Came, Saw, Conquered

Kelley is here! What a fabulous time with her!! She wanted to go to Italy, so....we did. She arrived early Sunday morning and by 10pm that night, we were on our way to the Eternal City! After a long lie in (she was so jet lagged), we headed to the major sights. Along the way, we met our friend Marco for a fabulous dinner and night out (ouch!), had awesome weather and laughed til our sides hurt. Everything that hanging out with your bestie should be! I will so miss her when she leaves tomorrow bright and early. So, so much!!! Give your best friend a hug and tell her how much you value her friendship and love her. I know I will be doing that with lots of tears tomorrow at the airport.

...at the top of the cupola on St. Peter's

Potential Throw Down With the Chicken Lady

Sometimes I love living in our host country. Yesterday I did not. I think that our host nationals are rude. (Who says Parisians are rude? You have never been here!) Now, my disclaimer is that not all are rude...I have made some wonderful German friends. The chicken lady is not one of them.

I was dropping a book off at a friend's house and the layout of the road was such that I could make a giant loop---her house, around the block, back to my house. So, I drop off said book, and make my way up and around toward my house. I turn on to a somewhat small-ish street and in front of me is the chicken lady. It is actually a green and gold colored van that sells eggs out of it. (At one point in time, chickens were sold too. I have no idea why they are no longer available.) The chicken lady stops. Barely pulls over and this is a narrow street, my friends. She is in front of a driveway, which is illegal for any one other than a German national. I give a friendly beep, in hopes she will scoot a little to the right, so I can pass. She does not acknowledge me. Another beep. Nothing. I feel my blood boiling. Beep. The back van doors swing open in a flourish and I am told (rather nastily) to back up and go around. I am not attempting to turn around. I ask her to move over a bit. No, and the doors slam shut. Oh, she didn't, did she?! Beep. Long pause. Beep. Long pause. Beep. Long pause. Beep. (My children's ears are burning with what I spewing from my mouth right about now.) The lady that lives in the house across the street comes out for her eggs. (Really, she could have used the quarter mile walk to the corner store.) She throws her hands up and gives me a look. Oh, that is so the last time I chit chat with her when I see her! I am starting now to practice my stink eye. Eventually, a worker who had buckets of stucco in road moves them and I proceed to go around, with no joke, mere inches next to the chicken van. If I didn't have places to go, I would have pulled in front of that chicken lady, put my car in park and waited. But, I was too chicken.

Remember Spring Break?

Spring Break seems so long ago! I realized today that I failed to update about our great vacation. I will make it short and sweet....
We cruised with our great friends to the Black Sea. Mark and I have cruised on this line before and weren't to impressed with it. We had low expectations....as long as we got from point A to point B, everything in between was a bonus; the ports were the lure.

We started out in Genoa, Italy and after spending a night in Milan with friends we boarded. The ship was small. And clientele, very geriatric. Needless to say, our group's 4 kids were the majority of the Kid's Club. So from Genoa, we sailed to Rome. How I love that city!!

O eating gelato in Piazza Navona

Then on to Athens. Every time we go there, I think it's our last, and inevitably, we go back.

Plaka in Athens

Then, on to Istanbul, Turkey. Mark had been here before, but the rest of us were new. We hired a private tour guide and I didn't regret it. What an amazing city! And the Grand Bazaar...I think that I could spend days there. Although, I started to see the same thing over an over. Then on to the Ukraine; Yalta first, then Odessa. It was a really beautiful country! I really liked Odessa- it reminded me of St. Petersburg. (Odessa was Catherine the Great's summer getaway or something like that.) Big, colorful buildings and it helped that the weather was nice!

Church in Yalta


Boys in Odessa

Then finishing up in Sorrento...

and then to Taormina. I remember when I studied in Italy, 2 friends went to Taormina for their mid-term trip and talked about how much they loved it. I understand why. Back to Genoa then, and a long drive home.

Sweet mother of pearl, I can not find a way to upload Turkey pictures!

Week 14

First, Happy Mother's Day to all those Moms out there. I wish I was on the same continent as my Mom to give her a big hug, take her out shopping, and have lunch together. Perhaps next year. This year, I called her and I will go upstairs to a secret box (which isn't so secret anymore) filled with old silk scarves she gave me. I have not used any of them. I kept them in that same box, because when I open it, it smells like my Mom. I love it and her. Awwwwww, gosh I miss her!

I remember at my Grandparents house, a wonderful picture that my Grandfather made. When he passed, my parents asked me if there was anything special that I wanted. I loved the picture Grandpa Ernie did. It was silhouettes of my Grandma, Grandpa and their 2 boys (my Dad and Uncle Bob). The silhouettes were made out of metal. It is great. My Mom had already taken it off the wall and put it aside for safe keeping at that time. Now, it hangs in their house. I figured it was time to do these of my boys. Of course, with paper, not metal!

So, I took profile pictures of each of the boys. The pictures are nice because the shadow really let me know what the silhouettes would look like. I didn't plan the shadow....it just worked that way.

I bought some acid free black and white paper. I printed the pictures and glued them on to the black paper with a glue stick (very little). Then I cut out both the photo and black paper at once. I then glued the silhouette onto the white paper and framed them in cheapie frames. I love the way they turned out. O's is very much him. H's is him, but not as obvious as O's. Maybe we need a family one?

Week 13-A Tutorial!

I am venturing into new territory here. I am going to post my first tutorial. So, bear with me and let's hope I get it right.


This week we are making a card holder. My wallet was becoming George Costanza-like (for all you Seinfeld fans) and I needed to pare it down. I took out all those cards you get for buying 10 books, the 11th is free and what not. It made a huge difference. But what to do with the cards? You never know when you might want to buy a paperback, and where is that darn punch card? (Now let's be real...where I live, I conveniently shop at mostly 1 place. So, it's not like I wouldn't be back at the same store the next day with said punch card that I left at home. But anyway....this is a handy dandy thing to have on hand!) So, here goes....

• You will need 2 pieces of material for the outside and inside, but cut to 4.5" x 6.5".
• You will also need interfacing cut to the same dimensions. I use what I have on hand (great stash buster project), but if you are buying interfacing, go with the heavier stuff. Not the fluffy stuff, which is what I had for this particular one.
• You will also need 2 pieces of material cut to 4.5" x 4.5" for the pockets.
• And, of course, thread, iron, sewing machine.

In my typical fashion, I eyeball a lot. A LOT! So, for seam allowances, when I sewed the pockets on, I sewed very close to the edge. When I sewed the inside/outside pieces together, I sewed a little further from the edge. That's as good as a seam allowance guesstimate your gonna get here!

Step 1:
Iron the pocket pieces in half and iron the interfacing onto the wrong side of one of the inside/outside pieces (polka dots in the pictures).

Step 2:
Sew the pockets on to the polka dot piece you just lined. Sew the pockets at the end of each short side with the folded edge facing the middle.


Step 3:
With wrong sides together, sew the other inside/outside piece to the one with the pockets. The pockets will be inside. I think it's easiest to start sewing on the long side, right where the pocket starts. Sew around and stop at the top of the other pocket, this leaves an opening to turn the wallet right side out. Clip the corners so that it will lay better.


Step 4:
Turn wallet right side out and iron flat. You will want to iron the opening edges in; it makes the next step easier.

Step 5:
Topstitch around the entire thing.

Step 6:
Fold it in half and give another once over with the iron.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy! Honestly, I think it took me all of 20 minutes to do and a great way to use those odd pieces of your favorite material!

And since this is my first tutorial, if I have left anything out, please let me know.

Week 12

I am reeeaaaallly behind on this 52 Weeks, 52 Projects thing. I have been creating, but just don't take the time to photograph what I have done. We recently bought a new camera. I think I need to pry the old one out of the hands of our budding photographer, H, and keep it in my craft area! Anyway, I will update with a project, but there is so much more to add in another post.
Here is a scrappy scarf that I made. Really very easy. I cut all the pieces the same rectangle shape, arranged the patterns the way I liked them (front and back), then sewed them together. Once it was turned right side out (the hardest part), I topstitched it. I loved how it turned out and I think it's a great piece with my new Boden jacket. (Birthday gift from my wonderful husband!) Each rectangle was about 3 inches wide, and maybe 6 inches long. I am guessing here. I had no formula or pattern, just winged it in my typical style.

I think I may try a tutorial next.

Week 11

Falling behind....

I'm still working on a project a week, but I forget to take photos and never get to posting the projects. This is a great way to dress up a t-shirt. I found the tutorial here.



I bought 2 inexpensive t-shirts, same color. Using one of them, I cut heart shapes. The hearts were about 2-2.5 inches in the middle, vertically, to give you an idea of how big they were. I cut out a bunch and wasn't too picky about how perfect they were or were not. Then, I sewed them onto the tee at the neckline. I used my sewing machine and just did a quick stitch right in the middle of the heart. A quick back and forth and that's it! I didn't place the pieces before I stitched. I just sewed one, then eyeballed where another should go, then sewed that one. The closer they are together, the fuller the embellishment. I can't wait for the weather to warm up to wear it!

We are leaving on Tuesday for vacation. We are driving through Milan to see a friend, then on to cruising. We are heading to Athens and Rome again (fave!!), then to the big sights I want to see; Istanbul and the Black Sea (Ukraine). There are a few other stops in there, but these are my highlights. Hopefully the weather will be warm-ish, and the cruise will be decent! And, O is big enough to join the Kids Club!!