Well I would walk 500 miles...

Today holds a few milestones for me...

#1: Our four year anniversary today! I'm not really sure where the time has gone, but it's been more good times than bad! Thankful to the Lord for his goodness... and a great husband! We both agree that our wedding doesn't feel like it was "just yesterday" anymore... but we're not sure when it stopped feeling that way! Guess we're getting old.

thanks to my honey for the flowers

#2: I painted my toenails... and not in pink! I can honestly say this is the first time ever that i have not had pink or french tipped toenails.
Can anyone say 16?
I was never into nail polish in high school, and somehow I'm 10 years late.
oh well. when you see this color, you'll love it too. Happy like a school girl, I am.

called Mint Sorbet. love love.

#3: I made homemade noodles for the first time. One of the very first meals I ever had with my husband's family was chicken+noodles, complete with homemade noodles. He said to me "this is like, my favorite meal ever". And i haven't forgotten, just been putting it off. Homemade noodles are were slightly intimidating. Not anymore! (in my brain i am wearing a cape standing on a mound with my fist in the air). Thank you flour, egg and milk for becoming something delicious.

sitting over our bowls of homemade noodles + chicken (thanks, Linda!), we decided our favorite memories in the past years since we got married.
   2008: (aside from getting married) Watching the Olympics in our tiny little apartment on our tiny little      t.v. that got a total of 2 stations. The Olympics are the exception to my not watching tv in the summer. There is just something about them. Those were good days.

   2009: Our first anniversary trip to St. Louis. Very last minute, very fun.

At the top of the St. Louis Arch

we have learned that other people are not good at taking pictures. oh well, it's the only option sometimes.

   2010: Getting Macy and in close second, our christmas tree that year. Macy, our psychotic and lovable puppy was my birthday present that year. WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE THINKING. but we sure do love her and her eating-everything-in-sight-and-within-reach ways. its a labor of love, that one.

little macy! she has since grown... wishing i had a shrink ray gun most days.

and our tree.... was such a beautiful tree. We alternate years on colored lights and white lights on the tree. That was our first colored year (Nate's first pick), and the 12 foot ceiling was a bonus.

Christmas 2010

   2011: I said purchasing our first house, then Nate said our vacation to Disney World. I would have to agree, they're on the same level for me. An awesome trip (Disney, we will be back), and an awesome first house. Lovelovelove our house, sans having to do my own yardwork and paying for things when the break!

with traveling buddies Jory and Kitty and their then-only-child, Malachi, at Animal Kingdom.

our house on inspection day!

   2012: again, there are two. The marriage conference we attended with our church in early March was a serious learning time for us, and has only brought good things. Close second, walking all the way to the top of Bunker Hill Monument.... all 300 steps of it. and our jello legs on the way down. Good memories.

bunker hill, a good time to be had for all.

 thinking i'll make something about all our favorite memories... maybe a book or one of those deck of card things (you know, your 52 favorite things written each on one card?). here's hoping for 48 more years and then some!

Maggie's Baby Shower

baby shower for my sister-in-law, Maggie, and baby boy making his debut sometime in July! Can't wait to meet him!

great day!

 great food, made in WHOLE by my mother in law. 'twas amazing.











who doesn't love bunting?!

 momma-to-be's favorite food ever...

great turnout, thanks to all our friends and family!












                                                       and who doesn't love presents?

                                          table decor! my sister in law Brittany is so talented!

                                                    

                                                              happy mom! love her!
  

heather & nolan, ready to meet his new cousin...

...and this is how he spent most of the shower!

present time!

been waiting a LONG TIME to reveal this present!  baby mobile, complete with maggie's favorite rustic style. so glad she likes it!

dachshunds, maggie and brennan have two! 

maggie's dad can make ANYTHING out of wood, so thankfully, he did the hard part!

(this is grandma's nursery, can't wait for maggie's nursery reveal!)

love this one

and this one!

the whole project! i watched LOTS of movies this winter while making these puppies.

sisters and the momma! we had a great time.

 can't wait to meet him!

saturday.

ran the 5/3 riverbank run this a.m. with part of my fam! 

somehow, we all managed to finish the 10k! my longest race this far.

we were missing our other running buddy, though. she's got a bun in her oven due in about a month!

and right now, it's all i can do to sit on the couch.

making dinner tomorrow for some of the mommas in my life... have everything done except cutting this beast.

anyone else hate cutting up watermelon?

tired household! the end of third shift is near... thankfully!

present for my sis for mother's day. hope she does not read this until after tomorrow!

[tutorial here]

i've made quite a few of these... so easy and a big hit.

present for my momma. shams, to match the quilt i made her last mother's day.

(her idea, by the way).

here's the quilt. by far, my finest piece of work:

love this pattern, want to make myself one!

too many bad bananas sitting on my counter = bread!

happy [busy] weekend, all!

Hair Cuttin' Time!

Would you believe that this dog,

is also this dog?

Well, of course you can tell. She's got the same pathetic look in both pictures.

.love her.

I was going to do a post about my Easter outfit, and how i dyed my shoes to match my new outfit, but aforementioned dog ate those shoes the day before Easter.

and they turned out a little too purple anyway. but that is beside the point.

like i said... love.

An Easter pic just for kicks, since i managed to convince my husband to stay dressed up for a picture, and Macy was kindof looking:

would you also believe it if i said my hubby picked the dress out on his own? 

that's right.

best man ever.

love him most.

Bunting Love

Can you tell I love rainbow bunting?

Made two of these quilts back in November for friends that were having babies. Now, I do not usually duplicate quilts... I prefer to give each person their own unique quilt.

But this one is just SO CUTE. I could not resist making more than one. And I made sure to have pieces left over so i can make another one... maybe for myself someday.

originally found the tutorial here

but i can't ever really seem to get around to making myself a quilt. that would mean no deadline, and i work best under deadlines. It's the reason i finish things.

pretty sure i took that picture in the middle of the night. it's pretty bad. i'm working on my photography skills, i promise.

seeing any rainbow bunting in your future??

Rainbow Brite

Anyone else remember her? We had her doll growing up. It's so random, but she is what I think about almost every time i see rainbow stuff.  I work with rainbow colors, and during a slow moment the other day, made a stack of rainbow colored pretties. I would have taken a picture and posted it but, alas, i'm too cheap to pay for an iphone.
The rainbow-ness inspired me, as did a talk with my sister in law about how rainbow is in right now.

This window my favorite thing in our entire house to decorate. It's pretty non-committal, and it does not take long to make it look peppy and seasonal. I spend too much time cleaning my floors to keep up with seasonal decorations in my house!

paint chips. 

a stop at Lowes today required, of course, a stop in the paint department. Who doesn't love some rainbow paint chips?!

Bonus: FREE-tastic.

My mom and I had a conversation about how much money Lowes must spend on paint chips. With cheap-os like me around, probably a lot! But they sure get my business, too. Not to worry, I don't mooch too much.

cute, huh?

So many projects, so little time.

Felt, Felt and More Felt

I recently was given a sewing machine. I put out a plea on Facebook asking for a sewing machine for me to learn on. My mom was mortified. She thought that people would think that she never taught me. That was followed by my apology. Sorry Mom!  My mom did try to teach me sew while I was growing up. I just didn't like it as a kid. I rather be in the kitchen and baking. :)

So what do I make for my first project? I decided a pillow cover. I searched pinterest.com for ideas. I decided on a simple envelope pillow case with a huge felt flower on the front.  The pillow is from BedBuggs on Etsy.com.

I loaded up my son, fabric, felt, and my sewing machine and headed to Laura's house for some moral support. Laura helped me make a bobbin, add the thread to the machine, and use her cutting mat and blade. (Threading the machine brought back memories of my mom showing me how to do it.)

I decided to make my own pattern for the pillow. It actually turned out ok! I made the flower with a template that I made with a paper plate. I attached to petals with a hot glue gun and hand sewed it to my new pillow cover.

My new pillow is now sitting pretty on our bed. Now I just need to make more!

On to the next felt project.

I have been helping my family sort through the collections and memories of my Grandma's since she has passed away. The last time I was there, found two really cute buttons among a huge tin that was in a drawer. I figured out my new project.  I made flowers out of the felt I had on hand and glued the buttons in the middle. They turned into really cute pins for my mother. She loved them! That started my "small business."






This past Saturday, my mom had a booth in a local antique show at Saltbox Farm. She asked me to make some pins for her booth. I made just over twenty. I thought that would be plenty. I was happy if I just got my money back in supplies.  Boy, was I surprised! I got a voicemail from my mom at the show asking for me to make more and hurry fast! I never worked so fast with scissors in my life! I can't believe I didn't cut myself. If you didn't know already, I tend to cut myself a lot with my chef knives. :) I made ten more and arrived to the show just after lunch. I sold eight of them while I was there! How exciting! I also had another dealer ask me to make a headband for her daughter.




So this week, I have bought more felt, searched for buttons and made a trial run headband. The next antique show is in just over a month. I have a lot of work ahead of me!