Bobbin my thread like yeah

Let me take you back to Rambling #10:

I want to learn how to sew so I can make myself Betty Draper-esque dresses.

Well, I'm doing it. I'm learning how to sew. Perhaps I am my mother after all.


I signed up for a Beginning Sewing I class at Stitch Lab. My first class was Thursday and I couldn't be more excited and inspired to start making stuff. I don't own a sewing machine (yet!), but if I did I would be spending the entire weekend making tiny drawstring bags because that's all I know how to do at this point. I have a loooong way to go before Betty Draper dresses will be mine.


I started learning how to sew when I was 13. My mom has been sewing and quilting her entire life and I thought I should learn. My mom was thrilled. We went to a quilt store, bought three fabrics that matched my lavender and white bedroom, and told everyone in the world that I was learning how to quilt. I cut my squares, sewed them into rows and then into the quilt top. I basted the batting and backing to the quilt top.


Then came hand quilting. It hurt my fingers. My mom said, "You have to build up the quilters callouses and keep going." I cheated. I used my fingernails to push the needle through the fabric. Instead, the needle punched holes in my fingernails. I got bored. I gave up. 


I have my first quilt in our house now. It's sitting in a closet in the quilt hoop unfinished. Just as I left it 12 years ago.


I may or may not go back to that quilt. At this point it matches nothing in my house. Who knew lavender and white would be a passing color phase in my life?


That experience taught me that I enjoy working with a machine, picking out fabrics, and molding them into something special. Over the past few years, I've noticed so many funky fabrics in Austin stores and have longed to be able to make them into something. Now I can. Well, not yet. But soon! I'm going to start with small projects and gradually work up. I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew because I fear that will only end with the same result as my quilt experience. 


I'm pretty excited to make wine bags for friends, throw pillows for the living room and bedrooms, tote bags, simple skirts, sarongs...


This class has inspired me to be more crafty in general. As cheesy as it may sound, I feel alive when I'm making stuff with my hands. Sure, it can be frustrating at times, but there is nothing better than having a finished project to show for your efforts. Mr. H and I are finally (two years later) getting around to putting art on our walls in our bedroom. I want to paint something. I want to stretch fabric over a frame. I want to make something wholly unique that no one else has in their home. I hope this inspiration lasts because it feels damn good. Like heart bubbling with excitement good.


Does anyone know of any good craft blogs?


In the meantime, I'll be sitting at a sewing machine on Thursday evenings in an adorable little house on S. 1st singing "bobbin my thread like yeah..." in my head because no one wants to be that girl in the sewing class.

Drip Drop

My mom was in town last Wednesday through Monday. We had loads of fun running around town, eating at good restaurants, and watching the Olympics.

Last Saturday, our house sprung a leak. Yes you read correctly. As soon as I hit "publish post" on my last post, I heard dripping in the kitchen. I immediately assumed that the faucet wasn't turned all the way off. Much to my surprise, the ceiling was dripping into the kitchen sink. WHAT?! Mr. H was still asleep, mom was in the shower, so I waited.

I stared at the leak wondering, "What are we going to do to stop this? Is our ceiling about to fall to the floor? How much is this going to cost to fix? I should blog about this now! Nah, I'll just wait til next week to share."

Something about me yelling, "Mom! Our ceiling is leaking!" woke Mr. H up and we immediately started googling plumbers. Scratch that, googling plumbers that are available to work on a Saturday and don't charge a ridiculous overtime fee. Mr. H texted some coworkers and thankfully, one coworker came back with a ringing endorsement for his plumber.

Within 20 minutes, Top Dog Plumber arrived at our house. He thought we had a loose drain in the guest bathtub (located upstairs, directly above the kitchen sink). Plleeeease please let it be a loose drain. That sounds cheap to fix. No no. No loose drain. Broken tub shoe. I'm going to pretend like I know what that is.

Tub Shoe

Shoe Tub

What I do know is that they had to drill a hole in our kitchen ceiling to get to the shoe and fix it. So yeah, I'm sitting here with a 1 ft x 1 ft hole in our kitchen ceiling. Apparently this problem was caused by shoddy installation about 2 years ago when the previous owners renovated our house before we bought it.

Oh the joys of home ownership!

Did I mention Top Dog's cell phone ring was "Who Let the Dogs Out?" That almost made the whole experience worth it.

I Had a Dream

This post very well might go down in creepy blogger/overshare history, but here it goes.

Thursday night/Friday morning, I had a dream. And you were there. And you were there. And you were there if I've been following your blog and you've been following mine for the last 6 months or so. Yep, I had a dream about a bloggy get together. We were playing kickball in a park and everyone had a dog. I don't have a dog; Mr. H and I are in the midst of discussing whether we're ready to become puppy parents. I can't tell if this dream is telling me:
a) it's time for another bloggy get together,
b) it's time to just sack up and get a dog,
c) I feel guilty that it has been an entire week since I've shared anything with you and unlike some weeks I actually have good stuff to share!, or
d) I am the most ridiculous person ever for not only having a dream about my internet friends, but then sharing said dream for all the internet world to know.

Commence voting.

Stay tuned for a recap of last weekend's East Side Pub Crawl and to learn why my hubs said, "She was pretty cute... for a blue chick."

100 Ramblings

How have I managed to come up with 100 blog posts about my life? Well, it's been 10 months (really 8 if you don't count the 2 month bloggy sabbatical I took) of wedding planning, newlywed-dom, and cocktail recaps.

This post reminds me of the last time I quantified what the number 100 means. No, it wasn't on Dec. 24, the day Mr. H and I had been married 100 days. Ok, it was, but that is way less interesting than the 100th day of first grade. Each student in my class had to bring in 100 somethings - pennies, beans, candy bars, jelly beans, buttons, etc. I have no idea what I brought in on 100 Day, but I do remember it fondly. Each student walked around the classroom and put 1 item on each student's desk until all 100 items ran out. Each student ended up with 100 somethings (well, unless the 100th piece was supposed to go to the person who sat right next to your best friend and you wanted to give her the last something you had - I DO remember that part of 100 Day).

I thought briefly about telling you 100 things that you don't know about me, but that's a mighty long list that would be both boring to read and tiresome to create. Then what would I have to write about in the future?

So instead, I give you 10 things you should know about me that don't deserve individual posts:

1. I had a fan-tabulous time at the get together last night with Ex-Yankee, Dezzy Lou, Tobin, and Amelia. We had a small crew, but a great time. I'm glad I got to meet and get to know 4 new lady bloggers in one night!

2. I'm kind of a beer snob. When I met Mr. H, I admitted to him that the nicest beer I'd ever had was a Corona. Hey - I was a poor college student! I think I truly discovered how delicious beer could be while in New Zealand. I wonder if it is really as delicious as I remember. I guess I'll just have to go back and find out! I'll drink a cheap domestic beer, but when given the choice I'll go for an American craft brew any day. Which kind depends on the season.

3. We have a homebrewery. Shortly after we moved to Austin, Mr. H started brewing his own beer. He hasn't made a bad one yet. He even brewed two different kinds of beer for our wedding! This is both the result of and the source for #2.

4. We're members of the Home Brewers Association. Yep. It was a wedding gift. Supposedly we get discounts at bars across the country, though the list is quite short. We're really pumped that membership gets us access to special members only events at Great American Beer Fest in Denver in September. We'll celebrate our anniversary by tasting 2 oz samples of craft beers from around the world.

5. I've had 2 friends for 20 years. My kindergarten class had 7 girls and 23 boys. I can still name every girl that was in that class. Two of them are my still my best friends and bridesmaids. They are like sisters to me. We're taking a 20th Anniversary trip this summer to celebrate our years of friendship and have a good old fashioned girls weekend. Any suggestions?

6. I love my hairstylist. This is particularly appropriate because I got my hair cut today. If you are looking for a new stylist, I highly recommend Frenchy's Beauty Parlor in the heart of South Austin. The stylists are super friendly, they give you wine, and they are reasonably priced for a fantastic haircut.

7. I've never been snow skiing. I still can't decide if I want to try. I'm sure it would be quite a thrill, but I had a rather traumatic sledding accident when I was 11 and haven't gone down a snowy hill since. I'm willing to go on a ski trip and try it out, but let's be real - I'll probably end up spending my time in the lounge drinking a hotty toddy. There are lounges by the slopes, right? I hope so because that's where I've always pictured myself hanging out.

8. I don't play team sports. I just don't. I grew up a dancer, tennis player, and swimmer, though I use most of those terms loosely. In high school I was a cheerleader and on the dance team. I all but hid in the corner during P.E. when we had to play volleyball, dodgeball, basketball, but would proudly strut my stuff on square dancing week. Yes, we learn to square dance in elementary school P.E.

9. I love playing games. Mr. H and I love busting out a game in the evening. Currently, we like Banana Grams (very similar to Scrabble, but based on speed instead of points). We also play Dominos, Phase 10, Rummikub, and board games. We actually played dominos for a bit on our engagement picnic in Mayfield Park.

10. I want to learn how to sew so I can make myself Betty Draper-esque dresses. My feelings about Mad Men are for another post (maybe), but I am loving the cute printed dresses that Betty Draper wears on the show.

There you have it! Happy 100 posts to me!

excitement.

Is it just me or is there far too much excitement packed into a few days?

-Valentine's Day -despite rant below, still consumes energy
-Presidents' Day - sadly no day off work, but at least I got to enjoy Trudy's Monday happy hour of $5 Mexican Martinis (yes plural)
-Mardi Gras - think I'll spend it relaxing while watching...
-Winter Olympics! It took me 3 whole days to figure out why I didn't recall a single thing from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. I was in Australia watching Aussie coverage. They won their very first winter gold that year and that is all they talked about for 10 days. Ok, that and the fact I was in freaking Australia and had better things to do than watch TV!

So much excitement, yet surprisingly nothing to blog about.

Why I Hate Valentine's Day

My hatred of Valentine's Day started somewhere around 9th grade. I guess that's the time we stopped having afternoon holiday parties where sending meaningless Mickey Mouse/Barbie/Looney Toons valentines ended and the showmanship began. Parents sent their daughters bouquets at school creating such a disruption that the library had to be closed to create a holding room for the gifts. Why not just give that special some one a gift in private? Valentine's Day is about outdoing everyone else in an attempt to "prove" that you love your significant other (of perhaps only a few days) more than everyone else loves their special some one.

Many blamed my hatred on the holiday on the fact that I was eternally single (until I met Mr. H). Maybe I was a tad jealous of the flowers, date nights, and loser boyfriends simply because I didn't have them, but more than that I was nauseated. Why on earth do we exchange the same gifts that everyone exchanges on that day? Who decided that a dozen red roses, a Whitman's sampler, and a tiny white teddy bear proclaiming "I wuv you" was the key to a lady's heart?

Four years ago, Mr. H and I had been dating about 3 weeks when Valentine's Day rolled around. In an earlier group conversation, I mentioned my hatred of the holiday, defended my reasoning, and actually had a few people admit that they felt the same way. So on our first Valentine's Day together sometime between "classes" and studying, we walked to the corner Tip Top store to buy Scrumpy. Mr. H said, "I know you don't like Valentine's Day, but 'Happy Valentine's Day' anyway." And our Feb. 14s have been about the same ever since. No gifts. No fancy dinners out. Just another day together to enjoy our love for one another as every day should be.

Since someecards says it best, I give you the sentiments that I can't fully express on my own.

Run Girls, Run!

Congrats to all my blog friends who I'm sure by now have completed the Austin Half Marathon! I admire your dedication to running and motivation to run great distances. Last night I got to chow down on brie, hummus, crackers, veggies, meatball subs, and Texas sheet cake with a crew of real life friends in honor of two who are running in the race.

I am not a runner and probably never will be. Perhaps one of these days I'll run another 5K. Until then, it's BodyAttack and yoga for this girl. And carbo loading with my runner friends.

Month-a-versaries

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. I hate the holiday. More on that later. Or not. Haven't decided yet if I want to acknowledge such a forced holiday's existence since it isn't really worth my time.

However, Mr. H and I celebrate our month wedding anniversaries. We're using the 12th of each month to try an Austin restaurant that we've never been to before. This has been a lot of fun and we've discovered a few new favorites! It also turns an ordinary day into an unexpected date night.

So here's what we have so far:

October: South Congress Cafe

I'd technically been here before for a work lunch, but Mr. H wanted to try it and I'd never been for dinner. Food is excellent. I had a pasta with jalapeno olive oil, loads of veggies, and shrimp. Deee-lightful. Highly recommend. They also have a fairly lengthy cocktail list, including the Austin-famous Trudy's Mexican Martini (owned by the same people). We've been back again and had an equally fantastic (maybe even better?) meal. Definitely intend on taking visiting friends here in the future.

November: Sao Paulo's Restaurante

I'd been here before as well, but only for their a-maz-ing happy hour. The food was quite good (I had paella), but it probably won't make it in to our usual rotation. Definitely check out the happy hour. Really cheap margs, really cheap chips and queso. Perhaps a future get together spot?

December: Asti Trattoria

This was probably the most expensive restaurant we've gone to for an anniversary meal (South Congress Cafe is a close second) and definitely has the decor of a modern fine dining establishment. However, I was highly disappointed by my meal. I ordered a saffron seafood risotto with a "spicy" tomato sauce. The sauce was not only not spicy, but I would go so far as to say bland. The meal was saved by the bottle of wine we split, delicious bread and appetizers, and the Quack's cupcake I got across the street before heading home.

January: The Grove Wine Bar

This place is a little off the beaten path for us (360 and Bee Cave). We first saw it over a year ago when we were searching for wedding venues and visited a couple in the area. This meal left me smiling and wanting more more more. It is definitely a new favorite. Awesome wine list as you would expect from a Wine Bar. The menu has something for everyone - pizza, salad, paninis, pasta. We opted to split an order of bruschetta (they serve three toasts open face with your choice of 3 toppings.We went for traditional fresh mozzerella, basil, garlic and olive oil; sausage, roasted peppers and goat cheese; and figs, brie and apples). Then we split a pizza. The Chicken Little (chicken, loads of garlic, caramelized onions, gorgonzola, and rosemary) was divine. I wanted to go back the next day and get another one. And I like variety in my meals. We topped the meal off with a flourless chocolate tort that was worth every single one of its 1,500 calories.

February: Woodland

We spend a decent bit of time on South Congress and have thought about dining here many times. This was the perfect choice for a cold February evening. I was craving comfort food, and comfort food I got. The interior looks like a cabin straight out of 1960. They have a fun and interesting cocktail list and a somewhat limited menu (not a bad thing for me). I got shrimp and grits with bacon in a spicy creole sauce. I've had a lot of shrimp and grits in my day and these were definitely in the top 3. The service was so-so. I think we got there right at the beginning of their dinner rush when every single server in the place was double seated. The servers were also all wearing vintage clothing, but I got the impression that was just the way they are, not that it was a Woodland-enforced dress code. Restaurants like this are among the many reasons I love Austin.

What restaurants do you recommend?

Friday Funnies

These two videos may have gotten me through the second half of this week. I'm probably way late to the party on the first one, but I think y'all are going to want to see the second.




It's the blanket that moves with you!

Enjoy and Happy Weekend!

Come Baccarat Soon!

Here's a look at Vegas week in pictures.

Dinner at Bouchon - Amazing!

Waiting for the Bellagio Fountain show. Love the lights!

The H's

Mr. H admiring the fountain

Jumping at the Beatles' LOVE Cirque du Soliel sign

We got half price tickets because we were staying at the Mirage!

Serious air

Waiting for another Bellagio fountain show. This one never started. Please forgive my fashion faux pas of athletic shoes with jeans. I had some serious blisters on my feet.

Old Town Vegas

Any Arrested Development fans out there? From the front this genie lamp looked like a chicken.Or maybe that was the football full of liquor...

Watching the Fremont St. Experience.

Dolphins at the Mirage

Leopards

Lions

Sigfried and Roy's white tigers

Sleepy wait in the airport

Rainy Day Go Away

Rain-themed finds to brighten a rainy day.

etsy

etsy

etsy

etsy

etsy

etsy

Ever have those days...

...where you want to beat your head against a wall?

Yeah. Me either.

Chipper

* Vegas recap coming soon!*

You know how in my last post I hoped I would have no stories reminiscent of The Hangover? Well, I don't. Not really at least.

Except for this:

That's an exaggeration to say the least. But at some point in the not so distant past, I chipped the front outside corner of my back molar (those are technical terms, ya know). I discovered this yesterday after lunch when I thought I had food stuck in my teeth. No, no. I'm just missing part of my tooth. Gross.

I'm going to the dentist next Monday and have no clue what he's going to tell me. I've never had anything like this happen before. I've never even had a cavity (knock on wood). Hopefully since it is a back tooth and it doesn't hurt that means it will be an inexpensive and painless fix. Hopefully this is a unique incident and my teeth aren't going to start chipping away at age 24. Right? Right? Please tell me I'm right.

Viva!

I'm so excited. Next Tuesday through Saturday I'll be in Las Vegas!!! Tuesday through Thursday will be work days with fun nights, and Friday-Saturday are all for me me me me me (and Mr. H, fave coworker, and fave ex-coworker).

We'll be here.

Staying here.

Seeing this.

And this.

While drinking this.

I hope I'll have some great stories to share when I return. Hopefully none will include this.

This.

Or this.

Hopefully I'll take plenty of good photos for your viewing pleasure. The blog may go silent for a few days, but hey - you're used to that!

Lazy

Why can't I narrate posts and have them magically appear on this blog?

Yes, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I think in the car. I think in the shower. Neither place allows me to jot down my thoughts or my super witty blog post. By the time I get to work, fire up my computer, check my email, and, well, work (since that's what they're paying me to do!), I've lost my flow, I run out of time, I get stressed out, I'm distracted, and my creativity goes out the window...

Obviously what I need is a water-proof, traffic-safe voice recorder that immediately transcribes my morning and afternoon musings and publishes them to the blog. I'm sure there's an app for that, but I refuse to pay for an iPhone or any other smart phone in general.

THAT is why I've been a lazy blogger as of late. Or at least that's the story I'm sticking to.

What daily routine do you keep up with to ensure your day's thoughts and activities are captured in the blogosphere?

1-21-06

If you haven't been following this blog since my 2nd post, you are now required to go back and read it. This will also explain the oddball title I chose for my blog.

Ok. Glad you're back.4 years ago today I was in the midst of one of the best weekend's of my life.

It all started so innocently. Classes ended on Thursday at 11:30 a.m., my study abroad friends and I picked up our three rental cars, packed our bags and headed out for an adventure in Rotorua, New Zealand. The drive was beautiful and we managed to stay on the left side of the road.

We arrived at Cactus Jack's Backpackers and settled into the "new" room containing 4 sets of bunk beds. Apparently this room was new because months earlier a wayward backpacker didn't remove the lid from a can of beans before cooking it on a hot plate. Essentially the room exploded and now hot plates aren't allowed in rooms.

The next morning, we woke up and headed to what is essentially a sheep themed park. Now is the time I'm obligated to reveal my favorite kiwi fact: Sheep outnumber people in New Zealand 17 - 1. Yep. 17 sheep for every 1 person.

The clear highlight of this park is zorbing. Zorbing, invented in Rotorua, is a "sport" defined by crawling into an inflatable hamster ball with 2 of your closest friends and a couple gallons of water and rolling down a hill. It is disorienting. It is amazing.

Then we headed over to Kaituna Falls for a white water rafting adventure. Nothing like sailing down a two story fall (highest navigable waterfall in the world!) for your first white water experience. It was terrifying. It was amazing.

Then it was back to Cactus Jack's and off to the Grumpy Mole for dancing. I still maintain that the Grumpy Mole is the best name ever for a bar. I dare you to disagree. Then it was off to bed for an early wake-up call.

Saturday we went to Waitomo for some world-famous glow worm caving. We entered the cave by repelling down a waterfall. We trudged through freezing cavey muck, but thankfully had waterproof boots and wetsuits to protect us.

Now the point of this post isn't to brag about my international adventure or to compare the rafting and caving excursions to White Water and Fantastic Caverns of my childhood.

So now on to the good stuff.

Somehow Saturday night found Mr. H and me alone in a bar after everyone else had turned in for the night. Yes folks, you guessed it. This weekend was all build up to the day Mr. H and I politely had a conversation about "liking each other as more than friends." Scratch that. Let's try this again. This was the day that upon leaving the bar I decided he should hold my hand. So I grabbed his. Hey, that went well so I decided he should kiss me. So I kissed him.

And that my friends marks our anniversary. The rest is history.

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Study Abroad Friends at our Wedding

Table names inspired by our study abroad trip

Freezing

The cold has stolen my creativity, so I'll quote KXAN.

In a story about protecting yourself in the cold (peeling skin, exposure, etc - hard hitting news people!) a woman admitted to liking the cold... er, not minding it... only after saying that there is no reason to be out in the cold in the 4 minutes it takes to pump your gas.

Closing line of the story in dramatic local news anchor voice: Turns out she's a transplanted Yankee.

Thank you local news. Thank you.

Entertaining like Grown-Ups*

*because saying "entertaining like adults" just sounded dirty...

Way back in November of 2009, two dear friends got engaged. I didn't tell you about it because a) you don't know these people and thus wouldn't care that they got engaged and b) it happened during my bad blogger phase.

So anywho, said friends live in another state and came back to town for the veryfirsttime as an engaged couple and a friend and I decided to throw them an engagement party. Well, she decided and I helped. She's the maid of honor; she's supposed to be thoughtful. It also wasn't exactly and engagement party so much as a gathering to celebrate their engagement because engagement parties come with lots of rules that involve inviting parents, etiquette, and formal toasts.

The menu:

• German Cooked Cheese (like queso, only German)
• Cranberry-Jalapeno Salsa over Cream Cheese
• Shredded Barbeque Chicken Sandwiches
• Swedish Meatballs
• Spinach Salad with Walnuts, Feta, Craisens, and Ginger Dressing
• Creamed Corn (from Rudy's)
• Lime Green Beans
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels and Homemade Tagalongs
• Winter Sangria

All items homemade unless noted that it was from Rudy's. I'm so freakin' proud of our handy work. Friends arrived nearly on time and in dressy attire as the evite noted (again, another reason why this was a celebration, not an engagement party). I'm thrilled we got to take some wedding gifts on their maiden voyage, including a really odd glass platter dubbed the liquor luge (clearly, not the gift giver's intent so we used it for crackers).

All that adultness and the party still went until 3 a.m.... so maybe we're not quite grown-ups after all.

My Wish for 2010

More love, less anger.
More endorphins, less laziness.
More solving, less dwelling.
More support, less bitterness.
More phone calls, less Facebook.
More reading, less TV.
More giving, less receiving.
More laughter, less crying.
More organizing, less pack ratting.

I think the average new year's resolution lasts about 3 weeks. Ok, I just made that up. But the point is, new year's resolutions are lofty goals that are rarely accomplished. So now I give you "The Things I'd Like to Do in 2010 (but won't beat myself up when I break them by January 21)":

• Tone up. I focused on yoga and cardio in 2009. Both helped me shed some extra weight, but now I really want to work on toning, especially my arms. Perhaps I will bust out the 30 day Shred again. 
• Turn off the TV. Mr. H and I often find ourselves wasting several hours watching TV instead of spending real, quality time with one another. Now I love my programs, but do I really need to watch MTV's The Duel just because it's on?
• Simplify. This will be the hardest for me. I hope to get rid of 100 things this winter. Clothes that are worn out or don't fit any more, trinkets I easily forget I have, printer cartridges to printers I don't own anymore... you get the point.

What are your hopes for 2010?

Riding into 2010

WLP