Cross-Country Bags

So I’m not so great at this whole blogging thing. I’m great at lurking on other blogs and I’m obsessed with finding sewing tutorials and tips and fun crafty ideas out on the web. But blogging for myself, that’s another thing.

I have a secret. I made a duplicate of a bag I made for Susan for a girl in Utah. So my bags are going cross-country! :) So Susan’s bag was spotted by a friend of hers at church who wants one for her sister. Not that any of these people know me, but for fear of ruining a surprise (which I’m especially good at), I won’t post who the bag’s owner will be. But her blog is way cool so maybe she will love my bag and we can be blog friends. That sounds fun. How come all the cool blogs I find are by Mormons? I’m not complaining…I have nothing against Mormons. I just find it a little odd that all these beautiful and fun blogs about life or sewing or just whatever I love are all in the small big world of Mormons. I blame this on Susan and her influence in my addiction to blogs.

Speaking of ruining a surprise…ok, I know I already moved on from that but I’d like to go back cuz it’s a funny story. So about a year ago, I was trying to figure out what to get my wonderful boyfriend for our upcoming 2 year anniversary. I knew he really wanted an ipod touch with lots of memory so that he could load it up with his tens of thousands of songs and then add videos/movies for downtime during vacation. So I pretty much decided I was going to go ahead and get it for him. Since it was a big gift, it would be for anniversary/Christmas. So I was e-mailing my brother and asking him whether or not I should get it engraved. And then we continued e-mailing back and forth until we were discussing music lyrics. And then I got stupid. I forgot that the thing about the ipod was on this e-mail and I forwarded it to the boyfriend to ask him about the music discussion. His reply: “Are you serious?” I didn’t know what he meant at first, but then I started scrolling down through the e-mails and realized what I did. My face got red and I thought I was about to cry and then I just laughed…that’s all I really could do. I mean, seriously, only I would do something as dumb as that. So, yeah, I never got him the ipod touch. Now when I e-mail my brother about a possible gift or something I don’t want to be forwarded, I make sure to say “Don’t Forward This E-mail To [Insert Name Here]” in the subject line.

What do you get for your boyfriend for a 3 year anniversary? Now that I’m all getting into crafty stuff, I kind of want to make him something, but I have NO clue what that would be. If you have a suggestion, e-mail me…don’t comment just in case he reads this! Our anniversary is in October, so I have about 6 weeks, but if I have to order something, then that’s not very long.

I am all over the place today with my thoughts…but I wanted to share something that I’m proud of. I have this really pretty black/white floral dress that’s all cute & summery, but I’ve really only worn it once. Here is the one debut of the dress from when we went to Vegas in July 2007.

Yes, I’ve kept it 2 years and still not worn it again. First I gained weight and it didn’t look good, then I lost weight and it still just didn’t flatter me…mostly from behind. So I decided to try to refashion it into something I’d wear more often…like a cute top. I’ve never even sewn a piece of clothing for myself. Ok, that’s not entirely true…one time I did make 90% of a skirt for myself…that was 3 years ago and it’s still at my aunt’s house somewhere, unfinished. I don’t think that really counts though.

So I cut up the dress…and of course the top was just a couple inches too short for me. I guess it’s better to cut it longer, just in case. So then I had a sort of cute, but not long enough, floral top. And then I found some black w/white polka dot fabric I had on hand and decided that it would be a perfect way to lengthen the shirt. So I sewed it to the bottom and folded it under to make it look all finished and look at my new shirt…just in time for my trip to Austin for Labor Day weekend!

Before I go, I’ll leave you with some other goodies I’ve been making…

My coworker’s daughter modeling the birthday tank I made.

Some pretty fabric bead necklaces I’m obsessed with making lately.

And more bags to love, of course.

Howdy!

Starting out with Howdy! seems so stereo-typical Texan, but I just can't help it. I love the word Howdy, but I don't think I say it enough. I used to say it constantly when I went to A&M...if you've never been there, Aggies like to say it to people we pass while walking around on campus. It may seem strange, but it's a lot better than the awkward half-smile that I give coworkers I pass in the hallway these days.

Well since this is my first post, I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you a little about myself. Not too much, of course, just in case there are crazies out there reading it. Is it just me or does anyone else get paranoid after seeing these identity theft stories constantly on the news? Of course, that doesn't seem to stop me from buying things online. I get scared for about 5 minutes and by the time I'm on the computer again, it's completely out of my mind.

Back to the subject at hand...me. Well I'm...in my mid-ish 20s. Ok, it's late 20s. I like to pretend it's still mid-20s though as I've started feeling old lately. Kids I used to teach in their 1st grade Bible class are graduating high school...that's depressing. Aaaand, we're back. You see that I tend to go off on tangents. I do this when I talk as well...ask anyone who knows me. So, right, I'm a 20-something, currently working in the Oil & Gas Industry in Houston. No, I'm no engineer...there are some days I wish I were, though, just for the paycheck. I do Information Management. It's so boring that we won't even talk about it for now.

Other more interesting things to know...well I have a wonderful boyfriend. We've been dating since October of 2006, so yeah, we've been together quite a while. We met at work and yes, he is an engineer...and a pretty darn good one. Ya know when you meet certain people and they just fit their job title perfectly? Well, he's not like that at all. This man is outgoing and charming and sarcastic and so funny. When people meet him and then find out he's an engineer, they're completely thrown off. I mean...an intelligent engineer who's really, really, REALLY ridiculously good-looking and hilarious? Weird...

But, right, I was talking about me. Maybe it's just easier talking about the things around me than just me. Well maybe you're wondering what my new hobby is. I've never been a very crafty person, but as of late, I've taken up sewing. I decided to make myself a cute bag for summer and one thing led to another and now I'm taking custom orders and making bags for the ladies at work. I just set up my Etsy shop but there's not much to see yet. I tried doing some baby items as well and found them to be fun, easy, & super cute! So now I'm working on more items to add to my baby line.

I expect that most of my posts here will be light-hearted musings or fun tidbits about my new hobby. So stick around and maybe we'll surprise each other with something exciting...it could be just around the river bend.

Is the song from Disney's Pocahontas in your head now? Oh, right, me neither.