Thursday, January 28, 2010

Things to be happy about in the next 11 days...

1. Sewing class meeting at the fabric store
2. Visiting with my in-laws
3. Driving down the coast with my husband
4. A bowl of Amy's albondigas soup
5. Softball
6. Meeting with my new book club
7. The ASR Convention
8. Making pj pants (and new friends) at my first sewing meetup
9. Stampede
10. Superbowl Chili Cookoff
11. Starting my FREE online photoshop class through San Diego Continuing Ed

Friday, January 22, 2010

Raining Again...

I seriously can't remember the last time that it rained for so many days straight in San Diego. Maybe that's because it's never happened since I've lived here? The rain usually holds a dear special place in my heart. It reminds me of my time spent in Ireland (where it rained almost daily) and all the fond memories that go along with that...

One of my favorite rainy memories from Ireland was the day that Megan, Annie, and I ventured to the Aran Islands. The weather wasn't particularly good that morning as we boarded the ferry, and it soon took it's vengeance on the tiny boat, rocking it to and fro and pounding it with wave after wave. When we finally reached blessed land, the weather had cleared just enough to allow the jaunting car drivers an opportunity to wrangle in tourists like myself one last time before closing up for winter.

We climbed up into the jaunting car eagerly anticipating our tour around Inishmor, the largest of the Aran Islands. As we traveled in the open air car, we watched as the clouds began their ominous grouping in the darkening sky. Still, our spirits weren't dampened as we pressed on, equipped with warm blankets and rain coats. When we reached our resting spot at a small cafe, our driver told us that we could climb to the cliffs...but we'd have to do it by foot! So Annie, Megan, and I started our journey up the rain soaked path, laughing the whole way and armed with blankets wrapped around us and an umbrella that quickly met its fate as the wind whisked it away. When we got to the top we were met with an astonishing view of the sheer cliffs that dropped straight down into the pounding waves. As we gathered around to take pictures we noticed that the rain wasn't just coming straight down anymore. It was shooting over the side of the cliff and pelting us from the side!

Soaked to the bone and happy as clams, we headed back down to the cafe and its beckoning fireplace and hot coffee. As we were finishing the tour we were delighted with the site of a rainbow emerging over two swans who huddled together in the water. It was one of my favorite days that yielded one of my favorite pictures from my entire year in Ireland.

And really, thinking about that memory makes another day of rain in San Diego a little more tolerable.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Built with Love

What a fun and productive Saturday it has been! We started the morning out right with homemade pancakes and vanilla lattes enjoyed in our kitchen nook. Afterwards, we whisked away to the zoo for a few hours of walking, talking, and animal watching. The weather was so nice that we enjoyed a leisurely In-n-Out lunch and some light reading on our back patio. The afternoon was spent constructing the base of our super secret woodworking project, from start to finish! Follow that up with dinner, football, and some scrapbooking and that my friends is what I call a perfect Saturday!


Friday, January 15, 2010

Blog Makeover- Part 1

You've probably noticed by now that my blog underwent a little makeover recently. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't change all of this myself. (It's mostly a template.) BUT, I did make the header! Yay for me! Overall, I'd have to say I'm very pleased to not have to look at the blue dots anymore. I hope that I'll learn enough this year to be able to completely edit the look of my blog myself, but for now this will do. (On a side note, I miss getting comments on this blog! Or maybe nobody reads it anymore since I don't post everyday...sadness.)

Last night was the first night of the sewing class that I'm teaching this quarter, and it went so well! I found out when I returned to work in January that my class was already full (success!), but I was surprised when I showed up to class yesterday and I had 6 extra people show up who were trying to crash the class! Ultimately I only let one into the class (she stuck it out the longest!), so I'll be teaching 11 students over the next 7 weeks as they make the journey to becoming expert seamstresses! The class went quite well, despite the first day chaos of showing everybody how to use their machine with the different nuances each machine presented! (It would've been great if I could've multiplied myself for a while there!) Everybody seems really excited to dig in and start working on projects, and that's just what we're going to do starting next week! Pillowcases will be our first project!

There's me teaching

This weekend should be nice and quiet for us, and 3 days off for lucky me! Hopefully we'll have some time to continue to work on our top secret woodworking project. We're also going to try to make it out to the zoo. Sunday is of course the Charger's game and a 2nd week at City Bible Church San Diego. Just lovin' life right now...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sew What?

Tomorrow is the first meeting of the "Learn to Sew" class that I'm teaching! I'm sooo excited for it and proud to say that my class is full! In preparation for the class I decided I needed to give my machine a little spin, so I whipped up this long sleeve shirt over the past 2 days.

I loooove how it turned out! I wore it to work today and nobody asked me if it was handmade! Success! Anyways, I'll keep you informed of my classes progress over the next 8 weeks...

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Window Shelf

I've been busy chipping away at all those old windows in my garage with various projects, and my most recent one was a gift for my mom.


It's a window shelf, complete with a vinyl swirl and bird decal stuck on the front! I started by sanding down the window and painting it heirloom white. I then took a 2x4, sawed it down to size and painted it as well. I glued the 2x4 to the window and attached the small brackets. Finally, I cut the vinyl out with my cricut and stuck it to the window front. I looove how it turned out (another one that I wanted to keep for myself!)!


I'm linking up the the I made it without my hubby party at Shanty2Chic!

Shanty 2 Chic


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

My Daily Battle

Everyday I wake up with a small yet mighty battle that is waiting to be fought. This is a battle that has caused me a lot of trouble and many lost hours of sleep. I am often puzzled by the source of this battle and have tried numerous times to change my strategy in order to ultimately come out victorious. Some days I'm able to win this battle, and some days I am unequivocally defeated. Today was one of those days.

This battle that I speak of is the battle to keep my dogs in the kitchen (and out of the rest of the house) during the day. As I mentioned before I have tried many tactics to defeat my enemies...er, my pups. Just a few days ago I developed my newest battle defense, an impenetrable fortress consisting of a flat board backed by a gate, locked in by 2 sturdy chairs for extra measure.


Surely, my dogs wouldn't be able to break through this elaborate defense system! But, no. I was wrong. Apparently my dogs are smarter than me. And vengeful. Thus, the battle must rage on until I am victorious!! (Or until I say fuhgettaboutit and just let my dogs sleep on the couch all day.)



A quick update for those of you following my Project Life progress: I have decided to post my pictures to Picasa instead of Flickr (limited photo storage...not my style). You can follow me on Picasa here.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Why We Live in San Diego

Today is January 3rd and it was sunny and clear with a high of 79 today in San Diego. And yesterday was just a precursor for today, so really, is there any question why we live here? We definitely got to soak up some of the sunshine the past two days. Yesterday, we headed down to Fiesta Island with the pups to meet up with Mike and Kyle so that Daryll could throw around the baseball with them. It was sooo nice out and the pups were sufficiently tired when we piled back in the car to return home.


This morning we woke up early(ish) and hiked the canyon near our house. It was the first time that we'd been back there since the ill-fated rattlesnake incident took place last year. But luckily we didn't have any run-ins today and finished our hike feeling rejuvenated and ready for the day.


Most of the rest of the day was spent doing some New Years cleaning and clearing out, watching some football, and grocery shopping for the week. Tomorrow it's back to work for both of us, but tonight Desperate Housewives comes back on the air to bring us some answers to the dramatic airplane crash conclusion in early December!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Well, Helloooo 2010

And so a new year starts. Just like that 2009 is over and done with and the promise of a fresh start comes in with the new year. And just to make sure that 2010 started on a good note, my Ohio State Buckeyes pulled off a resounding victory today against Oregon. I couldn't be more pleased (after all, even I must admit that it has been quite a while since OSU won a game of any consequence).


We rang in the New Year with friends last night with a low-key game night at our house. Jeff, Lindsay, Jared, Alice, and Colin joined us for dessert and games in the hours leading up to midnight. I couldn't think of any way that I'd rather finish 2009 and start 2010 than that!


Today Daryll and I started the dreaded task of putting away our Christmas decorations. With everything removed from the staircase, walls, and doors our house looks so bare that one might believe we were packed up to move! But I secretly enjoy this brief moment in between holidays when we're just surrounded by "white" space. But don't get me wrong, valentines and superbowl decorations will find their way into my decor in due time.


Now in the spirit of New Years, here are my resolutions:
1. To take a picture every day in 2010 (to my faithful blog readers this resolution may sound strangely familiar...I admit it, I made the same one last year. And failed at it! But this year for Christmas Daryll bought me a "Project Life" kit that feeds right into my picture a day concept, so I'm feeling extra motivated!) P.S. You can follow my project life journey on flickr by clicking here.
2. To take classes on both Photoshop and Illustrator (yes, this is also similar to last year's resolution, but I will say that I did succeed in learning a lot about photoshop on my own in 2009, but I feel like it's time to take it up a notch in 2010).
3. To make new friends in San Diego!

Also, as an aside note about setting and achieving goals, I am proud to say that I successfully completed my 90 day challenge and never once cooked the same meal twice in that time frame! Woo hoo for me!! Daryll was happy to try all the new food combinations (and now he's happy that I can cook some of our favorites again!).

I hope that you all have a happy and healthy 2010! What are some of your goals/resolutions for the new year?