I'm Sewing!!

My first pillowcase dress!

And..... the back.

I find that What About Bob? quotes work for many things in my life. Like, with sewing. Thanks to Lorraine, my mother-in-law, who generously gave me her sewing machine, I've been taking a couple sewing lessons at JoAnn Fabrics. And the first time I put two pieces of fabric together and successfully put them through the machine and sewed them together, I had a hard time keeping my giggles to myself during the class, because all I could think of was the scene in What About Bob? where he tries sailing- "I sail! I'm sailing!!" As he is strapped to the mast of the boat... Don't know what I mean, here's a clip. And for the love of Mike, please don't tell me you've never seen the movie. It's classic.

Anyways, that is EXACTLY what I thought when I first started sewing. I'M SEWING! Turns out, I have to do more than just strap myself to the sewing machine. Sewing, I have learned, is HARD! Ginny, if you are reading this, I had flashbacks to the time we took tap dancing in college together and everyone in the class had experience except us and the teacher kept having to stop class and explain things to us. Both classes I felt like I stepped into an Advanced Physics class or something, instead of sewing. And I sucked at physics in school. Reading a pattern, figuring out how something is constructed, is a whole new way of thinking. I made some pretty bad mistakes. Like, my first class was making a bag. I accidentally sewed the top closed and left the bottom open. In case you are wondering, yes, yes it is embarrassing to ask for help with that! The second class was making a child's pillowcase dress. Oh Em Gee. It took me 3 solid hours, and I had to start over twice. I think next time, I'm definitely bringing a flask of something with me to get me through the stress. It was so worth it though. To bring home something Sadie could wear, completely homemade. And she loved it! (I may have started crying if she did her toddler "I don't like it!") I am hoping that with experience and a little alcohol, I can overcome the stress and really start to understand patterns and construction..... and enjoy it. :) In the end, it was a triumphant feeling to show that cloth who's boss and, after trial and error(s), actually do it!

My "Hipster Bag". After using a seam ripper to open up the top,

and then close the bottom up. :)

Lazarus Plants

My official Bamato Picker. Do NOT try to pick these yourself. Someone may have a meltdown.

They are coming back to life! I guess that is what they needed- SUN. My cherry tomatoes, after a solid month or more of green fruit, is finally ripening. Mmm.... fresh tomatoes are the bomb. Sadie is loving picking all the "bamatoes", it's her official job. The basil is finally growing and I just started being able to pick it again last night. The parsley is doing so much better, much greener and really big now. Also, the pumpkin plants I transplanted, I honestly thought I had killed the heck out of, they were so wilted- miraculously are popping back up now and turning a lovely green. So, it's working! I love gardening, I can't wait for the day I can really set up a great veggie/herb garden. For now, this is great, thank you life giving sun!

The nasturtiums budding and blooming.

First cherry tomato of the season!

My love. Basil. Green and thriving.

D-d-d-d-Dora!

A present from Auntie Kelley to my Dora-obsessed tot! She loves it, thanks "Cahkey"! And thanks, wonderful Etsy!

Makes Me Melt

A short photo essay on the beauty of innocence, simple love and best girlfriends. Makes me smile and remember it from my own childhood. Thanks to a friend who recently sent these to me.

Wordless Wednesday: Annual Girls Nite Out!

The Salve Crew's Annual Girls Night! Love these gals. It's hard to believe we've known each other 15 years. Man, that makes me feel old!

Beach Bound

We are so lucky to live here. I've been here for awhile but I don't take it for granted and I hope I'll always appreciate the beauty and diversity of environments we have in Rhode Island. Beach, farms, great hiking, cities, towns. It's a small state, but one that is hard to top, in my humble opinion. As the weather has been so hot lately, we've been beachin' it as much as possible. Here are some recent videos and pics of our beach excursions.

Collin and Sadie's rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle". Adorable!

Another sweet beach video!

Yoga poses? Sand crabs? Not sure, but they weren't having a blast!

I just love this pic, very candid and captures that moment of buddies having fun so nicely!

Practicing swimming!

No beach trip would be complete without a Del's!

Aww, sharing so nicely.

An approaching storm that skirted the entire beach, but never a drop of rain fell on us. Seeing as how much preparation it takes to get toddlers to the beach, not one of us left. Even after seeing the lightening. And good thing, the sun came out as soon as it passed!

If you know Sadie, you know she never takes naps! So you KNOW the beach must wear this energizer bunny out!

Garden Transplant

We've had a bit of a setback in the gardening department. As it turns out, I probably should have done a bit of research before just haphazardly growing whatever I wanted in the above ground boxes that were here at this apartment. I guess..... the plants I chose need..... sun. Who knew?? They just weren't getting enough. "Sun Dappled" wasn't cutting it and my little plant babies weren't going to make it. So I worked until dark last night performing award winning plant surgery and now all the plants are in individual containers around the yard in the sunniest spots. I hope this works. Every day I would sit and stare at my tiny basil plants, like waiting for water to boil. I kind of felt like Gollum and his "precious". Please sun, do your magic! I've added one other plant because I was inspired by my friend, Elaine. She has a wonderful garden (grrr....) and was sweet enough to give us a whole bag of delicious greens- kale, swiss chard, arugula, dill, oregano and..... nasturtiums. I had never heard of this beautiful, edible flower. It's totally spoiled me. I need these gorgeous things in my salad now. So Sadie and I took a trip to a local nursery and bought some. Apparently these things actually grow best with a little neglect. Wow, it's a like a match made in heaven for me!

Fresh from the ground salad with beautiful Nasturtium flowers. Yummy! We added sliced strawberries, toasted walnuts, a tomato from the garden (previously a container plant, so it grew), and grilled chicken. Delish!

During my resent google research on gardens (what the hell did I do before google), I found out that the spot I have for gardening is probably ideal for lettuces, arugula, swiss chard, endive, even beets and peas. So maybe next year it will just be a place for greens. Live and learn. A friend of mine has a local CSA at an organic farm on the island and had gone on vacation and let us pick up her weekly veggie share. In it had bok choy, swiss chard, kale, beets, salad greens, garlic and snap peas. Wow, it convinced us to get our own CSA next year. I never had ANY of those greens before and they are delicious. Having something like that makes you eat not only healthier but also completely broadens your food scope. Something we desperately need! We live in Food Rut City. Once again..... next year!

Come on, sun, revive my preciousess (what is the plural of precious?)!

Giggles

You know those days when everything goes wrong, every little thing stresses you out and you just basically want to cry? Well, I was having one of those days as I was racing to Providence for an appointment when I looked over and saw this car:

Of course in my frazzled state I immediately thought I was witnessing some terrible crime and my heart jumped, but luckily before I called 911, my brain kicked in and I realized that it was not a partially severed hand but a very eye-catching joke. I just laughed and laughed.... and all of a sudden I didn't feel near as stressed out anymore! So I thought I'd pass it on to give you all a little giggle. I did happen to notice other people in the cars around me pointing and laughing as well. I was very pleased when I happened to be stopped behind the girl at a red light and was able to take a picture. Your welcome. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Besties

Girlfriends. Same swim suit, sitting in the same chair, eating their sandwiches and juice boxes at the beach together. Doesn't get much better than this.

Am I Dreaming???

What is this, you ask? A completed potty chart!!!! I think this time it has finally clicked and we are on our way to being potty trained! Can I hear a big WOO-HOO??!! What did it take? Underwear and lots of Clorox wipes. She has to be potty trained by the end of August to go to preschool, so the pressure was on. And I always did work better under pressure! We started sending her to school in underwear and she did very well there. Week 2 and no accidents at school yet. We also try to keep her in underwear as much as possible at home and when we are out. And while yes, we do have accidents, she makes it to the potty much more than when she doesn't. It definitely has clicked. She isn't loving the potty yet, but she is very proud of herself and she DOES love her Dora underwear! Yay Sadie!! So proud of you!! (PS. I highly recommend this potty chart because stickers are given for pulling down their pants, sitting, flushing, washing hands, as well as actually using the toilet. So for us, where nothin' was comin' out for awhile, she would at least feel good about getting some rewards for just trying. Thank you, Amazon, once again. )

Summer Eats

Caprese Salad, complete with a drizzle of balsamic reduction, 'cuz I fancy like that.

One of my absolute favorite things to eat in the warm summer months is fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato. In a panini, in a wrap, or just on a plate drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. It's that super simple dish where the flavors combine perfectly. So at a 4th of July bbq we went to, that is just what I brought. With fresh basil from the garden! Ok, so technically, the plant already had leaves when I planted it and I really just used those already grown for me.... but still, it totally counts!

An avid gardening enthusiast, Sadie is triumphant over those stubborn weeds. We both have gloves, kneeling pads, and tools. She loved it!

After some backbreaking weeding (the weeds seemed to win....) and some great help from Sadie, we finally have a little garden going. I've learned about potting soils, I've bought compost. I've learned that both are really freakin' heavy. I skip out to water my little lovelies every morning, I like to visit them. That being said, it's pretty small. We have very little sunlight back here so I just planted a few things to see if anything would even grow.

We are growing basil, parsley, eggplant, cherry tomatoes and our landlord gave us pumpkin greens to plant. I wonder if that will actually grow?! Also, a few geraniums for Sadie. I've been told they are super easy to keep alive. Which is good, because in the past I've not had much of a green thumb. Let's hope the days of my dried up, petrified office plant where one touch sends a flurry of brown leaf bits to the ground, are over.

I'm also growing a container of the larger tomatoes in another sunnier part of the backyard. So far this is what we have. Tomato mozzarella goodness, here I come!