Happy St. Patrick's Day

ShamRockin' Half Marathon

Yesterday my mom and I did the SharmRockin' Half Marathon. It was hard. With all the rain we had last month I did zero training. I think I ran one day last month. I am really feeling it today. It was a lot of fun, though, and I managed to finish with a decent time (compared to my other races) so, not so bad.



Mike and Madison were waiting for us at the finish line and Madison kept saying, "Yeah Mommy! Yeah Mommy!"

My First Sewing Project

Last week I finally pulled my sewing machine out of the closet and figured out how to use it. I made this little hat for Madison:



The seams are totally crooked, the hat is a tad too big, but I still love it. The entire hat consists of six straight seams and it took me two hours to put together. I wish I could say that time included learning how to thread the machine, etc., but it didn't.

I also did a few more pages in Madison's scrapbook:

More Scrapbooking

I'm still working hard on Madison's first year scrapbook and I'm just about done. I've ordered my last set of pictures yesterday and I'm hoping to have this book done next month. Here are the latest pages:

Mini Scrapbook Album

Last October when I went to the scrapbook expo, I saw the cutest mini albums displayed at almost every booth. I bought all the stuff for this project and then didn't do anything with it.

I took a bunch of pictures this morning and uploaded them to snapfish and then picked them up at Walgreens across the street. They were ready in about 20 minutes. I am so excited about the way this turned out. I plan on taking it to work and hanging it on my wall.



Here are a couple of close ups:




And here are the scrapbook pages I did this week:

Scrapbooking

Ever since I found this site, I have spent all my free time scrapbooking and buying stamps. They are currently having a contest everyday until the 14th. This is the card I entered for today's prize:



Last night we went to my cousin's birthday party. It has been so long since we've gotten dressed up and gone somewhere. It was a lot of fun. This was one of the things I added to her gift:



And here are a couple of scrapbook pages I made this week:




I am also finishing my second sweater for the year, so hopefully I'll have completed pictures next week.

Card Contest

Wow! Three posts in one week. I am on a roll. I found a card contest on this site with an amazing prize. Here is the card that I am entering:



If you want to send hand made cards for this cause, send them to:

Dallas Baptist University
Attn: Julie Carlisle
3000 Mountain Creek Pkwy
Dallas, TX 75211

Rusted Root

My first sweater of the year. I actually started this last summer but had some sizing issues so I took the whole thing apart and started over. After all the problems and learning new techniques, I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Cards and Organizers

I've been doing a lot of crafting latey, but not much is actually finished. I am soaking my first finished sweater of 2009, so you will get to see pictures soon!

I saw the cutest little birthday organizer here and since I have such a hard time remembering to send birthday cards, I knew I had to make one. I don't know if this will actually help me, but it sure is cute.




I also made my first card to put in my organizer:

Resolution Time

It's the beginning of a new year wich means it's resolution time, and I love making resolutions. I didn't do too well on last year's list. Of the ten items on my list, I only stuck with two. I managed to read 29 books last year (my goal was 20) and I started working early on my November boutique items so I wasn't too stressed out during the month of November. The new list has a lot of the same things, but a few new ones, too.

1. Buy another house by the end of the year. Or, at the very least, be able to start the search. Which leads right into #2.
2. Have enough money saved for a 20% deposit.
3. Read 30 books this year.
4. Run/Walk 1,000 miles and complete two 1/2 marathons (my first one is in March and I'm already signed up).
5. Have more items for my November boutique and have more of a variety.
6. Learn to sew using my sewing machine.
7. Knit 4 sweaters (that fit and that are nice enough to be worn out of the house) for me.
8. Use up my yarn/scrapbook supplies before I start buying more.
9. Update my blog more often!
10. Venture out from my normal routine (which generally includes staying home, crafting and watching TV, or running, alone) and make new friends.
11. Cook more often and try new things.
12. Try a little bit harder to be "green."

And here is a picture of Madison, Jackson and Bryce at the park after Christmas.

Clapotis Scarf

Scarves are my favorite thing to knit. They are fast, inexpensive and I can make a ton of them and wear a different one every day. I love this scarf because it is light and can be wrapped around several times or worn like a shawl.

Half Marathon and Scrapbooking

Last weekend was a great weekend for me. I took Friday off from work and went to the Scrapbook Expo here in Sacramento. I spent the morning shopping, took some classes and the scrapped all night.

Saturday I drove home and my mom and I went to San Francisco to pick up our race packets for the Nike Women's Marathon. We both did the 1/2 and Lisa and her friend did the full marathon. On the front of the Nike store they had every participant's name on the window.



Here I am.



I finished in 2:51 (2 minutes faster than the race two weeks before), and no pain. The weather was perfect and it was a lot of fun. At the finish line, SF firemen handed us our Tiffany's necklace.



I will definitely be signing up for this race again next year.

Twilight Gloves

Lately I have become obsessed with the Twilight books. I spent every free moment reading these books and when I read the last book I was a little sad that it had ended. So, being the geek that I am, I have made a pair of fingerless gloves with the ribbon on the cover of Eclipse.

Flashback Friday

Last month we had a terrible leak that ended up destroying several things in Madison's closet. I had a box of old photo albums sitting on the floor of the closet and I came very close to losing all the pictures. These pictures go all the way back to the 8th grade. Luckily, only the album covers were destroyed. So I started thinking about how upset I would be if I had lost all the pictues. I started calling around to find out how much it would cost to have all my pictures scanned and put onto a disk. Well, it would be a couple thousand dollars!! I ended up buying a scanner and have started scanning all the pictures myself. The quality is not great, but since it is only a backup, it will do. Here is a picture from the first set of scanned pictures, a trip to Lake Tahoe for Fourth of July in 1998(?).

I Made a Sweater

I have finally completed my first adult sweater and it is wearable and the right size! I am very proud of the fact that I started and completed the entire sweater in a short amount of time. I also learned the mattress stitch which amazes me. It looks like I've been making sweaters for a long time.

Pictures

When we were in Seattle we had some pictures taken by a photographer and we got the pictures over the weekend. They turned out so great. Here are a few of my favorites:






I think we are finally done traveling for the year, but there is still no time to relax. Last week I started training for a bunch of runs this fall. I will be running 2 half marathons and a full marathon. I'm very excited and so far, totally committed to all the running I will have to do.

Saturday I will be starting my first sewing class at the local junior college. I've had a sewing machine sitting in my closet for almost a year and I just don't know how to work the thing. I have big dreams of new curtains, duvet covers, purses and clothes for Madison. I'm not sure how it will go, but I will keep you posted.

In Seattle Again

We were back in Seattle again last week and we packed in so much! The three of us drove, which really wasn't that bad, and it took us 14 hours. I've listened to more Sesame Street cd's than any person should ever have to listen to! We did a ton of shopping, spent a lot of time with Lisa and hit some of the big touristy spots.

Here is a picture of Madison at Pike's Market.


Madison running around Gas Works Park.


Lisa also set an appointment for us to have our pictures taken with a photographer (Tacoma Baby Photo) one morning. You can see some of the pictures on her blog.

Mandy: Next time we come I'll give you a call. I saw your email about moving so I figured you were pretty busy. Hope everything went well.

Busy Busy Busy

I can't believe it's already April! March was a crazy month and the time just flew right by. We all came down with the flu (lucky me got it twice) and we took a trip to Seattle to visit John, Lisa, Jackson and Brycie. It was a very hectic weekend but we had a great time. We took lots of walks and most of them were in the rain. Our first day in Seattle was the worst. We walked to Lisa's new neighborhood to take a look at the model homes and halfway there (about 3/4 of a mile), it started pouring rain. I was pushing Madison and Jackson in the stroller and Lisa had Bryce in the carrier. People that drove by looked at us like we were terrible mothers. We got several dirty looks, but there wasn't really anything we could do at that point.



We also ran the Shamrockin' 5K and I learned that my mom has never ever had beer! I couldn't believe it. We tried to get some of the green beer that was being served after the race but there were just too many people.



On our trip home Madison screamed during the entire flight (about 1 1/2). As soon as the plane landed she stopped crying, smiled and waved to everyone as they got off the plane. We got more dirty looks that day.

Even though we got many dirty looks during our trip, I must say that Seattle has the nicest people EVER! I have never had so many people willing to help open doors, carry my stroller or pick things up that Madison threw on the floor.

With everything we had going on in March, I got very little knitting done. However, I have done a lot of scrapbooking. Here are a few that I've done.