Today in Denver...

Jess and I decided it would be fun to make quiche for breakfast. It was SO delicious! Besides eggs and cheese, we added bacon, onions, spinach and broccoli. It took about 25 minutes longer to bake than the directions said it would, but it was worth the wait.

Here's Jess chopping up all the ingredients... don't worry... she didn't cut off her fingers (even though it kinda looks like it).

Voila!

After breakfast we went to a wonderful little fabric/yarn store called the Fancy Tiger.
I couldn't leave without taking a little something with me. I bought a stack of 3 fat quarters, and a half yard of delightful Japanese fabric. I'm envisioning using these for little pockets either on aprons or dresses.

And here's Dave wearing my beanie and women's sunglasses.

We drove downtown, walked around the Brown Palace Hotel...

... and then we walked over to the GAP and we each bought something :).... which made us hungry for Thai food! Dave and Jess might play soccer tonight (inside of course.. it snowed a little today), and I might read or listen to the ipod. What a day.

Glazed and Glamorous

My mom was kind enough to send the finished soap dispenser to me today... what a wonderful surprise! I'm excited to see what it looks like on my kitchen sink.

Denver Golf

Today was a PERFECT day in Denver. Dave and I have some gigs out here, and it's been great to spend some time with his sister Jessica. Today we played golf. Yes. Real golf. Well, I guess it was just kind-of real because we played on a 9-hole course designed for little kids. I wasn't planning to play, but then I saw how close the greens were, and thought I'd give it a shot. I had moments of brilliance, but mostly played pretty badly. I ended up at 19 over par... or was it 21? I can't remember for sure.

I took this photo of Dave when I was trying to figure out how to use the timer. I was going to trash it, but then it made me laugh, so I decided to post it :)

I finally figured out how to use the timer and was able to shoot us with our golfing buddies, Jess and Tony. I'm not sure why Jess and I are leaning in so much, but apparently the boys would have none of it. Also, the golf course had a "no jeans" policy, so I had to scrounge for some alternatives.

They compete like no other, but they love each other lots.

Cupcake

So here's what I came up with for the dress. I LOVE the way it turned out. The only question is, cherries or no cherries? I already emailed my client to ask her what she thinks because I couldn't make up my mind! I'm glad she has the final say on this one because I think both ways have a certain charm.

Girls' Day

My mom, sister and I spent the day together, and it all started here at Petroglyph. I worked here the summer of 2002 while I was still in college and Dave was away at his internship at the Arizona Republic (the Phoenix newspaper). The funny thing is, I think I spent almost all the money I made that summer on plane tickets to go see Dave :).

It was a little bit surreal to be back in the store. The place looked different, but the smell was unmistakeable. Steph and I chose to paint soap dispensers, although hers will be used in her classroom as a poison flask during her unit on Romeo and Juliet (minus the pump top). My mom picked a butter dish, and persuaded my sister, the master of penmanship to write "butter" on the top. It was scary how well she wielded the puffy paint... like a true master.

Here's my inspiration for my dispenser (thank you Martha Stewart magazine!)

Of course Stephanie's flask could not be complete without a skull and crossbones, so I found a book which explained how to make a skull (among other things) out of a finger print. It was very instrumental to the design (the skull is the one on the right side in the blue).

Here are the final pieces of art. Having worked at Petroglyph, I know that the odds of things turning out well are slim to none, and that's why I was so surprised at our finished products! They're all so cute. They will look different when the get fired, but we won't know until Thursday... and I won't know until I come back to California for another visit. I hope I can wait that long!

Easter Games

We had a fabulous Easter, and I hope you did too! After lunch we decided to play Apples to Apples, and a good time was had by all.
Dave being sneaky.

Steph feeling very happy.

My family taking a popsicle break.

Conundrum

I've been working on another little custom dress, and it's been giving me SO MUCH TROUBLE (don't worry Molly... it always works out :). Because the light pink fabric looked like it might be a little see-through, I decided to try making a full lining for the first time. "It will be easy," I thought to myself with naive arrogance. Little did I know that this...

Would look like this when I turned it inside-out. I thought I had planned so carefully, but I ended up with a little tube of a dress. It's hard to tell from the photos what it actually looks like, but here are two different angles.


Needless to say, I tore it out and did it over... and it looks normal now. Yay!

Weeds and Whiteness

Today we FINALLY did some weeding. It's true that we haven't really been home that much... but it's also true that I've been avoiding actually getting to work on the yard. However, the weather was too perfect to stay inside (71 degrees), so for 2 hours, we weeded this one patch. It's a good thing too, because our home simply does not look good with jungle landscaping. Here's what it looked like before:

Here's what it looked like after... plus a very wintery-skinned husband.

Blue Is Beautiful

This dress was a custom order... my first! The flowers were such a pain to cut out, but well-worth the effort. It's so Spring-y!

Enough About Me

Someone "tagged" me, so I simply HAD to fill this out... and it was fun :).

10 years ago I was...
Getting ready to graduate from Valley Christian High School and start my college basketball career at Simpson.
Oblivious to the fact that I was tom-boyish.
Not expecting to make my living being a singer/songwriter.

5 things on my "to do" list today:
1. workout on the treadmill in the basement
2. work on the pink dress for molly
3. rehearse with Ben Shive (we're going to fly him out for a gig in Phoenix)
4. pick up around the house
5. go to dinner with Jordan and Rachel

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
1. move to California.
2. give to Midtown and World Vision
3. pay off our properties.
4. Buy a really nice worktable, sewing machine and serger.... and lots and lots of wonderful fabric!

3 of my Bad Habits:
1. picking at my nails
2. WORRYING
3. Being too critical of myself

Places I've Lived:
1. Long Beach, CA
2. San Jose, CA
3. Redding, CA
4. Phoenix, AZ
5. Queen Creek, AZ
6. Nashville, TN

5 Jobs I've Had (in random order):
1. Sports Camp coach
2. Petroglyph (paint your own pottery)
3. Junior High chapel worship leader
4. Singer/Songwriter
5. cute little dress-maker

Things that most people don't know about me:
1. I used to be pretty good at sports
2. I HATE running
3. I really enjoy cooking and baking
4. I don't like driving

TAG!
1. Carol
2. Alison

My Haircut Survival Guide

New Portraits

I got a haircut today (finally!). I told my hairdresser, Amanda, that she could do whatever she thought would be the best style for me.... and she really likes it on the longer side. It's not as drastically different as I thought it would be, but I REALLY like it. It has such a better shape to it.

Since my hair looked so cute, we thought we'd do a photo shoot. Here are our top picks. And yes, a slightly side-ways view of me is the most flattering :).

Anniversary Recap

We ate dinner at this really great place in Old Town San Diego called Zocalo. We've eaten there before, so it was a sure bet that we would like it. (The green stuff looks scary, but it's actually really good).

I love the outdoor fireplace.

After dinner we walked around and did some window shopping...

... and some REAL shopping. Dave bought these little earrings for me as a memento of our time.

Here's where we stayed...

... and here's the view from our room!

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I don't know why there's a whole bunch of extra code, but I got tired of trying to fix it!

5 Years!

Today we celebrated our 5th anniversary. We were married on March 15, 2003 in San Jose, California. I don't have much time to type, so I'll just post this photo right now, and tell you more later.

Fun with Photobooth

My Harmonica's First Day On The Road

Proud To Be A Harmonican

A few days ago Dave and I were watching a DVD series by Tom Jackson. Not only does he flip his long, straight hair ALL THE TIME, but he also might just be one of the most eccentric people I've ever met. His job is to keep people entertained (very appropriate). He does consultations and seminars to help musicians improve their impact on audiences from the stage.

I gleaned several nuggets of useful information from his "All Roads Lead to the Stage" DVD series. Here are some highlights: 1. People don't come to a concert to hear music, they come to see people. 2. Most people in the audience WANT to like you. 3. People want to experience "moments" during the course of the show. Is it bad to tell you that one of his favorite points (he says it ALL THE TIME) is: "the audience is ignorant." He obviously hasn't met all of you guys :).

Tom Jackson inspired Dave and me to brainstorm about creating another "musical moment" in our live show, and thus... drumroll please....I bought a harmonica. It's true! I bought a professional Hohner in the key of C. I decided that Dave can be the guitarist, and I can be the harmonican (yes, I made up that word, but I like it). I've been practicing for the past few days, and we might even use it in our concert on Sunday night during our song "Small." I don't really know if I'm even holding it right, but so far it sounds pretty decent :).

I just found a video of this guyplaying freakishly fast, and it REALLY made me feel like a poser. I just decided that during the concert on Sunday night, I simply need to act like a pro, and maybe the audience will REALLY be ignorant and love me for the fantastic harmonican that I am.

Inspiration Board

My friend Carol let me use some of her green paint to make this inspiration board for sewing ideas. I used a frame I got from a thrift store, removed the picture and the glass, then covered the backer board with two layers of quilt batting, and some fabric. I love the way it turned out. It will match my green chandelier if I ever get around to hanging it!

Another Plate

So, apparently I'm into plates because I just bought this super cute platter from Ross today for $6! I thought it looked Anthropologie-esque. Now I need to bake some cookies or something to put on it... or buy a little stand so that i can put it on display somewhere. Would it be out of place to put it on the shelf of one of our built-in bookshelves in the living room?

Goodbye Kimono...

I sold the little orange and brown kimono yesterday, and it's on it's way to Missouri as we speak. Today I had to buy more bubble mailers for future orders. I had a fun time figuring out how I was going to package it. Thanks for the lettering stamps Mom!

More Lovelinesses For Sale

I just added three more items to my esty store. Check them out!

Corpus Christi, Texas

This is the church where we played last night and this morning.

There was THE CUTEST little puppy that was half chihuahua, half dachshund... they called him a "chaweenie."

Some of the staff took us to a fun fish and chips place right on the water.

Me and the gang in the dining area, with a beautiful view.

We got the fried mahi mahi and french fries. So bad for us but so yummy!