4 Year Anniversary!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. CJ took a vacation week and was home all week, and when he's home, I tend to want to spend time with him...so I was barely on the computer at all. The reason CJ took vacation was that Thursday, June 10th was our 4 year anniversary! Wow...I've been a married woman for 4 years! Can you believe it? At the risk of sounding cliche`... It feels like it was just yesterday!

We didn't "go" anywhere (as in...go out of town), but we relaxed at home and spread the fun out over the week. We went to the local drive in theater TWICE...once Wednesday night and once Friday night. I love the drive-in. Two movies for the price of one, we get to bring in our own snacks (but the snack bar is pretty reasonable!) and we get to bring the dog! We saw Prince of Persia" and "Iron Man 2" on Wednesday, and "Marmaduke" and Shrek Forever After" on Friday. The first movie last night made me want to hug my dog, the second movie made me want to hug (and kiss!) my husband!

On Thursday we went out to dinner at Applebee's...because I LOVE Applebee's! Give me their Oriental Chicken Wrap with the Triple Chocolate Meltdown for dessert and I'm a happy girl!

Mmmmmmm...Triple Chocolate Meltdown... (ie: Lava Cake!)...

"Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts" and Sock Dogs

I heard about "Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts" book via the Craft: blog, and actually entered the giveaway they were having for the book (which I sadly did not win). I was ecstatic this week to find that my local library had it in their "new books" section! Can I just say right now... I WANT THIS BOOK FOR MY BIRTHDAY! (June 21st...hint hint!)

Oh Martha, you truly have sucked me in. I just can't escape your crafty grasp.
You know my favorite part about this book?...

...the SOCK DOGS!!!

The dachshund is my favorite (of course!)

It's such a simple project. You know I just HAD to make one!

It took me less time than when I typically make my monsters because I didn't have to come up with a design since the design was already there for me. Making it Martha's way involved more hand sewing, but it was okay. And of course, I don't think I made mine exactly like the books says. (what can I say...I'm a rebel!) I made this one from a pair of socks my mom recently gave me because they had a hole in the heel.

Not bad huh?

I liked making this one and want to make more! My monsters are all going to have pets soon!

You know I'm going to have to make a Luna sock dog soon!

Stripey Sock Monster

My in-laws and nieces are coming to visit this weekend and I've been cleaning all day (I get weird about wanting the house to be perfect when people are coming over). But I'm making myself take a break, and during this break, I'm going to post pictures of another monster...

This one is related to the last Zipper Mouthed monster because it's made from the same sock that served as the stripey belly of the Zipper Mouth monster.
(I liked these socks. They were toesocks. I was kind of sad when one of them got a hole in it, but at the same time, I was kind of happy I had an excuse to make monsters out of them!)

I think it'd be interesting if I took on some sort of challenge where I had a "chain" of monsters, where each monster was related to the previous one due to using some of the same fabric...because it seems like the last 3 monsters I've posted have been related. I'm not sure if I'll really do it, but it's a fun idea

If I went with the "chain" challenge, I would have to incorporate this pink, fuzzy sock fabric into the next monster.

Another Zipper Pocket Mouth Monster!

Remember that work in progress post awhile ago? It's finished!

Well, it's been finished for awhile, but I just got around to photographing a bunch of new monsters today. Life's been busy lately...which tends to happen when the weather gets nicer.

You may look at this and think "hey, that's not new! I've seen that monster before!" Nope. You'd be thinking of this monster. This one is similar, but not the same. It's made from the other pocket from the same vest. So it's kind of a long lost twin sibling.

And of course, his/her mouth opens! (Boy or girl? What do you think?)

Pets on the Porch

My pets love the porch. I think it's because it's the next best thing to being outside. Terra especially likes it because we decided to keep her inside cat for her own safety (being right on a busy road), but her natural instinct makes her want to go outside so bad! (and we always want what we cannot have!) With the weather being nice lately, we keep the front door open and spend a lot more time out there.

One of these days, I saw Terra stretched out on the floor and I decided to take some pictures of her.

But then of course, jealous doggy Luna had to butt in for some attention.

Terra got annoyed and relocated to the rocking chair.

One of her other favorite places is the sock monkey pet bed my mom bought for us, since she knows how much I love sock monkeys. Mom bought it originally for Luna to use, but Luna is slightly too big for it (Plus, when we first brought it home, Luna thought it was a stuffed toy she could play with, and she tends to destroy stuffed toys with her rigorous play.)

But, seeing the cat sleep in it must have given her a clue, because I found her like this one day! Mom says it looks like she's tackled the sock monkey from the Kia car commercial.

Mother-Daughter Outing Photos

Mother-Daughter Silhouettes Comparison

Mom in 1972.

Me in 1983

Mom (right) and me (left) in 2010.

"Great Strides" CF Walk

This is my brother, Adam, and his girlfriend, Nicole...

They are both participating in Great Strides, a fundraiser walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, today in NYC. I'm not usually "into" these kinds of fundraisers, but this disease effects my family on more than just one front. Nicole was diagnosed with CF at a young age. And a few years ago my husband and I found out that he has the CF gene (although he does not have the disease itself, the gene plays a part in the fact we cannot have children).

"Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF."

I love Nicole. She is a sweet girl, she makes my brother very happy, and I'd like to see her be able to stick around for a long time. Adam and Nicole are so close to their team's $5000 goal. If you can, go donate online to sponser them in their walk today! The walk is today, but there is still time to donate! (I just feel bad I didn't blog about it sooner!) You don't even have to donate a lot. If you can't afford to give $100 or $50... $20, $10, or just $5 can still help. When enough people donate a little bit, it can go a long way!

***UPDATE***

They surpassed their goal! They raised $5210 as of 10am yesterday! Plus, the company Nicole works for pledged to match whatever they raised, up to $5000...so they ended up raising $10,210 total! If you still feel the urge to donate, though, they will still be taking donations until June 30th.

Lilac Festival 2010

I went to the Rochester Lilac Festival with my mom this morning. It's a tradition for us. We try to go every year. We went early today to try to beat the crowds (and the rain that was supposed to come in the afternoon).

The craft show was fun. Mom and I have certain vendors that we go to every year. Today I wanted to get another dress from a clothing company called Blue Gecko (I bought one last weekend when I went to the festival with my friends from church). I wish I'd taken some pictures of the booth and clothing, but I was too busy shopping for a dress. After I bought my dress, Mom ended up buying the same dress I did (Aww! Mother-Daughter matchy matchy-ness!)

Mom and I were also planning on going to the booth of Scentastics, an essential oil vendor we buy from every year. But we were disappointed to find that they weren't there this year! We can order from them online but Mom and I said today "you can't smell over the internet!"... and smelling the oils is half the fun! Our going theory is that the festival was scheduled later in the month than usual (at least one of the weekends usually falls on Mother's Day weekend), so the vendor couldn't make it (they're from Vermont). I took the picture below to help me remember what oils I already have!

We stopped at the Turkish Culture Center booth and Mom had some Turkish coffee... (I passed. I don't drink coffee.)

Turkish coffee is made by boiling very finely ground coffee and sugar...

Then when it is served, the grounds settle to the bottom of the cup.

We also each had our silhouettes hand-cut. The artist offered to do them as a demonstration, with no obligation for us to buy them...but they were so gorgeous that Mom bought them for me. She has 2 hand-cut silhouettes in her house, one of her in the late 70's and one of me in 1985 when I was 3 years old. And she thought it would be cool for me to have this to hang in my own house.

Can you tell which is me and which is my mom? How can you tell?

Emily's Nubbin

I hung out with my 11-year-old friend Emily last night while her dad and my husband were at a men's Bible Study. She had a specific activity she wanted us to do last night...she wanted me to teach her how to make a Nubbin.

Good Fortunes...

I have a thing for saving the fortunes out of fortune cookies. I have a bunch that I want to put in a scrapbook. Here are a couple of my favorites...

Zipper Mouth in Progress...

A new monster in the works...