January's Start

One of my goals this year is to start a new project each month -- preferably a quilt -- but at least some sort of project.  I'm thinking something that takes more than one day being the qualifier; or maybe something that takes several hours. hmmm.  Well, whatever.  I'll decide if something qualifies as I go.

This month I started a quilt.  A jelly roll, similar to the one I just finished, but larger and pinker. 

 

#1 Finish

Under the pressure of an upcoming baby shower, I have my first finish of the year. Although I made the quilt top last year, I just finished it today.   The pattern came from here and the fabric is V and Co Simply Style (I totally copied from here, though my quilt looks smaller ...).

It is a small baby quilt -- I think it's about 36 x 36.  I love the flannel on the back -- the rocket ships are great!  I should probably get more in case Katie's baby is a boy ...  of course, Katie may already know what she's having, but she hasn't shared it with me ..

Week 1 - Jan 4-10

 Jan 4 - Superheroes in the kitchen...

 Jan 5 - Nails at the hospital

Jan 6 - corks in a bottle

Jan 7 - cake for a friend's birthday

 Jan 8 - forgot to take a picture

 Jan. 9 - monkeys on the bed

Jan 10 - bowling alley

This is my first week of pictures. Hard to believe I already missed one day, but I'll keep going on anyway.  I'm amazed how hard it is to take pictures every day.  Even with a camera in my phone.

Family Picture(s)

We took family pictures the Sunday after Christmas.  Here's the first one.

Oscar's Best Movie Nominations

• Here are last year's Oscar nominees that I saw, and the ones I didn't see.  Since this year's Oscar nominees are on my 2014 list, I thought I would post last year's.

  Armour

  Argo - loved this movie; although I basically knew the outcome, I was on the seat of my chair (actually since I was home, I was just in a state of agitation, anxious to see what would happen). 3/30/13

  Beasts of the Southern Wild

  Django Unchained - this is definitely a Quentin Tarantino movie. Lots of gore and revisionist history.  It was okay, except for the couple of scenes that were totally over the top. The language was foul.  I would have liked it more if I felt the little things had been historically correct.  If you like Tarantino, I am sure you will enjoy this movie. 5/25/13

  Les Miserables

  Life of Pi - I enjoyed this. I have issues with the theology at the beginning, but otherwise it was good.  It was not at all what I expected and very, very entertaining. I'm not sure which story is true, but I like the one about the tiger.  5/5/13

  Lincoln - I hate to admit this, but I didn't find this movie entertaining at all.  I kept waiting for it to end.  I'm sure the acting was great.  I'm sure Civil War history buffs really enjoyed it.  If you are someone who enjoyed it, please let me know what you liked about it. 4/4/13 (Liked Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer better.  -- Did I actually say that???)

  Silver Linings Playbook

  Zero Dark Thirty- I also liked this one. I didn't know anything about the controversy until after I watched it. Again, I knew the ending but found myself very anxious while watching it. 2/28/13

The List for 2014

So I'm a little late with my list.  Really had a hard time coming up with 52 this year.
But here we go ...

1. Get my passport (applied for on 4/30) - DONE
2. Spend an entire day in my pj's
3. Start one quilt/project a month (ideas:  Cat quilt (Oh Fransson!); Grinch Quilt) 1) January - baby girl quilt; 2) February - Grinch Quilt; 3) March - Zoom Zoom (1); 4) April - Elephants on Parade; 5) May - Improv Quilt; 6) June -- OOPS; 7) July - Go Fly a Kite; 8) August - Star Quilt; 9) Tiger Coins Quilt (Detroit Tigers, that is); 10) Gingham giraffe; 11) Sewing Kits; 12) No-sew blankets
4. Walk across the Mackinac Bridge (Labor Day - 2014) - DONE!!
5. Go to Jono and Lolo's wedding - done - 5/9/14
6. Make thimbleberry jam - about a thimble's worth - DONE
7. Run/walk 300 miles - DONE!! (according to fitbit anyway!)
8. Run in a 5K - Run or Dye (actually I walked) - the race was on 3/29 and I think the only picture I posted was of the packet I picked up on the 28th..,
9. Make 9 quilts - 1) Jelly Roll Quilt; 2) Another Jelly Roll Quilt; 3) Elephants on Parade; 4) Zoom Zoom; 5) another zoom zoom; 6) Go Fly a Kite; 7) Tiger Coins; 8) Gingham Giraffe
10. Make a quilt to donate
11. Take pictures every day and post them once a week (Starting Jan 4) - sort of
12.  Make curtains for my room
13.  Make curtains for the boys' room
14.  Do some hand stitching/embroidery.
15.  Try to hand quilt?
16.  Try free motion quilting
17.  Do a jigsaw puzzle (worked on a few ...) - Done (in Maryland)
18.  Visit my MIL - DONE
19.  Visit my Aunt and Uncle - DONE!
20.  Organize my office - Done (needs to be done again)
21.  Organize my room
22. Spend time with each of my kids - sort of
23. Go on 12 dates with my husband
24. Get caught up on Dr. Who - DONE!
25. Watch the current season of Downton Abbey
26. Plant some herbs (basil, rosemary .. something)
27. Knit something ... started a blanket
28. Sew something to wear
29. Participate in "Mission: Slimpossible" - done (Came in Second and 21st the second time around)
30. Buy 52 - $1 items #1-12 - Glassware;  items 13-24 - Puzzles/Games, Books, Sheet
31. Watch all Oscar nominated movies - bust
32. Go to a National park
33. Do a wine tasting in Napa - DONE
34. Take a road trip - drove from Houghton, Michigan, to St. Ignace, Michigan, and back .. should qualify.
35.  Swim in the Gulf of Mexico - DONE
36. Read 12 books - Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant,
37. Visit the Grand Canyon
38. Paint my bathroom
39. Watch a sunrise - DONE 9/5/14
40. See a sunset - DONE
41. Make a bag (made a clutch)
42. Do something kind for a stranger
43. Go to the beach - done several times ...
44. Go to Tahoe - DONE!
45. Get a new hairstyle
46. Watch a classic movie
47. Get another Judy Bolton book
48. Try a new recipe
49. Go bowling - went Bowling on 1/10 for YD's boyfriend's birthday
50. Volunteer (somewhere different)
51. Have a "fat" night - plenty, but not intentionally
52.  Make a list for 2015

Happy New Year!

I've just about got my 2014 list done but not quite.  We've had an interesting week or so and I haven't had time (or haven't taken the time) to get it done, but I will.  I'll also see how I did on last year's list.

I'm hoping to post this weekend ...

Coffee Time

I took a day off work last week to get ready for the office holiday party on Friday.  One of my stops was a candy store in downtown San Jose, Shurra's (their website doesn't do them justic -- excellent candies).  It just happens that Shurra's is right next door to where a friend of mine works so she and I met up for coffee at a cute little coffee shop, Hannah's.  My coffee was divine and so very pretty.  Couldn't resist posting a picture.

Slacker ...

slack·er  (slkr)n.

1. One who shirks work or responsibility: "In terms of their outlook on the future, slackers regard tomorrow with a studied cynicism or . . . don't even conceive of one" (Julie Caniglia).

 

So, I've definitely been a Blog Slacker or a Slacker Blogger of late.  There hasn't been much going on and when there was I didn't blog about it.  Here are some pictures of the last week +.

 

Mikey's First School Performance

 

and then there was Cocktail Wednesday ... the best one so far.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture of the drinks, but they were beautiful.  The mint, lime, and frozen cranberries made them super festive.  We will definitely have these again.  Check out Mrs. Pyjamas and Little Miss Sunshine's posts for their review of the same cocktail.

Hopefully, this week I will stay on top of things a little more. 

Cheers!

Cocktail Wednesday

so, this week it was my turn to pick the cocktail.  Since last week's was so summery, I thought I would go for something more cold weather-ish (we're actually getting down to the 30s tonight in Northern California), so I picked a coffee cocktail. called The Bacon Maple Syrup.  

I thought -- how could you go wrong with something with that name. boy was I wrong.  This one was so bad I couldn't even finish mine.

Here's the picture of what it was supposed to look like.

 

That looks pretty good, right?

Here's what mine looked like.

 

Not nearly so pretty.

• 1.5oz of rum 
• 1oz of Calisaya liqueur (couldn't find this so I used Angostura Bitter)
• .75oz of maple syrup 
• coffee
• frothed milk
• garnished with a cured bacon skewer

I mixed the alcohol and syrup and then added the coffee and frothed milk (actually just heated milk since I don't have a frother).  I thought perhaps that if I had used fresh coffee and genuinely frothed milk it would have tasted better, but Marg assured me that it was still disgusting.

I'm not sure they'll let me pick another cocktail .. but if given another chance, I'm going for something more basic and one that I'm sure to like.

 

Elephants on Parade

I finished the pink elephant quilt.  Now I just need to wash it and ship it off.

I like the way this has come together. It's a lot of pink, which I hope is okay.  I love the back too.  I used scraps, but I hope it looks planned and not too scrappy.