My inner crafty side

My roommate is a very talented sewer/crafter/you name it. But she is very modest about her talents. She keeps the things she does very quiet. I'm the opposite, I sew a straight line and I'm showing everyone. Let's face it, I like being praised about the things I'm making. Why else would I post pictures on my blog? I do have to admit though before you think I'm so exceptionally talented, other than the diaper cake, none of these where my original ideas.

For the aforementioned baby shower, I did some serious sewing/crafting. The hosts of the shower had asked me to make a few things for the shower. A banner, clothes for a clothes line (as decoration), and a diaper cake. I think they turned out well for my first time doing these things. My favorite thing I made though was Miles' present. Insert praise of oohs and awwwws here:

Trip Home

Despite being sick during my weekend home it was a very good trip. Probably due to the pampering only a mother can provide. I enjoyed numerous glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges picked right from the tree along with magazines to read while lying lazily in bed. Not too shabby.

The point of the trip though was for my best friend Lori's baby shower for soon to be born little Miles. It was a great shower. The highlight, playing pin the sperm on the egg. The daddy's comment, "didn't I already win."

I'm a problem solver

Inspired by the hilarious Demotivators and aided by my new graphics assistant Aaron, I created my own poster. It's actually too true to be funny. Ask anyone who knows me well. My problem solving technique: Avoidance.

Snow is NOT gone

My cousin and her husband were generous enough to give me their extra ticket to the US Women's National Team's soccer game against Mexico. Weather: 34 degrees; cold, steady snow fall. And by steady snow fall, it means it snowed the ENTIRE game. But I did see something I'd never seen at a soccer game before. After the US scored the first goal, they all dropped and made snow angels. I also heard something I'd never heard at a soccer game. The announcer mentioned to "watch for falling snow chunks from the overhang." And several people did get hit; it was hilarious.
These aren't my pictures...

Snow Is Gone

I think winter was sucking the life out of me taking all my motivation to do anything, including but not limited to blogging. But the weather has been so much nicer lately and I've felt more drive to get things done. I know that winter really is almost over because it's time to start gardening. I have evidence of that because I've started my spring routine of daily trips to Home Depot and/or Lowe's. In fact, I've been to them 7 times in the last two days. And I've shoveled a trailer full of mink poop into my backyard. No, that is not a typo. Mink poop. It didn't smell as bad as my mother had feared, and none of my neighbors complained. The down side was finding little mink carcasses. A femur here, a skull there. Bleh. The important thing is that the garden is ready for planting now.

In other domestic resume building news, I finished another quilt. This one was for my mom's Christmas present. The beauty of not getting it done until April is that it can count for her birthday, mother's day, Easter, and all other holidays in between. So mom, don't expect anything in the next few months.

I hate March Madness

I am never doing a March Madness bracket again. I have done one every year since 1998, when I picked all of the Final 4 teams: Kentucky, Utah, North Carolina, and Stanford. Kentucky because the boy I liked liked Kentucky, Utah because they were in the same conference as BYU, North Carolina because I like their colors, and Stanford because they are our home team. I have never lived up to my own standard since. And so every year I am thoroughly disappointed and this year seems to be the worst. We did a pool at work and even with the Kansas, Villanova, and Syracuse upsets I managed to stay in the top 3 until last night. It was Ohio St that started the downhill spiral, and Kentucky who just broke my heart. I get so darn emotional, anxious and too personally invested. Understatement. I'm just not sure I can do this to myself anymore. I'm not even sure I'll watch any more games. Go Butler, because nobody in our pool picked them past the second round.

Over the hill

Yeah, it's a lot of pictures, but when you cover 5 (Andorra, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, and Great Britain) countries in 14 days a lot happens. Most importantly though was that this trip put me over 40 countries that I've visited. The pictures are in reverse order, and the last day was spent in London to celebrate Angela's birthday. The only problem is there won't be a way to top this next year.