what a week it's been

It's been a pretty crappy week. There's no other way to say it. Last Friday we lost a soldier in a tragic car accident. He left behind a young wife and three-year old daughter.

The unfortunate thing about the military is that it has a tendency to move you far away from family. And when something like this happens and your family is still a 14 hour drive away, the unit and FRG fill in the gap as best as we can.

So it's been a week full of sitting on the couch listening to stories, coordinating meals, meeting parents and in-laws, planning the memorial service, and doing everything we can to make the wife a little less overwhelmed. And having tissues ready at a moment's notice.

And praise the Lord for well-placed tissue boxes because I went through a good handful myself during the service yesterday. If you haven't been to a military memorial, it is a powerful half hour. Besides having the daughter point out "Daddy! Daddy!" throughout the slideshow presentation, Taps didn't leave a dry eye in the place.

But the family isn't the only one who suffers. Jim lost a soldier, too, which is a hard thing for any commander. These things leave him with a long list of things to do and people to comfort. He's been non-stop for the last 7 days.

I'm glad it's the weekend. We all need to take a deep breath.

my craft nook

I'm very proud of my recent addition to our home. We have a strange little inset in our dining room that we weren't quite sure what to do with. For months it's sat there with no purpose but to collect stuff that hasn't found a home yet.

Over the last few weeks I've slowly moved all of those orphaned things into another room to be dealt with later, and have built shelving, put together Ikea boxes, and transformed this lowly corner into the most delightful Craft Nook I could ever have imagined.

Have you ever known what it was to have organized creativity at your fingertips? Nor I! This is a whole new world for me. And it's proved rather effective. Do you know what you can make when your sewing machine is out and ready for you at a moment's notice? Or what cards can be whipped up when your stamps, ink and paper aren't piled under other boxes?

I think I'd still like to spiff it up a bit - maybe some fabric or paper along the back wall so it's not so white. I may actually label all of those boxes so I remember what's in them. That lovely paper bag that's acting as a trash can may turn into something as attractive as it is utilitarian. And I have one of those accordion room dividers coming so that I can hide it all away when it's not in use.

And it's location is perfect. Because it's adjacent to the dining room, there's a large table that I can sprawl all of my materials on and craft away. I love to pass by it during the day, and imagine what's waiting for me as it beckons from it's corner of new life. I may never do housework again!

giveaway: we have a winner!

Due to some comment happy-people, ahem, I couldn't go about this giveaway the way most do. With their fancy "random number generators" and such. Nope, we got a little old fashioned and pulled out the pen and paper.

So for those who would like to know that the contest was as fair as possible, we've documented the process...

All twenty names were painstaking written onto perfectly cut 1x2 inch pieces of paper. (That gave each you a 5% chance in case you like math.)

I interrupted Jim and Roxy in the middle of their movie to act as an impartial third party.

And the winner is... Susie who said, "WOW what a great quilt!! It has such Stella colors :-) You do such a great job and just whip them out with such ease. Count me in!!" Susie is the faithful mother of Crystal, a.k.a. the Circus, mother-in-law of of Jesse over at Muthering Heights, and has prayed our own little family through many separations, a deployment, and many years of wanting a baby. I couldn't be more thrilled to send this quilt to her!

Have a great weekend, all! See you on Monday.

quilting weekend in albuquerque

Don't forget to enter here for the quilt giveaway. The deadline is tonight at midnight, so hurry!

Some of my girlfriends must have known that I wasn't too keen on being back in El Paso after our super-fun San Diego trip... So, they promptly planned a Girls' Weekend to Albuquerque, NM. Why? Because we all like to quilt and there are a ton of fabric stores in Albuquerque. So really the question is, Why not? Sarah, Christie, Lindsay and I (the Crafternoon crew) hopped in a car and off we went.

And it was super-fun. I now have 6 fabric stores worth of inspiration, and a few purchases to make that inspiration come to life. Gosh, I love to sew. Who knew? After one set of purchases, we all received a free fat quarter of our choice. But our choices were pretty much hideous, all in the "southwest" vein. So we decided to split the free loot with the assignment of having to make something to remember the weekend. Mine turned into the souvenir above - note the "gem" dangling in the middle. It will hang in my new craft nook that I'm still in the process of making. ...To always remind me of:

• laughing so hard I almost peed my pants in Hallmark
• staring very indecisively among bolts of fabric... often
  
• being the first one to sleep one night because I was sooooo tired
• learning lots about friends as we played "Loaded Questions" in the car
• seeing my first transvestite hooker
• almost dozing off during an Indian ritual dance
  
• keeping Sarah happy by keeping to her well-planned schedule
• always being early out the door in the morning (four girls and one bathroom!) and yet still managing to be late places
• GPS-ing Starbucks on more than one occasion
• going into the weekend believing Albuquerque was the "gem of the southwest", only to be a little disappointed (see bullet point #5)
• but still thinking Albuquerque is pretty darn cool.
  

So here's some pictures of the weekend that include many new inside jokes (that's when you know you've arrived as a group of friends, right?) and other bits of crazy.

Twinkies... the joke that overtook the weekend

My good luck in finding European pretzels at a farmer's market

Perhaps my next quilt? Love it!

Lindsay and I with our new purchases

giveaway: a quilt for you!

As a thank you for my loyal followers - a loyalty tested over the last few weeks, I know - I'm giving away a quilt. It's not a large quilt. Just shy of 30 inches square. But it's been made with lots of love. If you're into quilting details, scoot over to my Crafternoon post were I first introduced this quilt. I wasn't optimistic about it initially, but I've come to really like how it turned out. If you're interested, just leave a comment by Thursday midnight (MDT) on this post and I'll announce the winner on Friday. (I'm even happy to ship internationally.) Good luck!

san diego

Our trip to San Diego was just what the doctor ordered. It was the perfect little vacation for two people who needed to just get out of El Paso for a while. It was a long drive (11+ hours), but sometimes the best conversations happen in the car.

We'd intended to stay in a hotel on the beach which we could only afford because of Jim's military connection (thank you, Navy Lodge). But a quick call to a friend opened up the opportunity to stay at his empty condo for the weekend, free of charge. And since free is cheaper that even a military discount, we went for it. So instead of staying on Coronado Island as originally planned, we spent most of our time in the charming little town of Carlsbad, CA. His place was a few blocks from the ocean, and this was the view outside our room every morning:
I pinched myself alot. While he was away, we watched his dog, Pax, who couldn't have been easier. (So if you see a dog in any pictures, don't worry, we didn't shave Roxy and dye her black.)

Some highlights of the week were a trip to Ikea, burgers from In and Out, walks along the beach, Balboa Park, dinner on Coronado Island, a guy who played the guitar with his feet, amazing flowers everywhere that smelled oh so good, shrimp tacos at Pedros Tacos, sleeping in, and just lots of quality time together.

This is my favorite picture which I think captures the trip well. I was having a hankerin' for some In and Out (seriously, you have to go) and a frappuccino, so I ran out and brought home some yumminess to share with Jim on the porch. And this is what we did for much of the trip - we hung out together, enjoying the friendship that has evolved over the past 5 years:

More pictures from the weekend:

Balboa Park

a really cute couple at Balboa Park

a phenominal guitar player

one of our many walks

a cactus that I fell in love with

Bouganvilla, my new favorite flower
(which, thanks to Lowes, is now in our backyard)

The trip was so perfect that I cried on the way home. Some people would call it pregnancy hormones, but I just didn't want it to end.

the one where jim doesn't go for a run

So in addition to my lovely ring, Jim's decided to also buy me a calendar for our anniversary. And to hire another race-scheduler.

Because one of the reasons we chose to come to San Diego for our anniversary weekend was because there was a Rock n' Roll Marathon. And we thought it'd be cool to do that together. But then I got pregnant. So now it was just Jim running it.

And a few weeks ago as we were counting down towards this trip, Jim decided that since he hasn't been training very consistantly for this marathon, and it's hard to eek something like that out (unlike a half marathon, in say, El Paso) maybe he should downgrade to the half marathon option instead.

No problem. It wasn't his goal, but we figured the 13.1 mile tour of the beaches of San Diego would be just as nice as the 26.2 mile version. That is, until I got online and realized there was no half marathon option. It was all or nothing. I got to give Jim that fun news earlier this week.

Well, what are you going to do? It is what it is.

Until it isn't, anyways. As it turns out, we're here the wrong weekend. The Rock n' Roll Marathon isn't until the 31st. Um, oops. For months we've been planning everything exactly 7 days early.

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Or maybe I just feel like an idiot and won't live this down for a while.

Either way, instead of the intended pictures of Jim triumphantly crossing the 26.2 mile finish line, I've got nothing for you. Just the knowledge that next weekend tons of people will have those pictures to share and we'll be back in El Paso, probably sleeping in.

Anyone have a good calendar system? Jim would like to know.

Tomorrow: pictures from things we actually did get to do this weekend.

5 down...

...a kazillion more to go, I hope.

This morning Jim and I woke up in San Diego. We are taking a long Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our anniversary.

In 5 years we've:

• lived together for almost 3 and half of them (thanks, Army!)
• made it through a full year deployment
• made it through the after-deployment
• fought alot
• laughed more
• moved 5 times
• rescued our other family member, Roxy
• mourned the loss of family members together
• met new nieces and nephews
  
• made a Grublet of our own

And to commemorate such achievements, Jim gave me this:

I've actually had it since Christmas, but it was always intended to be for today, exactly 5 years after the above picture was taken. One of the best days of my life. By far, the best decision I've ever made.

So happy May 22nd, everyone.
(Especially you, too, Cindy!)

reading baby books

Like any newly pregnant woman, when I found out I was pregnant I started reading. Lots of reading. I've discovered there are really only 3 books a prego needs. But before I go straight to the book reports, I'd like to give a disclaimer in the form of a story.

I discovered that although it's good to be informed, there is such thing as too much information. My limit came at page 42 of book number 2: the section on Hemorrhoids. I didn't know what they were, but based on the description I knew I didn't want them. I researched some more to educate myself and I left horrified. Complete with nightmares. So that's when I stopped reading. That was in January. Even though books are filled with lots of helpful stuff, too much is just too much.

So I haven't read nearly as much as the typical prego. And I kinda pride myself in that. Or at least I did until recently when I realized that in 2 months a person is going to come out of my, ahem, and I really don't have a clue what to expect. I mean, I sorta do. There are friends that have told me way.too.much. But I feel like I should be a little more clinical about it and maybe read up on the situation. So, back to the books I go.

But first, book reports!

Essential Reading #1: What to Expect When You're ExpectingI know you're all rolling your eyes with how obvious a choice this is. But I would be remiss if I didn't metnion it. This is a great book for reference (FYI: hemorrhoids can be found on pages 173, 272-273, 422, 428) but it will also scare you. I don't suggest reading it before bed.

Essential Reading #2: The Girlfriends' Guide to PregnancyOne word: Hilarious. My good friend sent this to me the minute I called her with the news. It was a brilliant move on her part. This is a great balance to the other serious books I have. And it really does tell it like it is. Yes, this is the book that stopped me in my tracks at page 42, but I still skipped around the rest of the chapters and really appreciated the parts that didn't involve gross bodily deformations.

Essential Reading #3: Baby Bargains
I have to give a shout-out to my new friend Karen who let me borrow this fantastic and practical book. At 569 pages(!) it is the most thorough book on baby-ness that I've ever seen. With real-live moms weighing in on ease-of-use and pricing for most baby gadgets. It also tells you what to not waist your money on. So if you're a new mother and overwhelmed by everything marketed out there for your little peapod, then run, don't walk to your closest Amazon.com and order it. Pronto!

So those are my book reports for the day. If you know anyone who's newly pregnant, these would be great Welcome-to-the-World-of-Incubating gifts.

Now, anyone know a good book on that whole giving birth thing that won't terrify me?

weekend notes: dignity lost

Usually this is where I give you a run-down of exciting events that filled our weekend. But not this time. This weekend was all about Roxy. Our cute rescue dog went from this:

to this:

We got her shaved. It was a hard decision - is shaving a dog even natural? But it's crazy hot here in El Paso. And with the massive amount of hair coming off of her hourly and my great dislike for cleaning, something had to change. And it wasn't going to be me. So off to PetSmart we went. Many (many) hours later she came back a little leaner. And a little embarrassed. I don't know if dogs really get embarrassed, but I think Roxy was acting a kinda shy when she got home.

She looks very funny to me and often I laugh at her. I don't think she even notices anymore. She's just happy to be cool.