Productivity Tuesday

My mom calls Tuesdays "Terrible Tuesday" because she doesn't exactly like the woman she works with on Tuesdays. My friend Debbie calls Tuesdays "Terrific Tuesdays" because she gets to babysit her twin grandsons, how fun. And when I was little my dad used to call Tuesdays "Taco Tuesday" because we always seemed to eat tacos on Tuesday and then he would go to EMT class and we would stay home watching "Rescue 911", does anyone else remember how great that show was? Well, now Tuesday is my day off from school and... school. No classes, and no practicum work at the elementary school either. So I have begun calling Tuesdays; "Productivity Tuesday", it doesn't have the same ring, I'll work on the name.

Edit: Jaimie suggested I call them "Get it Together Tuesday", I think I'll stick with that name. Thanks Jaimie!

My goal on Tuesdays is to get loads of school work done as well as have some fun sewing. Pretty hard to get the school work done when your desk looks like this though: There is a textbook in there somewhere....and I did get some school work done. But I did a lot more sewing. Also Charlie is visiting his Mom and Dad tonight so I didn't have to worry about making him diner, so I sewed to my hearts content, until about 5 minutes ago (although, when do I ever make Charlie diner anyways?) I don't have much time during the week to do more sewing so I am saving my 2 finished products for the Friday Sew-N-Tell but here is a little peak at one thing that I just whipped up today and think is so cute!
Oh I love it, check back on Friday for more pictures and my two finished products!

Now I am going to watch TV that Charlie would not let me watch and probably eat cereal for diner.

See you all Friday :)

Lauren.

Inspiration/ Things I Want To Make

This post is mostly for my own benefit, because I find ideas online and then forget what they are or save a picture and then have no way of knowing who to give credit to for the idea. But if you like sewing and crafting and anything else I find a post here all the power to ya.

- Hand embroidered dish towels using any of the free patterns found here

-More aprons like these ones that I found online at the Flickr page called Tie One On. They are all amazing.

-Make a cool purse like the one from the Sew-n-Tell made by Vintage Fern.

-Reusable sandwich bags/just regular bags for my lunch stuff, since I don't eat sandwiches very often, and when I do they are mostly Fluff, and I like the environment, but not enough to scrub Fluff remains off of a reusable sandwich wrap. (Sorry Mother Earth.)

-An advent calendar. Like the one I saw in this book, but it was too expensive to buy, now I will just have to make up the pattern myself, because who am I kidding, was I really going to follow the pattern anyways?

-A Christmas Wall hanging from all those fat quarters I bought on a whim in North Carolina and now have no idea what to make.

-A cosmetics case from cool fabric, like the kind for making outdoor table cloths, from my Amy Butler pattern.

-Once long long ago I made soap from a kit, it was so fun, I want to do it again. Maybe I could convince my Mum to help me do it at her house. Mumma, will you make soap with me? I want it to smell like lavender or lemons.

Okay now I am getting carried away searching the web for the perfect soap recipes and dreaming about making all the Christmas presents I give out this year. I've been carried away by the infamous Goggle searching monster and Charles will be home from work any second and I have done nothing since I got out of class. (It's Sunday, I know, don't ask.)

Hope you enjoy my crazy ideas

Lauren!

Half Marathon Success

Well folks, today I ran 13.1 miles in the Apple Fest Half Marathon in Hollis, New Hampshire and I lived to tell about it. As some of you may know I have been training for this race, in preparation for another half in December. Anyways, the day rapidly came and thus Charlie and I found ourselves getting up at 5:53 on a Saturday to drive to Nashua to meet Charlie's dad and proceed on to Hollis. Not much interesting to report about the race except that it was more hill filled than I had expected and the weather was gorgeous, and also I made a friend named Kristina along the way. She forced me to keep up with her at one point, and told me I could break 2 hours and pushed me so hard I ended up beating her by one minute. Thanks for the help Kristina. I just love meeting people at races who are very nice, caring souls. I wish we could be friends, if only she didn't live so far away.

Anyways, let's get down to what you people really care about; the results. Charlie got 6th place with a time of 1:14:36. Yeah Charlie, I am so proud. I got 477th place with a time of 2:00:25. Which is a much better time than I was hoping for, and considering all the hills. I am very proud of myself. I would also like to mention that Lennart Svenson of somewhere not in America, beat me by 10 seconds, did I mention he is 70. Well done Lennart, I applaud you. John (Charlie's dad) finished with a time of 2:18:38. He did very well, but I think he wanted to do better. I think we both will have an easier race in Vegas, there are no hills there!!!!!!! I applaud everyone who ran this race, it was very hard. And thanks to the man playing the bag piles at mile 8, is that something I should expect at all the half matathons I run, I hope so. And I also want to thank the people at the mile 6 water station who dressed up like Harry Potter characters, you were awesome. And a special thanks to Hermoine who gave me my water.

My Dad and Mary Lou came to the race and they cheered me on in 2 spots, 2! I couldn't help but smile, even though I wanted to secretly cry.

Here are some of the pictures they took. This is mile 11. Mary Lou yelled and I smiled, and tried to keep smiling until they couldn't see my face anymore.

Here is me 2 seconds after the first picture was taken, still faking the smile. Or maybe it was real smile at this point, my Dad probably yelled something inappropriate or inspirational, but most likely the first option.
This is at about 13 miles, which means there is only .1 miles after that. Once Charlie cheered for me I started running faster, then I slowed down when I thought they couldn't see me anymore, then when I saw the clock and realized I could finish in 2 hours and a few seconds I ran really hard. Then I crossed the finish line I wanted to cry, but didn't, because they gave me a medal that is also a bottle opener, who could cry with that around their neck? Not me, no way.

Here is John, almost done. He was so in the zone he didn't even realize I was cheering for him. We don't have any picture of Charlie running because he is so fast.
Here is us at the finish waiting in line to get food. Boy was the food good; cider, bagels, cookies, cheese slices, and pretzels. Yum.
Now for the best part. We waited around for the prizes because Charlie knew he would win something. He got 2nd in his age division and won a Pie! Then I won a basket of apples (kind of). Here's the real story: A bunch of people who would have won prizes had they stuck around, well, didn't stick around so their were extras. The announcer decided to pick random numbers and see who had a bib number closest to it, but I didn't win that way. Then he randomly decided that people who were from New Jersey were more deserving than the rest of us and he gave a bunch of pies to then. I have always personally been under the impression that people from New Jersey were kind of obnoxious and sleazy, but now I am being xenophobic. I obviously didn't win the apples that way, since I hate NJ and am proud to be a New Hampshire girl. (no offense to anyone from New Jersey.) Next, he decided people who had a birthday that day deserved a pie, which I can understand. Then people who went to Boston College or BU deserved a pie. In this case I am under the impression that if you went to BC or BU you have enough money to buy a pie when you want one and don't need one given to you, but now I am just being prejudice against rich people. At this point I was getting annoyed at the announcer and thinking about leaving. Then he started giving away the left over apple baskets, so I stayed. After picking extremely random reason to give people prizes, like because his mom went to the same college as a girl wearing that college sweatshirt, he finally said "Anyone who graduated from UNH can have an apple basket." Only 1 person went up so I followed and said, "I am a graduate student at UNH, does that count?" and he said; "That's even better, take a basket." Then I had an apple basket and I mysteriously liked the announcer again. Until I realized that I had to carry a 10 pound apple basket over a mile back to the car with my sore legs. But I did it, and the apple basket make it home:
I have class tomorrow and I am planning on wearing my medal, and probably sweatpants.

Have a great night everyone!

Lauren (half marathon finisher)

Friday Sew-n-Tell Part Deux

Is it Friday again already!? Time flies. For the Friday Sew-n-Tell I made a shirt. Well...I didn't make a shirt, I finished it. This seems like a bit of a cop out considering the leader of the Sew-n-Tell, Amy, finished a whole quilt top. But I think this counts, the shirt has been sitting in my sewing basket for 3 months and hasn't gotten done until I realized two things today. 1. It is Friday and I want something for the Sew-n-Tell and 2. I have nothing to wear to school today! So I quickly stitched the last few stitches this morning and now I am ready to head to school! Hurray. It is a pattern I have had for a long time for a pajama set, and I just made the top, and wear it like it isn't PJ's. It is made out of white fabric with yellow flowers on it that I got at Marden's. Anyone who lives in or near Maine should start fabric shopping at Marden's I highly recommend it. Here is my complete outfit. Even though it is casual Friday at school they still kind of frown upon people wearing only pajama top like shirts to work with the children. (Sorry for the quality of the photos, I couldn't find the camera so these shots from my computer camera will have to do.)
Also, last night I got a little crazy watching Project Runway and decided to trim up my bangs. All I have to say about that is "oops". Maybe I should wait until I can see my experienced hair dresser again, and not take a pair of embroidery scissors to my hair at 11 o clock at night!

Off to work, except I am not getting paid!

Enjoy the day!

Lauren

Hello Autumn!

On Sunday I was supposed to have a class, I know class on SUNDAY?!?!? But like I said, "supposed to". So imagine my surprise and glee when I found out class was canceled, and I had a whole day to myself to do whatever I wanted (because I wasn't planning on having that day, so all of my school work was done.) Hurray! I slept in- well, if you call sleeping until 8 sleeping in. Then went fabric shopping, hurray, except I didn't find what I was looking for, bummer. Did I mention that the weather on Sunday was beautiful! Then I went to Jaclyn's room house and we went for a nature walk, except before we go into nature I mentioned that I wanted to pick a pumpkin and had seen a place the day before where you could Pick Your Own (PYO) pumpkin. We promptly turned around and walked back to the room house and called Kirsten to force her to get out of the house and go with us.

We went to Hickory Hill Farm. I didn't know that was the name, we just followed the signs with pumpkins on them until we got there. It is in Dover, Dover Point to be exact.

As it turns out Hickory Hill Farm is pretty much just a tiny pumpkin patch with two sets of clippers in a basket and a cart you can push your pumpkin back to the table with the scale on it, and you pay 50 cents a pound. And the family that owns the patch hang out in the Autumn air with their baby and keep their money in a metal box and do all their math on a tiny calculator. All very cute and rustic. Here is the patch, small but oh so cute. I picked two pumpkins, Jaclyn picked about 5 but only took one home, and Kirsten picked two. Don't they look excited?

Doing all this fun fall stuff makes me more accepting of the fact that summer is over. In fact I love running in the fall air, it's much more refreshing than the humid air of summer time. I am trying to get used to wearing pants though.

So I am saying Hello to Fall! Welcome to New England Fall, don't let winter come too soon!

K Thanks,

Lauren

Donuts, Goats and Cider

Yesterday Charlie and I went to one of our favorite places; Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, MA.They sell freshly made cider donuts as well as fresh apple cider. And boy oh boy are they good.

Don't they look so yummy? My mouth is watering just thinking about them. The coolest part is that they have the machine that makes the donuts behind a window so you can watch the whole process. This is where the machine drops a donut sized blob onto a conveyor belt:
Then the conveyor belt brings the blobs through hot hot oil to cook them.

And then the conveyor belt brings the donuts out of the oil and this nice man flips them into a huge pan of cinnamon and sugar and then puts them out for us to eat. And when you get them they are still hot and oh so delicious.
It is a very pretty place, I would recommend going to anyone who lives close by. And the best part about the trip was that I found a new best friend:
Isn't he a cutie? I think he thought I was going to feed him my cider donuts but he was mistaken, I just wanted to pet him.

This post really makes me want a goat, or at least another donut.

Enjoy the day!

Lauren

Friday Sew-n-Tell

So one of the blogs I like to read does this cool thing every Friday called a Sew-n-Tell where people post about sewing projects they have maybe been putting off and then actually got around to doing in order to post by Friday. I think my apron qualifies, so I linked my blog on her blog and now I am linking her blog on my blog (confusing I know), all in the name of sharing good ideas and getting inspiration! Thanks to Amy and if you want to check it out go to her blog and you can see all the people who have posted their great projects! Here's another picture of my apron. If you like what you see there are more photos in my last post, as well as a tutorial on how to make you own; Check it out!
I have started wearing my glasses, please don't make fun. I'm not as nerdy as I look (or act).

Have a good day everyone!

Lauren!

Tutorial: Making an Apron From a Cloth Napkin

Well I am a few days late on my promise but here is the Tutorial on making a cloth napkin into an apron. I have googled "cloth napkin apron" and found a few results but none are the same type as the one I made, so as far as I know this is an original "pattern". Some of the other patterns were really cool: one was from a dollar store website, another made from two fabric napkins, and here are some aprons I found that are really inspiring.

Materials Needed For Lauren's Cloth Napkin Apron:

1 Cloth Napkin ( I found mine at Reny's for 99 cents.)

1 Cloth dish rag. (this is optional, but it's a great addition, you'll see. I also got this at Reny's for 99 cents.)

3/4 of a yard of matching fabric cut into 5 strips 4 inches in width. (I got my fabric at a specialty store for like $8 a yard, I'm kind of silly that way.)
1. Take 3 strips and sew them into a long strip. This will make the "flounce". Depending on how frilly you want the apron to look you can cut the strips down a little. For a really frilly flounce use 3 whole strips, for a sort of frilly one use a little more than 2 strips, you decide. I used 2 and a half on mine.

2. Sew a hem stitch down one whole side of the long strip:

3. Adjust the setting on the machine to make a large/long stitch about 1/4-1/2 inch from the edge of the fabric. Do so down the entire other length of the strip. Be sure to leave long thread on the ends.

- So just to check at this stage you have a long strip made up of 3 (or 2.5) strips with one length that has been hemmed and on the other long side a large stitch.
4. Take hold of the long edges of the large stitched side and pull. Pull the thread, but don't break it. Pulling the thread will make the fabric bunch up, like so:

5. Now undo the seam from around the entire cloth napkin and iron it down, this gives you more fabric to work with, and gets that pesky fold out of the way. Next mark and cut a rounded edge on the 2 bottom corners of the cloth napkin. I used a plate, I am sure there is some scientific way of doing this, but a plate and a sharpie work great for me.

6. Take the bunched up "flounce" and pin it to three edges of the napkin. This takes some time and requires a lot of pins. Be liberal with the pins. Sew the flounce to the napkin. Be sure you pin and sew the flounce around the 2 rounded edges. I don't have a good picture of that stage, sorry. But this picture shows the bunch flounce pinned to the napkin:

7. Take the dish rag, if you want to include it, and I made a box pleat to make it smaller. I sewed the box pleat on both the top and bottom. Then pin the rag where you want it to go at the top of the apron and sew it in place.
9. Now sew the remaining two strips together, short side together to make a long strip. Take the strip and pin it with the middle seam at about the middle of the top of the apron. Then sew. (See how the seam of the strip is kind of in the middle of the apron? That's what I mean...This leaves a long portion of the strip hanging off on both sides.)
10. Iron over the two edges of the long excess (these will be the ties.) On the top of the strip that is sewn to the apron fold over the top edge.

11. Fold over the two ends, like this:

12. Now fold the strips in half and pin them (seriously, you need to pin) and then sew. You'll need to fold and sew the strip in half over the apron portion as well, just fold it in half and then pin and sew, so you can do all the sewing from one edge to the other.
And then you're done. Tie the apron around your waist and wait for your boyfriend to get home and make diner while you post about how to make an apron on your blog. TA DA:
I find that when I am cooking (ha) more like baking (if that) I don't want to wipe my hand on the apron, so I have to keep finding the dish cloth. Now, problem solved, add a dish rag to a apron and you'll be able to wipe your hands at any moment. I thought that the dish rag was kind of drab compared to the rest of the pretty pretty apron, so I added a heart out of the pretty flounce left overs.

I hope this tutorial makes sense, if you are confused post a confusion comment or email me. If you make the apron following this pattern please give credit where credit is due, and post a link or send me a picture of your creations!

Happy Sewing!

Lauren

Updates on Life

I have been asked to post on my blog. I must say that has never happened to me, I am flattered, thanks Mom, (heehee). 

It has been quite a while so I have decided to do another post about the highlights of my life as of recently. 

1. School has started. It's not that awful. Only 3 classes, and surprise surprise I actually like the topics! Audiology, A Course about working in Education with people with Exceptionalities, and Dysphagia (that means swallowing disorder). I think they will be a lot of work, but at least I am interested in the subjects, so far. These are my friends on the first day of school, Jaclyn seems to share my sentiments, Kirsten on the other hand looks quite glum, I hope her mood improves. 

2. I have been offered money for a grant I applied for. Real crisp money. And it all goes to my parents. Boo Hoo. Anyways I will be working with 7 of my other classmates and learning all about students who use AAC (Augmentative, Alternative means of Communicating) and how to implement ways for them to access these alternative means and also how to make sure these students are included in the general curriculum. I think it will be fun, and also give me more knowledge about a topic that not very many SLP's know much about.

3. I have also started doing a clinical rotation at a school. This is also fun. Much less work than summer clinic, so far at least, I think I just jinxed myself, we shall see.

4. I went to North Carolina and it was fabulous! Lorelei and  I had so much fun. We went to Wilmington, NC and went to the beach twice and ate a lot of yummy food, and went swimming and just got to hang out. Here's us after an expensive dinner and delicious ice cream!

Oh also we took a Ferry to the Outer Banks and saw this cool lighthouse: 

On the ferry ride back we saw wild horses, they lived on an island so I didn't have to scream and run away from them. But the best part of the trip back was when we saw dolphins! Yippie, Dolphins. When we got back I looked at the pictures and realized that a lot of the pictures were of just ocean water where the dolphins used to be. So this picture is the best one I got. I was so glad to see Lorelei. I kind of forgot how much I miss her since we were apart for so long. Seeing her also made me realize that we really are best of friends. Who else would go on vacation with you and actually want to go to quilt stores? 3 of them??! Only your best friend that's who. Lorelei bought fabric to make three quilts! I felt a little out of my league next to her, with all her pattern following, fabric buying and talk about sergers etc.  I ended up buying a lot of fat quarters. I am unable to resist fat quarters. This is all fun and games until you get home and realize you don't really have a plan as to what to do with them. But aren't they all so pretty! The bottom ones are for a Christmas themed something. I am think maybe a Christmas wall hanging. The one at the bottom and all the way to the right is so cute! It has little Santa's flying sleighs! So Adorable! And on the plane ride home I planned out a quilt I am going to make from the top colors. They are all so cool, they have bright flowers and peacocks on them. I realize that soon my house will be filling with quilts and i should probably start making some for other people, but I am not ready yet, this one is too cute to even think about giving away. You may also see an Amy Butler print on the left, I plan on making another fat quarter purse out of it. And under all my fat quarters is an Amy Butler pattern to make a clutch, coin purse and cosmetics bag. As soon as I get some free time I will start making those. Anyways I had a great time in North Carolina, the only problem is that now I miss Lorelei more than I did before. 

5. The half marathon is quickly approaching. I have run 11 miles as my highest so far, and I might have actually experienced "Runners High", although I am not sure, maybe I just want to so I thought I was but I wasn't. Who knows, well I suppose I will find out this week when I run 12 miles. 

6. I saw the space shuttle fly across the sky tonight! It was sooooo cool, and bright and fast. The only problem was that our neighbors were on the balcony as well, smoking, eww. And so they heard the commotion and asked where the shuttle was and I was nice enough to tell them and then they were nice enough to talk to us about parking issues and other stuff in the cold outdoors for 5 minutes until I just decided to leave without saying goodbye and leave poor Charles high and dry listening to our neighbors talk. 

7. I have been offered a job as a diving coach for Portsmouth High School. I have some thinking to do, more about my decision later. 

8. Charlie is applying to grad schools, and I told him I would move to where ever he gets in. I realized this might have been a little premature considering he doesn't know where he wants to go/where he'll get in, so I could be moving to Colorado (yippie) or Indiana (eww). I suppose I will stick with him no matter what, because I love him. I just hope we don't have to move to West Virginia. 

These are the big happenings in the life of me.  I hope this satisfies every one's desire to have something new to read here, at least until I get around to some of the many projects that are building up around here. Tune in towards the end of the week for a tutorial about how to make a cloth napkin into an apron, a super cute pattern invented by ME.

Goodnight everyone!

Lauren 

I Have No Right To Complain

about school starting. I just realized this. I went to school yesterday for a class at 8:40 am, of course being me that means I left the house at 7:50 to drive five miles and walk for 4 minutes....I like to be early and get a good seat. Anyways I had that class and then had approximately 8 hours to wait until my next one. My plan for later in the semester is to get ever single speck if school work done in these 8 hours. However, it was the first day so there isn't a whole lot to do, except read chapter one of the text book, but who does that anyways. Also consider 1. there is no school next Monday due to Labor day so I don't have this class again for another 2 weeks and 2. I ordered my books online and they aren't here yet, can't read 'em if you don't have 'em! So my 8 hours of productivity went something like this: went to bookstore with friends, ran into my brother! (SIDETRACK: my brother is now going to school with me! How exciting! We will be going to the same school for the first time since I graduated from High School. Anyways I helped him move in to his dorm on Sunday, and he doesn't have a cell phone so I didn't think I would see him but I did!) So back to my day, saw brother, ate lunch with friends and brother, showed brother where his next class was, went to the prep room and then we decided we needed to go shopping, went to Christmas Tree store and bought plates for our home (since Mr. Charles broke one, ooops), went to other stores, went back to school, then decided that we needed to go downtown and have a drink, went to more stores and feasted on samples, then realized I didn't want to buy anything but felt bad about all the free sampling so I pretended to have an emergency and left my unsuspecting friends to make a purchase, haha, then went to friends apartment on campus and microwaved my dinner all while complaining about the lateness of our next class, then finally dragged ourselves to said class, and low and behold I actually learned something on the first day and was interested (almost) the whole time. So my day of shopping, drinking and general gossiping mixed with paying attention in class a few times is my number one reason why I should not complain about school starting.

My second reason for not complaining is that I have today off. I am pretty sure you can find me at noon at the Durham Pool. Hard day? I think not. I might even read Chapter One, if my books come.

Lastly, I have great news, for me, not you. My bestest friend Lorelei bought me a plane ticket to go visit her for a long weekend in North Carolina! I leave on Thursday, and come home Monday night. That means we have 4 1/2 whole days together to have loads of fun and go to the beach and spend time together, because it has been (sadly) over a year since we last saw each other. I am so excited I can barely contain myself. 

I realize this post will be greeted by my friends with disdain because many of them begin their off campus practicums today, or other friends who have started school full swing, or my mom who worked her first summer in 3 years, but I wanted to get myself to realize that it's not all bad and I should try to stop complaining about the summer being over and actually enjoy the last bit!

Lauren