Back from the void.

It's been a while. The Holidays have passed (I miss them and their craziness though!) and it's time to jump back into "normal" life. I'm gonna ease back in with a tiny little post about a tasty little drink.

In early December Firefighter and I went up to my parents 2nd house in northern Michigan. Lots of fun was had, and one night we decided, "Let's do shots!" My favorite shot is a Lemon Drop (I'm a vodka girl), so we bought lemons. We couldn't find sugar anywhere in the house, so we had to get creative. We accidentally invented the Best Shot Ever:



Fun Dip instead of sugar! Genius! And yummy.

The few days that we spent up there were wonderful. Good food, good conversation, new experiences (we went to an auction, I almost bought an accordian...) I want to go back!

It's good to be back Blog, I hope your holidays went well and everyone made it out in one piece!

RIP Christmas tree, you will be missed. See you in 11 months.

I'm sorry Blog.

I've been neglecting you. I've been neglecting...everything. You see it is The Holidays. And during The Holidays life as I know it gets put on pause, and the world is different. So, I'm sorry. But as a Christmas present to you (you don't care, but play along) when The Holidays are over and my life returns to relative normalcy I will have lots of pictures of projects. I hope to have new updates on the Touchdown, some photography fun and all kinds of adventures with my new sewing machine (!). Again Blog, I'm sorry. I'll be back I promise.

P.S. Firefighter and I went to Bronners a few weeks ago and decided to start a tradition of getting an ornament with our names every year. Here's the beginning, it makes me happy.



P.P.S. Happy Solstice Blog, days are officially getting longer now!

Want It Wednesday

I want more time.



I feel like I have a hundred things to do and about two minutes to do them in. I'm sure most of this feeling is because it's winter. Winter and I have some issues. I'm sure I will write a more in depth post about my Winter Issues another time. For now I will just say that I'm glad it's not November any more, but things like motivation, and energy, and general not-losing-my-shit will be difficult for me until March/April.

Until then I am on the desperate search for more hours in the day.

Want It...Thursday?

Whoops. I am a slacker. No Want It Wednesday post this week. But here is a special installment of Want It Thursday - Book Edition!

1. The Lazy Girl's Guide to Green Living
I don't like to think of myself as a "lazy girl", but (at least sometimes) I am one. I do like to think of myself as an environmentally conscious person, so this book seems pretty perfect.

2. Vogue Sewing, Revised and Updated
I'd like to have a beyond-basics reference book. And I'd like it to be this one. I've come to respect Vogue publications on knitting, and I thoroughly enjoy Vogue patterns. So yeah, I want this book.

3. Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One: Knit & Purl: The Ultimate Stitch Dictionary from the Editors of Vogue Knitting Magazine (Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Series)
Speaking of Vogue Knitting. I'd like to have all of the Stitchionaries and I don't have any. Some day this will be remedied.

4. Darkly Dreaming Dexter
I don't know that I really need to OWN the Dexter books. But I would certainly like to read them. I'm pretty much obsessed with the show, I don't really know how I could not like the books.

5. The Belly Dancer
It's a romance novel, and that makes me scared. But it's titled "The Belly Dancer", so that means I gotta have it.

Thus concludes the first installment of Books I Want. There will be many more to follow. I really like books.

Touchdown costume - Part 3, a trim story.

I got this far:



And then I stopped. I had this lovely trim:



Upon closer inspection it was even more wonderful than I thought:



See that!? See how the little metal parts of the trim coodinate with the medallions that I already have on the costume?? But I only had a couple yards of the trim and that's not acceptable. And I can't get any more. So I went to work with the scissors:



Perfection! I have since sewn some silver coins on, and have started with these teeny little mini-medallions. But I don't have pictures yet, so you'll have to be patient. I am very excited about this costume, can't wait to get my dance on in it!

Want It Wednesday

Now that my dreams from last week have come true and this Christmas I will be receiving a brand spankin' new sewing machine (!), I have moved on to dreaming of things that go with that sewing machine. I do not have a house of my own, or a room that I can dedicate to creativity, but if I did I would want koala Cabinets for my sewing machine and serger. I would want the "simple" ones. The Cub IVs.



These "simple" cabinets are $1400 EACH. Yep. But they are faboo. This is one installation of Want It Wednesday that will not be fulfilled any time in the near (or probably far) future. Unless I can find used ones somewhere that will work for my machines...

Touchdown Costume - Part 2

Finally finished the never-ending black braid. The whole thing is trimmed and starting to look like something I might actually wear. I used just over six yards of trim, but my fingers feel like it's been about 20 miles.





Now the real fun part. This is where my brain gets to let go of the more technical thinking and let the design part go wild. I have small box of bits and parts to start with, but there will be more.



I started by adding the center piece to the top, I like to start symmetrical and build from there, so the middle is a good place to begin. Then I added medallions along the tops of each cup. I am now in the process of doing the same to the belt.





And! If I had panned a little to the right in a few of the above pictures, you would have seen this:



It is my Christmas present from my amazing, wonderful, magical boyfriend. Yaaaaaaay! I can. not. wait. Oh man. It's beautiful.