What is this funk?

Hi friends. I feel like I'm in a bit of a blogging funk these days. The weather here has been gorgeous lately... so I can't blame that. Let me quantify gorgeous for you:

That's in Ohio. In MARCH. I'm praying this doesn't mean my non-central air conditioned house will be a nightmare this summer, but it's already pretty warm!

Even the poor plants that were menaced by a puppy last summer and fall seem to be looking pretty good!

I spent hours last year untangling this clematis from an awful Virginia creeper, painstakingly saving its beautiful-ness.  Then Derby ate it. It's making quite the comeback though... I took this picture on Friday night and by Sunday night it had already grown to the next horizontal wood piece, which is at least a few inches. It has gorgeous purple flowers in the late spring / early summer, so hopefully those will still bloom this year!

Is anyone else in a blogging funk, or is it just me? I'll be all done with school in about six weeks (can I get an AMEN!), so maybe it's just this last little bit that's the hardest.  I'm definitely still mid-quarter life crisis, too. 

So what's new with you??

A Resolution Check-In

I mentioned in my 2011 wrap up post that I probably should have checked in on my resolutions throughout the year, instead of just at the end of December. In an attempt to do that, here's a review of my progress so far... just remember that it's early!

1. Try to "have it all," but don't go crazy when I can't. 

I feel like I'm on the right track with this. My amazing new boss at work is great in this aspect. I was worried about preparing for an event last week and she said, "Wait. What happens if you forget something? Nothing. It's okay. Don't worry." Amen, sister.

2. Schedule a monthly date night. 

Bad news: we didn't formally do this in January. Because we forgot and the month went by too quickly.

Good news: we have been focused on spending more quality time together. And I'm going to remember this month!

3. Stick to an exercise routine. 

I am really proud of this. Derby and I finished Week 7 of Couch to 5K last week! It's still not easy, and making time for it is the hardest part, but we're doing it.

4. Make enough time for my hobbies. 

Reading books - huge fail. Sewing - did more in January, but it fell off the final two weeks. Need to focus on this one again!

5. Stick with our budget. 

Still on track!

6. Stay present. 

The conference helped me re-focus on this, and I'm trying. It's harder than I thought, but it's worth the effort!

7. Stay organized. 

This is going better at home than work, where I'm just feeling overwhelmed. Working on it!

8. Take a vacation. 

WE BOOKED IT!!!!!!!! We are headed back to our honeymoon location (aka - paradise) at the end of April!!!

9. Stick with my blog. 

I'm making great progress! It's still not quite as regular as I'd like, but at least I haven't disappeared for months at a time!

The best part of reviewing my goals? I'm actually doing better than I expected. Thanks for being my virtual accountability partners.

How are your new year's resolutions and 2012 goals going?

Choosing Applique Shapes

I LOVE to applique. On pretty much anything. Ever since I learned how to do it, I've been unstoppable.

What I love most about applique is that it's so versatile. You can applique on almost anything and you can applique almost any shape. You don't need to buy special books in order to find the shapes - you can find applique shapes just by googling.

What you're looking for are clip art designs that have pieces that you can dissect into an applique shape.  If you look closely at the animal faces on this quilt, you'll see that I started with the largest piece on the bottom, and then added the smaller pieces layer by later to form the animal. On the blue zebra, for example, I started with the "body" piece, which is the medium blue, Then, the light blue nose piece was added, and finally, the dark blue hair (?) part and the nostrils. I embroidered the eyes last.



To find applique shapes:

1. Search for clip art images that relate to the shape you want to applique.
2. Choose a design that is SIMPLE and has parts that you can easily trace.
3. Mirror the image before you print it!!
4. Follow your normal applique technique steps.

When I made the peace sign onesie, I just searched for "peace sign clip art" in Google Images. I found this:

Some of those will make great applique shapes - some won't. Remember, you always want the most basic shape. The first shape is good, but the lines are pretty thin. Ultimately, I ended up using this one.

You can choose whichever one makes the most sense for your project, but the thicker the lines, the easier it will be.

You can do this with more complicated shapes, too. Say you want to applique a puppy.

You have a lot of options here, and almost all of them will work. Remember that you want to look at the shape like layers. On any of these, you'd first applique what is at the back (like the ears), and then layer the face and nose on top.

Does that help make sense of choosing applique designs? I'm not an expert, but hopefully this clarifies the process a bit and makes you want to tackle some applique designs yourself!

Random Thoughts of a Crazy Woman

My thoughts have been pretty random lately. None of these in and of themselves merit a full post, but hopefully they'll at least be entertaining.

1. What is the difference between macaroons and whoopie pies? Is this an important distinction I need to know about to be a real grown up?
2. I got a serger. More on this later. But can someone come to my house and show me how to use it? It's overwhelming to figure it out.
3. My dog is so freaking cute that I can't stand it. But our next dog will be a non-shedding type, no matter how many thousands of dollars it costs.
4. I cannot hold any more babies before we are ready to have our own, because they are making me crazy.
5. My hair dresser styles my hair SO much better than I do. I wish I had her talents. Or a million dollars to pay her to do my hair every morning.
6. Am I the only State of the Union watching junkie out there? I don't care who the President is, there's something so regal and awesome about the whole event.
7. My new boss is awesome, and I'm learning so much from her.

That's it for now. I think. It's been a random kind of week. What random thing are you thinking about this week?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

This probably isn't a post that is very interesting to many of you, but I am so overwhelmed with gratitude and I just have to write it. Blame my recent gratitude kick, if you must.

Thank you to each and every single person who reads this blog. I am so humbled by how many of you there are, where you live (shout out to my friend from Saudi Arabia!), and the lovely comments you send me.

Thank you to everyone who pinned my pallet art, became a follower of my blog, or said sweet things about my flower quilt.

I like to blog for many reasons, but the love and community I've found here was unexpected and overwhelming. Your involvement in this blog has turned this from a record of my (somewhat boring) life for my parents to one of the highlights of my day.

You are fantastic -- thank you to all of you who humor me, think I'm at least a little bit funny, and enjoy the crazy things I make. You guys rock.

                                            

Breakfast + Pizza = Delicious

I have always been a fan of breakfast pizza. I honestly can't remember when I had it for the first time, but I love breakfast, and I love pizza, and I love breakfast pizza.

Last night we were trying to decide what to have for dinner, and we were struggling to come up with something. It was one of those nights where we were missing one key ingredient from everything we could think of, nothing really sounded good, and it was cold and snowy, making going to the grocery store impossible.

I headed to my Pinterest "Eat It" board for inspiration, and that's when I saw it. Breakfast pizza.

                                

We (who am I kidding? Zac) had already made something else from this blog, and it was awesome. Breakfast pizza for dinner it was.

And it was delicious. And then some. I love Stephanie's blog, Macaroni and Cheesecake, and I think you will too, if you visit. She has some really awesome recipes to steal.

If you want to make your own breakfast pizza, here's the recipe:

Breakfast Pizza

Source: Macaroni & Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Your favorite pizza crust - we used a Betty Crocker Pizza Crust mix, and it was awesome. Tasted homemade. Don't judge. It was a weeknight.

1/4-1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese (enough to spread a thin layer over the crust)

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

salt & pepper to taste

1/4-1/2 cup shredded 2 % monterrey jack cheese (We used cheddar).

1/8 -1/4 cup bacon crumbles

Directions:

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, add eggs, milk, salt & pepper to taste. Whisk together to break up eggs. Pour egg mixture in skillet and scramble eggs. Once scrambled, allow to cool about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray a round baking sheet with cooking spray and spread your pizza dough out into a circle about 12 inches or so. Spray dough with cooking spray and spread a thin layer of ricotta, leaving about an inch of dough on the outer edge.

Top with scrambled eggs, bacon crumbles, & shredded cheese.

Bake for approximately 13 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Stephanie, thanks for providing our dinner inspiration last night, and for letting me steal your recipe. Everyone else, check out her blog for more delicious inspiration!