Opening Bell Coffee

The Opeing Bell Coffee Concert was great fun!  Check out some of the pics I snapped below.

About half way through the set guess who surprised us....

Yep, my dear mom and aunt.  Mom happened to be in town for my sister's volleyball madness, and decided to stop by.  I'm SO glad she did! :)  Talk about an sweet surprise!

If you weren't able to make the show, you can catch a glimpse of what you missed below.  It truly was a great night of music at a venue I will definitely return to!

Bathroom Silhouette Art

Does your all white apartment bathroom need a little pop o' something?  Yeah?  So did ours.  If you have an old frame or a piece of unoriginal store-made art (these things always make me think of the "show" apartment that complex like to show of to their potential lessees...they just feel so generic) lying around, feel free to convert it to a 'poppy' piece of bathroom silhouette art.

Here's how:

Blow this up to your preferred size & print it out.  Then, tape the printout to a black sheet of construction or heavy stock paper (or you can just hold it if you like a challenge like me).  Next, cut out each shape.

Fun, right? (Ha.)  You may noticed I omitted the particularly tricky shapes, plus some (they just wouldn't all fit in my frame).  Sorry, Comb.

Then, simply arrange the shapes and glue them to a heavy piece of white paper (which you've already cut to fit the frame, of course).  I went ahead a spray painted the frame a glossy black, too.  Frame it and Voilà!  New art!  

It's a meticulous project, but well worth the final (and FREE) result, if I might say so myself.

I think it gets along nicely with my Nigerian profile carvings. :)

Looking for something to do tomorrow night?

As much as I love the iPad, it just isn't conducive to long-winded ramblings. I'm typing on it now any it's taking for. ev. er. Not cool for a chica who gets paid for her mad typing skills. So, without further ado, I'll say what I came to say:

Go to Opening Bell Coffee tomorrow night and listen to some talented, passionate local artists over what I here is a pretty great cup of joe. The mister and his band will be on at 9 pm. Come ready with $5 in hand (for cover), and have a great time!

I may be late (work), so cheer loud for me! Or snap? I'm all too unfamiliar with coffe house etiquette...

Can't wait to see you there!

More snow!

This morning I walked out to my car at 3:15 am only to fall on my butt and then find Frieda (my sweet and ever-so-reliable 1999 Saturn sedan) COVERED in snow and ice.  Luckily, a friendly police officer/neighbor stopped to help me clear it.

The roads to (and from) the ER were pretty scary today... definitely worse than yesterday.   Fellow DFWers, don't get out unless you must!  We saw lots of ice related injuries today at work, and personal experience says even going slow on the road, your car might slip around a bit... especially if she's and lil ol sedan, like mine...

Here are a handful of pics Andrew took when he got up this morning:

Happy birthday, little brother. :)

My little brother is all growed up and legal (whatever that really means).

Happy 21st birthday, Ryan!  Love you and can't wait to celebrate with you! 

Life in Grace

Just wanted to introduce you all (though few!) to one of my favorite blogs, and to the woman behind it.  Her name is Edie.  I haven't actually ever met her, but I'd like to.

I had been blog surfing quite a bit last fall looking for Christmas gift and decor/craft ideas, and stumbled upon Edie's blog.  I'm not sure what landed me there, but I am so very glad it did.  Edie is a beautiful mother, wife, teacher and home-maker, and her posts are riveting.  She speaks so much truth, drenched in the Word and in community, and disciples many (perhaps unknowingly) through her poignant writing.

Well, I hadn't kept up with any blogs over the holidays, and didn't come back to hers until I decided to create my own.  As I read through the posts, I learned that she and her beautiful family were devestated about a week before Christmas when their house burned to the ground.  By God's grace, each of them escaped unscathed. 

Her response to this tragedy models better than I could ever imagine what it means to suffer well.  She is raw and broken, and so very fixed on solid ground.  A beautiful balance of brokenness and hope for the promises of the Lord.  I'm so encouraged by her.  I hope you are too.

Thank you, Lord, for your promises of love and restoration.

Snowed In (-ish)

Today we woke up to this.

Beautiful, no?

Well, this is day 2 of snow (and ICE) here in F Dub, and while it's gorgeous and all... I've caught a BAD case of the cabin fever.  That's the official diagnosis.  THE cabin fever.  Class yesterday was cancelled and I'm off work for, like, the next week or so... (this going part-time thing is slightly over-rated.) and I'm getting really sick of piddling.  That's what I do when I'm stuck inside with no agenda.  I piddle.  And do a lot of crafty things.  And piddle some more.

So naturally, I was SUPER excited when I remembered that we were meeting friends at Pei Wei for lunch. FREE lunch.  Because we were all awesome and stopped in to our favorite East of Usual bistro last week for a coupon for a their new Korean BBQ dish.  I love free food. :)

I made Mom's banana bread for b-fast.

YUM.  Dangerously YUM.

Then our power went out.  Again.  And it started getting really chilly inside.  Fortunately, I thought quick and remembered neither Andrew or I had showered (and he had just gotten back from a run...), so I interrupted him mid phono convo with a "We gotta shower or there won't be any hot water!"  I was pretty proud of my logic.

Until my hair was wet.  And blow dryers are powered by electricity, you know.

Needless to say, I was relieved when the electricity turned on shortly post-shower.  Going out in 13 degree (feels like 9!) weather like a wet dog was really gonna bite.

Thank you, Jesus, for pointing out my pride, and then for gracefully giving us electricity.

SO glad my hair was dry.  And that we didn't totally eat it on the ice.



P.S.  Pray for Andrew and his co-workers tonight- for safe driving and warm toes!  They're valeting downtown on this frigid evening!

Valentine's Yarn Wreath

The creativity of people is so inspiring to me and echoes so clearing (albeit, imperfectly) the character of the One that made us, doesn't it?  I think I love crafting so much because it brings me to a place of joy and worship.  I'm so thankful God's made it that way.

Today, I'd like to share with you a yarn wreath I made a couple weeks ago, as the Christmas decorations were going into storage, and the front door was left bare and lonely.  

There is plenty of inspiration for such wreaths on the interwebs if you want to try your own (as many a blogger has done)... just head on over to Knock Knocking for some absolutely artful creations.

That said, without further ado, may I present.....

my Valentine's wreath.

To make your own, just take a styrofoam (or straw, packaged) wreath and a ball of yarn and get to wrapping.  I wasn't especially neat and tidy about my wrapping- just cut some yard-ish long pieces, wrapped and tied.

Be forewarned, it takes forever.  But, once you have the "background," so to speak, your can get on to the fun part!  Making flowers!  I didn't snap any pics of the flower-making (prolly, because I was having too much fun and forgot... and because there was hot glue everywhere); however, you can find tons of tutorials on youtube.  Here's the tutorial I followed most closely.

I made mostly felt ones, and a few out of fabric I had leftover from recovering our dining nook chairs.  The tutorial above shows how to make the felt ones.  The fabric ones aren't too hard either.  See?

Just stitch around the edge and pull it tight.  I used this tutorial from Maize in Montana, which has great pics and is very clear.

Then, just hot glue them in clusters to your wreath.  I actually had a pretty tricky time getting them clustered in a way I liked.  I probably drove Andrew crazy with my "Hey, what do you think of this?  Do you like it better this way?  Or like this?"  I'm glad he humors me. :)

Wanna know the funny part?  The front door is still bare.  When I finished her, this wreath was just begging to be hung inside.  So inside she hangs.... on the door to our bedroom, which I think is appropriate, being that she's a Valentine's wreath and all...