thoughts on saturday

how is this my first february post? february is the best, and i haven't even acknowledged it in social media yet! valentine's day is arguably the cutest holiday, this february has been pretty moderate, so far, weatherwise, and of course the coolest people have birthdays this month. i think having a february birthday is actually a pretty good thing, because it peps me up enough that i usually avoid the february doldrums that some people seem to suffer.

i'm feeling like it's almost time to read harry potter again. it's been too long since i've been immersed in harry potter, and my life could use a little bit of that magical wizarding world right now.

i keep buying notecards and thank you cards. i can't help it! why are there so many beautiful notes out there? is there any possible way that i can actually send all these out? i don't know that many people. and think of the postage costs! but, the thing is, i really do want to send notes and cards to people. so, if you want to get a beautiful, thoughtful note from me, just let me know. i have plenty of  stationery options to choose from :)

this week i got some cardio in by watching this amazing jane fonda aerobics video. i have a deep love for aerobics, but it's been awhile since i've done one of these. so classic! the outfits alone are priceless. but the best/worst part was that the next day i was so sore! my calves are still tight and it's been four days. that jane fonda, man--she knows how to get you working.

oh, the olympics. here again to take over my life. more later.

have i told you guys yet about my quilt? well, i'm quilting. i'm almost done with the top, too, and it's pretty awesome. i have to take frequent breaks or else i get overwhelmed by weird perfectionist tendencies (i don't get it--i am not really a perfectionist. i like to do a good job, yes, and i work hard, but i'm not someone who has to control every detail. but the sewing thing makes me really self-conscious, for some reason. that probably says some things about me, but let's not get into it.), but it's coming along nicely. i'm excited to get it done and have a real thing, that i sewed, to have and use.

oh, and can i just say how bummed i am that the third series of sherlock is over, just like that, and i am once again without benedict cumberbatch? three episodes is not enough! not nearly enough!

without further ado, a tour of my room

i made this sweet flipagram!! i was going to go into a bunch of detail about all the things, but i don't know if i really want to anymore. i've had a lot of fun putting this room together, and i think it turned out pretty great. like i said the other day, i'm really happy with the mix of found and made and repurposed and purchased. i'm still missing a couple things, but overall i love it. here's to creating a space exactly how i wanted it!

thoughts on thursday

for the past few weeks, i've been going to water aerobics a couple times a week with mom. i am, by far, the youngest person there, since probably most people my age are either at work or school or getting ready for one of those at 8 in the morning. just another aspect of this funny time in my life. but water aerobics is pretty cool. it's exercising without really realizing that you are. probably the best moment, though, was last week when we warmed up to a version of "mmmbop"--i'm fairly certain i was the only one who knew the song. rec center water aerobics: always a good time.

now that i have a job, i'm all of a sudden in the market for a car. it feels weird. so many things are happening! pretty soon, i'll have my own medical insurance and my own car payment and i'll be living in a place where i probably won't know anyone. life is crazy. but back to the car: i really wish i could get a little suv, but i don't know if that will happen. so yeah, that's going on. i'm looking to become a car owner.

i'm listening to the new avett brothers album on npr's first listen as i type. can i just say that it is one of the greatest saddnesses in my life right now that i most likely won't be able to see them anytime soon? so good.

i got this book/kit from amazon last week. i like to doodle, and i would love to be able to do some hand lettered, hand doodled art projects. since i had just gotten the kit the day before, my notes from conference are the most artistic they've ever been.

i downloaded the app duolingo earlier this week and now i'm learning how to speak french. on my phone. so far it's pretty cool, and the lessons get pretty advanced as you go along. i'm kind of excited about it. anybody want to speak french with me when i can actually hold a conversation? maybe next i'll try to master german.

last week the last season of the office went up on netflix, and, naturally, i watched it in about three days. and i cried in probably a third of the episodes. it's still really bittersweet that it's over, even though the ending was perfect.

why haven't i made this my cover photo yet??

i'm still deep into the old testament. i'm hoping things spice up a little bit soon, because numbers and deuteronomy and joshua, while informative, were pretty dry. but i will be vigilant!

i also need to recap conference, which was amazing. coming soon! in the meantime, life is still good. happy thursday!

this american life

i subscribed to the this american life podcast a couple years ago, mainly because i knew it was the cool thing to do.

well, the episodes mostly sat in my library, unheard and unloved.

this all changed when i took up late-night embroidery. i couldn't get enough of it during the day, so i started burning the midnight oil. and hey, i thought, i've got to do something to fill the silence. why not listen to that devotional elder and sister holland gave that i downloaded months ago that i till haven't heard.

turned out this talk wasn't on my ipod like i thought, but what was? six episodes of this american life that i had randomly decided one day that my ipod could not live without. and so it began.

i listened to three episodes that night. i didn't want to turn it off. even after i finished the piece i was working on, i lay on my bed in the dark, listening to ira glass and company tell stories about the most ordinary things.

last night i listened to an old episode called "middle school." it was amazing. emily knows about this from her first year teaching middle school, but hearing the voices of these sweet kids made me fall in love with them, all going through hard times and figuring out who they are supposed to be, all actually really smart and insightful.

so i guess it just took me a couple years to be cool enough for this american life. maybe this is a sign that i'm almost ready for a subscription to TIME?

shop hop all your troubles away

every year, a group of quilt shops across the wasatch front hosts a "shop hop." thirteen shops
participate each year, decorating to fit a theme. last year, i somehow completely missed it and was really bummed. so this time, we were prepared.

mom, berg and i planned to hit up a few of the shops, this year coordinating around a game theme. berg and i drove home on thursday afternoon, and as we were getting in the car to head back down lehi way for the first shop, mom said, should we just try to go to all the shops? if you go to all 13, stamping your passport at each, you are entered to win some awesome prizes. since i don't technically know how to sew, i was hoping to win the grand prize, a sewing machine. because i know that if i had a sewing machine to call my own, i would actually learn to sew :)

so we embarked on a two day journey toward shop hop domination. even though i don't actually know how to quilt, i decided to buy fabric to make a quilt anyway.

you can't tell super well from the picture, but the color palette started as navy with some accents (orange, coral, green, teal). i noticed early on that i was picking up a lot of floral prints. story of my life! (one of my friends always points out when i am wearing something floral...which turned out to be almost every day. i'm wearing floral jeans as i type this. i just really like flowers, okay?!) anyway, i love all these fabrics, but there are some that i am obsessed with.

and there was one fat quarter that berg picked up early on that i was kicking myself for not getting. luckily, i found it at quilter's haven in bountiful, our last shop hop stop.

i can never resist a good rainbow.

the first day, we went to 10 quilt shops in about 6 hours. it was amazing. we drove from salt lake to lehi all the way down to springville and back again, stopping in orem, draper, midvale, cottonwood heights, sandy, and sugarhouse. favorite shops (meaning most dedicated to theme and/or best food): quilts, quilts, quilts (where's waldo), elaine's quilt block (ticket to ride), corn wagon quilts (monopoly), and pine needles (twister, but mostly just because i really like pine needles). 

the next morning, we met up with connie, dad's aunt, who is a major quilter, and headed up to brigham city. connie was talking to us about the day before, and when we said that we had been collecting fabrics for quilts we wanted to make, she asked how much we sewed. berg and i were both like, um, never now. but we are determined to learn. we played go fish in brigham, had fun at my girlfriend's quilt shoppe in logan, ate some lunch at the historic bluebird cafe, and then headed back down the mountain. after dropping connie off, we finished back home in bountiful. 

it was a very busy two days, but it was a ton of fun. we saw a million cute things that made me want to be the cute crafty homemaker that my mom is. 

and, best thing! i got a call last week saying i had won a prize. sadly, it wasn't the sewing machine. guess i'll have to shell out for that at some point, especially if i want this awesome quilt to get made.

my prize bag: a couple quilt books, some patterns, a bundle of fabric comprised mostly of doctor/nurse prints, some other squares that are kinda cute, and some kleenex. 

plus, the shop hop got me back into embroidery. 

that little flower one in the top right is my own design :) and please pardon the wrinkliness. now i just need to finish these babies with some fabric. anybody willing to teach me how to sew/buy me a sewing machine?