So I Really Finished Something!!!

Last night I decided at about 8pm I wanted a new tote bag. I grabbed some material and went to work. Finished it around 10:30 because I spaced out on a portion of it. I'm also wearing my new grey dress. Finished a few days ago but finally ironed and ready for wearing this morning. I love it. I've already had compliments on it and it's so comfy. The pic isn't the best but you get the idea. Now I'm consumed with scheming all the other things I'm going to make. Linen pants, printed tunic to wear with jeans, wide legged belted jeans. I've got the patterns, now the hard part, choosing the fabric.

In other news a death in the family is sending me to Texas next week. I will fly out on Sunday with my Gran for a week. I'm looking forward to spending time with Gran but the circumstances surrounding it are terrible. My cousin (I think) died night before last of cancer. She was only diagnosed less than a year ago but was told with surgery she should be fine. Well she wasn't. The cancer had spread and grown so wildly that the tumors where pushing on her vital organs. Friday she decided she was tired of fighting and she wanted to go home to be with the lord. They basically put her into a drug induced coma and let her body take it's course. She was less than 35. Terrible. Will be a rough trip.

On a happier note, today is my best girl friends birthday party. We're going to a fun restaurant for a girls night out. Should be a great time. About 10 of us going. Hope to get pics. I hope to get a good camera soon and will make the pictures more plentiful around this blog. My camera phone is so crappy.

OH! Got the new Boden catalog in the mail yesterday. OMG! I just can't get enough of that store. I've still yet to order anything from there but I did see somethings this time that caught my eye enough to actually purchase. I'm in LOVE with the wicked expensive (well moderately expensive) boots. I need some good black ones for the coming season. We'll see though. I have a HARD time paying good money for things some times. I'm silly like that. Also the sweaters, OH the sweaters!!! I'm in deep. Way to deep.

Great Progress

So the grey dress is almost done. Just the arm holes and neck to sew up. Pictures to come.

Last night we watched the Brother Grimm w/ Matt Damon & Heath Ledger. It was a fun Van Helsing type movie. I liked it ok. We grilled out some new chicken, asiago and spinach sausages and they were pretty good. Can't figure out what to put on them. Ketchup wasn't doin it. Also went to Target briefly for something I thought I needed but didn't but ended up getting some really great smelling Burt's Bees Citrus & Ginger Root body wash. I'm excited to try it out after my walk tonight. Finally going to go back out and walk tonight (hopefully). The soreness in my legs feels better. If nothing else I'm going to do some yoga. Something.

Today is JZ's friday. Lucky dog. He's gonna be a busy bear at home this weekend though. He's getting our laundry room all torn apart and put back together. Next weekend is washer & dryer shopping. Will be SOOOOOOO excited to have a laundry room again. I'm so tired of only being able to wear my favorite tank top once a week because I can't wash it.

Getting the cupcake bug again. I saw that someone is now making cup cake mix last night at target. Weird. Like it's diff than cake batter. Maybe that's my naivety speaking but seriously. Wanting to make something complex and Martha like. Might have to bust out her cook book tonight and see what I can come up with. Gran bought me her baking cookbook for Christmas a few years ago and I just adore it. I look at it all the time just because the photos are so great. It's full of super tasty looking stuff. I try not to back though. I'm not all that great and portion control when I've made a giant batch of cookies or cupcakes.

Hump Day is Killin Me

It's Wednesday. And how. The day's just been eaking by with no regard to how its actions effect me. Sheesh! How inconsiderate.

Today I watched (well really just listened to it while working) the DVD of "The Secret". I had heard about this from friends and it sounded corny but my friend at work had the DVD and I thought "what could it hurt?". Well...it was actually pretty cool stuff. I am going to grab the book at Target next time I'm there. It's about the law of attraction. No not like attracting a cute boy but more about attracting your true desires to yourself with positive thinking. I know. Sounds corny doesn't it. Really though, it's not when you listen to the DVD. I made some note and am pretty interested to read the book. If nothing else it's something really interesting to think on. This DVD is almost a little new-agey for me but if you think of it in the context of how Christ asks us to behave, it makes sense. I'm interested to see how the book compares.

http://thesecret.tv/

Seriously though if I buy anymore books I'm going to have to hire someone to line the walls of my house with bookshelves. Not a bad problem but still. I've got one tiny shelf and stacks and stacks hidden around the house.

In other news I'm not very motivated to work today. It's BAD. Just can't focus. AND tonight I hope to just be at home. Do nothing special. Maybe do some sewing stuff. I've got loads of projects in mind. I have an simply fabulous grey dress I started working on and then stopped. Maybe I should finish that. Also, thinking about grilling out some new chicken, spinach and asiago cheese sausages we found at Sam's. Pretty excited to see if they are tasty.

Another Weekend Gone...

Went by QUICK! John worked Saturday, so everything we would normally span out over the entire two days got all shoved into one. Saturday was pretty much me helping a friend move and hangin out at home because John was tyyy-erd. really really. Sunday we slept in a little and then headed out to do some shopping. I got some new running shoes. I've been shopping around online for a bit for some that I liked but OMG they are expensive. I've kinda been toying with the notion of running/walking a couple times a week mixed with some other physical activity. I needed good shoes though. I talked to all my friends that run and that's what they said. "Get good shoes and good socks. Don't wear them anywhere but to run." Hm. Ok. So I got the bright idea to go out to the outlet and see what they had. Ended up getting some really cute white, orange and silver Air Max 180 Nikes. AND the fun part is that they are Ipod compatible. Sooo I can get this Ipod chip that works with any Ipod that goes in my shoe. It does loads of stuff (tracks your mileage, heart rate, play lists) Really cool and I'm so excited to start using it.

Back to the dentist today at 4pm. Hopefully this wicked tooth will stop hurting soon. I'm so tired of pushing on my jaw. I'm doing it out of habit now. Eventually this will be over.

Went to the grocery store yesterday and got lots of cool new foods to try. Explored the organic section of our super market more than normal and found loads of cool stuff I wall try. I limited myself to a few for now though. This week I was able to come up with an entire new menu of dinners that I'm so excited about. Healthy options that aren't hard to cook (God love the grill) but really tasty. Also a bonus because John and I BOTH like them. Tonight I'm making steak and chicken kabobs, corn on the cob and salad.

Today is going pretty well. I had a lot of energy to work this morning but it's worn off. I'm sitting here eating my afternoon snack (2% reducded fat string cheese and an apple) and obsessing about the color grey. And yes I like the British way to spell it for some reason. Inspiration for today.

Steps to a Healthier Me & You

Just a quick note to tell you about a really cool website I discovered this morning. I'm looking into better eating habits and such and this site really helps you line out what you need for you current weight, height and age. Really neat. I love the customizable plan and the printer friendly version. I'm going to put mine up on the fridge so when I'm making my groc list I can keep this stuff in mind. Try it out...

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Oh Wisdom Teeth...

How I don't miss thee. Your rough and scratchy edges. Your constant aching pressure. All that's left is a hole (or three) in my mouth and a bottle of way to strong pain pills on my night stand. Farewell dear teeth! Parting is such total agony but better after seven days. =)

So, now that I've got the dramatics of the day out of the way... I'm back. Today is my first official day back to work.

Word of caution: I'm on pain pills AND medication soaked gauze pad jammed into my old tooth hole. It's all making me a bit loopy. Can't really focus on anything for very long. Makes getting actual work done really interesting. I'm saving the majority of that for when I feel right again anyways. It was a bit odd getting up, getting dressed, putting on make up today. Being home for all those days somehow made me love my little tiny house so much more. Laying in bed thinking about all the possibilities was fun. Even though I was a groggy, swollen, slobbery mess. Bless mom's heart! She was the best nurse maid one could have asked for. I couldn't have made it without here there.

Something else lovely happend right before my life was put on hold for an entire week. We got a new grill. It's not a super expensive one but pretty darn nice if you ask me. We grilled out steaks the day before my surg and I must say they were heaven. I'm excited to grill all kinds of other fun stuff this summer. John and I are already planning new patio furniture and stuff to make the out doors at our house a little more homey.

Also, finished my Harry Potter book. The movie came out over the weekend and I've not yet been to see it. Soon though. The book comes out this weekend. The last book. I'm going to get it and eventually read it but I'm kinda not looking forward to it. I just have a feeling that JK is taking the story to a place I don't want it to go. I was heart sick in reading the Half Blood Prince. I kinda had guessed who the half blood prince was but the ending. Oh the ending. I was just sick. I've started something else on purpose. I'm sure I'll save it till maybe fall. Maybe.

Getting ramped up (at least in my mind) for things I wanna get done soon:
-Clean out, paint & set up new sewing/yoga room
-Buy and install new carpet tiles for living room
-Rearrange bedroom and add headboard
-Sew some really cute summery tops

Oh and the joy of my entire week (well last week)was the fact that I got an entire day to just clean. Most people would just call me a sick person because I actually enjoyed it but man did I! I made a list and set to work. I cleaned every room (except for the sewing room). Last night once I finally got over all the dizziness of my pain pills, I picked up what happend while I was down and it still looks fab. I put up our new shower curtain too. Funny how small totally ridiculous things can make you so happy.
Things that are making me happy today:

-Blogs
-An unexpected present from a friend
-New babies (Name Brilynn Rose 7 lbs 11 oz)
-Citron Green (as in the color. Not sure)
-Half a Choc Chip Cookie (The first actual real food besides pasta I've been able to eat since seven days ago!!!)

-Fun collages

Hope you all are doing well...

So we survived the weekend but barely. Babs & Ben were in town and it was a wild ride. Literally. We headed down on Saturday morning to the Liberty Memorial Museum. They've revamped and opened a ton of new stuff there to see. I thought I might not enjoy it but it did end up being pretty cool. So much stuff in there. It's very well laid out though and people who are really into that type of stuff would just be rapt with anticipation of what's around the next corner. John had never been and so just because we also rode the elevator to the top of the tower just to look out.

My favorite part ended up being the walls and walls of war posters. For some reason I really liked them. The architecture of the place was just way cool as you can see by the ONLY picture from the inside that came out decent.

After leaving the memorial we headed out the most scary car ride of my life perhaps. Ben, who is near sided and has no peripheral vision what so ever proceeded to drive from the Liberty Mem down town thru all the construction and back to Sam's with absolutely no knowledge of where he was or where he was going. The best part was that while he's driving 70 miles an hour on ever road available, John is in the front seat trying to navigate. At one point I looked up and he truly was about to hyperventilate. I've never been so happy to get out of a car in my entire life. Ended up spending the entire day with them. Sunday we were going to go to church but then we were expected back to Bev's around noon for a cook out. So we stayed home and did house things that needed doing. Mowing, cleaning, dishes. The BBQ was actually nice. We love Sharon's girls. They are way funny teenagers and they are comfortable enough around us to be silly. So we ate till we almost exploded, watched Harry Potter movies and laughed about teachers, boys and stupid cheerleaders. Left early enough to get some laundry done and so on yesterday too. Overall it wasn't a bad weekend, just filled differently than we would normally choose. This week I'm having my wisdom teeth out on Thursday. Yesterday and today they're just aching like crazy which is making me dread the surgery a little less. I just want them OUT!!!

What else? Oh! Got some cute things handed down from Bev this weekend. She gave me a little wicker three piece patio set. Gonna paint that something cute and make some cushions. Will look cute with the new grill we are about to purchase. I'm excited for a grill I can just flip the switch and cook. Love that! Also, so gave me a giant jewelry box, which I SO needed. I've got all this stray stuff floating all over the house. This box is really cool. It's got all kinda of little compartments and such. AND it's got yellow funky lining in the drawers. So fun. I'm also going to paint this because I'm not super fond of the color of the wood. Along with the box she gave me some of her vintage jewels. My favorite are the handmade wooded black w. wood grain showing through earrings and matching brooch. Haven't taken the earrings off since Saturday. Well to shower but still. Also, picked out some rather cute paint colors for the house. I really love them. You know when you have this color in your head but can't find it anywhere? I had that till I went to Lowes yesterday. I found three, well four, shades of just the right shades of stuff I wanted. I shocked even myself. Can't wait to get started. I'm going to do the "guest room" first. John's given up rights to the room because really he doesn't use it all that much and I'm desperate for a sewing/yoga/ reading area. It's the perfect size and I'm THRILLED to have the space. I'm just so excited to get it all set up and looking cute. All that will have to wait till the teeth are out and not hurting though.

What An Interesting World We Live In

Some how I found this website today called Hel Looks. It's a "street fashion" site that's based out Helsinki, Finnland. It's 550 pictures of various people and what they consider style. Sure makes you look at life and fashion in an entirely different light. It's kinda of beautiful in a strange sort of way to see how people express themselves through so many types of styles. Here are a few of the most out there ones. Strange but fantastic too. Makes me feel not weird about loving yellow shoes or vintage clothing. Loads of these people make their our things or thrift them. I have to say I only saw like three outfits out of 550 I would actually wear but really. How cool is it that God made us all so very different. I just love the thought. Granted, some of these people you look at them and think "what the bloody hell where you thinking leaving the house like that!" but a the same time it's fascinating to me.

http://www.hel-looks.com/index.php

Lovely Artist of the Day

So I'm not planning to do a featured artist each week or anything but it's kinda turning out that way the last few.

This lovely gal named Emily Martin from Athens creates oh so cool paintings and sewing projects. She actually has a full time shop called The Black Apple. Inspires me to actually DO something with my talent. I so waste it on nothingness in general. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites. Visit her shop if you like. I'm thinking about buying a little something cute for my sewing room.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=991

Really Interesting

So I happend upon a seriously interesting thing today. This website has a check list of things called the Clean Sweap Assessment. Here is the objective:

Objective
The participant's goal is to get a score of 100 out of 100. The objective of the program is for the participant to get complete about 100 possible incompletions in their life. Incompletions are those physical, emotional or mental items, which are in some way not resolved in the current moment. Incompletions of any kind drain energy. That is, they require energy to live with, given it takes work to keep us whole when there is something in the space. To have full integrity (like a complete circle) is normal; the program gives one a way to get there in a natural way.

Promise
The Clean Sweep Program promises three things will happen as you increase your scores:
You will have more energy and vitality. There is nothing like a clean space, full communication and self-responsibility to give one more energy.
You will increase your scores just by being in the program. Once you go over the list of the 100 items, you'll find yourself handling some of these without even trying. Others take more work, but you will complete your way toward the score of 100.
You will gain perspective on who you are, where you are and where you are going. When incompletions are handled, one can see what is and has been around them, including one's self. You will see situations as they really are, you'll discern what is going on with you and around you and you'll react less and choose more in your daily life. This higher perspective is essential in the process of designing one's life and it starts with the Clean Sweep Program.

Sounds interesting right? I did mine and got a TERRIBLE score but at least I know the areas I need to work on. Try this out if you want. It doesn't take long to completed the checklist and I found it to be really inspiring.

http://betterme.org/cleansweep.html

Lovely Day Off

So I've decided having a day off in the middle of the week is nice. Makes the last two seem totally pointless but it's still nice. Yesterday we slept in a little. Got up and gathered ourselves for Watkins Mill. I love this place. We went early enough the weather wasn't to hot and most of the trail is shaded and lovely anyways. Ended up walking about six miles all together. The girls loved it. They were so tired when we got back to the car. Heck we all were. We ended up going home and napping for about two hours. I also ended up hurting my foot/leg while there. Maybe the flip flops weren't a good idea. I dunno. Feels like maybe I just pulled something. Just tender to walk on for sure. So we spent the rest of the day watching movies and listening to fireworks all over the city. It was just really nice and relaxing. I'm sure there might have been better more constructive ways to spend the day but we had a nice time. Just being together.

Have a new love in my life. 100% all natural white cheddar cheetos. Seriously people. You've got to try them. All other food pales in comparison to their greatness. Thankfully they are lowish in fat and pretty low in calories.

All my friends have today and tomorrow off. So I'm here with the last portion of my Harry Potter book and a few magazines to round out the day. Hopefully it's not sooo long that I can't stand it. Hopefully.

"What Could She Possible Have to Say Now??!!!"

I knew you were thinking it. I mean really, I live a pretty uneventful life the majority of the time. What could I possibly have to say from yesterday to today? Well...

First of all it's 1:43 the day before the fourth of July. I'm still here and still working. Well sort of. Took a blogging break. I'm going to take a get the heck outta dodge break here soon. Most everyone else already has. Gonna continue on with cleaning as I did last night. I get in these moods. I just clean and clean. They don't happen often enough however. I'm hell bent on making the house look nice for the weekend though. I'm planning a big clothing purge and a move all the furniture around "team building" activity as well. I'm also going to put up ALL of the cool home decorating stuff I've had for ages and I've never used. Somehow I feel like we just moved in and now I'm ready to decorate. Takes me awhile i guess. No really. I owe it all to this book. The one I mentioned yesterday. It's got all this great home decorating stuff but also the pictures are just cool. They have things "staged" if you will and I'm so in love with random corners of fun objects (just a few) and done. So I cleaned the kitchen and took everything off the fridge and put new stuff up there. I brought out my favorite plant that my mom gave me to add some life to our house. I'm ready to rock this now!

Oh oh oh! Also when at the grocery store last night I was delighted to find they sell the full line of Burt's Bee's stuff. They've got a new lip balm and it's so so great. It looks pink but goes on clear. Love the pomegranate oil. Really softens things up. I'm totally into Burt and his curious little Bee's.

Also, mom told me about this wonderful new magazine called Natural Home today. The website is a big strange because it looks like all adds but I found a diamond in the rough. My dream home. Someday I will build it.

Last but not least. Random shot that I found inspiring for the day.

Hope everyone has a LOVELY fourth and Cheers to you all!

Mass Amounts of Stuffs

So excited! Read in a mag this weekend about a site that will list out all the thrift shops in your state, city or zip. How rockin is that?!?! Check it out. It's really cool. I can't wait to hit the shops!!!!

http://www.thethriftshopper.com/index.htm

In other news, it's Monday AGAIN. This week however will be a short one and I'm thrilled about it. This weekend was wonderful and relaxing despite the rain and then the heat. Friday night we had date night. Went to eat Mongolia BBQ and then saw a movie. Actually the movie turned out to be very very funny and we both enjoyed ourselves loads. It's fun to have a date night sometimes. Saturday we slept in. Sickeningly late actually. We didn't have a lot of plans and with the torrential down pour that was going on outside we weren't in a major hurry to get out. We finally did though. Drove around looking at different places. Just a relaxing time. Decided to have some lunch. Went home and watched Kingdom of Heaven. It was pretty good. A little different than I expected but still good. By this time the weather had cleared up and we decided to head out to do some light shopping. John needed some new work pants, I was looking for a specific magazine. So we first went to B&N. They didn't have what we wanted. We then went to Borders (which more and more is earning my love and trust. They always have a better magazine selection than B&N and their little cafe is just the most fun two people and a pile of books could have. Well in public at least). We splurged a little and I got a sewing book I've been just dying for and this blessed magazine I wanted. We also got a book and workbook by a guy named Dave Ramsey. He's a financial advisor and has a radio show here in KC. John listens to him everyday. With John's new job paying a considerable amount more money than any job he's had and I getting ready (when the right one shows up) to move to another role and possibly make more money, we HAVE GOT TO do this right. We've got to figure out where all this stuff needs to go so that we don't just blow it on books and magazines. =) This guys book is amazing. John's more than half way done with it now. He's just glued. I will read it once he's done. Or at least try. Financial stuff really doesn't keep me rapped like it does John but we'll see. Anyway DR takes you through really more of a new attitude than a "let's get you right right now" plan. I'm really pretty excited about it. For the first time I can see John is too. I think we're really going to be able to make this happen and be wise with our money. I would recommend this book to any of you who are interested in the topic.

Anyways, back at Borders, we're sitting in two comfy chairs in the back when we realize there's music but not just the over head like usual. They had a live show that from what we stayed for was lovely. Just a gal and her guitar. Nothing fancy but those are the best kinds. Just plain old music from the heart.

Sunday we got up and met a friend of mine at our church. She actually attends there as well but neither of us knew it because we go to different service times. Such a cool service. We had a guest speaker. She's the author of the book "Real Sex" which is an interesting take on sexuality, marriage and how it relates to God/the church. John and I both loved that we were there for what she had to say. We then went out to lunch with my pal Roxi. She's getting ready to move into her first apartment without room mates and has no furniture. We headed out to Nebraska Furniture Mart for a little looking. Spent the rest of the evening doing laundry at Gran's house. Pretty relaxing, like I said.

John is working on his own this week. He's loving his new job. Easiest thing he's ever done and the crew of guys is great too. This week he's working 4 tens. Excited to have wed off as well.

Speaking of. Trying to figure out what Wed holds for us. We're thinking a trip up to watkins mill with the girls and a picnic lunch too. Then fire works in the evening. Just relaxing. I'm all about that lately. Can't WAIT to start on some sewing projects for summer. I have a gigantic list of things I want to sew or at least attempt. I read this really interesting article today on one of the many crafting web sites I frequent about what they called "refashioning" your wardrobe. There is actually a site where people go and "pledge" that they won't buy any new clothing for two, four or six months. They can only re purpose things they have, buy secondhand or create it themselves. There are a few exceptions (underwear, fabric, etc). I think it's a bloody good idea. I'm not going to sign up but think I will try to pledge a month to myself. See how I do. I've been itching to make summer skirts and pj pants for ages. All easy thing but things I never take the time to do. Maybe if the only thing I'm out shopping for is groceries, undies and fabric I will have plenty of time for just plain old living. I also wanna try and thrift or second hand the majority of stuff around our house. Our totally fabulous and completely comfortable couch is second hand, our dresser is second hand, our chair, our blanket chest. Only things really we bought were our mattress set and towels. I'm kinda excited about the challenge of it all. I know it will be tough. Really people, I'm the Target Queen but I can do this. I'll try and post periodical updates on my progress and pics of projects I'm working on or complete. Ya for Me! I'm sure John will be just thrilled. =)

Since I always feel obligated to provide something for your viewing pleasure, here is a couple pics of projects from me new sewing book...

Most of it's just pure eye candy for a girl like me. Not hard projects but fun. I'm in absolute LOVE with the elephant bag. Not sure why. The book also has home projects (aprons, curtains, pot holders). The most FUN sun hat ever. Can't wait to make that one. Just fun things to create that aren't complicated. That don't make me cry with frustration. No, I'm saving all that for the baby bedding I'm going to be making with in the next seven months for a friend. Yikes!