30 day photo challenge

My thesis is going much, much better than expected (thank you, God!), so I'm going to play along with this 30-day photo challenge.  Here's the challenge:

1. Self-portrait
2. What I wore
3. Clouds
4. Favorite color
5. Someone I love
6. Childhood memory
7. Something new
8. Technology
9. Faceless self-portrait
10. Something I made
11. Something fun
12. Close-up
13. From a distance
14. Flowers
15. My shoes
16. What I ate
17. On the shelf
18. In my bag
19. Where I slept
20. What I read
21. Pretty pattern
22. Trees
23. Sunset
24. A smile
25. Sunflare
26. Something old
27. After dark
28. Daily routine
29. Purchased
30. In motion

I'm probably not going to post a picture every single day, but will make every attempt to take photos everyday.  This will either be interesting or will just bore you all to tears and will be a giant waste of my time.  Keep checking back to see...

summer reads

I don't get a whole lot of reading done -- I'm not, at least, while I'm finishing up this thesis -- but for vacation, I loaded up my nook with a lot of good reads and I thought I'd pass along my recommendations, in case you're looking for something new to pick up.

I ended up having the first two books on my list to read while we were on vacation, but ended up plowing through them the week before I left (instead of, you know, studying).

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
This one is actually non-fiction, which I typically don't read, but I found it fascinating.  Basically it's the story of the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in the 1930s, the relationships he built, and the problems he experienced.  (It probably didn't help that his 20 or 30-something year old daughter was a little more than friends with senior Nazis.)  Bottom line:  You should probably be a history geek to enjoy this one.

The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene
Claire is an American socialite who basically gets mad and on a whim, goes to France to find a former lover....but it's the late 1930s/early 1940s and she was clueless about the Vichy regime and the Nazis.  Claire gets involved with the Resistance movement, takes in some Jewish girls, works in a flower shop -- not necessarily in that order.  I loved this one.

Quitter by Jon Acuff
I read Stuff Christians Like by Acuff last year and I thought it was hilarious and spot on.  Acuff now works for Dave Ramsey's team and wrote a book about keeping a job he didn't like for so long just so he could prep for his dream job, which is where he's at now.  I don't know as I thought this was going to be my aha! moment in regards to me figuring out what my dream job is, but it definitely gave me a lot of food for thought.  I also recommend this one, especially if you're looking for a new job, you're transitioning into your new job, or you're trying to figure things out.

I also squeezed in the latest Sookie Stackhouse book while I sat on the beach, but that was just mind candy and nothing more.

I started Major Pettigrew's Last Stand on vacation but didn't finish before starting my thesis.  If I end up liking it, I'll review it later.

Happy reading!

strip quilt: day 1

Remember my post a few weeks back, talking about how I was going a bit fabric crazy?

I've started to channel some of that energy and have started a strip quilt for my nephew.  He's due in October, so that should give me plenty of time to get my act together.

As a side benefit, walking everyone through my process step-by-step gives me that much-needed blog fodder.  And it allows me to show off the cool fabric I've purchased.  CJ doesn't seem to appreciate it at all, so I hope someone looks at some of this and thinks it's cute.

So...  Step #1:  Ironing.

I hate ironing.  I avoid it at all costs.  I don't have a full-size ironing board, because it's just a giant waste of space in this small house.  This is probably the thing I hate most about sewing.  But, side note, isn't that owl fabric super cute?

Unfortunately, I picked an awful lot of fabric for this quilt and it all had to be washed (which is also a giant hassle) and ironed.

The cats typically keep me company when I'm sewing:

And now I'm starting to sort out all that fabric.  I was clearly indecisive when choosing the fabric.  It's just all so cute!

Stay tuned for more in between now and October!

the cats' new digs

I'm not sure what makes CJ want to do certain projects over others.  To the best I've been able to find out, he gravitates toward different or fun projects.

This tidbit is important because...

Months ago, I ran across a blog where someone took old wine crates and made it into a bed sort of thing for their cats.  (I couldn't find the tutorial today, so I'm sorry I can't credit the source.)  I happened to just send it to CJ just as a hey-this-is-kind-of-cool-deal, without any sort of urgency (i.e. "Run to Menard's now.").  I completely forgot about the project until one day when he just made it.  I think it took him a whole five minutes.  I completed the bed thing (what do we want to call it - a perch?) with some foam and leftover fabric.  Here's the final product:

A little different, yes.  I'm still not sure where to put it, so for now, it's in our multi-purpose room.

Sort of on the same topic, the funny thing about Stella is that while she and CJ don't exactly like each other, out of all the pets, she's always the most appreciative of the pet-related projects.  Funny cat.

thanks for the inspiration, martha.

CJ channeled his inner Martha Stewart using this tutorial and created a cool, more welcoming door mat for us:

You'll have to forgive us.  We're not the pros like Martha and her team and don't do staging quite so well.  We'll get there someday though.

new planter

Out of everything CJ has ever made, I think this planter is by far my favorite.  You'll have to overlook the crooked picture -- the sun was in my eyes -- but isn't this planter awesome?

Now I'll just have to remember to water the darn flowers so they actually bloom...

steal of the century!

I just have to brag a tiny little bit.  Sorry.

Last week, we got our cats de-clawed.  As it turns out, we purchased new furniture at the right time.  For those of you who haven't been to our house in awhile (or ever ... by the way, you're more than welcome ... once I'm done with school), we got rid of my beautiful cream suede furniture.  Turns out it's not right for a husband, a dog, and two cats.  We took a risk and bought leather furniture.  Henry doesn't sit on it (at least not while we're home), but the cats started punching holes in the leather with their claws.  It wasn't necessarily intentional, but if they'd jump up, they'd use their claws to stay in place.  Not cool.

I'll speed it up here - sorry.

I called our vet to discuss options and by chance, we were able to snag two spots in a pain medicine study they were doing on cats.  Seriously, perfect timing.  I thought it was going to be $200 -- which was still quite a deal, and we'd get a pretty quick payback on it too.

Turns out, it was free!  Every last bit, free!  The exam, the medicine during surgery, the medicine after surgery, the medicine and antibiotics they sent home, the litter, everything -- free!  I estimated that we saved at least $600-$700, if not more!

That's really the best part, but I suppose I should mention that the cats appear to be doing fine.  We've kept them holed up in the multi-purpose room, away from Henry, so that I can catch them to administer the medicine (which isn't fun, by the way).  So they're just chilling in there for the time being...

Okay, this is the one downside -- Stella's tail.  They had to shave it down to administer the medicine, I suppose.  She looks ridiculous.  And CJ thinks it's hilarious.  It reminds me of how shabby she looked when we adopted her last year. Poor Stella.

fabric crazy

Am I sensing a fabric shortage anytime soon?  You'd think so, the way our multi-purpose room looks.

Side note - Can anyone else think of a better name for a room that holds our guest bed, my sewing machine, and a treadmill?

Anyway.

As I was saying, I've just been going a little fabric crazy lately.  This doesn't even really scratch the surface:

I account this to two things:

1.  I'm preparing for life after grad school.  I've hoarded patterns and sewing books, waiting patiently for August 5th so I can unleash my sewing skills.  So I've been stocking up on fabric for purses, fabric for the three windows that need new curtains, and fabric for Christmas presents.  Yes, it's July and Christmas is so far away (thank goodness, because I love this hot weather!).  But, I've learned the hard way that if I see a fabric I like that's perfect for a project, I shouldn't pass it up, because it will definitely be gone when I go back for it.

2.  My sister-in-law is pregnant with a little boy, hence all the blue fabric.

As you've read, I have big plans for all this fabric, so don't forget to check back in occasionally to see my hits and misses.

florida vacay

I just wanted to share some pics from our Florida vacation last month...

Fort Myers Beach

Fort Myers Beach

Gulf of Mexico in between Ft. Myers and Sanibel

Cayo Costa

Cayo Costa

Dolphins!

Captiva Island

Fort Myers Beach

In short, here's what we did on vacation:

• Slept
• Slept some more
• Read
• Slept even more
• Took a boat ride out to Cayo Costa
• Bummed around Sanibel Island
• Slept and read again
• Went to the outlet malls
• Saw a few movies
• Read even more books
• Visited Eden Winery
• Slept

it's a beautiful day

I woke up this morning a little grumbly that Henry woke me up at 9 am, but settled into a good mood after cup #2 of java.  Unusual that I'm in a good mood in the morning, I know.

I've spent my morning nursing that coffee and perusing Pinterest for new ideas.  Do you have a Pinterest account yet?  If not, you need to get on there and get inspired.

I'm working on the ol' blog today to ensure that my two readers have plenty of material for the next month until I finish school.  CJ has been working hard on some projects and I'm really excited to show them off, so stay tuned.

I have less than four weeks left of school.  I'm not going to lie - I'm sort of in a panic.  It's not the panic of oh-my-gosh-how-am-I-going-to-get-everything-done, but it's the ummmm-what-do-I-do-now? sort of thoughts that are running through my head.  For quite awhile now, I've said after I'm done, I just want to sit.  But I'm finding my mind has been trained to do twenty-five different things at any given time and that I'm used to being busy.  So now, not only do I need to finish my final project, but I feel like I have to solve all of my world's problems now.  Where can I go work and use this degree?  What do I actually want to do?  My share of house projects have been on hold for close to two years now.  I can think of two major painting projects that I want done ASAP, one semi-major painting project that I also want done ASAP, and two smaller paint jobs that really just need to get done too.  And then there's all the sewing projects.  And I should probably volunteer too....but where?

Instead of trying to figure out what post-August 4th looks like for me, I'm going to waste away the rest of my morning and a good part of the afternoon.  I have plans to meet a friend to use up a groupon to paint pottery and I'll get some blog updates in.  Then I suppose I should avoid the inevitable and hunker down to write that 50-100 page thesis that's calling my name.  It's gonna be a fun Saturday night, folks.

/end ramble.

our cross wall

I just wanted to take a moment to show off one of CJ's latest projects, a new cross for our wall.  He whipped this up one afternoon, probably when he was supposed to be completing another project for me.

Here's a shot of our entire cross wall.  With the exception of one cross someone gave to me and three that I purchased for myself, CJ has either made or bought the other crosses for me.  I guess it's kind of our thing.  But since we're quickly running out of space, I guess we're going to have to stop until we have enough money to buy another house.

out of control: garden edition

We came back from Florida to find this in our garden:

Are you kidding me?!

I have no idea how to deal with this.

When we left, we had three rows of produce.  Now, it's as if all the tomato plants got together and decided to form one giant beast of a plant that's going to overtake our home soon enough if we're not careful.

I'll also mention that in addition to the tomato plants we purchased, we have three huge tomato plants growing out of our compost bin.  I guess I'm glad to know the compost is working?

I'm guessing once this thing starts to sprout, we're going to have a whole lot of tomatoes on our hands, so feel free to let me know if you want some.  Otherwise, it appears I'm going to have to set up a produce stand outside of our house.  Clearly I've got enough time on my hands to do that too.

tunnel vision.

So.  It's been more than a month since I last updated the old blog.  I feel like I've had tunnel vision for about that same period of time, and to varying degrees.

In the past month, we did manage to get away to Florida for ten days.  But in the few weeks leading up to that, the only two things I could focus on was finishing my Operations Management course (which was awful, by the way) and then hopping on that plane to the beach.

We had a great time in Florida and now we're back in the grind.  Sort of.

While I'm working and am productive, I've been a bit scatterbrained since we got back.  It's not so much that my mind is stuck on Fort Myers Beach, but that I have six weeks start to finish to research, write, and complete my final master's project.  This is the big one.  I've spent fifteen and a half years in school now.  So this project is supposed to be my crowning achievement, right?  And I only have six weeks to complete it.  I like my project topic and feel it will only help me when I graduate (as in, to help me find a new job).  It's just a bit daunting, just because this is it.

Don't get me wrong though.  Last summer, I spent eleven weeks in Corporate Finance.  Words don't adequately describe how awful that class was.  I'm pretty sure I spent last summer alternating between pulling my hair out, screaming a bit, and then crying a whole lot.  So, I'd much rather spend six weeks this summer completing research than I would sitting in that classroom again.

My target date here is August 4th, so please be patient with me if I go missing again for a little bit.  I'm just busy clawing my way out of this tunnel.