Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day and I wanted to take this moment to wish my mom a very happy mother's day!!

And you, too, Gramma!! My two favorite ladies above! I love you both! Have a great day!

Easter Menu

We're half way through Holy Week and I'm only now thinking about what I'm going to cook for Easter dinner. And I have Sis #2 asking how is going to make the ham! But I'm thinking I want to do something easy. And what is easier than throwing something in the slow cooker? So I found this:

{Mel's Kitchen Cafe}

It takes only 4 ingredients. You read that right ... FOUR! How easy is that? And the couple of recipes I've tried from Mel's site has not disappointed. And how can you go wrong with ham? To round out the menu? Maybe some scalloped potatoes and my mom's lasagna! Comfort food!!

Happy New Year!

We're well into the new year and I can't believe how fast 2010 flew by. I'm hoping that 2011 is a great year. I want to do so much stuff ... mainly more crafting and getting my Etsy shop(s) filled and going. And more blogging!

I'm back at work now that admin leave days are over. Boo-hoo! So I'm finding it difficult to get into the craft room. But I must!! Besides those 4 Annies that need to be photographed, I also need to get better photos of this big guy:

This is Bruno ... I like to call him my "kidney bean bear" because his body is shaped exactly like a kidney bean. Hahaha! He's been done for quite some time and I've had him tucked away in the closet to avoid dust bunnies! I guess you could say he's been in hibernation. Ha!

I know we're over a week into the new year, but perhaps I will put down some goals for this year in my next post. Or maybe I don't want to put them down for fear of not accomplishing anything. Sigh! We'll see ... it'll be a good thing to put down and keep me accountable. So until next time, I hope you have a great year!

Moving

I am in the middle of moving from a 1 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom townhouse. The good news is that I hope to have a dedicated craft space. It'll be small, but better than having it in the bedroom. The bad news? Moving!!!! I'm tired and sore! And the stairs! And I don't even want to mention the amount of stuff that I have accumulated! Craft and baking stuff coming out of my ears! Most of which have not been touched (heck, seen) in years! What a nightmare! But I will be de-stashing big time; now is the perfect time. So I hope to be back after I've gotten everything out of the old place! Wish me luck...

The New Year Has Come & Gone!

Wow, it's already the end of February! So much has gone on since the last post. Some good, some not so good. Our new year saw a medical emergency ... one that has us at the hospital daily since January 3rd! My dear grandmother was flown to Oahu, underwent surgery, was in ICU for over 6 weeks, and continues to be in the hospital. But she's getting better every single day! Thank you, Lord! Constantly going to the hospital to be with her (who wants to be alone in a hospital?) and driving family to and from the hospital has finally taken a toll ... yep, I've come down with a stinkin' cold. Ugh! So I haven't been able to drop by the hospital for the last two days. Gramms will probably scowl at me when I do finally show up. Thankfully, Jess has been going.

So needless to say, I haven't done any crafting, cooking, baking or anything fun! And once again, have ignored blogland! Remember the raggedy from Furlough Day 2? Well, here she is:

She's such a cute size! And I love her pink dress! She was eventually going to make it to my Etsy shop, but has been brought to the hospital to (hopefully) bring a little sunshine into grandma's room! I definitely need to sew another ... she was so quick and easy to do! Now to find the time to go work on another!

Did you know that the best people are born in February? Yep, it's true. Moi! Hubby! Dad (one day after me, what a great gift you got, huh?)! Brother #1, born on Valentine's day! Sorry mom, you missed February by one measly day! Bummers. So yes, a lot of birthdays. My b-day happened to fall on Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, so no nice dinner for me. That's okay, Hubby didn't get his b-day dinner either (too stressed out and busy). But that just means we get to have a huge treat once Lent is over. Hahaha! But back to February birthdays ... like I said, only the best people are born in Feb. And meet our newest little addition to the February b-day pack:

Isabella Corinne, my newest neice! She's adorable! You should see how she has her parents (of cupcake wedding ... no, they wasted no time!) wrapped around her tiny finger. I haven't seen her in almost a week, and now with this cold, all the more so I need to stay away. Can't be passing germs to the little one. I'm sure the next time I'll see her she'll have grown a bunch! I better get over this cold soon ... I need to squeeze the little bambino!

Funny, I refer to her parents' wedding as the "cupcake wedding" because of the more than 100 cupcakes that I baked. Addy must really like cupcakes ... because her baby shower also had cupcakes. It was bakery themed. And while it was a lot of work, I think we pulled it off. Maybe I'll blog about the shower in my next post. Until then ... have a great day!

Furlough ... Day 5

Hi all! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! My Christmas was quiet and relaxing. I got some kitchen stuff from the hubby. Of course, like I mentioned in my previous post, I also bought some fabrics for myself. So I got my two favorite things -- kitchen stuff and craft stuff! Now to find a place for this stuff. Living in a small one bedroom apartment is not fun and it's about time to start looking for a bigger place.

Today started the second week of our furlough and I spent the day being a complete bum! I slept in and when I woke up, sat around watching TV. Ugh! Talk about being unproductive. Well, no ... I did stitch the dolly legs on and put her dress on. Okay, so it's taking a week to get done, but I will get it done tomorrow. Promise! And, I also brought lunch to the hubby. What a nice treat.

Take a look at what was perched outside my door:

It's two birds sitting in my basil pot. Of course, this was taken a while back, but I happened to come across the photo and had to smile. There were two nesting in the pot, maybe even three! Sadly, I have a black thumb and the basil plant didn't make it. It's probably too hot to sit outside. Maybe next summer I'll try again.

Here's hoping for a productive week (anything is going to be more productive than today), so until Day 6 ...

Furlough ... Day 3 and 4

Can you believe I spent most of Furlough Day 3 at ... WORK??? Yep, I had to go into the office to work on crunching some numbers and reviewing a few contracts. Sigh. So long for a nice break. Truthfully, my break so far has been nice and quiet. Just how I like it! For Day 4, I spent it browsing fabrics at Kaimuk Dry Goods and books at Barnes and Noble. I did NO Christmas shopping this year for anyone (sorry gang), but I did manage to buy some fabrics and a couple of new books.

I also made some yummy treats involving these three ingredients:

Can you guess what it was? Hahaha!

Tomorrow is Christmas and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Since there was no holiday shopping going on here, there's not going to be much presents to open. Although, a Crate and Barrel box was at the door when I got home this evening. Sweet!

Furlough Days will continue next week! Check back then ... hopefully I can finish that little Raggedy Ann doll (no she's still not finished)!

Furlough ... Day 2

Day two of furlough! Chatted on the phone with mom and spent the day being mostly lazy! Hahaha!

Besides spending some quality time on the treadmill (two days in the row, think I can keep it up?) and cleaning the bathroom (yuck), I started on a raggedy ann doll. It's smaller in size ... I had to start small! She'll end up being about 11" and will wear a strawberry dress. Maybe she'll even hold a sweet berry, we'll see. She's made using a Raggedy Old Annie's pattern. Here's what I accomplished yesterday:

And all I did today was work on painting the legs:

Hopefully this little cutie will be done tomorrow! I just need to stitch her face and hair on and then add some accents. And then I'll need to think of what I'm sewing next!

Furlough ... Day 1

Hi all. I've truly neglected this blog for months! Ugh! I don't know ... maybe blogging is just not my thing. I love reading blogs, but by the time I get home from work every day, well, let's just say I'm just too tired to do anything else. And yeah, my crafts have suffered too. Sigh!

But, good news ... I'm on furlough for the next two weeks! Well, not really furlough. It's called "Administrative Leave;" I took a 5% pay cut for this fiscal year but I get these next two weeks off (and another week during spring break). Kind of sweet! So let's see if I'm going to be productive this next two weeks. What do you think? I at least want to get to some crafting!

But this is what I'm facing:

A complete mess ... this is just one small shot of the stuff I've got to go through. Ugh! Wish me luck!

Images of Home

So as you may know from the last post (weeks ago ... NEED to get better with this blogging), Greg and I spent the 4th of July weekend at home on Kauai. Kauai will always be my home and there are moments when I would move back in a heartbeat. But boy was it hot! Like sweltering hot! I don't miss that! We had a nice time with some family over for an evening BBQ. Greg was just going crazy with the camera. Tons of interesting shots of my childhood home. Here's some cool shots ...

Hey, look ... here we are! In the middle of that big Pacific Ocean!


Yummy ... pineapple upside-down cake! Get ready to dig in!


Sister #2's rocking horse.


Aging wine?


Ready and waiting for the next sewing project (hint, hint Marlene ... get with it)!


Two of my creations ... the pillow from eons ago when I was just learning to cross stitch and the country goose that my mom scooped up. And don't forgot about traveling AC-the-dog, who accompanies Greg and I on all of our trips. He even made it to Paris and Rome when Greg and I got hitched!


Row of dried peonies from Sister #1's wedding.


Wood grain of an old table outside:


Rusting weights.


Drip, drip, drip ... I just love this shot. I think Greg had to lie on the ground to get this shot!


Aaahhh ... laundry memories! I remember hanging clothes on the line to dry. Ugh! I did not like that chore when I was younger. Living in the city, well, no clothes lines! Yay!


My handprint, forever stamped in concrete pavers designed and made by my Dad! I can't remember how old I was, but this was oh so many years ago.


A beautiful setting sun as we started our drive to the airport ... goodbye Kekaha ... we'll be back!

Mail Call

I discovered McMaster & Storm a while ago and loved all their goodies. So, because I'm so enamored with everything French, Italian, European, etc., I decided to try out their Italian stapler. So cute! I had hoped for the pink stapler, but OMG ... the teal is perfect! And I scored scalloped scissors with real scallops, not just waves. Can't wait to try that on a doll dress. And all the freebies from Kara. Yum!


Oh, and the packaging was like getting a birthday present all over again! And my b-day was months ago (don't remind me).


I think I'll need to order again!

More Wedding Bells!

So as you can tell from the last post, more wedding bells were in store for me. If you remember, sister #1's wedding took place in November. I did the wedding cake and most of the desserts. And I recall saying that her wedding cake was my first and last. Yeah, you can read about it here.


Well, sister #2's wedding took place in April. And you guessed it ... I did the cake and desserts again. Oh, and I was the unofficial coordinator for the day. Oh my gosh! It was a very stressful day with not a moment to sit and relax. I don't know how wedding planners do it! That is one profession I'll stay away from. But all in all, the wedding turned out great.

The wedding itself was very casual and very D-I-Y. Despite that, we had everything looking so classy! All the details that we took months and months coming up with was pulled together and everyone was very impressed. It really looked as if we were doing this all our lives. Little did anyone know. We fooled 'em all! Hahahaha!

So about the cake ... actually, I did cupcakes. Over 100! Half were chocolate, half vanilla. The cutting cake was a simple square with two layers using the rest of the chocolate and vanilla batters. The frosting was a buttercream from The Cake Bible. It held up pretty well. I won't even mention how many pounds of butter I went through. For the desserts, we settled on tangy lemon bars, fudgy chocolate brownies and creamy lemon cheese squares. All in keeping with the yellow, black and white color scheme! Unfortunately, like the last time, I took no photos. I was up for more than 24 hours trying to get all the baking done. And then headed to the reception to get everything set up. I guess the lost sleep was worth it ... everything turned out great.

Here's a quick peak of that day ...

Wedding held on the windward side of Oahu:


Flower girl Josey checking on her mums:


Ring bearer Ashton with ring pillow designed and crafted by me:


The couple right before their vows:


A table centerpiece:


The couple's "cake" made by yours truly (thanks for the pic Josh!):


The cut cake:


The newly married couple letting loose:


The end.

Hawaii Kai Sunset

On our way to my sister's house a couple of weeks ago, Greg and I had to pull over to marvel at the sunset. The rays were so distinct! It was unreal. I hadn't seen a sunset like this in a long time. We waited around for a few minutes to watch the sun sink lower and lower.


We've been getting lots of rainy weather the last few weeks. I guess that beats my sister-in-law in Oregon ... they just got more snow! Give me rainy Hawaii any day!

Wedding bells!

Well, hello. Yes, it’s been a long silence on the Sew What’s Next blog. It was never my intention to take such a long break. But life happened ...

... beginning with my sister’s wedding in November. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, and by no means a reason for interrupting this fledgling blog, but when your sister gets married, well, you just have to jump right in and assist with all kinds of things! And since Greg and I were married in Rome (only us, no one else was invited), I never got to do all the wedding planning stuff. All the more reason to help out Sister #1.

And, after reading about Smitten Kitchen's adventures with a wedding cake, I go and offer to make her wedding cake! I mean, how hard can it be? All I’d need to do is bake a few test cakes to get the hang of it, and voila, a piece of cake. Umm … no! Most of September and October saw me in the kitchen on weekends concocting different cake and frosting combinations.

The cake we settled on was a Red Velvet (minus the red food coloring) with a White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. This cake was a labor of love. It was a bit on the sloppy side, but hey, it was my first wedding cake. I think it was also my last wedding cake. I used to dream about doing wedding cakes. Not anymore. Sister #2 is getting married in April … we’ll see who gets to do the cake. Let me say that I am just baked out … besides the cake, I did almost all of the desserts! I was up the entire night and didn’t go to bed until 4am the morning of the wedding … and I only slept 3 hours! So did Greg. Thanks, honey, for keeping that mouse from jumping on me!

I wish I was taking photos along the way to document all of this, but I think I was just too stressed over all the planning, prepping and execution. A lot of things were done at the very last minute. But everything worked out perfectly! Take a look. Oh, and thank you Jules for your awesome photos ... all 590 of them!

Centerpieces waiting to be taken outside:


One of the tables:


Dessert table:


Ta-da:


Oh-oh:


The happy couple:


The end ...