Sunshine and Jellyfish

Last weekend, H and I finally made it into the ocean for the first time this summer! It was lovely for a while until we heard a little boy screaming...shark we thought? No, his parents weren't screaming. After a little while longer, H decided to head back to the shore while I played around a little longer. When I started toward shore I saw H waving me in - apparently he found out why the little boy was screaming - he had been stung by a jellyfish too!


It was still a good day, despite the jellyfish. I did find a little place to continue swimming with no jellyfish...

It was great while it lasted, but now all we've got are thunderstorms every day. Lightening even knocked out my internet yesterday. Come back sunshine!

Winging It

I am very proud to present my very first sewing project made without a pattern! I kept seeing all these beautiful purses all over the internet, all the while mentally tweaking the shapes and colors to fit my needs. This is by no means perfect, I am thrilled with the results of my first flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sewing adventure :)

I used my wonderful canvas weight fabric obtained from a discarded futon cushion cover in New York (I had to wash it twice to feel comfortable using it - heh). H likes the rose pattern so much he has decided to make peace with the fabric's seedy past. Hehe. The black strap and end pieces are suede - so soft! - which were harvested from a very old, oversized 90's style leather jacket. My sisters and I all wore it when we were teenagers, and while I did try to give it a happy home in my closet, it was just sooooooo worn and out of style.


I think it likes its new stylish life as a purse.

The zipper is from a make-up bag I acquired somewhere...not sure exactly. At my old job I frequently got leftover goodies from my bosses' travels. I have a small collection of cosmetics bags from various airlines and corporate party favors. The lining of this purse is the black canvas side of a black pastic-y travel bag. This gives it some heft without using interfacing.

I had way too much fun loading the new purse with my goodies. Note my super special change purse from my sisters, and H's old cell phone. Why is his old cell phone in my purse you ask? Welp, my phone decided to commit suicide out of my bike basket on the beach over Christmas break. My dad found it half-drowned in a tidepool. It does still work, but it has some very odd ticks now. Ahem. I liked H and my old phones much better anyhow, so I'm back to cuter ringtones and the pretty silver exterior. The battery doesn't hold up as well as a new phone, but it lasts all day and that's all I could ask for, or need really. I have an upgrade coming up in September, so let's hope I can keep everything zipped and dry until then :)

Our New Home

I wanted to share a few pictures of our new home - at least the outside of it :) Once we get some furniture in place and throw out all the moving boxes I'll be showing you the inside. Hubby and I are still hopping around in circles over the view. I'm not sure that you can see it in this picture, but there are all kinds of yachts and boats coming and going and docking in the marina. So much cooler than cars!


We also have several neighborhood cats who are domesticated and think they are wild jungle cats who wander around in this jungly back yard and drape themselves over tree limbs like panthers. They also brutally murdered a squirrel which I'm not very happy about.

Oh yes, updates on the cockroach battlefront - I haven't seen a single monster sized cockroach since my last post! Woohoo! We had pest control come in and nuke the place, which made me nervous for our health....but then I did see a little roach type bug and thought, well if he made it through the poison, surely I can survive it. I did have to kill a big spider last night. A harrowing experience I tell you - it's extremely difficult to squash things on carpet. Ew.

Walking on the beach is wonderful therapy. All of your worries seem to drift away in the roar of the waves. All that openness is like taking the deepest breath possible and letting it out nice and slowly. AHHHHH... It's also fun to watch these new surfing dudes - they hook themselves to a parachute style device and catch some amazing air. I'm still not sure what physics are involved in keeping them from flying away. In the picture above you can see a guy doing it, but the parachute thingy is too high up to fit in the picture.


Here he is catching some air while us lesser beach crawlers gawk. How cool is that?!?


Now I leave you with a picture of some stained glass creations from my uber-talented G'ma. She is the coolest grandmother in the world - she is from New Zealand, eats marmite (yuck yuck yuck, but cool!), gardens like nobody's business, is a hula dancer, has an un-be-liev-able koi pond complete with fountain which is on a pond tour (yes, a pond tour), and is the craftiest lady I know. She knits, paints, crochets, quilts, sews, cuts stained glass, cooks, and generally anything else you can think of. She even used to be a jewelry model when she was younger, and she is a published poet! I'm sure I will be sharing more of her life story and artistic accomplishments in future posts. She is giving me her old quilting frame, so I can't wait to get started!