Christmas 2010

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I had some fun decorating for Christmas this year. I revamped my tree decor (all on a food theme). I still have a handful of dried citrus ornaments from years past and added cookie cutters, dried gingerbread tree cookies, cinnamon sticks, cranberry garland, and pinecones.

I also made several new crafts, like the ornament ball tree (which is still trying to recover from trying to transport it back from my sisters house (probably a craft I would recommend only doing at home) and fabric flower wreath.

Several lucky friends and family members got one of my new culinary creations from this year, flavored pecans! I did my famous cayenne-crusted ones, as well as cocoa-chili, cinnamon-nutmeg, pumpkin spice, and chocolate-covered flavors.

I once got a black eye from my Bishop

Funny story from the past. I was going through iphoto to pick a random picture and share a story that it reminded me of...and found this.

The Harbor 2nd singles ward decided to play Broom Hockey in the church gym. I was in charge of all activities in the ward at that point and was hesitant about promoting this idea-since someone was bound to get hurt. Yup. Maybe I have an biased memory but it seems that whenever I say that, it's typically me that is the lucky one. My bishopric was really getting into the broom hockey game and even taped their broom straws down so they could hit the ball harder. In a flurry of activity on the court, Bishop's broom met my face...and hard. I blacked out a second, then dazed and throbbing, I left the game so they couldn't see me cry. He didn't even know what had happened. When he found it, he felt sooo bad. He came to my house and brought me a potted plant and an apology-he looked so darn uncomfortable that I felt bad for him-and that he had to see me with a big purple bruise on the right side of my face. He really was a good bishop-poor guy sat out on any competetive play from then on. I didn't learn to do that until later. I am finally getting the fact that I might also be fragile, despite how competitive and adventurous I can be. This is why I now avoid playing broom hockey, dodgeball, softball, basketball, and pick-up soccer games in fields with holes.

Texas Star

I took a whirlwind trip down to visit my birthplace state-Texas. I have a brother and his family that now live there, as well as a dear former mission companion, Sestra Portwood (aka Ivy). They both live in Austin so I went to visit. They were awesome to take me all around to experience the wonders of Austin... funky food trailers, zealous football fans, BBQ, Town Lake (which seems to really be a river...), peacock nature preserve, massive Whole Foods store, state capitol and all. Paul, Vi, the kids and I also drove down to visit San Antonio to see the house where I lived the first 3 yrs of my life and then took a boat around the "Riverwalk".
It was a wonderful time, especially since we were playing around in 70 degree weather while it was snowing like crazy back home in Utah.

What a Deal

I learned something fantastic last night. Thought I would share this little tidbit with those faithful few that read my blog. Shop online for flights after midnight. I was contemplating taking a last minute trip with a 3 day weekend I have coming up and was disappointed that the flight prices were quite high. I was debating all evening on whether to go or not. I decided to check the prices online again right before I crawled into bed (just after midnight). Voila! $125 cheaper than it had been a few hrs earlier. Same flights, same times. I was thrilled! Was it just a fluke? Someone told me that it might have to do with the volume of people booking at a certain time or that the airlines change their prices at midnight...but I can't verify that. Has anyone else tried it?

Halloween!

I had a fantastic Halloween season! Since there were several parties and gatherings to attend, I thought I would make good use of my costume bins.The main costume of the year was "Maria the Vampire" (from the movie Eclipse). Ben was Jasper. I sewed most of the pieces myself. Everyone especially loved the eyes.

I also revamped my Christmas Elf (aka. Santa's little Ho) costume from for my ward's roller-skating party.

I went as Bella Swan to help my niece and nephew go trick-or-treating.

Lastly, pulled out my fantastic Witch hat and socks for Ben's family get-together on Halloween day.

Here are a couple of my favorite costumes that others wore:

Sewing Lesson on Linings

I confess. I use sewing patterns like I use recipes... as general guidelines that I rarely follow to the letter. I enjoy "improving upon" them to get what I am after, or skipping steps I deem unnecessary. I usually get away with it, but sometimes it teaches me hard lessons that involve a lot of action by my trusty seam ripper. And thus it was as I made my first piece of lined clothing. Linings are tricky! I called upon google and several people that sew to help me when I sewed myself into a corner but they were a confused as I. I was finally saved by a youtube video showing me the right way to sew lining on armholes of a vest.

For anyone (or me) that plans to attempt this again in the future, here are a few helpful hints:

Sew collar together first

Turn it right sides out before you attempt to sew armholes to armhole lining

Wrap lining around through the color to attach right sides together at armhole and sew so it looks like a long tube.

Then, you will be able to sew the side seams (lining to lining, fabric to fabric) down

(Kind of like doing pant-leg holes)

Lastly do the bottom hem.

If you do it in any other order, you will be stuck with a garment that will not turn right sides out and end up spending more time watching sewing you-tube videos and unpicking your work than you would like to admit.

It warms my heart...

To cook with all the autumn flavors... pumpkin, butternut squash, nuts, and apples...YUM

When I see this handsome face looking at me

When I get a phone message from this cute nephew of mine: "Hi Emmy, I goin' to bed. I love you. Bye!". I melted...and then listened to it about 4 more times.To see the vibrant array of colors every time I go outside.
To see so many reminders of how much God loves me.

I am grateful for the little things in life that make it worthwhile.