Growing up

My mom just reminded me that I haven't posted since last Thursday, and she says she needs her Creed fix. I'm sorry to report that sickness visited our family last week and resulted in lots of nastiness, which resulted in some lovely moments, like last Sunday when I was sitting with the rest of the Relief Society presidency at the front of the room and Creed threw-up massive amounts and we were both soaked and the lesson was interrupted so people could run for towels and Creed and I slinked out and he had to make the drive home in just his diaper. Oh, and Saturday night when he had to sit pants-less through dinner at a restaurant with friends and family after an unexpected diaper explosion. Then there was this Sunday, when I was again at church on my own with Creed and he had another diaper explosion (should have seen that coming but he'd seemed fine in between) that coated every bit of clothing that he had on and once again we had to leave church early so he could again make the drive home in his diaper. Oh yes, it's been great!

We actually did manage to have some fun. Jess and I discovered the Chocolate Cafe in Upper Arlington.

Kirk and Eva made us some amazing pizza.

I chopped all my hair off and went home to then wonder what I was thinking. Good thing my friend Ruth does wonders. And Creed has grown in leaps and bounds this week. First, amid throwing up on Tuesday, he got his first tooth. And just to prove how grown up he is, he decided to rock on the rocking elephant in his room all on his own.

Then he decided to move on to bigger and better things so he stole my keys.

And went for a ride!

And did I mention that he's already kissing girls?

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

(sorry for being in the way of this clip. I didn't know Elle was filming.)

Matchy Matchy Squared!

Sometimes you can tell that I dressed Creed and sometimes you can tell that he's certainly Larry's child.

Old School Vans with skulls on them

And Matching sock monkey pajamas

Thanks Del, Tina, Matt, Keri, and Jack. Creed loves his gifts!

So many things to do . . .

When I was in elementary school I remember a man visiting our school and telling us about about how he had accomplished everything thing on his list of 100 things he wanted to do in his life. I specifically remember him talking about skydiving and visiting Thailand and being in awe of him. I've thought about that list several times since then, but I've never put together my own. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of these lists this year inspired by the movie Bucket List coming out. I'm still not sure of all the personal achievements that I would put on my list, but I have started thinking about some things that I would love to see on our travels. You may laugh at a few of these, but here's my list so far.

Attend the National Book Festival
Spend Thanksgiving in Plymouth
Visit Holland during tulip season
See Punxatawny Phil on Groundhog’s Day (this year may be our last chance and Larry has to work!)
Visit the Eric Carle Museum
Moonlit tram ride at Sundance
Visit Louisa May Alcott’s home
See The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in Sleepy Hollow
Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach – Tickets on sale now for August’s event
See a movie at the Sundance film festival
Hermitage Museum in Russia
Watch the Haka while in New Zealand
Ride a gondola in Venice
Thrust my hand in La Bocca della Verità, the mouth of truth, in Rome.
Watch the bats come out while visiting Keri, Mat, & Jack in Austin, TX
Tour the Whitehouse
Attend my own book signing (I guess I would need to write a book first)
Eat a cupcake at the Magnolia Bakery
Spend a day in Central Park
Watch a taping of Martha Stewart
Cruise to Alaska
Attend the Dublin Fringe Festival and see all the plays that we can
Visit the Harry Potter Theme Park after it opens
Get burgers and shakes at Hodad's
Spend time in the Guggenheim

I think that we better get started on some of things things because you never know when thing may chance and you won't have the opportunity anymore. For example, I used to want to visit the fairy homes on Monhegan Island, Maine, but now the fairy homes are discouraged due to ecological concerns.

Larry and I aren't very far along in life, and we've been living on a pretty tight budget during his med school days, but we've had the opportunity to do some really amazing things. So far we've:

Climbed Chichen Itza
Hung out in Las Vegas casinos
Watched a Broadway show in New York
Sprayed by the mist of Niagara Falls
Watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (Steph)
Spelunked in Mammoth Caves
Watched the Eiffel Tower light up (Steph)
Explored the Smithsonian Museums in DC
Looked over Chicago from the top of the Sears Tower
Walked around Disneyland Wearing Mickey Ears
Sat in on a taping of David Letterman
Followed Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin's footsteps while exploring the Freedom Trail
Toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water
Smiled at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre (Steph)
Looked at art hand in hand at the Getty Museum
Sang Karaoke and ate sushi in Japan (Steph)
Been totally perplexed during a Canadian Football game in Toronto
Looked down from the CN Tower, the world’s highest observation deck
Held crocodiles in Crococun
Cruised the Caribean and spent Christmas in Jamaica
Debated over Pat’s and Gino's the original cheese steaks and looked at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia
Viewed the Christmas lights at Temple Square
Admired the Golden Gate Bridge
Ate a hot Brown in Louisville
Cheered for the National Championship college football team (Go bucks!)
Looked up at Daibustu in Kamakura, Japan (Steph)
Got knocked over by an elephant in Thailand (Larry)
Went on a two year service mission (Larry)
Shopped at Harrod’s (Steph)
Visited Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and the Bronte sister’s homes (steph)
Walked among the graves at Normandy (Steph)
Gorged ourselves on pumpkin food at the Circleville Pumpkin Show
Seen the Christmas displays on Fifth Avenue in NY
Watched the night show at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Watched surfing competitions and ate Mostumotos shaved Ice on the North Shore of Oahu (Steph)
Spent a few days backpacking in Grandstaircase National Monument (Steph)
Watched Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone
Snorkled in the Grand Turk
Played in the water of Hana, Maui
Rode the crazy roller coasters at Cedar Point
Stayed in an Art deco hotel in Southbeach, Miami
Went fresh-water cave diving in Mexico (Steph)

So what would you put on your list?

Homemade Christmas Project #5, Christmas Cards

I love making my own Christmas cards, but I always feel a little bit of pressure to turn out something cool so people don't look at my cards and think, "Isn't she supposed to be a graphic designer? Hmmmmmm . . ." I was so busy with clients cards this year, I almost forgot about my own, but I love how it turned out. It was a bit labor intensive so thanks Larry and Eva for your help! I couldn't decide on just one picture so I tried to come up with something that could fit a lot of pictures without being too, "Look how awesome my baby is!" so it had a rhinestone brad in the middle which allowed the wheel to turn and you could see these pictures below.

I borrowed the Christmas tree and swirl on the front from some free gift tag downloads from Rhonna Farrer, which you can find here. I just altered them a little bit.

Homemade Christmas Project #4, Cupcake Pincushions

I love the cupcake pincushions that Betz White sells in her Etsy shop. Her blog is one of my favorite craft blogs to check in on so I was really excited to hear that her book was coming out and the Cupcake Pincushion pattern is in it. I headed to my local thrift shop and picked up some wool sweaters to felt and got so excited that I actually ended up starting this project before I got the book so my pincushions turned out a little bit different than her directions.

If your going to felt some old clothing, some pointers that I learned about felting from her book that I didn't read in my online research are:

• The sweaters must be at least 80% wool, and the other 20% must be a natural fiber. One of the sweaters that I tried was 80% wool but the rest of it was synthetic and it did not felt.
• Even some 100% wool sweaters will not felt. Read the care labels and the more specific they are (ie-hand wash, lay flat to dry, or dry clean only) the more likely they will be to felt. Also the finer gauge knit, the better.

I sewed the bottom of the cupcake "paper" instead of gluing it so I didn't have any raw edges so none of the wool actually needed to be felted anyway, and heavy sweater could have worked. The top picture is my first attempt and the bottom picture was my second. I definitely improved over time.

You can get the directions for the cupcakes in Betz's book, Warm Fuzzies. I used directions from her appearance on Martha Stewart to make the "whipped topping". She made really cute teacup pincushions on the show that you might also want to check out.

A Peek into my reality that may scare you a tad!

So Larry and I are slowly working through the house, cleaning things out so the move this summer won't be quite as overwhelming, and I worked on my closet this week. I keep walking in my closet and thinking, "How can I own so much clothing and have absolutely nothing cute to wear!" I'm beginning to think that having a huge walk-in closet might be bad for me because I had some really awful clothing in there that I thought I got rid of ages ago! Yikes! Since our donations are being picked up in the morning, this is my last chance to air some of my dirty laundry (literally!) Proceed with caution and get ready to mock me.

Let us start off with the sparkly sequin purse: What was I thinking?I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that the purse still has a tag on it; on one hand, I wasted money on something I never even used, but on the other, it means I never stepped out of the house with that monstrosity on my arm.

There were also sorts of really awful shoes. Remember these Chels? No, I wasn't holding onto them in case I someday need to dress as a pimp! These were only left in my closet because every time I go to throw them out, Larry says he loves them. This is where you can insert your support that they need to be sent far, far away. Maybe I need to mail them to Steve Madden with a little note that says something like, "Your past is back to haunt you!" No, that would be to cruel, huh? Or maybe I should hold onto them for days I need to get things off of high shelves? Oh, and let's not forget this lovely polyester blouse. At least I can say I just picked this up for my Dolores Umbridge Halloween costume, and now I am happy to release it back into the wild.

All of these beauties and more are waiting on my porch right now, and they could be yours if you make it there before the charity that's picking them up. This could be your lucky day!

Wanna come visit me or go somewhere fun?

Skybus is having some great New Year's deals. You can fly on a lot of their January and February flight for $20 each way. It's killing me that Larry has no time off for the next two months because who doesn't need to go to San Francisco or Seattle for $20?

New Years Eve

We had a really great New Years Eve. Even though Larry worked overnight, he still spent the rest of the day celebrating with us. We spent the afternoon with the Hudsons. Nikki and I went shopping while David and Larry took the kids to play at COSI. Nikki and I had quite the interesting experience and picked up some really cute clothes and The Emperor's Newest Clothes. Then we all met back up to eat at the North Market. Jeni's has some really good flavors right now so you should stop by one of their locations if you get a chance. Larry Loved his Creme Fraiche with Amarena Cherries and I enjoyed my spiceberry ice cream (I guess spiceberry is a local berry described and Appalachian nutmeg. Who knew?) Then later that night the Rice's came over for a relaxed New Year's Eve at our house. We celebrated with Mama Mimi's pizza and sparkling grape juice while we watched Bourne Ultimatum (which I also recommend). It was the perfect opportunity to pull out the wine glasses that we received as a wedding present that have been sitting in a box ever since (Who thought we needed wine glasses?)

Now I'm working on some new goals for the new year. What are your resolutions?

It's a blog eat blog world!

Lately I keep seeing my posts and ideas posted on other blogs, and while I like sharing my ideas, it makes me so sad when people post them as if they're their own and don't refer to their original source. Some people have even copied my exact text. It's happened a lot lately, which makes me wonder how many more instances are out there that I haven't seen.

For instance, remember this post on a piece of artwork that I wanted to try to make a quilt of? Well, lo and behold, one of the Pink Christmas girls did just make a fabric version of it, and she didn't mention that the idea was from me or that it was based on Isa's artwork. Not cool! I suppose it's possible that she also came across the same website, which wasn't even in English for awhile, and she also picked that particular piece out of everything on the site and she also came up with the idea to make a fabric version, and it's a mere coincidence that we share a mutual friend and are both a part of Pink Christmas, but it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it? I almost posted a comment on the Pink Christmas blog, but then I figured nothing good would come of that, would it?

Maybe it's my background in editing, which required me to sit through many a lecture on what constitutes plagiarism, but it really bothers me when people copy me. I feel so discouraged that I haven't even gotten around to posting the rest of my homemade Christmas ideas, but I guess it's not fair to the rest of my lovely readers who would never do such a thing, is it?

PS- Can you tell that I have a headcold and am feeling a little crabby today? Sorry for the rant, but I had to complain to someone!

Pink Christmas

My Pink Christmas gift arrived a few days ago and I haven't had proper time to gush about it. First of all, it was from Jill, the Good Mail Queen, who sent it with plenty of time to arrive by Christmas, but due to some postal mixup, it just arrived a few days ago. I'm always a little sad once Christmas was over so I was glad that my gift was late so I still had something to look forward to, and boy was it worth the wait. It was a cute little suitcase full of stationary designed by Jill herself. There was all sorts of customized cards and labels and even stamps; everything that I need to send good mail to others. The perfect gift that keeps on giving!

Thank you Jill!