stupid technology

I decided to update the blog and in doing so lost all of my stalkees. SO not worth it.

I went hiking.

This deserves its own blog post because it's a real rarity. I think I have been on, like, 2 voluntary hikes in my life. I have actually been on 6-ish total (4 of those were for girls camp certification, so it really doesn't count because I was forced to go to certify--sneaky church).

Anyway, we went hiking Saturday at Stewart Falls. Here is the proof:

 nature!

He's so dang cute.

This was the only one where Oliver was looking...

So there you go. I'm a hiker!

Oh, this picture has nothing to do with the hike, but it's pretty precious, so I had to include it:

 (Sean's intramural game)

crafty mccrafterson

When we lived in Texas, I spent nearly every, waking moment at my sister's apartment (she lived approximately 20 seconds from my front door). One afternoon we impulsively decided to make a quilt. Here was the problem: I didn't own a sewing machine (well, I actually had owned one, but decided to return it behind my mother's back for store credit--don't worry she knows now and I have gone through the stages of grief and remorse (even though, bless my mom's heart, she just laughed at me and said, "How does it feel to have spent that money on a machine when I had already bought you one?")--and at the time (3 years ago) I never saw myself as a sewer). Anyway, Kristi and I went out and I bought me a sewing machine with all the 'fixins--rotary cutter (FYI: my little brother cut off the tip of his finger with a rotary cutter--use with caution!), self-healing board, ruler, fabric pencil, trimmings--you name it, I bought it. Kristi is fantastic with a machine and is a great teacher, despite my many breakdowns and frequent excuses to quit sewing for EVER. 

Phew. Long story short, I made this:

Sweet, huh? Holla! 

So, this is a gift for our good friends, Kristen and Riley, who are due to have a little girl any day. If you go to etsy or baby boutiques these sell anywhere from $50 and up (I'm not even joking a little bit--I have never seen one under that). I knew I could make one for a fraction of the price. I read 3 or 4 different tutorials online and pretty much winged it from there. I seriously could not be happier with how it turned out. There were some trial-and-error moments, but my stupid quilt prepared me for that (and by stupid I mean frustrating from time to time, but pretty and exciting). None of the tutorials I read explained how to add the ric rac, but I think I pretty much mastered it after a few trial runs.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of it!

(you better believe I sewed those buttons by hand)

(Don't mind the sweatshop in the back)

(mmm...ric rac)

If you have any questions about it or anything, just let me know!

my personal book club

I haven't reported my readings in quite some time. I finished Eat, Pray, Love--I liked ok, I guess, but likely won't read it again. It was somewhat painful getting me to read through the whole thing after the "Eat" portion she spent in Italy, which I hear is the issue many faced when reading it. Oh, well. Happy to have finished it and am looking forward to seeing the movie to see if it is any better.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week were spent devouring Suzanne Collins' delicious treats of Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. Yummy. I looooooooved these. Easy reads, great story, good writing, and in the end the Katniss picked the appropriate suitor, meaning, the guy I was hoping she would end up with, because I'm a creep and I totally get into the whole romantic part of every book I read and it really affects me negatively when the romantic part goes awry, prevailed.

Don't you judge me-I bet the same thing happens to you.

Anyway: 

You won't regret reading them!