Wait - I need to tie my shoe.

We were walking into the Hunter House (a great old hamburger stand in Michigan), when the manfriend says, "Wait, I need to tie my shoe."

And then he kneeled down in the parking lot and asked me to join him in the most exciting adventure yet.

The diamond is a family heirloom - it was his grandmother's engagement diamond which she bought at an estate sale in 1942. The setting was custom made in Jeweler's Row. And it's beyond perfect.

Me: So... what kind of wedding do you want to have?
Manfriend: Oh my god. We have to plan a wedding.
Me: You brought this on yourself.

Special K Challenge: Week 1

Sunday marked the end of Week 1 of the Special K Challenge.

Alas, I tried to find a fun image (for about 10 seconds), decided it wasn't worth it, and moved on. Y'all know what that big red "K" looks like.

For anyone who doesn't know: the Special K Challenge lasts for 2 weeks. Challengers (i.e. me) eat some combination of a shake, a protein meal bar, or a bowl of cereal with milk or yogurt for two meals plus two small snacks plus a "well-balanced" dinner for two weeks and ka-blam! 6lbs down!

First of all, my reasons:

• I've been feeling squishy. I'd lost most of the holiday weight, but before the holidays I was already carrying around a few extra pounds.
• It's winter. I don't like running when it's this cold and the sidewalk is covered in ice. I barely get off the couch when the heat isn't blowing. I don't do cold well. I should probably rethink living in Chicago...
• I've been eating a lot of crap (aka. Pizza Rolls) and needed a kick in the butt to get back on the healthy eating track.
• I need to sweat more.

So how did the first week go? Pretty well! I'm not a huge fan of the shakes - call me crazy, but I prefer to eat my food - but I have two left, so I worked them into my plan for this week. I have rediscovered a love of granola and cereal, especially with fruit. I'm actually surprised how not hungry I've been. I've been intentionally keeping busy and trying to keep to an eating schedule, so I think that helps. I'm also tracking the food in my calorie counter to keep from eating too few calories and throwing my metabolism into crisis mode.

I didn't work out as much as I would have liked (when I say "work out," I mean, "yoga"). It was a busy week and I'm hoping to make a habit of eating better before working the exercise component in. By the beginning of March, I want to be in a place where getting back into running and training for an 8k in April isn't going to completely kick my ass.

The absolute best part about this is the new meals I've discovered! My biggest downfall is eating healthy all day, getting home starving, and just eating whatever comes to hand first. Usually cookies. Frequently Pizza Rolls. I'm not proud. And I'd fallen into a rut. Of cookies and Pizza Rolls. During Week 1, I had a steak salad, a veggie burger with side salad, chicken with chop suey veggies over brown rice - and all of these things took about 15 minutes to make. Quick, easy, delicious, healthy. Can't beat that combo. Dessert every night has been light whipped cream with strawberries and I couldn't be happier about that. But I think the biggest accomplishment of the week was kicking my soda habit. I ran out of soda about half way through the week and just didn't get any more. No caffeine headaches! I have coffee in the morning and I'm good. I drink water the rest of the day and I think that's helped a lot too.

Oh - to go back to one of the themes of this blog... I be poor, yo. How did I afford all this fancy Special K food? Aldi. They have knock off versions of almost everything Special K has, so that saved me a ton of money. I did buy a couple things name brand, but having the Aldi versions of most of it helped a ton.

Week 1 Results: I've lost 3lbs and 4 inches overall and feel like I've generally deflated. I'm looking forward to the Final Results.

Go forth and craft!

Once upon a time, I had to return some snaps to JoAnn's. That was all I had to do. Just walk in and return. the. snaps. But then... I didn't have any other plans that night... the manfriend was working late...  one thing lead to another... and I left with about $30 worth of fabric and lots of new projects percolating in my brain.

Found this on a shelf at JoAnn's. Seriously.

I love shopping for fabric. I love walking down the rows of bright colors and prints and glitter, thinking about what each one could be used for and letting the fabric inspire the project. I love getting to know a fabric by feel - and sometimes passing judgement if it's cheap and gross feeling (I'm looking at you, rayon). Cotton fabrics just make my heart go pitter patter.

Sewing is in my bones. I spent most of my childhood in a fabulous (now closed) locally owned fabric store called Baer's. First of all, there was a huge Plexi-Glass box of random buttons that I could play in for hours while my mom was getting her fabric cut. I can still remember the button wall, the cutting tables, the bridal area on the first floor; the paper dolls, the remnant room, and the apparel fabric on the second floor, and the third floor - oh, the third floor - was entirely devoted to home decor.

I come by my fabric addiction honestly. I watched my mother buy yards and yards of fabric. In an attempt to break the cycle, I try very hard to not buy fabric unless I know what it'll be used for. So, when Court drunk texted and asked me to make her a quilt, I about passed out from excitement. She's all about fun, bold colors and geometric patterns, which means really fun fabric shopping:

I also try really hard to not start too many projects at once or they'll never get done. So here's what I've been working on or have waiting to be loved on:

a tunic made from some crazy pseudo-Lisa-Frank-on-acid knit fabric:

It's hard to be this fabulous.

a navy blue tailored sweatshirt top:

In progress!!

a gray blazer lined in a bright blue:

Totally not in progress yet.

and a birthday present:

Pot holders for Amy!

And an apron.

One of the Hancock's in the city is closing at the end of the month, which means super cheap stuff. And one of the few times I allow myself to buy fabric without a specific project in mind. I got an adorable teal fabric with big white polka dots. I'm having visions of a 1950s style summer halter dress thing. And probably ric rac. Because duh:

See? Adorbs.

Don't get me wrong: it makes me so sad to see fabric stores - especially Hancock's - close their doors. When Baer's closed, it was an Event in our family. It means sewing is a dying art. It means that the craft-fabric combo stores are winning. It means shopping for fabric online, which terrifies me. And it means higher and higher prices elsewhere since there's no competition.

That all being said, I'm poor. I hate shopping for fabric at JoAnn's, but I'll take my fix where I can get it. I will go to a closing store to get the things I need (and the things I didn't know I needed) at a price I can afford. I will use the coupons I find online, the coupons they send me in the mail, and the coupons available on the mobile app. And I will sew. It might seem weird or obsessive that I spend all day sewing for other folks and come home to continue to sew, but it makes me happy. I don't know what else to do to keep these stores from closing, other than to carry on and give them business and encourage as many people as I can in their sewing (and yes, crafting) endeavors.

Happy place.

I should really buy a thimble.

You guys! The quilt is done!! 

It's all machine quilted. Except the binding - I hand stitched that down on the back. Oh hey - look! The back!

I loved doing this. It totally fed into my OCD and was a great creative outlet. I'm hooked.

And just for fun - here are some process shots:

Figuring out how the blocks go together...

They have become as one!

And finally laying it out on the backing and batting.

So, I know you guys all read this blog purely for the thrilling quilt related updates and now the quilt is done... but never fear! Court has commissioned a custom quilt for her living room. So there will be plenty of quilty updates in the future. Plenty.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go bandage my fingertips.

I'm still alive.

Don't fret, dear readers - I'm still alive and kicking.

It's been one hell of an almost month. I've been in tech for a show, the manfriend's been in tech for (it feels like) 17 shows. We've barely seen each other for the last week and a half.

But I have so much money coming in right now, I'm thinking about withdrawing a bunch of $1 bills, making a big pile, and just rolling around in it. It's a nice change from December, which kind of makes it all worth it.

And, because I don't have anything else to say, I present this as my new favorite thing:

Holiday Hangover

Christmas happened. NYE happened. 2012 fucking happened.

But first! A holiday recap!

It was a wonderful Christmas, but also a Christmas I never, ever want to experience again. Suffice to say, the manfriend's mom isn't doing too well, so that made for a hard, emotional visit to Michigan. But it was also delightful to see everyone again and we found little pockets of fun. And big buckets of bourbon.

First of all, we had Barclay with us. For 15 hours, round trip, in the car. That's a lot of dog and a lot of hours.

He found ways to entertain himself.

We were tasked with making the Christmas Eve dinner. In the manfriend's family, that means roast beef, spinach bacon salad, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. He tackled the meat, I tackled the rest.

Good looking man and good looking meat.

Barclay supervised.

Christmas morning was your typical handing out of gifts and littering the room with wrapping paper.

My favorite part of the morning was breakfast. I know you're shocked. On the drive in, we stopped at a deli in Ann Arbor called Zingerman's to buy - wait for it - fancy bacon. We showed up with a quarter pound each of cherrywood smoked and applewood smoked bacons. It was the best bacon I have ever had in my life. Ever. For anyone who's interested, they have a bacon of the month club...

My second favorite part was inheriting this beauty from the manfriend's mom:

We got snowed in at his mom's house an extra day, but still made it to The Motherland. You may know it as "Kentucky." It was a brief, yet rejuvenating 22 hours.

Aside from the Curl Catastrophe, New Years Eve and Day was super fun. We went to two parties, ate too much, drank too much, danced like the nerdy white people we are, got home at 3:30am, and passed the hell out. In the morning, the manfriend made this salty-protein-hangover-cure breakfast:

~~~

In so many ways, this was a great, wonderful year. And in so many ways, this year was total shit. But I guess that's just how years go. I quit two jobs and I'm broke, but I'm happier now than I have been for a long time. The manfriend and I traveled to New York City, Mackinac Island, DC, and each family outpost twice. We've grown into our relationship and I am disgustingly happy with him every single day. I only hope 2013 has more of the good and less of the crap. But as long as the manfriend is around, it will all be ok.

OMG FEELINGS.

Quick! Look at this picture of me using the stand mixer while wearing curlers!

Happy 2013!!

Crap I've Made from Pinterest, Vol. 2

The problem with Pinterest is that everything looks so damn easy. Everything is just three steps, calls for ingredients you already have, takes only 15 minutes, and voila! You too can have a fully lined tulle ball gown and beef bourguignon simmering away by the end of an afternoon. No heavy lifting required.

Bullshit.

And yet...

I was seduced once again by the siren call of big, bouncy, curly hair. If you know me at all, you know that all I want in life is Big Hair. For Christmas one year, my mom gave me the entire Big Sexy Hair system (shampoo, conditioner, mousse, hair spray). I figured it was only fair because it's her fault I have this hair. My never-ending quest for big hair even led to me having a perm for much of high school. Not an 80s perm, but still. I willingly smelled like rotten eggs for a couple days every few months. All for Big Hair.

I have curlers I never use because it never seems to work right (and they're velcro - I think that's a big part of the problem), but when I saw this on Pinterest, I just couldn't resist. And who doesn't want to look like that with curlers in their hair?

It was New Year's Eve. I had a new Chanel-style sweater from Target. I had two parties to go to. I wanted Big Hair. So, I bought curl spray gel stuff and followed the instructions on the site. I dutifully separated sections, sprayed and combed the gel through, rolled each section, sprayed on a light dusting of hair spray, and warmed it all with the hair dryer.

I let it sit for an hour. One hour.

And then... I took out the curlers.

When the manfriend finally stopped laughing, he said, "Well... honey... at least your hair is long."