Project Complete: Letter T

In other news, I completed another project! Its been done a couple of weeks now but I haven't gotten around to posting about it. It was a project for the little baby I knit a baby sweater for, who I got to meet less than two weeks ago. Its crazy how time flies.

A friend and coworker of mine planned to do the same project for a baby girl born the same day as Tyson. I thought it was such a cute idea I wanted to do it myself. Who doesn't love something a little homemade? Especially when its easy!

I bought a large letter "T" from Hobby Lobby, probably twelve inches tall, from the home goods section. I originally planned to get an unfinished wood letter but the options they had in store were quite small and cheap looking, not very thick, so I opted for this instead, which cost only a couple dollars extra.

The letter is made out of some sort of pressed board I think. Maybe. It was heavier than a regular piece of carved wood would feel but sort of sounded plastic-y when you tap it with your finger. I guess that doesn't really matter much. I thought acrylic paint would cover well. I chose a white color. I also bought white and brown striped ribbon to tie around the top to hang it from (or make it appear to be hanging by the ribbon) but it didn't look as good as I thought it would so I left the ribbon off. Here it is after one coat of paint.

A few more layers of paint and a couple hours later it was completed. I think the crisp white will look great on baby Tyson's darker lime green walls.

Makes me want one for myself! Miss you little Tyse!

UK Edition: Adventure to the Supermarket

We (my coworker and I) decided to start our day, which also happened to be our first adventure in Harrogate without a local, with a trip to the supermarket. Its called ASDA and is what I think you would call and affiliate of WalMart. Not a bad place though! We found the prices were pretty comparable to the US grocery store prices when converted to $, if not slightly cheaper. I guess we will have to wait and see how the food tastes...

The food is not much different here than it is in the US. In fact, some of the food is exactly the same but with different colored packaging, different brand name, same bag design. Like they have Lays potato chips here but the brand is something different. I can't remember the name right now! I'll maybe take some pictures of similarities on one of the next trips. Hopefully the store won't be as busy as it was today when we were there and no one will think I'm a weirdo for taking pictures in a grocery store.

My grocery shopping was pretty basic. I'm not sure how much cooking I/we will be doing so I stuck with simple things to take for lunch for now. Oranges, pears, mandarin orange juice, bottle of water, peanut butter and jelly, tortellini and bolognese sauce, Laughing Cow cheese, other cheese, cereal and a reusable container for sandwiches or other food. Pretty basic, no?

To me, that picture looks like I was shopping in a plain old US grocery store. The food isn't really different here. Sure they eat fish and chips and curry is on the menu at all restaurants but besides that its not too different.

My first supermarket experience only set me back just over £13. Now that's a price I can manage, or at least it seems reasonable to me when I didn't know what to expect going in.

Cheers to my first day at work in a new country! Wow, never imagined I would ever say that!

Love and hugs!

UK Edition: Apartment Tour

Let's take a tour! I'll show you around my place! Its absolutely amazing. I cannot believe I'm living in this great apartment for two whole months. Its nicer than something I would ever expect to live in. More specific details about things later to come, I'm sure, but for now here is a glimpse of the basics (thanks to my sister Marissa's awesome camera she lent me for the trip!).

Here is my home away from home. There are four apartments in this home and a detached coach house. The coach house looks the same on the outside and probably has more rooms, otherwise we are not sure what "coach house" means. Did you spy my possible new friend?

Here he is! I noticed him right after I snapped the above photo and was able to get a couple more shots of him. Or her? Quite the skinny little fella. Won't substitute for my Caboosey Woosey, no way. I will admit, I am hoping I can feed him some milk at night! Shhh...I don't know if that's acceptable.

Here is my little entrance around back. You'll notice the black fence and a set of three steps on either side. I'm not sure what the purpose of that is other than to frame the windows...? I'm guessing something was different structurally some time.

Breakfast nook to the left of the front door, followed by a view of the living room. There is a beautiful black, old chair in the corner. Is it called a Queen Elizabeth chair? or Queen Anne maybe? Besides the black chair, do you think they shop at IKEA?? It sure looks like it to me!

This kitchen is awesome! If only I knew how to use these types of appliances! The buttons have pictures next to them with no writing. I'm afraid to try and use the microwave because I'm not sure how to turn it off if I push a wrong button! Call me crazy but I think you might feel the same way.

I'll call this the master bedroom. One wall is full of mirrors with two narrow closests on each end. I have a spare robe if someone wants to use one when they visit... The bedroom has an attached bathroom - beautious - with a heated floor. I repeat, heated floor.

Bedroom and bathroom number two. I told you this place was crazy. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms. Sha!

And that concludes our tour. Anyone want to visit?! There is plenty of room and its quite a fashionable place. You have two months of dates to choose from. :)

Cheers mate. More to come soon!

A Temporary Change of Residence

I'm taking up residence in the United Kingdom. Yes, you read that right, working in the UK for two whole months! Can you believe it?! I hardly can't either. The only reason I do is because I'm here already! A coworker and I arrived earlier this morning and are just getting settled in.

I've been awake for nearly 31 hours and for some reason I'm not horribly tired. Can't believe that one either. I'm sure I'll crash real soon. I wanted to talk to Luke before going to bed, which I did, and have been waiting for my mom and dad (lucky ducks, they're fishing instead!) but I think I'll be zoncked by the time they come back...

In the meantime, here is what I'm really missing. My dear loved ones, too, of course!

Free Time with a YZ250

Luke and I had some free time while at his parents' house one day so he decided to give his new bike a spin. He's pretty excited about it so I am too.

Isn't he so cute?! I love a man with a dirt bike. Ok not really, just this one.

"Rawwrrr. Check out my sweet muscles."

More motocross and flat track stories from the summer to come!



Project Complete: Vino Seat Cover

My scooter seat cover is fixed! I bought my Yamaha Vino scooter last fall and lets just say it needed a few cosmetic repairs, including a ripped seat. Rather than paying over what I'm guessing would be $100, I decided to recover it myself. Or with the help of others I should say. :) My plan was to purchase vinyl and sew the cover myself, then staple it on top of the existing cover. Simple as pie...

I expected to find vinyl from a fabric store for at least $10/yd. I decided to try my luck while at WalMart one day and luck was on my side! I found a piece of blue vinyl for $4/yd! Its not made for outdoor weather and will more than likely crack after it sits in the sunlight too long, but I figured I could try out my seat-cover-sewing skills on a $4 piece of fabric and if it didn't work I wouldn't be out too much money. I also purchased some heavy duty thread and sewing needle to poke through the thick fabric, which of course my mom advised me on.

Days of procrastination, two muslin patterns, a borrowed light-duty stapler, a trip to Ace Hardware for staples, one blue vinyl seat cover, a few gripes with Luke and no hard feelings
later, my seat cover is finished! What a beauty. Luke was oh so kind enough (for real, he didn't complain and I have to admit there were many many opportunities for him to do so) to help me staple the seat cover to the seat. He puts new seat covers on his dirt bikes all the time so he's kind of a pro like that. He did most of the work when it came to stapling because I'm pretty sure I was at my wits end and feared my cover wasn't good enough and a new one would need to be made.

The original seat had a chunk of foam missing from the front but we fixed it by shoving a plastic grocery bag into it. Now that's a cheap and green fix I was pretty excited about! Check out the pretty lady in all her glory.

She wouldn't look so nice or run so well if it wasn't for my bike-pro Luke! Vroom vroom, I'm ready for some rain-free weather!

A New Addition!

Luke's sister Katie and her hubby Cory had their baby. He's here! Tyson Lee was born Friday, May 20.

Check out that proud uncle! Luke and I went home this weekend to meet him. He's so adorable! Neither of us have seen a baby only two days old before, except for our sisters but that's not the same thing.

We are glad we got to meet you, Tyson Lee! You're so handsome!

The Halffer!

We did it! We ran the Halffer on May 1 and we all survived. It was cold, rainy, snowy and windy. Not the greatest day for a race but we made it anyways. The best part, my aunt Steph qualified for Boston with only a few seconds to spare!

I'm proud of all of us and am glad we could run our first 13.1 mi together!

Probably not the cutest picture of all of us but that's not the point now, is it. :)

Bring on the next Halffer!

Cool Cat

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

To My Mom

You are the best mother anyone could ever want (especially me!). If I had to pick which mom I would have I would have chosen you.
You are the definition of a mother's love in every way possible.

We all love you as big as the whole world and will love you forever and ever.

I LOVE you Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

Project Complete: Painted Frames

Two Project Completes in a row! I know. I'm just that far behind.

Back to the birthday weekend. Saturday was Katie's baby shower and Beth's birthday. We spent the day with Luke's family playing games, eating delicious food, and enjoying conversation, then ate supper at a supper club.

Sunday was my big day. April 17 to be exact. Luckily I only had to blow out one candle. Let it be known, however, that (according to my mom) it was an Advent candle. What?? Mom made a delicious homemade chocolate cake - from scratch! Along with homemade chocolate frosting. It was delectable.

Earlier in the day my mom, Luke and I finally painted the pictures frames that were in the trunk of my for two years! They are frames my mom had around the house or in the basement. We maybe bought one at a thrift store but we couldn't remember. They were originally gold, which I really liked, but when I first brought them to my apartment they looked too big and bold for the small space, which is why I loaded them into my trunk. I hoped I could paint them someday and also get glass cut to make them into real picture frames. Well, this was my lucky day. We painted them and I got glass cut. They are ready to go! Have I mentinoed I love how they turned out?!

We scrounged around for paint and mixed our own. This special concoction was made of brown, purple and white. It turned out just as I had imagined it would. I wanted something light greyish but with color to it.

After finishing the frames (and because it was such fun and turned out to be pretty darn easy), I thought it would be fun to go to the yard waste to look for a big ol' stump. More on that project later. Our yard waste visit was successful! There were plenty of large chunks of wood to choose from so we chose the piece below. Unfortunately, while running back to the car to join my patiently waiting family I stepped in a giant mud swamp-mess with my cute new shoes! Oh the drama. No worries, they washed up just fine and I survived.

For supper, we had T-bone steaks! Yuuuuuumm. Grilled to perfection by my dad.

The next day Dad and I installed his bicycle computer. What a weekend!

Have you noticed anything peculiar about all my projects? Well, my mom has. She pointed out to me that she is involved in all my projects! She helped me (start) with the big, huge yarn balls, the scarf was for her, she wrapped the knitted baby sweater, and now this! I say the reason she helps me with all of them is because she is so good at it. Who better of a person to help you do things than your mother?! I do love my mom. :)

Thank you Mom and Luke for helping me with these beauties. Your help is much appreciated and I obviously could not have finished this project in such little time without you. Can't forget Dad! He took care of Caboose while we painted. :) I'll post more pictures of the frames when they are on my walls, which will be another project in itself.

Project Complete: Katie's Baby Sweater

Way back when...ok a few weeks ago...I told you I had a busy weekend. Here is a brief recap: Katie's baby shower, Beth's birthday, dinner with Luke's family, my birthday, painting picture frames, cutting wood disks, steaks, and installing a bicycle computer! Whew, what a mouthful. Let's start with the baby sweater.

I have pictures! The baby sweater I knit for Luke's sister was finished mid-April and I'm finally sharing pictures. Its May, people! May! I need to work on project-to-blog timing a bit I think. Back to the sweater. It started as a small ball of yarn, or four balls rather, Cascade Cotton Club.

After a full Sunday and a few week days after work of knitting it turned into this (wrapped by my wonderful mom).

Mom-to-be, Katie (due any day now!!) and Luke's other sister, Beth.

The finished sweater! It is Trellis from knitty.com. I think its absolutely adorable and so easy to knit. Ok, easy as in I wouldn't call myself a very good knitter, mostly due to my lack of years of experience under my belt, but its possible for me to knit so its got to be pretty easy.

I will definitely be knitting this again. In fact, another one of my good friends is prego so I might have to start another sooner than I think. Geesh! Its all about the love.

Cheers to a finished project! Even if it is two months late... :)