Crazy idea #1-3

Crazy idea 1: Started April 9Th 2009 & finished February 1st 2010. This was a serious undertaking for a beginner. Most people would start off with an actual pattern and start off with something tiny like a 5x7 sized project. I jumped off a cliff with this one. The finished size for this embroidery is 14x19. As the months passed on my enthusiasm for completing the project completely faded. I would work on it a little every night while watching a little TV. Then the next week toss it in my ever growing "half done project" basket by the side of my bed and pick it up weeks later. Now that it is finished, I want to start another. What is with that anyway? Embroidery post-partum? Tony started sketching me another scene to start soon. This time I will use 3 strands of floss instead of 6. This hopefully will make the stitches look much tighter and cleaner. I wanted this to hang in Brayden's room to match the quilt I made him. I have not decided on a final hangling place yet. Tony is making me a lovely frame out of Koa that is gluing up( along with belated Christmas projects to his parents). I might need to hang it in a grown up space for a little while first.

Crazy idea 2: A few weeks ago I picked up several yards of fabric at a yard sale that someone was selling at a yard sale. I have been wanting a new quilt for our room for years. I refuse to put back on the pottery barn luau quilt on our bed for another spring and summer. Tony hated the quilt from day 1. So, I ordered this pattern last week and hope to incorporate some of this fun fabric into some of the circles within the pattern. I like the fabric but a little of this color palette and style goes a long way for me. Looking forward to brushing up on my roto cutting skills on this one.




I am off to run to my parents house ( 3.7 miles door to door) to meet up with Tony and Brayden. Hopefully the run will help off-set the upcoming super bowl mega calorie food fest. Plus I seriously need to begin training at some point for the rock n roll 1/2 in June....crazy idea #3.......

catching up....

Winter in San Diego ( obviously taken last week)

Introducing the bike.....It rests at the foot of the bed at bedtime and nap time. Most meals and snacks are consumed on the bike. Lots of favorite shows are also watched on the bike. He can't quite figure out to peddles but he scoots around, runs over feet and marks up with wall with the tire tread with perfection. Originally intended as a Christmas present but not quite done in time. Lot of things trickled over into the new year this year. The new wooden step and chrome fenders still need to be put on but someone won't get off the bike long enough to finish tricking it out.
Very important imaginary phone conversation.

So happy with his three favorites- bike, backpack, and milk.

resolutions...

We started the new year right. I ran from our house to Beacons and Tony and Brayden met me up on the beach. I only like to run 1 way still. The round trip idea is still not for me. Tony is nice enough to cooperate and pick me up. What an amazing day to be at the beach running around low tide.

My new years resolution will be more like a "2010 to do list". I like lists so the likelihood I will try and adhere to the 2010 list seems high. It is only the 2nd so we will see.

1. Run a 1/2 marathon.

2. Buy a house- ( even if it is in a zip code other than 92024 or 92007)
3. Cook 1 new meal a week. I watch enough Martha and own enough cookbooks that this should be a no-brainer.

4. Finish the embroidery for Brayden's room started last April. I am almost there.....90% done.

5. Read more books than I listen to on CD.

6. Use up all 100 of our free stock trades from our brokerage account... Time to be a bull and not a bear and get in the mentality of brown bagging it and buy a share of eBay instead.

Happy New Year

Sneaking in a solo on Aunt Donna's piano.
We celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. This year my aunt Donna and Uncle Lloyd hosted. She opted for keeping things simple and doing only appetizers and desserts. I was the first skeptic of the idea ( since I am sucker for tradition) but it turned out to be very nice. Everyone put a lot of effort into bringing something yummy and fancy. The adults do a pirate type of gift exchange and if you are under 18, the kids get something from every family. Brayden, who still does not grasp the concept of unwrapping gifts, has no idea how lucky he is.

Look! Santa brought me a You Gabba Gabba boom box.

Merry Christmas! We got our tree on December 1st and I was shocked at how well it held up. Brayden was quite enamoured with the tree. The poor tree was pulled, tugged, poked, and shook multiple times a day. See how naked the bottom of the tree looks???

Christmas morning at our house. My mom had to work that day. But she just had to send Grandpa over with some M & M's in her absence. Later on that day we drove up to Foothill Ranch to have dinner at my cousin's.

Chopping logs with his saw from Santa.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and happy New Year. We are very lucky and blessed to have our health and have such wonderful family and friends.

I am very much looking forward to 2010. I think it will be full of opportunity and good times.

Off to go enjoy this amazing day with a run on the beach.....Happy 2010

A christmas campfire

Last night we enjoyed a fun evening with friends watching Christmas movies and making smores at San Elijo campground. Our friends the Hayden's had the clever idea of projecting movies on to their trailer from their movie projector. When they quickly got tired of sitting, letting the kiddos fill up on hot chocolate and smores and let them run loose around the campgrounds. It is no longer a question of if but when we will purchase our own trailer. All the way home I was calculating in my head how much extra side work Tony will need to do and extra loans I will need to fund to work that into our 2010 budget. Practical Sandy eventually came around and realized we need to buy a house first so we can have a place to store it.

Merry Christmas Eve!

A little baking, a little sanding and a lot of cleaning

Our new guest bed. Come and visit. We have added a new queen bed to our upstairs loft. I must admit it is tight quarters up there but the comfy pillow top mattress and fluffy pillows make up for the lack of available floor space. Also, the guest bed is lucky enough to house my treasured peacock bed set from Anthro. It was too "birdy" for our room and for my husband. At least I get to enjoy it when I am on the computer upstairs.
Repurposed project #1- A pot rack picked up at a yard sale and then transformed to a super cool mahogany pot rack.

Repurposed project #2- My treasured jewelery case. Truth be told, Tony originally made this for our booth in Leaping Lotus when we were thinking we were going to sell jewelry. Well we gave our notice at LL last month and there it sat. Tony was nice enough to finish the frame, line it with some burlap and quilt lining and make it heavy and solid enough to withstand any natural disaster. The bamboo frame was originally that yellowish commercial looking bamboo frame and the picture it housed was an airbrushed woody with a Jessica Rabbit looking girl in a bikini print. It was awful.

What can I say, I love it.......It is my favorite addition to our home this year. The picture does not do the case justice. It is quite a showpiece. After 15 years of making jewelry, I can finally say I have a proper place to display my pieces. Don't look to closely, some of my pieces need repair. I could not stand to have them stuffed in a bag under my sink anymore. I have boxes and baskets of beads and findings from countless bead fairs with little to no desire to make anything with them.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon baking cookies and treats for our neighbors. Brayden was very happy to help sprinkle anything he could get his hands on.

Yum! Hopefully everyone if enjoying some nice family time and Christmas cheer this weekend. Go Chargers!

The workshop

Eating some yummy vegetarian chili made by Greta and family at the Encinitas holiday parade.

My 2007 Christmas project- a family advent calendar. A 2009 project is still in development and will likely not be ready until 2010. Over the past few years I have adopted the tradition of buying one lavish Christmas decoration and making one elaborate project per year. Last years purchase was the 12 days of Christmas plates from WS and my project was an apple core Santa. This year I am attempting to make a wreath which requires me to learn to crochet and I have my eye on several fancy holiday goodies to add to our collection.

The elf's workshop filled with incomplete projects.

A sneak peek... Will post the finished projects.

Feeling rather behind this year. My days working from home are filled with nervous phone calls from Realtors and screaming matches with underwriters. Meanwhile our Christmas cards sit unaddressed and unwrapped gifts accumulate under the bed.