v.2

We met up with Tammy and Zack at the Maritime Aquarium up in Norwalk, CT. I have to say that I wasn’t that excited about the aquarium (but was excited to see Tammy and Zack) as the reviews were good and bad. The aquarium rocks! The only aquarium I really know is the New York Aquarium and I have to give it up to the CT folks! They are both small aquariums but I think the Maritime one seems to have a lot more stuff. Not only that, there is an awesome burger place right down the block. Burger Bar and Bistro had one of the best burger and fries I’ve had in a long time. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I had such a wonderful burger!
On to the photos!

(I LOVE the jellyfish exhibit, I could stand and stare at them for hours if I could!)

Sienna touches a horseshoe crab!

Monkeys having some sort of important discussion (I just realized they both have monkeys on their shirt!)

FOOD!

Sienna and Zack had hot dogs

Yves got the boomer (goat cheese, mushrooms and truffle essense). Me and Tammy both ordered different sliders and split them! I got the chimi (argentinian cilantro sauce, garlic, avocado) and Tammy got the Ultimate (sweet onions, gorgonzola, pancetta and aged balsamic). The fries were DELICIOUS but no photo of them!

Zack plays connect 4

Ride ’em cows!

Overall a very nice day. I can’t wait to go back to the “aquarium!”

Comments(1)

I’ve run out of “clever” blog titles so just using the timeline for now!

This was for a Valentine Earring swap. Once I read my partner’s profile, this design came to mind. I searched for the right image via Google and finally found this. I did the auto trace with my Silhouette machine and made a couple of tweaks with the design. I did a little back and forth with the initials but liked how it ended up. This one is the most intricate design so far with the layered paper. My first one was so simple! The second one was a little more detailed. There were a few minor details that I wasn’t very happy with but overall I think it came out nice. I also made my partner an extra pair since I wasn’t sure how well the other would hold up.

I actually made these as the original 2nd pair to send my partner but because I am not very good at wire wrapping, the force I was using to wire wrap was weakening the loop of the heart (which is wooden) so it was starting to chip off. I didn’t think they would last so I kept it for myself and as predicted one fell off when I wore them yesterday for Valentine’s day.


Made for the Wacky Holiday/February swap. These handmade catnip mice were for Be Nice to Your Pet day.
The following cards were for the same swap and made for the Send a Card to a Friend day. I used my Sizzix and some embossing folders and made a “faux” letterpress. A bit messy but I really liked how they came out! These were done with Cuttlebug folders and I also did some with Sizzix folders (which were not for a swap and I did not take a photo of them!) I prefer doing this technique with the Sizzix as they emboss deeper. This was a lot of fun!

I decided to use the non faux letterpress side since it got a little sloppy.

Comments(0)

Last month we took an overnight trip to the Crayola Factory. It can be done in one day but we decided it would be nice to get away (and into a hotel with an indoor swimming pool!) We originally were supposed to go during winter break but Mother Nature had other ideas.

Upon first arrival (by the way, Easton looks like a very cute town!) I was sure we would be finished within an hour. There were lots of areas to do activities but with Sienna’s ADD, I didn’t think we would be staying at any one station for too long. Surprisingly we lasted 2.5 hours there! I’m not sure if we would go back again but it was a fun time.

The first (of many) free crayons she got.

Not sure what this psychedelic motion screen has to do with crayola but it was fun!

Lots of coloring stations (obviously)

Free model magic that Sienna shaped into a hippo and colored pink

The t-shirt to color was extra but at least they had the fabric markers to use and not have to buy (because I have a set at home!)

Sienna stands in front of the largest crayon in the crayola store.

We stayed in Bethelhem at Hyatt Place. It was nice enough. The indoor pool was small and there were a lot of families around.

We went to dinner at Thai Thai II and was surprisingly impressed with the food! It totally rocked! Even thought Yves’ pad thai came with a lemon (usually it’s a lime), he still enjoyed it. Sienna ate all her chicken sate AND some of my rice and sauce. She seemed like a bottomless pit that night!

Because we stayed in one big room, Sienna did not get to sleep until late since Yves wanted to watch some football playoffs. She still woke up way too early considering how late she went to sleep. We found a Waffle House so Yves and Sienna were happy about that.

Unfortunately, the ride home wasn’t the best. I was hoping Sienna would fall asleep for most of the ride, which she usually does. For some reason, she did not sleep well on the way home. We were about 45 minutes from home when I offered her a cheese stick and she threw up shortly after. The rest of the night wasn’t fun either as she kept complaining about her tummy hurting. It was painful for us to see because she never complained so much about something! She was fine the next day, thankfully! We think it was a combination of lack of sleep and bumpy car ride that made her sick.

Comments(1)

Ready for the cold!

So this week’s Iron Craft Challenge was Winter. I have a bunch of old t-shirts, a lot of them concert shirts. Some I wore a lot and some I barely wore. But I saved them. Some may call me a hoarder (that would be my hubby) as some of the shirts are OLD but I call it being sentimental. I’ve was trying to figure out what to do with them and I’ve seen on the web people making quilts out of their old shirts. That wasn’t for me. Somehow I got the brainstorm to make a scarf out of them. That brainstorm occurred in early fall and it’s been on my list of crafty things to do for a couple of months now. Finally, an opportunity to get my ass in gear! Overall I am please with how it turned out but I think for my next t-shirt scarf (I should have enough shirts for another one!) I would make one side facing the opposite way of the other side. Not a deal breaker since I will see the shirts the right way but people looking at me will see some shirts upside down.

It was hard trying to get a good shot of all the shirts. Sienna, such a ham, wanted to help out.
Here are all the shirts I used. 13 shirts with only 1 shirt using the front and back so I guess 14 pieces in total.

Don’t remember what year I got this! Definitely in the 90’s

Also probably gotten in the ’90s

Amsterdam was part of our honeymoon back in 2001

Madonna’s Like a Virgin tour 1985! One of the best shows I went to because my friend won front row seats at the Garden and the Beastie Boys opened up (before they hit it big.) The oldest shirt of the bunch.

Early 90’s. I saw INXS at Radio City.

I had 3 Morrissey shirts to choose from. This is from the 90’s.

First year I went to Coachella in 2005



I don’t remember when I got these but definitely early 2000’s…I think!

Austin City Limits festival

Ahhh, The Lost Boys. What can I say? Second oldest shirt from 1987.

I had to throw in a Brooklyn shirt!

And there you go!

Comments(3)

Last month the band was able to get together for a meeting at Hill Country Chicken. I was really interested in trying their pie shake but was a little turned off with the pie shake of the day, apple cheddar, so did not get one. I’m sure it would have been delish but I couldn’t get past cheese in my shake! Anyway, I got the Mama El’s recipe, some coleslaw and a large cheesy fried mashed potatoes to share with the table. The chicken was good but the cheesy fried mashed potatoes stole the show! Besides the addition of cheese adding to the goodness, there were fries in it! That might not sound exciting to you but then when you taste it, you are filled with this euphoria of goodness. The fries were crisp and not mushy. Although I got a large for the table, I’m sure I ended up eating the majority of it (I’m sure the dirty looks I gave off as my band mates tried to reach for it had nothing to do with it!)

Tammy had to jet after dinner but the rest of us took a walk over to Eataly, read so many things about this place! I kept being drawn to the imported chocolates, they are packaged so cute! So expensive though! I did feel the air filled with a bit of pretension but that could have just been my own emotional state feeling like a tourist in there or because my belly was full of chicken and I just felt like a fat fart walking around! HA! Yves calls me a foodie and I’m all about the good eats but I also want to be satisfied after I eat without spending a fortune. I guess I’m a cheap foodie, which brings me to the second part of this post!

Soup dumplings in Chinatown! Yeah! Finally! Been craving this since our planned soup dumpling outing got snowed on! I decided to try Shanghai Garden after seeing my friend Cindy’s Facebook status that she just went to her favorite soup dumpling place! We went last month on probably the coldest day in the year! But hey, it wasn’t snowing! So overall everything was delicious but I do have to say my least favorite was the dumplings! Strange! I don’t know if it was because we got the order of dumplings last after we ate everything. Usually they ask you what kind you want (pork or crab) as soon as you walk in and it’s the first thing you eat. It was pretty busy in there and it’s a small place so I don’t know what happened but we ended up getting it last. Plus Joy ordered 2 crabs instead of one of each (reviews say the pork is better than the crab.) Oh well, we’ll have to go back!

Here are the soup dumplings with Joy sporting the shirt I made her!

Spicy Beef Noodles. Gotta ask Joy the name of this again. So good! Not that spicy since Yves also ate some!

Scallion Pancakes

Shanghai Rice Cakes! MMM! How I missed you! Sienna liked these too.

eek! A broken dumpling!
Not pictured, the mock duck we got (mushrooms wrapped in thin tofu.)

Comments(0)

Ok, so I made it through Iron Crafts 1-4, what a great start! I’m really getting my craft on and was really excited for number 5. Oh, a Valentine challenge. Drat. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearts and candy and my husband proposed to me on Valentine’s Day 2001. I was just wondering how I was going to fulfill this challenge and not have my husband or daughter see what I made them since it’s a good week and a half away! Then I had an idea! I’ll make Valentine’s for Sienna’s class and then I wouldn’t have to scramble at the last minute! Yay! (I’m sure I’ll end up scrambling last minute for their Valentine’s anyway!) So, I got this idea from Martha Stewart and Sienna was a great model and helper! So here it is, goody bags for her classmates!

We did a photo shoot last week and boy, she is a ham. She couldn’t take after me, could she? Here are some outtakes!

She helped me put the lollipops in the baggies last night and was telling me who was getting which bag even though I hadn’t made the bags specific for anyone. I closed the bag with some heart deco tape and then used my tape runner to attach the bag top. I really like how they came out!

I was also toying with this idea but wasn’t sure it really looked like Sienna was throwing hearts at you. What do you think?

I am also counting this as my Thing a Day for day 2! (Keep track of my thing a days here!) Yeah baby! I love it when a plan comes together! 😉

Comments(3)

Last week’s Iron Craft (#4) was Get Cozy. I crocheted a mug cozy with some cotton yarn I’ve been hoarding. I love the bright color and thought it would be a nice perk in the morning to this dreary winter we’ve been having. Anyway, I kinda winged it and it ended up being too big for the mug I intended it for! I remembered I had a bigger mug down in the basement and brought that up, it was still too big! I forgot how easily cotton yarn stretches. I washed it and it shrunk just a tad so it hugs the mug just a little bit better. I might just move the button so it closes it tighter on the top!

Comments(0)