Happy, Happy Birthday, my darling Sabrina.
Dad and I love you with all our hearts.
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Siobhan is Pining for My Plums.
I'm sorry, this post has absolutely nothing to do with that title, but after reading Siobhan's blog, I was kind of bummed that she didn't go with the original title she came up with for her post, so I decided that someone had to use it. So there it is.
Kind of looks bad up there, now that I think about it.
Anyway, if you haven't read Siobhan's blog before, you should head on over with a cup of coffee and look around. And keep a credit card next to your mouse, bc you're going to need it after seeing all of her stitching posts.
But before you go over there, I'd love to share with you some pictures of Sophie's bathroom! (I know, who cares about stitching when you can look at bathroom photos!)
When Sabrina left for college this year, Sophie decided it was time for her to move in to Sabrina's bathroom and claim it as her own. She carefully cleaned out drawers and cabinets, and then placed all of her own cosmetics and cotton balls lovingly inside the newly-emptied spaces. Then she asked to be taken to Wal-Mart to choose a new color scheme, and since she's the baby, I dropped everything I was doing and took her there.
Since I wasn't going to be painting the bathroom, she chose bright colors to go with the aqua color that was already in there. I love how it turned out!
I stitched this little Bent Creek design for her when she was a toddler…
She insisted that the handsoap match the decor…
…and I surprised her with a little iHome iPod dock that plays all the Selena Gomez tracks a girl could want… and trust me when I say that Sophie takes singing in the shower to a new level..
This is my favorite part of her bathroom… she used to love taking baths in the kitchen sink.
And that's it!
Okay, you can go look at Siobhan's stitching now. And before I forget – you'll not only need your credit card handy, but you may need a bottle of Clearasil too. Just sayin'…
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Howlloween
Sophie has been begging me to get costumes for the dogs this year. I'm not sure the Yorkie likes that idea very much…
Friday looks none too pleased with the notion either…
Nope. Not one bit.
Tasha, however, seems eager to look a little different, if only for a night…
Bless her heart.
I haven't decided yet if Sophie will get her wish or not.
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Despite the Weather
Last week I started pulling out a few fall things, and I'll probably put a bit more out this weekend.
This was the ornament I submitted to Just Cross Stitch for their Halloween bookazine…
I love all the crazy gourds at this time of year, and their warm colors…
I even found this little pumpkin man, and placed him on the nightstand in Bre's room…
His skinny little legs make me smile…
The temperatures are supposed to start climbing into the 80's again after the weekend, but that's okay. I'll just turn on the air conditioner and bake apple pie and light all my spiced candles and watch Disney's Halloween Town with Sophie and Sabrina and just wait patiently for the cooler weather to finally settle in for good.
Have a lovely weekend!
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She Did It!
I am so proud of Breanna! Earlier this year, she announced that she'd be running the Omaha Marathon on September 25th, and she immediately started training for it. Every day, she and her running partner, Adam, ran neighborhoods, parks, and lakes, all in an effort to be ready to run 26.2 miles on race day.
About a month away from the day of the marathon, her knees started giving her trouble, and after many arguments with herself, she finally decided to shoot for the half-marathon instead. It was a hard decision for her to make, but one I'm very relieved she went with, considering she's only got one pair of knees, and she's awfully young to begin a life of troubles with them.
The longest she had ever run was 10 miles on the beach in California, and other than that, her college and work schedule had only allowed her about 3-5 miles per day, if that. Needless to say, she was very nervous on the day of the race, worried she wouldn't be able to run the entire distance. Heaven forbid she should walk!
We arrived downtown at 5:30 am so they could pick up their race packets and get warmed up… Here we are, standing in line. No, not for the race packets, but for the portable toilets!
Adam took advantage of the waiting to stretch… it was a chilly 40 degrees out, so everyone was probably pretty stiff…
This is Mike's "Don't you dare cut in line" look…
(Just kidding. I have no idea what he was looking at. All I know is he hadn't had any sleep for 24 hours, thanks to his work schedule.)
In the front are the professional runners in uniform. I have no idea where Adam and Bre disappeared to, but the line goes pretty much back to that second set of traffic lights waaaay in the back…
After the runners took off, Mike and I headed to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, waiting until we thought Adam and Bre would be approaching the finish line, and then we headed over there.
I wasn't prepared for Adam to suddenly appear, but there he was! He finished his half marathon in about an hour and 50 minutes or so…
A huge congratulations to you, Adam! Well done!
As Adam headed toward his finish line, Mike and I started anxiously looking for Bre. We waited and looked… then waited and looked some more. Mike started pacing, nervous that Bre had twisted her ankle or passed out somewhere. Or worse yet: that she had started walking. (We had tried convincing her that there was no shame in walking, but she was hearing none of that!)
And then I saw her bright pink Nike shorts. 🙂 "Mike! There she is!" I yelled, bc he had walked a little way away from me. But of course, he'd already seen her, and she'd spotted him, a big smile on her face…
I heard him yell, "GO BRE! GO! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" and I started yelling the same thing, while also trying to get pictures…
I wanted to cry, bc it was then that I realized I was so afraid for her that she wouldn't finish. It meant so much to her to reach her goal, and I knew she'd had a lot of difficulty with training for it, so to see her come down the line with a smile on her face and a look of such satisfaction filled me with so much happiness…
It was at this point that I ran as fast as my legs would carry me to try to beat her to the finish line, cutting through hundreds of people. I wanted to get pictures of her crossing, but the way had been blocked off to us, so I stood where I could and got a few blurry ones (thanks to my having a near heart-attack from running so hard).
As soon as she realized that she was so close to the finish line, her head popped up and she took off at a sprint…
GO GO GO, BRE!!!
Her official time was exactly 2:05:00! She placed 490th out of 1,362 runners, and in her age group (20-24) she was 104/202. I was so very, very proud of my girl.
Here's Adam, with his medal.. he was quite ready to go back home and hit the sack…
(My favorite picture of the day…)
Believe it or not, they both said they wouldn't mind doing it again next year. 😉
Congratulations, Adam and Bre!
And I have to add: Bre didn't walk a single step for the entire 13.1 miles. 😉
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A Dainty Housewren
This is a design by Carriage House Samplings that I started a couple of years ago as my "portable project." I always have one small, manageable cross stitch project in a ziploc bag that I keep in the car, and this is the one that accompanied me to Sophie's piano lessons. When I went to California, I needed something easy to work on, so I grabbed this and decided to finally finish it, bc I'd been dragging it around for far too long and making no progress on it.
I received it back from Jill Rensel last week, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the moulding she chose!
Btw, I used the DMC's listed for the black linen, but I made a few changes. I have no idea what these changes were, exactly, bc they were sort of by the seat of my pants, but if you look at the cover model, it doesn't exactly look like this! If I had to stitch it over again, I'd probably stitch the original version on the lighter linen, but since Jill chose such a stunning frame for it, I'm okay with what I've done. 🙂
By the way, if any of you stitchers out there are headed to the Pals Convention in Myrtle Beach in October, I'll see you there! I'm flying out on the 18th, and I'm so excited!
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A Quiet Walk with Friday
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New from Hodgepodge Cottage…
For those of you who haven't seen Bre's new releases yet, I just had to show them to you!
Here is Tic Tac T'Ocean… I LOVE this little tic-tac-toe-inspired design, and I hope she has many more to come. 🙂 The frame is from The Family Tree Frame Co…
Next up is Morning Brew… the fabric is Lakeside's Winter Sky… (For those of you who attended the Celebrations of Needlework, maybe you saw it in The Silver Needle's booth.)
And finally, from my French-loving daughter, is Fleur de Love…
Thanks for letting a proud mom share. 🙂
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Paulette Needs a Vacation.
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Martha (Washington) Would Be Proud.
When Bre left home to start a life of independence in her new apartment, she took with her all the fun personality that she'd put into her room. The white iron headboard that Mike and I bought for her when she was little was gone, the bobby pins that had usually littered every surface had vanished, and the soft scents of her favorite perfumes had finally faded. (She was, however, kind enough to leave behind the makeup stains on the carpeting.)
I decided that I'd redecorate the empty space, turning it into a quiet room that she could come home to if she needed to, and I'd set up office in there as well. I didn't know how I'd do it, but I knew I needed to start with a small bed and dresser. That eventually turned into a desk and table and nightstand and upright chest and bookshelf, which means all that's left to acquire are the samplers. 🙂 (Feel free to stitch them and send them along to me.)
I decided to go with a "Colonial Couples" theme, and with the help of some dear stitching friends of mine (hi, girls!), I've come up with several samplers I want to stitch that have colonial figures on them. I haven't felt this much excitement over stitching in ages! (As a matter of fact, I found myself so inspired, I even designed a Colonial-themed piece that is at the model stitchers' house right now.)
The sun was shining in the room yesterday so prettily, so I took a few photos to share with you.
Nevermind those blank walls. Like I said, they're waiting for samplers. 🙂 I love that rug… it reminded me of sampler motifs when I first saw it a year ago, so I was very happy that I finally had a reason to purchase it (at Lowe's, btw).
And I couldn't leave Weathered and Worn (my favorite little shop!) without this hurricane lamp shade…
This tin horse reminds me of Sabrina bc she loves all things equine…
My rug again. I adore it. 🙂
Sophie has taken to sleeping in this bed, btw. It's a pillow-top mattress, and I purchased the softest sheets and blankets I could find for it. I was lucky enough to get a much-coveted pillow case (the red French General one) from my mother as well! She makes them so beautifully!
And what would a Colonial Couples room be without the Quintessential Colonial Couple themselves, George and Martha?
I saw this painting somewhere online, but since I didn't want to pay what they were asking for it, I decided to paint it myself.. sort of. I liked the original much better, but this will do. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not though.
I've never bee one for window treatments. Mostly bc I never knew how to make them actually look good. So now I'm just a sheers-and-black-rod sort of gal, and I'm very happy with that.
Here's the dresser. It has really cool dividers in the drawers…
Whenever I open the top drawer, I hear angels singing. It's the weirdest thing.
And my favorite part of the room? A Sgraffito Redware plate!
Oh, wait a second. I lied.
This, looking ever so dreamy – and on loan from Mom – is the best part of the room:
I hope you like the room so far! And I really hope Bre likes it. I know Sophie does. 😉