Hello!

I disappeared. I didn't mean to, but life happens. Thank you to all that checked in to make sure that I am ok - I am! It's just been a crazy few weeks...

Jane graduated from 8th grade. So. Hard. To. Believe. And still, so right, you know?

I altered my painted portrait dress and wore it out. I love this pattern. There will be more. And more. And then probably even more.

I had my annual colonoscopy (I have ulcerative colitis). TMI? Probably. But, I had a lot (understatement) of anxiety leading up to it as my last two scopes were only so-so - not really bad, but not great. This time all was better than it has been in years. I am thankful and relieved and happy and will continue to take my meds and eat healthy and all that.

We packed up and left town for Mexico on Kate's last day of school. It was a great way to start the summer.

While gone, Fatty and I both suffered from food poisoning. That put a little damper on the trip, but it was still good to get away.

I read 10 books on vacation. TEN.

And my MacBook crapped out. It couldn't be fixed. Insert sad face here.

Two days after we returned home, I took a great class with Quilt Dad, John Adams. It was fun and I am super excited about how my quilt is coming together. It's Pacific Crest, the cover quilt from John's new book, Beyond Neutral, (affiliate link) which is A-MAZ-ING.

When I came home from sewing all day, there were flowers for me for Father's Day. Fatty is the best, I tell you.

My new computer arrived earlier this week. It is shiny and fast - yay!

I didn't turn it on until I cleaned the entire studio. It took 3 days, but it is also looking shiny, so there's that.

And now I am going to pay the bills and then get back to making things.

See you around.

We are home from New York.

It was a good, long, exhausting and fun week. We saw Tara and Tim twice - the perfect bookends to a week in Manhattan where we shopped, walked, shopped, ate, walked, drank, ate, drank, walked, shopped our way through Manhattan. Did I mention the eating and drinking and shopping?

All of the above came from Purl Soho with the exception of the dandelion fabric. That's from Marimekko (on sale!). The second photo is actually a scrap pack. I saw it when I walked in the store and thought about it the whole time I was there. The fabrics are not necessarily ones that I'd be drawn to on their own, but together like that? Yes. Please. And thank you, too. I scooped up the other blues and whites to go along. I know exactly what I am going to make and if I have the time, I will start it today. The green? Well, of course, I had to have that.

Now, home, I'm feeling incredibly spoiled. I have loving in-laws that take my kids so that Fatty and I can run away for a week together every summer. I have a husband who is more than a husband - he's my best friend and partner in crime. He makes me laugh and knows that if my blood sugar gets too low, it's not pretty. He holds my hand as we walk down the street and sits patiently while I spend hours looking at textiles and trying on clothes at Anthropologie. It is such a blessing to have that time alone, to be able to manage a vacation each year, to feel completely in love for the last eighteen years. I don't ever want to take that for granted. I feel incredibly blessed.

And the girls? I missed them just the right amount - not too much and not too little. We are hanging out today, running errands and doing other everyday life things like laundry and cooking. I've already referee-ed one fight and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'm slowly bringing them back to our world of limited television and healthier eating. Most of the time, I have the best job. I wouldn't change it for the world. Those girls - an equally big blessing.

Today I have a rare, most likely one-time treat for you: Fatty's taking over the blog! He's working on a small project that I thought you all might want to hear about. He's been talking about doing this since last year and the time finally arrived. Plus, it's his birthday today! I'm not spilling the beans on how old - let's just say that he's older than me. Ahem. Take it away, Fatty.....

 Growing a mustache isn't really all that hard.  Empirically it seems to be taking a little longer than I thought it would.  It's time consuming.  Maybe I should have been tipped off by the actually terminology of "growing a mustache" as opposed to possibly "wearing a mustache".  I feel more like I've been cultivating a mustache over the last 16 days.  It didn't look like a mustache until the end of the first week.  Days one through seven felt like the chia pet stage.  Things really started to solidify this weekend at a local bike race on day thirteen.  I was not racing myself.  I was watching the pros race here in town in our leg of the USGP of Cyclocross.  I wore my favorite Akubra snowy river hat that looks like a real buckeroo cowboy hat (steamed into its current shape one drunken night 20 years ago by a true friend who happened to be a part time rodeo cowboy).  It is my go to hat on a sunny day when I know I'll be outside all day.  The combination of the hat and my fresh mustache drove home the fact that cowboys have more fun.  I crossed over into real mustache land the next day when I went for a mountain bike ride in the late afternoon and could feel the wind blowing through the mustache.  It was wild and kind of cool.  On the negative side, now I have to think about food and beverage getting trapped on the upper lip.

Well, enough rambling.  I'm halfway through the month of Movember and excited to see what this thing ends up looking like.  Movember is a charitable concept built around getting guys to grow sponsored mustaches in an effort to raise funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer.  The guys (Mo-Bros) and a few ladies (Mo-Sistas) from our beer company have challenged another beer company to see who can raise the most money for the Movember cause.  Erin encouraged me to write a blog post about it for you charitable folks.  If you feel like supporting my efforts by making a donation, please visit my mospace page at http://mobro.co/fatty.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any help.  Happy birthday to me.  Hooray beer.

Fatty

because today is Fatty's birthday.  While I could go on and on, I'll keep it short.  I'm blessed to have him in my life.  He's a great person and good father.  He's funny and smart.  He's loving and patient (oh so patient!) and isn't afraid to tell me when I'm acting up.  And I need that.

 

Happy Birthday Fatty!  Here's to the next forty-four.

Thirteen years later, I know that the best decision I ever made was marrying this man, my best friend.  I can't imagine my life without him.

Happy Anniversary, Fatty.  I love you.

Since I just wrote a gushy post about Fatty last week, I'll spare you all.  But my fantastic and handsome husband turns 43 today.  I'm looking forward to more cake.  Happy Birthday, Fatty!

I am also looking forward to finishing the small painting project that turned big when I tore the towel bar out of the wall and had to repair the drywall.  I spent most of the weekend with a paintbrush in hand and paint in my hair.  This is the before shot.  I laughed when I looked at the photo.  I don't often walk around carrying empty toilet paper rolls, but I am collecting them for a school project.  Nice one, Erin.  Anyhow, I have repaired the drywall, painted two ceilings (this one and the one in the butler's pantry) and put a coat of tinted primer on the bathroom walls.  Yellow is a hard color to cover.  I'm hoping to get away with one coat of the green (you knew that, right?), but it might take two.  I forgot how much cutting in there is in bathrooms.  And painting behind toilets?  That pretty much sucks.  So yeah, keep your fingers crossed - I really don't want to paint more than one more coat.

The de-stash did not happen this weekend.  I will give you all ample notice before I post anything here.  I do have a couple crafty things to post.  I'll check in while the paint is drying.  Till then, ta ta.

I just wrote a real sappy post about this man, but I couldn't publish it.  He likes his privacy too much.  That said, he might not like his photo on the blog.  Oh well.  I had to do it.  You see, he gave me a really wonderful birthday gift back in May.  And this past weekend, I cashed it in.  It started with a flight to New York and swanky hotel room.  It had big city shopping, a day in Bridgeport, CT, room service and sleeping in, too.  Three days by myself - no responsibilities beyond choosing what I wanted to eat and when to get out of bed.  Bliss.  In the end, I came home refreshed and renewed, bursting with creativity, but missing him and the girls.

It was the best gift I have ever received other than my daughters, and of course, him.  Because every day I have this man in my life is gift in and of itself.  I am truly blessed, that I know.

This man.  Oh, how I love this man.

Imagine my excitement when Fatty came home last night and gave me this:

Awhile back, I had mentioned that I was looking for a Polaroid camera.  I am always in awe at the wonderful photographs that I see over on Flickr and wanted to give it a shot.  Of course, the film is not being produced any longer and so it is hard to come across.   Fatty found all of this at work, where they used Polaroids to take photos of beer displays before they went digital.  I was feeling pretty lucky and was antsy to get shooting.  I knew exactly what my first shot was going to be.  I slung the camera over my shoulder when I walked the girls to school and on the way home took a photo of my favorite path.

Not exactly what I was expecting.  Who knew that there would be Heineken branded film?  Not Fatty and not me.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised since it came from the beer guy.

It looks like I am in the market for film.  Any suggestions other than Ebay?