Friday, June 19, 2009

Bad Hair Day

How did I wake up today, on an important Friday, with Robert Plant's hair??? (Lead singer of Led Zeppelin, top right, for those who don't know.)
That's right! My guy is coming in town today and will be at my apartment by the time I get home from work and my hair looks like that! All I can do is laugh. He'll have to wait for me to take another shower so I can blow dry and straighten this mess before we go out.
Reason #107 of why I love my guy: He calls often to tell me we're having "Date Night". Tonight, after I tame this mane, we're going to The Cheesecake Factory and then to the movie theatre to see The Hangover. I'm so excited!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

update on my sewing goal

So Jo-Ann's is having a huge sale this week and I took advantage of it. I normally don't scout out sales, but these days I have to. And I admit, it's actually becoming fun to look for sales and cut coupons. I even finally put myself on a serious budget and I am excited about it. How weird is that?!

I am very proud of myself for this one though. I got a 3 piece Fiskars set that included an 18 x 24 cutting mat, an 6.5 x 24.5 acrylic ruler and a 45mm rotary cutter for 50% off! It was originally $47 and I got it for $23!

I also got these fabric quarters for .99 cents each. (Originally $1.50)

Super excited about this purchase! I have a 50% off coupon for a regular priced item, and I'm hunting down a really nice pair of dressmaker's shears. (If they aren't on sale already.)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Words?

Words can not even express how much I am in love with this man. I am officially at that point where not only do I sob like a baby when I leave him because I don't know when we'll see each other again, but I cry even while at home because I miss him so so so terribly bad. This is so hard and yet so beautiful. Make sense?


The serious photo wouldn't upload, so I'll leave you with the "what kind of face is that?" picture.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Note To Self


Finally revealing his face, blog style. This isn't the day he said "I love you", but I will definitely be sharing that story and that photo soon!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Sew you did what?

I'm really trying to achieve this learn-to-sew goal. So far I've had fun with it, which helps. On my lunch breaks at work I'm reading this book I've had for over a year now, S.E.W. Sew Everything Workshop, by Diana Rupp.

It's just the guide for me because I'm a visual learner and like everything pretty much spelled out for me, so to speak. In chapter 2 she warns that the thing to do before moving on to Chapter 3 is to learn all the parts of the sewing machine. Being that I'm such the visual learner, know what I spent my Thursday evening doing?

Yep, that's right...I labeled every part of the sewing machine.


The impatient side of me wants to skip all this beginner stuff like playing with all the different kinds of stitching patterns and pop out the best pair of pants ever. However, that kind of thinking always gets me no where. SO...back to the book I go.

Wish me luck!

P.S. I may attempt to make my own D.I.Y. dress form. There are several video tutorials on YouTube. Now I just have to try to convince my mom to wrap me up. :)

Watch the Threadbanger's tutorial here. (Search "DIY dress form" on YouTube for more ideas if you don't like this one.)

Friday, May 22, 2009

I couldn't resist posting this.

I've been eating like a broke college student this week because...well...I'm broke! So right now you'll find the bottom of my pantry full of packaged, "just add water" noodles. (I actually call it all Ramen regardless of the brand, but whatever.) Although I do believe these are horrible for you and ridiculously high in sodium, they're around .35 cents each. And when you have a grocery budget of $40 and have to get food for 2 weeks, you just have to bite the bullet and do it sometimes.

So, while at the store I saw two different brands of cupped noodles. Ya know, the kind with noodles, seasoning, dried peas, carrots and corn? Yuck! Anyway, I grabbed the one I was familiar with, but kept looking at the other brand that I wasn't familiar with. The photo on their box looked more appealing than the one on the box I was getting. Yes, sometimes I'm a sucker for buying things because of how the packaging looks. Damn you graphic designers! :)

Anyway, so one day this week I ate the one that I fell for because of the photo. Today, I ate the one I am familiar with. And that's when I realized...the one I have always bought over the years when I'm broke and desperate is by far better than the other, hands down! (Even if the picture on their packaging didn't look as good as the other guys.)

So, while bored at work, I created a little visual and decided to take a vote.


Which one do you prefer?

I chose the one on the right, Maruchan Instant Lunch. (I still can't help but call it Ramen.)

-P.S. For those what-so-ever concerned, I won't be broke forever. I'm just playing catch up from a few unexpected emergency expenses these past few months. I'll be back to eating normal food soon. haha

I love tips!

No, not monetary tips, although if I was a waitress I'd love those too, but I'm talking about life tips. Anything that can help me and make life a little easier.

That is why I love this post by Underfunded Heiress. She used to be an Aesthetician, so I like to think of this as the inside scoop.
Sure, everyone has their own opinions and what works for one person doesn't always work for another, kind of like how the girl who cut my hair last talked me into buying $40 worth of hair products only to find that it did not do the miracles she claimed it would. But hey, you don't know unless you try, right?

And anything Burt's Bees is pretty awesome, so I'm on board with this and can't wait to splurge a little for these products so I can create my own at-home spa.



Click here to check out the Burt's Bees Website

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Speaking of sewing...

Giving credit to Heart of Light again, she spread the word about the $1 pattern sale going on at Joann's this weekend. And when these normally run between $11-$16, this is a great deal!


(click on images to go to the website)

Although I'm a beginner and probably need to start out making curtains or pillows or something, I can still dream that one day I'll be good enough to make these dresses. So why not rack up on cool $1 patterns while I can?!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Procrastination does not make perfect! (and sometimes the truth is ugly)

Ready to hear a secret? Here goes...
I come from a pretty lazy family.

Because of this, the idea of filling up my time productively and making the most of every day was foreign to me. That is until I met a girl named Suzanne in the spring of 2000. Suzanne was a free spirit, artsy chic born to two former hippies who still burned patchouli in the house at night. She was one of those girls who constantly dreamed, thought outside the box, set goals and wanted to change the world. She had a fire in her that I was not familiar with at all. But I liked it.


Suzanne hated wasting time and she'd repeatedly tell you that. She couldn't stand it. Yes, every once in a while she'd just lounge around in pjs with her family watching a movie but even in her world that wasn't lazy, it was spending time with family. The rest of her time was working on art projects, taking classes to learn new things, coordinating bible studies (hippie style as I called it), writing songs, playing gigs, meeting new people, traveling, networking, joining organizations, creating ideas, reading, writing, or doing things for others. It blew my mind.

And as much as I'd like to be like Suzanne, I'm not. I find that I am a lot like what was modeled for me growing up. I work, I come home, I eat, and either spend the rest of the evening on the computer or watching tv, with the occasional get together with friends one night a week. Weekends are a bit different though. I try to keep my weekends packed and do stuff because I do hate to waste my weekends.

There is a point to all of this...I promise. :)

I'm sick of being lazy! No, I'm not the type that can be too terribly busy because I can't stay sane that way. I do need my down time. However, I'm sick of wasting my time, just like Suzanne always said.

When I'm at home on week nights, there is no excuse why I couldn't be pulling out my sewing machine and trying to learn how to sew. It's something I've always wanted to do. So why have I not been doing it? I'm wasting precious time. (I believe I've posted about this sewing dilemma before.)

I see so many blogs of people who are always working on something and spend a good portion of their day dedicated to that thing. Every time I see someones handmade purse, jewelry, stationary, curtains, scrapbooks and even clothes I think to myself "Why am I not doing this?". Most of these people even have a job, a spouse and children to take care of and yet they still make time to do these things. What's my excuse?

I hate looking back on my life even now and thinking that there is this one thing I always wanted to do and had all the time in the world a few years ago and never did it. And now I have even less time than before, and as life goes on my free time will get less and less and less. So why am I procrastinating?

It's time to change!

No, I don't want to be so busy that I'm overwhelmed and can't handle everything I've put on my plate, because I can't operate that way and it will just drive me crazy. But I can start small and set 1 goal for now and see how I do. I admit I've never been good at setting goals and acheiving them, but every day is a day to start over, right? If I want to be different, then I have to do something different, it doesn't just happen on it's own.

So here it is folks...goal no. 1 - Sew!

I'm a huge perfectionist and making mistakes is going to aggrevate the hell out of me and make me want to give up, but I am going to have to keep at it. Because only practice makes perfect. (Not that 'perfect' even exist, but you get the idea.)

Thankfully I have a ton of blogs out there to help me with inspiration:

...just to name a few.

If you have any suggestions, tips, advice, links or words of encouragement I'd love to hear it! I'm going to need all the help I can get to stay on task.

Once I get my s**t together, the ultimate goal is to make my own clothes. It's always been hard trying to find clothes for a 6'1 girl with a 36 inseam and other abnormally large porportions. :)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Coldplay Fan?


I heard this on the radio last week and was reminded of it today while browsing a new blog (new to me that is), Fantabulously Frugal.
Coldplay is allowing their new album, Left Right Left Right Left, to be downloaded completely free. Click here to download.
I'm not a huge Coldplay fan, but I don't detest them either, and free is free!