picking up a to-go order, and he just walked right on over to the table next to ours, sat down, and proceeded to chat with the waitress. So adorable! And he was seriously dressed up as Batman!

We actually ended up not going to Petroglyph because they didn't have the pieces we wanted to paint on (the aforementioned dinner plates), so we opted for coming back home and going swimming. It was so much fun! We had our very own Cannonball/Handstand/Silent Marco Polo Olympics. Yep, Silent Marco Polo. I think they should add that to the list of Summer Olympic Sporting Events. They have Ping Pong (excuse me, Table Tennis) so why not Silent Marco Polo?

Anyway, that's it for the Birthday Round-Up as I leave you with a music video of my all-time favorite Birthday song!

Happy Birthday!!!

2008-08-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to one of the BEST DAD'S EVER!!!

Actually, "Best Dad" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Many Happy Returns, Dad!

And I hope you've had a great day with us in Cambria!

Look who's been a busy girl...

2008-08-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

I have ! I have!

I have gotten so much accomplished since my last post I just don't know where to start! I'll start with my embroidery project...

Thanks to the Summer programming on TV (SYTYCD, Burn Notice, Eureka) and now the Olympics - and, I must admit, the fact that my sewing machine is still downstairs among the graveyard of unpacked boxes - I've been able to spend a good amount of time working on my little embroidery squares I talked about a while ago. As of this post I've got 14 and a half squares done out of 20 squares. Yay! Hopefully, if I stay on track I'll have a finished quilt to take to Market with to show the wonderful Holly Holderman of Lake House! Here's a group picture of the blocks I've done since the original five. I'll put single shots of the blocks up on my Flickr.

Since my project area has been moved to my bedroom (my big, huge, GINORMOUS bedroom) I needed to get a desk that would accommodate my sewing machine and still have some storage. My old desk just wasn't up to the task, so I found this little beauty on a re-con mission to Ikea....

And look at how cute it looks in my room! (Pay no attention to that pile of clothes on my bed...)

It's got a huge surface (28"x48") for sewing, cutting, whatever and I love that there's a cubby area and an upper shelf for putting at-hand items within reach. And just to make it that much prettier I got the coolest little organizer to go with it!

It's from Making Memories and it was on sale at Beverly's which, in my book, should make it eligible for sainthood. I'm hoping that someday soon I can get these two together and we can make beautiful, um, sewing together.

Well, ok... on that awkward note, I hope you all have had a charming day!

A little gem I saw while watching the Olympics the other night:

... and then Mia Michaels opens her mouth

2008-06-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

So we're finally, finally somewhat unpacked. There are still things in boxes but we're up and running and having dinner at home. And thank goodness for that! If I see another Styrofoam box in the fridge anytime soon I think I might freak.

So since we're basically unpacked and our computers are all connected to the pretty-pretty network again not only can I resume blogging but I can catch up on one of my favorite TV shows!

So You Think You Can Dance started just as we were moving so I've been catching up with it via the loveliness that is the internet. The quality isn't the greatest, but I get to watch it, and that's all that matters!

They went throughout the nation to various cities a la American Idol to find contenders for the show and this year they stopped in Salt Lake City. There was some amazing representation from the great state of Utah and most of those dancers featured in that episode came through to the Top 20: Chelsie Hightower, Matt Dorame, Thayne Jasperson, and Gev Manoukian. And there's even a little representin' for San Jose in the form of Miss Katee Shean! Hollah!

June 11th marked the first show with the Top 20 and I was just able to watch it on Tuesday. There were some very strong performances, but my absolute favorite performances were the Hip Hop routines choreographed by Napoleon and Tabitha. Here's Rayven and Jamie's performance and here's Katee and Joshua's performance. Just amazing!

So last night the Top 18 performed and I have to say I'm kinda disappointed that not a lot of the contestants gave it their all. I really, really wanted to love Thayne and Chelsea's dance, not just like it. Chelsie and Mark were excellent as were Katee and Joshua. The routine that just gave me chills and choked me up a little was Jean Marc Genereux's Viennese Waltz. The whole basis behind this routine is that his daughter has Rett's Syndrome - a neorological disorder rendering her motor skills pretty much useless - and she just lights up when she sees people's movement and dancing .

It's a beautiful number that is beautifully executed, and then....

Mia Michaels, the guest judge this week, opens her big fat mouth and begins to tell Kherington that her smiling throughout the whole routine seemed "glossy." And then she just dumps all over her saying she would have like to see more "realism" in her facial expressions. Nigel jumps in to disagree and smooth over the needlessly harsh words and that just sets her off again. To shut her up Kat Deely asks the dancing couple what Jean Marc said to them about the emotions he wanted expressed in the routine. Kherington got maybe five words out and got choked up and the Twitch had to finish. Jean Marc wanted to emote happiness, exuberance, and joy... so the smiles were just what he ordered. Mary got choked up and teary and if Nigel weren't so British he would have, too.

Moving and Shaking

2008-06-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

This last week has been absolutely unreal in its hellish-ness. On Monday night at 5:00 we turned the keys over to the property owner and then at 10:00PM we finally moved the last box into the garage. Then a collective sigh of relief was followed by a sense of dread... we still have to unpack!!

Well, at least it'll be easier to be realistic while deciding what to keep and what to junk! It is so hard to do that while you're packing. In the stress of having to move and all it entails, everything becomes precious and suddenly you can't live without it. My Mom is the Queen of Precious. But I am very proud of her. She junked and donated a lot of stuff during this move. Some of it was even her mother's things that she's been holding on to since she passed away. So I'm doubly proud of her.

I, on the other hand, still have boxes to go through. Not just boxes, but boxes and boxes. I wasn't aware I had accumulated so much stuff. Some of it is really cool and the rest of it probably just belongs in a landfill in Hollister.

So, last night, since our kitchen is still in the aforementioned boxes, we ended up at the Mall for dinner... 20 minutes away from our new domicile. Robin wanted Sushi, and we don't trust sushi in Morgan Hill, yet. So anway, we end up at the mall and on our stroll back to the car we stop at the gaming/comic store Legends. On our way out of the store I practically gave myself whiplash when I saw this...

How charming is this book!?

It's done by Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy who are Meomi. Check out the website. There's even a blog! And for more excitement, check out the Octonauts in action!

My Latest Obsession

2008-05-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Romeo and Juliet....

Elizabeth and Darcy...

Harry and Ginny...

It's been a long time since I've found another literary couple I can cheer on as fervently as these...

At last I've found one...

Edward and Bella...

They are the two main characters in the highly successful Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I picked up the first book, Twilight, shortly after Mother's Day on the recommendation of my Mother... who hates anything involving Vampires or Werewolves ... and she finished the book in two days. Two days!! I knew it had to be good. I didn't understand just how good...

I'm currently in the beginning chapters of the third book, Eclipse. So, that's what, almost 3 books in as many weeks? Umm, yeah. You REALLY want to read this.

I'm normally not a fast reader. I like to take my time when I read. But the ease in which Stephenie Meyer frames her characters and the world they live in automatically immerses you in their story. You instantly care for them and their... plight. And then there's the inevitable infatuation with Edward Cullen.

I've had grown women call our house and leave messages about how in love with Edward Cullen they are once they found out my Mom was a fan, as well. Then I realize I'm also considered a grown woman... oh, well! I'm actually pretty OK with gushing about how incredibly amazing I think Edward is especially since he's the perfect mix of chivalry, charm, and protector. Since Gilmore Girls went off the air - which I watched religiously with Mom every Tuesday Night for seven seasons - we haven't really found anything else to replace that. And with our new found mutual, shall we say 'respect', for these books and its characters (OK, one in particular) it's almost like having Tuesday night again.

Since we're moving this weekend, and doing all the things required for moving, I haven't had as much time to spend reading as I would like. So I downloaded the audio book so I can listen while I pack! And then when I go to bed, I find my place, and read until I fall asleep. I will be so sad when I'm done with the third book. But at least I have a fourth book to look forward to. It comes out August 2nd and I've already reserved my copy to pick up at 12:01 AM. And then there's the movie thats coming out on December 12th. What the heck am I supposed to do until then?!

Maybe its me. Maybe my imagination and vested emotional interest in these books and this world is a little too intense. I wouldn't call it an obsession, but there are some people in my family that would. (Hi Dad!)

Yeah, it's a sickness at this point, I think.

If you haven't read the first book, go out and get it. I warn you, once you start it will be hard to put down. If you need still need some convincing, check out the trailer for the movie. It will not disappoint!

A Healthy Dose of Escapism

2008-05-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

It is so insanely hot... In May... I just don't know what to do with myself. Dealing with the heat towards the end of June and through to the middle of October is one thing. But in May? When it's supposed to be sunny and cool so the blooms from April's showers can make their appearance? Oh, no. My body has not yet readied itself for the daily berating thanks to the Sun's wanting to get extra snuggly with the Earth during those months. It's snuggling a little too soon in the relationship and the Earth needs to learn how to say "Back off, Jack!" Thank goodness it's supposed to get cooler over the next few days. Yesterday and today has just not been what I would call fun. So today when Robin asked me if I would take him down to Morgan Hill for band practice I jumped at the chance! You know why? The car has air conditioning. Oh, yeah!

So for about an hour this afternoon I was myself and not the brain dead, half passed out zombie I was for most of the day. At one point I was listening to the radio on my way back to San Jose and Pink Floyd's "Hey You" came on. I think I'm the only girl in my family that loves, loves, loves Pink Floyd and the genius that is David Gilmour. I am an oddity to the women in my family. Whenever I hear them on the radio I turn it up. Whenever I take a trip I always take one of their CDs with me. Something about the music the guys from Pink Floyd created transports me no matter where I am. Today in the car when their song came on I wasn't traveling in the car on my way to certain death in the heat. I was traveling in a cool jet stream without a care in the world. Except for the temperature gauge reminding me of the baking world outside, I was in a state of bliss.

See... I wasn't exaggerating. And you should see my left arm/right arm comparison. So not funny.

In the mean time, here's a video I found of one of my favourite David Gilmour songs. Enjoy!

And if you like that one, check this one out!

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...

2008-05-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

Waiting for Mom to be done recording the Podcast. It's about 10:15 and LOST started 15 minutes ago and I have it paused on the DVR. It's just sitting there, taunting me, begging me to press the PLAY button... Someone in my position might give in seeing as the rest of the fam is in the office recording their parts for the "Quilting Stash Podcast Turns Three" Stash-i-sode. But I know all too well the repercussions of doing such a thing and I am not interested in unleashing the Wrath of Mom at this late hour. Well, ok, it's a lot less Wrath-like but the Indignant Level goes through the roof.

During my part in the recording of the Birthday Stash-i-sode I talked about embroidery blogs. Here are some charming blogs I talked about:

Feeling Stitchy - It's a group blog which mean there's more than one author submitting posts. There's also a Flickr group attached to this blog.
Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching Blog
Hilary Lang and her Wee Wonderfuls - I love her!
The Silly BooDilly
Aimee Ray - Check out this interview with Aimee

UPDATE: Waiting for LOST was so worth it! Check out the Birthday Podcast, too! You'll hear yours truly!

Procrastination 101

2008-05-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

Deadlines are looming and all I can think about is...

...anything other than the task at hand.

I feel like over the last month or so I have become the Queen of Procrastination. "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" has become my creed. And the worst thing about it is the little nagging feeling in my stomach, because the work isn't getting done, just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It's taking larger distractions to temporarily quell the ever-growing nag.
Usually I can turn on the TV, get lost in a book or even pick up another project and I'm fine. Tonight I actually left the house to go see a movie. How sad is that?!

We went and saw Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. Let me just tell you how happy I am that I was finally able to see it! I talked about wanting to see Miss Pettigrew back in December and I thought I had missed my chance since it's been out for almost two months. After checking the movie listings this morning I was shocked to see that it was still playing in theatres. It was so easy to talk Mom into going and seeing it. And, of course, Dad would come, too! (Since Enchanted, he just loves Amy Adams!)

It is such a charming little movie and Amy Adams is nothing short of amazing. But OH. MY. GOSH. Lee Pace absolutely stole the show! He learned how to play piano for the part and he sings. Sings! He's not half bad, either.

I have been missing Pushing Daisies' original brand of quirky and endearing comedy ever since the Writer's Strike halted production on the show. For all of you who have been missing your weekly Lee Pace fix, go see Miss Pettigrew before it goes away. Otherwise you won't be able to see it until its released to DVD on August 19th.

Until then, here are some stills from the movie to keep you satisfied...

Market Craziness

2008-04-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here checking my email and chomping on some Mike and Ike Jolly Joes (they're grape flavoured!) and I realize I haven't posted anything since the Catherine Tate/David Tennant funniness. While I'm sure that tickled you as much as it did me, I think its time for an update.

I've been in full getting-ready-for-Market mode. That means making samples, correcting and editing instructions, and mailing things off at the 11th hour. And the worst part of it all? I'm not even going to be there! We're getting ready to move at the end of May and it just isn't going to work this time around. But hey, it's only six months til Houston, so I'll manage.

But what have I been working on? Just take a look...

Aren't those fabrics just the cutest little things you've ever seen? They're from the Classic Cottons (Exclusively Quilters) line called Off To Dreamland. All of the designs are based on a quilt purchased at an estate sale. I believe the quilt itself dates from the 1960's and all of the little motifs are so different. My favorite prints are the bunny prints. I'm pretty sure one of my Grandmothers had a stuffed bunny that was exactly like the ones on the fabric and was blue with pink pads and ears. I think that working with this line was meant to be!

Anyway, I've been working on finishing this quilt and as of right now, all I have to do is put on the borders, draw the scallop, applique dots on the border, quilt it, trim the scallop, and bind it. All of this and have it mailed off no later than May 10, including 20 pattern jackets for the sales reps to have at their stations in the Cotton Classics booth! Woo-hoo! I think I'll be able to get it all done as long the pain from the Gout stays away. If it doesn't, I just might end up like these two...

And that would NOT be a pretty picture!

Until the next post here's a favourite moment from one of my favourite shows...

Bovvered for The Doctor innit!

2008-04-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something for you anglophiles and Doctor Who lovers. The new season starts soon! Yay! Little Lauren's charming in her own way...

(G)out and About

2008-04-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, since my last post, which was actually posted on March 27th and not the 17th (I can't figure out how to change the date after its been saved in drafts!), there's been a lot going on. I'll start with the most recent event... a trip to the Emergency Room!

Well OK, it's not as exciting as it sounds, but I did voluntarily take myself to the ER. Two weeks ago I got out of bed and was walking around like normal but my right foot's big toes was a little sore. I figured I had slept funny or stepped the wrong way on it and I didn't think anything about it. As the week went on the pain just kept getting worse and worse and I started thinking maybe I broke my toe or fractured the joint somehow. I hadn't gone to get it checked out since I'm between jobs with no health insurance so I just figured I'd tough it out.

Well, at about 4:00 in the morning on Sunday I found myself out in front of the TV trying to distract myself from the pain, which was pretty darn bad by then, and that just was not working. I mean, it hurt to even have my lightweight quilt over that foot. So I went to Church and someone told me about a hospital in our area that would be able to help me. I waited until Wednesday to call since I wanted to give it time to see if it would get better. It didn't. It only got worse.

I went into the ER at about 11:30AM and was released around 3:30PM. It wasn't even 30 seconds after I told the Doctor what I thought might be going on when she said "This looks like Gout to me." What?! Gout? What the heck is Gout? Well, I'll tell you. I'm now an expert on the subject thanks to WebMD. Gout is like Kidney Stones in your joints. Instead of the uric acid crystals settling in your kidney and accumulating into stones, they move throughout your body and get deposited on the Bursa Sacs of major joints. Mine just happened to be in the joint of my right foot's big toe. So a few X-rays and a prescription later and I was finally leaving the hospital... at 7:00 PM.Oh, what a day was...

My foot is a little better now. Still can't really wear shoes on my right foot just yet, and if I tap my big toe just the right way I can still see stars, but I'm on the mend. The silver lining to the whole situation was that I was able to work on one of my new projects! And I've got pictures to show you, too!

I have been obsessed with working on learning embroidery stitches ever since I got Jenny Hart's book Sublime Stitching. So I busted out all wicked with some Lake House Dry Goods Cherry Baby Charm Packs I got last year at Fall Market. They are oh-so-cute if you haven't seen them. So I sorted through the packs and found some polka dot prints that would work well as a background. I took these prints as well as two focus prints with me when I went to Michaels to pick my floss colors. So here are the inspiration fabrics I took with me...

And here are the colors I ended up with!

Just looking at the floss inspires me. It's just so beautiful! I had a friend mention to me that the greens don't match each other. I told my friend to look out the window and show me three greens in nature that match. She got my point. Anyway, I chose my colors and got to work! Here are the blocks I've done so far...

All of the patterns can be found in either Sublime Stitching or in the Pattern Packs they offer. Aren't they just charming! I'll post more squares as I get them done. Have a happy afternoon!

I've been WHAT?

2008-03-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Tagged!

The lovely Annie at SimpleArts tagged me last week. I was still on my Birthday/Retreat high so its taken me a while to actually post my tag.

So the rules for being tagged are that you mention the person who tagged you, talk about seven things not necessarily known about yourself, list seven other bloggers you enjoy reading and tag them to join in the fun!

Ok, so here are seven things you may not know about me:

I'm a glutton for "reality" TV. My favorites are Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People Big World, Ghost Hunters, and So You Think You Can Dance. My favorite routine from last season is Lacey and Neil's Mia Michaels Contemporary piece. I've included a few other of my favorite routines from last season: Neil & Sara's Disco, Danny & Sara's Tango, and Sara & Jesus's Contemporary dance.
I lived, actually lived, in England for a summer when I was 18. Three whole months in England and it was wonderful!
One of my favorite places in the whole wide world is Disney Land! This is also one of my favorite places to souvenir eat!
My favorite Muppet is Kermit the Frog. I was fortunate enough to own a Kermit doll when I was little and he was one of my best friends. Besides, he taught me all about "Bein' Green."
I love to cook and experiment with recipes. My favorite things to make are Grandma's Apple Roll, Chocolate Pudding Fudge Cake with Chocolate Glaze, and Tuna and Noodle Casserole.
I love my sister-in-law and I am so glad she loves our family! She has become one of my very best friends... and not everyone can say that about their in-laws!
Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney Princess and is the reason for my passion of all things pink!

Now to name the bloggers I'm tagging! I only hope I can come up with seven!
I'm tagging...

My sister-in-law Karen
My friend Cherri House
My brother Ryan
My friend and Quilting Stash Podcast listener Laurie Drean
Sandi Henderson of Portabello Pixie - She is such a doll!
Heather Bailey

Ok, so 6 out of 7 ain't bad, right? Keep an eye out for their postings!

My Birthday Weekend

2008-03-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

It's still my Birthday month and I'm finally able to sit down and write about my Birthday Weekend/SimpleArts Retreat. It was so much fun to hang out with so many creative women. I was excited to go and I don't think I realized just how much I needed to get away and recharge my batteries. I'm glad it happened when it did because ever since then I've been running around like a mad woman!

So anyway, here are some little highlights from the Retreat...

Friday was our little Shop Hop day. It's great because there's such an eclectic grouping of shops within a 45 minute drive of each other. Here's where we stopped:

The Quiltery in Paso Robles: Most of their fabric is only $5 a yard, so it's a great place to stop! But be careful... $5 a yard can still be dangerous!

The Quilter's Cupboard in Atascadero: I absolutely love the staff at this shop! They are the friendliest staff I have ever come across in a quilt shop. EVER. And I've seen my fair share of quilt shops!The orange and red collection is what I found at the Quilter's cupboard. The orange and purple collection is what I got as part of a ginormous door prize they gave us. What a treat!

Susan Branch's Heart of the Home Store in Arroyo Grande: I just want to snuggle up and make this shop my home! We were also very lucky that Susan was able to be there to meet with our group. She is such a swell gal!

Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab in Arroyo Grande: OH! MY! HECK! This is one place you don't want to go if you're on a diet! They custom create all of their flavours and they even have a Periodic Table of Ice Cream! If you're in the area check this place out. You won't be sorry.
The Cotton Ball in Morro Bay: I love this shop. Plain and simple. I love it. They've got Fabric-Fabric, Decorator Fabric, yarn, ribbon, stuff for embroidery, and so much more! My most favorite "birthday gift" (thanks, Mom!) was the Sublime Stitching transfer packs and book I got at the Cotton Ball along with some floss and a hoop! I was in Seventh Heaven! Here's a pic:

All of my embroidery goodies now reside in my cute little Amy Butler sewing box I got at Joann's a while ago.
It feels good to be so organized!

What I got accomplished: Well, not very much got accomplished. If you count shopping, eating, shopping, eating, watching movies, fixing my Amy Butler Purse, eating, sleeping, getting my tootsies done and making another tote as accomplishments, well then, I was the most accomplished one there!

You can even see some of the movie we were watching in the background of the photo. I think we were watching Bride and Prejudice.

Here's a couple pictures of the other tote I made. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning and my table buddy Holly stayed up with me! I got the fabric at the Cotton Ball and it's from Tina Givens's line. I just fell in love with those chandeliers!

The inside pockets are from Amy Butler's first line, Temple Flowers, when she was with Free Spirit. Because I was finishing my Amy Butler purse I brought my whole stash with me and tat fabric just happened to match perfectly. A girl has to be prepared!

And of course I have to talk about the food. The food! Annie brought one of Icing on the Cake's world famous German Chocolate Cakes and even had them write Happy Quilting! on it! It was so yummy and it lasted us all weekend. We had lots and lots of goodies on hand and, of course, the lovely people at Camp Ocean Pines kept us well fed. (Can you say "bread?") And of course, BBQ Monday! We stopped at Main Street Grill on the way out of town Monday afternoon. I so miss that place! Even if you're a vegetarian, stop there. They've got something for you, too! And, if anything, you can give yourself a good carb coma by eating a whole basket of their to-die-for fries!

A charming and relaxing time was had by all and I can't wait to do it again in September!
Until next time!

Friday's Frenzy

2008-03-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here's what was going on all day Friday...

Ta-da! I made a purse! My very own, one-of-kind, Amy Butler Inspired purse! "Why would I do that" you ask? Well, let me tell you...

I was perusing the Craftzine Blog when I saw it and practically fell off of my chair!

I knew I had to enter this contest but it took me forever to figure out just what I should make so I went scavenging online. I looked high and low for ideas to spark some inspiration. I started at Amy's website and found this free pattern she has up there for these wonderful Fabric Necklaces.

That was my first inspiration: Turn the Necklace into purse handles by using wood balls instead of styrofoam. It'd give it more weight but it would also make it sturdier and longer lasting.

Now I needed inspiration for the body of the bag. I looked at the Flickr group to see what other were doing. A lot of it was taking Amy's Fabric and one of her purse patterns, whipping up a purse and posting it to the group. "Blah, blah, blah", I said. So I went looking some more. I found the perfect template at Torrid.com.

I had my handles, I had my bag, I was ready to go!

After I drafted my bag body and cut out the muslin shapes from the pattern, I drew the lines for my Foundation Pieced design. I chose my fabric and just went for it!

All-in-all I worked from about 10:00AM-8:55PM last Friday, not counting my internet research. The deadline was 9:00PM (Midnight EST) to submit your photo to the Flickr Group. After some trouble joining the group itself and, being a newbie to Flickr, having trouble loading my picture to the Group, I finally got it posted at 10:09PM Friday night. The good news? They accepted my picture! I guess there were other members having trouble loading their pictures.

Here are some more pictures of the finished product. I think I'm going to make another, now that I know what I'm doing, just to improve on the design. I love this bag!

Now all I have to do is name her. I better come up with something that suits her charming purse-onality! Ha ha!

It's that time of year again...

2008-03-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

You know - That time of year where I start to become overly anxious and reflective because I'll be ONE! YEAR! OLDER! and I feel I haven't really done much in the past year. And its almost to the point of panic when the day itself comes around and all of the fears and apprehension of being ONE! YEAR! OLDER! melt away with the first bite of the sickeningly sweet cake and frosting - pink, of course - and receipt of packages big and small, wrapped in a robe of colored paper and trussed up with ribbon to match. I LOVE Birthdays, don't you?

This cake is called "Kirsten" and you can see it and many others here

So this year I've decided to make it easier for my family by providing them a list with pictures of some ideas of what I would like for my birthday. Next Sunday. The 9th. Just in case they've forgotten.

The first item on my list is this cute little pair of earrings from Bombalurina. They're turquoise Czech glass and they are just about the most charming thing I've seen in ages.

Next on my list is this little beauty from Target: the Sunbeam Simple Press Iron. It's sleek, it's pink, and it's got a retractable cord! But most importantly it's pink. Oh! And did I mention it's pink?

Speaking of things pink, the people at Hasbro have finally got it spot on! They now have Monopoly Pink! You can buy and sell malls and boutiques, receive "text messages", and use your special Bank Card! The 13-year-old in me wants this very much. I saw it while on a Crayon Recon trip to Toys "R" Us and just fell in love with it.

You know what else I saw at Toys "R" Us that day? This absolutely adorable Hello Kitty Tote! Sure its a little creepy to see Hello Kitty's head on a cupcake like that, but come on, if you were given a cupcake like that wouldn't you go "Aww!" and then devour it? I would, too.

The last thing on my list is this nifty little chunky ironing board! It's 14" by 24" and has for legs instead of one giant loopy one. Polder makes it and I think right now you can only get it online. And ::hint, hint, Mom:: it would be perfect to take with me to the Retreat next weekend!

Mom is having one of her very cool SimpleArts Retreats over my birthday weekend and I've decided to go. They are so much fun and so dang relaxing and I wish they happened more often. Also at SimpleArts this month, in honor of my birthday, we're doing something super cool for listeners... more to come...

Well, I guess enough's enough for today. I'm still recovering from yesterday's all day sewing frenzy. Here's a little sneak peek of what I was working on...

...And let me just tell you, it'll charm your socks off!

A Feel Good Evening

2008-02-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

I have not watched the Oscars for the last few years because well, quite frankly, I'm more interested in the Red Carpet. I have never been let down by the Red Carpet like I've been when watching the Oscars. Most times when I'm done watching I'm just so upset because of course I have my favorites and why didn't they just ask me who should win in the first place? It would have saved The Academy a whole lot of money and effort. This year I was not let down in both regards.

I was very impressed by the showing on the Red Carpet this year. I love, love, love Anne Hathaway's Marchesa gown. Is there ever a time when she's not stunning?

Dame Helen Mirren was equally stunning in her Georges Chakra gown. Check out the pattern the crystals make on her sleeve.

Atonement's Saoirse (Sear-shuh) Ronan had on the cutest little Alberta Ferretti princess dress I've seen in a while. It's the type of thing I would have loved to play dress-up in when I was a kid. It almost reminds me of something they might have Clara from The Nutcracker wear.

As for the Oscars themselves, I was impressed with the bare-bones, under produced musical numbers for the Best Song performances. Ever since I saw Enchanted I've been just that with Amy Adams and was glad to see her perform "Happy Working Song." And Kristin Chenowyth singing "That's How You Know" was just so darn cute!

My favorite feel good moment of the evening was when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (aka The Swell Season) performed "Falling Slowly" from the film ONCE.

I had totally forgotten it was nominated and was pleasantly surprised when they were announced to perform. Now, I've never seen the movie but I love the song. It's beautifully melancholic and those two sing with such... oh, I don't even know what to call it. You can watch their Oscar performance here and watch their acceptance here. It was so touching to see Glen get all verklemt. Marketa didn't get to say anything because the orchestra jumped the gun but Jon Stewart brought her back out to say a few words and I'm grateful that he did. She is charming.

So, how did you like the Oscars?

A Thaw in the Ice

2008-02-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Today I found out that Pitchers and Catchers will be reporting for duty in Scottsdale, AZ soon... VERY SOON. The first Spring Training game will be Feb. 28th. That information for me is like watching ice drip off a frozen flower. It just drips, drips, drips away as the sun comes out from hiding until it's totally thawed. "What am I talking about?" you may ask.

I'm talking about BASEBALL!

I love baseball. From March to October my family breathes baseball. I and my brothers played Little League Baseball. My career didn't last through T-Ball. I literally stopped playing not even halfway through the season. I was more interested in being a spectator. Ryan did pretty well in Little League and Robin's got one more year. It will be exciting to see what he has to offer us this season.

We've had some exciting times at Baseball stadiums.... Like the time Mom thought I was lost or had been taken because I wandered off while she was talking to customer service. I was bored and tired of waiting for her and had decided to walk back to our seats where Dad and Ryan were. That was the last place she checked but there I was, watching the game, and wondering just why she was crying and livid at the same time. This was back in 1986 when the modern convenience of everyone having a cell phone did not exist. Fun stuff.

But I have to say that my feelings for baseball can be summed up in this quote from a movie you've probably seen. If you haven't, go get it and watch it.

"People will come, Ray... For reasons they can't even fathom.

They'll walk out to the bleachers and sit in their shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along the one of the base lines. It will be just like when they were children and cheered their heroes, and they'll watch the game, and it will be as if they were dipped in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces...

This field, this game, it's our past. It reminds us of all that was once good, and could be again.

Oh, People will come. People will most definitely come."

-W.P. Kinsella, Field of Dreams

And on that note, Peaches, I hope you all have a charming day!