catch up

Everyone loves a good list…. right?

Well, I do. So here is a list of things that have been happening lately in my life in a semi-chronological order.

• I left a job that made me VERY unhappy for various reasons to begin hunting for one I love. I am crazy for doing it. I have  my reasons, but every unemployed day I feel crazier & crazier. Fingers crossed I can find something soon & will be able to avoid the big bad RETAIL monster.
• I chopped off all my hair. Perhaps my shortest haircut ever!! (or at least since I was like 5) I really love it.

before ---> after

• Chopping off my hair has resulted in some CRAZY morning hair. Totally Halloween worthy – ever. single. day.

• We got a new chair – it is a Poang chair from Ikea that was in the as-is section for $28!! I have/had every intention of making a cover for it – the plain khaki/natural color is a bit…. neutral. Until I make a cover, I decided to put a blanket on it to keep the cat hair off of it. The cats paid no attention to the chair. I remove the blanket for 1 day & I find this: (2 separate occasions throughout the day). Can you tell they were both sound asleep right before I snapped the picture?

• I took a trip to Brenham, TX. One of my friends from way back when (I am talking 15 & still in high school) was visiting her Dad who lives in Houston. Since I had not see her in YEARS, we decided we needed to meet up. Brenham was the halfway point (about 1.5 hours for each of us). We spent 3 hours at Starbucks talking, getting offered 1000000 free samples, & having an old guy say I was pretty. Then we spent 3 hours talking at Chili’s including getting a free chocolate molten awesomeness they “messed up.” Then we talked around Walmart because it was the only thing else within walking distance. It was an amazing day. It is very rare that I get a true “girls day.” I needed it SO very badly. We got to catch up on a ton, but I really wish she lived closer. SUCH A GOOD DAY.
• This week in football (though I am not really a super huge fan of football this is worthy of an entry): Virginia Tech (Ben’s alma mater) beat Duke (UNC’s biggest rival) & UNC (my alma mater) beat Wake Forest (another one of UNC’s rivals) — I fell asleep through the other games we were “watching” but I know the people we were cheering for won, so yay for them too!!
• We are having a friend from NC come up to visit Friday so we can all go to FUNFUNFUN FEST. He was also in town when we went to ACL. It was about 110 degrees out when we went. Hopefully this time, it will be a bit cooler, but just as awesome.
• While cleaning for said friend to visit I took the couch apart to vacuum it. In doing so I figured out what the strange sound was when someone sat on one of the cushions. NOTE: it helps when springs are attached not just dangling about under your couch. Oh and wood staples should actually be IN the wood, not just chilling. Since Ikea is awesome & has a 10 year warranty on their couches, we ripped that sucker apart, hauled it to Ikea & within an hour had a brand new piece to bring home & re-assemble. As easy as it was, I hope that is the one & only time we need to use that warranty in the next 9.5 years. Lesson learned: no deep cleaning unless you are prepared to find problems.

this is what it should have looked like

this is what ours looked like

• Last night Ben & I went on a true blue DATE. It was 100% his idea & I loved every single minute of it. We went to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center where the Alamo Drafthouse was having a showing of Little Shop of Horrors. We brought already made popcorn, snacks & our beach chairs. It was just like the drive-in, but without cars. The Alamo provided a HUGE blow up movie screen (same idea as a bounce house, but with a projection screen). It was awesome. It was also FREEZING. Oh say, 60s…. probably a bit colder freezing. I might have hypothermia now, but I do not care one little bit. It was awesome. To add a little cherry on top too: there were 2 shooting stars. Legit, multiple second shooting stars. BEST DATE NIGHT EVER.

I would say October is wrapping up pretty nicely.

Here are my hopes & plans for November:

1. get a job – this is a work in progress, but I hope I can actually seal the deal in 11/11
2. FUNFUNFUN Fest – this Friday I get to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & a ton of other awesome bands
3. Between the Buried and Me concert (Dan Briggs who plays bass is one of Ben’s good friends, they even have the same birthday). Animals as Leaders is also playing with them. It is going to be awesome.
4. Ben’s parents will be visiting from PA for Thanksgiving – yay for not having to bake (or eat) all that holiday food by ourselves

It is going to be a busy month!! & THAT my friends is why the holiday season always seems to fly by….

iron on cuteness

Sewing is grand. Knitting is cozy. But if you need an easy & cheap gift iron on decals are the way to go.

Many moons ago I wrote a post about some Sukie iron on decals I used on a little baby sweater that was $1.50 at Target.

Since that was such an easy & super cute project I thought I would give it another try on some Christmas gifts I am making for little ones.

I would say they turned out pretty adorable. The only thing I am unhappy about is that I will never get to wear them. Especially those birds. How awesome are they!?

cupcake shop

 

birdies

I cut them off of the different pages of decals and just arranged them in a semi upward semi diagonal line.

animal tree

Why are those animals in the tree? Who cares. It is adorable.

animal butt on the back of the animal tree outfit

close up of animal butt

 

The outfits were $1 each at the dollar store. The iron on decals were $10 for 20 pages of decals. All of these decals together were about 1 page/maybe 1.25 pages.

Like I said: gift of the year = iron on decals.

have some favorites – part 1

I try to think of myself as someone who is not materialistic. I would say most of the time I am able to accomplish this & remember there are more important things than things. 

That being said there are some things that I am very fond of:

• my iphone – how did people wait without games/internet on phone?! oh wait, I know because I did FOR A VERY LONG TIME. but now that I have the powers that be, I shall not be giving them up unless they are pried away from me. & fyi I am strong, so do not even try.
• kindle – as an English major I know how heavy books can be. Kindle = genius. enough said.

also these things, which are in no particular order:

THESE ARE HEAVEN IN YOUR MOUTH

yeah yeah yeah “that’s what she said” – haha funny funny, but seriously, they are. I even like to think they are “healthy.”

a bit of spice & lots of crunch- SO GOOD

I may have eaten an entire bag. by myself. in a day.

I meant to feature my chaise (Ikea) in this one, but I will count this as 2. I love my kitties too.

 

easy peasy. & it is pasta salad. I love pasta salad.

easy peasy. like add oil & water & that is all sort of easy. it is sort of like magic really.  & it is pasta salad. I love pasta salad.

do you know what this wonderful machine is?

best vacuum ever. seriously. worth every penny.

Brother sewing machine "sew advanced so affordable" - cheesy name, awesome sewing machine

Oh of course there are more things in my life that I love. & yes I plan on doing another one of these posts. & yes it can almost be a promise more of them will be food items.

blog?!

Dear Blog,

I have been bad at writing on/in/at you recently. The truth is a lot has been going on & you have fallen to a back burner. It is sad really, because I miss you. I want to be a good blogger. But at the present, it is important that I spend a lot of time doing that thing called “job searching.” [side note: to the people NOT considering hiring me, would you like to see the google doc I have listing all the jobs, requirements, status of my application, & other such info? I am an organized freak of nature.... that is (just one reason) why you should hire me.]

I have also been doing some other things. Like trying to figure out myself. My life. Who I should be when I grow up. How I can make writing in a blog, reviewing things, painting things & sewing crafts into a real job…. ok maybe not seriously. That seems like a ton of work. More importantly I just do not think I have the financial backing for that one at this point. So on to other ventures….

Oh but do you want to see what I have actually physically been doing with all my time or than reading COUNTLESS job descriptions…..

$ .99 (for both of those) Ikea boxes

turned into….

not so green "khaki" & presentable boxes

with a little help from my friendly neighborhood oops paint.

Also, you may remember this fella….

who morphed into this jolly green not-so giant a few posts ago….

has now officially reached his end all be all as

Yes it would appear as if he has gone full circle & returned to brown again. But really that is not the truth. I watered down the brown oops paint I used so some of the green highlights show through. If you cannot see them that is fine, just trust me they are there.

While this still might seem silly to you this is all part of a master plan to actually finish our master bedroom sometime before 2012. BTW did you know that is in oh say 2 months?! Yikes.

In closing, my dear blog. It would seem as much as I have ignored you, the rest of my life continues on. I shall try to be more diligent in updating you. Hopefully in the near future my life shall be even more exciting & I will have no choice but to fill you with the fun & adventurous things that I am doing. [proof of that this Friday when I get to hang out with someone pretty awesome]

I cannot promise I will do better, but I can promise that I will try.

be famous

What you had no idea that I am pretty much famous?

Because I am.

Yeah, I try not to rub it in too much because I do not want people to think I have let the fame go to my head.

I still remember the simpler times before I became a big deal.

Oh, you want to know what made me so famous….

That is right ladies & gentlemen (wait, do men read blogs!?). The front page of the Progressive Fall Newsletter contains my tweet.

It is pretty much my big break.

No seriously though, Progressive is awesome. They have always been rock stars when it comes to handle car-related nastiness (which may in fact be the worst kind of nasty). I am not just saying that because they made me famous.

That just means I like them even more now.

Step one, emailed newsletter. Step two, commercial?!

Errrr wait, that one might be a few steps later.

tote

I have decided I would like to stay at home & do nothing but crafts all day long.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to make a tote/purse/bag.  I found the tote at I am Momma – Hear Me Roar.

Her version is super cute & way more professional than mine. For example, when she says you will be better off using fusable interfacing, she is right. I did not, but next time I most certainly think I will. I also edited it a bit here & there & realized I am absolutely terrible at following directions.

For a first try at anything bag-like (let alone anything “pleated”) I would say mine came out pretty well.

What do you think?

Here is a better picture of it hanging, ie what it would look like on a shoulder, minus the shoulder.

I am pretty darn proud of it. It is soft & floppy & oh so pretty on the inside. Not to mention LIGHT colored on the inside. I HATE when the inside of a bag/purse is dark. HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO FIND ANYTHING IN A BLACK HOLE?!

Also, I have decided the most amazing place to buy fabric is Ikea. Now I know Ikea actually sells fabric, but I think the best color/options/& price are found in the “as is” department (you know the place where they sell the displays & other “damaged” things).

The brown fabric is actually part of a Ikea sofa arm cover. I got it for $3.99 plus a little coupon. For this bag I only used half of the fabric too. The nice thing is it is textured & pretty thick so I will not have to worry about the purse falling to pieces after 1 season of use. Did you notice it is brown? Also a bonus, yay to setting things on the ground & dirt not being noticeable. Even better, if dirt does somehow get on it, completely machine washable – YAY!!

The green fabric was a Hobby Lobby “oops” in their clearance section that was $1.29, again of which I used maybe half.

Here is a better/closer picture of the inside green fabric.

I do love this bag. It feels very cozy & autumn-ish. But at the same time, it is not so heavy that I could not use it in the spring or summer.

Using this pattern loosely I think I also want to make:

• some purses for Christmas for a few select/super lucky folks
• a smaller more pursey less baggy (haha baggy) version for more day to day stuff
• perhaps a bigger, maybe just more padded version for a laptop bag
• enough to go into business & not actually have to find a “real” job —- crap I think I may be dreaming….

Conclusion: this is most certainly a beginner bag. If you can sew 2 pieces of fabric together you are capable of making this bag. Seriously, you can do it. I know you can. Just make sure you give Cheri the credit she is due for the awesome tutorial!!

toast

Occasionally we buy something from Amazon.

(This is as sarcastic as I can humanly be. I am talking go to a store to look at something, come home & buy it on Amazon sort of addicted. It is a disease, I know.)

Most things we end up with fall under the “hit” category in terms of “hit or miss.” Some of the things I figure I will not care one way or another about I actually fall in love with.

& that is what happened with our toaster over.

Sure sure sure you might call us crazy for getting a $60 toaster over. But let me explain. We had to get rid of our other toaster over in the big move/purge of coming to Austin. Ben’s birthday is also at the end of September, so this was one of the gift I got him, but let him pick out so it would actually be something he wanted/used. buying for boys….ugh

Basically what I am saying is I let him pick it out & had no idea what it really looked like, did, or how big it was. I just put in the order.

THIS BEAST IS HUGE. [that's what she said]

16.6 x 14.6 x 22.5 inches – it does not seem that big, but do recall 22 inches = almost 2 feet!!

What does that look like:

Yes, that’s a Chick-fil-a straw. I had to pick a household object that would be well known by all. They say you can cook a whole turkey/chicken in it. & I believe them.

Besides taking up a bunch of room on the countertop – I love this thing. We have had it for 9 days & have not used the real oven once since. That is right. I am talking cooking whole meals in this thing. I even think my microwave using has been chopped down. Why eat soggy micro food when you can have crisp crunchy things?! No but seriously, this thing is great.

I would guess it *may* also save a bit of cash since it is electric & our oven is gas powered. (I do not know which costs more, but I would lean toward gas being more expensive)

If you are in the market for a toaster oven, this is most certainly the way to go. Even if you have to build on an addition to house it.

change

Autumn in a season of change, which is very fitting given my current situation.

I took this picture in October of 2008. It feels weird saying that was 3 years ago.

A lot of things are quite different. Ben & I are no longer states apart (YAY). We are both out of school now (though some of s may be considering going back). Ben & I have lived in Blacksburg, VA (where the picture was taken), TN, & now TX. Autumn was very colorful in TN too. I almost wonder if we are still going to get to experience that in TX. It is still getting up into the 80s & low 90s. Anywhere else I have lived October means jeans & hoodies.

I am playing Where’s Whitney, not Waldo in this picture.

Can you find me?

Hint: I sort of rock.

Change can be beautiful. It is all about perspective.