Birthday!

Birthday cake! I got his cake from the bakery where they made our wedding cake, and they really like to have a theme for their cakes. They kept asking me what they could put on it, and I finally realized - duh - animals! This is what they put on the cake. So funny.


Then later last week we embarassed Charlie by taking him to Texas Roadhouse and accidentally telling the waiter it was his birthday, which of course meant that he was forced to sit on this saddle as everyone said happy birthday. :-)

He got a surprise present from Eric and Melissa in Japan - a box full of ties! Many of them have animals on them, in a subtle, small yet adorable way. He absolutely loves them and has been wearing one each day. Today he wore the elephants.

We also managed to visit Oregano's on his acutal birthday, which is one of our favorite things to do, as there is a free pizza cookie dessert on your birthday. Who doesn't love a soft-baked chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream? Mmm.

27

Happy Birthday Charlie!!! I love you so much. It's going to be an amazing 27th year!

V-Day

Last weekend was so fun! More shopping with my mom, discovering a new delicious Greek restaurant (I have been there twice already!), going to see the ballet Don Quixote with Charlie, decorating cookies for our families and work. Plus, on Tuesday it was 81 degrees!! But it's only a teaser, since it's supposed to rain and be cold again this weekend.
Next week is Charlie's birthday . . . fun times ahead!

Purse-nabbing

"Oh look, there's Fiesta Mall. I haven't been there in years. I bet it's totally empty, want to go?" Rachel asked last weekend. "It will remind me of my childhood- how quaint."

"Sure, ok," agreed my mother.

Pulling into the parking lot...walking up to the door of the mall...fast forward to...

PURSE-NABBING INCIDENT! Right in front of us, a young man races out of the mall, holding a purse as a young woman screams "my purse, my purse!" He drops the purse on the asphalt and keeps running through the parking lot. She drops to her knees and sobs.

Now I remember why nobody goes to Fiesta Mall.

Whoa, it's February

Last week kind of didn't hold much for me except lying in bed, staring at my bedroom ceiling, drifting in and out of sleep. I was sick 4 out of 5 workdays. Blech. All it was, as far as I could tell, was a terrible cold, but it zapped all of my energy (and some brain cells too) and I felt awful. I definitely knew I could not run around chasing kids like that.

Charlie was so sweet and helpful though, and he even had last Thursday off, so he played doctor/butler to me, bringing me everything I needed and wanted - including lemons and limes. The strange thing is that after I ate a lime and almost a whole lemon, I started feeling much better. My ability to think about things returned (ha) and by Saturday I was 100% improved.

I even got to help judge the regional choir sightreading auditions last weekend! 16 hours of musical bliss. Or something. I'd say about 15% of the kids were good sightreaders, and the others were ... still learning. The first night after I judged, I definitely dreamed the music they had been singing all day. But anyway, it was a fun experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I got to see some old music school friends again.

So now that I've recovered, low and behold, it is February, which means:
1. Valentine's Day
2. Charlie's birthday
3. Renaissance festival (free tickets from work!)
4. I'm going to blink and it will be March.

And I can't believe that at this moment there are only 83 days until we go to Japan. How did that happen?

Curtain Pics!

It has been so fun learning to sew from my mom! This weekend she showed me how to bond two fabrics with this special webbing. That's how the brown curtains have white stripes on them.



Kitchen




Family room (Charlie modeling the comfy couch)



More kitchen



Dining room




Laundry Room




Not finished yet - next up, Master bedroom!

Sew what's new?

Soon to be posted: pictures of the family room and kitchen curtains! They're all done. 5 curtains in all; my very first sewing project! They are Waverly material, red and khaki. I know it's not as much fun reading about them as seeing them, so I will post pictures as soon as the last one is hung this weekend.

I kind of got distracted in the middle of finishing the last curtain and made 3 curtains for the loft/laundry room, which are all done and hanging up. They are a different material, white and reddish.

Meanwhile, I found fabric for the dining room curtains. The colors I found for that room are chocolate brown and white. The white fabric are these curtains I got at World Market, so I get to take a little shortcut. The material is thinner and more slippery, so I have a feeling there will be some "learning experiences" coming up.

Last of all, I was at IKEA (my guilty pleasure) last weekend with my mom and we found these really nice chocolate brown curtains with a textured pattern for our bedroom. I had not found anything for that room because I needed it to be dark brown (to match the furniture and be background, because I like to change out our bedding colors from time to time) but not boring or ugly. I love that IKEA curtains come super long, and there's no need to even sew a stitch to hem them to the right length.

I seriously love playing little "curtain designer" for our house, but I will be glad when I get it all done and can just sit back and look at the finished project.