Dang I'm old. . .

. . . or not, depending on how you look at it. I saw this car this week and it made me feel a bit better about my upcoming birthday. (Not that I'm feeling bad, mind you. I'm walking on clouds lately.) But then I got this birthday package in the mail from my loopy, soon-to-be stepdad Dan and he brought me right back down to earth and reminded me that I'm no spring chicken. . .

I started the day off by getting up early and making breakfast, something I never do anymore. I found this pancake mix months ago that has those big fat chocolate chips with little chunks of bacon inside. CRAZY amounts of delicious. (Those of you that haven't tried this combo are just going to have to trust me. For those of you that don't eat bacon, I'm truly sorry for your loss.)

After we downed those, I felt like a beached whale so it was off to the gym to run at lunchtime. Two miles + one mile walking + 30 minutes on the stair stepper and I was feeling right again. Even Scott gave running a go yesterday. After that we went downtown and picked up our marriage license. Which is making it all feel really real. Which it should because it's only three weeks from today. And then we went to the Mac store and both got new iPhones. Brilliant. How have I lived without the new one for these last few months??? And then, in torrential downpours, we made our way back out to the islands and Scott took me to dinner at this lovely little restaurant where we proceded to stuff ourselves. Again. Delicious. And wonderful. A really over the top happy kind of day.

I love birthdays.

xoxoxoxoxox

Progress

I don't have much to report today except this -

About a month ago, after eating a DELICIOUS little cheeseburger and fries at Five Guys (our fave!) I felt really mentally gross and realized that with the wedding right around the corner, I really needed to step it up. As we pulled out of the parking lot and swearing to go to the gym the next day, I decided that I was going to go six days a week until the week of the wedding. (As soon as my out-of-town peeps start arriving, I'm laying off until after the honeymoon when I'll need to start it up again to make up for the damage I plan on doing at the beach.) So I've stuck to it. Those of you that know and love me know that when I really make up my Leo mind about something I'm very bullheaded and will stick to it. I did miss a few days when I had to go to NC and Atlanta last week but I've made up for it this week by going all seven days.

AND

I took my first yoga class yesterday. Muscles are hurting that I didn't know I had. But in a good way.

AND

Today after I did 30 minutes on the stair stepper thing, I ran two miles. I did break it up with some walking bits but two miles of running is two miles of running. I haven't run in a very long time and it felt incredible. And I don't know if it's the excitement of the wedding or if it's the endorphins pumping through my bloodstream from all of the exercise but I feel invincible lately. Yay! Which is good because I'm really jonesing for some Cheetos puffs. Maybe after September 12th. . .

xoxoxo

p.s. Awesome (FREE!) graphic above found here.

In the nick of time - finish 12

I did it! I finished two quilts in less than a month!! I know that they're small quilts, but I'm surprised at how long it takes to finish one. And I've finished three so far this year! WOOT! This was the quilt I made for Camp Happy Days - my first quilt made purely for donation, for someone I'll never know. It's going to take a special kid to love this one because there is some crazy stuff going on with that fabric. I love it though. After I finished the top, I hung it up in the bedroom to look at it for a day (a present I give myself after finishing a top) and I was feeling lots of love for it and wasn't entirely sure I wanted it out of my house. . . But it's for a good cause and hopefully it'll give love and warmth to someone that needs it. PLUS I used up most of my scraps of that fabric so now I've made room for more. . .

I used a technique that I found on another blog called organic line quilting. Very easy but it took forever. I set up little guidelines to keep myself somewhat straight but the waviness of the lines was kind of the point. Thank goodness for marathon runs of Say Yes to the Dress on TLC. I've gotten sucked in, especially the new Atlanta series.

And last night at quilt guild they had the annual silent auction. I was able to pick up a 36X40 completed quilt top made out of Tula Pink's Neptune. (I tried to find a link but am having a hard time because that fabric line has been discontinued.) It was a collection I loved but haven't been able to get my hands on much of it until I happened across this happy little ziploc bag of fabric. I feel a bit like the contestants on Top Chef when they've been blindfolded and have to finish someone else's recipe but this shouldn't be too difficult. The top is nearly done so I just have to get my calculator out and piece together the clues of what this mystery woman left me and what I can do with it. More on that to come.

And finally, it almost wouldn't be a post from me without a picture of a cute puppy. Meet Mini, my very first dog niece. I adore her and wish that this little meatball could come to live with us. Not sure how Olive would feel about that though. . .

At long last - Finished projects 10 & 11

The shower for baby Chloe was yesterday so I can finally share what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Isn't it adorable (if I do say so myself)? The pink and green are so sweet together and will go well with the nursery. It's not exactly in line with the linens that the new mom and dad chose but she'll need a quilt for the car. Or the floor. Or inside the apparently essential pack and play. And there will be times when the other linens in her bed need washing and this can be the backup. Here's the front -

And the back -

I found this sweet little label at the shop that was doing the alterations on my wedding dress. How could I possibly resist??

And here's the little hat I made for her. So soft - it's merino wool, silk & cashmere. Gotta start that baby out right.

And Christmas stockings for Chloe and her mom and dad will follow shortly. Time ran out before I left and I still have another quilt to finish this week to turn in to my quilt guild by Thursday. More pictures of that one in the next few days!

xoxoxoxo