Adios, March

Oh, March, I am so happy to see you go. As far as months, you are one of the worst and I can't wait to be rid of you. Your weather is all over the map. I certainly didn't appreciate your late snow showers. That's enough from you! You have absolutely no merit. Lots to look forward to in April! My birthday = cake. The last two birthdays for others that I have attended had no cake. NO CAKE! Appalling. Had I known there would be none present, I would have brought my own. Anyway, cake, and Easter too. Plus, spring will certainly come sooner rather than later. A potential long weekend getaway. More sewing, more projects around the house. Busy, busy! Can't wait!

Good Golly Gingham - Simplicity 2246

I believe that this is a relatively new pattern to the Simplicity line. As I was flipping through the Spring 2011 book, it caught my eye because I thought it would be perfect over leggings. I just purchased my first pair of leggings this past year. John hates them. I, however, am constantly searching for items to wear over the leggings because I.love.THEM! This blouse fit the bill. As luck would have it, JoAnn's even had all of the fabrics used in these very projects from the envelope. How helpful! If you want to buy it online, you can do so here, or you can wait for JoAnn's 99 cent sale like I did.

Sorry the pattern picture is so small. My focus is on the pink and white checked tunic in the bottom left-hand corner. Although, I think I may make the shirtdress in the future because it's fabulous.

Here is the finished product hanging up. This was not without it's fair share of seam ripping. I have not yet learned my lesson to measure both the pattern and my body before cutting. I know just as much as anyone else that the given sizes do not necessarily correspond with ready to wear sizes. Silly Ashley. I made it work though. I just let out the side seams as much as possible. My hips are easily a size or possibly 2 larger than my bust.

I really enjoyed this project because it let me try some new techniques and sewing is all about learning, right? Can you believe I had never before used my automatic buttonholer? 7 years I've had trusty Sal. Well, let me tell you, Sal's automatic buttonholer? Not so automatic. I sort of got the hang of it but luckily, I tested on scrap fabric many times first. How terrible to get all the way to your buttons and run your project! Thankfully, that didn't happen here. I also learned how to make a placket. My stitching is a bit wonky here but I know over time it won't look so much like home sewing. And who's staring at the placket stitching anyway. Sheesh! Thirdly, I got another chance at darts. But darts are so easy, you say! My darts never turn out the way I want but they're getting better.

Sadie!

Leggings and wellies!

I really wanted it to be raining for these pictures. I wore my Hunters anyway. I would sew this again in a heartbeat. The fabric is cotton so it'll be really easy for wash and wear (plus iron). The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it's sort of a Mandarin collar. It's just a'ight for me. I'd prefer a pointed collar. Next time.........

So bright, I had to wear shades!

The Red Garden

The Red Garden is the latest offering from Alice Hoffman. She is probably most known for Practical Magic, which I never read nor saw the movie. But, this was one of the most recently published books on my library's "New Reads" shelf so I snapped it up. The Red Garden is a year-spanning story about a little town in Massachusetts from its founding days in the 1750s up through nearly present day. In the town of Blackwell is a garden that will only grow red things, no matter what color they are when you plant them. The garden, however, is really a story and more of a common thread to the stories of the citizens of Blackwell. This is comprised of a series of vignettes about these people and how their lives are woven together. It follows families through the years, stories that begin with one of the founders and up through their grandchildren and great grandchildren. I enjoyed The Red Garden for all of its sadness and sweetness. It was different than what I normally read and I liked that departure. The intertwined tales interested me a lot more than whatever "magic" made the garden's harvest red. That part wasn't so exciting for me. Try this if you're looking for something different. Not the fastest read but it's not terribly long either. Rating: * * *

Recipe Re-blog #12

Only one new recipe this week and unfortunately, it won't be receiving a plastic sleeve in my recipe binder.

Maple-Walnut Chicken: This is from the October 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping. It's been in my 'to-be-cooked' stack since then so that tells you how excited I was to make it right away! It's a simple chicken in sauce. I think we only had to buy one ingredient (walnuts) to make this recipe happen, which is probably why I picked it for last week anyway. It had a good flavor but the sauce never thickened up like the recipe swore it would. So basically, this was a chicken breast in maple flavored water. Not great. You can skip this one.

Hit the road, Jack!

This weekend, John and I are headed to Lexington for a fun overnight getaway! I could not be more excited for this. We're only staying one night but that's okay; the hotel is 'spensive. The only drawback is that we have to board Sadie. She will be one sad pup when she realizes we are not coming to pick her up after day camp is over. Poor girl. Nevertheless, we're planning to visit some wineries and a bourbon distillery and explore Lexington. It's not quite horse racing season so we'll miss that. There's always next time. What I just found out, however, is that Ohio State is playing Kentucky on Friday night. You know, when we're planning to be out and about on the town. No, the game isn't in Lexington but I have a feeling our cheering won't be welcome in Wildcat Land. Oh well. Go Bucks! Don't screw up John's bracket!

I can't wait to report back on our findings.

Hair Affair

I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles to see read all about my hair re-do. Luckily, it went fine. I didn't end up having to pay again, although that part of it was kind of awkward. Normally, she says thanks and goodbye at the counter after telling me how much I owe. This time, she said it by the chair and then walked semi-with me towards the counter. I slowly put my coat on to see if she would say anything else but she didn't. So I just left. No one called me to say I had committed some sort of hair misdemeanor by skipping out on the bill so I think I'm in the clear. And, I REALLY like the color now. I already loved the cut so she totally redeemed herself. I think it's only fair I give her another shot. She did fix it after all.

Sorry for the strange pictures. I took them myself, if you couldn't tell!

Here is the first attempt at color

Blonde again!

Much better!

Adventures!

This past weekend John and I tried two new places and they were both winners! I love researching new and fun places to go, restaurants to try, plays to see, etc. and so on. It keeps life interesting and even though we've lived in the area for 5 1/2 years, we haven't really ventured out to a lot of the places on my to be seen and done list. Hello -- See the title of this blog. Duh!

We were total fat kids and tried Smashburger on Saturday. We like Five Guys a lot. We disliked EO Burgers a lot. This Smashburger location has been around for a year, I think. It was super good! I got the Classic Smashburger and we split the Smashfries which were seasoned with rosemary, oregano and something else I can't remember. They were tasty and next time we'll try the sweet potato version. YUM! Can't beat dinner for less than $15. And we were out of there in about 30 minutes. We are fast eaters. :)

After a trip to my least favorite store (Lowe's) I was rewarded by trying a new wine bar/shop just a couple miles from our house, Bella Vino. This was a total winner too! They were tasting South American wines that night, John's favorite wine region. The atmosphere was cozy and the proprietors were so very knowledgeable. We did our tasting and took a bottle of verdejo for the road. Not actually on the road, mind you. Just a reminder, don't drink and drive. We'll definitely be back here in the future!

Oh yeah! I just remembered something else new that I did with a friend this weekend. John was not invited because it was a.....wait for it.......... pole class! That's right, like a stripper. Only I didn't take off a single piece of clothing. This was at a place called Femme Fatale Fitness. Thanks to a Living Social deal we got a "Teaser" class which taught a short burlesque dance routine, two different spins on the pole, and then we swung around on silks. CRAZY! The dance routine was simple but fun. Nothing I couldn't handle. My main concern with this class was making a fool of myself. Luckily, there were close to 20 women there all probably thinking the same thing. All ages, all shapes and sizes. After the dance, we hit the pole. Literally, for me, because I have a gigantic bruise on my calf from a fireman's spin gone awry. Swinging around a pole is hard, yo. More power to all you strippers out there. You earn every dollar in those g-strings, ladies. After the pole was my favorite part, silks! I had no idea these were called silks. These were really hard too. In one move, we were suppose to flip our legs up in a V upside-down. This will be easy, I thought. WRONG! Memories of not being able to flip over the rings on the swingset in my backyard for years came screaming back to me. Cue the "making a fool of yourself" music now please. Other moves I performed much better. I present, exhibits A and B:

This is me doing the splits with the silks. I thought my arms were getting more toned but let me tell you, they're nowhere near where they could be. I learned this on Friday because you pull yourself up out of the split by the silks. OUCH! My arms still hurt 2 days later. Actually, you're also supposed to push up with your legs to take some of the burden off your arms. I forgot this key element.

In this move, my foot is all wrapped in the silk as I lean forward. I rocked this one. Also, I look way skinny in this picture. I don't care if you don't think so because I know I'm right.

We have one more class to attend and that one is a class where you also get to drink wine. My kind of exercise. I didn't really break a sweat but like I said, I was way sore. More strength than cardio here

So what did you do this weekend? Something fun I hope. As for me, I'm just swinging on through to the next adventure!