Wonderful Weekend

What a great weekend! I really love my friends out here, they are so much fun. Last night I went to dinner with 10 of my friends. This has become kind of a tradition. I remember doing the same thing in college, but last year, we went to Chili's which is one of my favorite places to eat, for their Chicken Enchilada Soup and their Molten Chocolate Cake! So that was the plan, but apprently they were getting ready for me to come and I guess there were just too many candles on the cake, because they had a fire and were closed for the night! Boo. Change of plans, and we were at Macaroni Grill down the street instead, which is another great restaurant, so all in all, I wasn't too bummed. Plus, they let you draw on the table cloth! So here are some pics from that:

Leah & Blair

Lora, me and Leah

Brittney & Ben

Nicole & Abby, who was on her phone

David & Emily

And lovely Amber

My Super Eggplant!

After dinner, we hit the Target (always a good thing in my book) and then watched the Mormon "Pride & Prejudice" since we couldn't find "Return to Me". Jared came over later and he and Ben serenaded us all for a bit. It was really a great Birthday celebration! Thanks guys for coming!

Earlier in the day I rented a Zip Car to run some errands, which of course involved a trip to the fabric and craft store. While I was updating my computer so that I could sync Edwin with the rest of my life, I made this little butterfly collage. I was inspired by this one and thought it was so cute I had to re-create it! Firstly, I love specimen boxes with butterflies AND I love paper! So I thought it was the perfect combination! I got this shadow box on clearance in the Martha Stewart Scrapbooking section, which works perfectly. I love how it turned out!

I also started making an afghan which I'm really excited about. My roommate has a great knit blanket that her sister made her and it's one of the best things to snuggle up with on the couch, but I decided I wanted to crochet one, like my Grandma Weggeland used to make for us! I'm using this pattern from Vannah White's new line of books and yarns. It's for a baby blanket, but I really liked the pattern, and I can just keep going around to make it as big as I want. I got three "One Pound" skeins of yarn in turquoise, pink and tan. I think it's going to be cute!


Last week I went grocery shopping and got ambitious. I got the new Martha Stewart Everyday Food in the mail and there were lots of good recipes so I've been making yummy food all week. So tonight, for my dinner I made one of my favorite meals from Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Meals cook book, Maple-Mustard Pork Chops & Grilled Apples. It is so delicious and tonight everything came out perfect! Plus I have more for tomorrow... mmmm. I also steamed some asparagus to perfection. Such a good dinner! Also, all these pictures were taken by Edwin. He's so handy that way.

Yummy!

Perfection!

I made these little arrangements yesterday with some silk carnations I bought at the Dollar Store actually. I like carnations when they are clumped together like this, and these match our dinning room perfectly.

So it was a great weekend! Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and gifts! I have the best friends and family!

Birthday's are the best...

And so are families! I came home today to a birthday package from my sister. Check out how cute!


What a great idea! It's a cupcake in a jar! My sister is a mini-Martha. She even designed and printed the labels - so amazing! I really have the best family.

By the way, the name I've chosen for my new BF is Edwin. Edwin Apple. Isn't that a great name? I thought so. It was between that or Eliott, which is a name I've always loved, but Edwin won out in the end, since I think there's not much chance of someone thinking I'm talking about a real person when I refer to Edwin. And why did I choose a boy name for my iPhone? Well, firstly I think it was instinctive, but also because he's super high-tech and I think the color black is more frequently associated with boys than girls. Don't get me wrong, I love the color of Edwin, but most of the Mac gear I like is white... just saying. So, if in the future I refer to Edwin, you'll now know who I mean.

Also, here's a look at what I was up to this last weekend for President's Day! We went and visited our friend Gina in the Cape again, but this time we got to see a little more. We went to Provincetown and had fun checking out a dead tourist town. It was freezing cold, as you'll see from the pics, but we saw the beach, had some yummy fish sandwiches for lunch and then headed to a really great candy store on our way home!! Just my kind of day. Well, except for the cold.

Brittney, Gina and me

My tasty lunch

These boys are funny... Ben & Bryce showing off their "assets" in front of the Lobster Trap Tree

Then they wanted one of the girls

Last night was the second meeting of BOB, the book club created with my co-workers. BOB stand for Books On Books Book Club. We only read books about books or involving books in some way, and since we all work at a Library it's pretty perfect. Last month we read "The Book Theif" and then last night's meeting was about "Inkheart" which is a series about a bookbinder (appropriate, right?) and his daughter, and their adventures when characters get "read" to life out of books. Coming up we're reading "The Historian" and then "The Eyre Affair" which I'm really excited about. Our only rules are that 1. the books have to be fiction, 2. they have to be available in paperback and 3. they have to be about books in some way! It's a really fun idea and I'm getting introduced to a lot of new books. We meet at a restaurant in Harvard Square and just have a grand time. Anyway, I'm going to be setting up a blog for the group, with swag, so you'll be able to see what we're doing, check it out: www.booksonbooks.blogspot.com

And so tomorrow I'm getting a group together for a Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Chili's and then we're going to go bowling! I know it sounds weird to say Chili's is my favorite place to eat, but since moving to Boston I've really only gotten to go about once or twice a year, so it's become a treat. My favorite thing there is their Chicken Enchilada Soup and last year they didn't have it, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen this year. My other favorite, which I totally plan on having is their Molten Chocolate Cake.... mmmmm... so delicious! Should be fun and I'll post pics for sure.

Meet my new best friend!

Or my baby, or my precious. Basically, wherever I am, there will my iPhone be too. And it's all thanks to my amazing, wonderful, totally awesome parents! They got me an early Birthday present and I seriously can't believe it! Such a good day! Now all I need is a name for it, so if you have any ideas, get your suggestions in!

It was a "Super Tuesday"

So we had a "Super Tuesday" party last night, which was a lot of fun, but before I get into that, I thought I would fill you in on what I was up to in January. Can you believe it's February already?! I can't believe it's already time to turn another year older!

So, first up, before I went home for Christmas I finished books for a couple people and I wanted to share how they turned out. The first is a journal with a map theme. The front covers are a map of the Paris Metro and each section of lined pages is wrapped with another map, so the spine of the book is a lot more colorful than most of the coptic bindings I do. I was really happy with how it turned out!

Next is a set of scriptures (I actually finished two, but they look exactly the same since I used the same leather) that I rebound in beautiful green leather. These took some wrestling to get the spine back to straight, but they eventually submitted to my will. I've decided for now though, that I'm not going to do any more projects from home for people. It's just too much time and I feel guilty when I have things for so long. I have one more to do before I'm done for good, but I'm excited for this one, since it's a box for a really cool old book from 1750, bound in vellum.

When I got back from vacation, I took a short weekend trip to the Cape with my friends Ben & Bryce to visit Gina. So much fun! We had a blast eating pizza, playing "Life" and talking half the night, then on Sat. we drove to the beach and had breakfast at a really great little "greasy spoon" restaurant. Delicious!
Bryce enjoying his breakfast!

Gina & Ben

Then a couple weeks ago I went with a new crafting friend to NYC for a "Crafting Extravaganza Trip"! It was really a blast to finally get to all the stores I've always wanted to visit. We took the Chinatown bus, the Fung-Wah, which wasn't as bad as I expected, and got there about noon. The it was time to shop! We went to Pearl Art supply, Kate's Paperie (kinda like Paper Source), Purl Soho (a great knitting store), Purl Patchwork (which they just opened), had lunch at a place called "Once Upon a Tart", then hit The Strand Bookstore, and Talas, the bookbinding store. Whew! It was a lot of walking and a long day.

I used to think I could never live in NYC, but I think that's because I'd only seen the really touristy spots, but this trip kinda changed my mind. I think I could live there if I HAD to. I think that's saying a lot.

Anyway, check out the loot I got!
Red Faux-Lizzard paper from KP, 3 kinds of yarn from Purl, and I already made the purple into a neckwarmer, will have to post photo soon. A new tote from the Strand (yellow and purple, I couldn't resist), lots of fabric from Purl Patchwork, all Amy Butler of course, plus a great book called, "The ABC's of Leather Bookbinding" which I've been wanting to get into more. And the blue thing is a new scalpel handle.

It was a great success! Now I'm just trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do with the fabric. The blue & green is for an apron for my roommate. The others I just couldn't resist. I also have plans for the pink yarn and want to use the blue for a hat, but need a good pattern.

Well, now it's on to last night! Unfortunately, because I'm not yet registered in MA, I didn't vote yesterday, luckily my candidate won without my help, and luckily I was able to still feel patriotic by attending Mitt Romney's Super Tuesday Party where he made his speech! It was great to attend an event like this in person. I'm really glad I went, even though it made us two hours late to our own party.
The stage with people waiting for Mitt.

Lisa, Abby, Blair, me and Matt, squeezed into the room for a couple hours, watching the TV's and waiting to hear from Mitt.

This was behind us. It was a fairly small room, but there were lots of cameras and lights. Plus I kept thinking this guy was Mitt, I think he kinda looks like him.

We were going to leave because it was so late before he came to speak, but we rushed back when we heard cheering in time to see Mitt come out. The crowd was going wild!

Here he is addressing us. It was a really great speech and I hope they broadcast most of it. The end was the best!

So we got home to continue the party. Which went a little past midnight. I'm tired today, but it was pretty worth it. I think right now is the most I've ever known about politics, thanks in part to my roommates. It's been fun keeping track of the candidates and the polls.

Anyway, it was also a "super Tuesday" because at work we had a "King Cake" in honor of Mardi Gras and guess what, I got the baby! So good luck for me, I guess, this year or so I'm told!

Things I'm looking forward to this month:
"Pride & Prejudice" on Masterpiece (any excuse really)
Valentine's for the excuse to eat too much chocolate (too bad there's no See's here)
Going to see "Romeo & Juliet" the Ballet for my birthday with my roomies
Turning 28 on the 24th!

Tag - I'm it!

Shannon tagged me for the little meme, so here goes!

Six random things that most people don't know about me:

1. I have recently gotten into origami, I bought a "page-a-day" calendar and enjoyed it so much I have already skipped ahead. I am now on May. I've filled a whole shoe box with little paper critters. There's just no stopping me once I start folding paper!

2. I never notice people's eye color when I'm talking to them. I think I tend to watch people's mouths more. I can't tell if this is just because I am uncomfortable looking into people's eyes, because I really like mouths (it's usually the first thing I notice about a cute boy), or if it's just because I'm slightly hard of hearing and am therefore trying to read lips as well...

3. I talk in my sleep, and according to some people, have even been known to do the "Mexican Hat Dance" (I claim this is not true).

4. I can not go anywhere without my Dr. Pepper LipSmackers, I am addicted. Ok, most people know that. I was really mad when they changed the formula or the flavor they used a couple months ago because it didn't taste like Dr. Pepper anymore. I went out and bought every package I could find to see if any were the old ones, to no avail. Luckily, it's since gone back to a similar, if not quite perfect, flavor again.

5. I enjoy spending time alone, not that I do this a lot, but I enjoy it when I get the chance. I like to shop alone, in fact, although it's fun to shop with others, I do my best shopping by myself, then I can take as little or as much time as I want. I don't mind travelling alone and I also enjoy going to movies by myself. I think I got to used to this when living in London. It was always an adventure to go out by myself. The one thing I don't love is eating out by myself, especially during times like dinner, when everyone else is with someone. That's just depressing.

6. I am a night owl, and not at all a morning person. I usually never go to bed before midnight and it's therefore extremely hard for me to be to work before 9am. At my current job I could come in later if I wanted to stay later, but I don't like working past 5, so I keep my 9am work time.

And now to tag six others: Mel, Nat, Laura, Kylee, Ben and Robin!