Monday, March 29, 2010

Kicking the habit

I decided that needing four espressos to get through a day was probably an indication that I might have a problem. Cory told Corinnea that they needed to have an intervention, which she found extremely amusing since she is just as addicted as me! Haha! Well, I decided to give up coffee until after Easter for a quick detox. It's going to be a long week....

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Can't Stop Blogging

Well, you know the old saying, "be careful what you wish for!" I haven't blogged for a month, and now I can't stop! Here's some things I found while sorting through photos that I haven't shown yet.

Our division is creating a multi-purpose cafe out at Robinson Barracks that will have a coffee shop during the day and then host classes and parties after hours. One of our responsibilities will be to teach classes out there. First though, we have to get this place ready to open. The space we have started out as a theater lobby, so those doors you see below are to the theater. I took photos of the place and did some computer mock-ups of what would look cool in there. We had many debates of colors, and finally chose some. I took inspiration for the designs from a lot of coffee houses whose photos I found online.

The team spent one day getting the main paint on the walls, then a couple of people worked on the trims and small sections. Last week Corinnea and I went out to do the graphics. Praise God for Corinnea because without her help I would have been alone and would not have finished in one day. Well, it's not completely finished, but all that's left is the stems of some small trees. But anyway... here's one set of before and after pics. There will be more when it's completely finished.

This is a nice little sampling. Corinnea did the awesome coffee bean "trees" on the right and part of the graphics on the left. I did the big blocks of color (there is more that is not visible in the photo) and the leaf. I won't say it was fun, but I will say I think we did a darn good job!


Here's Haven getting that retainer I mentioned. This one is not a pretty site. Haven might have said something like if I post this picture I'm the worst mother ever. I don't think she actually meant it! :) Actually, she said I could post it IF I put a disclaimer in that she protested! Hahaha!

Here's the boy beating the Pastor at fussball! Hahaha! Ok, he didn't actually win, but let me tell you, this little boy is serious about fussball! He can barely see over the table, and I'm terrified that he'll get hit in the face one day, but he is GOOD at that game! Well, for a five year old, I guess... but he can beat me! (although, that's not saying too much...)

And because I know I will need LOTS AND LOTS of blackmail for the boy when he becomes a teenager, here's another video of Ethan dancing. This is him following the instructions on TV to some cartoon. It's dark because it's at night, and it's shaky because I was trying to hold in my laughter. I won't think less of you if you don't watch it all the way to the end, but it's worth a few seconds of giggling!

Etsy Store

I reopened my Etsy store today. My new book binding machine makes it so fun to make the books! I have the classic Beer Coaster Book that I've been making for awhile now. The new little machine can cut through two coaster at once, which is awesome considering I had to force one coaster into the old machine .


And this book turned out so cool! It's made out of the Michael Miller fabric "paper" that we carried in the store about a billion years ago. It's hard to work with so I never used it. But I finally gave it a shot and this book turned out so cool!

There's 85 sheets of paper and the back side wraps around to the front and closes with the belt. That's my favorite part of it. I'm working on a magnetic closure one now. This was so fun to make! I hope someone appreciates the kitties and wants to buy it! :)



Saturday, March 20, 2010

Here comes the sun....

Here comes the sun.. na na na na na... here comes the sun... yeaaaah... Sing it! I finally ventured outside today. That's right! I left my house with my own free will! The kids and I went to one of the little playgrounds here in Magstadt. Haven has her friend Melissa spending the night tonight too, so she went to the park with us. Here's the kids having fun.

Melissa and her family lived in the apartment under us when we first moved in. Melissa is one year older than Haven and they get along really well. They moved out last month, but they are close enough that the girls can still hang out.

And more shots of Haven's hair.

And Ethan.
This boy is so hard to photograph. I realized the camera takes pictures faster in manual mode because it's not trying to figure everything out. So I started shooting in manual. It was very liberating! I took almost 700 pictures today! I had lots and lots that of course went straight to the trash, but there were still a lot of good ones.

I also started crocheting again. That's an easy craft to carry with me to the playground. And now I'm off to make books. It's been a very relaxing, lovely day!

Friday, March 19, 2010

New hair

Yes, I know I have been noticeably absent. I just haven't had anything interesting to post... But today Haven got a new hair cut and it is FABULOUS! It's dark in here so the pictures are not good at all, but I just had to get it posted. She also has her new retainer that she complains about, but is so proud of!


We also got a package from Great Granny today! How fun! Check out this CUTE little elephant boy! Thank you Granny!