Help: Wanted

Last night I finally
FINALLY
finished quilting my
Macaroni Love Story
strip quilt.

Yes.  The quilt top that took me one day to cut and assemble
has taken me weeks
to quilt.

But that's beside the point.

I picked out two different fabrics
for the binding.
Because I'm about as good at making decisions
as I am at being patient.

I'd like your help.
Which do you prefer?

A:

Or B:

Or do you love them both
like I do??

Vote now.

Cheers,
A

Mexication 2011.

This is the view from our table at Pelicano's.
A little beachfront restaurant in the heart of Puerto Morelos, Mexico.

Dayna, Nadia and I ate breakfast here on Friday morning.
This was our exact view.

The trip was amazing.
The weather was perfect.

And the company was quiet.
Easy.
Natural.

And full of laughter.

Thank you,
ladies,
for an unforgettable 30th birthday.

Thank you,
Raul and Cesar,
for your amazing snorkeling prowess
and insane knowledge of one of the most amazing
coral reefs
in the world.

Thank you,
Tiff and Abby,
for your unfaltering
and gracious
hospitality.

Thank you all
for enduring my absence.

Cheers,
A

Photo credit goes to Dayna for the black and white photo of me. To Nadia for the two color photos of me, and for the second black and white photo of Raul, our snorkeling guide and resident marine biologist, and also to James (aka: Jad Jergens) for the final photo. One of the few of all 3 of us girls together.  Dayna, Nadia: Thank you for taking my camera and giving me the awesome gift of seeing myself through your eyes.  I love you girls like crazy.

Silence

You tell me that silence is nearer to peace
than poems
but if for my gift I brought you silence
(for I know silence)
you would say,
"This is not silence,
this is another
poem,"
and you would hand it back to me.

~Leonard Cohen


I'm headed to Abbey del Sol
with a couple of my girlfriends
for the weekend.

So I won't be blogging,
tweeting,
facebooking,
emailing
for a few days.

I'm going off the grid...

going to be
silent
for awhile.

And I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers,
A

30.

Today,

is my birthday.

The big three-oh.

Here are some photos

I managed to dig up

last night

of the last 29 years.

I know this appears to be a photo of my darling
too-cute-for-freakin'-words
eldest daughter, Elena.
But no. You're eyes do not deceive you.

It's actually me.  I must have been about the same age she is now...

 One year,
just before Christmas,
I lost my two front teeth.
Yep.
Just like the song.
I was sooooo cool.

And had the best lisssthp.

My Granny Bananny.

Dearest Helen.

She gave the best back tickles.

And she hid candy in the fruit drawer of her refrigerator.

Which is probably why she was perfectly squishy for cuddling. 

San Francisco.  1987.  Pajamas purchased IN Chinatown.
You should see the shoes that I got with this outfit.
Beaded.
Glittery.
Heeled.
Bright-ass-pink.

Yep, I was only six.
But I had style.

I'm wearing deck shoes.
With a lavender sweatsuit.
Riding a bike with a banana seat.

S.T.Y.L.E.

One of the kids in this yearbook is me.
Can you guess which one?

Even I had a hard time picking me out.
Hint: Middle row. I look like a boy. Chubbly cheeks. Bad hair.

I, apparently, lost my sense of style.

Skip ahead.  Junior year of high school.
Short hair.
Dyed blue in the front.

Yep. Blue.

Rebel.

The kind of rebel that obviously didn't own a set of Tweezermans.
Get a load of those eyebrows!

My cousin Nick and me.
Junior Prom.
1997.

No. He was not my date.
We grew up in Wisconsin, not Kentucky.

He went with my bestie, Allison.

This is our American Gothic impersonation.
Sans the garden tools.
And I apparently missed the memo on the whole
"don't smile" thing.

This is one of my senior pictures.
I'm dressed in my snowboarder attire.

Sidenote: When I was seventeen,
my mom asked me if I, uh, you, know,
liked,
uh,
girls?

I thought her question came out of left field.

In hindsight,
I now see it was a completely logical thing to ask.

I'm the short one on the right.
The one that looks like me.
Yep.
That one.
Right there.

With two of my best high school friends.
The girl on the left, Brett, and I were inseparable from 6th grade on.
I'm happy to say we are still friends.

Skip ahead to
the one and only professional photo shoot I've ever done.
And one of the few usable photos from it.
I was twenty years old.

An entire decade ago.

The day I found my wedding dress.
The second year of my twenties.

My tornado-ridden wedding day.

For a very short period in my life
I actually had a bikini body.

My honeymoon was one such occasion.

The last month of my twenties.
Seven years, two kids, two cankles, one marriage, one three-legged dog, and one big fat move later.

Thank you,
all of you,
for being a part of my thirty.

Xo
A

Skull Candy

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately.
And I'm happy to say that most of my stitch-time
was centered around
clothes-making
for the fruits of my womb.

I made Elena's Easter dress last weekend,
while my Mama was still in town.

The fabric looks like
an Easter egg
threw up
all over your Sunday best.

Good for me
I happen to quite like Paas-colored upchuck.
So much, in fact, that I made Stella
a coordinating dress.

Which happens to be in the wash right now...
photos will come later.
Promise.

Hers is made out of the butterfly print
used on the the pockets of Elena's dress.
The top and bottom pieces are a pretty blue argyle print
that just so happens to bring out the color of her eyes.

A strategic maneuver.
I take every opportunity to enhance the
get-lost-in-'em color of Stella's baby blues.

This morning I sewed a shirt for Stella, and a skirt for Elena.
This skirt is my absolute favorite thing I have made so far.
I mean
FAVORITE.

I love the final look of the skirt,
I love how easily it came together,
and I loveloveloveloveomigodlove the fabric.

I'm pretty sure I'm about to marry my sewing machine.
Maybe run away to Mexico with it....

Don't tell DRL, k?
Promise??

Cheers,
A

PS: I turn 30 tomorrow.  *gulp* Please send cupcakes, anti-aging serum, wine, and a box of tissues.

Here Is The Church, Here Is The Steeple...

 ...Open the doors,
and see all the people.

As I was driving the other day I passed a little church.
With a big white steeple.
And a field of wildflowers beside it.

It inspired me to get out of my car
and snap this shot:

 And then I saw these:

 And a whole grove
of bluebonnets.

Just starting to bloom.

I would have loved some filtery
ethereal
afternoon sun

but the clouds work
somehow
too.

Cheers,
A