Skyler Pierce Anderson & Kayla Danelle Anderson

Saw this post by Jessica on A Few of My Favorite Things and thought it was so cute. :) Had to do my own survey. (Haven't done these since Myspace days!! haha)

Skyler & Kayla Anderson Couple's Survey


♥ What are your middle names? Pierce & Danelle

♥ How long have you been together? Been together for a year, 7 months and 3 weeks.  Married for 8 months and 1 week.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? About 2 weeks.

♥ Who asked who out? Skyler - gentleman. :) We were laying out looking at the stars and he asked if he could hold my hand. It was so sweet. After that, it was all "downhill" from there (in a good way!!)

♥ How old are each of you? Both 24. I'm a month and 1/2 older.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most? Pretty equal.

♥ Do you have any children together? Not yet.... :)

♥ What about pets? 2 cats, our "girls" - Kitty & Scooter. And a quiet betta named Turquoise.

♥ Did you go to the same school? Nope

♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope

♥ Who is smarter? Skyler!! He is so smart!  I'm better at english/grammar, and he's WAY smarter in the science/health department. Yikes - I know nothing about that stuff!

♥ Who is more sensitive?  Well, me naturally.  But Skyler can definitely be sensitive too - in a good way.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? Sushi Kyo. :) But we definitely found a new love in Sushi Land instead. 

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Florida & New York.

♥ Who has the craziest exes? Hands down, ME. haha

♥ Who has the worst temper?  SKYLER!! He can be a BRAT! :) But, me too.  We can both be very bratty. Skyler gets explosive when he thinks someone is cheating at a game though. (Don't tell him, but I think it's kinda cute.)...But for the record - I hate it!! ;)

♥ Who does the cooking? ME! And I love it.  I love that he's always hungry and always thinks my cooking is awesome.

♥ Who is more social? Probably equal.  Skyler definitely used to be way more social though.

♥ Who is the neat-freak? We both are - but I'm probably a little more pro-active about it.

♥ Who is more stubborn? ooooh.  We both are stubborn.  The first thing my dad told Skyler was, "When Kayla puts her mind to something, she WILL do it and won't give up until it's an impossible task.  She's very determined!  So be prepared to just support her!"  (I like that word - determined - MUCH better than stubborn!)

♥ Who hogs the bed? Definitely Skyler.  But he claims it's because I don't snuggle him, so he has to come over to my side of the bed to snuggle me. (I'm used to it - being on the edge of the bed, Skyler right next to me, Kitty at my legs on the edge of the bed....boxed in. )

♥ Who wakes up earlier? Oh me. For sure. Usually up an hour or two before Skyler or Sat/Sun. And I wake up earlier than him for work.

♥ Where was your first date? Well, technically our first "date" (but before we were dating officially) was the river front and then a pig roast.

♥ Who has the bigger family? Same size.

♥ Do you get flowers often? Nah, a few times.  But it's ok.  He does way more than just flowers would do!

♥ How do you spend the holidays?  Every other except for Christmas - Christmas Eve with his fam (because they always celebrated that night instead of Christmas day anyway) and Christmas day with my fam.  Works perfect.

♥ Who is more jealous? Equally jealous for each other. :) (in a healthy way)

♥ How long did it take to get serious? Started officially dating 2 weeks after we met, and 2 nights after dating, before even seeing each other again, we had a long phone conversation about us getting married. :)

♥ Who eats more? Skyler!! He's always hungry.  Though, I am always the one who wakes up starving.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry? We both do.

♥ Who’s better with the computer? Me for sure.

♥ Who drives when you are together? Skyler does - I like for him to.

Discovering Why You're a Perfect Match #3

It's Wednesday and I'm still reveling in how great of a weekend I had.  It's been quite some time since Skyler and I had an entire weekend with no exact plans or an entire weekend to spend together.

Saturday morning we lazily got up around 9:30, had breakfast and headed up to the Saturday Market in Portland.  Remember that Skyler had never been to a Saturday Market before?  I couldn't WAIT to take him to the Portland Saturday Market!!  He was in for a treat. :) We got there and wandered around for a few hours, enjoying the craft and jewelery vendors, street performers, Ethiopian food and even bumped into a couple of our friends, Grae and Tara there.

As we strolled along the riverfront, just talking and enjoying each others' company, a young couple approached us.  They asked if we were from around here and started making small talk with us.  Both Skyler and I initially felt "ok, what's the catch? When are they going to make their sales pitch?", thinking that they had something they wanted to offer us and that was the reason they stopped us.  As I was thinking this in my head, the guy asked, "So, you guys are married?" and we replied yes.  "Me and Katie (his girlfriend) have been talking about getting married.  You guys are just glowing.  How did you know that you were the right one for each other?"  I had the privledge of telling him briefly our story and how on the night that we started dating, I had that overwhelming feeling of "we found each other! We actually found each other!".  We just knew.  He wanted to know more.  How did we know?  Was it a feeling?  Was it immediate?  ... 

Here we were thinking this couple stopped us to sell us something...when really they stopped us, as a curious couple themselves, because they spotted us amongst the crowd, thought we were just glowing, saw a love abounding, and wanted advice from us on how we knew we were soulmates and the ones made for each other....Strangers saw this in us.  We are a perfect match; even strangers think so. :) 

I am blessed to have Skyler as mine.  We are not perfect people by any means; just a perfect match of imperfect people, renewed by God and given the gift of patience (usually) and the strength to choose to be in love with each other every day (usually).

What a fabulous weekend; thank you lover for spending it with me!

What Makes an Awesome Thursday...

Yesterday was awesome.  And by awesome, I don't mean the part where I woke up at 6:20 am, went to work at 7:00 am, and sat at my desk until 4:00 pm.  No, by awesome, I mean the part where I went to Ace Hardware at 4:15 pm.  I know, Ace Hardware...WHOO HOOO! Right?  Not usually.

But I found two lamp bases and two lamp shades that matched at Value Village a couple months ago and have long ago finished a re-do on them to make them match our bedroom.  They turned out really cute, which I was thrilled about - but there was something wrong that I didn't notice before.  There was no way to attach the lampshade to the base...Like there wasn't a "frame" or whatever they're called to rest the lampshade on the base...And there wasn't the metal clip part that was directly attached to the lampshade either...So for the past two months, those lampshades were just resting right on top of the bulb...And I've been searching everywhere for a lampshade clip attachment (not the kind that attaches to the base).  I went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Craft Warehouse, Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart - everywhere I could think of to find these little clips.  No one knew where to get them, and employees kept suggesting I make something out of a wire clothes hanger...I like projects n' all ... but that task didn't sound pleasureable at all.  I finally landed at Kelly's Lighting. Brilliant! A lighting store - a HUGE store DEDICATED to lights.  Surely there must be something there.  Huh uh. Nope.  But the lady there directed me to Ace Hardware and said they usually carry weird parts like that.  I hadn't even thought of Ace, since I'd never been to this one in Salem before.

Side Note: I LOVED the one in Albany years ago.  When I was a small child I looked forward to going there with my dad because the entire building was lined with model kitchens and baths.  I remember going there and playing house with my sister and lounging in the spa tubs.  Felt like royalty (though those baths and kitchens would now be something we would call 80's ghetto and be ripping out of our houses...) with all that beautiful green and white and golden brassy fixtures.  :) I remember being devastated when I was about 8 years old and had learned that Ace Hardware was closing in Albany.

Anyway. Back to reality. I went into Ace yesterday and a nice man came up and asked if he could help me find something. I explained what I was looking for and immediately felt a little pitter patter in my heart as he said, "follow me!"  There they were.  In all their glory.  And for only $3.99.

And now, my friends.  I can finally finish my lamps and post them. (Once I find a finial that I like...hehe)

This find made my day.  No more searching, and now I know that Ace stocks weird items.  Storing that bit of knowledge away for next time. :)

And then, I came home to this:

Yes. This is my cat Kitty.  She is actually laying on the floor, next to her food bowl, flinging food out with her paw, and chowing down...and while lounging around. *Sigh*  Kitty dear.  This is why people call you Fatty.

Skyler thinks I need to submit my own LOL Cat. :) Either way, she def. makes us lol.  Frequently.

And that was my supremely awesome Thursday evening.

Love, K

Discovering Why You're a Perfect Match #2

Skyler is the man who was made for me - of this I am sure. :)

He is very busy most often, between going to school, homework and studying for classes for the nursing program and then all his hobbies:

• paintball
• skiing
• surfing
• rock climbing
• long boarding

et cetera, et cetera.  This particular week he has been very busy.  Gone most of the weekend at a paintball tournament, and then endless homework since he got back late Sunday night.  Last night, as he was working on a presentation for today, I snuggled up to him really quick and said, "I miss my husband."

He snuggled back and replied, "You'll probably miss him until Friday..." gave me a kiss on my forehead and went back to work... :)

...He makes me laugh, always.  He is my perfect match.

Best Cornbread Ever. I promise.

When I first met Skyler, he didn't like cornbread. At all.  He said he could eat it if he had some chili to go with it.  But he also doesn't like to eat chili.  So.....I'm still not really sure when he was planning on eating cornbread.  This was very disheartening to me because cornbread is something I like to eat with more than just a bowl of chili.  I like to eat it with dinner.... in general. :) Or breakfast or lunch.  I love me some cornbread!

That said, I made it a goal to find an awesome cornbread recipe that would make Skyler fall just as much in love with it as I was. :) Previously, I used the small Jiffy box of cornbread mix because that's the way mom made it and I loved it!  Hadn't thought about trying any other way - if it isn't broke, don't fix it, right??  Wrong!  (In this case anyway).

I googled, "Best Cornbread Recipe" and came up with this.  Truly, it is what it is.  Look no farther - you have found it too.  Literally, THE BEST cornbread recipe ever.  Even Skyler would agree.  And from scratch...no more pre-made cornbread box mixes in my cupboard!!  Last night I made some to go with dinner, (NOT to accompany chili!) so I thought I would share my awesome find with you.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil 

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. 

I did make a few changes...because well, I wouldn't be the "I don't follow recipe's" Kayla that I am if I had just left it alone... :) 

I added: 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1/4 cup milled flax seed, a tbsp of honey
(I've been trying to add milled flax seed and wheat germ into whatever I can add it to without it being noticeable!  I've added them to smoothies, cakes, muffins, pancakes...)

Also, I put only 1/2 cup or slightly less of sugar in.  And, as shown in my picture above, I baked this sucker in my springform pan...thought it'd be fun to try.  Turns out, it was. :) I usually bake this in my 9x13 pyrex dish though.  In my springform, I should've baked it just a little less than 20 min because the edges were a little crispier than I would prefer. 

There you have it.  Now you can have friends and family ooh and ahh and declare that it's the moistest cornbread that they've ever tasted. :)  I can almost guarantee you that it will be.  I love whoever came up with this recipe.  And:

I love AllRecipes.com!!

Terrariums.

Terrariums.  Have you heard of them??  I didn't until a few months ago when I came across this somewhere.  Ever since, I have totally wanted to make one.  But I needed the perfect jar(s), which I didn't have.  I've been keeping my eye out at Goodwill and ValueVillage for the right type of jars, and finally stumbled upon two lovely jars at Goodwill that are identical to a third one that I bought from Goodwill several months ago and used at my wedding (which I cannot find anywhere!! boo hoo).  They do not have lids, but I love the jars so much that I decided it just didn't matter. :) (Ohh, the sacrifices we make for those we love. ;)

Since I bought my jars a couple weeks ago and my terrarium dream was becoming a reality - I had been on the lookout for this so called terrarium activated charcoal...And let me tell you: being on a quest for such an unheard of thing is not an easy task!! Seriously.  I can't tell you how many different craft, hardware, pet supply stores I went to in search of this charcoal.  I'd always give up looking for it myself, find an employee and ask them where they might have some terrarium activated charcoal.  And you know what EVERY one of them said? "You're looking for what?"...I repeated myself.  "Oh we don't have that," and they'd quickly return to whatever else they were doing.  Um, ok.  Question.  Do you actually know what I'm talking about and do you know for sure that you don't have it?  Or do you not know what I'm talking about and don't want to take the time to find out?

Not to sound totally rude, but seriously.  I got that vibe from every employee I asked.  Do you ever feel that way when you ask an employee to help you find something?  Like they just answer that they're all out or something so they don't actually have to move around and help you find it?? Yeah, that's how I felt.   So, I gave up.  Not on my terrarium, oh no no no.  But I gave up on finding charcoal.  I figured that since I didn't really know what it did anyway, that maybe this was one of those times where what you don't know can't hurt you? Yes, do you agree?

So: I started with this.

My jars, sand (from my favorite beach Siesta Beach in Sarasota FL), moss, black stones, my lovely succulents, and a bag of fast drying cactus & succulent potting soil (which I forgot to put in the picture). (Oh, and the big white pot has nothing to do with this project...let's call that project Desperately Trying to Keep the House Palm Alive...:D) The soil was only $4 and the succulents were on sale for $2 at Lowe's!  The rocks, moss and sand were things I already had.

I made my layers of sand, then stones, then moss. 

Then I put in the soil and arranged my succulents how I wanted them! One little flower part on a stem broke off, so I put it in a small pot of soil because I read somewhere that you can just cut off the different parts of succulents and that they will just root and grow!  So I'm testing it out.  I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Here they are all finished. :) (Ignore my icky apartment porch. hehe) I love them in those jars - they look so pretty!!  I am, of course, a sucker for jars though.  Just ask my husband.  Or maybe don't...he'd probably roll his eyes, and then just open up our cupboard to show you proof of my obsession.  Oh, and I had enough succulents left over (I had no idea how many to buy!!) so I put them into a pot that we had originally sitting on our armoire in our living room, with a mini palm in it...the palm has recently passed away.  As will his friend, the large palm, very soon.  Either I have a black thumb, or my apartment doesn't get enough light.  I'm going to declare the latter... :)

And THIS, was how I spent my lovely, sunny Sunday afternoon yesterday.  Out on my porch in shorts and a tank top.  Summer is coming 'round the bend.  I can almost feel it. :)

Hope everyone else had as great a weekend as I did! Love, K

A Cape for Frank

Yesterday, Skyler and I went to a birthday party for one of the cutest little boys I know - Frank.  He and his older brother Jack are best friends with my niece and nephew, Kaily & Kaiden.

Frank turned 3.  I wasn't entirely sure what to get a three year old (even though my own nephew is turning three next month), but I had seen this Martha Stewart Super Hero Cape made from a towel and I thought something like that just might be exciting for a three year old to run around in. :)

I bought a towel and washcloth from Fred Meyers, and used some velcro instead of a button closure like Martha's (safety reasons).  I cut out an "F" for Frank out of some fabric that I had (who wants to wear Super Man's cape when they can wear their own Super ME cape?!).  I sewed the F to the shield shape that I cut out of the green washcloth and sewed the shield to the back of the towel with a zig zag stitch.  I liked the way it turned out, but....it wasn't enough. I wasn't satisfied... So I whipped up a Zorro-like mask out of the same material as the "F"!  Ah ha.  Now I felt like it was a complete gift. :) This birthday gift cost me only about $7.  Not bad!

What do you think?!

Here's adorable Frank trying on his (crooked) mask for me. :) And Kaily - demonstrating how to fly.  (I gave the kids full disclosure that super-hero powers were NOT included with the cape.) Though, Frank must really have super-hero powers, because he moved like lightening and I could not get a decent picture of the whole ensemble...

As for today, Skyler is gone. :( Remember that paintball field we were at in Elma, WA a couple weekends ago?? Well, the field is lucky enough to have my lover on it right now, while I am home all by my lonesome.  He just finished playing in a tournament there (his team won 2nd place)!  Meanwhile, I have been at home crafting for the last several hours out on the porch with the gorgeous sun and 70 degree (unusual) April weather...so, more crafts to come. :)

Hope you all have enjoyed the lovely sun also!
-K

Personalized Oil Diffusers

My mother in law's bday is coming up in 2 weeks.  Normally, women are so simple for me to shop or make something for...but my mother in law is very very difficult to shop for.  She literally has everything she needs.  I lucked out with her mentioning two things recently that she has wanted but hasn't yet bought for herself:

1.) A candle warmer (looks like an old fashioned coffee warmer that you'd use next to your desk).
2.) An oil diffuser

Easy. I went to Michael's and the candle warmer was on sale for $3, and I bought a nice big candle in a glass jar that was also on sale for only $3!

For number 2, I decided to make my own.  I previously made my own oil diffuser.  Two reasons for this: 1.) I never like the simple clear bottles that most oil diffusers are sold with. 2.) The refill bottles are cheaper.

When I made my own, I had actually found the bottle that I wanted to use first, and then had the idea to create my own diffuser out of it.  It was a simple and lovely vase/bottle that perfectly matched the style of my bedroom and was on sale at Fred Meyer for only $4!  I found wooden dowels (I forget the size, but it's the smallest size.) at Wal-Mart for only .37 each, so I bought 6 of them.  I cut them down to size, poured the refill bottle of oil into my beautiful bottle, put the dowels in, and voila! Much more beautiful than the rest of the oil diffusers that I've seen (if I do say so myself!).
See:

For my mother in law's, I found a bottle on sale at Craft Warehouse for $5 that matched the color of some other glass containers in my MIL's bathroom.  I bought 6 more small wooden dowels and cut them to size.  This bottle was a little too plain though and I wanted to jazz it up a bit.  My MIL has Fleur d' lis decor around her bathroom/house and I found one on sale for $2.99 plus they were buy one get one free at Craft Warehouse. (I'm not sure yet what I'll do with the other one...)

I used E-6000 glue a hot glue gun and adhered it to the front of the bottle and let it dry.  I bought this bottle of oil at Wal-Mart for $4. I wrapped the dowels in jute twine in a nice bow and now it's all ready to package up! (The E-6000 I thought would work great...it does not work at all and left me with a mess from the fleur de' lis sliding around on the surface. Thankfully it rubbed off with a paper towel, much to my shock.  I thought I had a DIY Fail on my hands. )

How's that for a simple but cute and personalized gift?! :)

Pin It

P.S. My strawberry jam turned out fabulous, though yes - VERY sugary.  I think I will purchase the Less Sugar one next time....  I gave a jar of it to my sister in law, along with the flax seed warmer bag that I made for her, and she flipped.  She normally steals restaurant jelly packets and uses those...gag. lol. She emailed me today to tell me that between the warmth and lavender smell of the flax seed bag, it put her right to bed at 8 pm last night. So, needless to say, both gifts were a hit with her. :)

=

P.P.S. I tried out this 15 min pizza recipe from Little Birdie Secrets on Monday night also.  See:

It turned out FABULOUS! And really was just as simple and quick as they say! (Well, if you have a kitchen aid mixer that is.  I love mine.) AND: if you're concerned about the toppings you see on our pizza...well, I had ran out of ground sausage that I WAS going to use, so I used ground turkey and just cooked it up with garlic and onions.  It turned out delicious though! And, for the side that you were probably most concerned about: yes. It is alfalfa sprouts and avocado....It was on a pizza we had during our Swiss Family Anderson adventure, and we fell head over heels in love with it.  You should try it.  Just learn from me, and put the green toppings on with only like 2 minutes left of baking time.... hehe.

Love, K

Farmer's Market and Farm Fresh Fruits

Today was a good day. :) I wasn't anticipating it to be entirely spectacular because I thought it was going to be filled with taxes, Skyler doing homework, a Latin cultural event at OSU for Skyler's class, and more homework... But it's definitely been way better!!

We started out the morning by heading over to the Salem Saturday Market.  I have always loved Sat Markets.  Last summer, I took Skyler - he has lived in Salem/Keizer his whole life and NEVER knew that it existed! He was so cute and excited about it... "It's like a carnival every Saturday!" Those were his exact words after our first trip there together early last summer.

Anyway, today we found a rock stand that we had never seen before.  For us, this was an incredible find.  Both of us were dorky rock collectors when we were kids.  I would've completely drooled over this stand back in my earlier youth.  Look at these beauties:

We saw this amazing flower vase at another vendor and wow. I WILL make myself one of these.

And then I saw this plaque.  And though I'm not really one to swear, I had to laugh because this feels like it explains me a little. (hehe).

Skyler and I would love to have our own Sat Market booth someday...sell all sorts of homemade goodies. Skyler really wants to make soap and sell it.  Hopefully someday this is an adventure we can have :)

After our Farmer's Market visit, we headed to the FreshMart over on McGilchrist, because as of yesterday, their OPEN sign is now lit up!!!

Everybody sing it with me now like angels "ahhhhhhhh!"

If you live in/near Salem, definitely check this place out!!! Since they just opened, they definitely have some bare shelves, but wow wow wow. Talk about cheap and GOOD produce! Holy cow! We got 5 packs of strawberries for $5!! (Gonna try this freezer jam recipe with them on Monday hopefully!) Also got 10 small avocados (which get eaten fast around this house!) for $1.00, a canalope for $.89 (!!) and apples for $.69/lb! Tons of fresh produce for $8.  It was awesome.

Oh, and then we DID do our taxes. Which took 4 hours.  4 long hours of disagreeing about what TurboTax really was implying, searching for missing numbers, and deciding if we needed to claim certain things or not...Taxes for the first time with your new spouse = a challenge. But we're getting back $4500. So um, worth it? YOU BETCHYA!!

Anyway, I hope everyone else enjoyed the sunshine today as much as I did! Love, K
P.S. Saw this beautiful tree while out walking today!

Simple Flax Seed Warming Bags

My sister-in-law emailed me last week and asked me if I could possibly make her a flax seed warming bag since her boyfriend Jai is always stealing hers.  I laughed at the request, as I had just bought a bag of flax seed from the bulk section in Winco the night before, to make myself a flax seed warming bag. :)

This was about the easiest sewing project you can do. :) (Which is one of my favorite things: easy.)

I cut the fabric with my amazing Olfa cutter that I just got in about a 7.5" by 11.5" section.

Sewed 3 sides together, poured in the flax seed and also about a tablespoon of this flowery/lavender mix that I've had sitting around:

Sew up the last side of the bag and you're done!! Super easy and I LOVE them. They make you warm right up and feel oh soo good on cramps... ;)

Plus, the lavender smell is so lovely.

Just throw the bag in the microwave for about a min and 1/2 and enjoy!
Not much to this post, but Skyler just climbed in bed and is declaring that he is missing a wife to snuggle...so I better shut down the Mac and brush my teeth (quickly.).
Goodnight world, K

Good Day....

It's a good day at work when they ask you to drive to Geoline and PPI Group to drop off some malfunctioning equipment....Why? Because Geoline is 5 minutes or less away from Bridgeport Village, and PPI Group is 5 minutes away from Ikea!! No shopping at Bridgeport Village on this trip, but I did stop at my new fave sushi joint - Sushi Land tucked away in Bridgeport.  Yes, I had my first lunch out by myself...Felt weird, but at least it's sushi so I was in and out in 15 min. (Love those conveyor belt places!!)

2nd stop: IKEA!! It'd been MONTHS since I had been there last, and I was thrilled to spend my "lunch break" shopping around.  Look at all my goodies:

I got:

4 small square pillow forms for $1.49 ea

1 larger rectangular pillow form for $2.99

4 packs of 5 children's wood hangers for $2.99 ea

and in clearance:

1 cute stuffed elephant for $.25

1 colored striped pillow cover for $1.00

1 (ugly) potholder for $1.00

1 black and green couch cushion cover for $2.00

1 large white couch cushion cover for $3.00

1 stainless steel toilet paper ring for $3.00

All together: $31.43 (or some odd cents like that.) A STEAL in my opinion...

I have projects in mind for all of these things and CANNOT wait to get started!!! I'll post the projects as I get them done. Whoo hoo.

The BEST part: I had previously bought those 5 pk of kids hangers from Container Store for (eek) $9.99 and literally could not find them for sale anywhere else. I finally thought, just this morning, about searching for a coupon code online for Container Store and ordering them for $7.99 instead, and got all excited about that deal...But decided to hold off on ordering them until tonight.  But then, IKEA TO THE RESCUE!! I couldn't believe the $2.99 sticker price! So I had to snag 4 packs...haha. They are SO cute as a mod podge baby gift.  I didn't take pics of the last one I did, but I'll be making them again soon for my pregnant sister in law!

Hope everyone had as great a day as I did!

Love, K

$1 Dress

A couple months ago, after I had shopped my beloved Target and as I was leaving, I remembered that there was a Hancock Fabrics tucked away next to this Target.  I almost never go to Hancock Fabrics because it's on the other end of town, and I simply just forget about it. 

This particular day, I hit jackpot.  I walked in and was greeted by a large bin of remnants.  Maybe it's just me, but I get excited by remnants...I can always think of quick little projects to do with these 50% off scraps!! Well, even better than 50% off, on this particular day all remnants were $1!!! You better believe that I stocked up!

One piece that I snagged was this cute fabric, and I can't even remember what it's called - where it's scrunched up on the one end and easy to make tube top dresses/shirts from...You know what I mean, right?  It was the cutest polka dotted fabric and the perfect length to make a dress for my adorable 6 year old neice. 

The thing I love so much about this type of fabric is, a few stitches and you're done! I sewed the back seam of the dress and sewed on some ribbon that I had to make ties for her shoulders to help it stay up better; a little fray check on the ribbon, and a cute little bow.  20 min. project and done!  It turned out so cute and she just loves it. :)  And what better than a great simple and cute project for your adorable neice, than a great simple and cute ONE DOLLAR project for your adorable neice?! ;)

True "West Coast" Paintball....Rainy, Blustery Day

Skyler and I had our 2nd West Coast Paintball Series event of this season this weekend up in Elma, Washington.  It was true West Coast style and was rainy and blustery almost all day, with a few "sun breaks" as we West Coasters call em.

The night before, we were supposed to stay in a tent at an RV campground near by...But once I checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to be 55 mph winds, I thought there had to be another way.  The one and ONLY hotel/motel in this entire town or NEAR this town (small, very small) was $90 something a night...Eh, no thanks. I zoomed in on Google Maps to the Elma Paintball Field...

See Elma Paintball? ... And see due North of Elma Paintball?...Where it says Grays Harbor Hostel?

Yeah. We scored. Big time. $35/night and we had a decent bed, a kitchen, a shower and the nice hosts helped us set up their electric heater in our huge (and I mean, major confusion for a semi) truck to keep the paint warm all night.  I showered (which I wouldn't have been able to do tent camping) and put together team registration packets at the nice table in the warm kitchen (we had the hostel to ourselves) while listening to music on the Mac...And smiled at the thought that I could've been putting these packets together by lantern light, in my tent in 55 mph wind gusts and rain pouring down.  *Ahh* Life is good to me sometimes. :)

The next morning, we woke early at 5 am, made eggs and toast, packed up the truck again, hit the road by 5:59 and made it to the paintball field by 6:02.  Yes. Life was on my side this weekend. :)

The tournament went very very well (the smoothest it's gone yet. We've had a total of *I think* 7 tournaments between last year and this.).  It was rainy, but it was okay.  I had my nice station set up under our glorious Planet Eclipse (paintball brand) tent with sides which we got sent to us for free since we, as West Coast Paintball Series, are now sponsored by them! I was celebrating.  If not for this tent, I would've been sitting out in the rain all day long..(or probably would've retreated to a miserable 8 hours alone in the truck).  Here's our set up:

Don't we look professional?! :)

Here's a couple of my fave's from the day:

Was a fun weekend of visiting with all these familiar faces and watching some good games.  Paintballers are some incredibly fun and positive people.  I love me some Paintballers!! (Especially my number one paintball champ - Skyler!)