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Monday nights sewing class….already so memorable! Where oh where to begin. I walked in and saw about 5 or 6 girls- none of which could have been older than 14. "Am I in the wrong class?" Then I remember I am in the ‘beginner’ class and well, maybe even a little bit jealous that I didn’t take advantage of a sewing class when I was their age. The class could only accomodate about 10 gals, and it turned out to be  a pretty even mix of ages.  The young ones were sweet though- one asked me what a thimble was- and the other held up the pattern (pictured below) and asked "What’s this? Is the fabric in here or something?" She was darling and so so sweet! I am going to LOVE this class.

Then, the best part of the night. Russell. THE Sewing Teacher (and owner for that matter). Russell is…a fast-talking, black converse wearing, ‘cool beans’ saying, self-proclaimed obsessive-compulsive, entirely-self taught sewing teacher who’s favorite color is ‘sparkly’. He majored in dance and pre-dates lycra. (his words not mine). So, to sum it up- Russell is AWESOME. If you couldn’t tell- I was taking notes on Russell and all of his fabulousness. He is too good to be true.

This. This is what I’m going to be sporting in just 4–weeks time. Jealous? I know you are. It says that it’s ‘Easy’ incase you missed the big red print.  I’m not feeing intimidated at all. Pajama bottoms. Easy peasy…

Morgans favorite part of the night? When Russell brought out this gynormous needle (I’m not kidding I think it was 2 feet long) and matching gynormous thread (at 8" in diameter) to show us the intricate details of how a needle gets threaded.

Note to self: Must take picture of Morgan, Russell and gynormous needle & thread for future post on blog…

Low point of the night- having to get my hips measured for said pajamas while Russel ‘whispered’ the number in my ear. 17 inches. Yes, my hips are 17" bigger than the young pup sitting next me so.  So yeah, that was fun. "I just had a baby"  I say… "oh how old is he?" urgh.. ugh 14 months!!! Not sure when I can stop using that for an execuse- but I’m milking it for all I can.

All in all… fantastic night. Good times had by all. Can’t wait for next weeks class!

Isn’t this fabric to die for? (I was asking Megan how to spell ‘salivate’, and she responded with "Sick! You can’t put that on your blog!") … so instead I say ‘Isn’t this fabric to die for?’ Tell me you agree! A while ago, Melanie was kind enough to send me some fabric links as she knew I was in the market for some fabric. One of the links was for Reprodepot. If you have never checked them out- definately go there. They have such a great selection! Some of the fabrics are a bit pricey but others seem relatively reasonable. 

Isn’t this one great, too? My mind is going a million different directions with what I could do with this (do tablecloths count?) … My sewing classes start up on Monday night and I am so excited. I feel like sewing has become a little bit of a lost art. I think most of us grew up with Mothers that sewed and I can’t say that I know too many people my age that sew (Yes, some of you do and I LOVE you for it!!)  Anyway it’s been ages since I have taken a class of any sort, so I am thrilled. Be on the lookout for some new sewing projects on the old blog. I was thinking about making Henry some soft-blocks out of the Amy Butler squares I posted about earlier. 

Okay- last picture of fabric… I love this. The colors are wonderful- so 60’s/70’s looking. It’s surprising because it’s definately not one of my favorite era’s but I do love it. I think it would make such an adorable little bib or baby blanket, don’t you? I can’t wait to make gifts for friends. Homemade gifts are just where it’s at…

We’ll see how well I catch onto this whole sewing thing! Send your good sewing vibes my way! Let me know if you have any favorite sites you like to get fabric from. Happy sewing to all you sewers our there!

After yesterdays cold shower and the realization I no longer had anything that wasn’t covered in sand,  I determined I was ready to come home.  We had such a wonderful long weekend and it was so nice to get away. It was even better being able to spend time with my wonderful family. Family is just the best and I’ve got a pretty good one. Now that we are all getting older and live in seperate states, we don’t usually get to spend a lot of time together (the 5 of us kids that is) so it was fun to stay up late at night roasting mellows, playing games, reciting our favorite SNL skits (yes, THE Bruce Dickinson. Easy, guys.. I put my pants on just like the rest of you – one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records…Really explore the studio space this time. I mean, really.. explore the space. I like what I’m hearing).

We all pretty much have 3rd-degree sun-burns but hey it happens when you spend 5 days out on the beach. We were able to take a little detour to Solvang, which is a Danish community about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara where we were camping.  This is a picture of Henry in Solvang… we did it all, ate ableskeviers, shopped, took pics of windmills. The only thing we didn’t get to do? Get a picture of Henry in a GIGANTIC Red Clog that was propped outside of the local shoe store. By the time we made our way down the other side of the street, the clog had been moved inside as it was closing time. Oh well, there is always next time!  ALL (and I mean ALL) the pic’s of this weekend can be seen here:

Oh yeah, note to self: Don’t stop to buy gas in Santa Barbara!  You’ll have to take out a small business loan to get home!

Well, we are FINALLY off to go camping for the 4th of July! These campsites (on the beach, mind you) were booked 6 months ago and now….finally we are off for a lovely 4th of July weekend…

The 4th of July is my favorite (okay, second only to to Halloween) holiday… great memories of Martha’s Vineyard, Picnic’s up the Canyon, Fireworks on the Charles in Boston… this year I’m sure will be fantastic as well…The Moore S’mores Kit are packed and ready to go… and we are off!

Have a patriotic, wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable weekend (and try to avoid any firework mishaps!) Be back in a week!

xoxo

Chris turned 30 last Saturday and for his birthday he decided to go fly-fishing on the Provo. He fished all day and I was able to go up for a bit and snap a few pic’s.  I have been looking at these pic’s these past few days trying to remind myself to take a break…take a break from my busy hectic life to enjoy those things that make me happy…like watching Henry eat his first coconut popsicle yesterday and holding it all by himself… for the very first time! Watching him sleep, having talks with Chris late at night…catching up on what happened in our busy day. Reminding myself to take time out to splash around in the pool… doesn’t Henry look so happy? That little one- he loves the water… loves lifes simple pleasures! I’m trying to get out of the house more often… we love taking walks in the early morning and  smelling  the Eucalyptus trees (soo good!), just getting out to get a breath of fresh air…is so invigorating. We’ve been taking time out of our day to go get some frozen yogurt from "The Big Chill". It’s getting hotter & hotter and the yogurt gets more refreshing everyday (well we try not to go EVERY day). I bought a watermelon on Monday and have almost eaten the entire thing myself! I love this time of year…swimming, the late-night sunsets, watermelon, grilled corn, walks, driving with my arm out the window, frozen yogurt, flip-flops, the beach, the drive-in… I just love my little Henry… Take time out to enjoy all that is around you!

This weekend, was all about Button Flowers…okay well just Friday night. Heather & I congregated at Jill’s house (the button Goddess) and made button flowers while the guys played x-box…(it was a win-win all around) It was great conversation with lots of peach-flavored fresca and raspberry cheesecake. Um um good. Jill celebrated my birthday along with Chris’ and I am happy to say I was the happy and proud recipient of some flourescent pink aged peeps. I like peeps.  I like them better when they are aged. This means you throw them in the cupboard for 2 months after Easter until they get nice and solid on the outside and chewy  on the inside. Jill knows I like a good aged peep and these peeps had  been aging for 2 months! These peeps traveled all the way from Boston to be mine! Thanks, Jill! You are a true friend! It was such a fun night… we laughed our heads off (and almost damaged a few teeth in the process). Make me belly laugh, and you are a friend for life! Heather & Jill- you are friends for life! Thanks for the great night!! I miss you already! xoxo

Monday was such a great day! We went to the Hogle Zoo and then Jennie so graciously allowed us to come to her house to go for a dip in the pool! I think it was Henry’s first time in and he was crazy about this  little raft-y thing of theirs.  We headed up the canyon and had a quick stop at Jill’s very cool cabin and then headed up to Silverlake. We (I speak for myself) were able to make it all the way around the lake without any mosquito bites… I hear others weren’t so lucky! It was a great day with friends and I have posted pics of their cute mugs here. It’s hard to believe that we all knew eachother before our little families began!

It’s 5:45 and I have been awake since 3:45 this morning. Couldn’t sleep for some reason, which is surprising because it’s been a crazy weekend and I am exhausted. The only good thing was that Henry was snuggled up in bed with me and I got to just watch him sleep (and give him lots of kisses and snuggles). The sky was dark and around 5 a.m. you could see it turn into a gorgeous baby blue. The sun will be coming up over the mountains soon and there is not a cloud in the sky. After 2 hours and the realization that counting sheep was not going to get me back to sleep, I decided to get up, flip on the tv and catch up on the old blog. I don’t usually watch tv in the morning and didn’t realize how terrible morning tv was. I saw a rather fit lady in flourescent green spandex shorts doing step aerobics on a sandy beach (who noted she does at least 30 minutes of cardio 5x a week) , someone bedazzling on another channel and lots of infomercials.  We drove into Utah early (I mean early 3:30 a.m) on Saturday morning. It was a bit of a nightmare getting out of LA on Friday but we finally made it here and it’s been very busy. Did the Fathers Day thing (Chris got his first pedicure on Saturday….and probably won’t be thrilled about my announcing it on the blog) but we had a day of pampering which we both needed.  Had a Boston reunion last night with over 60 people! WOW so much fun to see everyone. I was busy running around and am embarassed to say I didn’t snap a single photo. Luckily the resident photographer Jill was on hand so I’ll have her send me the pic’s to post.  I’m heading back up to SLC this morning (my 3rd trip in 48 hours) to go to the zoo with the gals and hopefully sneak some swimming in this afternoon.  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Finally the premier issue of Martha Stewarts new magazine "Blueprint" made it’s way to my door! It’s a great little magazine geared towards ‘designing your life’. Lovely pics inside of chinese lanterns, fabulous parties (they always look great, don’t they?) and load’s of other irresistable images! I LOVE the green door on the cover. You can click on the link above to get a free copy. I adore it and hope you get a chance to enjoy it, too!

It was my turn to get up with Henry this morning. Chris & I alternate days getting up with him. We think he may have been born to the wrong parents because we are not morning people. 6:30 a.m.? Sacreligious. It was overcast this morning as can be expected.  It’s June in LA. The fog usually tends to clear around noon. I won’t lie. When I heard the term "June Gloom" I thought it was a person. "Who’s June Gloom?"… ‘uh, it’s not a person’…"Right. I knew that". Anyway- it felt like a Fall morning…a New England Fall morning and I became homesick for Boston. 

I took this pic because I LOVE wooden childrens toys and this is what Henry was playing with this morning.  For Henry’s birthday we bought him this little wooden duck attached to a long pole that he can walk with… the little duck legs waddle in the most adorable fashion. We think he’s getting the hang of it. Henry has just started stacking the blocks on top of eachother and loves knocking them over.

We went to IKEA yesterday and bought Henry that yellow wooden tractor/truck on the right hand side of the picture. I immediately had to personalize it with his name when we got home (with rub-on letters). I just think everything is better when it’s personalized. or monogrammed. Now it’s Henry’s truck for the rest of his life.  So don’t be trying to pawn it off when your a teenager!

Sunday… today was a great, lazy day. Lazy morning, playing with blocks and then some quiet time to myself when Henry went down for his nap. It was off to church, came home to get a bath & he was off to bed. I love baking and find that Sunday is a great day to do it. (Plus, we have new neighbors that just moved in and they were overdue for some fresh baked cookies). I have fond childhood memories of baking on Sundays. We’d come home from church, change out of our clothes, eat and then make a scrumptious dessert.  I recall making several batches of "muddy buddies"… made from chex cereal, peanut butter, powdered sugar? Delish!

I also bought this gynormous scoop from Williams Sonoma a month or so ago and and have been dying to try it out.  So today was the day. I was only able to fit 4 cookies  on the sheet at a time because they were so huge, but they came out great. 15 mintues and voila. Whole Wheat Chocolate-Chip Cookies. One of my favorites.  Hope you had a wonderful Sunday, too!

Oh yes, one more thing. I was able to do a little ‘blog surfing’ tonight and came across some more great blogs which I’ve linked under ‘inspiring sites’ so do check them out and become inspired!