Project Runway

Last Thursday was the season premiere for Project Runway Season 9. I haven't watched this show in years...I didn't even realize it was still on. But it is still on and comes on Lifetime now, which is odd cause I thought they only showed overly dramatic made-for-TV movies...Anywho, Project Runway is like all those other reality TV show competitions, except in this one they're not cooking or wooing, they're SEWING!

I'd like to say I'm not a fan of reality TV, but I watch it nonetheless...so I guess it's my guilty pleasure. But this one is uniquely interesting cause it's about several designers that have different challenges every week of things to sew. For example, a challenge on a previous season was to take a hideous bridesmaid dress and refashion it into a nice dress normal people would actually wear. Then of course people get eliminated and there's eventually a winner and they get some big prize.

It's a little dramatic. I just want to watch them sew and see what how it all turns out, I don't care too much for the interpersonal drama. But I still enjoy it, and it keeps me motivated to sew. I've been sewing non-stop and finished a dress today. Hope to have pictures soon!

A Little Ditty in My Head...

I love music. I have no musical ability whatsoever, but I did use to dance…which is somewhat related, right? Well, I at least have rhythm.

When I was younger, my sister took me to tons of concerts. Some of my favorite memories are of our road trips to concerts, waiting outside to get in early and be at the front of the crowd, and standing for 3+ hours in hot sweaty crowds of people screaming out the lyrics along with the band on stage. Though I probably have permanent hearing loss from the times we spent in front of blaring speakers, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. There’s just something invigorating about literally feeling the music reverberate through your body, and dancing without a care.

Now my music enjoyment is limited to doing a boogie in my office chair while streaming Pandora radio on my iPhone at work. But thank goodness for Pandora! Without it, my music horizons would be severely stunted. If you don’t know of Pandora, it’s a radio that creates a station around music you like. You don’t get to choose what you hear, it just plays songs similar to the ones you tell it you like. And that’s the best thing about Pandora: it introduces me to new music! And the cool thing is you can build the station around multiple musical influences. For example, the station I listen to is Mumford & Sons combined with Florence + the Machine. After many attempts, this is my ideal station. Pretty much everything they play I love.

Now I can’t make it through the day without my Pandora station. And I’m infuriated when the bad cell service in my office building interrupts my soundtrack. But I make do.

And because I feel the need to show you how cool I am because I listen to cool music, here is a list of bands I’ve discovered through Pandora that are worth checking out:

Florence + the Machine

Regina Spektor

Kate Nash

Lily Allen

Vampire Weekend

Old 97s

Adele

Two Door Cinema Club

Josh Ritter

The bad thing is, now that I’ve found all these artists, I’d like to own their albums to avoid the aforementioned musical interruptions, but it’s too much money to buy them all. I guess I’ll just count to ten and wait for my signal to come back.

A Successful Experiment

After this dress I made, I had a good bit of fabric left over. Turns out, to make a baby outfit doesn't take much fabric at all. So I decided to play around with it and maybe make a skirt. And something actually turned out.

I didn't feel like putting any closures on it, so the waste-band just ties. It was pretty simple, and I actually like it. I wore it to work today.

In other news our garden is flourishing!

Our cucumber plant is growing like crazy!

These plants are too neat - they shoot out these tendrils and grab whatever they can

It's produced many flowers but no fruit yet. 

Our jalapenos! (Ok, we bought the plant with a couple already on it, but we've kept it alive!)

Our lovely basil with flowers. I've been told to pick the flowers off so it will keep growing

Vacay to Chatty

Ben and I took a vacation this summer with some friends to the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. We actually stayed in Fort Payne, Alabama, and drove up to Chatty for a day, and visited a few other towns around.

The first necessary task to the beginning of any trip is taking the dogs to the kennel. Our precious puppies are bestowed into the care of our vet, and then we don’t have to worry about them while we’re gone. The cat though, she’s just on her own. No, we did get Ben’s brother to come take care of her and the garden while we were gone. 

Colby and Jackson love riding in the car...until they realize where they're going

Next, before you leave town, you must have car snacks

Yes, these were just for me. No, I didn't share. Yes, I ate them all.

We stayed at a cabin outside of Fort Payne. It was an actual log cabin that the owners built themselves. The antique décor was very reminiscent of my grandmother’s house. We enjoyed the front porch with rocking chairs, and the back porch with a hot tub. It was a really great little cabin.

Another thing every trip needs: livestock as next door neighbors. Apparently the people that own the cabins we were staying at keep goats as their pets and lawnmowers. Lots of goats. We could see them from our porch, and had fun “baaaing” at them, and hearing them “baaa” back. Every time we came up to the fence they ran up to see what we had for them to eat, though we just disappointed. They were pretty funny to watch.

The next critical thing for any trip: get sunburnt and sore your first day of vacation. We spent one day playing around at Little River Canyon. It’s a beautiful waterfall that we hiked down to and spent the day swimming below the falls. My first time to get in the water all summer, so it was great! Though we forgot the sunscreen and were all pretty red by the end of the day, with sore muscles from swimming and climbing all over the rocks. Sadly no pictures cause of the water factor.

We went to Chattanooga the next day for some beautiful views from atop Lookout Mountain.

We went to eat lunch at a really cute café on the mountain. Ben suggested we get some calamari. He had had it before and knew he liked it, and the rest of us were up for trying it. It comes out looking like any other fried food. I tried a few bites, and it was ok but a little chewy for my taste…but when I saw the tiny little squid still whole in the middle of the pile, I couldn’t eat anymore. Kudos to Super Hubs for not being grossed out. 

Then we visited the Tennessee Aquarium, which we’ve been to a few times now, but is always a treat to see. I especially enjoy the hands-on exhibits, like where I get to pet stingrays! They gave us shrimp to feed them, and we tried, but they weren’t interested in us. I guess they’d already had enough to eat.

Lots of awesome things to see, like one of my favorites: penguins!

and jellyfish, which are super cool to look at, but I would definitely not want to see one in water I’m swimming in.

and super chilaxed alligators

One neat thing about Chattanooga is they have a lot of brick sculptures all around downtown.

We had dinner at a local brewery/restaurant, which was super neat. The fun thing about eating at a brewery is trying their beers that you can’t get anywhere else.

And your final essential: plan to do a bunch of things in one day, but make sure that all those places will be closed by the time you get to them. Saturday we had a full day planned of shopping. First we visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. This is where all the lost and unclaimed luggage gets sent and you can buy it for a steal. They literally have everything: from clothes to books to kitchenware. They even have some food, though I wasn’t too keen on buying any of that. Ben and I scored some slip-covers for our wingback chairs, and our friends found some good clothing deals. 

Following that we tried to find lunch. Note for future reference: apparently NOTHING is open in small-town America on Saturdays. We drove around for about an hour and a half through several cities trying to find somewhere to eat lunch that wasn’t fast food (though there wasn’t much of that either). I enjoyed eating at the local places, so we pressed on and finally found a café that was fifteen minutes from ending their lunch hours. We made it just in time and the food was delicious!

After that we tried to go to Trade Day, which is just a GIANT flea market, but by the time we made it there, there wasn’t a single vendor left. Apparently it had started at the crack of dawn and wrapped up around lunch. Next stop was an antique store in Fort Payne, but by the time we made it there, it was closed. Then we were going to try to go to a glass-blowing shop, but by the time we would have made it there, it would’ve been closed. Finally, we had nothing else to try to do and went back to the cabin to relax.

And then we came home. Overall a wonderful vacation, and much-needed break from work and life. But is so nice to be home. 

A little bit of cute

So I have two nephews and one brand new two month old niece. Finally, a little girl! Girl clothes are just so dadgum adorable, I just can't help fawning over them in the stores. And now I finally have a reason to make baby girl clothes. Oh yay!

So I had a design that popped in my head after I bought that adorable green cheap fabric the other day. And I ended up with this

It turned out exactly how I wanted...except way too big for a two month old! Oh well, at least babies grow a lot and grow fast. So at some point it will fit her, I just hope that it's not December. It's just a jumper dress with the white lining with ruffle at the bottom of the lining, buttons on the straps to get on and off.

So I would claim this one as a success because it turned out like the picture in my head, and it will fit (eventually).

I was reading some old posts about sewing projects, and recalling the struggles and frustrations I've experienced. And compared to my recent projects, I can really tell I've learned a lot and I am slowly but surely getting better. It's so encouraging, and just makes me want to keep sewing! So on to the next project - a dress for me with that other fabric I just bought. But that will have to wait til after vacation with friends in Chattanooga later this week. Pictures to come!

Wiiiii!

I would agree with most people that being active is good, especially when I have a weakness for cake and ice cream. But besides thinking about it, doing it is a whole other story. It is so difficult to get up the motivation to go to the gym, and it's way too Mississippi-hot to do anything outside.

So what is a better idea than a fitness workout video game? I want that! I stole borrowed Wii Fit from my brother...last December. Today, in July, I finally decided to try it out.

First perks, I get to play my Wii and I get to workout in the air conditioning of my own home. I also get to try out workouts, like yoga, that I would be too intimidated to do in front of other people. And trust me, you do look ridiculous doing the yoga, the step aerobics, and balance exercises. But you get to play a video game!

So today was my first day to try it out. And I go on vacation in two days, so we'll see if my early hiatus will disrupt plans to make this a regular workout. But I am a fan of video games that keep me in shape!