Borrowed

The library is basically the best thing ever invented. How good is it to come home after a long day of work and errands with a pile of books to look through and get inspired? It's bliss. I need to finish the projects I'm working on so I can make some of these.
I'm also smitten with these elephants on The Purl Bee. I have the book for the knitted one on hold at the library and I think I have the pattern for the sewn one. Seriously. SO cute.

Sunshine I <3 you

The sunshine came out today and somehow that always gives me energy and optimism. I completely cleaned my room...even that annoying stack of random papers on my desk now has a home and is neatly tucked away.
My ipod Hollander shed his winter coat and decided to brighten my day further with his blue-ness and lovely tunes. (yes I'm still listening to Owl City)
My favorite Bible and Donald Miller's latest book...love reading. :)

And...I rescued this awesome magazine rack from outside. It was filthy and horrid so I gave it a cold soapy bath with the hose and now it holds my catalogues which were otherwise falling all over the place. This makes me happy. :)

I also finished knitting one Alice Cullen fingerless glove. Yes...this is me knitting on 3 needles. Tricky, but I did it. :)

I didn't get a picture of the glove finished but I will soon.

But for now I must go to bed.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

hair cut and a bad day

Alright...FINALLY here is a pic of my hair cut which I had done weeks ago.

This was my hair before....NASTY. :P
After:

Yay. I love it. <3

Yesterday I had a really bad day. One of those days where you think your in a different year than you are, you hide your cell phone so well you can't find it...and spend every hour at work on the phone trying to fix problems on computers you know nothing about.

Let's just say...I was happy to get home. But I did stop by the Goodwill on the way home and picked up these lovelies:

I also got some really neat glass jars and an old vintage thread sorter to furthur help my Sewing Room organization. Which...believe it or not...IS coming along! I'm almost ready to show pictures. I'm debating eather or not to show the before pictures. I'm not sure I'm that vulnerable. It was pretty unbelievably bad.

When I finally made it home yesterday, I found two brand new TOAST catologues waiting for me to pour thorugh.

I spent the rest of the evening swooning over these, which are truly works of art. My goodness I want a better camera. Oh, and maybe be able to fly to england and do some photo shoots?

Then tucked into bed and read some beatiful poetry by John Keats. I wanted to be able to say I've read his work before going to see the movie, Bright Star, which is about him. I'm going to see it today. I'm so excited! He is amazing. I can't believe I hadn't read his work before now. New favorite. :)

I can cook with...

Some yummy herbs from the garden...

A lil input from mum...

And some help from Jamie Oliver...

And a tiny bit of experience...

Yummy.:)

If you like eating yummy food you should check out Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, At Home with Jamie. Good stuff! He also offers lots of gardening tips. Really cool book. :)

Sometimes I like to ramble...

So...I've totally gotten sucked into reading the Twilight series. (thanks to Tessa and Ella for sending the first two on the bus home with me last week, you girls are mean but I love you ;) This distraction has made me a pitiful blogger. I've reached the point today...after 1, 300 pages in 8 days...of wishing it were over. Not because I want it to end or I'm not enjoying it. but because I can't seem to get much else done. It's wretched. Yet wonderful. But I only have a few hundred more pages and I'll be done. Then I can be a really good blogger. Then I can have a real life again. Then I can not blog about how obsessive I am. That will be good.

*Deep Breath*....moving on...

So....about a month ago I said I was starting to organize my sewing room...and I still am. (How slow am I!?) But I'm really going to try to kick in gear now and get it presentable so I can show you pictures. That's my motivation because the idea of a clean sewing space doesn't seem to be helping me get it done. But it definitely does need to be done. Then I am going to make some clothes for me. :) Hopefully... ;) Not to mention my room could use a good De-clutter.

Anyway...it's probably far to late for me to be aimlessly writing all this. But sometimes I just like to ramble on about things that probably no one else cares about. So there it is. :)

Now I'm off to read a chapter...or two...or five...;) and then sleep.

Back to Blogging

Reading all the amazing posts my friend AnnaMae has done lately has made me realize how much I miss blogging. I blog quite often on my sewing blog but I really miss thoughtful blogging about everyday life and deep and meaningful things. So, I'm going to attempt to get back into it. I've also been inspired by AnnaMae to do some deep organizing so get ready for some posts about that. :)

We've been having so much rain lately. I really love it...even though it means the laundry must be hung inside to dry. (there's a dryer epidemic going around in our neighborhood...it seems everyone's dryer is breaking)
I just love the fresh smell of rain and how clean the air feels after a rainstorm.

I pulled out my umbrella the other day so I could take some photos. I think it was happy to be wet again.

Today we spent a long day in town and I was more than happy to return home with a movie from the library and my new Real Simple magazine came in the mail. I also picked up a Thesaurus from the dollar store. Can't tell you how much I love it. So many awesome words in there. Which I just may need if I keep my promise and start blogging again. ;)

Quilt Squares and Jane Austen

After ironing 25 yards of muslin today I decided to do something a bit more fun. I was inspired by Pleasant View Schoolhouse's post this weekend on starting a scrap quilt so today I decided to take the plunge and the result is the neat little pile above. So blissful compared to the brambles they were before. :) But indeed, this is just the beginning. I've hardly touched my scraps. Though I did make a dent. :) It feels so much nicer to have them in even pieces. Once I get a good collection I'll start sewing them together. Mmmm....I do love order. :)

While cutting out my quilt squares we watched Emma, this was the first Jane Austen film I fell in love with when I was around eleven. I still adore it to this day. :)

Don't you love that tea cup?

Now that I've finished reading North and South....maybe I ought to read through Emma while I'm waiting for my next book club book to arrive? ;)

I think it's a good plan. :)

My Birthday :)

I had a wonderful birthday. :) We just spent the day watching movies and drinking tea. It was quite lovely.

We watched Ladies in Lavender as it's filmed in Cornwall, England. I love this film. It made me a bit homesick but it was good to hear a proper Cornish accent again and watch them have tea and toast and pasties. :)

My favorite album at the moment I think is Hillsong's This is Our God. I love it so much. Could have something to do with the fact that that's pretty much everything we sang at Soul Survivor. Lots of memories behind those songs. But they are pretty awesome songs. :) Love it. My sister gave me an iTunes gift card for my birthday...I'm thinking of buying most of this album with it. But I might want some Tim Hughes too....oh, I don't know! :)

I bought myself a box of tea for my birthday with my World Market gift card my brother got me for Christmas. I LOVE this stuff...but it always gives me the jitters as it's pretty high in caffeine. But...I really really do love it.

Because Gen is the coolest...she got me a hot water bottle and made me the coziest fleece cover for it. She knows me well. :D I fell in love with hot water bottles last Christmas while I was staying in England. Auntie Ann would fill one up for me every night and it was the most comforting thing. :)

And she gave me the coolest book ever....

It inspires me! I love it. :)

My brother gave me Persuasion on DVD and my sister gave me candles and bubble bath and hand cream from a British cosmetic line.

Hmmm....kinda funny everything seems to revolve around England. I know I probably talk about it way too much all the time. I miss it so much. I'm slowly learning to get involved where I'm at. But one day I'll go back. I'll see the rugged coastlines and cobbled streets again and give and get warm hugs from friends and family.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the friends and family I have here. :)

Peppermint in the Snow

It's been snowing here for over a week and it's so lovely. The other day I finally tromped out into the cold to take some pictures...I accidently deleted the good one...so there all you get to see is my wellies. That's another thing I'm loving about the snow. I've worn my wellies twice! But I mostly just stay inside because it's too cold. My favorite thing lately is Twinings peppermint tea...I got addicted to this stuff when I was in England. Mmm...it's wonderful.

You know what else is wonderful? Peppermint marshmallows. Mmmmhmm. My friends got some one day and yeah...we love them. Put them in your hot chocolate and...it's divine.
And I just think they're pretty. :)

So, pour yourself a cup of tea or hot chocolate, maybe read The Little White Horse (my new favorite), and enjoy the holiday season. I hope you have snow too!

Favorite Authors (tagged by Genevieve)

(Jane Austen)

I was tagged by Genevieve. :) Check out her favorites HERE.

Who is your all-time favorite author and why?

Jane Austen. Umm....because she invented Mr. Darcy? haha I love her wit and humor and the way she can draw you into the characters and their emotions. I love that her characters have faults but they learn to overcome them and live remarkable lives. I think she had a great understanding of her culture and time and the way things were under the surface. I love getting to experience that every time I open one of her books.

Who was your first favorite author and why?

Hmmm...that's hard, I had so many. I think my very first favorite author was Beatrix Potter. I was captivated by little hedghogs that wore aprons and little mice that stole hankerchiefs for beadspreads. The Tale of Tom Kitten was my favorite. I always tried to dress me kittens up when I was little...they hated it too!

(Beatrix Potter)

Do you still consider him/her to be among your favorites?

Definately. I have an even greater appreciation for her art now than I did then and I greatly admire her creative amagination.

Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

J. R. R. Tolkien. I just recently started reading the Lord of the Rings...I think it's the most well written work I've read yet. He describes things in such a way you can nearly feel, smell, and taste them. I also find great encouragement as I read about his characters and their struggles and how they overcome their obsticles. It encourages me to keep fighting on in my own life.

(J. R. R. Tolkien)

If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth?

Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Eldredge, Roald Dahl

I tag

AnnaMae

Chrissy

Klazane

Mum

Aimee M.

Becks

Rules
Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

1000 Artist Journal Pages

My friend randomly picked up this book at Barnes and Noble the other day and I couldn't stop looking through it. So inspiring and just...amazing. :)

Check it out if you get the chance!

Just Finished...

I just finished reading the book "When Wallflowers Dance, becoming a woman of righteous confidence" by Angela Thomas. It was amazing!

I was so challenged and enouraged. But mostly, inspired and joy filled. Every girl should read this book.

Lately I'm all about...

Sudoku!
Word puzzles!

And Calvin and Hobbes...

I think I'll always be a kid at heart. :)