No Sew Hair Bows

This post is going to end with these...

...but it's going to take a while to get there, and I know always skip to the photos, so please! Bear with me.


One of my goals for this new year is to spend less time reading blogs and books about crafty things, and spend more time actually learning how to do them myself. I used youtube videos to teach myself how to knit a few years ago, and literally three weeks after stocking up on needles and yarn and starting multiple scarf-related projects, I promptly broke my wrist snowboarding. Besides the fact that being down an appendage made my last semester of nursing school miserable, I wasn't really able to use my right hand until spring break. At that point, my knitting motivation was low.

Since then, I've picked up the knitting needles several times, finished a scarf or two, and even taught myself (youtube again!) how to make cables, knit in the round, and a few other little tricks. But inevitably I lose interest the minute the weather gets warm.

Somehow I decided this past year, after becoming immersed in the world of crafting blogs, that I needed to learn how to sew. Then my in-laws very generously got me a sewing machine for Christmas, and it sat unopened in the living room until I took it out of the box, became overwhelmed by it, and put it in the corner of the baby's room so I could watch cable and read more blogs without My Lack of Initiative staring me in the face.

Although I have a strange fear of craft stores (there are aisles of things that I cannot identify), and despite the fact that the owner's manual for my extremely basic sewing machine could have been written in Swahili for all I understood it, I am really excited to start sewing. So today I found myself in Joann's picking up all the supplies I need to make that happen.

I did not hyperventilate in the store, and I did come home with a huge bag full of sewing necessities. But I had also tossed in some sweet little hair clippys and a few rolls of $1 girly ribbon to our overflowing cart, so while I did not spend the afternoon threading bobbins (if that is what you do?) or figuring out what to do with a foot pedal, I did get all no-sew crafty.

I could not pass up these precious little ribbon rolls - not overwhelmingly pink, but all girl anyways.



Joshua's sister Heidi introduced us to this E-6000 crafting glue when she was making our baby girl adorable headbands for one of our baby showers.


And if by some chance our daughter has any hair to clip, we are prepared.


And...we've come full circle to the beginning of this super long-winded post, in which I did not actually sew or knit or do anything except glue. And even then, I think Jessica's clippys are cuter than mine - she made the one with the button.


After the super easy and satisfying cuteness of that quick project, what is still awaiting me tomorrow during playoff commercial breaks? And also distracting me from the realities of being 39 weeks pregnant with a hiccuping ninja who seems to be in no rush to make her debut? This baby...

Holiday Spirit

I absolutely love making our house look beautiful for the holidays. Some of my favorite memories from being a kid are the nights we spent decking the halls, the walls, the tree, and everything else possible for Christmas. My dad would haul our well-worn cardboard boxes full of ornaments, lights, and garlands out of the basement, and every year I felt the same thrill of rediscovering my 'favorite' Christmas decorations.

Joshua and I have amassed our own cardboard boxes and plastic tubs full of holiday decor, and it's all I can do to wait until after Thanksgiving to start stringing up lights and hanging up stockings. I've cheated once or twice when we were going out of town for Thanksgiving - just for the joy of coming back to a Christmasy home.

But my mom is coming into town this weekend, and we have never decorated for Christmas together here in Chicago. So we are waiting (patience isn't my thing, exactly) until Friday night to transform the condo into a winter wonderland.

It's making me crazy. Today I went downstairs into the storage room to just stare at "Christmas Corner", as Joshua calls our ever-growing collection. I tried to decide if I could just put out one snowman, or find one pine candle to light. At one point the holiday welcome mat I threw in the cart during our recent trip to Home Depot (again!) was actually in my hands.

I didn't do it. I'm more excited about having my mom here for all of it. And Joshua, of course. And Cari. And the zoo - the cats are relatively indifferent to the sudden glitzy changes in their world, but I think Helo is really going to be crazy over the tree and the lights and the ornaments. It's sweet and terrifying all at the same time.

Another terrifying - but really thrilling - twist to this years' holiday decorating is that our new camera should be delivered on Friday afternoon, just in time to document exactly what happens when a dog is confronted with a live tree in the comfort of his own living room. I'm taking bets on how quickly he pees on it.

Joshua and I took advantage of the Black Friday sales (from the comfort of our couch; I'm not much of a 4am crowd trampler) to find a great deal on a Canon Rebel T2i. I have less than no idea what I'll be doing with such a sophisticated camera, but I can't wait to start taking lovely, dreamy SLR photos. Even if it does takes me a month to learn anything other than the automatic settings, I'm just thrilled about how rarely I'm going to have to use the flash now!

Lately I've been feeling a little sore and a lot sluggish so the excitement of the holidays has been a wonderful distraction from that. As soon as this house is fully bedecked and bedazzled, I'm sure I will feel even better. It may be taking all the willpower I have not to start looping garlands down the stairwell right this minute, but I know I will appreciate the experience of getting ready for the holidays so much more with the people I love.

Pictures...shiny, beautiful PICTURES...to come!