Lions, and tigers and... flamingos!

I'm digging this whole relax and vacation thing so far. Especially now that I've stopped waking up at 5:45 and have managed to catch up on some sleep instead! In addition to working on projects, the parentals and I have tried to head out for an adventure each day.

Saturdays adventure...the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo!

Omaha actually has an AMAZING zoo, complete with a jungle, desert dome, butterfly house, aquarium and of course the most important aspect of a zoo-flamingos! We had a zoo membership growing up and I remember going there often as a child. Now that us kiddos are out of the house, the Momcat and Daddo decided to join again so they could go for a few hours every once in a while and not feel like they had to do the whole zoo in one day.

I was slightly worried about the field trip since Omaha recently tore down the old Rosenblatt baseball stadium, building a new stadium downtown and making the old stadium and its parking lots into additional parking for the zoo. The zoo parking was desperately needed, but I'm not a huge fan of tearing down childhood memories. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they'd made a little park with some of the old seats, bases and pitchers mound in the middle of the parking lot. They also left up the vertical foul ball markers and marked where the bases originally stood. Gold star, Omaha.

We didn't hit everything, but I think we saw everything we really wanted to see. Or in some cases, ate everything we really wanted to eat. 

Snow Cone of Deliciousness! 

Butterflies in the new (to me) butterfly house.

Daddo and the Momcat. 

Mr. Crab

 And last, but not least, the most important animal at the zoo...

Flamingos!

Work is over, Vacation has begun!

Wednesday was my last official day at Notre Dame. I keep waiting for it to feel real that I've moved on and don't work there anymore. The facts that yesterday was a holiday, my part of the office is closed today and that I'm going back in on the 16th for the official goodbye party probably aren't making this any easier. I hope it kicks in soon, because for right now...

I'm on VACATION!  (or, as Daddo put it "now you're unemployed!" Thanks, Daddo).

CatCat, Friday and I spent nine hours cozied together in Fluffy the Scion xB yesterday driving to the parent's house in Omaha. We'll hang out here for the next week before I head off to the next adventure and they remain here for a vacation from stress of moving across the country and selling a house. I somehow feel like the cats have gotten the better end of the deal here...

I'm actually going to be pretty busy here working on things with the Momcat (more on this VERY exciting news next week!) and learning how to parallel park from Daddo. The N-boy is alarmed that we didn't have to learn this in driver's ed, especially since it does seem to be a required skill for living in San Francisco. What can I say? Nebraska seems to have PLENTY of space so parallel parking is rarely a necessary talent. Given that Daddo recalls his New York City days saying that "parallel parking is an art form," I'm really quite surprised he didn't teach me when he taught me to drive. I'm sure it will be fine. I learned how to drive on a manual, and today demonstrated my driving prowess by successfully negotiating back onto the interstate, in a manual while eating an ice cream cone and ignoring two very grumpy cats. (A feat that did not seem to impress the N-boy when I told him about it.) Surely parallel parking is easier that that.

Basically this next week promises to be...

4H County Fair-2013 Edition

The N-boy and I went to the 4H County Fair last weekend, which definitely felt like it was part of one last "huzzah for the midwest" act since we're moving to California. Although the N-boy assures me that California will also have agriculture and animals and 4H. Still, the county fair feels VERY midwestern to me.

This year we were smart and planned ahead by looking online at the fair schedule to make sure we'd see everything we wanted to. We've learned from past years that you can't go the first day, because the animals aren't there. And you can't go the last day because the animals aren't there. Since clearly the animals are on of the main highlights for us, this was an important lesson to learn (and it only took us four years!).

This duck made me smile. He looks like Mozart to me. 

Please tell me you've seen this video. Pretty sure we need a goat if only to do this in our spare time. 

We get a little overly competitive about ski ball. We tied this year, each winning laffy taffy on exactly one round. And losing on the every other round. 

 Twist ice cream cones are my absolute favorite summer treat. Let's not talk about what is going on with my medusa-like hair in this picture. It was windy.

Goodbye, 4H Fair. 

July.

I love that today is July 1 and officially the start of the second half of 2013. It's an even better happy July 1 because it's on a Monday! I always feel over-the-moon giddy when the first day of a month (or a year!) falls on a Monday. It's the color coded spreadsheet part of me that just loves the feeling with the stars align a fresh start with the calendar.

The first half of 2013 has been....interesting. Some ups and downs, but the second half promises to be even crazier and (hopefully) more exciting because...

WE'RE MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO!

I got a new job as the director of an international student and scholar office at a university there, so on July 23 the N-boy and I head out to get me settled in just in time for new student orientation and the kick off of the fall semester. The N-boy is actually teaching here this fall, so he'll only be with me for a week before heading back to South Bend. Even though it's a little frustrating that we'll spend the semester apart (again), the excitement of a new job, a new city, and a whole new west coast culture makes it all ok.

I think I'll have lots to say about the move (as well as some other exciting updates to share), but I'll leave most of that for later. One thing I am definitely looking forward to is living in the same city as BabyBrother!

Not sure San Fran is ready for us!

Christmas Tree Bargello Wallhanging

So it's been a while again since I posted anything here. I figure it's my blog, so that's ok with me. It's been a rough spring, but things seems to be looking up now. AND it's finally warm outside so, woohoo!

One thing I'm working on in 2013 is finishing up some of the flimsies that are sitting around in my closet. Some of these projects are years old, just waiting for quilting. Some of them are for babies that aren't quite so baby anymore. And some just bring up lots of feelings and emotions so it's hard to get any traction on them.

First up for the year is the Christmas Tree Bargello. I'd actually posted about this this back in the fall of 2012 as a link up to Leah Day's Sunday UFO day. I was super excited when she chose my UFO to respond to on her follow up day, and also that several very nice quilters came and commented on my own blog post!

I actually finished this wallhanging in February of this year, and even managed to take pictures but with everything going on in my life just haven't been able to post them until now.

Tada!

In the end, I decided to STOP worrying so much about choosing a perfect quilting pattern. Since I'm still very much learning how to be comfortable with free motion quilting, I knew that the quilting itself wouldn't be perfect (I mean, really, will it ever be? no). so I should just make the commitment to getting it done and ready for next winter!

In the borders I used Leah Day's icicle lights, but just did it going one direction instead of two.  I liked how they invoked the feeling of twinkly christmas lights, and I think the gold Isacord thread is sparkly and festive. 

In the sky background I went with just a simple swirl. There are couple of places where I tried to add a five pointed star, but wasn't really feeling it was working so I didn't too too many.

On the tree itself I just did a simple meander, focusing on not crossing back over any of the stitching. Lesson learned here-be careful with scale. I started out on a scale that was probably a little too small for the look I really wanted, but again just decided to run with it once I got started. Definitely something I'll keep a closer eye on next time. 

Shot of the back, with the label. The backing fabric was very shiny, and went well with the front of the quilt and the red and gold finding. I didn't take a picture of it, but I actually followed the AQS guidelines for adding a sleeve as an exercise in doing it right. Gold star for AQS having a YouTube video to help me along!I'm actually quite pleased with how that sleeve turned out, so I'm happy I took the extra time to do it the "right" way. I'll probably keep adding that extra effort for all of my future wall hangings, instead of my usual "OMG I'm almost done just slap something on there" effort. 

So with ONE finish done for this year, I'm working on my next one! Hopefully I'll get some pictures taken this week. I've got several other VERY VERY exciting quilting and sewing projects going on, but since I don't want to get burnt out on just one thing I'm going to try and spend a little time doing different things to keep it fun.

Tea time.

The N-boy and I have a tea problem. We drink it pretty much every night, especially when it's cold outside. The problem isn't the tea drinking, but more of the chaos of our tea cupboard (yes we have a whole shelf dedicated to tea and hot chocolate. I think the moment of truth came with the N-boy opened the door and boxes fell on his head.

His solution to the problem was to toss some stuff that was REALLY old and to put a moratorium on buying more tea until we reduce the stash. My solution was to take some of it to work to drink there, since I need to stop drinking so much Starbucks. And because I'm not a fan of the tea in Keurig in the office kitchen. And so we can then buy more tea.

I think this little guy appeared in my stocking last year. Under the duck is a mesh tea strainer, and then it sits in the little blue cup when your tea has steeped.

It's super cute. And I get a kick out of back from the kitchen with a duck floating in my cup. And I'm drinking yummy tea instead of Starbucks. Ok well there's still been some Starbucks. But it's a start, yes? 

Christmas Festiveness.

As mentioned previously, this was Christmas decorating weekend in our household. Really, everything on Sunday was part of the "get Laura more into the Christmas spirit" movement. Some progress was made, but the 65 degree weather is definitely not helping me feel very Christmassy. 

A view of the Christmas tree and the marriage tree. We receive this sculpture for our wedding and it was possibly our favorite gift ever. We tend to decorate it with simple decorations for each holiday or season.

This poor little guy was in the box of ornaments. I think the rest of the ornament was originally a spaceship. But it's ok, Marvin's head is on the tree. The N-boy seemed to find this creepy but acquiesced to the inclusion of Marvin. Or at least Marvin's head. 

The brother-in-law and sister-in-law-in-law got these super awesome Christmas Carol rubber duckies for me a couple of years ago. The N-boy set them up on top of the TV (we'll see how long that lasts with the cats) and didn't even realize that Scrooge duck is facing the opposite way as all the others. But really it seems appropriate so we've left it as is.

Our friends gave me this drink container last year and had it filled with Christmas ornaments. I loved the idea so we decided to repeat it for this year's festivities. 

We've got a couple of other decorations up, but nothing too crazy. I have a bag full of obnoxious red bows that I'll probably hang up around the house over the course of the week as the mood strikes me.