Latest Purchases

Ru row. Here's a confession: online shopping is addicting. It's too easy. I usually avoid the temptation, but every few months I give in (which kind of doesn't help because I end up buying four things in one day... but I stray). Here are my most recent purchases:

A lovely print from The Wheatfield for Chels. Thanks Kelle for showing us Mary Oliver and Katie for making this gorgeous print.

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Pick Your Plum is like the Groupon for crafters. Goodness, I love it. Picked up my first few rolls of washi tape & I'm excited for all the potential projects and adorning.

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Another lovely print, this time for me. It's a great reminder. Where it's hanging: above the sink. Yes, doing the dishes are one of the many things I should start doing with great love. There it will be a constant reminder every time I get a drink of water or fill up the kettle. Thanks Jacky for exposing me to Lindsay.

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And this random little purchase. Gotta love Amazon Prime... It's grilling season, yo! & yes, I realize this product is for little ones, but it is normal sized.

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Any fun purchases for you lately or shops I should know about?

IKEA Hack: Personalized Rusch Clock

From this...

...to this!

Five easy steps!

Disassemble.

Spray paint.

Cut out new clock face.

Paint clock hands.

Reassemble.

Done!

*Please ignore the fact that the clock face in the picture below is yellow... I originally thought spray painting it would be nice, but the color turned out like mac & cheese... hoops.

Things to do in Denver

Here's some of my Denver 2012 list that I've mentioned here & here (*ed items are free):

Have high tea at the Denver Tea Room
Go to a pub on Colfax, Cheeky Monk perhaps?
*Do the stairs at Red Rocks
Go camping in the mountains
Go horseback riding in the mountains
Go to a concert
See a movie at the Esquire or the Mayan
*Walk around Wash Park, City Park, or Commons Park
Go to a Rockies game
Get a cone at Little Man Ice Cream
Go to REI at 1416 Platte St
Go to the Botanic Gardens
Go to the Denver Zoo
Golf 9 holes
Eat brunch at Snooze
*Go to the Tattered Cover in LoDo
Hit up the shops on 32nd Ave.
Go to the Molly Brown House
*Walk around DU's campus
Buy some Apricot Ale from Argonaut
*Go to Mother Cabrini Shrine (20 minute drive from Denver)
Eat the Fig & Crispy Prosciutto pizza at Osteria Marco
*Go to Fancy Tiger Crafts
*Check out the Denver Public Library
*Go in the Brown Palace

And off of my own personal list, I've crossed off a few more. Most recently: Get a Slurpee from 7-11

Finished Project & Happy Things

Pretty good week! Chels & I saw Wicked last night (me for the first time). WOW! It was so good.

I finished up that apron & got it mailed out. What do you think? First apron I've ever made & no pattern or tutorial to guide me, so I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Bike riding & quotes from Martha Stewart Living.

And this cutie! We went to the Denver Dumb Friends League this week just to look & I fell in love with this little gal. She wasn't even in her proper cage, but look at that spotting! Could she be any cuter?! If you live in the Denver area & are in the market for a family pet, consider her. They have her down as Robin. She's still working with the behavior specialist, so she isn't up for adoption quite yet, but maybe in a couple days. Check the website! Ugh I'd take her if I could!

Happy Friday to you! Any fun plans for the weekend? It seems I will go golfing on Sunday, so I'm looking forward to that!

Happy Birthday, Chels!

My home girl turns 24 today, holla!

Happy birthday, Chelsea! I have so many memories from a friendship that spans almost 15 years.

In middle school you wrote in my yearbook "I am the clown who came to town & signed your yearbook upside down." It really ticked me off. You sealed our fate, because after a journalism class freshman year, yearbook became one of our most famous high school adventures.

We traveled to Spain together and both fell in love with Español. We laughed at a hand drawn butt-crack in Spanish class so hard that I blacked out and we almost got kicked out. We watched an entire Spiderman movie with someone's bluetooth glaring its blue light at us. We rode a bus to Minnesota for summer camp. We faked a nose injury to get free ice at Sonic. We were two of twenty people at the Rockies game to wear 'staches on mustache night...

Your birthdays are epic memories in my book of life (see Nicole in a Spongebob poncho circa 16 with Princess Leia buns...) and I'm stoked for this year. A year for more memories, more smiles, & much more of that contagious laugh!

Happy birthday, love! Thanks for being such a great friend.

Happy happy birthday, dear friend! You are 24!

Caribbean Recap

Oh, how I love vacations. We had an amazing time cruising around the Caribbean. I was able to spend some good quality time with the family & see the adventurous side of everyone. My mom bought a GoPro camera before the trip & we managed to get some great pictures snorkeling in Grand Turk (more pictures to come).

Sunrise over Turks and Caicos  my ocean man. His first stop after we ported was the ocean.

Love the universality of the Church. A lovely Catholic Church on St. Maarten.

A picturesque alley in Puerto Rico.

And a storybook ending with a lovely sunset in Miami (& us almost missing our flight...). More pictures to come.

Linking up here for the first time:

Ruffled Apron for a Special Somebody

Yesterday started out in a frenzy. The night before I tried out a few home remedies/crazy rumors I've heard to scare colds away (namely rubbing Vick's on the bottom of my feet, putting socks on, and going to sleep). Maybe this works for other people, but I woke up with sticky feet & felt crummy still. Got ready for the day, brewed some Ginseng tea for some natural energy. Looked at my watch 07:22, chugged my tea (burn, ouch, hurry). I have to be at work at  07:30 so I rushed out the door ready to pedal as fast as I could on my bike. No bike on the bike rack. Hoops. Left it at work. So, I (in all my awkward glory) ran to work. Literally. Ran. To. Work. I somehow made it on time (barely) and spent the next hour catching my breath and wiping my sweaty neck. Phew.

Anyway, in other news... As a combined Mother's Day/birthday gift, I am making this apron for a special somebody.

Here's the order I decided on for the ruffles. It's a good rule to lay things out & visualize before you begin snipping & sewing.

Two ruffles! Getting exciting.

Ooh la la! Three

She loves bold colors, so I thought the bright pinks and yellows were perfect.
Still working on this, but I'll post pictures of the finished product as soon as I'm finished!

Happy Tuesday!