Finally! Beth's surprise birthday party come and gone!

I say finally! because the cat is now out of the bag! No more worrying about spoiling the surprise. Including Beth on the wrong email thread. Phew. So difficult for me.

The party was hosted at the winery The Convergence Zone in Woodinville. They had a white wine that I really enjoyed. The food that was served was from a little Indian restaurant called Mayuri in Bellevue. Noms.

Jen and Em made the desserts. Jen made a strawberry rhubarb pie. Em made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and a 'crack' pie. The 'crack' pie was kind of like a butterscotch bar of sorts.

Yay! I got to debut the kitty cat apron I made for her as well. No more surprises. Surprises are hard on the gifter as well as the giftee. LOL.

Oooo. An etsy store called Bonspiel Creation.

Not normally big on plugging stores, but a quick one here. How can a curler not like a crafty store with a name that is curling related?

http://www.bonspielcreation.com/apps/etsystore/

I'm more of a dog person, but the mean cat change purse is pretty cute.

Super mellow Labor Day weekend

Wow. So far this has been a super mellow and relaxed weekend.

Yesterday I woke up and put on an aerobics dvd. Jer and I went out to get his passport photo taken and ate some Thai food at Pen Thai in Bothell.

After we got home, I worked on finishing a special project that I'll post and talk about later.

Today, I've been throwing out stuff, putting things on Craigslist and Ebay. Anyone interested in some Star Wars stuff?

Fun up and coming.

Brave Girls Club

My friend Maya forwarded this to me. Normally, I'm not big into receiving daily fortune cookie type mailing, but this site has had some positive words that I really enjoyed. Including the following:

Dear Terrific Girl,

Sometimes you just have to jump...you just have to take that leap....JUMP....
even if you feel like you aren't ready.

We can make a million excuses for all of the reasons why we aren't ready...why
it isn't the right time yet, why we aren't up to the challenge, why we don't
have time or why we just don't have what it takes to EVER do it, but really....
all we need to do is take the first step, the first leap....and then keep going.
It won't be much different if we wait, it will still be the first scary step,
the first scary leap....but if we wait, we might never do it.

YOU KNOW it's time. You know where you want to be, and even where you are meant
to be....but YOU are the only one holding you back from taking the first step
towards that place. Don't hold yourself back anymore.....take the leap....if
you don't like it...you don't have to keep going....but chances are, you will
wonder why you waited so long.

Bliss will fill you up and you will feel so on track!

DO IT, BRAVE GIRL!!!!

xoxo

To read more, check out the following link:  http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/

Yay for a mellow weekend.

Or was it?

Saturday after Jeremy left for a bike ride, I headed out to the Bothell Bike and Ski shop to test two more bicycles. A Scott road bike and a Felt road bike. The Felt road bike was nice, but I felt super wobbly on it. I was on a XS Scott, because the frame was longer. I liked the bike, but did not like the two gears on the left hand (where the Felt had three).

Afterwards, I went home and took a mile long walk while the laundry ran. When I got home, I started pruning blackberry bushes that had grown into our backyard. I did not get all of them.

I met Jeremy in the U Village area, where we picked up a couple of filets from Bill the Butcher (in the Sandpoint area). We later turned those into Pepper Encrusted Filet Mignon with a blue cheese-chive (I screwed up and bought green onions, whoops) butter with Green Beans Amandine on the side. Noms.

Sunday we spent some more time in the back yard. Jeremy got attacked by yellow jackets under the big tree in the right corner. He got bit on his arm and under his knee. They blew up, but no allergic reactions that required a trip to the ER.

We had invited the Thibodeauxes over for dinner. I baked a Shepherd's Pie and a Pear Custard for dinner and Jeremy made Broccoli with Mustard-Red Pepper Vinaigrette. We had a nice, relaxing evening hanging out. Bob was on autopilot and on his way out, grabbed a grocery bag full of items I was going to donate to Goodwill or some other thrift organization. It was pretty amusing.

Gah. Stalled out.

Stalled out on my sewing projects with my backstitch button broken on my Pfaff.  Crappy week for sewing. Two of my lesson canceled. With a third one probably to be called off as well due to a lack of a machine.


Tonight I was supposed to go to NW Bernina, but apparently they overbooked themselves. Sad that I was the one that they canceled on, but I guess I wasn't generating very much money. They were the ones that offered it on their website. How to use your older Bernina. I guess I'll just have to wing it.


My private Friday lesson was canceled due to a schedule conflict. Her work schedule was 11 - 7 pm, and I'm not willing to have a lesson after 7 pm on a Friday in Bellevue. Once I leave, I'm not going back.

Saturday's lesson is at Quality Sewing & Vacuum. I'll have to postpone it myself because of my Pfaff. Since that is the one that I bought from them a few years ago, that is the only one I can get a lesson on. Boo.

Including a photo of all the apples that I picked up off the ground tonight to throw in the yardwaste bin before I mowed the back yard.

I should go to sleep now. I need to finish throwing away some junk mail, and then I can snoozarooni.

Rocked another evening.

Got home and didn't take that nap I wanted to. Sigh. My own fault.

Instead, I put the dishes from the dishwasher away, started a load of laundry, put some cookies to bake in the oven, and went out in the backyard to clean up some yard waste before trash day.

I ended up completing three loads of laundry, 5 trays of chocolate chip cookies, and 2 bags of yard waste before I had to leave for dinner at my friend Maya's.

I feel exhausted just reading my blog entry. Heh.

Ready to pass out.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. No nap today. Been up since 1:40 am.

Here are the napkins I made against the apron that I finished last night.

I am very pleased at how both of them came out. The apron ties are a little shorter than I expected. Did the photocopy enlargening process fail somehow? Or is it just me. Probably just me.  

I met with my teammates Em and Elle today for coffee briefly. Just touching base on the upcoming season. Our newest member is currently on vacation in Montana.

Em and I are sometimes confused for each other at our local curling club, due to a lack of Asians in the sport as well as plain old inattentiveness. It is a running joke that we are 'twins'. We have a few interests and items that we share in common, such as a best friend named Maya. Different best friends, same name.

Today was amusing because we both baked and brought chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with salt to share with the team. We both brought out ziploc baggies with the goodies in them. 

Afterwards, I headed to Renton to hang out with my mother. We made a quick trip to the International District in Seattle to pick up what translates loosely into "Chinese tamales." If I were to spell the chinese word in English, the closest I can get is probably "jeung" or "joong".  There is tonal inflection that is involved that doesn't capture in text.  

I hung out with my mother and sister for a couple of hours and now am back home ready to pass out. Lots of things to do, but too dang tired to do any of it.

Aargh. No sleep for me.

I could not sleep at all last night. I can't understand why. I was and still am exhausted.

Yesterday we picked Ali up from the airport and the headed to Paseo for lunch. we then stopped by bothell bike and ski shop for jer to exchange a jersey.

We then stopped by home for a bit. Ali helped me pick towel colors for the bathroom. There was also some attempt at Yoga from
a DVD that Ali brought with her.

After Jer and Ali left for Bellingham, I stopped off in bothell for gas, returned some library books, and the test drove two different bicycles. I tested a hybrid and a basic road bike. I had planned to test a Felt bike today, but it is raining.

I drove to north bend to the gap outlet and picked up a pair of jeans they are no longer carrying at the regular store. the I went back to Bellevue to return all the bath towels from the day before and to buy the ones that we decided on.

finally, I stopped by joann's for a little fabric for my next project. I headed home just before 9 pm. I finished my apron and got some fabric cut for my napkin project.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Disappointed in Speck iPhone 4 case

I 

I highly recommend avoiding the Speck iPhone 4 case. I have the green striped version. I should say HAD. I haven't even had the stupid thing for 30 days and it has broken already. It is NOT from dropping my iPhone. It broke in the right corner, where you press the power button to turn your phone on and off. It cracked in that area, and now the front of the case will not stay on. Terrible. $30 not including tax for a piece of plastic that doesn't event last a month? Bah.

A little disc golf anyone?

On a day that broke heat records in the Seattle area, I joined my husband and a couple of his coworkers after work for a little disc golf.

Note to self : Always carry a pair of real shoes in the trunk when wearing flip flops or dress shoes.

We miss you.

Gravity - We miss you.

Fun with Photoshop Mobile

Another type of tote bag.

Project 4

I found this project really time consuming and frustrating. Is it because I'm new, or is it just really frustrating. Jeremy made fun of it because it is so tiny.

Projects 2 and 3

Out of the Sew What? Sew Bags book, I created projects 2 and 3.

Project 2

A dog drawstring bag. The book calls it a ditty bag. Right now it is sans drawstring.

Project 3

Tissue holder! I made one for myself, for Jeremy, and for Maya.

Finished the Simple Tote sewing project!

First sewing project has been completed out of Lotta Jansdotter's book. Time to start celebrating. For those that are interested , I've included a link to Amazon below. 

Sis-in-law visit!

My sister-in-law Ali is in town for a visit! She flew in from Houston yesterday.

From the airport, we took a leisurely drive on 99 into Ballard.

We had some fun walking through the Sunday Ballard market. We looked at various booths and listened to the musicians.

After making it up one side of the street, we stopped by Harry's Hamburgers for some tasty nom noms.

We headed back down the other side of the street towards the car. I bought some olive bread by The Tall Grass Bakery and a BPA cup at the Monster store.

Craft room is now a guest room!

On Friday after after getting approval from Jeremy, all my cluttered items from my craft room exploded into the living room.

24 hours later, it all went back into the craft room. Less 2 bags of books to go to Half Price books, a few bags of recycling and other garbage.

Set up the old futon frame, and voila! A guest room!

Trip to Mt. Rainier

On Saturday, Jeremy, Joel and I headed to Mt. Rainier to visit our friend Scott. Scott is working as a ranger for the summer.

After he showed us the cabin that he was sharing with his sister, he took us to a point nearby where we could get a really nice photo of Mt. Rainier. We forgot our camera, but I have included a photo of the spot taken with my iPhone 4. Joel, who has a digital SLR went to get a photo and managed to fall and hurt himself.

We took a shuttle to the Nisqually Falls trail and hiked down it. We then took the shuttle up to Paradise, but it was super crowded. We got off the shuttle, hung out for less than 30 minutes, and then headed back down.

After a bottle of Joel's homemade brew, we headed to the Copper Creek Inn for dinner and a slice of fresh blackberry pie.

Stalled out on projects

I stalled out on my tote bag. Issues with the zigzag stitch and tension issues. I went to Quality Vacuum and Sewing last night, and I think I figured out the problem. Now to learn to sew close to the edge to protect the fabric from fraying!

I have a few more items in the queue. I've been washing fabric, and trying to cut things out, to get everything ready to make while Jer is out camping with his cousin Jeff.

Drawing Lab : Lab 2

This is from my second drawing lab, where you draw an animal figure from an image. The drawing instrument never leaves the page, and you never look at what you are drawing. I started off with a giraffe, then an elephant, and finally an image of Gravity.

I doctored the photo of the elephant with eyes and some trunk wrinkles when I was done, I was so pleased with how it looked.

Drawing Lab : Lab 1

I am currently going through a new book that I bought at the Sunday Fremont Market. The book is Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists : 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun! by Carla Sonheim. You can purchase the book from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Lab-Mixed-Media-Artists-Exercises/dp/1592536131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279729095&sr=8-1-spell

Here are some drawings of cats from Lab 1

Cool classes to take in Seattle area

A book making class from the SCBA.
http://www.seattlebookarts.org/classes-and-events/scba

How to make a tote bag.
http://www.stitchesseattle.com/pages/events.html

A drawing class from Carla Sonheim
http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/teaching-update/

Art retreat/classes from Teesha and Tracy Moore
http://teeshaslandofodd.com/1/workshops/workshops.html

My First Sewing Project

I am working on my first project out of Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing" book. I am currently on page 59 and stuck between steps B and C. I keep expecting it the main piece to need to be cut in 2 pieces..

I also think the fabric I chose is too light weight for this project. But, it is my first project.

Back to figuring out what to do.

Update : Finally figured out what to do. The drawn photo makes it hard to understand. I expected to need to cut the main piece, but really, you place it in between the bottom piece, to give the bottom more support.

Sunday

Sunday, while Jeremy was riding around Lake Washington, Gravity and I took a walk around Green Lake. After the walk, we went to the Fremont Market. At the Fremont Market, Gravity and I got our picture taken. I made a quick stop by Theo Chocolates, had a couple of samples, and bought Jeremy a couple of pieces of chocolate.

Urban Craft Uprising Summer 2010

This Saturday I started off by helping my hubby get his kayak on the car. After that, we went to check out our garden in the backyard. The next few moments were not so good. A bug flew into my eye, and then got caught underneath my eyelid. Ouch! It took a good 5 minutes before I could get it out.

I dragged by best friend Maya out to Seattle just after 8 am. We got in line for the Urban Craft Uprising, arriving at 8:45 am for a chance to get one of the highly talked about swag bags. 8:45 am turned out to be a little too early. By 9:30 am however, the line had wrapped around the corner and out of site. If you got there by 10 am, it was probably too late to get a swag bag.

Was it worth it? Standing for two hours? I think the experience was worth doing it once. Would I do it again? Probably not. What you get is kind of a crap shoot. Some of the bags have really cool things, and some of the bags were not so cool. I had one of the better bags. I had a journal, felted hair clips, buttons, scissors, and a lighter. The lighter was from Yarnia. I was confused at what they were trying to promote by having their name on a lighter. It would have been more helpful to come with a card to say what it was used for, if it was for crafting with.

The rest of UCU was fun. It was the same as summer before. My favorite booths included ShellyEtc and glam.spoon. I was a little sad, glam.spoon didn't have the colors I was interested in this time. They had one skirt I was in love with on the sale rack, but it was a smidge too small. :(

There was a new outstanding booth. Bella Designs. She modified jackets and gave them a hoody and other decorations. They were incredible. I tried a few, but they didn't fit my body type so well.

It's always a good time when I get to hang out with Maya and crafts.

I win! I win!

Just found out today that I won a Brooklyn nightlight from Shelly Etc. I am very excited to get it.

http://urbancraftuprising.blogspot.com/2010/06/shellyetc-interview-giveaway.html

I have now used up the rest of my luck for the year. :P

I recently won "Where is PT Stitchy?" contest.

Yay for winning things. A contest from the Plush Team came across my RSS feed the other day. Where is PT Stitchy? The following photos were provided by Zazu Faire.

I searched on Google using the terms "Cactus" and "Red rocks" and came up with a photo almost identical minus PT Stitchy, labeled Huntington Gardens, CA.

My prize was the little yellow leaf brooch, inspired by the trip to the gardens.

4th of July weekend.

This weekend was fun and crazy. The very opposite of peaceful.

I started Saturday off by dropping Gravity at daycare at 7 am. I drove past North Bend to Rattlesnake Mountain trail, and hiked the Ledge trail by myself. It was the same trail I hiked with some friends the previous Saturday, but without a beagle to pull me up it. It took me an hour to get up. I was passed by a big buff guy carrying a cooler and another bundle. I was also passed by a man with a dog. At the top of the trail, I talked to the man with the dog. He was from Slovakia and now lives in the Kent area.

I drove home to get prepped up for Steve and April's Canada Day party. That is always a lot of fun. We were unable to go the previous year. Gravity was busy having seizures, and Jeremy went to hang out with some relatives. This year was no exception. There was badminton and street hockey. Jeremy managed to score a couple of goals in Birkenstocks and a big huge blister on his foot!

Sunday we drove to Heather's mothers place in Stanwood. It was cloudy, misty, and cold. We hid treasure bags for the kids. I hung out inside when I got too cold and had my feet kept warm by Ali the pitbull. She was a super sweet dog that was terrified of fireworks. There was lots of drinking, chatting, and hanging out by the bonfire. I made an attempt to eat a S'more and got it all over my fingers.

Today we hung out for the first part of the morning. I woke up early, but ended up catnapping several times. When we got home, I washed two loads of laundry, cleaned out the cars, washed dishes and weeded a small area of the lawn! Now headed out to play bridge. Busy busy!

I can haz iPhone 4

On Friday, my husband asked me to pick up an HDMI adapter from the Apple store. During my lunch break I popped into Bellevue Square mall to pick one up. I looked at a relatively short line and asked the Apple employee if that was still the preorder iPhone 4 line. He said no, that it was for the leftover phones.

There were about 20 people in line, and the wait was about an hour long. I said, what the heck, and got in line. The wait was more like an hour and a half. The first 10 people disappeared in less than half an hour. Everyone must have gone on their lunch break at the same time, because it slowed to a crawl afterwards.

Day 3 of having an iPhone. I am having a blast with the camera and video features. Friday I took Gravity to Marymoor Park. Yesterday I went to the Redmond Town Center sidewalk sale and Farmer's Market. Today we went hiking with some friends up to Rattlesnake Ridge and then for lunch at the Rogue Brewpub in Issaquah.

Gravity is completely crashed out. Poor little doggie.