Hello! Today is Saturday and it's the first of May and I have a brand spankin' new mix for you! Today is also my BCF (best cousin forever) Lydia's birthday, so this mix has a distinct Lydian influence.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYDIA!
The first track is "our song" and the title of the mix refers to the fact that we lived together for a year in an apartment that I now live across the street from. Clever, aren't I? But this mix isn't just for people who are Lydia... no, it's for EVERYBODY! It's sort of a random collection of old favorites and some great new ones. There's Weezer, Jenny Lewis, The Postal Service, Beck, Blondie, and even a little Billy Joel. We used to rock out to some Billy Joel when we were kids.
Download it HERE. Or, if you'd rather listen first, the entire mix is available without downloading from the player below. Enjoy!
Be back a little later today with my Blog It Forward Inspiration post! xoxo
Now that she's received it in the mail, I thought I'd share this little Halloween pin I made for Lydia last week. In advance, pleaseeeee excuse the really terrible cell phone photos. I was way too lazy to bring out "the big guns" tonight.
I love love love making things for Lydia since she appreciates the crafty stuff more than most. And these little pins are super easy, super quick and super fun to make. The pattern for the little bat is Badbird and can be found HERE. I may or may not currently be working on a dinosaur pin....
I've been working on several cute things lately. It's finally getting sporadically chilly in S'boro so you know what that means.... crocheting season for me! Again, really sorry for the bad cell phone pictures... I should be ashamed. Better ones to come, pinky promise.
This is my current favorite color combo. Yellow (in almost any shade) and white. And granny squares are always one of my favorites.
This one is for Kristen, who needed a replacement scarf in the hat, scarf, mittens set I made her last year. I used two strands of variegated yarn at a time, with a big size K hook to make it super chunky.
Wow. This is a really terrible picture of a really cute scarf. I used Vanna's Choice yarn for this one (yes, THAT Vanna) and I really liked it. It's soft and easy-peasy to work with. I used it in mustard, chocolate brown, a nice lavender and the most perfect pumpkin color. I realized after that it really looks like Reece's Pieces with purple thrown in.
Again, a really really bad picture. This is one I'm slowly working on in heather gray and heather charcoal. I'm planning on a really simple, kinda masculine stripe. I'm also thinking that I may pull all of this out and start over. Who knows.
So, this weekend was Lydia and Bruce's wedding. I can't believe it came so quickly! The above picture just makes me smile, and it is one of the very few that I actually took this weekend.
I'm not going to go into any great detail, but I will say that it was absolutely beautiful and they are so happy. As for my part, as Lydia's Maid of Honor, I'm not sure I've ever been so tired in my whole life. This weekend also made me realize that my poor sweet bridesmaids will be in flat shoes if it kills me.
Four months until we have to do it all again, but with the roles reversed!
Lydia left for home today but before she went, she dropped off my birthday presents. My aunt and uncle gave me my very own copy of Paula Deen's Just Desserts! I am going to bake everything in that book. I can't wait. And Lydia gave me a new super-cute pair of embroidery scissors! And this ornament that she hand painted. It's the sign for 'W'... since that will be my new last initial in a year. It immediately went on the tree. And finally, I made a sock creature! It sort of has bunny ears, but it's not a bunny. He has big button eyes, a little pink smile, long legs, wee little arms, and I named him Greg.... since we were watching House when I made him. His head is a little lopsided, but it's not his fault.
And now, Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals. Say hi to your mother for me, okay?
...the Gunpowder Treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Our V for Vendetta night was so much fun. I wish I'd taken pictures of us making cookies. But here's a quick snap of the finished product. Note that all the cookies here are normal looking. I didn't include the ones that we were silly with (like the Mr. Potato Head-shaped smiley face).
I thought I'd also share my favorite little corner of my apartment right now. My sewing machine now has a permanent home for the first time. I can whip up something crafty any time I want! Also, I finally (more than 3 months after moving) got my Buffy action figures up. When Jessica was in town a few weeks ago, she helped me organize them. I know it's silly, but it's so much fun to do. Their tiny little accessories are just so adorable. And look at the lights my Mom picked up from Target! I'm a little bit in love with them.
...and this is some of my magnetic poetry on the refrigerator. I just really love this and wanted to share it. Plain and simple. Happy Thursday!
Well, technically it's 12:03 as I'm typing this, therefore it is no longer Halloween. So... Happy November 1! While I, myself did not make anything crafty this year, Lydia did. For her first embroidery project, she made a Halloween sampler. It's so cute I just couldn't resist posting a picture here. Sorry, Lydia!
(Sorry for the quality... cell phone picture.)
I'm sort of in love with the witch feet. So adorable. And the broom. And the tree... and all of it.
Lydia and I had some Jiffy Pop, made haystacks (chow mein noodles covered in melted butterscotch morsels), and watched Young Frankenstien (a Halloween tradition of mine) last night. It was a nice quiet Halloween. Just what I needed.
Even though I didn't make anything spooky, I did finish this while we were watching the movie: It will be part of my "Long Distance Quilt." Have I mentioned that yet? I'm making a quilt with my Grandma through the mail. I'm sending embroidered pieces, embroidered covered buttons and scraps of fabric to my Mamaw through the mail. When we have enough (a loooong time from now), she's going to help me assemble them into a scrap quilt. I love the idea that even though I can't see her that often, I feel like we're making something together. It really is that little things in life......
Chris and I went to a wedding last weekend (one of my old roommates got married) that was on St. Simons at Epworth. It was exciting for three reasons: 1. (Obviously) I got to see one of my friends get hitched! 2. I got to spend time with Callie who was also there. 3. We had the opportunity to see how well Epworth functions for a wedding, since we are having ours there. Wait, have I mentioned that? As of right now, we're getting married on October 3 of next year at Epworth. (SO excited). It really does function well for a wedding. It was probably the prettiest wedding I've been to. The weather was perfect, the music was incredible, and it was just all-around lovely.
Also, while we were in Belk picking up a gift for the happy couple, I (of course) was browsing to get ideas for what we might register for. We have already decided that traditional is just not us.... we're not registering for fine china. We decided take the practical route and go for nice everyday dishes instead. BUT, then I saw something that made me rethink all that. Since our wedding is in the fall, and the perfect time for buying Christmas dishes, we might just register for Christmas china. Aren't these gorgeous? That little red cardinal is calling my name. They're actually Paula Deen's ("Hey, y'all!") new line of Christmas dinnerware called "Home for the Holidays." This pitcher is tugging on my heartstrings... hard. I would love to lick a yummy Christmas dinner off of those beautiful hand painted dishes for mine and Chris' first Christmas. I can't wait to zap them with that little registering-pointy-gun scanner thing.
My mom is coming to visit me (YAY!) tomorrow, so I must go sleep so that I can get up and do the final bit of tidying before she gets here.
I will leave you with the trailer for my very favorite scary episode of Buffy. (Even though it's not technically a Halloween episode, this is the only one that ever really frightened me.)
I've neglected my blog for nearly two weeks. It's not that I've been too busy, and it's not that I don't have things to blog about. I guess I just haven't been in the blogging mood. I think it's time that I updated. Here's the rundown:
1. I went to Chris' family reunion on St. Simons two weeks ago. I was kinda nervous, but it all worked out fine. His family is incredibly warm and sweet and normal.... not that I was expecting anything less. The weekend also included a delicious dinner at (the best seafood place ever- get the crabcakes!) Barbara Jean's, a peek at the space shuttle launching, which you can see from the beach if you look really carefully, and the beginnings of wedding planning (See #2).
2. Sunday morning, Chris' baby cousin was to be baptized. I (unfortunately) had a migraine and was unable to go. After I was feeling better and we had attended a family barbecue, Chris took me by the church where the baptism was held. Talk about gorgeous! The second we walked in, I had this crazy flash of me in a big poofy white dress and I could hear “Here comes the Bride” in my head.I won’t go into too much detail but I’ll just say that there were hardwood floors, exposed beam cathedral ceilings and big, floor-to-ceiling windows.Seriously, seriously beautiful.Unfortunately, it’s also seriously, seriously expensive.Ah well, such is life.
3.The thought of said gorgeous church spawned several hours online researching other places to tie the knot.And several hours of looking for places to get married spawned several hours of panic attacks (I’m exaggerating… sort of).We’re looking to do this thing about 15-16 months from now.We planned on having at least 3-4 months of blissful engagement before the tsunami of planning started.I guess that’s the thing about plans- you can make ‘em, but in the end they really don’t matter.We’ve only just begun and I can already completely understand why people elope.Now that I think about it, I’ve never been to Vegas…..
4.Lydia came this weekend to hang out.How fun!I really can’t express how much I have missed her since classes ended.We went from spending at least an afternoon or two a week together to not seeing each other at all.Apparently I’m not a cold-turkey kind of girl.We ate some good food (El Som!), watched a good movie (Atonement, which I'm also reading at the moment), and I taught her how to embroider (she made a strawberry). Fun and giggling fits were had.
5. Kristen has been in and out this week since she's spending the week on campus for Georgia Girl's State. While I'm not entirely sure what Girls' State is, I am entirely sure that I have missed Kristen quite a bit. She snuck away Monday and we got in two whole episodes of The L Word before she had to be back. It was blissful.
6. I just finished watching seasons 1-3 of Weeds. It's a new favorite. That show is a ridiculous amount of funny. I live vicariously through TV. What can I say? 7. I finally signed all the necessary paperwork (the lease) to move into my new apartment. My official move date is June 30. That gives me exactly 18 days to go through and pack everything I own. I hate moving. I especially hate moving out of the beloved Marvin House. I especially hate moving out of the Marvin House when I'm moving into a tiny one bedroom with a cave for a kitchen. BUT, I am excited because my apartment is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Lydia's. Seriously- we share a wall. We've already decided that there will be a secret knock and possibly paper-cup-and-string communication devices of some sort.
