Sewing

One of the last things on my summer to do list was to make a window treatment for my bathroom. It's one of my favorite rooms. My house was built in 1945 so it has lots of "character" if you will. About two years ago I got my friend Eliot to redo the bathroom ceiling and moulding, paint, and put in an updated light fixture. The ceiling was peeling and cracking so I had bead board put over it and since the walls are so uneven a fairly wide molding had to be put up. I love it! It made me want to redo all of my ceilings...sigh, I'll be living with crooked walls forever. I'm ok with it. Also a previous owner put in an amazing (for the small space) vanity. It gives me so much more room than the original pedestal sink would have. The bathroom is tiny and has one small window, but the space is designed so efficiently. Personally I'm good with small bathrooms because it means less to clean! It was painted yellow when I bought it and when I had it repainted I decided (after much debate) that I liked the yellow with the subway tile, but it needed to be toned down a bit. When Eliot redid the molding and pulled off the old he said there was no less than 13 layers of wall paper undneath. If only these walls could talk. I had the hardest time finding a shower curtain. Even though I've had this one for a while, I've never loved it. I knew when I purchased the material for the window treatment the end result would be me disliking the shower curtain even more! You can't see it well, but it's just a cheap black with little daisies that have green centers instead of yellow. I got the PUG painting at a home goods, which is so funny because I had been eyeing it on Art.com for a few months. It was also super cheap! Yesterday I went to a huge cloth store that is in a nearby town and found the damask black and green print material. It was perfect and only $8/yard. Since I didn't have a pattern or really even a design in mind for said window treatment I just got a yard. Also I have never made a window treatment...but I mean how hard could it be right? : ) For once in my life that was true. I just measured my window and drew a picture of what I wanted it to look like (thanks interior design degree!) and figured out what the proportions should be considering how far down I wanted it to come on the window. Very scientific. ha! I finished the edges and bottom hem, then put a casing up top for the curtain rod to go through and voila! This morning I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought the pom pom tassel trim. Originally I was going to put it on the bottom, but I decided that I liked it better just a few inches above the hem. The one thing left to do is get a curtain rod...you'd never know it's currently being held up with push pins would you? ; ) Hey it's better than duck tape.

Tara and Jimmy get hitched!

Last weekend my good friends Tara and Jimmy got married. I was a bridesmaid and had a blast! I hear that after this wedding I could go pro. As in having that many bridesmaid dresses in my closet would qualify me. Rent a bridesmaid perhaps? There was one summer in the mid 80's where I swear my mom rented me out to various relatives as a flower girl. Good thing I don't mind. I LOVE being in weddings! This was the first wedding I've been in that it wasn't a college or high school friend. Tara and I met over 4 years ago in a running group at the Y. That's actually where I met Becky too. Its crazy because none of us run at or even go to that Y anymore. I think we have a great friendship story and "Runners World" or the newspaper should do a feature on us sometime. ; ) Now the three of us live within a quarter mile from each other and still meet at ungodly hours in extreme temperatures to pound the pavement a few miles.
This is a picture of the original group. Kelli, me, Tara, Megan, and Becky. Kelli just had a baby in June and lives in another area so we don't get to run together anymore, but stay in touch. Megan moved to LA with her husband and we were so glad she got to be in town for the wedding! We all met the summer before Becky got married and since then all have gotten married but me! Actually everyone has had a baby too....ha! I just think the world of these ladies. It goes to show that you can make friends before 6am with no make up and a sports bra on. Actually it was sort of weird the first time we all got together and were clean and dressed!
Jimmy and Tara met on our kickball team a few years ago. Such a great couple. They get it honest because their families are incredible as well. I so enjoyed getting to know Jimmy's family and spending more time with Tara's. It's just a fun loving crowd. Thursday night they had a little gathering for everyone getting into town at a local restaurant/bar. Friday morning the bridesmaid luncheon was at a club up at the lake. Luckily it was beautiful, but so hot so we sat inside and enjoyed the view. It was definitely a busy day. I got home and had a little time to get rested and ready for the rehersal. The wedding was uptown at a catholic church and the dinner was at the City Club which is on the 31st floor of a building uptown. Great views! The food was incredible and we enjoyed hearing the toasts and stories about Tara and Jimmy. One of Jimmy's sisters said something that stuck with me. In part of her toast she said "Put God first, your spouse second, and yourself last". I thought thats was sweet marriage advice. Afterwards Jimmy's dad hosted a cocktail party at the Westin where the out of town guests were staying. It was as nice as some wedding receptions!

Saturday was another day of go, go, go! I had a hair appointment at 10, where I achieved my "Alabama" aka big hair look of the night. No offensive to the state of Alabama, but ya'll like big hair! Then it was more wedding related errands before I met the rest of the girls at the church around 1:00. The wedding was at 3. Here if you get married at the Catholic church your options are 11 or 3 because of mass times. Luckily it was somewhat cooler than it had been, but I was in a little bit of a hydration deficit due to that very nice open bar the previous night. Ha! Operation hydration. No one wants to be the bridesmaid that hits the deck! The ceremony was nice. Longer than us protestants, but at least we were seated through a lot of it. It was a good bit of up and down but I just did what Becky did. I forewarned everyone it was only the third Catholic wedding i'd ever been to, much less been in. Mid way through the ceremony I started feeling poorly. I hadn't felt bad during the day, but maybe the dehydration was hitting. Tara busted me in a big yarn and they started cracking up from their seats up front. I kept feeling worse and worse. By the time the family was taking pictures I thought I was going to die. There is one bathroom room thin this church. One. It's the size of an airplane bathroom. I. Kid. You. Not. I thought the ring bearer had died in there he was taking so long. lol. Then there was a hand dryer left on that was all kinds of blowing my Alabama hair and worsening my sweat marks. I made it through pictures outside thanks to a breeze (aka gift from God). Apparently I looked fine, so I was determined to be fine. We walked to the Westin and I bought some crackers and vitamin water. Yes, I was now THAT bridesmaid. Everyone else was cracking their bud lights on the trolley and I was trying to "revive". At least thats the flavor of vitamin water I choose to bring me back to life. The reception didn't start until 5 so after pictures we rode around a bit and stopped at the park where we played kickball, where J&T met for a photo op. At this stop I though I was dying. Tara, I love you, but that trolley ride was one of the top five most miserable experiences of my life. I started looking for a bag. The only empty container I could spy was the beer case holding the empties. I made it to the reception site....barely. This is prob all to much information. But it has a good ending. Best rally ever.

After the start of the reception (I made it through being introduced) I was nearly in tears I felt so bad. I thought I was going to have to leave. Luckily after a failed attempt at drinking sprite the demons were released if you will. I was racking my brain about what could have made me sick (besides the open bar). Then I remembered. The mayonaise. It's always the mayonnaise. If it says "best by 08" it is "best by 08". As I type that I cannot believe that I ate something that was best by 08! The owner of these condiments shall remain nameless. He does not believe in an expiration date. I guess in his mind it's a loose suggestion? Anyway he DID chunk the mayo. I had eaten it on a sandwich around noon and I think thats what the culprit was. Guess we'll never know. I am so thankful I felt better, because that was one of the best receptions ever. Tons of my best friends were there, great music, flip flops for sore feat, shrimp and grits, cake! It was a miraculous recovery that involved liquor drinks and shrimp and grits. The stomach of steel was back! woohoo! We danced and laughed and took tons of pictures. I didn't take pictures, I leave that up to Becky. I have to give her and her awesome camera credit for all the photos on this post. Afterwards we all went back up to the Westin and hung out a bit, but my mojo was gone. It had been a long, fun day and like many others I couldn't hang anymore. By midnight I had turned into a pumpkin and gone to bed. I had a blast and I can't wait to watch Tara and Jimmy as husband and wife for years and years to come.













At Pearl Street Park where we played kickball



My current neighborhood running group. Six girls from six different states.
April, Brooke, Colleen, Tara, Becky, and Me. Love chasing them!

Look who came to visit????

Murphy and I aren't sure why, but his parents and little sister went to the beach and forgot to take us! We'll teach them to leave us behind. He loves to be close to whoever he's with and stays underfoot constantly. I told him that I love him, but if he causes me to break a leg we're gonna have some issues. Looking forward to enjoying a big doggie for a few days!

My first Bootie!

Today I made my first baby bootie! Well it was maybe 1/3 done and after studying today I went by my yarn store so they could help me at the part where I had to pick up stitches. It was easy and worked up so fast.
Tomorrow is my pediatrics exam. Man this has been a long, hard, and time consuming class. But I do feel like I've learned SO much! Back to the books.

Yesturday I went to my final shower of the month! My sweet friend Meredith is due September 8th with her first child, a yet to be named boy. It was held at a cute restaurant nearby and we enjoyed a yummy lunch and cupcakes. Although Meredith went to UNC she is a Duke fan. Both she and Tara! It's hard to be their friend in March...esp last year. I'm a UNC fan. With life being so crazy (and Kelli's baby blanket still not finished), I had to go a different route with my gift other than knitting. I think it turned out so cute! I had purchased some Duke fabric a while back and I was going to do a onesie outfit for Tara's daughter Norah, but nursing school happened and the outfit did not (yes I see that this is becoming a theme with my projects...). Norah, I will get you one ready for basketball season this year I promise! So I dug out the Duke fabric and created this little cutie, perfect for a boy! I just cut out the Duke logo and stitched it on, bordering it with blue ribbon. I also made the two burp cloths. The soccer ribbon is for Meredith's husband Jay and the monkey fabric and polka dot cloth because it was just so sweet! I really enjoyed doing the onesie. That is definitely on the baby gift rotation now. Seems like I have some panthers fabric that never got made into anything left over from last year....

Tara's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday I helped host my friend Tara's wedding shower along with her other bridesmaids. We had it at a super cute and swanky little restaurant. It had a great balcony with a view of uptown and the park where Jimmy and Tara met playing kickball. Thats right. Team Okra brought them together. We're so glad! Tara and Jimmy are a great couple and I can't wait to be a part of their big day in early August. I was in charge of the cake so of course I made cupcakes. A few summers ago I got this cupcake stand at crate and barrell and I have used it so much. Also it's one of those things that you only need one of in a group of friends so it's always on the rotation for parties, showers, etc. I saw these little cupcake wrappers on a blog and copied them. You bake your cupcakes in regular store bought cupcake papers and then use a template to cut out your own decorative wrappers out of colored or patterned paper. I used scrapbooking paper bought by the sheet at Michaels. Then I used double sided tape to secure them around the cupcake. It was easy and looked so cute with the green icing. As always Becky (who has a newborn, as in days old at the point of this shower) made the cute decorations, and another bridesmaid did the flowers. It looked great!

reviving the old blog? well....maybe

Yes I know the blog is nearly dead. I would like to have more time to update it, but I never seem too. Or I do and then I stress out about what I should say or if anyone out there cares about this or that. : ) So I'm going to commit to updating every week for the next six weeks. I'll even put it on my calendar/list of things to do, because if I write it down then I'm going to do it. And if I don't then I scribble it out (not cross it out or check it off as if I did it) and seeing the scribbles in my calendar reminds me that I didn't get everything done. Yeah I'm not anal or anything. I get separation anxiety if I'm away from my day planner too long. Bad.

So what have I been up too??? LOTS! Nursing school is great, but I feel like I've been going non stop since December. I was getting things ready for school, then quitting my job, then the holidays, and then school started. I had a week off for spring break and then a week between spring semester ending and summer session starting. During spring semester I went to school (obviously), babysat regularly for my boys, trained for a triathlon (failed to take notice that a tri entailed swimming, running, AND biking), did not do the tri due to failed bike training (road biking is scary!), but was glad I started swimming regularly. Fear of the pool is long gone. One weekend in April I went to three baby showers (one of which I was a hostess) and gave all girls homemade sewn or knitted gifts. I also went on three different girls weekends. The beach with the high school girls, the lake with the college girls, and the mountains with the church girls. Also during this entire time I had no couch. Long story. But I felt like I was 20 not 29, with a bike (collecting dust) and a chair in my den. No couch, just one big empty wall and me and the pug fighting over the tiniest little upholstered chair that was my great grandmothers and has been with me since my days in college. It's hard to knit with a pug on your lap. We had more than a few issues with her jumping off my lap and pulling out stitches. Oh and I went to one baby shower with the blanket only a fourth of the way knitted. Yep I wrapped it up still on the needles. The mommie to be was pretty relieved when she found out she wasn't the one required to finish it. ha! Of course she understood my craziness but I was mortified (even more so that it's still not done and the baby will be here in two weeks!) But I've made it. 101 is behind me and I learned more than I ever imagined, but most days still feel like I know nothing. I have learned to quit taking on so much. SLOW DOWN MERE! I'm listening to myself...sort of.

This summer I am in my 7 week pediatrics rotation. It's going great and is a nice change from being in the "regular" hospital. I'm on the pediatrics hematology/oncology floor. It's kids with cancer and sickle cell disease. The first week in clinical was tough. Yes, there have been tears because of this class. I wish I could say it was just because the patients, but the math is really hard too! Lots of IV meds and calculations for little people! You can't mess it up. Follow the rounding rules (believe me after some mistakes on test one I sure won't forget!) Don't worry we have to do medication math sheets for every patient with every med they get. There are multiple checks and balances. This isn't just for students. People make mistakes. Pharmacy makes mistakes, nurses, doctors, etc. I'm seeing how important it is to CYA (cover your a**). My schedule is crazy with that class and my psychology, human growth and development class, but the Peds class will be over July 8th and the Psy class July 29th. The class that takes up so much time is Peds. We have clinicals Tues/Wed from 6:30-3:30. LONG day! On those days I get up at 5:15. Geesh! Also we have lecture two days a week. Luckily I am really enjoying the material, the kids in my clinical group, and the instructors. It's almost night and day compared to 101. I didn't love 101 but now I see how much more I like the detailed information and more 1:1 time with the instructors. Hopefully this trend continues in my other intermediates.

Things coming up....There are four saturdays in June....I have some sort of shower 3 of the 4. Two wedding, one baby. I am only a hostess for one of the wedding ones (I'm a bridesmaid in August!). Luckily they are all here in town. Also expecting a visit from the brother as he is coming to one of said showers. Honestly I love showers. I guess thats a good thing since I go to so many. My nursing school friends jokingly ask when my next girls weekend or shower is coming up. Typically I can throw out a few dates at them. : ) But honestly I've been putting on a dress and going to showers with my mom since I was 2 or 3. Cake, presents, punch, what's not to like????

The pictures below are from my friend Becky's shower that I helped host. I knitted the blanket for her baby girl Samantha who got here just over a week ago. Also pics of the new couch. With and without pug.