My Latest Creation

Woah showing some serious blog love this week.

I wasn't planning to post again so soon, but then Google Auto-Awesome fashioned together this nifty gif and I just had to share it somewhere.

Today is my first day wearing my newest creation and as a result I had Mike outside in boxers and a white tee photographing me in million poses.(He does a great job humoring me on this stuff). Anyway, my handy android phone auto back-ups all my pics to my google+ account. From there Google recognized the multi-photo sequence and stitched it all together for me. Thanks Google :)

Happy Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cue the mushy, gushy music. It's V-day Baby!

I'm  proud to announce we survived the ice storm. Also I should mention that people in general overreacted to this storm. It was in fact less intense than expected, but still Southerners + Winter Weather = Chaos

Mike and I spent our snow ice days eating delicious breakfasts, watching the Office non-stop, and beating Lego Indiana Jones...oh and working remotely...but that's not very exciting. I also found time to finish another sewing project (more details below). It's amazing how much extra time you can save by not needing to get all fancied up and drive in in the morning.

Homemade cinnamon rolls...no better way to kick off  the day :)

By the way it's Valentine's day today. Our first as a married couple. Our big plans include dinner at Soul Vegetarian followed by dessert at Honey Bubble. I think I'll stop eating now in preparation.

Romantic snow picture just for you.

In other news, I made another dress! And I scored on some bargain fabric again. Woot Woot.

Please excuse the awkward halo light effect on my hair.

I think it turned out really nice. If I make it again (which I might if I found another cool fabric) I would use a smaller size on the bodice pieces. I think you can tell in the pictures that it looks a little baggy on top, but the waist is perfect. I didn't want to over complicate things so I stuck with one size on the whole pattern. Next time I'll go down a size or two for just the bodice.

The fabric is light and soft with the perfect amount of drape. I love the polka-dot/floral combo and the pops of red and gold are just what I wanted for this simple dress.

Close-up on the fabric and pleating detail at the hem of the skirt...and my awkward knees

Next up is another dress with a little more flowy-ness and some biased cut draping. I'm thinking I might try to find a really edgy fabric for it. I'd love to included some pops of neon in the details. As always I'll keep you posted.

Happy Valentine's Day! Don't forget to treat yourself with something nice today too!

An Early Valentine's

Hi Hello! Brand new week comin' at ya!

I mentioned on Friday that Mike would be getting his v-day surprise over the weekend. Turns out I got mine too! Let's start with his.

Lombardi Party!

Here's one thing you should know about ATL: the radio sucks. There really isn't much variety, and the few stations not playing pop or country hits have pretty spotty reception. Combine that with lots of traffic and you've got a pretty boring ride. Seriously I've found the same song playing on 3 different stations at the same time before. GAAAAH.

On one of my rides home, I found myself reading bumper stickers for entertainment...yup it was bad. Well things took a turn for the better when I noticed a bumper sticker for WABE, Atlanta's public radio station. Do you know what happens when you start listening to local talk radio? You hear about a local theater putting on a play about Vince Lombardi.

Happy Valentine's Hubby!

So on Saturday afternoon Mike and I got dressed up and made the trek out to Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville, GA. Free parking, beer, and my favorite green and gold. It was pretty cool.

For dinner we FINALLY made it to Chinese Buddha. I was recommend this a loooong time ago by a fellow vegan and have been dying to try it out. It was totally worth the hype. They have TWO menus! One for the veg folks and one for the meat eaters. I got the vegetarian General Tso's chicken.Om nom nom.

Happy V-Day to Me!

Mike had to tutor on Sunday, so I decided to head over the the fabric shop to pick out a new sewing project (this is the year of cultivating hobbies, remember?). Before I left Mike started asking about a million questions about what I was planning to get at the store...very unlike him. Finally he told me to hold on while he got something form the bedroom. He came back out and, "Surprise!"

Colette Sew Handbook and Sew Serendipity

He had gotten me two of the sewing books I mentioned in the past couple weeks. Yay! I dove right into the Colette book, reading until I got to the first pattern: the Meringue Skirt

I wrote down everything I needed, did a quick skim through the instructions (invisible zipper, eeeip!), and made my way to the store. I scored big time when I found the perfect fabric on the discount table. All in all I made it out the store under $25. Yay! 

Sewing your own stuff rarely saves money these days considering stores like Target and Old Navy where you can find trendy styles that are moderately well made available at low prices. In addition, not many people sew their own clothes. So as demand for fabric has dropped, prices have risen. That's enough with the econ lesson. Let's get back to the good stuff.

I was a little sewing demon all day yesterday and it paid off because look what I'm wearing today:

It's crazy to me that I'm wearing a skirt that didn't even exist this time yesterday. How cool is that? 

Over lunch. I'm hoping to pop back over to the fabric store to pick out fabric from my next project: the Pastille Dress.

First stop: discount table!

Small Weather Update: It's been lovely the past few days with highs in the 60's, but it looks like winter isn't done with us yet. Snow storm 2 is heading our way. ETA tomorrow morning. In fact schools are already cancelling activities tonight. After the mess from the last storm, I think most people are taking serious precautions to avoid getting stuck away from home. I'd say we've got an 80% chance of more snow days this week.

Happy Monday! 

When it Rains, it Pours

Blerg, blerg, blerg...I'm grumpy. It's Monday. I apologize in advance for the general negativity of this post. Feel free to skip down to the nugget :)

I try to be a "look of the bright side" sort of person. I try really, really hard to not stress over small things and to find the nugget of goodness in whatever crap-tastic situation I've found myself in. But this week is already challenging the heck out of me.

Let me start by acknowledging that in the grand scheme of things what I am all in a tizzy over is nothing. First world problems at its best. But sometimes one small hiccup is followed by another, and then by another, and before you know it your camel's got a broken back. Are you following me? It's a rant. I apologize for lack of cohesion.

You know how they say that when your interviewer asks about your weaknesses, that you should name a weakness that can also be a strength? Well planning is my weakness/strength. I like planning. I'm good at planning. I can be very analytical and realistic. I can come up with a step by step game plan. I can throw in just enough creativity to keep things interesting. Cry me a river right? Here's the bad side: one teensy, tiny little hiccup with the plan...DEVASTATION!!! Nothing can be fixed. Forget everything. Failure. Abort mission.

And sometimes when the original plan was really well thought out, with noble intentions, chock-full of responsible behavior and self-sacrifice for the sake of a greater goal, that little hiccup can feel like a giant kick in the shin. Thanks a lot universe. Sorry for trying to be responsible. 

Bottom line, we are all safe and sound. Things could be worse. Side-note: anyone know of any mechanics looking to do some free work :D

Ok, one last blerg then I'm done. BLERG!

The Nugget of Good

Moving on to cheerier things. Here's a few exciting things that have gone down in the past week-ish.

1.) THREE different and unrelated couple friends of Mike and myself got engaged! Tis the season.

2.) One of my fave vloggers, Marie Bitsanclips, had her baby boy, and the name: Luca Matthew! Now, I'm personally partial to Luca Monster, but I suppose Matthew is better for babies of the human variety :)

3.) I finally got around to making the cover for our utility storage shelf! Much more classy looking.

I used an old table cloth for the fabric, velcro for easy access to the items on the shelves, and added box pleats to the front panels for extra flair.

Sigh of relief. Already feeling less blreg-y. Besides, it's almost lunchtime.

Cheers to tomorrow not being Monday!

My First OOTD: Look What I Made!

FRIDAY!!! And boy do I need it :)

Greetings bff's. Today I've got a special treat for you...My first ever OOTD!!!

What's an OOTD you ask? Outfit Of The Day of course! And this outfit is extra special because I made the dress myself! So without further ado...or bragging... here's how I'm looking today:

Schoolhouse Tunic dress pattern from Sew Liberated . Plaid fabric from Hancock Fabrics. Boots and tights from Target. (faux leather btw)

Easy bun and light make-up to finish it off.

I love how comfy this tunic dress is. I'm thinking I could have perhaps gone down a size, but I like the bagginess, and the pleating details on the skirt add some structure. As you can see it's super cute with tights and boots. I think it would also look great dressed down with leggings and converse-style tennies. Or I think you could dress it up with tights, flats, and a belt to cinch in the waist. I have a thin gold belt that I think would do the trick and would be festive for the holidays.

I'm wearing the tunic layered with a simple white cami, but there's plenty of space in bodice and sleeves to layer it with a long sleeve thermal or maybe even a turtleneck as I've heard those are back in vogue this season. Special thanks to Daily Grace for keeping me current on fashion trends.

Pattern and Class Review

First, a shoutout to Brooke at Beehive Atlanta for being a super awesome instructor. I'm confident that the dress would have had a few more boo boos without her help.

The pattern itself was really well made and super easy to follow, with only a couple steps that I needed guidance on. This was my first time completing what Brooke called an "independent pattern" meaning it wasn't from one of the big name pattern makers. Here's what I see as the major reasons to buy independent: 1.) Easier to understand instructions. 2.) Trendier styles. 3.) Supporting small business.

The class was awesome. It was my first time having someone professionally trained watch me as I sewed. I picked up a lot of great tips and tricks and definitely improved on my skill set. Last night one of the other ladies in the class mentioned how sewing isn't really a money saver the way it used to be, which is true. Fabrics and patterns can be pretty expensive, not to mention the cost of a class or two, but for me the class and sewing in general is an awesome hobby with totally usable results. See above ;)

Friday Forecast

Mike and I have a pretty exciting weekend planned. So exciting that it involves air travel! We are heading to Kansas City, Lawrence to be more precise, for my godbrother's wedding. It's our first time in KC and our first wedding now that we are on the other side :) Looking forward to kicking back and relaxing at this one.

Cheers to a fabulous weekend!

To the Right, To the Right: Welcome to My Hobby Lobby

Hello Party People! It's mid-week ramble time.

My dear friend H (check out her blogy blog) and I are no strangers to the "Blerg, I hate my job" convos. In the past year we have both been lucky enough to make big changes in the career department. Big, but not monumental, life changing, new reason to wake up in the morning type changes. So here we are a year later, definitely happier but still not fulfilled in the way we would like to be.

What else do H and I have in common? Were are creative as all get up and aren't afraid to dream big. The result is that most of our blerg-y convos switch to "how cool would that be??" pretty quickly, and we have a decent sized list of business ideas stored away in the corners of our brains. Pretty fabulous coping mechanism if you ask me.

Source

Until the time that H and I find ourselves in the same city and can throw caution to wind, I try to do what I can to let my right brain shine. Here's a secret about me...I don't love doing taxes for a living. Shocking! Where does my wake-up-excited-to-start-the-day energy come from?? Creating, always creating.

Here's another secret about me, I inherited my practicality from my mother (also an accountant). Translation: It's unlikely I'll be quitting my day job anytime soon.

So how do I cope with a stifled right brain rumbling around in my head all day while my left brain is busy crunching away at numbers? Hobbies. Projects. Classes. Pinterest breaks at lunch. Handmade holiday gift planning. Meal planning. Oh... and blogging!

Most recently I signed up for a sewing class at Beehive Atlanta to make this tunic. Now I'm no stranger to my sewing machine, but I'm definitely not a follow the rules kind of girl. Same thing happens in the kitchen, where recipes are really more of a suggestion :) Well, this class is all about learning to follow patterns. LET THE POWERS OF LEFT AND RIGHT COMBINE!! 

Ok it wasn't that epic, but it was pretty great. We will be finishing up our tunics tomorrow night. If all goes well I might be wearing it in to work on Friday!

Here's to finding creative junk to put in your trunk!