Last week I posted a sneak peek of Danica and Robin’s photo session. Here is the full deal. Two sweet sisters. One sugary baby–one spicy three year old. I had a blast setting my “mobile studio” up in their very own living room so Danica could be entertained while we did Robin’s photos and Robin could nap while we shot her big sis’s portraits. It worked out great.
Before I unleash the cuteness, I’ve got to thank their wonderful mother, Wyrene for being a guinea pig and letting me test my new set up in her home. She’s the best.
For even more of these cuties, be sure to go over to the Facebook page tomorrow. I’ll be posting the full session there. Oh, and you might as well click the “like” button while you are there. That way you won’t miss anything awesome.
Just to be clear, in today’s post I’m going to say things that even a year ago I never thought I would utter. Three phrases to be exact. It’s a night of firsts. Let’s dive in.
I’ll start by saying that I ran a lot of errands today. I wanted to be sure that I got them all done today because tomorrow the high is -15. {That’s the first thing I never imagined saying. High, -15? What. The. Heck.}
Which brings to to phrase number two. One of the items on my to-do list was stop at the thrift shop to look for a pair of sweat pants for Derek to wear curling. {Me, Derek, curling? Never thought I’d say that. Ever.} Not like a gross pair {my sis thinks it’s disgusting to buy athletic wear at the thrift shop} just some general cold-weather swishy pants.
I found a good warm pair. Hope he likes them.
Now, if you know me you know I can’t simply just get one thing at the resale shop without having a gander around first. So I did. And lucky me…I scored a super cute cardigan from Ann Taylor Loft. $2.50 with 25% off, yes please. I was just about to take my great deal and run when I spotted something unlike anything my eyes have ever seen before.
It was long and dark and so incredibly awkward I knew it would be worth at least $5. {Happy day…it was $2.50 as well.} I knew I couldn’t let this gem go. I’ve been kicking myself for not buying that magical Unicorn Clock. I’ll just show it to you.
Yes friends, I’ve laid my hands on the mother of all awkward sweaters. Seriously, I’m pretty sure this sweater has given birth to all other crazy corny sweaters. There are so many weird things about it…where to begin…
It’s so weirdly long. My friend Katie rightfully dubbed it a sweater gown instead of a sweater dress. {That’s my third phrase…sweater gown.}
The design is also on the back.
While we are talking design, let’s focus there. Look at those skiers! When Katie first saw it she asked if they were squirrels. I think they look like they are hovering over a toilet.
It’s made to fit someone my size. Although the length is so weird…it’s form fitting.
Maybe most troubling…it’s from ESprit brand. At one time this was a legit item by a major brand. Yikes!
The high placement of the skier design really accentuates the roll under my belly button {ladies, you know what I’m talking about.} I look like a 45 year old who has had 5 kids and no desire to get her figure back.
I have no desire to rush this year…but man I wish it was time for sweater parties. Next year not only will a wear a sweater, but I will show up proudly cloaked in an ensemble of sweater. Oh, for the love of thrifting this has been a great day. I’m sure it’s one of the last of its kind, so I’ll probably be fending off runway offers and messages from fashion editors. Tyra who? Amy’s got a sweater gown. Look out.
If any of you know a backstory of this sweater gown, I’d love to hear it. Is it a cross country ski dress? You tell me. Your guess is as good as mine. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen at the resale shop?
I live by the theory that if we only had good days we’d never really appreciate them…because we wouldn’t know the difference. So every once in a while it’s okay to embrace a day of complete chaos where nothing turns out as it should. Then we can really understand the value of a good day.
Okay, with that said, I bet you can guess what kind of tale you’ll see here tonight. That’s right. Another awkward, silly, can’t-believe-that-just-happened story of my life. Like I told you last week when I shared my jeans and biscuits and gravy tales {didn’t read them?…you need to} when something embarrassing happens my first thought is anger/never-tell-anyone. Then I cool off and realize just how entertaining it was. To be sure that this was worth relaying to you I tested it out on my classes today at the gym. Their reaction assured me that you too will enjoy this nugget of crazy.
It all happened on Saturday. The spouses from Derek’s squadron were getting together for our monthly social at a paint your own pottery place downtown. {Margies. If you live in Minot, you really need to go.} Everyone was asked to bring a dessert or appetizer to share. I volunteered on the dessert side {greedily thinking I’d be able to binge on the leftovers with a white russian late at night.}
I found an awesome recipe for snicker-doodle blondies. {The recipe is pinned to my get-togethers board.} So I whipped them up put them in the pan and into the oven. Obviously I licked the bowl. Boy was that batter a delight.
While the blondies were baking I decided I’d turn the kettle on and have a cup of tea while watching some Dateline online. No big deal. I should also mention in here that we have an electric range. I prefer gas. Why, you ask…one primary reason: You can immediately tell what burner you’ve switched on. Yes, my friends…I’m foreshadowing.
I got so into the Dateline mystery that I didn’t even think about my tea. That show is good. Am I right? The timer went off and the blondies were done. I pulled them out. They were truly a vision of perfection. I sat the pan {a glass 9×13 pyrex} across the burners on the stove to cool. I went back to the couch. A few minutes later I remembered the kettle and wondered why it hadn’t gone off. About this same moment, Derek asked if I smelled smoke.
Yes…yes I did.
Into the kitchen we ran to see the blondies smoking. I grabbed a towel and lifted it above my head. Sure enough, I flipped on the wrong burner. The kettle was stone cold, and I had sat my pan on a very hot burner. Through the glass on the bottom of the pan I could see a perfect circle of black, burnt blondies. Woof.
To get the smoke out I took the pan outside and set it on the deck. Once the kitchen was clear I brought the pan back in. You think the story’s over? Not even close.
As the glass cooled further something awful happened: the pan exploded. Glass and sugary delight went everywhere. Pan ruined, dessert ruined even more.
Being quick on my feet I pulled a carton of strawberries out of the fridge and chocolate chips from the cupboard. I was taking a dessert, darn it. I put the chips in a small bowl and put them in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Well, the bowl got too hot on the last 30 and the chocolate burned into gross clumpy ball.
It’s now 10 minutes until I need to leave. I’ve given up on dessert. When my friend Allison arrived to pick me up she stepped inside and said, “Uh, did something burn?” She’s too sweet…she should have said, “What the heck, it smells like burnt hair and black marshmallows in here.” Not to even touch on the fact that the whole house was still very cloudy and hazy from the disasters that had just occurred.
Pottery painting was fun. And there was so much food my single dessert wasn’t missed and I didn’t offer up an explanation for why I showed up empty handed. {I was still in the never-tell phase.}
I got home and decided to make potato soup for dinner. {Yes, the madness continues.} Everything in the house smelled like burnt sugar; my hair, my clothes, the couch cushions. Yuck. But we must persevere. So I peeled potatoes. No big deal. I’m sure even a well trained monkey can do that…let alone a college educated 26 year old wife. I picked up my last potato. Peel, peel, peel, rip.
I caught the peeler on my middle fingernail and ripped it. Not like, “Oh I broke a nail.” I’m taking seriously ripped. Blood gushing. Nail torn 1/3 of the way to the nail bed and half way across. That was it. Cooking fail number three in less than twelve hours. I couldn’t even believe it.
The story has a happy ending though. The potato soup {minus one bloody potato} was delightful. The blood finally stopped. We had friends over to play euchre and Derek and I won. Then we played rummy and I cleaned up on that too.
Not that this story will change your life, but as always when I share these moments from my life I hope they bring you a little smile and some laughter. The value of days like this is priceless because it really does teach us to cherish our “average” days.
Amy
PS…Are you guys watching Downton Abby? I couldn’t even believe last night’s episode!! Yikes!
This week I had the good fortune of photographing two beautiful little girls. I was so excited to edit the photos…so I’m thrilled to be bringing you a sneak peek tonight! Without further ado, feast your eyes on Baby Robin and her big-girl sister, Danica.
This session was especially exciting for me because recently I’ve stocked up on props and back drops. {And more are on the way!} See…I’ve never worked in a place where outdoor photography was not a year round possibility. So I’m getting creative and making this whole winter thing work to my advantage. This session was so fun. Robin is precious, as you can see…and a joy to shoot.
Now meet Danica. I just love this girl’s personality. She is a bit of a tom-boy…but boy does she clean up nice! She was eager to give me her “Princess Smile.” But when I handed her a strand of pretty beads to play with she didn’t pretend to wear them. Instead she quickly told me that it was a snake that had poison and could bite. Hey…whatever floats your boat. I love a girl with imagination and attitude.
{Notice something missing there? We’ll get to that in a second…}
So I have this issue. I can’t keep things to myself. I can for a while…then, I just spill it. Wait, I’m giving you the wrong idea. I don’t mean I can’t keep a secret. I’m very good with secrets. I never tell something said in confidence. I’m talking about a much more surface level problem.
Awkward things that happen in my day to day…I just can’t keep them at bay forever. When an incident occurs I’ll vow to just keep it to myself. Why does anyone need to know anyway? Then after a few days I decide that whatever it was was simply too funny/ridiculous/unbelievable to hold inside.
A good example of this happened when I was living in Oklahoma. Derek and I went down to the state fair where I gorged myself with “fair-food.” At the end of our fun day I we were polishing off an elephant ear before hopping back in the car to go home. I dropped a napkin on the ground…upon picking it up I tore the butt of my favorite skinny jeans. {Guess I wasn’t so skinny after all.}
The tear isn’t even the awkward part. That kind of thing happens. What doesn’t happen is this:
I donated the jeans to a local thrift shop that I knew got a profit for recycling the material of clothing that was damaged. A few weeks later I was shopping at said thrift shop…where I happened upon the most amazing pair of skinny jeans. It was a magical moment. They were just my size, even the same brand as the ones my big butt had destroyed. {Do you see where this is going?} So I tried them on. A perfect fit.
That night when Derek got home I was so excited to tell him about the magical experience I’d had. How the universe had delivered a replacement pair of jeans to replace my favorite pair. So I put them on to show him this rare unicorn of the denim world. For the first time I turned around and looked at my backside in the mirror.
You guessed it. They were ripped. I bought back my ruined jeans. So lame.
Well…last week I had another episode of awkward that I vowed to keep quiet. But I just can’t. The Bible tells us to speak encouraging words to one another. And I hope that hearing the ridiculous happenings in my life will uplift you…and make you feel more normal.
Here goes. Last week I was sick. It started as a sinus thing, then settled down into my chest. Thursday morning I got up and ate some left over biscuits and gravy for breakfast, then proceeded to return some emails. Everything was going fine. Then I started coughing. I really didn’t even cough that hard, but the next thing I knew the coughing had turned into puking.
Yep. I threw up. Right on my laptop.
Not kidding. This happened. B&G made it’s second appearance and it landed on half of my key board, a little on the screen, and on my favorite pajama pants.
Like lightning I went to the kitchen for a damp rag. I threw off my puky pants and began to wipe down my computer. The last thing I need is a laptop that doesn’t work because my own vomit fried it’s board. When all was clean I noticed that a few of my keys were still pretty gross. So I got a butter knife and gently pried them up to clean underneath. I successfully popped of and replaced “Tab”, “Caps Lock” and “Shift.” Then I popped off “A.” Funny…it wouldn’t go back on. So I did “S” and figured I’d try to get them both back on in a minute.
Nope.
Turns out I broke the keys with that gentle butter knife. Lame. So now I’m typing without the A and S with makes it pretty slow going. You use those letters a lot. Customer support said my insurance would cover replacement keys from a dealer in Minot. That’s on my list of errands for tomorrow.
Those are true stories. I can’t make it up…and for some reason I can’t hold it in.
Hi there. So…as promised, today I’m going to show you how I whipped up these pillows. Now, you are not even going to believe how long these took. Ready? 9 minutes 35 seconds. Did I just blow your mind. Okay, total transparency…they took that long to make each…and it didn’t include the time it took to cut out felt hearts and glue those on. That was another 10 or so.
For this project you’ll need 1 yard of fabric {that’ll make 2 square pillows}, felt, and hot glue.
This is a long post…so if you are following along, go on and click through now. (more…)
Let me be honest. Never in my life have I felt air as cold as what I felt today in Practically Canada.
I’ve been cold before. My senior year of college classes were cancelled because it was just so cold. Highs of 3 degrees with -20 wind chill. Well…Muncie, IN wouldn’t even know what hit them if they experienced today in North Dakota.
When I woke up this morning I looked out the window at the thermometer on the garage. Certainly it was broken. It registered -10. By the time we were home from our afternoon errands and activities the thermometer looked like this:
Yep. You are seeing that right. Nearly -20. The wind chill ranked in around -45. Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. the real temp will be -24. I just can’t even believe that this is happening. And locals say sometimes it gets even colder. HOW?!
It’s so cold this crazy sciencey thing happens. You aren’t even going to believe this…so we got video of it. To prove to you that it’s real. It’s so cold that if you throw a cup of boiling water into the air it all turns to steam before hitting the ground. When I heard about this I thought for sure it was a joke. Let me assure you, it is not. It’s really that cold here.
This little party trick kept up entertain for quite some time this evening. {A whole kettle full of entertainment.}
So, yes. This is crazy. If you need me, I’ll be on the couch Netflix-ing under the electric blanket. The only thing that warms me up on a cold night like this is a super cute, cuddle kitten. Really, is there anything better than a sleepy kitten? I highly doubt it. Panda Cat has pretty much given up on life outside of the down comforter. What a baby.
See you tomorrow! Be sure to come back for the no-sew Valentine’s Day pillow tutorial.
A week ago I pinned this lovely idea to a board titled “Pretties Please.” Every day since then I’ve gotten notifications that it had been pinned and repinned and pinned some more. The image links to a good page of 5 sweet ideas for upcycling old dressers. And that got me thinking…what else could we do with those drawers. So, without further ado, I give you 7 Upgrades for Old Drawers. {#1 is the planter above.}
Our second idea comes from Kamm’s Korner. Click the image and you’ll be whisked away to her blog for the complete DIY tutoril. Don’t you just love the look of the window boxes? You could always remove the hardware for a less obvious drawer look.
Olive and Love took some cast off drawers and transformed them into pretty, easily accessible under the bed storage.
Nice Girl Notes used drawers to make a perfectly portable dollhouse.
A Time for Everything made this jewelry organizer from an old wooden tray. But what’s stopping us from using an old drawer?
Entry ways can always use more storage. Why not get some of those shoes off the floor and up onto the wall? This project comes compliments of The Douangphila Blog.
Last but not least…Now that you’ve used up all the drawers what ever will you do with the dresser? Cameras and Chaos used this draweless dresser for storing her fabrics. I think it’d be lovely in a guest room or bathroom for storing towels and linens.
And where should you go to get these magic dressers? I dunno…thrift shops are always brimming with ugly dressers and nightstands. Check craigslist.org in the free section. Sometimes people are trashing the craziest things. {Like a dresser with no drawers…}
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