Saturday, February 28, 2009

Seamstress for the Band

Last month, Ashton requested that I sew up some matching shirts for him and CB to wear for one of their big shows coming up. I didn't really think he was serious, until he mentioned it again, the week before the show. I had this vintage pattern that I got at a thrift store for a man's shirt that had these flaps that made them more unique then just a regular dress shirt. He picked out some fabric that I already had too, so I thought why not try? I'd never made a man's shirt before, but with a pattern it couldn't be that hard right? Well, it was and it wasn't. Turns out, I had just enough barely of the fabric to cut the shirts. Attaching the sleeves were pretty tricky too, they just didn't seem to line up perfectly. And I swapped out the buttons (and buttonholes-maybe next time haha) for easier snaps. But I finished them just hours before the show and here they are in action.

On stage at the Fonda


The view from the balcony. It was a pretty packed show.


Ashton Drumming


CB strumming

And both backstage modeling the shirts after they played
(don't mind the finger in the shot- oops)

Friday, February 27, 2009

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Huck!


Dear sweet Levi Huckleberry,

You just turned 1 and we love you so much!

You have always been so smiley and cuddley with us when we come visit.
We wish we could have been there for some birthday cake.  
I can't wait to see how good you are at walking. We'll see you soon.

Love, Auntie Claire and Uncle BB






PS- To Makaya- Of course, buying his present 2 weeks ago, would ensure that it would be sent late.  We'll send it off today or tomorrow along with presents for you and Stella.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Busy Weekend!

** Caleb accidentally posted this before I'd written anything- haha, so I've added words now **

This week my mom and Aunt Mona came to visit. It was my aunt's first trip to LA so we made the rounds to the usual touristy spots.
The Observatory


Here is my mom while we were waiting in line for the upstairs telescope.
The upstairs telescope usually has a very long line, but on Thursday night, it was pretty reasonable. I do, however, recommend going to the telescopes on the front lawn. We saw an amazing view of Saturn from one of them.

Here is the three of us goofing off inside the planetarium show waiting for it to start.
I think the old man behind my Aunt Mona is asleep.
I took probably 15 pictures of us in the eerie twilight waiting for the show to start.

Here we are suited up and waiting to fly (at CityWalk) in the indoor skydiving tank.

This is me... I went even higher than this. I'm glad my face skin wasn't flapping too much, and that I got a good smile in- because at times it was pretty scary but exhilarating.


This is my mom flying in the tank. It was her idea to do it, and we had a lot of fun.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Adventures in Mei Tai's

Last October, Harmony put me up to a major challenge:
She really wanted a mei tai carrier for Christmas and hoped that I could make it for her.
I had never actually made a Mei Tai before-- I actually had never even seen one in person.
She sent me this link to show me the style she liked and I found this tutorial to get the general idea of how it'd come together.
The pre-Christmas sewing rush included finishing this quilt, and so I had to bring all the Mei Tai fabrics with me to my mom's hoping she could help me tackle this beast of a project. We got a great start on it, and I had enough of it done by Christmas to give it to her with an IOU to finish it and mail it back. And to celebrate Harper's being one month old, I actually did finish it and sent it on.
Today I got a lovely email with these pictures. Without further ado...
My interpretation of the Mei Tai
(modeled by Harmony- looking hot mama! and Harper)


I'm thinking it will be big enough to grow with him,
and may even fit better once he does get a bit bigger.


Bird's Eye view of Harper all snuggled up







Sunday, February 15, 2009

Surprise!

My friend has this on her blog, and in order for me to win some curiously awesome prize from her, I must do this too! (one must give to receive).  I normally don't do this stuff, but I think this could end up pretty funny!


Here it is, and I plan on carrying this through.  Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My Choice.  For You.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (might be a little while)
4. You have no clue what it's goign to be.  It may be a story.  It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet.  I may draw or paint something.  I may bake you something and mail it to you.  Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5.  I reserve the right to do soemthing extremely strange.

The catch?
Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.  The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

*** Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!***

Friday, February 13, 2009

There comes a time...

in every woman's life, where they recognize in themselves that they are a lot more like their mother than they originally thought. I had this experience today.

I was on my lunch break at work today, and my coworker was driving me over (in the rain no less) to my favorite sandwich shop on Olive in Burbank. This shop uses punch cards and mine was filled up, which entitled me to a free sandwich, bag of chips and soda. As we were pulling into the parking lot it shares with the 7-11, a homeless man walked in front of our car. We parked and I noticed that this man was reaching into the trash can and pulling out a coffee cup.


I asked him if he was hungry and he said yes. I asked him if he would like a sandwich and he said yes. I told him I'd be right back. I went and got my sandwich and ordered the combo for him. I picked Turkey, plain potato chips, and Pepsi- turkey's safe, right? I brought him out his sandwich, handed it to him, returned to the car.


My coworker looked at me shocked- You gave him your sandwich! No, I told her, my sandwich is in my bag. I got him an extra one. Then she said- Your mother does that, doesn't she? And she does. My mom is the one, who goes to Downtown LA, (on one of Caleb's infamous tours of the city- he takes visitors to see Skid Row and Santee Alley) where she sees the homeless men without shoes and socks and she goes to the store and buys a pack of socks to hand out as she walks. She's the one who sees a guy standing in the parking lot with blood stains on his shirt and without intimidation, gets him a hamburger. These are the memories that stick with your children as they grow, the memories that will become motivation for them to follow in your steps.


And so I write this tribute to my mom, the day before Valentine's Day, to thank her for being a wonderful mom, a great example, for showing me how to care for people. I am who I am today because of you, and if I do say so myself, that's pretty darn good ;)



...when one must grow their very own citrus fruit. For me, this time has come. During my period as a "single wife" last week... I saw this picture on the internet and had to, absolutely had to, try to recreate this:


I found the drawf orange tree at a small nursery in Burbank. I had never bought a tree before (except of course of the Christmas variety) but I felt like I got a great deal for it. But I couldn't find a bright orange pot in a big enough size to save me. I finally decided on this green one (yes, the thumbs up is cheesy, but don't you love my gardening gloves!?)

And here it is in its windowbox. Yes, it is rather large... but I can't bring myself to prune it. All over the branches, there are little buds waiting to blossom into flowers and then ORANGES! It seems cruel to cut any of them off. Fresh squeezed orange juice anyone...? I'll let you know in a couple months when it's ready!


...when one does a idiotic thing like breaking their car.

Yep, I did this. Scraped it against the pole in our parking spot, until it bent backgrounds and cracked off. This picture is 2 days old, it just hangs to the side now. Oops.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Have you seen this man?


Missing: 

1 husband.  

This is an old picture, but I imagine him to look this tired.

Last spotted:

Several miles south of Canada- Note on Map below


This is the farthest away that he goes on this tour,
 and starting tonight after their show, he'll be making his way home to arrive mid Monday.  
Yay!

Which means I have just 2 1/2 more days before he's here and only 2 1/2 more days to finish the to do list I gave myself.

I did make one more dress- this one 3T... maybe for Stella ;) - with plans to start a 2nd one.
I DID finish (FINALLY) Harmony's Mei Tai carrier.  I am going to have to get a decent picture of it before I mail it out tomorrow.
I did clean up the mess and put away all the clean clothes (plus did additional laundry!) but I promptly remade the mess with completion of above dress and carrier... so back on the list.
I have watched 4 episodes of Gossip Girl and I am hooked!
I have watched and learned several steps from the dance... but it is proving a little more difficult than I originally anticipated.  This will probably take many more "sessions"
I have not attempted a skirt for me, so that's still on the list too.