My Amazing “Nieces”

Ok so I guess I should start with why I have nieces in parenthesis. Paige and Violet are not technically my nieces, but I love them so much that it practically makes it so!

When I visited California I got to spend some major quality time with the girls. Paige and I immediately got to taking pictures.

The last time I was in town Violet was just a little peanut. She is still a little thing, but now she holds her own head up. I’m not quite as afraid of breaking her.

Just us girls hanging out:)

Violet has this great little chair thing to sit in. She was just relaxing in her chair while her stuffed animal gave her hugs.

One morning Paige introduced me to her very impressive collection of Zoobles. They kind of made me think I a mix between Transformers and Dragon Ball Z. She wanted me to play with her, but I was having a very Peter Pan moment where I couldn’t imagine how to play with the toys. What do Zoobles talk about? So we just set them up instead.

Violet is very talkative in the mornings. Each morning I awoke to her baby musings. If only I knew how to decipher the tales she was telling.

I seriously tried to figure out how I could fit her in my purse so I could take her home with me. I don’t think her mom and dad would have been too happy if I’d succeeded in my plan.

Paige was desperate for me to play outside with her. She was trying her sad puppy face. It was even accompanied by puppy noises. Pretty impressive really, but I didn’t dare tell her:)

Violet was in the cheering section with us at the bar watching the Super Bowl. She had her own set of earplugs and is clearly going to be a football fan because she was a doll. When I got a turn to hold her I put my forward facing camera on so she could see herself. This one here is her first self portrait.

She is just such a happy baby!

These girls are just amazing. I will stop being all “how cute are these kids” now, but come on, really, how cute are these kids?!?! I am so fortunate to have them in my life and I seriously can not wait to see them again. They are a major example of why I miss LA!

Everyday a Photo 2/12-2/18

Another week done. I can’t believe how fast this year is going! This week was crazier than normal because I started a job!! Too bad I didn’t take a picture to document that:)

Sunday 2/12

I was supposed to attend my wonderful friend’s baby shower, but due to horrible bus schedules and the fact that I sort of live in the middle of nowhere I had to miss it. I can’t wait to visit her soon though. Since I needed to be back to start work bright and early Monday morning I took the 6:15 am bus back to Iowa. I watched the sun rise around the skyline as we drove away.

Monday 2/13

A little champagne to celebrate being employed!! Yay paychecks!!

Tuesday 2/14

Valentine’s Day. Alex had a lot of homework so we had a picnic dinner. What I did learn is that something called cheese fudge tastes like cheese. Ewwww.

Wednesday 2/15

The Capitol building on campus. Iowa City was once the capitol of Iowa. They were given the choice between being the Capitol or having the University. They went with the University.

Thursday 2/16

Well it’s official. My car Lola is very unhappy, but I guess she’ll have to get used to it. Now I need to memorize the new plate number. I just memorized my California plate!

Friday 2/17

After work and school we headed to a local bar to celebrate the end of the week. They had green beer in celebration of St. Practice Day. Only in a college town.

Saturday 2/18

As we were driving home from Cedar Rapids we came across this fine establishment. How could we not stop and take a picture?

2 weeks of a Photo a Day

So I decided to go on a spontaneous trip. I found myself a great deal, then made it even greater with a Groupon and set off. So I was distracted and didn’t blog. So here it is, the last 2 weeks.

Sunday 1/29

After a nice weekend in Chicago we headed home bright and early Sunday morning. It’s always nice to be welcomed!

Monday 1/30

It was such a beautiful day out! The sun was shining, it was in the 50s and it was a totally odd weather day for the end of January. So after some urging I seized the opportunity to meet up with my friend and take a nice walk. It felt good to be outside and moving around!

Tuesday 1/31

Alex missed the bus so I drove him to school. I took some crazy way home accidentally and had to make all sorts of turns to avoid the train. I see the tracks all over and occasionally hear the whistle in the night but it is rare to actually come across a train!

Wednesday 2/1

Another missed bus and another morning drop off. I took a different crazy route to avoid the train ( I guess it comes through every morning). I came across this bad boy. Let’s go Hawkeyes!

Thursday 2/2

Today began my adventure. I had to take 2 buses and a train to get to my mom’s house. I got to Union Station and I was so thirsty. I decided that although I am morally against spending over $2 for a bottle of soda I just had to do it. So I choose an Orange Crush. What the machine gave me was a Pineapple Crush. I like pineapple, but this was just awful! Major fail!

Friday 2/3

I made it to LA and successfully surprised Alissa! I also got to surprise Paige and baby Violet. Way too much fun.

Saturday 2/4

My first full day was full of amazing food, fantastic friends and family, and sunshine! I sat soaking in the sun and decided I was never going back to the Midwest:)

Sunday 2/5

Super Bowl! I honestly didn’t care who won, I was just rooting for the the coin toss. I won a free pizza!! We had so much fun eating and drinking. The Bud Light girls even got us to try the new beer.

Monday 2/6

So I had an unexpected car ( thank you Liz and Alissa) and the day to hang around while I waited for Faith to get done with work. So I visited some of my old stomping grounds. This was where it all started, Barnes and Noble in Marina del Rey. It was my first job in LA and where I met some of the most amazing people I will ever come across. The cast of characters is totally different there now, but the memories are still very much intact.

Tuesday 2/7

Staying with Faith is always super fun. She is a great hostess, and any snuggle time I can get with Lyla is a plus. What makes it even better is her closeness to the beach. Living now in the almost exact middle of the country I feel the ocean calling me from way afar. So being only 2 blocks away when I stay with Faith is like magic!

Wednesday 2/8

I decided to take on a project where I get a picture of every place I remember living. So I headed over to Redondo Beach. I parked in front of my old apartment, took a few pictures, and walked the block to the pier. The sun was just setting and everything looked so beautiful. I was rushed with memories of all my time in LA, and really came to the conclusion that I am so lucky for my experience of living there. It also gave me great hope that someday (when I’m safely back to living in a city) I will look back on my time in Iowa and feel the same. It took me a year to like LA, so Iowa has 5 months!

Thursday 2/9

My last night in LA. I took advantage and headed to the beach to hang out and enjoy a sunset. Amazing. I took so many pictures expect a blog just on that soon.

Friday 2/10

Time to head back to Chicago. I was sad to leave, but yet excited to get home to see Alex. I did leave feeling refreshed and revived, which is exactly what I needed. I am just so lucky to know the people that I do there. They are just amazing and I don’t really know what I would do without them.

Saturday 2/11

I stayed a day in Chicago and Josh asked if I would want to go see Star Wars in 3D with him. I am not a huge fan of the new ones (actually I have never seen them). But I knew that Josh was excited since the theater was one I only a few across the country that was doing a whole big thing for it. So I went and we had a blast. We got our faces painted. Yep, we are just that cool.

So that’s it 2 weeks in pictures! I took so many pictures this last week, so expect more soon!

Birthday Party Martha Stewart Style

One of the great things about living in Iowa is that I can sometimes make it home for things like birthday parties. This time I made it for my Uncle Jim and Auntie Mary’s birthday party. Mary and Shawn hosted and their house was amazing. I was desperately wishing that I had brought a larger purse so I could steal every bit of furniture and decor! The party started with immediate offering of some white Sangria. Man was it delicious.

My mom brought an appetizer. I love port wine cheese! Mary also had yummy salsa and the most amazing popcorn ever!

This is where the Martha Stewart comes in. The theme was BBQ in winter. The silverware was all rolled up in adorable picnic napkins and a party decoration wrapped up with twine.

Alex and Josh were trying to help, but we decided they were better off just standing around looking handsome.

The tablescape was just adorable. There were wire baskets at each setting and real sunflowers in a metal bucket. It really was a glimpse of summer!

The dogs of the house were just the cutest. The boys were quite taken by them.

Honestly with their cute little faces I think everyone was taken by them.

Then it was time to sit down and eat.

On the menu was ribs, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, beans, and rolls. And for dessert a Portillos chocolate cake.

Alex was pretty happy with the feast.

It was such a fun night of family, friends, food, games, and dogs!

We played games and I realized I am Monica from Friends. I have an irrational desire to win. We totally lost, but my team did do pretty awesome, the other team just did better:) It was a great night and I am so thankful or being invited, and so thankful for having an Uncle Jim and an Auntie Mary to celebrate!

Tags: birthday party, Picnic table, ribs

Week 4 of Picture A Day

Sunday January 22nd

Sunday was a sports fans dream.  Alex’s Penguins were on in the morning and then there were two football games on.  The Penguins won, but the football games were less happy ending.  But it was still fun to watch with friends and yummy food.

Monday January 23rd

Happy Lunar New Year!  To celebrate we went to the local Hy-Vee for their all you can eat Chinese buffet.  We went with a few friends and went right before they were closing shop.  Being poor I brought some Tupperware.  We only took what we couldn’t finish (I’m not that cheap!) but it was great because Alex had lunch for the next day.

Tuesday January 24th

I was out and about running errands.  I have noticed that there are statues all over Iowa City in random places.  This is in the parking lot of a motel and restaurant.  I think I may need to do some research and find out more.

Wednesday January 25th

I have been scrapbooking for quite a few years now.  My goal is to have a scrapbook for every year.  I am such a pack rat so it is nice for me to have a place to put all my napkins and ticket stubs.  Plus it is relaxing.  However it is really time consuming.  I can sit down for 3 hours a night and only have done 3-4 pages.  So 2008 took me forever.  It was a busy year so I had something like 50 events to scrapbook, and each event needed at least 2 pages.  I started 2008 two years ago, and on Wednesday I finally finished!  I am so happy with the result. It is so big that it overfills 3 scrapbooks. I have already started collecting the pictures for 2009.  My goal is to be caught up by the end of the year.

Thursday January 26th

I got snow boots!!  When Alex and I went sledding I wore my rain boots.  Although they are the cutest thing ever they are not designed to keep your feet warm.  So I decided that I better start looking.  I got so lucky and found these cute ones at JCPenny for practically nothing! I will be happy to keep them in the closet until next year however.

Friday January 27th

Alex and I headed to Chicago for the weekend.  Unfortunately we were not able to leave until later in the evening.  The drive from Iowa to Chicago is really boring, and even worse at night.  This is really what it looks like.  It is especially boring when your passenger falls asleep:)

Saturday January 28th

Saturday evening was party night.  We were celebrating my Uncle Jim and Auntie Mary’s birthdays!  Great fun, food, family, and friends.  Look out for a whole entry on the party.

 

This coming week has potential to be a good one.  Cross your fingers for me!

 

Tags: birthday party, football, hockey, scrapbook, statue

Paint Chips Are My New Best Friend

I have mentioned before my love of paint chips.  I think there are several reasons that I love them so, and I think I will count the ways!  1.They are so colorful.  I want to just put them on a chain and wear them around my neck.  I am a color junkie.  2. They are a reason and excuse for me to go into a hardware store.  I love the smell, the excitement of all the possibilities, and the size of a hardware store.  It’s a similar thrill to walking into a craft store, or Ikea.  3.There are so many things you can do with them.  You can spend a whole day listing all the uses for a paint chip. And finally 4. They are freeeeeeeeeeee! I  enjoy the thrill of feeling like I am doing something bad, when really no one cares that I am taking 10 chips of Moonlit Pool.  Since I took so many on my last trip to Menards I decided I better come up with some good uses for them.  And since I am low on funds I wanted to use them for useful things as well.  I think I did a pretty good job, and I still have a ton left, so I anticipate being able to add on to my list.

This is a repeat picture from my Photo a Day post, but I just wanted to show a reminder of my haul.  I’m still pretty impressed with it.

 

These are little pocket notebooks.  Alex had mentioned that he could really use a little notebook that he could keep in his pocket, and I though I could use one for my purse.  These were so easy to make that I made like 10 of them in different sizes and colors.  I love it because now I have a notebook everywhere I could need one.  My favorite one is next to my bed, I seem to have the best ideas as I fall asleep and I am terrible at remembering them in the morning, and I can never find paper in my sleepy haze.  All I did to make these was pick a paint sample and fold it like a matchbook.  I cut some computer paper to fit inside and stapled the bottom of the “matchbook” part.  Then the top just folds in and you are good to go.  There are so many things you could do with this basic idea.  I was even thinking you could write a letter in it and send it like a postcard.  Wouldn’t that be super fun to receive in the mail?

 

I had a few occasions this week where I needed a greeting card.  I had some left over cardstock from my holiday cards so I figured I would put them to good use.  I love banners in general, and with both occasions that I needed to make a card for it really worked.  I measured my card stock and figured out how large my banner pieces could be.  I picked my favorite colors and cut them out of that.  I saved all the scraps for another project to be determined later. I found the easiest way was to glue the pieces down first and then string the string underneath it.  I just used some thread I had laying around.  I used a hot glue gun to give some depth rather than Elmers which would have made the pieces flush with the paper.  Then I just used a black marker to write out my greeting.  I was pleased with the outcome and at least one of the recipients was very impressed (the second one is in the mail!)

 

I was scanning Pinterest, as I do everyday, and saw cute garland made from paint chips.  Since I do not have very many Valentine’s Day decorations I thought this was an excellent next project.  It ended up taking me 3 nights to complete but I think it was worth it. I’m not sure though if my sore fingers agree.  I hand cut out about 400 hearts.  I used every color that I have at least once.  I had wanted to get a heart shaped punch so that all I would have to do is punch the hearts out and they would all be uniform.  I am too cheap so I figured I would do it by hand.  I would suggest getting the punch.  I do enjoy that my hearts are different sizes, but it would have saved so much time and finger soreness just to punch.  I wanted my hearts to be double sided so that no matter how I hung them there would be no bad side.  Another reason a punch would have been nice.  The second night I hot glued all the hearts together.  Since I had hand cut them some were not perfect so I had to do trimming as well.  My hands hated me.  But finally I had all the hearts glued and ready for assembly.

 

I decided to make a garland for my fireplace first I just used needle and thread and strung them one by one.  I only focused on the colors on one side, since my hearts are a different color on each side.  I didn’t tie a know or anything in between each heart because they are so sturdy that they don’t move around unless you purposely move them.  Once I had a long enough string I hung them up right away.  I am so pleased with the color and cheer that they bring to our living room.

 

I still had a TON of hearts left over so I wanted to make something for our front door.  We live in an apartment building so the hallways are so boring and sterile.  Anytime I can brighten something up , I am on the job.  I thought about making  a wreath, but I liked the idea of something that flowed.  So I strung my hearts vertically instead of horizontally.  I made 4 different lengths and kept the 2 smaller ones pink and red only.  They do still have other colors on the back so as the swing they change, but if I set them right they are all in that color group.  I just taped them each to the top of my door and left the bottoms free so they can move around.  We do have to be careful not to get them caught in the door when we close it, but it makes me so happy every time I see it that the bother is totally worth it.

 

That is all I have done so far, but I am pleased with my attention to one medium.  Please share if you have any other ideas of what I can make out of my paint chips galore, and I do promise that I will post again with new paint chip crafts in the future!

Tags: craft store, paint chip, paint chips

Week 3 of Me

Sunday 1/15

Sunday night I spent the evening watching the Packers lose and cutting out hearts for a project. Alex wanted to open the champagne we had gotten at Christmas and since we had the excuse of celebrating the Packers loss we popped the bubbly. Upon taking his first sip Alex declared “ahhh, tastes like Aaron Rodger’s tears.” I think that’s the most romantic thing he has ever said!

Monday 1/16

Monday was MLK Day and the last day before school started. Our pal Christina hosted people to hang out and make fresh Spring Rolls. They were super tasty as was all the things she made. She was such a great hostess, and it was fun to have a chance to catch up with everyone.

Tuesday 1/17

Christina had gone home to California for break and had kindly asked if there was anything we would like her to bring us back. I requested an avocado since the ones here just don’t taste as good. She delivered and Alex and I enjoyed every last bit!

Wednesday 1/18

Today was a tough day because it marked 10 years since my dad passed away. I don’t usually publicize stuff like that but I posted online and my friends gave me exactly what I needed, love and support. My mom also provided, she sent Alex and I gyros and other greasy bad for us food. But it made my tummy smile.

Thursday 1/19

My New Years Resolution was to volunteer. So this week I started volunteering for Elder Services. I have been matched with a woman that has trouble getting out of the house, so I do her grocery shopping and visit. I went to the local Hy-Vee and was greeted by a wall of citrus! It was so tall and massive. I was very impressed and later went back to purchase some citrus of my own!

Friday 1/20

Alex and I were super surprised by a delivery of delicious meats from Omaha Steaks! The meat was delivered in a cooler with dry ice. We are thrilled to come up with recipes to cook the meats, but we were way too entertained by the dry ice. We played with it in cups, the sink, even our wine for way too long:)

Saturday 1/21

In Alex’s course he is a part of a cohort. His cohort is the first years and there are second years, third years, and so forth. The second years wanted to take out the first years so they organized a trip to Cedar Rapids to watch the Roughriders hockey team. Alex and I have actually been several times before, but it was a lot of fun to go with a big group. I forgot my phone, I was so bummed because I was going to do a whole post on the hockey experience, but I did have my Polaroid. I snapped a few fun shot of us celebrating one of the many goals scored. The Roughriders won!

Tags: Picture a day

Oh What Fun It Is To Ride

Alex’s first try at sledding was a success!

 

The hill we found wasn’t too steep, but once we had created a path it did get a bit fast, hence the frightened look on my face.

 

This was Alex’s first trip down.

I can’t remember the last time I went sledding.  It was so fun to just scream and act like a kid.

We rode tandem, I only got one picture.

 

Although I was not pleased with the snow I did enjoy our sledding adventure, and was happy Alex did too.  Now I just need some proper snow pants so my bottom doesn’t freeze.  We have a third sled, so anyone that wants to visit…

Tags: sledding

Another Week in the Life of Me

This week was different than most.  We agreed to dog sit for some friends and stayed at their house for the week.  It was fun to have a great big TV and use Netflix watch instantly.  I finally got to see what everyone was talking about with Portlandia.  We also got to hang out with cuddle monster Stubbs.  It was a pretty good week.

 

Sunday 1/8

While I was home around the holidays I went to Home Depot with my friend Kelly to get some crafting items.  While she was asking the paint lady some questions I was busy stuffing as many paint chips as I could into my purse.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but come on, they are free pretty colored paper!  Unfortunately that day I had a small purse.  So I decided on Sunday to head to my local Menards and raid their stock.  This was my haul, I brought a much larger purse for the occasion.  I have so many ideas of what to do with these.  I’ll share when I have some done!

Monday 1/9

This was our first day with Stubbs.  He is the cutest and most cuddly thing I have had the pleasure to hang out with in quite some time.

Tuesday 1/10

I know what you’re thinking. Another picture of the dog?  But really he is just the cutest and I was having the best time taking pictures of him.  This is his sleepy face.

Wednesday 1/11

The weather this year has been wacky.  So much so that it actually had me a bit worried.  I realize that it has been quite some time since I experienced a midwest winter, but I really don’t recall to many 55 degree days in January growing up.  The sun was so bright and strong that I actually drove around with my window rolled down to enjoy what I knew would be the last nice day for at least a couple of days.

Thursday 1/12

As I spoke about at length in my last post it snowed.  I was cold and not to happy.  But I did have a reason to wear the new infinity scarf that I had just knitted myself.  It was so warm and nice, I do believe that my collection will continue to grow.  I just hope the collection of snow does not.

Friday 1/13

Friday the 13th!  I was super excited to stay in for the evening because my brother was on the radio!  Alex and I tuned in to fusion radio to listen to Josh’s guest spot on a radio show.  He was asked to come in and talk about movies of 2011 and 2012.  He did so amazing!  He is such a good conversationalist, especially when it comes to movies.  He was a natural.  The crap music that the show played in between the talking hurt my brain, but it was totally worth it to support Josh, I just now know that I am becoming old.

Saturday 1/14

I had given Alex 3 sleds for Christmas.  He had never been sledding before, so I was psyched to give him the tools to change that.  Since we got snow we figured we might as well go take them for a spin.  We looked like dorks in our terrible snow outfits.  There is a trip to the store to get proper gear somewhere in our future.  But for the time being we layered up and headed to a hill that we found while driving around.  It was a pretty good size for a beginner.  It was so much fun!  It was fun to see Alex get to experience something that is so much a part of my childhood.  And it was fun for me to put my stress and worries aside and just laugh and scream and we careened down the hill.  It made the snow a little more tolerable. I took a ton of pictures, so perhaps I will put some more up soon!

Tags: home depot, menards, paint chips

Let It Snow or Why I Want To Move Back To California

The snow started around midnight last night. Alex was super excited and I was not at all.

I anxiously kept looking out the window. I knew at my last look before bed that we were in for it. Not really in for it, but I have been living in California for the last 8 years in for it!

Alex patiently waited until this morning to check out the snow. He was so excited! He has seen snow before but never lived where it happens. I was not excited at all. I soo didn’t want to drive in it, walk in it, anything in it.

I had a meeting this morning so I had to drive right away. The roads were awful and the first time I slid I started crying! The wind was whipping and it looked like a fog machine was blowing across the road. During my freak out time in the roads I realized that I have had more years as a driver not in the snow than in it. I also realized I wanted to move back to LA. Who wants to send me a ticket?

My meeting ended quickly and I didn’t want to head right home so I decided to go to downtown and walk around.

I made it around the block before I decided the -11 degree windchill was no joke and I was dying! I also realized I don’t own snow boots. My cute Target knee high boots just weren’t cutting it.

I decided to use my Groupon and ducked into Quintons for lunch. All I really wanted to do was hunker down and get cozy, have some beers and live forever in the bar. But instead I ordered and headed home to Stubbs.

I got kinda bored laying around, so I downloaded a new photo booth app. LOVE it!

I was totally worried that Stubbs would not enjoy the snow. He was brave and did what he needed to do, but the pics of him running at me is him telling me it was time to go. He was ready for cuddle time.

I am happy this snow day is over. We were planning on trying sledding tomorrow to see if this snow had any redeeming qualities, but according to the news tomorrow has been cancelled. I guess we will go Saturday!

Tags: Snow