Our Little Addition

We took a secret mission out of town yesterday to pick up our new little addition. 

Welcome to the family Mabel! 

Though Rosie is still not 100% sure about the new little sister we think they will love each other in a day or too.  

I've never had two dogs at once before.  Of course the two of them combined don't quite make the size of one real sized pup so I think we'll be okay.

Happy Tuesday everyone and Happy 70th Birthday to my Father-in-Law! 

Happy Holidays!

I'm looking forward to staying warm by the fire with my family for a few days.  I hope you are doing something as equally enjoyable with the ones that you love.  Thanks for keeping company with me during 2011.  Looking forward to a spectacular 2012.

Things That Have Been Making Me Happy*

Today is my birthday.  Here are some things that have been making me happy lately as recorded by my iphone:

*a Husband-made smoothie for dessert last night

*my growing collection of mushrooms (no pun intended, well maybe a little) that have sprung up everywhere since it's been raining since hurricane Irene

toadstools

tall boy in the forest

hanging on a log

sunning along the fence row

mushroom bloom

If anyone knows what types of mushrooms/fungi I've captured please feel free to educate me.  I have no idea.

*the view from a friend's backyard

 

*my current knitting projects - it's Fall people.  I cannot put down the needles. 

this will be the Effortless Cardigan by Hannah Fettig of Knitbot

Wish me luck. This is my first sweater (sort of, I have put the debacle of last winter behind me.) 

this will be the Peaks Island Hood by Ysolda Teague 

This is being made with the yarn that I frogged from the previous disaster just mentioned that we will never speak of again.

*and of course, the Puppy

one ear on the wind

I hope you are having a great day.  I know I am.

Office Update

So things are progressing slow and steady with the Big Move project.  Yesterday after a lot of debate we finally hung some drapes in the new office.  I also want to mention that I LOVE our new office space.  Here's what it looked like before:

I had been looking for the perfect fabric for weeks now.  I loved this:

and had the sample tacked up on the window.  I love these colors.  It's so fresh looking.  But I am a cheapskate at heart and couldn't see spending the money when there are so many other projects that need our attention (and cash!!) Then I remembered some Ikea Henny panels that were unused from a previous project.

I'm not going to lie.  There were some tears shed and some very bad words uttered much louder than a whisper when I tried to install the new (cheap) rods.  I thought I was destroying our freshly painted walls.  My Sweet Husband stepped in and saved the day (and our walls!) with the proper tools and a little more patience than I possess.  It's to him that I owe this project checked off the list. 

These Henny drapes would not have been my first choice but they are fresh and light and a little fun too. 

Rosie loves the new digs too.  Check her out in her supervisors position under the desk!  I'm super happy to have this crossed off the list.  Now on to the next project!

Too Hot for Me and the Puppy

It's hot and the posts I want to write seem like a lot of effort.  I don't like to sweat. Instead I thought I'd show you some strategies the Puppy is using to beat the heat.

1. Stay in bed until noon:

2. No reason to be bored, have someone to keep you company:

3. At a certain point you just have to brave the outdoors to inspect how the once lush but now crunchy/bare lawn is fairing - try not to cry:

4. Maybe try a little sunbathing.  Nothing like the feel of sun on bare puppy-tummy:

5. Of course, full on panting never hurts either:

I have been having so much fun with Instagram lately.  I know I've talked about it before but it really is so much fun and it's free!  If you have an iphone check it out.  My username is reslusaimee if you'd like to follow the adventures of the Puppy as well as anything else that grabs my interest.  I'd love to see what some of you are shooting too.  Stay cool!

Two Friends

I know this is random but it makes me happy and I want to share.  Here's a photo that I snapped with my iphone while walking in the park with the Husband & the Puppy on Sunday evening. 

These two little friends made me smile.  Maybe they will make you smile too.

MCP Project: 52 {week 15, 16, 17, 18}

Okay, so I'm a bit behind.  Let's catch up.  I'll start with this week and work backwards.  This week's theme (week 18) was "first thing in the morning." 



The Puppy is always the last to get out of bed.  To be fair, I'm the next to last one out of bed.  I'm not a morning person either!  The Puppy has been known to stay in bed looong after it was decent.  She's like a teenager that can't look at the sun before noon.  Actually, that's not quite true.  If you open the shade for her she can spend the day monitoring all she commands (and some that she doesn't!) from her perch looking out the window.  If there were only a sunny spot to lay in life would be perfect.

Week 17's theme was "princess for a day" in honor of that big wedding that we all watched (or maybe not).  I like to call this Princess for a Day/ Queen of the chicken yard.  This is my niece and one of her favorite chickens, Wendy (or it could be Dottie, the kids are way better and telling them a part!)  Sister can correct me if I missed it.  I love visiting with my sister for lots of reasons but one little benefit is getting sent home with the best, freshest eggs when there's enough to share.  Also, if you've ever paid attention to my header banner you know that the chicken is the official mascot of the Functional Space.  They are function and fashion all in one package.

 

Week 16's theme was "Furry Friends".  It was taken during our spring break getaway in South Carolina.  We had beautiful weather and lots of great time on the beach.  This is my Father-In-Law and his favorite companion, Popcorn enjoying the view.  I love how bright and fresh everything looks.  I also love the way the wind catches Popcorn's ears.

Boy, I really did get behind!  And finally week 15's photo "how others see you"  I think I captioned this by saying that this is a mirror image of what I usually see in the mirror.  I've never been able to shake the little kid notion that I walk around everyday with the part of my hair and my face mole on the opposite side of what I see when I look at myself.  What I see in the mirror looks right to me but it's the opposite of what the rest of the world sees.  This was a very quickly snapped self portrait.  Had I known that this would have been it I might have spent a little more time primping.  But, this is how others see me most of the time (a little unkept!) so I guess it's how it should be.

Whew, glad I got through all of that.  Have a great weekend! 

MCP Project: 52 {week 14}

Here's this week's entry into my year long photo project. 

This the the view I see when I look over to my Sweet Husband's side of the desk in our office.  It's how the work gets done around here.  The theme this week was Fusion.  I edited this photo using the free mini-fusion action set created by Jodi Friedman of MCP Actions.  I really REALLY hope to win the full Fusion action set from the Project 52 contest this week.  I only have a basic understanding of how my old photoshop works.  It's amazing what actions can do and Jodi has a lot of great ones in her shop.  You should check them out.  

MCP Project: 52 {week 13}

This week's theme is Just For Fun.  It has been rainy and cool/cold for a week now and it hasn't felt particularly fun (where did the Spring go??)  Two things happened though.  First I downloaded the Instagram app for my ipod.  It was free and it is SO fun.  Second, My Sweet Husband built a beautiful fire last night that we all (especially the Puppy) enjoyed.  We had the best time watching her lay by the fire turning to warm her various parts.  I know, we lead very exciting lives here at the Reslus Arms.  It's what makes us happy though.

My ipod doesn't have the best camera on it but what I love about Instagram is that I can even edit photos that I've taken with my good camera (see above).  Here's another instagram shot taken directly from my ipod.

It's still cool in it's own way but nowhere near as sharp as the first image.  Here's another shot (my very first Instagram) that I took with my ipod.  This is the view just to the left of where Rosie was laying in the first pic. 

See I don't just photograph my dog.  I also take pictures of chairs too! 

MCP Project: 52 {week 10}

I didn't get it together for last week's photo and I'm getting this week's pic under the wire.  The theme this week was childhood toys.  Though there are no children here at the Reslus Arms we do have The Puppy.  This is Rosie's spot in the office and where she spends most of her days under my desk while I'm working.  It's always better when she has a few buddies to curl up with too. 

Happy Friday everyone! 

Get Crafty: Embroidered Portraits - Finished (sort of)

So I finally finished the portrait of Rosie.  I still need to mat and frame her but here's how it's turned out so far.

I learned a few things while working on this project.  After doing what I hope is not permanent nerve damage to my index finger, I've decided that the best way to punch the holes is with a tac that has a nice gripping head on it.  After squeezing on a straight pin for awhile I started to loose feeling in the tip of my finger.  Clearly I wasn't doing it correctly.  The tac works really great though. 
I also learned that it's easier if you back the papers you are punching with something that gives, like a nice piece of cardboard.  This allows the pin (or tac!) to move all the way through both layers of paper easily. 
And finally I learned that it would have been easier with actual embroidery floss, not just whatever sewing thread you just happen to have handy (that's what I get for randomly starting a project late at night without all the proper supplies.)  If I had used embroidery floss I could have more easily created different line weights. which would have made the piece more interesting. 
Overall it was a really fun and a surprisingly quick project.  I can't wait to try it again now that I have a better understanding of what I'm actually doing.

Get Crafty: Embroidered Portraits

via Country Living

Last night as I was catching up on my magazine reading I came across this wonderful project to custom stitch artwork from family photos in the February issue of Country Living Magazine.  It seemed like a beautifully simple idea.  It has also been a long time since I embroidered or crossstitched anything. That was one of my favorite crafts as a kid.  I'm also taking a break from the feverish knitting on the sweater I've been working on for the last month.  I got to the point where I could try it on and it made me feel fat - there I said it!  I decided that it was best to put it away for a bit and do something else for a while.  I think I might have found the diversion 

 

I gathered my supplies and got to work.  The directions are very simple.  I decided to try card stock instead of the suggested watercolor paper because it was what I happen to have on hand at 10:00 on a Thursday night.  I might try it again with the watercolor paper to see if it takes the pin hole punching any better.  I also used a clipboard to hold everything together because it was handy and seemed like a logical too to use.  

I got to work punching holes on a picture of the Sweet Puppy.  It was very easy though the card stock was a bit resistant to taking the holes.  I'm going to try using a soft card board backer next time.  I hope that will let the pin push through a bit better.

Of course, SOMEONE felt the need to supervise.  

I even started working on the stitches.  Alas, I don't have a finished product to show you.  It was past my bedtime so I had to stop the crafting for the night.  Tune in Monday though for hopefully a finished project.  We'll see how it goes.  

Happy Friday!  Have a great weekend.  It is a beautiful day here in Virginia.  It makes me really excited for the spring to come.

Bad Dog!!

Our sweet puppy (well she's actually a year and a half now) loves to sleep in.  She likes to sleep in even more than me!  She usually stays in bed while we go about doing morning things such as taking showers and catching up on email.  Lately though she's decided that snuggling under the covers isn't enough for her anymore.  We discovered this over the last few days.

Then this

Ugghhh!

She's never been a chewer/destroyer of things that weren't her's to chew.  There has been the rare but random article of clothing.  That happens.  But my bed is so sad now!  Not the way I wanted to start my day. 

My Little Pelmet Project

On Friday night I FINALLY finished the DIY pelmet project that I had bought fabric for months ago.  It was super easy and I'm still not sure why I waited so long to take care of it.  I can't thank Jenny from Little Green Notebook enough for this easy tutorial that made the project a snap.   I started with a couple of pieces of foam core:

 
Then taped the pieces together with duct tape:

the Puppy clearly became bored with the whole affair and found something better to do:

Wrapped it with fabric and batting and stapled everything down smoothly then added nail head trim:

And here it is finally installed in the dormer window in the Master bedroom.  Now I just need to paint the bookcase below and try to take a better picture so that you can see the whole effect.

 
Thanks again to Jenny's tutorial from last September for making this so easy. 

Scenes from the Vacation

We're spending a few more days doing this.  Will be back in action later in the week though.

My New Favorite

Okay, so I know this has been around for awhile now but I JUST downloaded it over the weekend and I can't stop making pictures!  Poladroid you are my new favorite!  You make everything special.  It's all so warm and soft and makes everything look pretty. 

  the living room

the puppy

 the happy couple

If you're a late comer like me, you should really check it out.  It will make you happy and who doesn't want to be happy?