day 4

my favorite photo of my best friend.

... i have so many pictures that i love of him but ones like this just make my whole self smile all the way from my heart. He's such a good daddy, and husband, and friend, and person in general... <3 <3 <3

day 3

my idea of the perfect first date
weeeeelll.. i was never much into "dates" before  i was married.. but the first "date" i had with chris we had already been hanging out almost inseparably for a month or so and on this particular day i found myself at the bakery (not working however).. and bored. so i asked chris (who was working) if he wanted to take a half day and come out for lunch then go to the zoo.. AND HE DID! if you know him than this is a surprising fact because he doesn't just leave work half way through the day unless it's been planned for a few weeks. so anyway he came out to the restaurant and we had lunch and then headed over to the LA zoo.. walked around and after we went back to my parents house and watched a movie or 2 on the couch. and then said goodnight with our first kiss.. my last first date, my last first kiss. perfect right?

this is obviously not from the LA zoo.. but its us with animals.. any zoo pictures we have are on the desktop which is not in this room.. it is also not on.. and not that i'm THAT lazy.. but noah is currently sickly and quite a pill.. so i must tend to him.

day 2

a photo of something I ate today:
i had some strawberries for snack this afternoon. They are on sale for 1.77/lb in case you are interested.

day 1

a picture of myself and how my day was.. well.. since i'm sick right now and feeling AWFUL.. thats how yesterday was.. its currently only 7:36 am .. so i dont know how today will be! but the day this picture was taken was january 23rd, 2010 so only a few months ago and Chris and I were celebrating 2 years of marriage with a hike, movie, and dinner. It was a great day and i'm so thankful for my fantastic husband :)

i'm thinking perhaps i'll give this a go!

A 30-day blog challenge! 

Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.

Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

Day 7 – Your dream wedding.

Day 8 – A song to match your mood.

Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?

Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.

Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.

Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.

Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 – One of your favorite blogs you follow.

Day 23 – 15 facts about you.

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 – What’s in your purse?

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.

Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

Day 28 – Your favorite movie.

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past.

step by step (basics) guide to sewing quilt

When a friend is having a baby my go to gift is a quilt. I love to sew, and i prefer to give people gifts that are more personal than walking into babies-r-us and picking the first pink or blue item that i see. So my cousin Jackie is having a little girl in April (shes due the day before my birthday) and her baby shower was yesterday, so i put together this step by step on how i did it.

step one: draw a detailed (to scale) chart of what you want your quilt to look like. Include the borders so you can be sure to get a backing big enough for the whole thing.

step 2: choose your colors and color in the chart. This will make it so that you can be sure to cut the right pieces out of the right color fabrics and also prevent ending up with 3 of the same color boxes right next to each other. I would recommend after that you count up all the boxes and then write down how many of what color in what size you need (see bottom right corner of my colored page) and also that will prevent you missing any boxes when it comes time to sew.

step 3: cut out all of your pieces and lay them down so that you can make sure it looks the way you anticipated it looking and you will be happy with it. i also laid it on the backing because it was going to be the same as the border and i wanted to make sure the border would look okay with with colors i chose.

step 4: sew all of the pieces together (this is what makes this step by step the basics). If you have never used a sewing machine then this step is more complicated than "sew them together" and i didnt take any photos of the actual process as my hands were busy. after they are all put together trim the sides so that they are nice and straight. (not yet done at time of photo)

 step 5: i decided to add Lilly's name onto the front with a zig zag stitch so that had to be done after the front was put together but before the back was sewn on.

step 6: add the borders

step 7: sew on the back of the quilt (again, not easy if you're not familiar with sewing)

step 8 (not pictured): tie random corners using yarn. this prevents the front and the back from sliding apart from each other and putting the whole quilt out of whack. you might be able to see some of the yarn ties if you look closely at the above picture.. look at the top left side below the green between the yellow and pink squares. theres a pink yarn tie right there.

and that my friends is how i made this particular quilt. i think it turned out cute, probably my favorite yet. All of the embroidery work is thanks to my MIL in Florida Terry and in the future all of it will be thanks to her because she just recently bought me my very own embroidery machine! im so excited to get that up and running!!

18 months

Last Friday Noah had his 18 month appointment
he is 25.6 lbs (average)

31 3/4 inches tall (little less that average)

and his head was the same circumference as at his 15 month appt.

-He still doesn't have many more words than last time although it would seem that he makes attempts at please and thank you.. sometimes
-he LOVES to dance (in fact he's dancing as i type this)
-he is getting much less picky and now will eat chicken or some types of beef
-LOVES dips.. salsa, ketchup, salad dressing.. anything he can dip something in to he's all over.
-he made his first trip to urgent care because your's truly dislocated his elbow (note to other moms, dont pick up or swing your young kids by the arms.. they dislocate very easily given the right angle :/)
-he's gone through a growth spurt recently and for the first time is fitting into clothes that are made for his age (18months. obviously)
-loves to color
-makes the cutest little faces and uses them to get out of trouble
-still climbing everything in sight
-likes to help throw things in the trashcan and sweep the floor
-also likes to help mom cook dinner
-has a renewed interest in his swing out back and in the park.. he could swing for hours again.
-still a great sleeper and a great napper
-LOVES babies
-likes to play with other kids but doesn't really understand how.. so he just follows them around and touches them usually.
-loves his dogs
-prefers to be outside at all times

theres a ton of other things i could say about my little monkey but i need to go put him down for a nap!