On the run

I'm still bemoaning the fact that I haven't had a ton of time to sew, but at least my weekend was pretty fabulous.

* I had Friday off and used the day to squeeze in two gym classes, breakfast out at one of my favorite restaurants, dropping off my new jeans (that fit!!) for free hemming and a much needed pedicure. I tried a hole in the wall place right down the street from us that has received great reviews online and I liked it. Not as luxurious as my favorite haunts, but it's a great option in a pinch.

* Saturday I met up with my bestie Blondie to shop, eat and generally catch up with each other's lives. We hadn't seen each other since New Year's and we had a great day just hanging out. :)

* Sunday I was up early to hang out with Jim before he headed out to Florida for a quick work trip. That afternoon was book club (excellent food and dang good company) and the evening was the official kick-off for Peak 10, round 2! I ate like a crazy person this weekend, but after last night, I'm back in the game and really excited for this next round of crazy.

This week is jam-packed with workouts and the weekend is full as well, including the first big summer associate party for Jim's work. The most pressing thing for the week, though, is to finish up a dress for Kelcat's daughter's 1st birthday party on Sunday. And by "finish" I mean do everything except trace the pattern and wash the fabric. Heh.

What I am particularly looking forward to, though, is Memorial Day weekend. It's a long one for me and we have zero plans! So, I plan to hunker down in the sewing room and actually make some stuff for ME. I really can't wait.

Running Amuck

After spending the weekend eating and drinking our way through Vegas, I'm now in a stretch of a just crazy busy 2 weeks. It's one thing after another and there isn't time to stop and breathe, much less take photos of all the pretty things I've been working on. Sigh. Hopefully Sunday I can carve out a little time to photograph stuff - especially since it'll be back from the cleaners and the smokey haze of Vegas will have been removed. :)

In the meantime, I started a new sewing class last night - Introduction to Pattern Drafting - and yeah, it's freaking awesome! All of you advanced sewing bloggers make me drool with they way you can tweak and fit a pattern to your liking and I'm beyond thrilled to be starting down the path to learning all that fun stuff. The instructor really loves this series of classes so the class has an even peppier feel than usual. I've already signed up for Part 2, especially after hearing her thoughts on other pattern-drafting classes she'll be offering this summer, for which these intro classes will be requirements.

Okay, back to the mile-long to-do list and back soon with photos and stuff!

Odd and ends

Haven't done a post in bullets in some time. So, here we go:

* Last week, Jim was called by a partner at his firm and told that he had a proposition for him. Long story short, he is one of two summer coordinators for the Summer Associate program at his firm. They are pulled off all cases for 4 months to prep and plan and basically serve as social coordinators/den mothers (fathers?) for the newbies that are starting in a few short months. He is excited, to say the least, especially after finding out that it's a huge honor to be chosen and that the vetting process is intense. It also explained why all of the partners seemed to know his name at the firm dinner they had just before he was asked to take on this position.
What does this mean for me? A lot of events and dinners and other such social activities. To say we'll be busy is an understatement. Which means that I'm now scouring my pattern drawer and coming up with what I'm affectionately referring to as my "Wife of the Summer Coordinator" wardrobe. ;) Like I really needed an excuse to sew more. Ha! I'm seeing lots of pencil skirts and dresses in my future, but since I'm still so slow at completing, I need to start like yesterday. Eeek!

* I don't have too many details right now, but Monday night I was asked to participate in something that is potentially so exciting that I couldn't stop squealing during dinner. I'm trying not to jinx it, but any good thoughts you have would be appreciated. If this all comes to pass, it will make for one heck of an interesting blog post (or 2). And part of the backstory to it makes it even more hiliarious.

* I'm finally finishing up a black high-waisted pencil skirt that I started over the weekend after getting back from my trip up to see my mom. I used McCalls 5590, which is a fairly straight forward pattern. However, a high-waisted, fitted skirt may not be the best choice of projects for someone who is actively trying to lose weight. The upside is the stuff that I have to pair with it makes for one heck of a cute outfit. Pictures next week.

* This weekend should be fun! My brother is coming out to take a weight-lifting class with me Saturday morning and then we're going out to lunch for his birthday. I start a new sewing class Sunday, am planning to make a V-day meal at home and then I'm hoping that Monday turns into a full day of tucking in to the pink palace and sewing my little heart out. I started cutting out the Hot Patterns Uptown-Downtown dress last night and am hoping to get it finished up and start another wool jersey dress that will be my first attempt at a franken-pattern (thanks to The Slapdash Sewist for introducing me to such a fun term!) Fingers crossed for speedy sewing with no mess ups. :)

Putting a smile on my face

My new Ferragamo flats (70% off at the company store in Carlsbad - woot!)

A huge apple-cinnamon muffin

A cup of tea in my new Selfish Seamstress mug (and yes, of course it's pink!)

Plans to start reading this book tonight

Calling my doctor for an appointment yesterday and being squeezed in this afternoon, before the weekend.

That it's FriYAY!

What's making you happy today?

Too many thoughts in my head...

and no real place to let them run around and sort themselves out. I told Jim yesterday that I'm just agitated. For no real reason and at no one in particular, I'm just in an agitated state right now. Too many things to think about all of which require too much brain power. Blah!

I'd chat about my weekend, but really, it's just more of the headache-y craziness from above. Oh, but I did spend some time in the kitchen, which was fun. Let's talk about that shall we?

I read a post from Ruhlman's blog last week about homemade mayo. I've never really considered the substance to be all that inspiring, but well, take a look at the pictures from his post and you'll see where I became a bit enamored with the idea of making mayo from scratch. So, I tackled the project first thing when I got home Friday night. Like his recipe said, I started with an egg yolk, some salt, a little lemon juice and water. Simple, right? Well, yes, but after whisking those together, it was still pretty liquid-y, a bit creamy, but definitely not able to hold its shape. Poo.

I started again. Same ingredients, same liquid-y, vaguely creamy substance. At this point, I just kept going. If it broke, it broke. I'd just try it again. I dribbled in my vegetable oil - drip, drip, drip. And whisked the hell out of it. And it still didn't hold its shape. Ah, for the love of.... But, I kept at it. Drip. Drip. Drip. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. My arm was starting to burn, but I just kept going. And all of the sudden, it started to get thick. And wouldn't you know, by the time I had about a 1/4 cup of oil whisked in, it looked like mayonnaise! I started squealing like a little girl and Jim just looked at me like I was crazy. But, really, it was SO COOL! Okay, maybe I'm a big dork for being this excited about mayo, but oh well. It tasted great and I had a real sense of accomplishment by the time it was done. Yay!

To eat that delicious mayo, I made sliders for dinner using the "Nancy Silverton" buger blend I picked up at the Farmer's Market. The meat was delicious and made even better with some sharp cheddar, grilled maui onion and that lovely mayonnaise. So yummy.
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To keep the kitchen activities flowing, I also tackled a banana ice cream recipe that I've been meaning to try for at least the last couple of years. Why in the world it took me this long to christen the ice cream maker we got for the wedding (almost 3 years ago!) is beyond me. Anyways, Alton Brown's banana ice cream recipe has always looked delicious to me and I finally made it this weekend. The recipe itself is pretty good, although it is a very strong banana flavor and leaves a bit of an odd after-taste. I think next time I'm going to try adding mini chocolate chips and some chopped walnut, kind of an homage to Ben&Jerry's Chunky Monkey if you will. If you love banana, you'll love this recipe!

I also learned that I am in desperate need of a real, honest to god food processor. My little mini one is just not cutting it, like at all. It's on the top of my list for my next kitchen purchase.

And lastly, speaking of kitchen purchases, a couple of weeks ago, I bought a new cutting board. Not just any cutting board, mind you, a big, beautiful Boos board that takes up almost the entire width of my counter. It's absolutely gorgeous and beyond functional. I'm not sure how I made due without one quite frankly - it holds a ton of stuff, so you don't find yourself with items constantly rolling off the board. Yes it requires regular care, but so do good knives and pots and pans. If you're in the hunt for a new cutting board, I can't recommend the Boos boards highly enough.

Thursday Thoughts

So many things to write about, but I've been too busy to actually get to a computer to write them. blah!

* I've been the biggest gym slacker these past few weeks. Sure, I've made it once a week for weights, but besides that, it's been dismal. This week I recommited to actually getting my bum there at least 3 times a week. I'm proud to say that I went after work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and have plans to go again on Friday! Amazingly enough, I feel really good and I'm sleeping better.

* I'm not usually one to shower at the gym after working out because I literally live 2 blocks away and it's just easier to drive home right quick and shower in my own cozy bathroom. However, I had dinner plans Monday and Tuesday nights after I was at the gym, so it was easier to just get ready there and not have to go home first. And I have rediscovered that jumping into a hot shower immediately after working out is one of life's little pleasures. I practically melted into a puddle both nights as my entire body seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Since I can't afford a massage every week, this seriously might be the next best thing.


*Have you guys seen this? It's a curling iron cover bag - you pop your still hot curling iron in it and the bag insulates it so the curling iron can be packed and not burn whatever it is touching. I'm not usually one for buying a new bag that only has one purpose, but this little gal is genius! I tried her out twice this week and I have no idea how I've lived without it. Oh, and it works for flat-irons too. :)

* I was killing some time before meeting a friend for dinner on Tuesday night and I felt like something hot to drink. I wandered over the Coffee Bean (yes, I'm usually a Starbucks girl, but I was trying to branch out a bit) with the intention of trying the Gingerbread Latte (the monkey swears it's better than Starbucks version). When I got there, I just wasn't in the mood for coffee, so I opted instead for a Double Vanilla Tea Latte. Oh. My. God. How have I never tried one of these before? It was unbelievably delicious and much lighter than a coffee latte - perfect for a pre-dinner drink. I'm not trying to figure out how I can get another one of these this weekend....

* I met one of my BMs for dinner around 7:30pm. We finally had a break in the conversation and looked down and it was almost 10:30pm! On a work night! Granted, we've been known to close restaurants before, but still. We wrapped it up shortly thereafter, but it was great to catch up with her and just talk about everything.

* Last night Jim and I went to get our tree. The original plan was to get it Friday night, but since weather report has been claiming lots of rain this weekend starting late Thursday evening, I thought it best to get the tree early so we wouldn't be dragging home a soggy mess on Friday. Our original stop, Home Depot, had no 4-5' trees to speak of, so we headed down to a nursery down the street. There they had an abundance of smaller trees and after 5 minutes of looking around, we found The One. It's more expensive than Home Depot (obviously), but this is by far the nicest tree we've ever had and it's in fantastic shape (hardly any pine needles came out in the car during transport). It's at home all naked right now, but by tomorrow night, the apartment, including the tree, should be fully dressed for the holidays.

And I've been a total slacker about pictures recently, but lots are coming this weekend. Promise!