Football!

I love football... especially college football. I'm the kind of wife who will quite happily let the TV be tuned to college football games for most of the day on a Saturday. NFL is a different story, but college football is great, if you ask me.

This year, Brian and I are excited to be Cougar Football season ticket holders again. YEAH! Yesterday was the home opener. We took Allison and it was so much fun! She really wasn't sure what to think at first... there was so much to look at and take in. But, I think she enjoyed it.

Great photo, right? Football is just so beautiful... we pretty much have nosebleed seats, but its really not a bad view...

Touchdown! She really will do that if we ask her to say touchdown. =)

She was a big fan of the yummy popcorn...

Getting ready to leave. It was a fun day, and so past bedtime.

Scrapbook Blog!

I did it! I started a scrapbook blog. I'm signing up to be a Close to my Heart (CTMH) consultant next week. This is a place where I can share my artwork. Here's hoping for a successful business! You can check out my scrapbook blog at http://rosies-posies.blogspot.com.

Apparetly she was hungry...

Allison very much likes to be helpful. She especially loves to be helpful when mommy and daddy are putting away the groceries. That means the fridge gets opened and she can explore it. She's very interested in the fridge... especially since she made the connect between the fridge and food.

Today, while we were putting groceries away, Allison gets poking around and what does she find? A plum. Apparently she was hungry and she decided that this plum looked so good that she had to have it right then. No waiting for mommy or daddy to get it cut for her. She just bit right on in. So, heres to my big girl, eating her first fruit the "big girl" way. And yes... she ate the WHOLE thing.

Frustration Revisited

I went home this weekend. One of my best friend's from high school, Chrissy, got married. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding. If you recall, I was frustrated over my apparent inablility to finish making a dress I started a few years ago so I could wear it to this wedding.

Well, I took the dress home at my mom's request. The thought was that we could work on it and get it finished before the wedding. Apparently my mom lapsed on the fact that I have a 1 year old... needless to say we didn't even touch the dress. I did, however, leave it at my mom's hoping that she can finish it and make it look as nice as it does in my head. I wore a cute little number that my little sister had made a few weeks eariler (which made me jealous and slightly more frustrated).

So... here's my game plan. I'm going back to square one. Several years ago I made a cute black jumper that I really like. It no longer fits super well in the bodice, so I think I'll get some fabric and make another one of those jumper. A tried-and-true pattern working out could help me get my bearings and confidence back. Then I'll probably work on some small projects and garments for Allison. I have fabric and a pattern for a cute little dress for her. My mom also told me to try Burda patterns (apparently they tend to be more true to measurement than McCalls/Vogue/Simplicity/Butterick), and to try my hand at flat pattern measurements, to make sure I'm not being lied to. I'm also thinking that if I want to make nice things for myself, I need to take the time to do a fitting muslin. Hopefully, when I'm ready to get back on the horse, all this will help me get the results I want.

Allison's Expanding Vocabulary

With her steps into toddlerhood, we are also fast explore with wide and wonderful world of words. Its new words everyday. Here is a list of Allison's current words. (Disclaimer: much like the bible, you should believe this list to be true as far as it is translated correctly)

"Eeeets" - Eat
"Duts" - Duck (as in rubber ducky)
"Ezzzzz" - Please
"Ot" - Out
"Pu pu" - puppy
"Mum Mum" - Mom
"Da Da" - Dad
"Ba ba" - binky
"Mon Mon" - monster (as in "The Monster at the End of This Book")
"Ma ma ma ma ma!" - MORE!

And she signs. We have signs "milk" and "more" (both of which seem to mean "food" to her). She will sometimes tell us "all done". And we're working on "please" and "music."

I'm relatively certain that Allison has more words and signs than this list... Brian and I just haven't figured out their translations yet. Hey... its not like we've got a rosetta stone here! =)

Frustration...

A little background info. I sew. I've been sewing since I was 10. I remember wearing an outfit that I had made all by myself (well, as "all by myself" that a 10 year old learner gets) to the first day of 5th grade. That was 15 years ago. I sewed a lot during high school. And I didn't just sew. I was pretty good. I made 5 prom dresses and, not to toot my own horn or anything, they were beautiful. I was an excellent seamstress.

Today, however, I came to the sad realization that I know find sewing far more frustrating than fulfilling. I can't remember the last time I finished a project of any significance. The last article of clothing that I made for myself was a cute black jumper. That was almost 4 years ago, and it is the last sewing project that I have been happy with.

What brought this all up? Well, if you look at my project list you'll see "My Graduation Dress" listed there. This "graduation dress" is a dress I started for my college graduation in April 2006. This is the pattern I was using.

I've been working on the one shown in the bottom right corner (plus sleeves of course). The twisted bodice is adorable and it has a high waist and A-line skirt. I'm making it out of this beautiful maroon and gold silky, border print fabric. It looks a little like sari fabric.

When I started the project I carefully took my body measurements and cut the fabric out using the pattern siz that matched my measurements. Lo and behold, the day before my graduation I have the bodice done and the skirt ready to sew on and finish. I try the bodice on for fit and it doesn't. It super doesn't fit. Its about 4 inches too big all around (despite the fact that measured so carefully and cut out the "correct" size). I don't have the time to finish it before graduation, so I choose something else to wear and set it aside for later.

Fast forward to today. One of my best friends from high school is getting married in 2 weeks and I think that dress would be nice to wear to her wedding. It is sitting in my project drawer in the exact same state it was left more than 2 years ago. I had Brian help me take the extra width out of the side seams and I try to get going on this dress again. I manage to get the bodice properly fit and now I have to get the skirt top to match the bodice. I work on it and get the skirt put on only to try it out and discover that the skirt hangs weird at the side seams. It folds over itself and doesn't drape nicely. I take it apart, change the line of the offending seams and try again. One side is looking better, but the other side just looks strange.

Then, looking in the mirror, I decide that not only does it look weird, but it makes me look fat. And it will probably never look as nice actually made as it looks in my head. The only way I can thing to fix the problem is to take the dress apart again. Everytime I take a seam out, I damage the delicate woven fabric. So now I'm frustrated. I can't figure out how to fix the problem without ruining my project.

I used to like sewing... I used to be good at sewing. But now... all I ever have to show for my efforts is a drawer full of half-finished projects that I don't feel like I have time for. And its frustrating...

One Year Photos

We took Allison in to get her one-year photos today. I wasn't real crazy about how the session turned out as a whole. Either the photographer didn't have a ton of imagination, or Allison was just too difficult (wanting to crawl around instead of sitting/standing still to have her photo taken)... probably a combination of the two. Anyway... we did get two or three really cute photos out of it. Here is one of my favorites.

Not so little...

I've been organizing photos on our computer today. I managed to get all of our photos from Europe off the laptop and onto the desktop where I can work with them and submit an online order to Costco for printing. While I was at it I figured that I'd clear out our downloaded folders and put photos in their appropriate places (mostly into Allison photos organized by monthly folders... yes I have OCD) and I got looking at pictures of Allison taken in April. She was 8 months old in them. Looking at these picture it hit me. I don't have a baby anymore. I have a toddler. Allison doesn't even look like a baby anymore. She's lost that "baby" look to her face. Its amazing how in a relativly short period of time she has changed so much. See for yourself.

I started with this...

Before leaving for Europe I had this...

And now I have this toddler...

Do you see the difference, or is it just me? Where did my baby go? How did she change so fast? No one told me they grew up this fast. Don't they come with a pause button?

Paris

Beyond the 30° C weather and the lack of air conditioning, Paris was beautiful and amazing! Here's a sampling of what we did:

Climbed the Eiffel Tower. Call us crazy, but we took the stairs. 704 stairs up to the 2nd observation desk. Allison LOVED riding on daddy's shoulder's all the way up.

Took a Shetland Pony ride in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Its a beautiful garden with lots of fun activities for kids. Allison wasn't too sure about touching the horses at first, let along riding one... but she warmed up and didn't want to leave when we were done.

Toured the Catacombs. They were pretty cool. Napoleon, who ordered the arrangment of the bones along the walls, must have had some serious OCD.

Visited Notre Dame. We wanted to climb the North Tower, but we had the stroller with us so they wouldn't let us (which they didn't have posted and didn't bother telling us until we'd stood in line for 45 minutes). It was still beautiful inside.

Its was a pretty cool visit to Paris, but we are so happy to be home now.