And some New Pictures :)

This past weekend, we had company .  Travis' brother and family came to visit from Eastern WA.  We had a blast.  A Winterhawks hockey game on Friday night, then a trip to Ikea (they had never been), swedish meatballs and then off to Multnomah Falls to hike to the top.  Here are some pictures from our adventures...

We had blinds up in our master bathroom, but they were old and discolored, so I took them down and made curtains.  I like how they turned out, but my "theme" in the bathroom is kind of beachy, so I plan to collect some shells, rocks and driftwood next time I hit the beach, which should be soon since I haven't been there in a while. :)

The new normal

A NEW POST!  Well, I figured I'd decorate this place a bit with a new entry.  Most of you  know we've moved.  If you are my friend on FB you've seen the adventures of the move, the house and all that's been going on.  If not, then I'll catch you up. :)

We got orders back to Portland...HOME.  We were so happy but had a lot of work ahead of us, as with any cross country move.  We had to house hunt from all the way over the other coast.  Travis and I flew to OR for a week.  We met up with our realtor and looked at several houses all over the county (back in Vancouver).  We didn't find a house, but we decided exactly what area we wanted to be in...back where we lived before.  Ok, so now we had an area, but still no house.  3 weeks later, I loaded up my precious van and drove all the way to WA by myself.  It was great and I realized that I probably would be content being a long haul trucker.  But I would need a mechanic with me and my darling husband who I love SO MUCH would probably drive me crazy being stuck in a truck for weeks at a time...oh well.   Baby and I made it to WA in about 4.5 days.  I think I could have done it quicker..now that I've done the trip, if I ever do it again, I'll know what I can handle.  Anyway, I drug my friend, Evonne, along with me to look at houses.  I figured it was good to have 2 pairs of eyes and different opinions.  We looked at a whole bunch of houses.  Some awesome houses in not so awesome neighborhoods.  Some not so awesome houses in awesome neighborhoods.  Finally, Travis found a house online and told me to go look at it.  The Pool House.  We went and looked at it, I even drug my old neighbor, Brian, with us to see it.  It was a nice house, nice neighborhood.  Bonus..it had a pool and hot tub..the kids were pretty tickled about that.  It is a mile down the road from our old neighborhood so we know the area really well.  I didn't LOVE the house, but it was ok.  Travis and I talked and I made another appt to go see it again.  The second time we really looked at stuff.  Or so we thought. :)  I took pictures to send to Travis and we decided to make an offer.  It was accepted and I flew back to my family in VA (after being gone for over 2 weeks).  From there, we faxed, emailed, called back to our realtor because of some issues with the stupid mortgage company the the previous owners.  After a stressful month or so, we finally owned a house in WA. :) 

We packed up our junk in VA (well, the movers packed it up), loaded it into the truck and hauled it away.  We had to stay in VA for an extra week for Sara's high school graduation, which seems weird, since I don't think I'm old enough for my BABY to have graduated high school, but whatever.  After graduation, we said good-bye to the baby girl, loaded up the other 3 vehicles and headed out on a caravan expedition.  Travis in Chuck hauling Traily, Anisa, Jason and Batman (Nisa's fishie) in Foxy, and me in Cupcake.  We planned to take it kind of easy and make it over in 5ish days, but got a phone call from the moving truck saying he had to deliver 2 days early or put our stuff in storage.  We knew that a military delivery going into storage meant a possible VERY LONG wait for our stuff, so we pushed it and made it to Vancouver in 4 days.  Hauling the trailer made our driving slower, so we did a couple of 16 hour days to make it on time.  Based on my experience from that trip, if  we ever have to make a cross-country move, I will drive all the vehicles, one at a time, by myself.  It was too stressful with Travis trying to keep up or falling back.

Anyway, we arrived and the next day got our stuff delivered.  I didn't have any time to really clean or paint the way I wanted to, so that came later.  With a house full of boxes and furniture not where it belongs, we started to try to get settled.

The bad thing about moving is you don't see the problems with the new place til you actually live in it.  The previous owners had lived  here for almost 20 years so even tho they had done some upgrades, other things had been let go.  Besides that, I'm an OCD clean freak, and saw all the dirt and grime.  I got to work scrubbing cabinets and lining shelves.  Steam cleaning carpets AROUND the boxes and furniture.  Oh, and the pool.  Yeah, it was GREEN.  It hadn't been covered the there were 2 weeks between them moving out and us moving in, so it had leaves and cotton from the trees in the filter, and lots of algae.  The rain gutter system had crushed pipes so we had to have the front yard dug up to replace the pipes and because of water issues in back, we had the backyard dug up to install a french drain.  We quickly realized we had paid a lot for a fixer upper.  doh.  We got rid of lots of junk, realized we don't have enough storage here, but have found creative places to store things. I have painted most of the house and we're just now, after about 4 months, feeling a little settled.  There are still things that need to be done, we want a new, bigger shed, I have to finish painting which includes a 25 foot ladder.  The pool still has some algae, but we're converting to chlorine (right now it's kind of "organic chemicals") and we're hoping the chlorine kills all the plant life, and besides, it's too cold to swim right now. Next year, we're planning to put in an awning over the deck so we can spend more time outside.

Life is settling down to a new normal.  Travis is back to work in Portland doing what he enjoys..inspecting ships.  And he has several guys he knows that are there.  Anisa is currently in VA trying to figure out where she wants to settle for now.  Sara is attending Aveda Cosmetology Institute in Portland.  As of last night, she has bright red hair, but she LOVES LOVES LOVES school.  I'm just trying to stay busy and not get into trouble at Fabric Depot. :)  We've already spent countless hours and tons of money at Home DEPOT. :/  But, we're super happy to be back Home.   Anyway, that's what's been going on here.  I'm going to try to be better at updated the blog, but I'm not making any promises. :)

Back in VA

Well, our trip to the Great PNW wasn't a complete success or failure. We didn't find a house, but we realized we want to be back in the same exact area we left. In fact, we'd love to be on our same street, and our old neighbor is working hard to get us there...he actually talked to one of the neighbors and they want to move, but they don't have a yard big enough to put a trailer pad on. darn.

We drove the entire county while we were there, saw some nice and not so nice homes. There were a couple that I'd LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to live in, but not the areas. Buying a house stinks. And especially when you're not willing to budge on a few wants/needs.

We had some awesome beers (um, PORTLAND...most of the beer there is awesome), spent a gorgeous day at Cannon Beach (it was supposed to be a day of showers and we didn't get a drop of rain), on our way back to Vancouver, we went through a little snow storm. Overall, the trip was good. We didn't get to visit, except one night, we went to sushi with the Hisatomi family to celebrate the March birthdays (there are 4 our the 6 of us), and I ran into Evonne and one of my Chinook kids, Porter, at Fred Meyers (we were there at least once every day). :) Yep, it rained a little every day - a lot on a day or two, but we didn't mind. It felt great to be back HOME. The air smelled wonderful. The drivers were nice. The people in Portland are still as weird as ever. It was a great trip. :) I'll post some pics later...Travis needs to use this computer for now! :)

100th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossoms

Well, we went to see the Cherry Blossoms for the last time while we live in VA. Of course, they were beautiful and fun to see. Wandering around the Tidal Basin really never gets old. I could go into the city every day and see something new and wonderful. After swearing that I would never live in DC, I have to apologize to Travis every once in a while, because I have come to love living here. Sure, it's not HOME (my heart is in Cannon Beach), but it has been a super wonderful experience. I will miss many things about DC...museums, eateries, Cherry Blossoms, Monuments, History. I won't miss the drivers and all the people who can't speak English, but whatever. :)

Anyway, yesterday we headed in to see the cherry blossoms, but also to go to Ford's Theater (where Lincoln was shot) and the National Geographic Museum (they have a Samurai exhibit that Travis wanted to see). It was a little on the hot side, but that's just cuz I like cooler weather. In a lot of peoples' minds, I'm sure it was perfect. We saw a squirrel, so I was happy. :) hahahaha Here are a few pics from the day.





















































I'm going back into DC today to meet with some Coastie Chicks. We're meeting up with a Chick who is visiting the city. We plan to look at the blooms and have lunch. Should be fun....other than the fact that it's going to be even hotter today. :( I'll post more pics later!

Charleston and Savannah trip

OMG. Ok, we just got home from our southern trip. Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. The main goal of the trip was to see Paula Deen, my BFF. And she proved that she's my BFF...she patted me on the butt! :) highlight of the whole weekend, y'all!

Charleston and Savannah are beautiful. And the bonus was GOOD DRIVERS. :) We're surrounded by the most horrible drivers in the world here in VA. That's because all the bad drivers in the world move to the DC area. Down south, people were polite, they used their signals, they let you in if you needed to merge and had your signal on. We only got honked at once by someone who was visiting. It was so nice. AND, the people there were nice. People held the door for you. They said please, thank you and excuse me. Oh, Gosh....it was great.

We stopped into a prom dress store and Sara may have found her prom dress. You'll have to wait for pics, but the one she found is beautiful and so flattering.

I used to say I didn't like the spanish moss hanging from the trees, but this trip made me realize I really DO like it. It's just part of the beauty of the south.

The houses....ok, they were AWESOME! Mostly old and so cool. AND, Savannah is the most haunted city in America! Cool, huh? :) We didn't see any ghosts, or the movement of ghosts, but we saw lots of very nice things. The weather was perfect. It was supposed to be rainy all weekend, but we only got a few drips and then sun! The top pic is of Rainbow Row in Charleston. The lower pic is one of the MANY cute houses in the historic district of Savannah.

Saturday we took a trolley tour of the city and saw all the sites. Then Sunday, Travis dropped me off at the Lady and Sons restaurant to get in line for a wristband to get Paula, Jamie, Bobby and Aunt Peggy. What beautiful people. OMG...They were all so sweet, friendly and made us all feel like we were friends. They are just so dang nice! I can't even tell you how awesome it was to meet them. Anisa and I are going in May to the next book signing, and I'm SO.EXCITED!! This is Paula with the little girl who was standing with her Gramma and me in the line. They were all so great. Paula gave out lots and lots of hugs and compliments.

Travis did his daddy duty and took Sara to another prom dress store (same name, different location). What a guy! She found one that she liked, but I think the one she found in Charleston is still her favorite.

Today, we got up early and headed home....8 hours later, we got home safe and sound to see our Anisa. I missed my kid. Sometimes it's fun to just have one kid, but I love my girls so much. It'll be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight...which will be very soon since I got home, had dinner and a delicious beer. ;) Hope you are having a great evening wherever you are. :)

Beeyooteeful creations

I am kind of amazed sometimes when I watch Anisa cook. She doesn't do it all that often at home, mainly because we don't eat a ton of sweets and she cooks at work, so doesn't often feel like creating in our little, underpowered kitchen. But, every once in a while, she creates and I love to see how it turns out. These are the little beauties she made for our Bunco night. They are delicious. Little pink macarons filled with a creamy filling and decorated with raspberries topped with a real rose petal and a sugar dew drop. The great thing about them is they aren't super sweet. I can actually enjoy them. :) Someday she'll own her little bakery and make custom macarons...who wants one?? :) :)

What's been UP lately

Well, not a heck of a lot, but I've been staying busy. Doing what...I have no clue. :) Ok, I actually do have a tiny clue. I've been sewing a little. Working on a quilt that I have had fabric for, for years. I saw this great quilt on a website a long time ago, and bought all the fabric that I needed and then it sat there. I never got the Pattern, but in my research, have found what blocks needed to be made, and so now I'm working on it. It's not turning out how the picture looked, but that's ok, I guess. Quilts are great like that. Even if you mess up really bad, you're usually the only one who knows. :) I also made another 2 Weekender bags. One for Sara and one for my friend's 50th birthday.

The blue one is Sara's. She wanted a "Tiffany" blue bag and found these fabrics. Not the perfect blue, but she loves it so I guess that makes it perfect.

This one is Rhonda's. She didn't get to pick her fabrics. :) heehee Hey, it was a Bday present! Travis actually suggested I make her one since I couldn't think of what to get to this special bday. 50. She's an antique and I will tell her that often. hahahahah, yeah, I know I'll be 50 someday, but that's a while away. And she still looks and acts young so it's all good. :)

My next Weekender will be for Anisa since she doesn't have one yet. Poor baby. That's ok, tho. She can't go anywhere since she's a working girl now. Being grown up stinks. We're heading to Savannah this weekend and she couldn't get the time off, so she has to stay home. We're planning to go (Just the mom and kid) in May, tho, so that will make up for it. Paula Deen is doing a book signing gig at her restaurant on Monday, so we're mainly going for that. Sara has Monday off of school for President's Day, so this works out really great. Pictures and an update will be coming soon. :) After the trip...heehee

Anisa just got back from WI. She was gone 3 weeks and it flew by. It's sometimes nice to just have an only child. She had fun. Now she's trying to decide if she'll move back to WI or go back to Portland with us. We think she should go back to Portland (duh), mainly because there are gonna be more job opportunities for her, but she has to decide on her own. I hate watching her have to decide. I know how she feels....anxious to get out there an conquer the world ON.HER.OWN, but also being scared. She'll figure it out and make it however she needs to.

Tonight I am hosting Bunco. So, I must get off the computer and start cooking the chicken. I'm making chicken enchiladas....mmmmm! Anisa's making her famous macarons with a fruity twist. Those pics will come soon too! :) I hope you all have a fabulous day. :) mwah!

Craftiness

I finished my Weekender and I.LOVE.IT! I will definitely be making more of this bag. It was challenging, but not too bad. I want to take a trip now, so I can use it. :) It took me about 3 days of working on for a little bit here and there. I think if I had a whole day, I could whip one out now since I kinda know what to do...with this one, I actually had to read the instructions. I wasn't going to do the cording, since I was a little scared since I had read other blogs that said it was really hard, but I found it to be more time consuming than hard. I was also unsure about all the interfacing and stabilizers, but that wasn't too bad, either.

For anyone who does this bag, just give yourself time. Definitely use a heavy duty needle (I didn't break any needles or bend any pins, although, a lot of time I didn't even use pins.....I hate pinning).

I made a couple of pockets on the inside which was something not on the pattern, but other chicks had done it, and I liked the idea. I showed Sara and she wants one. We are gonna make a dress together, but once that is done, I might take her out to pick out fabrics for her own bag.

Here is Anisa's Camo Purse. She found a purse that she really liked, and we came home and figured out a pattern and made this. It's a little bigger and bulkier than I had thought it would be, but it was a perfect bag for her to take to WI...she loaded that thing up! :) She is REALLY happy with it, and has gotten lots of compliments on it. Yep, she's a redneck. :)

The most important part of today, tho, is it's ANISA'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!!! I can't believe that I have a 21 year old kid. That's just so weird. She had mixed feelings about not being home for her birthday, but ultimately decided to go spend her birthday in WI. We went to dinner at Chevy's for her birthday dinner. The next day (yesterday) we went to the airport and off she flew on a plane with a buffalo on the tail. :) Of course, at midnight she started drinking, but I talked to her this morning and she said she didn't feel great, but she's alive. :) Dumb kids. I told her just don't be driving with anyone who's been drinking...I hope she listens.

So, today, I plan to spend time with Sara who loves being an only child. We're gonna work on her dress, I hope. We cut out the pattern and now have to cut out the fabric. As soon as we're done, I'll be posting on that...It's satiny fabric and chiffon. I've never worked with either fabric, so it'll be very interesting, but I'm on a Challenge Kick.... :) I hope you all have a great day and challenge yourself with something fun! :) mwah!

First Post of 2012

Well, it's a couple of weeks into the new year, but Happy New Year. I have been busy with, um, well, I don't know, but I'm sure it was something important. :) I've gotten a little bit of sewing done. Anisa and I found some Camo canvas a while back in a remnant so we bought it figuring we'd made a purse or something out of it. Then, I found some cotton fabric that she likes to line it with. I didn't take a picture of it yet, but will have to post one later. She found this purse that she loved, we figured out a pattern and made it. It turned out really cute. A little bigger than we both thought, but she likes it so I'm happy.

I bought these fabrics to start making Amy Butler's Weekender bag. Happy Zombie made it, and of course, she inspires me so I had to buy the pattern. heehee I cut the fabric out a couple of days ago, working on the interfacing hopefully this morning then I can get to sewing soon. I'm VERY anxious to get this done, since everyone that has done it, LOVES it. It's a challenge, but I'm up for it. :)

I also made this bag for my mom. She had another tote that she loved and used the heck out of. It finally died (I think the strap broke). When she came to visit for my birthday, we hit one of my new favorite fabric stores in NJ...J and O Fabrics. Awesome selection of novelty fabrics. Anyway, I found the fabrics for this bag there, and she asked if I'd make her a bag out of them. I said SURE and used HZ's pattern to make it. I love that pattern. I love the fabrics. Mom loves her bag. :)

Travis and I are slowly getting back into jogging. :) I'm not saying running since we're going pretty slow cuz we're out of shape. We jog/walked on the Bull Run Trail a week ago which was super fun. We went in about 3 miles, then back. It's VERY hilly, which is good and challenging. We have a goal on a nice weekend to jog walk from the top of the trail to the bottom end. It's about 18 miles total. We'll pack a little lunch and do it in a day. We just want to see the whole trail.

My cell phone finally bit the dust yesterday. It's been a while coming since I've dropped the poor little thing a few times. Anyway, I was forced to get a new phone. Unfortunately for the people at Verizon, I still refuse to buy a "smart" phone (which I don't think there's anything smart about). I got a nice little basic PHONE. I use it to call people and text. I don't need a camera on my phone. I have a camera. I don't need a GPS...I have maps. I don't need to read my email on my phone...it's a PHONE for goodness sake. Ok, that's my vent. I got a little LG Octane. I like it so far, but I have to get used to the keyboard. I hate change. Oh well. I also got to go to Trader Joes, so that was a little bonus. :) It's not far from here, but it's in a shopping center that I don't usually get to just because TJ's is the only store there that I like.

So, that's about all my latest news. Sara and I are making a dress for her. We cut out the pattern pieces, and I ironed the fabrics. It should be interesting since it's a silky under dress and a chiffon top layer. I've never worked with either fabric cuz of how crazy slippery they are. I'll post about that when we start...wish us luck! :)