Round Robin

Indy Modern Quilt Guild is doing a round robin swap this year.  Round robins are basically where you start a quilt with a block then send it to the next person and they add something to the quilt and then send it to the next person. I thought it might be a fun challenge so of course I signed up.  I decided to make my quilt black/white/gray and started my block with scraps in these colors.  I whipped up a block very improv style and then boxed it up for the next person.  

Since we exchanged these at the meeting I was able to then get a jump on my next block while there – which is genius because these are due right after the wedding.  I had Tisha’s quilt to start with she had made very precise 9 patch blocks using a floral print with sashing in a strip format.  This is the exact opposite of my free-style quilting and print selection.  So I spent more time thinking on what to do then actually doing it.   I finally decided to add just a simple strip of strips to one side, using only a handful of fabrics she included – and having just one strip of green in there for a surprise.  I think it meshes well with her quilt and now it’s off to the next person already.

70/365

Monday - bacon cupcakes, Tuesday - poster at hobby lobby, Wednesday - our guest book, Thursday - milk, Friday - bouquets, Saturday - Indy Modern Quilt Guild, Sunday - my bridesmaids at my bridal shower and Dusty and I at dinner. A good week.

700 Miles Part 1

So I have set off to run/walk 700 miles in 2013 (#14).  Today it's a little over 1/6 of the year in the books I'm at 44.5 miles walked and 10 ran.  Not really impressive numbers.  I should be closer to 116 miles at this point of the year and thus I'm already halfway behind.  
Walking has been easy especially when I'm on the road in NYC I would say 85% of these miles were from my travel.  The biggest challenge in NYC aside from the cold is making sure I turn on my app to track the steps and miles, I'm quite certain that this number should be higher because I can think of several walks I didn't turn the app on for (recently I decided to just not close the app which helps me remember).  When I'm home I've been filling my time with wedding projects and spending time with Dustin and friends and it's been snowy and cold which makes for walking outside not exactly fun and I've never been a big fan of going  to the mall to walk.
Running has taken a huge backseat this year - I am back down to running 1-2 miles rather than 4, and when I go I really dread it - I feel my sense of dislike toward running growing again.  I'm hoping warmer weather and getting off the treadmill will help. 
Regardless all this needs to change if I'm going to make up ground and get back on track.  With that said I added running/walking to my to-do list for this coming week and I'm hoping to push myself to run further and not worry about the mile times as much.

#9 Goodbye Party/Glow golf

As I looked over my 52 list.  I realized I've been making better progress this year so far than I thought - #9 Goodbye Party for Jono and Lo was completed weeks ago.    The week before Jono moved we made a family day to send Jono and Lo off.  We bought some Groupons which made glow golf like 70% off and then we headed downtown for some family glow golf.  Dustin hailed the best golfer and also won the football throwing challenge and beat Joe at air hockey (clearly making him the day's champion).  We followed up with California pizza kitchen because it was close and is relatively affordable.  In hindsight I wish I had snapped a family photo before he moved but he'll be back for our wedding so we'll just wait until then. 

Jono and I also had our own personnel party where we went around Indy to eat at Jono's favorite places.  We started out with the Tres Leche cake at Barcelona Tapas, and then followed that with fish and chips from Chatham Tap - we attempted to go to 45 for sushi as well but they weren't open yet so instead we hit the batting cages at the Bat Cave together where we hit baseballs for around 30 minutes quickly realizing you need gloves and a bat for this activity. But it was a good way to spend time together.

Happy birthday Dustin!

This Sunday was Dustin's birthday. We took a trip to Omaha to see Jono and Lo at his request. We had a great time seeing the city with them, going to a trampoline jump zone, visiting Warren Buffett, antique shopping, and just visiting. It was a good time and I know Dustin enjoyed his birthday weekend.
Then yesterday I threw him a surprise bacon party with lots of bacon dishes. I my plans for sending Dustin out fell thru so I just let people show up as I was cooking dinner. At first he thought people were just popping in then he noticed the large amount of food I made - "did you make two packages of bacon?" I ignored him shortly thereafter one of my friends was like "how do you like your bacon party?" And he was like "party?" He enjoyed the party. the bacon dishes especially the cupcakes Kathleen made were excellent.

Book 12

So I have learned to cheat at reading.  I discovered that my local library has OverDrive which is like library for eBooks and Audiobooks.  So I've been "reading" audiobooks.  I started with the Hunger Games because well I can't quite figure out the searching in the app yet, and since I'd seen the movie it seemed like a good place to start.  Since then I have figured out how to search for specific titles.  But I have completed this book.  The book was better at explaining the reason for the hunger games then the movie was.  Although it was very similar to the movie - except the main character in the book seems to be a little "stupid" at times.  It was a quick "read"  and I downloaded the second one as well so maybe I can read that after some of the other books I downloaded.

Project Life Weeks 4, 5 and 7

I have been attempting to keep up with my project life - even though i still need to complete week 6, but otherwise I am keeping up so far. I been good at saving items from the week which I like go do. However, these are starting to look similar I need to come up with something to jazz them up. Perhaps I need to get out some other old supplies.   I still love this project and as I flip thru my one from last year it's a reminder of the good things and the bad things things I forget about. I have seen my girlfriends thumb through it and enjoy reading/looking at my life it's fun. I love it. 
Week 4 - I got a little travel break this week.  I enjoyed girlfriend dates, taking care of Dustin when he got sick, the lasagna-off, crafting with Kathleen.  All good things.  

Week 5 - back on the road.  This week the Lunch Gang at the office went to The Meatball Shop and Asia-Dog in NYC both were FABULOUS.   I also included a snippit from a card from my pastor, a photo of Sammie in her bridesmaid dress, there's a spot not shared where I need to print out the photos from $5 date night.

Week 7 (skipped week 6 for now) - NYC again, this week the lunch bunch went to Little Buffalo and Brooklyn Tacos (Brooklyn Taco could be my favorite lunch spot).  It was also the same week as valentines day and Incredible Pizza.   I included my valentine from my mom it was too big for the pocket so it hangs out the top and it can be pulled out to be read. 

63/365

Man time is flying by. Already 63 days? It's March and I am still keeping up with this project. Here are this weeks photos - Monday - Canal street subway, Tuesday - dinner with Jackie, Wednesday - daylight after work, Thursday - my bag in he airport, Friday - Dustin's Birthday Roadtrip, Saturday - trampoline time, Sunday - leaving Omaha long boring rod trip.

56/365

Another week in the books today we are officially 40 days till our wedding - crazy! Crunch time is here but it won't really hit until after Dustin's birthday this weekend. I really had the best intent to take more photos but it didn't happen so it was slim Pickens this week again. Monday - closed subway stop, Tuesday - trip to the fabric shop, Wednesday - dinner of handmade pasta and veggies, Thrusday - tiny plane in Cleveland (I got stuck there this week, Friday - hot dog date with Dustin, Saturday - flower samples, Sunday - children's church complete with batman.

Moving on.

To Incredible Pizza

Dustin and his siblings aren't that close so when we got the opportunity to babysit young Kane (his nephew) we thought we would invite his other sisters to come with us to Incredible Pizza Company for laser tag and pizza etc. Then Dustin invited a whole bunch of other people we know and it was a full on party for no real celebration reason. Good times were had by all and I am pretty sure all his sisters and his nephew had a blast. Oh and best of all we used some groupons so it was like less than $12 for $25 of fun.