Happy (belated) Halloween!

We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween. We LOVE Halloween around these parts, as you might remember from years past. This year was no different!

Elliott and my costumes this year were totally inspired by the cutest Garden Gnome costume I saw over on Ravelry. I thought that was the cutest idea for a toddler costume and despite the fact that I already had two perfectly good costumes at home for him to wear...I couldn't help myself. I kept thinking about what I could do and pretty soon I just had to make it!

My costume was also born from my desire to be something pretty this year. If you notice from costumes from previous years linked to above, I am rarely a girl for Halloween and when I am, I'm not usually a 'girly girl'. So this year I was determined to be pretty :) When I saw that cute garden gnome costume it reminded me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, so I took that and ran with it!

I ended up making myself a simple elastic waistband skirt out of cheap quilting cotton and modified a cheap $4 Joann's t-shirt into the 'bodice'. I cut out the neck, cut off the hems then added elastic to the bottom of my sleeves for a little poof. I also sewed up a quick red cape (also from quilters cotton) using the play cape tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew. I used a yard and a half instead of a yard and got a pretty respectable length cape.

And of course a black Hallowig! This knit up super quick using almost one entire ball of black Patons classic wool. I had planned to have it flip at the bottom like in the pattern photo, but when it grew after washing, I hemmed the bottom instead making a cute little bump. I finished it off with a bit of red ribbon.

Elliott's dwarf costume was crazy simple to put together. He wore a pair of brown cotton pants, an oversized long sleeve green shirt, and a pair of fleece 'boot' slippers as well as a 'belt' that I sewed together from a piece of black 1 inch elastic. (I tried to get him to wear a real belt...but apparently that was very traumatizing and involved lots of tears. Since this is supposed to be a fun holiday, I opted for a more toddler-friendly option ;)

I improvised a beard bib using some 'santa beard' fur fabric from Joann's. I just put right sides together traced the upper part of a bib directly onto the wrong side then made a beard shape at the bottom. I pinned, cut and sewed without messing with anything because this stuff shed like crazy. Once I turned it inside out, I added snaps and presto: a beard that a kid will keep on!

The hat was equally improved and easy. I sewed it together using some knit fabric with a tad of spandex. I measured Elliott's head, subtracted (maybe 3-4 inches) for some negative ease and used the natural tube of the fabric so I only had one seam to sew. I just made a straight tube for about 6-7 inches, then tapered it down to a rounded 'point', sewed the side seam and added a rolled hem. Easy peasy! And the best part? He actually WORE it! This kid hasn't kept a hat on his head for longer than 2 seconds for almost a year!

We had a great time this year and it was so fun to see Elliott start to get into it. He helped me carve pumpkins and really seemed to enjoy wearing his costume to my office potluck and his Gymboree class. All in all a super great Halloween!

Elmo's Baby Quilt and Pillow

**dusts off cobwebs** Well, hello there! Long time no see. We certainly didn’t intend to take such a long blog break, but as usual life happened and we’ve been busy! After all, running after toddlers can really put a dent in your free time ;) But I am super excited about my latest quilting project and I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

As some of you long-time readers my recall, we are actually a threesome. But knitting had to take a sideline for Nasus while she went to law school, took the bar, and became a practicing attorney (Yay, Nasus!). However, we are happy to report that Nasus is expecting her first child, a little girl, this coming October…which of course meant a good excuse for a new quilt!

Last year at the Long Beach Quilt Show, I put together some Japanese import fat quarters from a couple different booths. I fell in love with the cute and charming little prints and knew that I wanted to feature them in a quilt project. I found some nice coordinating red prints to go with the cream character prints. When I got home I put everything away and promptly forgot all about them.

When we first found out that Nasus was pregnant, I immediately started scheming for an appropriate project. I had initially planned to use some of my Riley stash, since it is pretty girly, but when I went digging through everything, I came across the Japanese prints and instantly knew those were the prints for Nasus. I knew the red and cream with be a good fit for this project, since Nasus is a bit on the nontraditional side, like me, when it comes to pink=girl/ blue=boy scale of baby items. Plus, although in my heart I knew she was having a girl, Nasus hadn’t actually found out the gender of the baby when I started this project.

I played around with a stacked coin idea for this quilt, but when Oh, Fransson! re-released her Simple Modern Baby Quilts pattern, the stacked version was perfect for the fabrics I had.

In addition to the Japanese fat quarters, I added the primarily blue print (also a Japanese import) and the red with blue checks print for the binding and some of the red ‘stacks’. The solid is a red Kona solid, I believe in tomato. These additions came from Levine’s during my first ever trip to the L.A. fabric district. (So much fun! I was like a kid in a candy store!)

The piecing of this project was super easy, although I learned that I need to work on my ‘scant ¼ inch seams’. And with the extra bits leftover from the quick piecing method used to make the blocks for the quilt, I decided to make a coordinating pillow.

Now, I know babies don’t use pillows and when I received a similarly sized pillow for my own baby shower, I couldn’t imagine what I would ever use it for…until Elliott got close to a year and loved playing with our pillows. Then it dawned on me that he was physically mature enough that a smooth pillow was no longer a serious suffocation hazard. I put his pillow in his crib and the rest is history! It is now one of this favorite things and he falls asleep every night on his pillow.

I’ve never made a pillow before and thought it would be fun. I more or less winged the pattern, just playing around with my scraps. I also wanted to add a zipper so that the pillow could be washed when the pillow inevitable got blurped on or smeared with godknowswhat. I learned how to put in an invisible zipper and while it certainly isn’t perfect, it really makes it look more professional. B was very impressed ;)

So there you have it…Elmo’s baby quilt and matching pillow. I can’t wait to meet Nasus’ little girl and I hope she enjoys her gifties!

Knitters are awesome!

I mean, we already know this, right? This community that we are a part of is made up of generous, caring people. In the relatively short time I've been knitting, I've witness numerous occasions where knitters have stepped up to help with different causes and people in need. Our community is coming together again now to help with relief efforts in Haiti. In addition to individual groups on Ravelry raising donations, many of your favorite designers are committing to donate proceeds from their pattern sales on to Doctors Without Borders.

This is Sunset Glow, my Simple Things shawlette-in-progress, designed by my friend Mary-Heather Cogar. Mary-Heather is donating 75% of the purchase price of her patterns (including Simple Things) sold between January 15-31 to Doctors Without Borders.

I've been so moved by what Mary-Heather, Marnie, and others are doing that not only have I joined the cause, I want to mention it here in hopes that even more people might join in as well. So if you are so inclined, please check out the Help for Haiti patterns on Ravelry. There's a good chance that you'll find some of the patterns you have queued or favorited on these pages. Not to be an enabler, but I'm just saying- if you're thinking about buying a pattern or two in the near future anyway, if you purchase them now, a good percentage of the cost of the pattern will be donated. :)

At a time when finances are tight for so many of us, I realize it's more difficult than ever to make charitable donations. However, I am so grateful more than ever for what I do have, and I would still like to be able to help others, if even in the smallest way. No pressure of course, but if you feel the same and can afford to do so, please consider buying a pattern or two. This is a way that we can each do something small that, when combined with everyone else's help, will make a big difference.

Remembering Grandma

I have to apologize for the unintended blog silence, I had grand plans for ending the year on a crafty note. I was (am) making almost all of my Christmas presents this year and thought I'd be sneaky by sharing them here as regular FOs as I went along. I then planned to have a nice wrap up post explaining where everything went and with new photos with their recipients. One word can explain how that all went: ugh.

I mentioned briefly in my last post that my grandma was ill over Thanksgiving. Things ended up taking a turn for the worse the week or so before Christmas and she passed away on the 28th. I am going to miss her so much, but I am so thankful that she went peacefully and painlessly. I compiled a few more recent pictures of her here.

Yellow roses were her favorite flowers, so it was fitting we left some for her

She was not only a source of creative inspiration for me, but as a 'maker' herself, she was always so tickled by anything I made her. I think that's why it seems appropriate to share her passing here. This will obviously change the dynamic of the quilt project my mom and I are working on for her, but we know she loved that we took on this project and remembering her while we continue to work on it will be such a pleasure for us both.

Needless to say crafting (and reporting on said crafting) had to take the back burner while we grieved and began the hectic planning necessary to get all of us to Salt Lake City last week for her funeral. Despite the circumstances, it was lovely to spend some time again in a city of which I have only a child's memories. And being in some snow was a nice unexpected bonus (we went from 75 to 80 degree weather to snow and temperatures in the 20s and 30s!).

It would have been nice to spend some more time there, especially given that I actually know a fair number of people in Salt Lake City, both in person and virtually (hi all!). But a short time with family was all that was in the cards this time around.

This also marked Elliott's first plane trip, which he handled most excellently

As for what's next, I have many things to show here and plan to do a couple themed posts given 2009's Christmas gifts were either sewn, embroidered or knit. So stay tuned!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I am slowly but surely making my way through everyone's holiday blog posts. Its been a lot of fun to see what you were all up to and your 2009 retrospectives!

Three Months, One Post

I know posts around here have been few and far between as of late, but between diaper changes, feedings and other demanding duties of a couple new moms, I'm proud that we're still here to say 'hey' now and then. Thank you again to those who still stop in to see what we are up to. I'm still reading what you are up to and I do miss being a part of this community more. So in an effort to bring you up to date on what's been going on around my neck of the woods, I thought I'd share a few photos*.

Our summer was pretty much engulfed by what we are now referring to as 'the flood'. The short version: a woman two floors up broke her toilet and didn't tell anyone. The four units below took on the resulting water (hundreds of gallons, people)...which made our kitchen and bathroom look like a scene out of E.T.:

FOUR weeks later our place looked like this:

Needless to say this was a very stressful summer and it took two and a half months for us to get reimbursed from the insurance company. I still tense up whenever I think about it. But its over now and we don't talk about it much because it still hurts. (They paid me 1/2 the value of my damaged craft books because they were 'used'...despite the fact they could have been sitting on a store shelf...but again, we've moved on. Ugh.)

We also sold my old car (a very 'practical' two-seater Miata ;) and after lots of searching and too many used car salesmen later, ended up with my 'new to me' blue beauty:

Speaking of blue...after my previous musings about wanting some lace, but settling for knitting toys...I lost my toy knitting mojo. BUT, I found my lace mojo in the perfect lace pattern for me right now: Damson (Rav link).

I initially picked out this Moody Blues Cherry Tree Hill from my stash because it was one of the few hanks of sock yarn I had with *nearly* enough yardage. But I have become completely enthralled with the colors. It really is gorgeous yarn and it is showing off the pattern nicely as well. It was a perfect way to start off my vacation at the end of August, which focused heavily on starting a pretty little knitting project just for me and very little on actually going anywhere. (I refuse to call it a 'staycation'.)

Things have also turned a bit upside down in the baby department since Elliott decided to start crawling just after turning 7 months old.

This has been very exciting for us, but also a bit unnerving as we seeing our cramped quarters with a whole new set of eyes. Guys, we have stuff everywhere. So consequently we are in constant baby wrangling mode. Good thing we opted for the 'dirt is good for his immune system' philosophy or else we'd be in big trouble right now! ;)

Elliott is now a little over 8 months old and is really working hard at learning to cruise. He surprises us every day with something new. And generally entertains us to no end.

As for what's up next in the crafting department, I've got several projects mapped out for the next couple months, so hopefully I will have a little more to share here in the coming weeks. I am swimming in inspiration right now.

I daydream pretty much all day long about projects, everything from sewing to knitting to quilting to embroidery. I have plans!! Now the trick is making them a reality! With any luck (and hopefully enough yarn!) I'll be back soon to share a finished Damson.


*This summer, I also started a little photo project of my own. I'm taking a self portrait, a photo of Elliott and a photo of something else each week.

I'm still alive...and knitting!

Though, sadly, I don't have knitting photos to share at this time. I have an FO, but I'm waiting to post about it until it arrives at its destination (it's a gift that seems to be lost in the mail- the horror)! My other project is for a cowl swap with my knitty girls, and as it's to be a surprise, I can't post any WIP pics of that either. Doesn't make for good blogging, I'm afraid. :(

My other big WIP is, of course, this baby I've been growing now for 39+ weeks. Yes, you read that right. The supposed "due date" is June 13th, so I suppose the term "any day now" would be accurate. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! I'm officially on maternity leave now, which means I've been sticking close to home, nesting away, and trying to rest up as much as possible before the baby comes...whenever that is!

I'm terribly behind on my blog reading, despite my time off. I'm slowly catching up, so don't be surprised if you receive mass comments to old blog posts from me in the near future! Thanks for hanging in with us- I know our posts have been sporadic as of late. We do appreciate that you're still reading! :)

Refashioning...of Sorts...

Okay somehow we missed ANOTHER milestone around here...our last post was post 800!!! How crazy is that!

Anyway, one of the things I have always loved to do, but seldom do myself, is refashioning! I love the idea of making something new from something you already have. (I do this almost every year for my Halloween costume). My sister-in-law in France is particularly good at this and the Wardrobe Refashion blog has a ton of ideas. I have grand plans of doing this on a larger scale someday, but I don't have much space around the houseright now to keep the 'supplies' until I'm suitably inspired. (Although, given how practically every shirt I own is now stained from various baby emitting substances and we don't have any money for new clothes right now, I have a feeling you may be seeing some stain hiding refashioning sooner than later!) But in the meantime, I've completed a couple 'refashioning' of sorts projects to spiff up some previously generated projects for new recipients.

First up, I had made the Debbie Bliss Shawl-Collared Jacket from Baby Knits for Beginners as a baby gift for my niece...only at the time we didn't know if she was going to be a niece or a nephew. My sister-in-law offered to mail it back to me so that we could use it for Elliott, since my niece has long since out grown it. My niece had gotten quite a bit of wear out of it. In fact, not only had she worn it...but she had worn the buttons right off of it! I loved these little buttons. They were super cute, but (note to self) plastic novelty buttons may not always hold up to the demands of a toddler. Since its easier to get notions here (rather than in the small town in France where my niece lives), it came back with just one little button still attached. I wish I had taken a picture before I took off the button and the rest of the broken button backs. But after all I am a bad blogger, so no before shot, other than to show you what it looked like on my niece:

By the way, she may actually be the happiest child...EVER!

So my sole refashioning task was to add new buttons. But given that this was one of the first crafty things I did after giving birth, it was a large enough task at the time. I was inspired by the wood buttons Nonnahs had added to the BSJ she knit for Elliott, Pine (here), so I picked out some appropriate wooden buttons for the Grandpa Sweater (as I call it) and came up with this:

Now I am anxiously awaiting for Elliott to be big enough to wear it!

The other little 'refashioning' project I did, was to up the style factor on some burp cloths I made 'en mass' prior to Elliott's arrival. I had a couple unused pink ones that I thought might be perfect for Nonnahs' Bean. I had originally left them without any additionaly decoration, but thought Nonnahs would like a little bright ribbon accent:


So with the help of a long nap time, I was able to sew on a strip of ribbon to both sides of each cloth for a complete 'Shannonizing' of these burp cloths:

You may have noticed the colors in this ribbon are very similar to our blog colors...and that was very intentional. Originally I had planned to use a brown and pink ribbon as an accent, but the ribbon was misplaced the day I went to work on this project, so the ribbon was substituted...and I'm actually much happier with this version. Nonnahs loves bright, happy colors, so I think this color combo suits her more.

And finally, since I can't really post a crafty post without sharing a current photo of my favorite 'project' ever, here's Elliott enjoying his Baby Einstein excer-station-saucer-thing:


He's growing up so fast! He turned 16 weeks yesterday (*gasp*) and I'm amazed at his finger and hand control. (I could literally watch his hands move all day!) He is truely fascinated by the world around him and what his body can do. I've also been back to work for the last 4 weeks, which is still an adjustment, but I think its going as well as it could. Elliott spends his days with daddy (who is a student) and then I take over when I get home late afternoon. Fortunately, I'm only working 4 days a week right now (way to go bad economy! ;) so that's making it a bit easier, despite our painfully reduced income. All in all, I consider us truly blessed and I couldn't ask for anything more. Take care everyone and more projects to come!

6 weeks!

It's been a while since I checked in here. First of all, thank you all for your wonderfully kind words of congrats for our new addition! Life is crazy with a newborn, but we are slowly but surely settling in. Although, I'm sure there will always be a settling process with kids...always the next step or phase.

Mama and her babies

Its hard to believe Elliott is now 6 weeks old! This also means that my leave is 1/2 way over, but I'm not dwelling on that, yet. Elliott is becoming more and more of a little man every day. He can already do so many things he couldn't do just weeks ago. And he now weighs in at a whopping 9 lbs! (He likes his milk! :)

Benjamin Button

I wish I had some crafting to share, but I just haven't been able to manage any yet. It's been a challenge just to get the laundry done sometimes. Instead, you'll have to settle for an action shot of Elliott in one of Nonnahs' FOs: Pine. It was the perfect garment for our now weekly trek to the San Diego Zoo (lots of hills, which are great for mama). And he looked mighty cute...if I do say so myself. ;)

Stretching at the zoo

I hope you are all doing well! I've been able to steal away some blog reading time here and there, but not nearly as much as I would like, so I'm dreadfully behind. But I do look forward to checking in to what you are up to soon! I miss you guys!

Elliott Lloyd...

...was born on Friday February 6th at exactly 9:00pm. He was 6 lbs, 1.5 oz and measured 18.5 inches long. He was healthy and bright and more than either his dad or I could ever imagine.

His labor ended up being a perfect end to a pregnancy full of ups and downs...it was 4.5 hours of some of the most physically intense work of my life.

Elliott at 4 days

He is by far the best thing I/we have ever made.

Perhaps the thing I find the most charming are his little hands...my hands.


Mine have been very good to me. They have allowed me to be creative and expressive and I hope his version of my hands serve him just as fully throughout his life.

Here's also a little video I was able to catch of him this afternoon:

Thank you to everyone for all their kind words of encouragement throughout my pregnancy. This community has been so wonderful in helping us through a very challenging time. You guys are the best! I couldn't have done it without you!

Boleros for Moms and Babies

Thanks everyone for all of your nice comments on my Tilted Duster! I was actually able to wear it out yesterday and I felt so stylish and cute :) And given that I more or less haven't left either a hospital room or our condo for the last 8 weeks, haven't had a hair cut since the beginning of November (those of you with short hair will understand what a big deal this is) and waddle when I walk...I would call that a success! ;)

37 weeks and counting!

As for me and baby, yesterday marked the beginning of our 37th week! This means that he is officially full-term! *big sigh of relief!* This also means that my doctor has released me from bedrest! While I certainly didn't immediately jump up and run a marathon...8 weeks of laying around does a number on your body let me tell you!..I am gradually upping my activity level. B's been able to take me out a little the last couple days...even if it is just for quick trips to the library or store and it feels amazing! I'm slow and exhausted, but I really don't care :)

In the knitting front, I used a good portion of my time at home to complete some long languishing projects and begin a little personal yarn challenge (a post to come on this soon). First up is the Two Tone Shrug from Fitted Knits that I began a year ago December.

Nothing super intriguing to report on this one. Its a simple, pretty basic pattern that I knit on the recommended needle sizes (8s and 5s). Although if I were to do this over again, I would knit the ribbing on larger needles. I was able to block them out for width, but lost some in length, so it lost a bit of its dramatic effect I think.

The yarn is Manos 100% wool with the body knit from a hank and a smidge of the multicolor brown (112) and the ribbing knit in a little over a hank (literally 3 rounds out of the new hank) in chocolate brown (G).

I also knit up a Baby Bolero from One Skein (on size 8 and 9 needles) with about 2/3rds of a hank of Rio de la Plata Lana del Artista, which is a nice handspun combination of Aqua Green, Chinese Violet and Ceylon Yellow (at least according to the label).

This was a special little project because I bought this yarn from the Green Thread knitting store on our way back from our snowboarding trip to Mammoth last March. That week we had decided to start our family and I picked up this cute gender neutral yarn to make a little something for our prospective baby. I fell in love with the colors on the hank and it continued to delight me as I knit the bolero. I added the picture below so that you could see the color range a bit better. However, the natural light we've had lately is making it difficult to capture the yellows and greens, which are brighter in real life.

I guess that's it for me for now. I will be back to talk about by strange yarn compulsion project as soon as its finished...which should be any day now. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!

Tilter Duster - First FO of 2009

When I first became pregnant and realized I would be my biggest in the winter, Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster was one of the first projects I picked out. I loved that it could be a maternity sweater as well as a regular sweater. Plus with our mild San Diego winters, I knew I would have plenty of opportunities to wear an open wool sweater like this.

I ended up starting the sweater at the end of September, but made the majority of the progress since I've been on bedrest. This was also a perfect bedrest knit...at least for me...since I haven't been able to handle anything complicated at all. Because while it may look a little 'different' to knit, it is actually a very simple pattern and very straightforward.

(I swear my sweater isn't tripping on acid...I have no idea why my camera decided to do this, but since I was cheating (by standing up) while taking these photos in the first place...I unfortunately won't be retaking them.)

I knit the sweater on size 8 needles with less than 7 balls of Rowan Magpie in Boggy (690). The yarn was a good basic wool yarn. Although it tended to be a little splitty, which I wasn't expecting. However, it blooms nicely once washed, easy on the hands and blocked wonderfully.

The only thing I modified was the neck line. When I reviewed other finished sweaters in Ravelry, it seemed that most had trouble staying closed where the neck band overlapped in the center. First of all, I knit mine down a needle size (7). I also started my button holes at the one inch mark and only used three buttons. (There are actually two more buttons inside to hold the neck closed, but my modifications meant that the two lowest buttons would end up on top of each other. So, I eliminated the lower hidden button.) I also only knit 4 inches of the collar, since I didn't want mine too high up my neck. Finally, I added a hook and eye closure to the center of the front to help the neck meet nicely in the middle.

Finally, the only other complaint I read about in Ravelry was the tendency for the bottom of the stockinette sides to curl. I figured Norah Gaughan knows what she's doing, so I just made sure I bound off in the direction she recommended and hoped blocking would solve any issues. I wasn't overly concerned because I had already seen at this point how well the Magpie blocked out...and I was right. There is a slight 'tip' to the stockinette portion, but certainly no more than in the publication photos and definitely not enough to bother me.

So I guess bedrest does have its 'perks' ;-) I haven't knit so much in a long, long time! Its not exactly comfortable knitting given that I have to lay propped up and sideways, but because I'm not working on the keyboard all day long, I've been enjoying seeing some knitting progress. Also, as you can see in these photos, I am making good progress on baking this little baby boy of ours. He is currently at 35 weeks and I am off all my medications. I plan to continue to take the rest of my pregnancy easy so that this little guy will be born as close to his due date (February 12th) as possible! Thanks again for everyone's well-wishes. Your support has meant so much to me and my family!

A New Year

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes, everyone! You guys are awesome! So, 39. No discernable difference from 38, really, or any of the mid-30s, for that matter. Although I will say this birthday was worlds better than last- most likely due to all the good (and great) happenings over the past year (let's see how the next one is- yikes).

On the knitting front, I didn't accomplish much in terms of volume or complexity of projects, but I am pleased with what I made. Looking back, I realize that a great majority of my projects were knit as gifts for friends and family and I only knit two things for myself, but I lovelovelove both of them, and it makes me happy that I was able to share my handiwork with some very special people in my life.

2008 FOs, from top left: Greyscale, Luke Hat, Luke Booties, Bunnies
Diana, Grassy Pants, Espresso Soaker, Snailsace
Ruby Red, Oatmeal mittens, Oatmeal sweater, Halekulani Wedding Shawl
Rex, Paprikash, Guri Guri hats, Rex II

On the homefront, 2008 was one of the most life-changing (in a good way) of all my years to date (hmm...I guess that could explain the lack of knitting)! And the best part is, I didn't see any of it coming this time last year. 2008 brought into my life among other things- marriage to the greatest guy I know, the blessing of pregnancy, the hybrid car I've been wanting for years, and a very promising new president! I can hardly wrap my puny brain around all that has happened (and is happening) to me, and to all of us Loopy Girls. Dis is also expecting her first baby (in the near future) and Nasus graduated from law school and passed the bar exam! I am so profoundly grateful I look forward to 2009 and all this year will bring, including of Bean (nickname for the proverbial bun in the oven).

On the extracurricular front, I embarked on the 365 days project on flickr, and it has been such a wonderful experience, better than I ever could have imagined. First and foremost, I'm so happy that I've been able to document so many of the events in my life, both big and small. Who knew, when I started the project, all the exciting events I would soon be documenting- I love that I will have this to look back on for years to come.

A few shots from my 365 set

I've also been learning more, not only about photography, but also about myself. Taking a self portrait on a daily basis can be a daunting task at times. I certainly don't feel like documenting myself every day, but it's really taught me a lot about self-acceptance. And last but certainly not least, as with blogging, I never expected, but am so very pleased about all the connections I've made with other crafty gals who knit, crochet, sew, and embroider. I'm just at the halfway point and I've *met* some of the most supportive, talented, and funny ladies- I truly treasure the new friends I've made there. If you have any desire to explore photography more, or just want a fun way to journal, I recommend giving this a try.

Finally, I rarely make resolutions outside of the standard "eat better, work out more" basics, but I came across this list on Jillian's blog and really, really love it. I will consider these things to do more of in life:

12 Rules to Live By -- Robert Louis Stevenson

1. Make up your mind to be happy, learn to find pleasure in simple things.
2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow.
3. Don't take yourself too seriously; don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others.
4. Don't let criticism worry you. You can't please everybody.
5. Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.
6. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.
7. Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.
8. Hate poisons the soul, so don't carry grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places.
10. Don't hold post-mortems or spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Well, Happy New Year, everyone! As always, thanks for stopping by to see what we're up to and offer your kind words of support and encouragement. We appreciate it so much! Here's wishing you all a wonderful year ahead! xo

Happy Birthday Nonnahs

Please help me in wishing Nonnahs the very Happiest of Birthdays today! She should really be here:

From Nonnahs' 365 day pool - original photo here

But instead she is at work...the first day back from vacation...on a Monday...and our office isn't letting anyone have any days off this week, so yeah...I do believe super happy birthday wishes are in order! We love you!