I'm Outta Here

I'm getting ready to go out of town for a week to visit my sister Laura in Ohio, so I thought I'd share a few of the things I've done before I go.  I made a Harry Potter apron for my sister-in-law Amanda's birthday.  If you don't already know, Amanda really loves HP.  So she had an HP themed birthday party and we played HP Scene It, drank Butter Beer, and got sorted into houses.  You know the usual things you do at a 28 year-olds birthday party.  Anyway I think she likes the apron.  Super cute, right?

I also made a Valentines yarn wreath - Don't act surprised, you knew I was going to.  I decided for V-day I needed to make it super frou-frou and I fell in love with the pink and white swirl yarn - makes me think of candy.

But mostly I'm excited for my little vacation.  I'm going sans-husband and am really looking forward to some girl time with my sis and her 5 girls.  Hurrah! But before I go I have to leave you with this little nugget.  As you know my brother Mike has been living with us for the last few months, and last night upon realizing that I was leaving today without Mark, he said, "Mark, I have two word for you: Risky Business."  (And now you know why I need some girl time.)

Call Me Hopeless, Not Romantic

With Valentine's Day approaching and all the v-day shows on TV this week I've been thinking about the romance in my life.  And I must admit that I don't actually consider myself a very romantic person.  Don't get me wrong, I can watch a romantic chick-flick with the best of them - heart-beating, crying, laughing, swooning, etc.  I mean every time I watch Pride and Prejudice I could die, the tension and romance and happy ending bursting out of me.  But in real life I laugh at those kind of 'romantic' gestures, I don't really love snuggling or cuddling - honestly, I'd rather fall asleep with no one touching me, and I think expensive gifts and a dozen long-stem red roses are a waste of money - give me a rice cooker or a blender any day.  So it leaves me wondering how does my lack of romance make Mark feel?

Because when we were first dating and it was all new love and the excitement that accompanies new love, I was not myself in the romance department.  I was much more lovey-dovey and snuggly than I actually am in real life.  So does he feel cheated and tricked by my gradual (and in some areas not so gradual) shift back to normal me?  I mean I know that he agrees about the gifts and is very much a practical gift-giver.  But he is a really romantic guy.  He likes to make those cheesy romantic gestures, and I usually laugh at them.  Not in a mean way, but I do laugh first and thank second.  And today that is making me feel a little bit like a jerk.  He's spent the last two weeks telling me ideas he's come up with for what we can do on Valentine's Day, and the most excited I've been about v-day is when I found a link to Doctor Who Valentine's day e-cards.  Pathetic.  Although I do think that in most relationships there is one person who is more romantic than the other, even if it's only slightly.  As they say, opposites attract.  I just wish that sometimes I could be a little more girly and flirty about things, instead of independent and stoic.

But as I type this I am reminded of the first time that Mark told me he loved me, and how after he said it he told me that he didn't expect me to say it back, because he knew that it was hard for me.  I guess he did know what he was getting into after all.  So there- maybe I'm not such a jerk.  I'm just a girl who appreciates that she has a guy who knows her and is still willing to try to bring some romance into her life.  (Even if I do laugh at him.)  Love you, babe.  And Happy Valentine's Day everybody.  (Even if it is just a fake holiday made up by card and candy companies to make more money.)

What Does Netflix Say About You?

For all of you that have Netflix - you know that they give suggestions based on your interests and preferences.  I occasionally scroll through just to see what's there and lately the categories have been cracking me up.  My brother Mike's been living with us for a few months and the combination of the three of us watching Netflix has been creating some random categories.  So I thought I'd share, here's what Netflix says about me today:

• British Period Pieces Based on Books
• Mind-Bending Suspenseful Sci-Fi & Fantasy
• Witty Dysfunctional-Family TV Shows
• Emotional Foreign Documentaries
• Violent Crime TV Shows
• Girl-Power Children & Family Movies
• Quirky TV Comedies
• Feel-good Foreign Action & Adventure

 And there you have it, this is my house in a nutshell.  So now I want to know - what does Netflix say about you?

Candy, Iron, Wood or Amethyst?

Six years ago today I got to marry my best friend and it was awesome.  In fact, it still is awesome.  According to my friend the Internet, on the 6th wedding anniversary you should give a gift of candy, iron, wood or amethyst.  And guess what?  I choose candy!  Cause candy is always a good idea and obviously really represents the sweetness that has been the past six years.  Dude!  Sweet!  (Oh yeah, I totally did throw a Dude Where's My Car Reference into my anniversary post.)

Our wedding day was a beautiful, fun, awesome, and memorable day.  So I'm going to share a few of my favorite things about it, so you can see how fun and awesome it really was...  All my stuff accidentally got locked in the bridal room and we couldn't get the rings, the flower girl's basket, or the ring pillow.  So my Aunt Carmen broke in with a credit card.  So talented.  I learn something new about my family every day!  My niece Isabelle (then 4) was our flower girl and she took her job very seriously.  She was dropping flowers to cover every inch of the aisle and therefore ran out of flowers in less than a foot.  She turned to me at the back and shrugging her shoulders said, "I'm outta flowers!"  We all laughed and told her to keep going.  My nephew Bobby (then 2) was our ring bearer and he was having so much fun playing with the pillow, that during the ceremony the rings came off and I could hear them bouncing across the floor.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my sister-in-law Maria running around to get them.  I had to remind myself to pay attention cause I was getting married here and Maria would take care of it.  Mark was facing the other direction and so he could see people sneaking in late through the side door and told me later that he too had to remind himself to pay attention.  But I think my favorite part of the whole day was right before the actual ceremony started, Mark was nervous so he snuck through the kitchen to where I was so he could see me.  I was sitting there and suddenly I realized he was next to me and he gave me a quick kiss and said, "I just had to see you one more time before I walk out there."  Isn't he adorable?

And so it went... We got hitched,

we ate delicious food,

we kissed (just a few times) and ate more food (cake!),

we danced,

we cheesed it for the camera,

and everyone was really excited to throw stuff at us - I mean look how excited they are!

Can't wait for six more years of fun and awesomeness.

My Calendar Journal

A little while back my mom sent me an email with a link to a really clever DIY project: Vintage Postcard Calendar Journal.  I think it's so great because every day you'll be able to read back over what you did on that day in years past.  Obviously the first year will be somewhat less exciting - but then each year will get increasingly more fun.  Plus you can use double sided index cards and have that many more years to write.  All-in-all I love it.  And then to my great surprise when my mom came for Thanksgiving, she gave me a set of index cards already cut and stamped!  Fabulous.  So all I had to do was get my vintage postcards and a box to put it in.

Last Saturday we ventured to the Flea Market and I was pleased to find a guy that had a whole box of vintage postcards for sale.  Each one protected in a plastic sleeve.  They ranged from $1 - $3 per card, but since I needed 12, he said he'd let me have them for $12.  (Lucky me, cause I bought several $3 cards.)  I had so much fun choosing them.  I especially like my January and December postcards which are both from 1907 and say 'A Happy New Year' and 'Wishing You a Merry Christmas' respectively.  Oh and my October card is of a painting called 'Moonlight Over Screamer Mountain' which is just too perfect for October, don't you think?

But my favorite part is that three of them are used.  So I get to be all voyeuristic and read other people's mail.  One of the notes is so cute- a woman writes that her husband is at Rotary and she didn't want to sit in the lobby of the hotel with all the people, so she is writing the postcard in the car.  I think that is so adorable

I'm still looking for a box to use.  In the tutorial she uses a fruit box, but she also cut the postcards down to the size of her cards.  And I really don't want to cut my postcards.  I also want a box that will stand up against things like accidental spills on the counter.  So I'm on the hunt for a cool yet sturdy container.  But in the mean time I've got this little red and white polka dot box that it doing the job nicely.  It's a bit larger than what I want, though I do like that it can hold a pen.

And last but not least I must rant about Walmart and how they messed up our Christmas cards and weren't willing to reprint them without charging me more $$ and making me wait three days.  But you're the ones who messed them up, and I already paid, and I need people to get them before Christmas, you know this year!  Aargh.  I need to remember that I hate Walmart before I make decisions like printing my Christmas cards there.  So if you get our Christmas card and think 'that it the darkest photo, I can't believe they chose that.'  We didn't.  And this is what the photos were supposed to look like.

 

Next year I am printing my own photo cards.  Take that Walmart.  And Merry Christmas everyone!!

Countdown to Christmas

We had a super fun and busy Thanksgiving with our families.  All the Crenshaw cousin's were together except Bob's kids, so it was wild and crazy and loud and poor Uncle Mark was tickled to within and inch of his life.  Just what family togetherness is all about.

I have also (of course) continued making my yarn wreaths.  So I've finished Christmas (love that little gold bird)

and my winter wreath.

I think the winter one is my favorite to date (oh, except maybe for my Halloween one) - I think the argyle (which just makes me think of a cozy winter sweater) combined with the snow and the owl is too adorable.  Even Mark and Mike both said they liked it the best.  So it's boy approved.  And that's saying something.

And now we're in the countdown to Christmas - or more aptly called the countdown to Doctor Who.  I partly blame this on the fact that we have no kids yet - I'm sure if we had kids I would think of Christmas first and Doctor Who second.  But as it is, as soon as Thanksgiving is over (or in this case as I'm shoveling turkey in my face) I immediately think "Doctor Who!  Doctor Who!  I can't wait for Doctor Who!"  I asked Mark if he felt this way too, and he gave me a long, weird look and firmly said "No."  So I guess it's just me.  Though now that I think of it, a few months ago Mark was definitely this way about Skyrim.  So I guess it just depends who and what you're talking about.  The point is, I'm excited about this year's Christmas special.  Especially once I heard the name of it:  The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe.




And if you just watched that trailer you're a bit excited too - admit it.

Mr & Mrs Sicky Sickson of Sicktown

By meerasapra | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

We have spent the last week sick here at the McKeon home.  Both Mark and I are still fighting off whatever this current crud is.  And therefore have spent a lot of time doing little else but sleeping and watching television.  But I've learned a few things.  Like when you rewatch half of the Harry Potter movies (5, 6, 7.1) it just makes you want to rewatch 7.2 and reread all the books.  But then you realize that you don't own 1-3 only 4-7, because years ago before 4 came out someone loaned you 1-3 so now you must go buy them because when you reread them you want to start from the beginning.  When your sister-in-law tells you about this show that's in the Netflix instant queue and how it's strangely addicting - believe her.  Cause you will definitely spend the next two days watching nothing but Storage Wars, resulting in very weird drug induced storage-locker-swap-meet-horders-type dreams.  Not to mention experiencing crazy-drug-induced-sick dreams in general.  You decide that you now pretty much know what hot-flashes feel like because you have spent days switching from completely freezing to dripping in sweat in such rapid succession that you don't know how to dress anymore.  You learn that you can survive on nothing but chicken ramen, chicken noodle soup, and chili for every meal (and when I say every meal, I mostly just mean one, cause let's face it you're not very hungry) - because for some reason that's all you want to eat.  Oh and maybe a little chocolate ice cream when the 'hot-flashes' are really bad.

So that's what we've been learning here.  What have you learned lately?

Spooky, Scary.

Werewolf bar mitzvah - spooky, scary.  Boys becoming men.  Men becoming wolves.  I have had that song stuck in my head for days!  Which is basically ridiculous and a weird thing to wake up singing every morning for a week.  But since it's almost Halloween - I suppose it's fitting.  Speaking of... I've been keeping myself busy doing a few fun crafty Halloween things (when I'm not on Pinterest pinning more things I want to be making).  A few weeks ago when my sister Laura and her girls were in town we had a slumber party and made headbands together.  The girls were so creative with what they put together, Holly and Lucy both made some fun and adorable choices combining felt, feathers, multicolored pom-pom balls, leaves, and wiggly eyes.  And Sophia in particular was very specific about what she wanted, so I made several Harry Potter themed headbands for her.  All if which I completely forgot to take any photos of while they were still here.  (Despite the fact that my camera was in my purse the entire time.)  But since Lily was sick and couldn't sleep over with us, we made her a few headbands too, so I got at least the one photo.

I also made this Halloween yarn wreath for my front door.  I got the bird and the glitter spiders (notice they are the same spiders as the headband) from the Dollar Store and I had everything else (in fact I inherited the convict orange yarn from someone and have been wondering for a long time when and how I would ever use it- success!) so once I bought the wreath, it only cost me $5 to make.  Love it.  And they are so easy and fun to make that I can not stop myself.  As promised I am well on my way to making one for every season, Halloween, and Christmas.  I've also decided that I need to make one for birthdays.  I will show you them all as I finish them.  I did make this Harry Potter one for my sister-in-law Amanda.  She loves HP and after making headbands with Sophia, I had this idea to mix the two colors of each of the houses together to make the flowers.  I had a little bit of HP fabric left over from her diaper bag which I used for a few flowers as well as the band to hang it with.  And then instead of a welcome message on bunting (as I have often seen on theses wreaths), I made little banners also in the house colors with an iron-on HP font.  It's kind of crazy, but I think I love it.  (Did I mention that I'm a little bit addicted to these wreaths now?)

Craft Talk

My friend Nancy invited me to a craft night to make yarn wreaths and since I already had plans and therefore can't go I decided to make my own.  (Which I did and I love it.)  Let me first say that when I heard the words yarn and wreath together I thought "this is not going to be good."  But then I realized that Nancy was making them and since she is quite fashionable I thought I'd at least click on the link she sent with the invite.  And let me tell you I am glad I did.  I absolutely adore these wreaths!  You see I have been without wreaths for years now (other than a Christmas one that I rather like but that my husband hates).  And so over these wreathless years when I am at the craft store I will occasionally look through the wreaths but never find anything I really love (or if I did find something it was outrageously expensive).  So I am extremely excited to realize that I can make custom wreaths, to my exact desires, for $8 or less.  That is $8 if I needed to buy all the supplies.  But since I already own a large pile of felt, a ton of ribbon, and a huge basket of yarn - I really only need to buy the wreaths, which are $2.99 and a few extra details to decorate with.  How great is that?  In fact I have already planned to make myself one for every season plus Halloween and Christmas.  I am having the best time coming up with color schemes and decorations for each one.  And since it is September I decided to make an autumnal one first - I finished it yesterday and really like how it turned out. 

If you want to make one for yourself instructions and examples are here and here.  I found it helpful to refer to both blogs, because they each have slightly different directions and examples of finished wreaths- so between the two I figured out more of what I wanted to do.  Anyway that's my craft of the day- see you next time!

It's a Mad, Mad World

So I've been watching a lot of Mad Men lately.  For some reason or another I didn't watch it when it first aired, so I just never bothered to start watching it once I heard how great it was.  (I'm the kind of girl that likes to watch her shows from the beginning.)  So when I saw it in the Netflix instant queue I decided that I should find out what all the fuss was about.  And I have to say that I love it.  It is an amazing show - and I am especially in love with all the marvelous clothes.  (Oh how I covet Joan's wardrobe!)  Now that I have told you how much I love it, I must tell you how much I hate it!  You see when you watch a single episode it is fantastic.  Addicting, wonderful, a perfect period piece.  But you see when you have Netflix, you get to watch one episode right after the other while you're folding laundry, cutting fabric, or just vegging out.  As a weekly show, I absolutely believe that it does not get into your head and mess with your mind.  But watching 3 (or sometimes even 4) episodes in a row, you realize that you are watching the most depressing show on television.  It is not a show for marathon watching. 

I must admit that before watching Mad Men I considered myself a bit old fashioned.  But let me tell you, I am a radical feminist.  All the men are complete misogynists and I can't handle it!  I would have had a really hard time tolerating the way the men treated the women in the 1960s.  Let alone the way most of the men treat their wives.  And not only that they are also all self-centered, lying, cheating, bigots to boot.  It is weird and kind of hard to believe that the majority of the people in this country were racist and chauvinistic only 50 years ago.

My parents were in town last week and I was telling my mom about it, because as a graphic designer I knew she would love the opening sequence.  It is very cool.  I told her she had to see the opening credits but that I was pretty sure she would despise the show.  Since it is all about all the things she hated about the 60s.  I told her a little about it and she was practically shivering with disgust.  She agreed that she did not want to watch it because just talking about it was bringing back too many bad memories.  Several of which she shared.  Terrible is all I can say.  It is so strange to think that the fictional plots in the show are more than likely coming from someone's actual experiences.  Weird and sad.  But good too, because it just shows what a long way we've come.  And secretly I must admit that the men I previously thought were chauvinistic pigs are looking just a teensy bit better now.  I mean I'm not going to throw them a parade or anything - but let me tell you, they've got nothing on the men from Mad Men.

But I also really wanted to comment on the JFK assassination episodes.  I'd been anxiously awaiting these episodes since I first started watching, wondering how they would handle it.  And I actually think they were some of my favorite episodes.  I never thought I'd cry watching the news coverage about a President dying in 1963, I mean I had seen it before and never cried.  But watching it through these characters' eyes, it was a different experience for me.  Sitting there safely in my living room watching them wonder what is happening to their world teleported me straight back to where I was on 9/11/01.  I think that's what these major events in history do - they make you think of the major events in your own history.  They are the horrifying days in our lives that we always remember - I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing on 9/11/01.  And I will never forget.