around the world

I have been meaning to post, really, truly. I took some pictures of some garden work in late April/early May to add here, but I either managed to delete them or hide them so well I can't find them on my camera. It's totally worth it, so I will re-take the pictures just for you (sarcasm noted). A friend (hi J!) also reminded me so kindly that my 101 Things project is very early coming to an end. Yikes! I am way behind. I shall update my list and determine just how poorly I did on this project.

That said, I do have some new pics to share of a trip I just took to Athens, Santorini and Paros. It would have been an ideal trip had the weather cooperated even just a little bit, but that's the way it goes. You haven't lived until you've shown up on a desert island in a skirt and flip flops only to discover it's 63 degrees out with 40 mph winds. You haven't lived!


Jules and me in front of the Parthenon


Lighthouse in Parikia, Paros


This was going to be our Christmas card except A) the photographer cut off my dad's head and B)it's blurry. You can tell how darn windy it is in this pic! Also, you have not lived a second time until you try to convince Europeans to take your picture just so- right there- no, don't zoom- wait for that person to get out of the spot- did I blink? for the family Christmas card.


Bless the heart of some kind young American guy (married, drat!) who humored us into crouching down and standing on X marks the spot for this pic. We are obsessed with finding a suitable Christmas card pic in my family. Obsessed.


Hadrian's Arch at sunset


The fam, day one. Note that I'm wearing a jacket, jeans and a scarf. I brought two jackets, one pair of jeans, two dresses and two skirts. I wore my jeans every. single. day. No joke. I stand by my Land's End Canvas duds- they held up well!! Also, this was staged as a Christmas card shot, but we are clearly tiny ants in this perspective and that just. won't. do.

So there's my trip in a nutshell. We stayed at an awesome place in Santorini (Anatoli Hotel) and ate lots of yummy food, saw a bunch of ruins, and read a ton of books. I joked during the trip that we could have had the same vacation but $5000 cheaper had we just flown to Southern California (for the climate/landscape), sat by a pool reading and drinking cheap beer while eating take out from a Greek restaurant. My dad found this less than amusing.

all good things

I am so immensely glad it is Friday! This was a very long week at work, plus I completely forgot I had a large assignment due Tuesday and a final today. On top of that, I never got my yard mowed. On the upside, I found my camera! I'm the queen of misplacing things, but about two weeks ago I began to worry that it had been lost. I switch bags for work quite often, and I assumed it was always in the other one. Not so, sadly. Then I began to worry that I left it (or rather, it had gotten stolen) on the bus. Having left it in the garden was also a distinct possibility. Have no fear, I finally found it in my nightstand this week. Why there? I'm sure there was a perfectly good reason for it at the time.

Without a camera, there was nothing really to post. What's a blog without some pictures?  I used my mom's camera to take picture of the 100 Acres at the Indianapolis Museum of Art a few weeks ago, so I'll get those up as soon as I download them, as well as pics of my out-of-control garden. It's a four foot by four foot jungle out there!

Meanwhile, I've been spending a lot of time reading lately.  What I've read:

 Agatha Christie's The Secret Adversary, in a quest to read all of Dame Aggie's books for my 101 Things List. Turns out I'd already read this one, I just never marked it off on my list! It's in the public domain, so I'm sure I read it on Project Gutenberg at (ahem) my last job. It's a Tommy and Tuppence mystery, which are some of my faves. It was still good the second time around!

 Rhoda Janzen, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. I actually grabbed this several months ago at the library on a whim, but never got to read it. Jen Lancaster, she of Jennsylvania and Bitter is the new Black, recommended several summer-reads this summer on her blog. I promptly put ALL of them on my library holds list. Our library has this cool function online where you can pause a hold and then unpause it. I made an attempt at staggering the dozen or so books I put on hold so they wouldn't all come in at the same time. Needless to say, they all came in at the same time.  Fail.

Allison Winn Scotch, Department of Lost & Found. Pretty great, really. I couldn't really put it down!

Claire Zulkey, An Off Year. Super quick read, as in one day to and from work, plus some lounging at home. I wanted a bit more action, or a bit more "finding oneself" but it was still pretty good.

What I've been watching:
 True Blood!!! I just started Season 1 and I love it. I was watching aforementioned show Tuesday night when I realized I had a mega-project due at midnight. Fail.  I also managed to send my Netflix back on Thursday instead of Wednesday, thus delaying my delivery of the start of Season 2, which would have come Saturday had I remembered to add it to my queue. DOUBLE FAIL.  I upgraded Netflix in a last-ditch effort to get Season 2 here this weekend, but I probably won't get it until Tuesday.

PS, if you're not reading Jennsylvania on a weekly basis, drop whatever you are doing and at least read her annual Twilight Saga re-enactment and these Pub Rants videos.

crochet: mission accomplished

I can knock another item off my 101 Things list: learn to crochet.  I took a class at my local yarn store last night and have finally mastered it. Now I can make all of Roxy's adorable amigurumi animals!



We started out with a simple chain stitch, then went into single crochet for the loop end of a potholder. I started out with some Peaches & Creme Gumdrop color, but it was a bit too difficult to see my stitches. I switched to some white instead.  The yarn is leftover from the dishcloth I made from Mason-Dixon Knitting.







I'm only about four rows into it, but I'm definitely "getting it." It took me a long time to master knitting, so I'm not aiming high with crochet.  I think a few dishcloths or potholders will be just fine to start with!

more 101 Things

I thought, since the space-time-blogger-continuum is still open, I'd run down the items that I have finished in my 101 Things List:


October 2008
1. Post on my blog(s) every day for a month- I loved doing this. I should do it more often...it forced me to think of something to write every day instead of every few months.
40. Vote in (and encourage others) to vote in the 2008 elections- Voted early (and often, j/k)
42. See a Broadway/Broadway Across America show- Avenue Q. LOVED IT!
50. Win a contest- I won the Halloween costume contest at work!

November 2008
57. Run a marathon- Eleven months later and I'm still not recovered. This is by far the hardest thing I've done. I'm not sure I've run 26 miles this year and I once ran it in one day! Unbelievable.
80. Get another dog- I'm counting Murphy, even though I gave him a new home, because he showed me what it'd be like with another dog running around. I adopted Nells in March.



December 2008:
7. Find four photos for the dining room frames- Mom did this for me, I'll admit!
15. Buy an original painting or artwork- I still don't have a frame for it. I need to get on that.
90. Go to a wine tasting- New Year's Eve


Spring 2009
8. Make a cork board/bulletin board for the back door- Okay, I bought this. My painted version was not panning out
19. Pay down my termite debt/Get termites taken care of too!- Whoohoo!
33. Buy my mom flowers
72. Paint guest room (again)- Love the color this time!
91. Go bowling- I am so bad at this.
99. Visit Grandpa- A lovely trip to St. Augustine

Summer 2009
53. Go to the Symphony- Happy Hour at the Symphony is such fun
54. Build raised planting beds- This was surprisingly easy and the results were great
55. Plant Way Back garden- even though the dogs pretty much killed everything I planted.
59. One week without candy- three times!
79. Buy a hamper, put clothes in it!
17. Pay down my CC debt- This was easy once I put my mind to it
18. Pay down my Dad debt- HALLELUJAH!!! I even gave Dad something to sign showing I had paid him off.
20. Save in Emergency Savings account $500-$1000
31. Send ten thank-you or birthday cards
41. Go to the movies alone- Saw (500) Days of Summer a few weeks ago and loved it. I may have a crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt now!
63. Join an Intramural sport- just joined Rock Climbing
77. Find, buy, or create a headboard/bedframe
93. Go to the Indiana State Fair
97. Travel to at least three other states (Ohio and Kentucky do not count)- Nevada, Minnesota, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia at last count

 

A year of 101 Things

A year ago I started my 101 Things Project. There were tasks that I thought I would complete immediately, but instead are still not finished. The best (worst?) example of this is #27- Identify 101 Things that make me happy- Wordle form. I started this Day 1, and at Day 365, I am stuck with only 97 things! Surely there are four other things in this world that make me happy? Other completed tasks took me by surprise- I realized several days after attending the State Fair that it was, indeed, #93 on my list.


at the State Fair

Some items are proving more difficult to finish than others- #23 Read 21 books off the Big Read List. I've expanded the list of eligible books to include some other top reading lists, and I've still only read three books! I've started and abandoned an E.M. Forster book and several by the Brontës. I just can't seem to get into any of them. Maybe that is why I am re-reading the Harry Potter series for the umpteenth time... On the other hand, I've exhausted the supply of Agatha Christie books at my local library and now must reserve books from other libraries to complete #48 Finish all/35 Agatha Christie books available through IMCPL. (Originally this was "all" but I changed it to 35. I've read 18 so far this year.)

Some I've finished in ways other than my original intention. #97 Travel to at least three other states was intended to be for vacation travel only. Instead, I traveled to Nevada and Minnesota for work and then Florida for vacation, hitting my total of three other states. Subsequent trips to Tennessee and West Virginia helped finish this item in the way I had hoped. #94 Travel to one foreign country will be completed in a month's time due to a work trip to China, but I meant for this to be a vacation to Cancun, Costa Rica or Europe. I'm still hoping to visit one of those before the end of the 1001 days.


trip to Florida

All in all, I've completed 29 items. If you count up the total number of tasks to finish (ie read five biographies, try ten new restaurants, etc), I am at 21%. Not bad for a bit over a third of the way through the 1001 days!

to do, or, procrastinating just a bit longer

I've been hard at work on my To Do list today, which is to say that I'm not actually doing anything. I feel productive, because look! A list! Of Things To Do! But what am I actually doing? Uploading photos onto Flickr, reading teh internets, and posting to my blog. I think it goes without saying that I am still in my pajamas, too.

Things on the To Do List:
-Clean the entire downstairs. There are actually 11 points detailing this, but it is essentially: the downstairs is a wreck (I have been gone for a week, left in a shambles when I hurriedly packed before my trip)

Okay, that is really all that's on the To Do List. So instead of mopping the floor, I made a Crafting To Do List too!

• Finish Elbac (not pictureD)- I am about 1/3 of the way through, thanks to four hours on a plane last week.
• Work on my Crafting binder (on my 101 Things list)- I've been printing out or copying projects and ideas for a few weeks. I put them in plastic sleeves rescued from the trash bin at work, and an old binder I found in a drawer here. I also need to make a cover for it.
  
• Sew a dress (also on 101 Things)- from a pattern I bought last year at this time. Maybe this year I'll buy the fabric and next spring actually make it! Ha!
  
• Butterfly collage inspired by Ali Edwards and craftster
• Hoop circles inspired by The Purl Bee. I found most of the circles at the thrift store near my house, although they also seem to be VERY inexpensive at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I probably paid about the same price.
  
• Wooden Christmas Tree inspired by the ones in this C&B catalog (although it's not actually IN this catalog, just on the cover?). Red and flocked in the photo, mine will probably be a white/blue/green color, though I would love to try flocking some day.
  

new blog love

I've taken several days off from blogging daily since I finished my 101 Things goal to post daily for the month of October. It was a great exercise, but difficult to come up with something useful every single day, especially as my day job was busy, I was training for my marathon, and was trying to get those baby blankets finished (result: still only ONE done). I'll try to post more often, instead of once every quarter like I was!!

Blogging daily has also forced me to find new and different blogs in an effort to find inspiration and new craft projects. I've realized that a lot of crafty projects by crafty people are created out of necessity- a need for a themed baby blanket, a need for a certain knit hat, a need for a child's costume. I don't have children (Bristow would eat anything I made anyway!), so it's hard for me to craft original projects because there are very few things I need around the house that I can make. Except clothes, but the baby blanket project taught me I'm a crap seamstress (I wrote "crap sewer" first, but thing it looks like soo-er, not so-er. ha!).

I've stumbled upon a few different blogs lately:
One Pearl Button- I think I found her through CraftZine but now I can't find the link
-Sweater Cloche and Gloves- she remakes the cutest things with old sweaters. I want to start knitting and sewing more now!

Zakka Life- I've found this previously a few times, but am loving some of her older projects (or, okay, ALL of her projects). I'm sad we don't have cute Japanese stuff in my town.
-Christmas Star Wreath
-Christmas Card Luminaries, which would be great for using up the hundreds of leftover xmas cards I have from last year's projects
-Vase made out of recycled bottles

Crockpot 365- I've been reading a lot of coupon clipping sites lately, and one of them linked to her. She's gluten-free AND is making a new slow cook recipe every day. Insane! But she has some delicious ones I want to try!!
-Like this Autumn Sausage Rice Casserole. Must have. NOW.

i say goodbye, you say hello

Say goodbye to this little guy! I found him running in traffic last week, but found him a new and loving forever home this weekend.



Bristow was both a huge fan and not a fan of the little guy (whom I referred to as "Lil Dude" or "New Puppy" so as to not get too attached)- he went straight for Bristow's favorites toys and bed when he came inside. On the other hand, they played tug of war for hours!



I'm also marking "get a dog" off my 101 Things list. I seriously considered keeping the little guy, since he just wants to love and cuddle with you- things Bristow is rarely a fan of. But Bristow kept tripping over him every step of the way, and it's not fair to him to have to constantly jump around to avoid stepping on another dog. There was also the issue of not being housebroken, although I'm told that he has no problems with that in his new house. But in the end, I realized that I am not fully ready for another crazy pants dog, especially not a young puppy. And if I do get one, he/she needs to be closer to Bristow's size for more equitable roughhousing!

now i'm a marathoner

Yesterday, I finished my first (and probably only) marathon. It was far and away the hardest thing I've ever done. It was wildly painful and not at all fun. But, I finished and I'm so proud of myself. I definitely wanted to quit before mile 5- that's when I knew it would be a loooong morning. Two weeks ago I had a PR at the Indy Half Marathon, but yesterday was nowhere near record pace. I was feeling it before mile 5, my calves and hips started to hurt before mile 9, and by mile 15 I had blisters in some painful places.

My spirits were buoyed by my family and friends who came out to support me: my sister came home a day early to surprise me; a former running buddy flew home from California to surprise our running group; my co-workers made a sign and cheered me on in Broad Ripple; another running buddy who jogged with us at different points in the race; a friend, her husband and new baby on Meridian Street; another co-worker and his son near Crown Hill; and my mom, dad, and sister at 38th Street.

Now I can mark another item off my 101 Things List. It was my original goal to run a marathon by the time I was 25, but three years ago I had some back injuries and a big weight gain to overcome. Thanks to a lot of miles, several massages, no small amount of anti-inflammatories, ice packs, an AWESOME running group, and two cortisone shots later, I achieved my goal. I certainly was not the fastest out there. I was actually among the slowest, but I finished with a respectable average of a 12-minute-mile.

happy halloween!

I won our office's Halloween costume contest :) I've been doling out finger guns ALL day. Plus, since I won, I get to mark that off my 101 Things list too!

one and done

If you are my real life friend and just had a baby, close your eyes and leave right now! Your husband is bringing you this gift tonight :)
I finally finally finished one of my three in-progress baby quilts. And not even the one I was working on earlier this week. This is a baby quilt I started working on back in September, although I saw the fabric back in March. I based the blanket off of an idea in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts- "Follow the Lines."


I didn't quilt nearly as much as that quilt called for, but I started in the middle by outlining every third or fourth animal, spreading outwards towards the edges. This way there would be no bunching or wrinkled fabric.


The fabric is Alexander Henry 2D Zoo in the blue colorway, and it's for a lucky baby boy! I bought flannel backing from JoAnn's, and regular blue double-fold bias tape for the edges, which I zig-zagged on.


The outline stitching did indeed take forever, but I made double use of my time by watching Season 1 of Mad Men (although the beautiful sets and costumes made it hard to focus on sewing). Last night I watched an episode of Samantha Who, The Daily Show, and two of Colbert Report while finishing and then re-fixing the bias tape.

I'm very proud of this blanket. The sewing might not be the best ever, but I love love love the fabric and hope that his (super cool) parents like it too!

dia de los muertos

I was at the Indianapolis Art Center last week for my running club, and took several pictures of their Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead exhibit. I loved their decorations, including those made by local school children. Then, last night at the Dollar Store, in search of a flag lapel pin for my Halloween costume (which I cannot find ANYWHERE), I found these:

Felt shapes, five for a dollar, in bright colors. It reminded me of this:

I love the bright shapes and different sizes of the felt shapes. Plus, I can use them again for birthdays or come springtime! I'm going to join them with a needle and thread, strung through the tops of all of the shapes, and hung from my stairway.


ETA: The Felt Mouse had a similar idea, and added fabric skull accents too. Too cute!

101 Things Update

An update on my 101 Things list:

100% completed:
#40. Vote in 2008 elections (10/27/08)
#42. See Broadway/musical show (Avenue Q- 10/16/08)

In progress:
#1. Post on my blogs every day for a month (28/31)
#17, 18, 19. Pay down three debts
#5. Make extra cards for my stash (2/20)
#31. Send 10 Thank you cards (1/10)
#22. Put $5 for every task completed (3/101, I went ahead and put my marathon money in while I was at it)
#32. Send special cards to my mom 30 times (1/30)
#34. Freerice.com- (17140/1000000)
#36. Donate 100 things to goodwill (30+/100)

I'm currently working on several thank you cards, but I need more tape, and stamps!! I also started to clean out the closet but it's nowhere near done. My sister MIGHT move back in with me; we'll see, but that will move up some of the painting stuff if I can get her to help. Oh, and my mom picked four pictures for my living room frames one day while she was at my house, so I could technically cross that off my list. But I'm not convinced that those are the four photos I want to keep. I'll be able to mark off some of them soon- like my marathon. T-minus four days!!!

i voted!

I can cross a second thing off my 101 Things List- I voted early! There was a line at the building, but it moved very quickly. So that's it! Next Tuesday I can sit back and relax...and watch the results roll in!

in progress pictures

I figured out bias-tape binding, for the most part. Let me start by saying that making your own bias-tape? SO NOT WORTH IT. Even if it does coordinate with the fabric, it took two hours to make. And it's still not even. Do you know how much it sells for at Jo-Ann? Like two bucks.

I used a tutorial to cut one long continuous strip of bias tape. I'd say it was easier than cutting each strip individually and then trying to sew them all together, but it wasn't easy. I also had problems seeing my lines on the fabric, even with yellow colored pencil (busting out the art supplies!). When it came time to put the tube together, I had to just hope that the lines would line up after I sewed it. They did, but they were just a wee bit off. That made my strips a bit uneven, which I could have fixed but I was not in the mood.

I used the needle-method to fold my bias tape. It's easier if you think of the needle only as a guide- you still need to fold the fabric to the middle, but the needle is there to help hold it while you iron it. I was expecting it to just magically fold my bias tape for me. Sadly, this was not the case.

I still have to sew the bias tape onto the back, but this is roughly what it looks like. Please ignore the dangling threads!

so close

I was so highly productive today...but I didn't quite get everything accomplished. I:
-donated blood (1/8th of my way to a 101 Things goal)
-ran a bajillion errands, including buying two new shirts for work- one a Colts Jersey on clearance at Marshall's for $15! SCORE!)
-picked up a new wooden Christmas tree cutout to paint, since the dog ate my last one
-signed up at postcrossing
-watched Iron Man
-watched Jane Austen Book Club, and now I need to read Pride and Prejudice again
-quilted the top of the pink/brown baby quilt- simple but completed!
-painted the tree's first few coats
-began making bias tape with my new bias tape doomaflager, only to discover it's not very wide and not very straight
-found this tutorial instead and will have to try it tomorrow. How wide should bias tape be??

not much to say today

Notice I am typing and surfing the internets instead of working on my quilts. I started machine quilting the pink quilt I'm working on and blah. I hate the pink thread, but my brown thread has been chewed on by Bristow (Surprise!). I could work on the binding for the blue one or the piecing for the other blue one, but I just have no motivation. I should have just bought them some books instead :) I did finish the wordle cards for some other baby gifts, so at least I finished one thing today. Sigh...I'd much rather curl up under my blanket and watch Iron Man or Mad Men. :)

PR but not Project Runway

That's as in "Personal Record," which I set for myself today by running the Indianapolis Half Marathon in 2:11:56! My previous best time was 2:14:57 in the Philadelphia Distance Run four years ago. I beat my time for the same race last year by six minutes. Last year's race was about 75 degrees and I was boiling. Today was in the low 60s, but warm enough to run in just a tank.

I know that two hours-eleven minutes is not a great time by any means. The marathon winner crossed only about ten minutes after me, and he ran TWICE the distance I did! But I'm very proud today because I've been battling injured feet for several months now, and even though I'm training for a marathon, I can only handle running about twice a week. The rest of my training is in cross training, swimming, weight lifting and sitting on the couch...I mean...okay, sitting on the couch. Not only that, but there is a huge hill at mile 10.8. Last year, I was cruising along at a sub-10 minute mile pace until I hit the hill, and I actually cried, it was so hard. This year, we've run a few training runs up the same hill (it's actually hillS, three biggies in a row) so I felt prepared. It was definitely still difficult, since we were running about two minutes a mile faster than we have been training, but I made it up running, not walking. You could tell who had trained and who hadn't; my running buddy and I were chanting, "We heart hills!" to motivate ourselves, while others walked up the hill shooting us daggers.



So all in all, a great day!

Marathon: t-minus 13 days!

i'm finally catching up

So I just figured out how to edit photos on Flickr- through Picnik, and I spent all day doing it. I'm sure this is old news to, umm, everyone else on teh internets, but I think it's just swell!

I loooved the Lomo and Holga filters (of course!) but as they costed extra, I instead used the boost filter with a vignette over it. Love it!

I'm totally in love with the saturated colors I can add to my photos now- can't wait to print these out for cards or for the hallway or something.