A Case of The Mondays

Although technically this would be the Sunday night/Monday.

Last night as I lay in bed convalescing (aka watching a movie) I had my laptop charger draped over my blanket and when 20 minutes into the movie I decided I'd had enough and just wanted to sleep I unplugged the laptop and thought I had shoved the charger onto the floor. I only realized that I was mistaken when I pulled my comforter up towards my chin and said comforter launched said laptop charger up into the air like a trampoline and the charger landed squarely on my face. And when I say my face I mean my mouth, and especially my bottom lip that split like an overripe tomato. I also got blood on my favorite sweatshirt as I tried to discern whether my lip was bleeding or not.

My mom says I'm lucky I didn't break a tooth or something, but she also told me this afternoon that my nose blowing sounds like glass breaking.

Convalescing

I am back from California, and while it was fun I got sick--and I hate being sick!

I will maybe write about more of the things I did on my trip later when I am not sick but here is a quick rundown:

Driving>Sheep>Sunnyvale>pouring rain> family bonding>Church>Google>me almost stealing a google bike>Palo Alto>Stanford>Hearst Castle> LA> rain> Disneyland> crazy> sunburn> sickly> more rain> vintage shopping> fashion district> bacon wrapped hot dogs> near-death experience> Venice Beach> my mom gets pulled into a hobo's act>Jelly Belly factory>memories>more driving> San Francisco> more sheep>home.

Winning

Today I keep seeing fluffy dogs and I just want to stop and cuddle all of them!

On Tuesday I found out I won Palace's March raffle! Palace is a cute little shop on Belmont and 34th that carries a lot of vintage and specialty items, and my prize for winning was a free bottle of Olo fragrance!

Olo is a small fragrance line, that is handmade in Portland, and today I went in and picked out my scent! I chose Erastus, which has a nice NW foresty smell, but all of them smelled great so it was really hard to choose! You can check them at several stores here in Portland, or you can get samples on their website.

Also, last night I was in bed reading when I thought "I wonder if I can fit my fist in my mouth?" and I tried. The Phalanges were fine, but metacarpals were a no-go. I think I might have just been overly excited because I am leaving for Disneyland tomorrow!

18.

Today is my sisters 18th birthday and my mom decided to throw her a surprise party. At first I was jealous (because I am SO mature) because my mom has never thrown me or anyone else in our family a surprise party. In part because I remembered my 18th birthday. I was at BYU, I had only been there a few weeks and one of my fears before going to school was knowing I would be there for my birthday and probably wouldn't know anybody yet and that I would be really lonely.

But in fact my 18th birthday was one of the best, in large part because of these girls who are still some of my favorite people on this green earth!

I couldn't find any pictures of the day, I don't know where they went! But I remember staying up really late the night before and joking about how I probably wouldn't go to sleep at all because I was writing a paper I had put off. But I finally went to sleep and woke up to a ceiling packed with balloons! There were dozens! And on my chair there was a card with some of my favorite treats (*cough* Swedish Fish *cough*) and there were all these really cute signs on the door. I had early morning class so I had to leave, but I just remember feeling so happy and loved all day because I hadn't expected any of it! That night we went out to Legendz Grill which was fun too.

Part of the reason I love this birthday so much is because often I feel like birthdays and other holidays become all about presents and being disappointed when things don't go the way you would like them to. This birthday was great because I didn't have a lot of expectations, and really I didn't get any great material things--everything was bought with bought with dining cards or drawn with markers--but I felt loved and I would really give up all the presents for every birthday to be like that.

$1.50 Liberty Necklace

I finally decided what to do with some of the pieces of Liberty fabric Carina sent me. On her tumble there are pictures of these fabric necklaces she does that are so pretty, and my mom has one just like it so I decided to make some for myself!

{Via Malinka}

{My beautiful baby sister Bridget modeling my necklace}

Plus I made 3 necklaces that only cost me $1.50 to make. All I had to buy was one bag of marbles. They are really easy to make and you can customize yours however you want. All you do is sew a tube (for marbles I would make it at least 5' around) sew one end closed, turn it right side out and then insert the marbles. You just tie a know on either side of each marble, hand sew the other end and you are done! I may have to dig through my scrap box for more!

I am standing in the kitchen watching my cat fidget in his sleep and I realized,

this is kind of what he looks like in my head.

{10 pts to anyone who knows what the picture is from}

Love From Sweden

Today I received a package from Carina, the designer I interviewed for Colette Patterns and wrote about here. She send me a couple phiffikus to try out as well as some pieces of her gorgeous Liberty fabric that I am obsessed with and need to find a project for. She also sent me:

A skirt! I decided that I had to use this picture because it looks like I am giving the skirt a thumbs up, which I would but wasn't meaning to. Honestly, I probably would have never chosen red gingham for myself (bad experience being forced to make "picnic pants" for YW) but I love it! It is great for now with tights and will be a good spring skirt too. I think it is a testament to the skirt that I haven't take it off since I got the mail. Hopefully I will have a job someday (I could end that sentence there) and will be able to buy one of her dresses!

Also, today my interview with Kristina of Fischer clothing went up on the blog, you can read it here. I just love her new collection!

Hot Men With Babies

Today I was listening to The Andrews Sisters radio station on Pandora (which is AWESOME btw), and a familiar male voice came on that brought me to shocking realization.

Gene Kelly, you might be my dream man.

Just look at him being so paternal. I love this photo even more because it introduced me to the website Hot Men With Babies after which this post is titled. In reality many of the men, especially some of the athletes are not really all that hot, but good news! You don't have to be a celebrity to be featured--so if you're a "hot man" I implore you to take a picture with a baby and submit it.

Also, I am on an omelet kick and am I the only one who finds cooking eggs incredibly (edibly) frustrating? Omelets can be tricky anyway so I watched a clip from the cooking channel on how to properly make them and as they described the fluffy texture the properly cooked egg is supposed to have, my heart sank because I'm pretty sure I have never properly cooked an egg in my life.

When I make eggs they always seem to turn out dry and crusty. I think that (like many other of my cooking problems) the problem may be in me trying to rush and cook them too fast.

I wish I could jet off to Paris and take a cooking class like Julia Child. Bus alas, I will have to settle for thoroughly researching egg cooking technique.

{ps. This is my 200th post}

Shhh

Is it bad that I don't like this music video because of the girl's ugly yellow belt, and her clashing hat and scarf? Nevertheless I love this song, it was featured on a V-day Postsecret video--maybe I should have posted that instead. But now at least you know, so if you suffer from the same snobbery you should close your eyes or open a new tab after pressing play.

Memories & Socks

It could be something in the water, or the fab Spice Girls Pandora station Jack recommended, or this post on Miss Modish's blog, or the fact that I am back at home and went on a little jaunt through the neighborhood that brought back a million memories, but I have been thinking about some people from my past lately.Today I remembered one girl in particular, we went to church when we were young. In my memory her mother had passed away (but that could be totally wrong). I just remember her telling this story about how her mother had seen an angel--was it purely the imagination of a child or is there any truth to it I wonder.

Also, socks.

When going through my closet I found my long lost pair of Hansel from Basel socks! But alas, when I put them on I discovered that the heels are worn almost all the way through. So of course I must buy more, and thought I should introduce you to my addiction!

{These knee pad tights are one of my favorites}

Hansel from Basel is a company s based out of LA that focuses on leg wear. Their socks and tights are great quality, but can sometimes be a bit pricey but they have a great section and---the sock of the month club! Every month they feature one item at a super discounted price. February's sock of the month is still up, and so cute at $10 I am struggling to talk myself out of buying a pair!

{They say "Bon Voyage! Hansel from Basel"}