Snowed In

Shooey! This winter has been ridiculous! I've never seen this much snow in my life.

Daniel spent nearly 36 hours straight at work on Friday and Saturday "battling" the snow and piled on another 7 hours on Sunday. As for me, I spent a quiet, lazy weekend at home with the cats (a precursor to my impending days as a crazy cat lady, I'm sure).

This was taken shortly after Dan came home from work on Saturday night.. sadly, one of only 4 photos that I actually took of the snow. I'll do a better job on Wednesday with Snowpocalypse: the Sequel!

Unfortunately, I am huge wimp when it comes to the cold and you'll be hard pressed to find me out playing in the snow (although, I do think it is lovely). So, I stayed in, nice and toasty in my zebra-print snuggie, as the flakes fell and the snowpocalypse took hold of the tri-state area and beyond.

Between watching episodes of Flight of the Conchords and Full House, as well various movies (mainly the Disney special features DVD's because that's the kind of dork that I am), I did manage to get some crafting done - despite having a scare when I couldn't find my glue gun! (go figure, it was right where I left it last time I hot glued something. Who'd of thought?).

Here's a sneak peek at my el-cheap-o wall art that I began working on on Friday night. I'll devote a full post this after it's all finished:
I've had this collection on vintage valentine's for a couple of years now and had yet to do anything with them. It just so happened that I found some empty frames laying around as well as some heart-shaped doilies.

So I made these to hang around the apartment for some V-day flair:

The hardest part about this project was trying decide which ones to use! I'm thinking about picking up some cheapie dollar store frames so I can make a few more. I just love vintage Valentine's.

As you can see, my record art completely took over the dining room table (it's actually looked like this since mid-last week... and still looks like this, if not worse - oops!).

I'm planning on turning the painted records into clocks. Hopefully, I'll be picking up some clock parts at Michael's on Friday. Here's one of the finished paintings. I was trying to go for a design that looked kind of folky, yet modern... not sure if I succeeded, but I'm fairly pleased with the resulting abstract flowers:

I completed a second one this weekend as well that came out great! But, since it's a gift for someone who may or may not read my blog, I'll have to wait to post it... just in case!

This record is still in the works until I can perfect how I want to sketch out the Matroyshka dolls:

I also got the apartment cleaned (minus the dining room table, obviously) and did a load of laundry. All in all, even though it felt like I didn't do much of anything, it was a pretty productive snowed-in weekend.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Tuesday-Wednesday storm that's being predicted will lead to a *real* snow day. Really, what's the fun of winter when all the snow happens on days that you're already off?

<3Brittany

Mini Me

Since my niece Jasalyn was born in May 2007, everyone in my family has commented on how much she looks like me.

In November, she got glasses* (at 2 1/2 years - the same age I was when I first got glasses). Now the resemblance is almost uncanny.

I couldn't resist a side-by-side comparison:

I'm a bit older than Jasalyn in this photo, but the only other photo I could find of a little me involved me not wearing pants. I figured this one was a better choice. Plus, the fact that we are both dressed up and holding wands is kind of perfect.

Here's a snap of the two of us together from just a few weeks ago:

I'd say that there's definitely a family resemblance.

And I just love being compared to such a little sweetie pie :)

<3 Brittany

*Glasses for the little ones have come a long way since I was 2! Check out how stylish hers are!

Wordless Wednesdays: Lazy Bums

What a life! These felines have it made.

<3 Brittany

Pillows

My sewing skills are slowly improving! I've been working on covering our icky throw pillows that the cats have been shredding to pieces. Pillows are such a quick, satisfying little project and an easy way to experiment.

Here is the one that I made this weekend, flanked by two that Madre made me a few months ago. I just love yellow and purple together.

I used the left over fabric from the yellow and gray pillows along with some inexpensive, sturdy plum fabric from JoAnn's ($5.99/yd, plus a 50% off coupon - score!).

I made this other wonky looking plum pillow last week. It's the first pillow I've ever sewn, and due to my propensity to start projects without actually thinking them through it turned out less than stellar.

But, it's definitely better than the "before" product - i.e. The shredded, brown fleece pillows. I'm hoping to have them done within the next week. I still have a bit of yellow and gray fabric left, so I'll incorporate it somehow.

I have a few other apartment-improving projects in the works, too (mostly fun and cheap ways to make my un-paintable white walls and icky cream colored carpet look less... bleak). Check back soon to see my super thrifty wall-art.

<3 Brittany

Post-It Note Tuesday: I Won't Let You Get Me Down, Phil!

It's that time of the week again - time for Post-It Note Tuesday!

Making my Tuesdays exciting, since, well, last week, anyways ;)

Thanks, Supah Mommy! Click the lovely, colorful postie above to play along.

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

On Sunday, Dan and I went to north Jersey to celebrate our niece Ashley's 5th birthday. Ashley is such remarkable person. This little one was born 3.5 months before her due date and fought for her life in the NICU for her first few months (I'll never forget the utter disbelief I felt upon receiving that phone call...).

Today, she is a typical, rambunctious 5 year old. And in my completely un-biased opinion, one of the sweetest, most adorable little girls in the world ;) We had a blast playing with her (and our equally sweet and adorable niece, Jamie) and celebrating the beginning of her fifth year.

Dance parties are quickly becoming a family tradition whenever we get together with these two.

Giving a piggy-back ride to the Birthday Girl

My sister-in-law, Stacie, bringing out the yummy Strawberry Shortcake cake

Present time!

See? The photos speak for themselves - I wasn't lying when I said they were adorable!

<3 Brittany

Resolution Recap

Waaaaay back in the beginning of January (am my the only one who feels like January just dragged on this year?) I compiled my 2010 resolutions into a list for all the blogsphere to see. Now that February is here, I've decided to take a look back at said resolutions to see if I have, indeed, been resolved. The plan to is to revisit this list at the beginning of each month so I have some way to keep myself accountable. We'll see how it goes... Onto the resolutions!

1. Keep up With my Blog

I am very pleased to say that this has been a success thus far! For full results, refer to all previous posts :D

2. Begin Doula Training

This is slow going, but I expected it to be for now. I've been doing my reading (so far, I've only gotten through one book from the DONA reading list - The Family Bed - but, was reading another doula related book prior to that one. Today, I will be starting Depression in New Mothers). As soon as I'm mobile again, I'm planning to attend weekly La Leche League meetings in Exton. The meetings should be a great place to learn more about breast feeding and to talk to local birth professionals and new mommas.

3. Compartmentalizing Work-Life and Home-Life

Hm... I kind of fail here. Compartmentalizing is 100% a mental game, so there's no tangible way to judge how I'm doing. Work has been wacky and stressful this month, so it's been hard not to bring the stress home. But, knowing that I'm trying to work on it has caused me to at least steer conversations differently when I find myself talking about work too much. So, it's a start!

4. Eat Healthier

I have been surprising myself with how well this has been going. Of course, I haven't completely eliminated chocolate or anything crazy like that. But, I've cut back a lot and have been really purposeful about the food that I've been putting in my body (also, I watched Food, Inc. this weekend which makes me want to become self-sufficient on my own farm and never go to the grocery ever again... but that's a different topic for a different time). I've also been craving and devouring vegetables like crazy! I've been craving sweets much less since I've stopped eating them so much. I also upped my water intake, and have eliminated carbonated drinks almost completely.

The wonky part has been that I've been sick twice ... twice!! ... with a stomach bug this month, so I did spend several days on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast) and then pigged out a bit this weekend because I'd hardly eaten the week prior. But, today, I'm back on track.

5. Stop Comparing Myself to Other People

Eh, not doing so good with this one either. Like compartmentalizing, this is a mental game. It's so very hard to change your mind's bad habits. But, if I find myself comparing, I try to be very purposeful about thinking about something else or doing something to distract myself from this damaging thinking. Again, it's a start!

6. Craft More

Yup! I'm right on track here. I'm very excited about my project for the Valentine's Day Blog Exchange (which I'll post about soon!). I've also finished the prototype for the zipper rosette headbands, made myself a felt knitting needle case, sewed a couple of pillows, and a few other miscellaneous things. Sadly though, I haven't done much knitting or crocheting this month. But, the more I whip out my sewing machine, the more I've been falling in love with sewing. So, there'll probably more sewing projects in the near future. I'll pick up my needles again soon.

7. Purchase an SLR digital camera

No progress here :( Finances have been extra tight this month for this reason and that reason... so, not much wiggle room to begin saving for such an extravagance. Maybe we'll get lucky though and get a stellar tax refund that will pay for a new/used car AND a camera. Hey, a girl can dream ;)

So, that's that. I'd say overall, things are going well. Looking back on my progress is definitely motivating and helps the resolutions to feel new again. Time to charge into February with fresh resolve!

<3 Brittany