Things I Made This Weekend: A List

• my bed (two times)
• a Halloween banner
• several pages of notes
• a BLT
• four new Halloween pillows
• monkey bread (yummy)
• a little oasis of peace and happiness on my sofa while listening to the semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Things I consumed this weekend? Well let's just say it definitely involved some peanut M&Ms...

How I Spent My Summer

A lot of this...

Pretending to be a statue

Entertaining toddlers with Cinderella "puppets"

With my camp kids in front of my favorite work of art

And a dash of this...

Trying to keep up in a serious dance-off

Watching the waves crash

Going on a whale watch with my favorite guys

Enjoying the magic of Disney

Eating breakfast with my favorite girls

And a sprinkling of this...

Trying my hand at melted crayons

Sewing all kinds of projects

Goodbye summer. It's been busy and ridiculously hot, and I hardly know where the time went. But it sure was fun!

Oh Harry...

At work yesterday, a co-worker had on a shirt that said "I cried when Dobby died," and when I realized what it said, I blurted out "I did too!" without even realizing it. Then today, I stumbled upon this BYU parody. What will we do without Harry? I feel like it's the end of an era...and I wonder if there will be another series that has me waiting in lines at midnight just to pick up the next book.

Cutie Pie

I had a baby shower to go to recently and decided that I should get crafty and make something cute. I came up with this idea after seeing a tub filled with cheery buttons with funny (sometimes cheeky) sayings. The winners for Mission: Baby Onesies were Cutie Pie, Night Owl, Sweet Pea, and Queen Bee.

I used my Silhouette machine and printer to create, print, and cut out the designs on heat transfer material, then just ironed the designs on. This was the first project where I feel like I really made use of the Silhouette. It's not the most intuitive tool for non-designers (I had to do a lot of guessing and trial and error), but the tutorials on their blog are really helpful. I felt like shouting "victory" when I figured out how to make my own designs using bits and pieces of things I already had on my computer and a few shapes from the Silhouette store.

And then I also made one onesie by sewing a layered fabric flower. Everything is cuter when it's teeny-tiny, and I love how these turned out!

Leah's Booklist 2010



Or a better title for this post might be "Better Late than Never"? I'm sure all the good books I discovered last year, you have already discovered too, but just in case you haven't, here is the nitty-gritty from Leah's bookshelves:

Stats **
Number of books read: 60 (Have to admit, I thought it would be more. I'm sure my brother would think it was more too.)

Number of Jane Austen-related books: 5
Number of re-reads: 5
Number of Young Adults books: 37
Number of Non-fiction: 6
Number of Fantasy: 19

**since I will never, ever in my life be able to claim any sort of athletic record, I think it's only fair that I get to have book stats.

Favorite Books of the Year
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Happiness Project by Gretchin Rubin
The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Books My Niece & Nephew Recommended to Me
Disney after Dark by Ridley Pearson
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Best Re-Imagining of a Fairy Tale
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Best Quirky Books
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

Best Series Discoveries
Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder
"The Queen's Thief" series by Megan Whalen Turner (I read them completely out of order, but the writing is SO good, it doesn't matter)

Best Secretly-Wish-I-Was-a-Teenage-Spy Novel
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

Best Novel that Also Teaches You How to Play Bridge (well at least tries to)
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

I should probably be more forward-thinking in sharing my reading lists, instead of always looking back. So here's what is piled up by my bed right now. I can't vouch for any of them just yet, but I'm excited to read them.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Jane by April Lindner
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

Any recommendations to add to my list?

What I've been up to...

2011 so far can be summarized like so:

work, church, friend's wedding in Denver, incident with a mouse in the house (aaagh!), ridiculous number of snow days in February, discovering and becoming slightly obsessed with the TV series Friday Night Lights, reading, and lots of crafty-ness

I can't claim to have made any resolutions this year other than my life motto inspired by my friend Katie B.--"Do good. Be good." BUT, I will admit to having this niggling thought/desire/drive to be a little more creative this year. So here's what I have been working on:

Bag for my sister

Quilt for Baby B.

Kimono dress for my niece's American Girl doll

The baby quilt was probably one of my most favorite projects--first of all because I was making it for the best of friends, but also because I KNEW I had found the most perfect fabric for it. It just made me smile every time I looked at it. Baby B's parents are both super cool--they're the people at the party that you want to be sitting next to. And Dad is a music guy, so when I found the Michael Miller guitar fabric at my favorite CityCraft, it was like a sign from the sewing universe that this quilt was meant to be! I think it comes off as a cool/funky vibe that's not too cutesy, but still fun.

The doll photo shoot was amusing (perhaps only to me). I couldn't get her to balance anywhere, so we ended up in the kitchen on the floor next to the refrigerator. I felt a little silly, crouched down on the floor, attempting to capture different angles. Unfortunately, my model just has one expression!

Next up...an apron, an embellished T, decoupaged mirror...so many big plans, not enough time!

My Valentine's Day



Nope, no roses or chocolate or romantic dinners for me. I spent my Valentines Day at a book-signing with The Pioneer Woman, and it couldn't have been a sweeter day! She is so friendly and approachable and just how I'd imagine from obsessively reading her blog.



I had just received Flat Stanley in the mail from my nephew, so we took a pic together, just the 3 of us. And the cherry on top? The whole family came along with her!

So the kids signed my book...



And so did her husband (aka Marlboro Man).

It was like I got to spend the evening with my friends just down the street. Isn't it funny how blogs shrink our world and make us feel like best friends with complete strangers?