Saturday Crafting

In between watching LOTR movies, I cut out the pieces for 2 new handbags:And since I wasn't sure if I was ready to completely fuss with the expensive Belgium linen Winter Foxes fabric, I decided to make the butterflies my prototype bag using the Manhattan Handbag pattern I bought a few months ago and haven't gotten around to using yet.

I think it turned out super cute. I'm surprised by how big it is, the pieces seemed small when I was cutting them. I used Stiffy, the really bad Timtex substitute, but at the time I bought it, Timtex was no where to be found...and I wasn't really wanting any of the other substitute items. And you know what - it's worked out okay so far. Granted, the bag hasn't been washed, so I don't know what's going to happen there. I'm hoping this butterfly bag is already spoken for...cuz otherwise I might keep it for myself (it coordinates with my owly backpack tote). For my Winter Foxes bag, the lining and side/bottom pieces are going to be a gray micro-cord. I'm excited to make the bag - the 1st went together VERY quickly once I got all of the pieces cut out (and fleece/decor bond ironed).

And in a completely random ending to this post, this is the shirt I got today when Steve & I went to Disneyland (actually the shirt was bought in California Adventure, but whatever):

We're on a mission to find a "I'm with Dopey" shirt for him to wear - they had one, but it was women's shirt, so that wasn't going to work. The other alternative is to find him a "I'm Grumpy" shirt, to go along with his Grumpy hat (and my "I Heart Grumpy Guys" hat). Supposedly, the shirt exists, but we didn't find it.

Yes, grown adults like to have fun too ;)

I seriously can't believe I'm uploading this, but yes...I'm putting a video out there of us group of "grown-ups" playing Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party after stuffing our faces on Thanksgiving. We're doing the disco game - and I guess I'm a little into it. I love the dancing on this game - super fun, and I seem to manage to work up a sweat!

For the parents out there - this isn't a little kid friendly game - the rabbids are a little crazy, and there's some interesting content in the games.

I am no man!

Seriously, one of my favorite movie quotes of all time...

Then Eowyn sticks her sword into the dude's face, and burns the sh*t out of her arm doing it, and the dude blows up into little bits of dust!

But seriously - "I am no man!" Love it!

Sunshine and Lemonade: Weekend Winners: Sex and Chocolate

Sunshine and Lemonade: Weekend Winners: Sex and Chocolate

She's giving away more books this week; I haven't read these, I'm intrigued. Even if I don't win, I will download a sample to the Kindle. :)

Mr. Snowman

He's done! I finally finished up the binding on him last night. I was having total mental issues (and google search issues) and couldn't figure out how to do continuous seam binding (so there's no overlap of the binding strips). Finally found something that showed me in a book last night, but then had to do it 4 times...yes, 4 times, before I got the pieces sewed together properly! My brain just doesn't work that way sometimes...and especially with solid fabrics that don't have right/wrong sides. Michelle (my LA blogger name twin) sent me a link this morning to this tutorial, which is exactly what I was trying to do.

For the quilting, I ended up busting out the walking foot, and quilted straight-line spiral through the middle of each piece. This seems to work, I still need to have a chat with the ladies at Luella's about free motion quilting.

Alrighty, guests just arrived, I gotta go! More later!

Happy Thanksgiving to Us!

This is what we found when we got home this morning from the Turkey Trot. I rounded the corner to the kitchen, and stopped in my tracks when I saw this:

The culprit:

There was baker's sugar all over the floor, he poked holes in the carton, and then seems to have played in the sugar. What I don't understand is how he managed to keep the 4 lb. carton upright after knocking it off the shelf. Maybe I should set up a "Radar cam" to try to figure it out...but then he would be on good behavior if I tried that.

Today, I'm thankful that Steve had the foresight to put the apple pie in the fridge before we left this morning. I fear the pie may have been the victim if he had not done that!

PS - if that ugly linoleum and the pink carpet aren't signs that we need to get our own place, I don't know what is!

Hurry quick!

You can download Oprah's holiday mix here for a limited time (like 48 hours, but I can't really tell when the clock starts ticking - thru Thanksgiving??)!

Happy Turkey Day!

Have a good one, y'all!
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump
May your potatoes and gravy
have never a lump.

May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize.

And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Stolen directly from Cucina Test Rossa based off a google image search for "thanksgiving"

I have a confession...

...I've been listening to all of my Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CDs @ work non-stop for the past week. Apparently, I need to get this one to add to my collection: Christmasville; I think I have all of the others. Wish I would have realized this morning when I put in an order from Amazon for some Christmas gifts... Steve, BTW, you aren't allowed to open that box when it comes! But, I think we're ordering my Christmas present soon, so I can get it then!

Plus, I've been listening to Holly on XM 35 on my way home...

All of this is serving as motivation for me to get the Snowman done. He's almost there, ready to hang up on Friday, when I'm allowed to decorate!

And I promise...I'll post with pictures soon, these posts are way too boring otherwise!

Little Blue Cottage Giveaway

Little Blue Cottage is new to blogging, but is doing a fantastic fabric giveaway...she has good taste in fabric!

Sunshine and Lemonade: Weekend Winners: My Fairy Blogmother

Sunshine and Lemonade: Weekend Winners: My Fairy Blogmother

I could handle a bloggy makeover -that would be kind of cool... maybe get rid of some of the crap that comes with the templates that I'm too lazy to go figure out (once upon a time, I had some idea of how to do this...)

This makes me laugh

...every time I see it somewhere on the internets:

Testing Blogger Posting via Email

Did you know you could do this?? Under Settings/Email.

Email Subject becomes the Post Title, the message body is the post.

A Post about Me

...or rather about Michelles... I've already mentioned I love the Baby Namer website, so when this bloggy post popped up about powerful Michelles, it immediately caught my attention.

To all my Michelle/Michele homegirls out there - go check it out!

A Post Just for My Brother

...mostly because I think he's the only one who will get what I'm talking about.

We were watching the Today Show yesterday morning, and the Twilight peeps (well, Edward & Bella) were on...so naturally the Plaza was full of screaming teenage girls (STGs, yes I need the acronym).

Steve's shaking his head, can't figure out what has made this guy so popular (Rob Pattison, that is)...I explain its just this movie.

Then he goes on to ponder if these STGs will go on to become "Woo girls."

I just laughed :)

And that's all I got.

Cotton Blossoms

I like this line, but I'm not in love with it so completely that I feel compelled to buy more than I need to complete the projects I have going.

This is what I put together with the rest of my charm pack (coupled with the new fabrics I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop to complete my projects) - this happened Saturday, as I was sequestering myself from the bad air outside). I put together more of the charms, but couldn't cut them into Disappearing nine-patch as suggested, because I only had 15 charms for both the Orange/Brown and Red/Green colorways. So I stuck with plain & simple:

This is going to be a Christmas-y table runner that I'm gifting. The red is the backing fabric, the cream color is the border to put around the blocks.

Got a little fancier with the 8 charms I had from the aqua group - half-square triangles. The centers of my blocks are lined up perfectly...the triangles on the outside, not so much. Oh well. :-D I don't know what I'm going to do with these yet, but I have a half yard of the dot plaid print to play with. Maybe a tote for someone? Or maybe I'll make myself some mini-quilts to hang in my office @ work. I really need to do something about the ugly painting on the wall in there - as in, take it down, and put up something I would rather look at.

I need to iron fabric so I can cut & keep going on these projects. (BTW - you MUST say "iron" in your head exactly like John Travolta does as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray - makes me laugh every time!). Toodles!

I need help

So a while back, I posted that I was having issues with Miranda's Baby #2 quilt. Well, now Baby #2 has arrived (a week ago, as a matter of fact):

This is Leah (and my favorite picture) - she's pretty cute, huh? :) Still doesn't make me want one of my own, Mir! :-p

So I figured since the child is now out of womb, maybe I should get crackin' on that quilt again. Here's the problem: still can't get the stippling going, my needle keeps breaking, exactly like the last picture. I don't know what the problem is...thread, bobbin winding, backing (thrifted sheet), needle, batting?? I just dunno. I was able to successfully complete the couch quilt, so I know that I have the set-up correct on the machine. I thought it could be the seams (the couch quilt has virtually no seams), but when I broke the needle, I wasn't on top of a seam. I also tried flipping the quilt over, so I was quilting from the backing side, just in case the fabric was having issues sliding around...that didn't really help me either!

But which of these things is causing the problem...or could it be all of them? Grr! And since my stippling has been so crazy, I don't know if I can rip the stitches out and pair the top with different batting & backing fabric (the stitches are probably WAY too close together).

Thoughts? BTW - I'm way too cheap to take it to a long-arm quilter, but at this point, it might be a viable option to get the darn thing crossed off my list.

Back in Time...

So I realize I posted about Sunday before I posted about Saturday, but I had to get the photos downloaded off the camera before I could do that. Just pretend this is my version of Back to the Future :)

Saturday started out normal...Steve ran the 6+ miles to the farmers market, I drove & met him over there (with a stop @ Joanns along the way to pick up backing fabric and thread for Snowman - I actually got out of that store spending less than $10!). Then we came home, and chilled... I get a call from Joelle, around noon-thirty, saying she's not going to do MouseAdventure on Sunday because the fires in Orange County were creating havoc on her lungs (severe asthma). I encourage her to think about coming to our place (we're further north, no hills really that close to us), we don't smell anything here, it's bright & sunny outside, blue skies are smiling, put on a happy face, all of that...

Two hours later, this is what it looks like outside:

Down the street:

The sunny afternoon has turned orange, from the smoke & haze in the air. Ash was falling, we closed all of the windows up in the apartment. We have lived in the South Bay for 4 years, and there have been a lot of fires in SoCal during that time... we have NEVER experienced anything like this, these fires were terrible! Plus, it was warm last weekend (almost 80), and uncomfortable with the windows closed up...

Poor Joelle stayed sequestered in her house all weekend. :(

Twilight Primer

For all y'all who aren't quite into this Twilight business, and want to know what the fuss is about, MSNBC has put together a fairly decent primer...at least enough to give you an idea... I don't think it's enough to make you pull the trigger to go see the movie if you have no other reason to go (ie, tweener daughters), but it's a start.

More Giveaway Fun-ness

Amber @ One Shabby Chick (one of my fav crafty blogs) mentioned this giveaway at Film in the Fridge...so I went over to check it out... I really like the cute scrap with the guitars :)

So head on over and enter the fun!

And the madness begins!

The Twilight premiere was held last night in Westwood (by the UCLA campus). I was listening to some of the red carpet interviews being done by KIIS-FM on my way home, and it sounded like insanity (just so you know, insanity is hundreds of screaming teenage girls). You couldn't have paid me to be done in that area last night - parking is so horribly limited, street lights are funky, etc. Unless of course, I had somehow managed to score premiere tix...then I would have endured the madness!

There's a chance we may go catch a Saturday matinee - Shannon thinks her flight doesn't leave until late @ night, so we may try to catch it then.

But I do have to confess...Rob Pattison isn't exactly how I pictured Edward. I get Kristen Stewart as Bella, but not Rob. I just don't think he's that good looking... And he didn't fit with my mental picture of Cedric Diggory in the HP movies either...thought Cedric would be black (at least, in my mind). So I'm still iffy on Rob...we shall see!

MouseAdventure

Today we spent all day @ Disney, doing a scavenger hunt called MouseAdventure. This is my 7th time participating (held 2x/year), and Steve's 6th time. Steve missed the spring '08, he was in Denver for work (and don't get me started on the spring...it sucked!). We originally were planning for 2 teams - Guys versus Girls. But, unfortunately, with the fires going close to Disney, Joelle's asthma kept her & Gabe from joining Shannon, Corey, Steve, and I...so we combined back down into one team and hit the parks. We ended up playing in the Advanced division, something we haven't done before...because the Basic division registration filled in 44 minutes, and I tried to register @ minute 45. So we had to do 5 quests, instead of 3...we got 3.5 completed ...plus solve the MA Mystery, which we didn't do completely either...we only got the when & what of the puzzle. Steve put the GPS tracker on his iphone, and it ended up dying after about 4 hours... but this some of the route we took through Disneyland (phone died before we got over to California Adventure (DCA) for quests 3-5):

To orient you a little bit, the entrance to Dland is @ the bottom of the picture; the big white circle in the bottom right is Space Mountain... we spent a lot of time in the hub, this is where we re-grouped between quest puzzles (we were allowed to split up our team in Disneyland, but not in DCA. So the phone recorded 3.5 miles, just in the 4 hours...

Results should be released late this week or early next week...will post when I know. Our usual goal is to finish in the top half of the participants...we've normally been fairly successful with this goal, but in the less competitive Basic division, so we'll see. But we had a lot of fun, the air pollution wasn't really noticable, and none of us died of heat exhaustion. We did take the opportunity to grab some beers in DCA, and were puzzle solving with booze in hand (and it didn't impair us one bit...we were already impaired by ourselves!). And afterwords, we always skip the awards ceremony (they do figure out top 3 for each group), and got more drinks, and some much-needed food.

I should probably go shower now, and will likely be heading to bed somewhere around 9 tonight...it's been a long day!

Reindeer Monologues

Tonight, Steve & I did a date night...we drove down the street to Hermosa Beach, grabbed a quick dinner at the Pita Pit (I always forget how much I like this place...we had one in Ames, and I was super excited to find one out here in SoCal), then headed to the Hermosa Beach Playhouse to see the "Reindeer Monologues." I can't describe it better than this article or this one, but I will tell you I laughed my arse off through most of the play. Sometimes I just laughed because I wasn't sure if any of the older crowd was getting all of the humor infused into the monologues. Cupid, the gay reindeer, was my favorite - he work pink cowboy boots (I want some like that!). :) So, if this production ever comes to your neck of the woods, and you can handle the satire, I would highly recommend it!

BTW - Steve & I were definitely among the youngest, if not the youngest, audience members at our tender age of 26... But I know this production would appeal the most of our demographic - they need to figure out how to market this stuff better!

Weekend Winners #3: Twilight Fan Pack

So have I mentioned that I like these Twilight books?

I kept seeing this nonsense being posted up about these Twilight books on the blogs of women I knew were in their 30s & 40s... and also knew they were books for teenagers... and thought, seriously? Fortunately, I have a Kindle, and downloaded a sample from Twilight. I got about 5 pages in (there are usually 1-2 chapters in the free sample downloads), gave up and bought the 1st book, and pretty much didn't do anything for about 4 days straight while I plowed thru all 4 books. Then I read the released version of Twilight from Edward's point of view from Stephenie Meyer's website. Then a couple of weeks later, I re-read all 4 books again. And have been hopelessly devoted to all sorts of news about the movie. And I'm disappointed I most likely won't be in line @ the movie theater opening weekend, as I'm being a good friend, and waiting til there's a group of girlfriends all available to go watch together, 2 weeks after opening weekend. So yeah, you could say I'm a fan...

That's why I would be a happy recipient of this week's Weekend Winners contest...

Non-crafty blogs I like to read

I thought I would share a couple of the non-crafty blogs that I like to read...

First up is Pioneer Woman...I'm sure I found her thru a crafty blog, but she is not crafty. Although, she is a good photographer! But what really sucked me in was her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels posts - totally a work-in-progress romance novel! :) Forewarning: the "complete" story isn't really complete - it will get you to Part XXXI, and then you have to hit the individual archives to keep reading. Plus, the story isn't done yet, so subscribe to the Confessions feed, and wait for the next installment, and do a happy dance when it comes up in whatever you use to manage your feed subscriptions!

Second on the list is the Baby Name Wizard blog... I have a strange obsession with baby names and trends (and have for quite some time), and love all of the tools Laura has created for us to play with. The Name Voyager is the original tool, and it shows top 1000 name trend across the decades, as developed from US Census bureau data / state birth records. Do a name search for "baby boy" or "baby girl" - you'll laugh at the number of people who leave the hospital without naming their kid. The NameMapper is new, but also very interesting. My favorite is the Nymbler tool - you can enter names you like and find good names to coordinate with that name...whether its a middle name or sibling name! Interesting stuff. Mom- I think it did like the Michelle & James combo for siblings, I remember trying that one once - so nice job to the 'rents! OK, so maybe I'm just a nerd, but I like this website a lot!

I would share the crafty blogs I like to read, but the list is embarrassingly long... and until I make the time to turn this blog into a 3 column blog, I won't post up my google reader list on the sidebar. But the blog fixes are stuck behind a very long list of crafty items I need to get crackin' on... Yes, the never-ending list of projects that only gets longer without any items falling off... *sigh*

I know what I want for my birthday...

Steve, this is a hint for you...

I'm sure I've already professed my love for Tula Pink's fabrics...my current huge project involves trying to make a 100"x100" quilt using the Flutterby fabric line.

She's coming out with a new line in March, Neptune. I particularly love the Deep Sea & Aqua colorways. Not sure if I would want a full fat quarter pack, or just pick & choose some yardage.

So...just in time for my late February birthday... *wink*

Snowman progress

Here's the update to my snowman embroidery: So I attempted to do a log cabin block with only 2 fabrics, not quite sure it was exactly as intended, but I do like it. I trimmed the little guy down to 5", and the strips are 2.5" cuts. The layout really screws with Steve's engineer brain. I don't think he can handle how it's not a symetrical pattern...but it is square... The quote was something like "it's a mathematical impossibility"...NERD! :-D

While I was sewing the log-cabin blocks together, I was using my Cotton Blossom charm pack Brown/orangey squares as leaders/enders. And I came up with this:

Not sure what I'm going to do, except that I think I'm going to turn these into a table runner for Thanksgiving. We're hosting "homeless children's" Thanksgiving again this year (those of us away from our immediate families...or being ditched by our immediate families), so I want to try to add some decor to the table.

Later gators!

Sometimes I wonder...

...what I will be like when I become a mother. I really hope I'm not like the crazy lady @ Target today, who had stopped the stroller in the middle of one of the main aisles to coo at her baby and take photos, while her toddler walked around the stroller, trying to figure out what was going on. And by coo, I mean that really oohey-gooey goochie-goochie-goo kind of cooing. I was looking at her like she was an alien life form.

At the moment, I view my cats as my children, and I love them to death. And I will probably someday become the crazy cat lady (as predicted by my brother). But I don't do any of that overly excessiving cooing crap with them...so hopefully that stays the same way with kids...

In fact, I want to make a declaration.
I, Michelle, will not become one of those mothers I despise. I will talk to my child in a normal voice, except when I need to soothe/calm the child. There will be no goochie-goochie-goos uttered from these lips (unless I'm mocking someone). This I declare!

Alrighty, now back to the business of eating my Healthy Choice steamer, the resultant purchase from Target.

P.S. Dear Lord, please help me keep my declaration true!

EDIT 40 minutes later - email from my mom: Why you think you turned out so smart?Your mama never coochie cooed you thats why!
Love......Mom

Now I know - my mom's lack of coos are solely responsible for my intelligence! ;)

Old Red Barn Co Giveaway

Dana @ Old Red Barn Co is doing it again!!! Another quilt giveaway - 3 different quilts this time! This kills me, love these things. Enter here - PS, you don't need to have a blog to enter...so wouldn't it be nice if you could try for me??

I'm so proud...

...of my home state, Nebraska. You see, I think Nebraska has it all figured out in terms of awarding electoral votes... Read more here, and I think you'll see what I mean. The irony, of course, is that Nebraska rarely doesn't vote Republican across the board (for the president, at least), so this great system of allocated electoral votes normally doesn't make a difference in total. But this time it did! I'm thankful Barack was the clear cut winner this election, and we don't have to deal with the same scrutiny that took place in 2000 & 2004, but I still believe that there are still elections reforms needed, allocated electoral votes included!

I wrote a paper about this very topic back in late 2000 for my freshman English class...I should see if I can find it, and post it up here.

Camille's Giveaway

OOh, go over & check out this giveaway! I just bought a charm pack of Camille's Cotton Blossoms, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I do have some ideas.

1 Franc

I just went to go get a diet 7-up out of the machine @ work, and grabbed some quarters that came from a roll from Wells Fargo... Well, the problems with Wells Fargo continue, as it turns out one of my quarters is really a French franc, which hasn't been used since 1999. So apparently the coin machines @ WF aren't able to differentiate between a quarter and a franc (the franc is slightly less heavy), but the crappy soda machine @ work is?? Strange!

Fortunately, I don't mind this gaffe, because I have this thing for collecting moneys, especially foreign currency. So now I have a franc, which is currently only worth about $0.15 USD.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious:

It's a complicated word... Apparently for Ryan Seacrest, at least... As he reported on his morning radio show on KIIS-FM, he was taping the Disney Christmas day special (yes, pretending it's Christmas on November 8th does seem odd, even to me), and he apparently stumbled multiple, multiple times over the pronunciation of this 34-letter word.

It made me laugh... And I think I'm giving Steve a spelling test tonight!

Love this!

I don't think I can afford this ebay auction, but I might try my hand someday at making a little wall quilt like this.

Bats Day

So Steve & I were thinking about going to Disneyland for a visit on Sunday, because we wanted to do a walk around the parks in preparation for MouseAdventure next Sunday. However, I happened to check the Disneyland park update on MousePlanet, and noticed this weekend is Bats Days. We happened to be @ Disneyland last August during Bats Day weekend, and it was CROWDED! We couldn't figure out why we were seeing bunches of Goth people roaming the parks, but later learned about Bats Days.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Goth people...unlike some of the grumpy parents of young children we heard grumbling throughout the day. I just don't understand how it possibly be comfortable to wear a black, long-sleeved, high-neck Victorian-esque dress under a black parasol in 90 degree heat. Or wearing a black Jack Skellington hoodie... I remember being very hot and sweaty in my tank top & track shorts!!

So based on the large crowds there last year, I don't Disneyland is a good idea this weekend. Which is a bummer...I was going to do a dry run (or would it be a wet run?) with my Camelbak to see how it works for me there. Steve and I are on separate teams for MouseAdventure this time around...Guys (Steve, Gabe, Corey) versus Girls (me, Joelle, Shannon), so I don't have anyone to tote around water and lipgloss for me! Plus, this is the first time we're doing the Advanced division, which is dealing with 8 hours of competitive Disney nuts! We always ignore the awards ceremony at the end, instead preferring to head to Downtown Disney for some grub and beverages (generally the alcoholic variety). Although, we didn't do that in the spring...it was too freaking hot that day (101 record setting temp in Anaheim), so we all just went home to shower and veg.

So we shall see what happens this weekend...

But maybe we'll torture ourselves with the crowds!

This is super fun!

Seriously, pick me! I want the autographed copy of Wicked! Super duper fun!

A Guest Post from Steve

**Michelle's note: This post is generated from the fact that Wells Fargo charged us a $7 fee for online bill pay, a service we definitely don't use. We actually use ING for the bulk of our banking transactions, and only keep a small amount of cash @ WF. We keep WF for credit report purposes plus the convenience of getting cash from the ATMs. The resulting post from Steve describes his phone call to get the fee removed. Normally, I do not get this much anger (aka profanity) from him, he was apparently very ticked off. I apologize in advance for the profanity, you have been warned!**

F*** WF, what a pain in my a**. Called WF, first lady couldn't help me, then transfered me to the online banking customer service... the lady then grills me to see if I am who I say I am... She asks me when the last transaction was and for the amount... I tell her the damn bill pay date and amount, she tells me thats wrong... Then I tell her I'm looking at my account online and since she told me I was wrong I tell her the next to last transaction... which she says ok. Then she asks for my last deposit date and amount, I tell her that. Then she asks for my account number... which I don't have memorized because I have too many other things... but I offer my social, which she takes. Then she tells me she can't verify my identity off of all that info... at which point I'm like ask me a few more questions... here is my address, I tell her about the other people on my account... then she asks me what month and year I opened the account. WTF!!! I tell her 2000, but how the hell do I remember what month? So by now I'm a little ticked... and I ask her what month and year she opened her account... my god... So I say fine, hold on I have an idea of how I can figure my account number... I retrieve one of the scanned checks online... and magically that verifies who I am... just remember, I already told I WAS LOOKING AT MY ACCOUNT ONLINE... dumb b****. Then she says, well I show here you signed up for it in July... I say, if I signed up for it why would I not know about it? I ask her to take it off... then she says, well do you know what bill pay is? Uh, duh... yeah, I know what it is, and I didn't sign up for it, so take it off. Then she says ok, but still passively accuses me of signing up for it, because the "only way the service starts is if you request online, via phone, or in person at a branch". Then, even though she can obviously tell I'm a little irritated, she asks me if I'd like to sign up for a savings... to which I reply, until you start offering 3.5% annual return, no thanks... then she slips in well we have one year CDs... like thats even a good deal... give me a break, then I lock my money up and don't have access to it. Blah!

Yeah, Madonna was awesome!

And Britney & Justin both made their cameos... The place went crazy when Brit came out, but was maybe more crazy with Justin. Gotta say though, Britney looked hot...super excited to see her tour next year! Oh, and PS - for 50, Madonna is smokin'!

The long story short...Joelle, Nikki, and I made the mistake of grabbing dinner about 2 miles away from Dodger Stadium before...and totally got stuck in a nearly 3 hour traffic jam on Sunset to DS (yeah, that whole 2 miles we had to drive). We finally get there around 9:30 (the show was supposed to start @ 7:30), drive in circles in the parking lot thanks to the incompetent DS parking people, and finally scored a killer spot near the entrance. We go up to the top deck to sit, and they're trading in our tickets for lower section, so they don't have to clean up the top deck, and the stadium isn't full. We go inside, hit the bathroom, and as we're walking to our seats...the lights lower down! We didn't miss a darn thing...not sure why the delay...maybe they knew people were struggling to get parked?? Or that people were protesting Prop 8, so traffic was crazy? Or was it Madonna's broken set they were trying to repair last minute (didn't actually get repaired, and she professed her dislike of this fact more than once!)?? Whatever it was, it was serendipity for us, because we thought we were going to miss the whole thing, and we got to see it all! Plus, because we got the super-close parking spot, we had no troubles vacating the parking lot, and I was home by 12:30! Steve said he's never seen me fall asleep so fast - literally hit the pillow & was out.

I'm still on a Madonna high this morning though!

Madonna + Britney + Justin =

Michelle dying of Sticky Sweetness @ Dodger Stadium tonight!

^^Woot!^^

Seriously, I know I'm annoying...

...but this giveaway is from an amazing lady! She made a special quilt, for a special neighbor who donated her bone marrow to a random lady. Which is cool... Steve & I actually learned thru Steve's involvement in a bike ride to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society earlier this year that to test to be a donor is super easy, and lots of times, you can just donate your good, healthly blood, kinda like donating plasma (only you aren't paid, you moochers!). Super easy! Here's more information...

Ok, I'm totally suckered in!

What an amazing friend! And of course, I want the quilt, so yeah...go check it out...donate $1...or more!

I think this pretty much sums it up...

...the Bradley effect appears to be gone, but is there now a Palin factor?

Sassy Apron Giveaway

On the Dot Creations is having a giveaway of a Sassy Apron. I find myself wanting to enter this giveaway purely to win an apron. I can't justify making myself one, since I don't exactly rule the kitchen with my domestic prowess. But a girl can win something to annoy her hubby, right??

These giveaways have become an epidemic! Which is a good thing! O:-)

I Voted!

Well, I did it the lazy way - absentee ballot that Steve can drop off @ the polling place for me as an authorized member of my household.

Really, though...I think a lot of us are just relieved that it will be over tonight...hopefully!

On a side note, you should be able to drop into Starbucks for coffee, Krispy Kreme for a donut & Baskin Robbins for ice cream if you have your "I Voted" sticker! Though, apparently in Cali, these companies can't be seen as coercing you to vote, so I think anyone can go get a special treat at these places!

Threads of Friendship Giveaway

It must be close to the holiday season...or wait, it is! That's the only explanation I can come up with for why so many people are doing giveaways lately! Threads of Friendship is going to make this cute bag for you...and I love bags, so I'm glad This That & the Other told me about this giveaway!

Another One...

...Diddle Daddle Designs is fairly new to me, but the thing I like about this site is that she steps back to talk about the things she is thankful for! Well, I'm thankful for the generosity of the people who do these giveaways! Anywho, go check out her site!

Kyle's Batism

No...that's not a typo in the title... Kyle and his mom Elizabeth were baptized this morning...but according to their cake, they were batized:

So I'm mildly concerned about the degeneration of society...if they failed to properly read Elizabeth's perfect "kindergarten" handwriting, I'm much more concerned about other things...

The baptism itself was also entertaining... prior to that part of the service, the little kids @ church portrayed various saints in commemoration of All Saints Day. Pretty cute...but not as cute as little Kyle. He splashed his little paws into the baptism water, which turned out to be a good thing. Some random church helper decided it was a good idea to let the 18-month old be close to the candle he received to mark the occassion. Because, as I'm sure any good mother will tell me, it shouldn't be hard to guess that Kyle's next move was a quick grab around the candle flame. According to Steve, who was at ground zero performing his godfather duties, you just heard a sizzle noise (wet hands, remember). It wasn't until he heard the collective gasp of the congregation that Kyle realized something wasn't quite right about the situation (though he wasn't hurt), and went a little balistic. The little tyke was completely fine, and the rest of the service way more boring after Kyle-the-fire-killer has his moment in the spotlight! :)

I Love Snowmen!

So, a while back, Michele at CalicoDaisy put up an opportunity to win a free embroidery design...and I was one of the lucky recipients! I kinda have this thing for snowmen, so I chose this cute little guy...and have been trying to figure out what to do with him... So this weekend, while up in San Jose, I visited a quilt shop I knew was having a sale (yay for Google!), and picked up these "Winter" fabrics by Minick & Simpson:

So I'm thinking a wall-hanging type of project of some kind... I need to go get some coordinating red & green solids and we'll see where it goes from there...

I'm definitely excited about the embroideries, Michele does great work. I deffo have an idea for another project where I need to enlist her help, I just have to run it by the recipient first.

EDIT 11/3/2008: The CalicoDaisy etsy shop now has this cute lil guy available for purchase! :)

Halloween pics

This is what I wore to work:

Then I came home and changed into costume #2, my couples costume w/Steve. We ran to the mall to go pick up a shirt @ J Crew for Steve...and made the people's day in J Crew. One woman didn't get it...but she was old enough to be my grandma, so that's to be expected. We then proceeded down to Starbucks to entertain the J Crew dude's boyfriend...we were a big hit (as were Steve's legs in his shorty track shorts). We went over to Jason & Christina's afterward for tacos & margaritas...

PS - If you haven't seen the movie Juno, you should check it out. Ellen Page received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role... I need to see if Jason has better pictures on his camera!