Celebrate!

One week from today my daughter will no longer be Miss, but Mrs. (!!!) In light of this upcoming celebration, I want to share the celebration you see below. L.O.V.E. I.T.!!! I have posted this before, but in light of this Month of Thanksgiving, I want to repost it, and say that I am thankful for such an incredibly fun and joyful outlook on life! This video always makes me smile! 

Fashionably Late

I am late to the party....but I finally joined in. Lots of beautiful images and a fun place to keep track of things that are inspiring. Click on the icon to find me on Pinterest. I'm just getting started but it's a great way to waste time get inspired and save images of things you want to remember. (Icon also in my sidebar to the right.)



But be careful...it's addicting! 

Thaaaaaat's all folks! I have websites to visit, images to pin and time to waste, important things to do!

Image from pinterest.

The Ongoing Saga of My Quilty Obsession

 Continuing in my current subject of all things quilty, I went on a reconnaissance mission yesterday. I had heard about a quilt shop located fairly close to where I live and when my husband asked me to do a freecycle pickup in that area I couldn't resist stopping to check it out. What a treasure! Loved it!  I was chatting with the nice lady there and telling her I am teaching myself to quilt. I inquired about classes and was intrigued by the long arm quilt classes they offer. Apparently after a one day class I will then be accredited and qualified to use their long arm for $12 an hour. The lady there says that once I'm in practice I could do a queen sized quilt in under three hours. That's a HUGE savings on sending it out to be professionally quilted (something I don't like the idea of anyway...if I'm making a quilt I kind of want to do the whole thing myself. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Only time will tell. I'm a purist and a newbie). It's also a huge savings in frustration of trying to quilt a queen sized quilt on my sewing machine at home. Tying a quilt is fine, but it's not always the look I'll be going for. So. Methinks a long arm class might be a good thing to put on my Christmas list. ;-)

What?

I know it's only August. I'm just thinking ahead.

Maybe once I get my shop happening I'll pop a few quilts in there along with the other things I plan to stock. Hmmm....the wheels are turning.....

I also picked up a copy of Doodle Stitching The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray. I've been eyeing it for ages and found it for a reasonable price that I was willing to pay. Yay for reasonable prices (and 40% off coupons too)!

I'm such a tightwad. In a good way, of course! ;-)

Image credit

Cat In a Quilt

A cat in a quilt. What could be better? I have the cat already. Just need to make the quilt!

I know. If you read my last post you'll know I'm slightly obsessed with quilts right now!


Found the picture here.

There is Great Need for a Sarcasm Font

 

Came across this recently and it made me laugh so I'm posting it here. Who can't use a few extra laughs!

Random Thoughts of the Day

•   More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

•   Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

•   I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

•   The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

•   Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

•   There is a great need for sarcasm font.

•   Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

•   I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

•   Was learning cursive really necessary?

•   Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

•   I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

•   Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

•   How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

•    I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent an aggressive driver from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

•   MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

•   I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

•   I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

•   Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

•   You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

•   There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

•   I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

•   I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

•   Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

•   It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

•  I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

•   Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Hooping it up!

I've been bitten by the hooping bug. A couple of years ago I met Sara, the writer of one of the blogs I love. Her personal blog is here. Recently she was bitten by the bug and has started writing about it. She actually started a new blog dedicated to hooping...read it here. I was getting more and more inspired by hooping...it's great exercise and lots of fun, and very graceful to watch. Well. I'm not graceful, but maybe some day...with practice! I started looking it up on youtube and finding cool videos like this one.

I decided purchase a hula hoop...I wanted one that was adult sized but I couldn't find one anywhere except online, and they were a little pricier than I had imagined. I happened across a comment someone made on some forum or another mentioning making your own hoop, and after searching around I found this site and this one. "Great!" I thought...I just need some irrigation tubing and a coupler. Off I went to Lowe's and Home Depot but I didn't find what I needed: 3/4 to 1 inch tubing an internal coupler. Can this be so difficult to find??? Again I searched around online and came up with this. Obviously, that store is good for you only if you live near where I do.

Funny story...I walked into the Urban Farmer (see the link above) and asked the guy there for 3/4 inch tubing. Before I said anything else he said, "You're making a hula hoop?" I guess he's had some other hoopy (loopy? haha) folks in there before me! He hooked me up and for about $7 I made my own hoop. Perfect!

So! I have my own hoop and practice in my garage. I'm not ready yet for anyone to see me do it though, so you'll have to wait before I post a video! In the meantime, you can watch Sara here. I can only hope to be as good as she is one day!

Photo credit: http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2009/10/19/wendes-happy-hula-hoops

Happy Places

The world can be filled with so much misery and bad news sometimes that I often like to just surf around the internet on a quest for "happy places." This takes many forms but usually I go to blogs I'm familiar with for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I once put a few words into a search engine on one of these quests and came up with some very questionable sites. Very questionable. So. I have learned to be more selective! And careful! My latest quest turned up these gems:

Send some happy mail! Nothing like a real package or letter in the real mailbox! Email is great and stuff, but nothing beats a surprise that can be opened or unwrapped!

Make some summer sangria! This is a yummy fruit drink reminiscent of Spanish sangria, but without the wine. Love the fruit filling the pitcher!

And this...it speaks to me about being happy in one's own skin. Plus it's fun!

Photo credit:
http://www.art.com/products/p15329560-sa-i3697626/jim-dratfield-smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you.htm

This'll put a smile on your face!

Just for fun. Love this! 

Check It Out!

Check out this very cool giveaway! I LOOVE this skirt! I wonder if it's too young for me? .....nah! The whole clothing line is very cute! Modest but not old-ladyish, appropriate for church or for casual or for going out to dinner, and the prices are great! Check out this post for details about the giveaway. The whole blog is a good read too.

Photo credit: 
http://www.downeastbasics.com/

Fun stuff...giveaways and cool things

I have discovered the cutest decor! I'm loving it...check it out here at Lewa's Designs. I think I like the dandelions the best. And the trees. And the birds. And...and...and....

Just in time, I say. I'm decorating my "Studio" and I'm getting so inspired just looking at her pictures! I think her stuff would go very well with the way I'm doing it. Pics to follow. Eventually. When I finish. IF I finish! Haha!

You can also go to that same link and follow the instructions for a very cool and generous giveaway. Very groovy, if you ask me! :-) Thank you to Brittany Hughes of Lewa's Designs! (She's from Arizona, like me! LOL)

Have a great day, ya'all!

(Above image from Lewa's Designs)